Looking at the pics again (including another one that I found, of the other half of the casing) I think that what appears to be "M4" is in fact a trick of the light:

This side says AM 114 98 d

and I'm pretty sure this says AM.114.99.d

right, who else needs a pair when im there
http://www.specsavers.co.uk/

I'm currently investigating a 435 engine... but wonder if any of you mechanically minded folk could give me some help.

Assuming that the engine I'm looking into consists of nothing other than the A79/1 power unit, how many of the ancillaries from an M28/1 engine, or even from what appears to be the M28 and gearbox that came with the van, could I use with it?

Am I potentially getting into having to source a rare and expensive carburettor, starter motor, etc to complete the engine and transmission for the 435, or can I get away with mixing and matching?

When the engine in Daz's 2CV4 expired and he decided that he'd served his time with 435ccs, the only parts which were transferred onto the replacement 602cc running gear were the clutch, starter motor and the carburettor, if my memory is correct.

Engine mounts and g'box mount are common to both types, but engine cowlings, heat exchangers and crossbox are not, unless you're a bit of a demon with the angle grinder and tin snips.

ken.

Well, today had its fair share of little surprises.

Started off nice and positive: confirmed that the lower back end of the vehicle is good and solid. The drip channel (above the rear doors) is a bit knackered, so I suppose I'll replace that, but that was no big shock.

Then I decided to get the shell off the chassis, just to make sure that I could get at all the rusty bits and zap them good and proper. So, I undid all the bolts inside the van, and the ones holding the rear of the vehicle... then came the annoying bits!

One bolt was all painted in and gunked up and wouldn't come off. So I was obliged to drill it out: which was slow and annoying enough, until the drill bit broke. No spares! Doh! So I hit it with a hammer until it broke. (That'll teach the bastard!) But the body still wouldn't budge!

To calm down I took a quick look at the crossbox for the 602 engine that I'll drop in:Doh!

Then I looked a bit closer:Doh!

Peeved, I went back to the body-off job. Still couldn't get the body to separate from the chassis. So I had a good look underneath... and discovered a bit of bodging that an old-school French farmer would have been proud of: Some twunt's welded the body to the chassis! And the space is too tight to get an angle grinder in!

Made some progress today! Armed with some super-thin cutting disks I set to work on the bits where the chassis had been welded to the body.
and before long I'd managed to do this
which revealed this
So I got the cutting disk out again and turned it into this

Then I got my spot weld removing drill bit out and detached the grotty rear door drip channel

The chassis is sound, which is nice to know!

Time for a petite biere et un paquet de chips.

Ah! Nowt like a Bierce pression avec un plat du pomme frites after a grubby day under a rusty a type!

Ah yes, that biere was very pleasant last week! Today has been a bit of a sorting out day, since the weather's a bit shite and don't want to get the van's shell all wet. I've found a few interesting things that I didn't know we had.

I store the van in my Dad's garage, and it's full of old crap and junk that has been untouched for many years. He's a hoarder by nature, and would be living like this if it wasn't for my Mom. Anyway, because the weather was rubbish I thought I'd have a skulk around and see what I could find.

Anyway, I found this, which I thought he'd chucked out years ago. Must be around 20 years old
I gave it a quick clean and it works fine! Yay! Maybe I won't have to buy a mig welder after all.

Quick questions: what gauge of wire should I use for welding the sheet on a 2CV? What other settings yield the best results?


I also found this
which I reckon is ex-MOD. Upon opening, the box revealed this
There's a cutting gun, and and welding gun, unused pipes, regulators, unused flashback arrestors, all sorts of nozzles, keys, adaptors, and this

Question, and this is an important question which I ask to all welding gurus out there: should I treat this kit with extreme caution? It all looks fine, apart from a touch of corrosion on the pressure gauges as shown here

You could put some soap and water mix on the pressure gauges and other fittings to see if it leaks gas, but I suppose it is oke .
I presume it is only a small bottle that fits the gas supply.

0.6mm wire, if there's part of a reel with the welder, check that it's not rusty as using that can clog the liner through which the wire is fed.

Probably the lowest setting or next one up for 2CV bodywork, the only 'fine tuning' you should need to carry out is setting the wire speed.
The 100E is still produced, I think...
A copy of the manual can be downloaded here;
http://www.clarkeservice.co.uk/product_ ... ders.shtml
When I used a Clarke welder, it was cheaper to order spares from the service centre ( in Nottingham?) than buying them from Machine Mart.

Also well worth looking at the welding tutorial on Malcolm's Mig welding forum.
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

Have fun.