The XM

[steelcityuk]

Today I took the XM to work instead of the Prius. I hadn't drove the XM for about 2 weeks. That short drive was all I needed to remind me why the XM is such a great car.

I intend to take her off the road for the winter. I may do some work on her but as yet I don't have any firm plans.

Steve.

[Dieselman]

That's just how I felt when I got back in my Mandarin one after a month or so of not driving it.
It had always had a slightly notchy gear change, but adjusting the linkage has sorted that beautifully and I'm sure the suspension feels smoother since increasing the system pressure and changing the hydraflush for fresh LHM.

[jorgy]

Couldn't spend the winter without the XM!

The other night, after my usual 60-mile trip to work and back, found myself telling my gf "what a good car the XM is", she went like "oh, shut up, not again, like you've not driven it since last year". I happened not to have needed a car for 3-4 days that week...

Truth is, now with the new clutch kit, I'm so happy that the car has finally got rid of the noise and harshness the old one was making. Having driven the XM for over a year on the bad clutch, I still can't relish enough how smooth it is now!

Putting the engine undertray will be the last touch in the "XM21td: total refinement" project -taking corrective action to avoid rust formation, of course!

[Dieselman]

A new clutch makes a 2.1 manual a dream to drive.

[Peter.N.]

My white one has an amazingly light clutch, when I first had it the pedal would often stay on the floor, it has got a little heavier but is still featherlight compared to the red one. It did have a new clutch just before I bought it but that's done 15k or more now. I am wondering if they fitted the wrong one.

Peter

[Dieselman]

My white one has an amazingly light clutch, when I first had it the pedal would often stay on the floor, it has got a little heavier but is still featherlight compared to the red one. It did have a new clutch just before I bought it but that's done 15k or more now. I am wondering if they fitted the wrong one.

Peter

Mine is like that since fitting a genuine three part clutch. It is rather annoying if it sticks for a fraction of a second when making progress.
Presumably as the friction material wears and the diaphragm spring give a bit it will stop doing this.

[CitroJim]

All PSA vehicles fitted with a pull clutch are delightfully light. In fact when a pull clutch starts to feel heavy than that's a sure sigh it's on it's way out...

The first time I replaced a clutch in a Xantia 1.9TD I honestly thought I'd knadgered it up because the pedal was sooooo light; I could almost push the pedal down with a single finger..

It was no fluke either, all pull clutches I've replaced have ended up like that...

[steelcityuk]

Currently I don't have much time for the cars or the forums. Very busy at work preparing for the start of the 'new' year and trying to get get the drive done. We were quoted £5400 + VAT to take up the old tarmac, prepare it and what had been a gravel covered front garden then recover the lot with concrete. So it's another DIY job. I've already filled a 8 yard skip and will need another soon. It'll take around 10 cubic metres of concrete so it's a reasonably large area and taking up so much time getting it dug out and flat. The old tarmac was above the original damp proof layer so there's a fair bit of digging out already been done. I've taken the opportunity to widen the gap between the gate posts whilst I'm at it - it was a very tight squeeze with the XM requiring both mirrors folded in to get through, I've gained about 4" which although not much will make things easier.

Anyone got any projects on at the moment?

Steve.

[Dean]

just a few steve, glad someone else is enjoying themselves too!

I will be doing the drive again as i had to dig it up to lay the drains, concrete is about £80/mtr but im only going to need 3mtr's for the patch, still a fair wack of £££ though, not much left for cars either.

doing the drains5 by Deanxm, on Flickr

CIMG3446 by Deanxm, on Flickr
and ive also taken 2 weeks off to get this all done at the same time

CIMG3445 by Deanxm, on Flickr

How is the XM going anyway? last i heard it was being a bit reluctant to start after the big resto?

D

[steelcityuk]

Hi Dean,

That does look like fun. I'm using spade, shovel and pick unfortunately. Nice job on the fencing, very tidy, I used some of that concrete post and gravel boards last year and will be using some more on the current project. I like it but it's heavy stuff when working solo.

The XM is running great thanks. The starting issues were down to the fuel injectors, I had a spare set reconditioned at my local Bosch specialist. The car then started fine with very little smoke. I reset the pump timing again and it's been fine. It's currently running on 50/50 SVO/Bio, it runs well but doesn't half stink!

Steve.