cheers chris, rockers move ok, and all lovely in there, so I dared to go the next level

the head came off easily, to remove a load of sludge. it seems that kens marinade had worked as it was all quite liquidy but a lot of it




when that was cleaned away I had a look at the coking, not too bad and scraped away most on the cylinder head. I didnt want to take the valves out because I don´t have a spring compressor or anything. the theory now is to put it all loosely back together to see if it spins easier. I was careful not to move the flywheel when the head was off because that would wreck the timing no?

basically running blind here, and obviously won´t try running it as no new gaskets in but I´m pleased with myself at getting past the fear level!

(thats until you all write in and say I´ve probably destroyed everything doing what I´ve just done.

now off to do the starboard side and hope the motor spins free

cheers for now..any important info I need please tell me asap, cheers

nope ! ..no good, still the same, flywheel spins relatively free until (Iassume) the valves need to open or close...then its stiff for a while . and then it frees off again for a few degrees. I assume that means the valve seats (those brassy tubes?) and the valves are sticky, so what? new seats and valves or just a good clean. I suppose I could just take the heads to a citroen garage??

Does it spin free with both heads off? It will be worth removing the barrels (off the pistons) - need to get either piston ring compressor or some people use large jubilee clip to replace afterwards -and spin engine - you cannot reck timing as crank and camshaft are joined internally by cogs - If spins free without pistons in barrels - clean bores out and replace - removing valves is straight forward with spring compressor - I think you would need to change the valve seals anyway after engine age.

I wish I was closer to Spain - could come and help

as chris said just get hold of the barrells and pull them off then see if the engine turns over freely
"in for a penny, in for a pound!"

If your going to spin your engine over with the barrels off you are going to need to protect the pistons from damage against the barrel studs and/or the crank case opening. You also need to protect the conrods from smacking against the crankcase as well. You might even take the pitons off whilst your at it.Just make sure you fit them back the right way round and on the side they came from,the same goes for the barrels

bingo! its the pistons, well actually the left hand one (from drivers view), heads off again , andf the barrels off ( the left hand one was very stiff, had to use steel bars and flywheel to free it.
weirdly the inside of the barrels are smooth and clean, the pistons look a bit burnt on the engine side..is that a bad thing?
now i´m in totally new territory, all the rings looked ok to me, still springy, not really sure what I´m looking for, why would it be so stiff????

OH YEAH BABY!!!!

BLAME IT ON MY SAUSAGE SANDWICH!, which made me think about the lubrication in the barrel, so I went back to see where that little oil tube sprays to, the inlet valve no?..so that didnt answer anything, but then on closer look at the rings , number 2 on the stiff side was stuck, it sprang but didnt turn in the groove. so all doused in petrol and loads of black liquid came out the grooves, and they started to move more freely. so with the aid of an electrical screwdriver the barrels were placed on again (pre - oiled) and fitted better...a bit of hope I thought!

so back on with the second, and whoooosh, I can now spin the engine with the hand crank easily, and it makes really nice compression noises, and the valves are moving well.

well happy!

thanks guys for your help, brilliant.

and now what? clean the oil feeder tube (petrol bath and air hose???)

petrol in the carb and see if it ignites?

Brill hope you oiled the piston/barrel on rebuild ready for your first start up, I would turn her over a good few times on the start handle to get the oil moving, with the plugs out before firing her up,just call me cautious

When you take off the oil feed pipes make sure you keep the little feed bolts seperate - there are small holes in the 2 that fits on the heads and big hole that fits onto the crank casing....

Glad engine moves - do not rush getting it started. Make sure you change seals etc - do it once....

2cv's are cool cars aren't they sig....