I have a book that was given out in the goody bag at either the 1998 (paris) or 1999 French national (le mans). It's called Ici commence L'aventure and basically tells you everything you need to do to prepare your car for a raid - including chassis and body modifications and how to drive on the various surfaces.

Here you go....


http://www.asso2cvclubsfrance.org/aventure.htm

Oh splendid, thanks so much... love it!

that book is almost irrelevant now some nice pictures but pretty much all the info is obolete.

Well there's someone in a bit of a grump. Why so?

not in a grump

chassis sterngthening? just get a chassis from a decent manufacturer and he will possibly add some of his side strengtheners to make a "Ram Raid chassis" lol

the waffle iron sump guard is useless and heavy 2mm steel or 4mm dural plate

the rear arm gussets cause the arm to break at the weld - seen it on raid cars and race cars Lois(Pony) tip about van running gear a good un but be aware that the geometry of the bell crank is diffrent

fit a DS fuel tank? if you can find one! and with it full the car will be far to heavy to negotiate rough stuff 2 jerrys and you can take them out, carry them swap them and finally sell them

its a good read from a historical point of view but id not do any of it on a car i was heading off in

Sean

So, what would you do, to a car going on a trip on bad roads?

And how should a proper sump/fueltank-guard be made?
I have read on a blog from a guy driving in Africa, that neither should be anything like "closed" if you know what I mean. They must be as open as possibly to allow dirt and sand to fall to the ground. This guy I read about had to remove the plate under the engine, as during rain, dirt turned into mud, and at a point the engine could no longer move freely because of compact dirt being stuck between the engine and engine protection-plate. So to me the Citroen-solution seems good?

And what about tyres? 145 are to difficult to find during traveling. 135 might be good, but also can be hard to find with a good thread pattern. Many use Vredestein 155, but I have even heard some say those are too heavy/big.
The whole raidcar prep thing is a bit like engine oil and electronic ignition topics. But it is nice to hear the pros and cons to things. And then each to his own, I guess.

Me?
Iid use a plate type undertray with some holes near the front and some various areas underneath, an open undertray allows ponted rocks in to hole the sump, seen it happen

Tray under the tank and a layer of foam to stop stones from getting in which could cause a hole if the back takes a big impact

A plate between the rear bumper brackets and kicked up to protect the seam along the light panel

Id weld some small plates to the underside of the arm by cutting up an old arm the arms usually fail just inside the weld that holds the swivel hub eye

id fit rock sliders a piece of alloy angle on the shocker pins and fitted instead of the large spacer washers ( but countersink the holes as on the washer)

id fit rear knife edges to the front they are bigger and stronger( and then you wont need 2 types as spares)

id fit a battery support and strengthen the area around the wing bolts on the bulkhead

id disable the steering lock fit a push button start and move the fuse box and the relays to the inside of the cab

id fit poly carb or "lexan" windows all round and make sure the screen was a laminated one ( single biggest weight saving you can do!)

id just take Toyos( my favourite but any other 135 would be fine) as most of the driving is going to be on dirt roads and from my experience even African dirt roads are better than the metalled roads found in most of the UK. Tread pattern and compound are irrelevant on gravel and dirt remember its not going to be like some "Trials" course where you have relatively short but extreme difficulties or a "Rally" where you have to drive so fast your close to the edge of control. If the roads that bad get out and plan the route. Id also not fit a roll cage Id just drive sensibly ive never had a 2cv ( or any other car) fall over. stupidly big or chunky tyres just make it noisy. Michelins are just too fragile with really vulnerable sidewalls avoid fitting tubes as they guarantee punctures and blow outs - have a couple as emergency.

some extra accessory sockets for sat nav phone charger etc

a big metal box bolted down to the rear seatbelt mounts and lockable - big enough to take a laptop camera etc

id do as much stopping and chatting to locals as is possible take pens and little notepads for kids ( and some wrapped hard candy sweets) and some minatures of whisky - local police LOVE their whisky ( especially the Muslim ones " there is nothing in the Koran about whisky - wine yes, whisky thats differednt!") people are the same the world over it seems to be the WASPS that are the ones most prone to random acts of violence.

and have some fun doing it dont go looking for dangerous stuff for the sake of Adventure ...." if you want adventure - run out of petrol!"( some famous adventurer or other)

as with oil and ignition ...you'll find I'm right ( unless someone is righter)

@id fit poly carb or "lexan" windows all round and make sure the screen was a laminated one ( single biggest weight saving you can do!)
Have poly carb windows this saves approx 5 kg (or 5 litres of extra fuel )
Fabricated an alloy tailgate needed the glass to stiffen it up, so only saved about 1 kg in the end.

@Iid use a plate type undertray with some holes near the front and some various areas underneath, an open undertray allows ponted rocks in to hole the sump, seen it happen

Include a short broom stick that allows you to poke out all the crud.....

Great post Sean! You should get worked up more often, lots of good info there.

Harley

i wasn't worked up - just Scottish (we hang round the worlds bus and train stations drinking, growling and arguing with ourselves but were pussycats really).