ok its a done job, signed sealed and delivered, sidney kind of slid down the tow truck ramp a bit like a dog afraid to go in the bath, due to a stuck rear drum.

after cleaning out the masses of rat crap, dust, snail shells and corn heads, and spraying through the 5cm thick layer of clay on all the undersides,( I would swear the old lady who had it used to be into off roading) I finally get to see the metal, a few surprises, a few good and a few bad.

the chassis is broken on the front right right under the steering bar..! this is not particularly expected or good.

the front floor on both sides has been VERY badly patched with a mixture of newspaper and bitumen and I think a sheet of metal in there somewhere..this is bad but also good as it gives me a solid excuse to rip out the floor and do some channeling..I really didnt want to cut into a pristine body..but its not one.

also the bonnet hinge is worse than I thought, someone had put silicone under the paint there to hide the small holes

the suspension actually seems to be ok , the slump in the front is more to do with the chassis and the rear cylinder.

I was daydreaming of a kind of put pertol in and it goes kind of thing......err...and this didnt happen, first the tank (metal ) leaks from a kind of spike in a hole in the middle ( is this normal!!????)

then after putting in oil to a freely spinning motor, over time the started motor (which worked well) seemed to have more and more trouble with it until now its jammed and I can´t move it with either the starter or the hand crank.?? any ideas why this would be...gluing up of old oil?...don´t really understand..and what to do with it now??? HELP PLEASE

on the plus side the headlights and rear light work!

indicators no.

interior under the furry tiger print are ok, if a bit dull cloth beige..will need to be sorted..I´m a furniture designer for gods sake!!

positives..already enjoying the back to basics systems, its weird how the doors can be so light but close so clunkily!

the tyres are holding air after 24 years off the road....oh and the gs hub caps are just total bling and I love them already, also there is a sticker of snoopy holding a barcelona fc flag...its all in the details!!

Lovely 1975ish by the looks of it?

right - broken chassis is probably best to get a replacement
newspaper and bitumen floors - meh easy repair
rusty tank fit a plastic one from a newer car
slowly siezing engine - the heads and the exhaust port "de coke" while stood all this shite is now in the top of the cylinders stopping the pistons turning over - a bit tubing fitted to a hoover and get a lot out via the spark plug holes. Heads off to clean, grind valves and have a look at the bores isnt such a bad thing to do.

good looking car

1976 on the papers..how do you know?...the brown interior?

Unfortunately this could mean that the engine has locked up due do rust and crud from the manifold blocking up the valves or it could just be that the starter has jammed, try removing it and turning it over by hand.

Yeah, not made for very long like that.

the weird thing about the tanks is it looks brand new on the outside, then there this plastic spike like a plug hole???..makes me want to weld a nut on of something and put a proper plug on it...I´m sure this isnt citroens origianl idea?

the chassis ! well I´m have to see ...I weld for a living so surely its saveable, the rest of it is fine?

will try the hoover this tomoorrow

cheers sig

nope jammed by hand too, head off job I reckon!...I thought that by turning it over with new oil in it would kind of relubricate everything...obviously not!

You did try turning the engine anti-clockwise, I hope?
The only way to 'lubricate' the upper cylinder area of an engine which *hadn't been laid up correctly* is to remove the plugs and inject a 50/50 mix of oil and petrol in via the spark plug holes, using enough to completely fill the space above the pistons.
Put the plugs back in hand tight, leave to marinade for about a week, then rotate the engine backwards and forwards until it eventually goes over top dead centre without being forced
I've just sorted one like that which hadn't been run for 12 years...

Ken

* without half a cupful of oil in each cylinder*

UK market 1975 version of brown on brown interior.


Brown, braun, brun... by slcchassis, on Flickr