All A-series rust, it's just that IMHO Acadianes seem even more susceptible. The chassis was mint when i had it - when i took it for an MOT back in May i had a ganders when it was up on the ramp and it was lovely.

I'm trying to find Geoff Archer's flickr photostream (anyone any idea?) - he has some good pictures on there on a very rotten Acadiane - it would give you a good idea of where to concentrate your rust proofing efforts...

You've got one!

Heheh thanks for the help, its much appreciated, I've had a good snoop around on this forum and it seems very friendly and helpful. Any advice on the spots to go for with the rust proofing gunk would be great. I'm gonna spray waxoyl around the arches and underneath and try and get the thicker wax stuff into all the nooks and crannies.

I'm on a tight budget (as is everyone) and thats why the Citroen appealed, I'm gonna stick to the lines of prevention being the cure rather than face a pile of rusted beige metal come February.

It does seem to burn a bit of oil, something which I'll keep an eye on.

thanks everyone

Joe,

Did you buy it off a guy with a beard in Preston? 'Affordable classics' was i think the name of his garage.

When i sold via eBay back in mid June i was upfront about the vans problems. When the new owner listed it on eBay & in the motoring press a month or so later these issues weren't mentioned in the adverts. I just assumed he had dealt with them.

Yes thats the fella, it was a good buying experience to be honest, much better than others I've dealt with.

I enquired about the oil, he said it didn't use a drop when bringing it back home. I checked it, it was very black, the rear wheel was spotted up, I just thought it may be down to unburnt petrol/rich mixture. I was a bit uneasy when I checked the oil the day after buying it and it was nearly empty. This was after a blast back home down the M65.

I test drove it before buying and was told it needed a new rack (I quickly realised this!), and the points needed renewing, so I fitted electronic ignition the other day. Apart from a noisy first gear they're the only things I was told about. I was shown all the areas it had been welded etc and was told that it didn't start too well, but I just put that down to the ignition/lack of use.

Any info on any of its bad points would be great. I put up with some niggles due to it having new tyres, new battery, new radio, the quality of the work done to the body etc. I can do mechanical stuff so I was expecting to get a few problems coming up. Managed to get the price down a bit too.

The points & condensor were new in late April. I was running short of time before the French national 2cv meeting so i entrusted the work, along with King pins & all six driveshaft gaiters to my local 2cv specialist. The points & condensor were Valeo items & not crappy intermotor. I fitted a Harley coil, new plugs etc & never had any starting issues.

I always thought it was running rich, but never did get to the bottom of it. Check earlier in this thread for details.

Cheers Neil, thats good to know, I've kept the old points just in case. It struggled to start many a time even on the points, and would stall a lot, requiring me to open the choke sometimes at junctions. Again I just thought it was down to lack of use, but even on the new electronic ignition it takes a while to get it going. Maybe something else has happened since. The engine and overall condition is great, makes me want to spend money on it so I'm more than happy with it. I'm sort of hoping the little problem its had today maybe related to the starting issues.

Also at the same time as the points were fitted, the seized calipers were removed, cleaned, rebuilt etc. New discs were fitted, and a O/S front wheel bearing. I paid cash for this - hence no receipt.

Did you get a folder with it containing receipts & history i'd collecting since it came into my ownership?

Other things i can think of it's had;

Handbrake pads
Disc pads
2x new rear lights
2x new front indicators
alternator & belt
Starter motor
Door mirror glasses & surrounds
interior light
Yellow halogen headlamp bulbs
Burton exhaust clamps
Crossbox
'Goalposts'/wing support etc shot blasted & powder coated.
etc
etc!

I was impressed by the masses of receipts, I got all those, the seller was very complentary of the work done and said he'd seen a video of it in the bodyshop. Its had a lot of new bits and it shows in this thread how much work has gone into it. The first time I've worked on an engine and not got completely covered in shite too, could eat my dinner of the goalposts...

I think my order of things to get done next would be this:

1) Rust proof like a maniac
2) Take it to specialist and get the engine looked over and get the carb adjusted, I could do it myself but never worked on one of these before so need to get someone elses advice and I'll follow suit.
3) New rack

There's a couple of things like heater control doesn't stay on hot, and the door card fell out, and well it'll keep me off the streets anyway...

My girlfriend was asking if you can fit a silencer to an Acadiane, personally I'd rather not 'cos I love the noise and what it does to pedestrians, but I better ask on her behalf

<chuckle>
Yes, normal 2cv "torpedo" in place of the straight pipe under the driver's seat.