74 DSpecial Renewal

[forumnoreason]

Made it round the bend this week, just applied KBS clear coat to engine bay paint job. I'd been swerving the clean up for a long time, but in order to make sufficient improvements, deter corrosion prep and paint was only option, it was completely shit otherwise. So with toothbrush and degreaser in hand at some stages cleaned it up and sanded back the rusty bits, rust converted wherever I found it, overall the front was not too bad. But where it was going it needed sorting. I have an aluminium firewall ( it has a left/right/centre) panels, I'm not convinced they are original as they don't look like factory made pieces, plus did DSpecials have them standard or was that a pallas treatment? It does have raised brackets to bolt on the panels which indicates it had the possibility to fit them, also I removed the old two ply composite felt sound dampener, the plan being to put in EZCool shielding behind the aluminium and whack a layer of new 'felt' over that to give original look. However given the fabric catches moisture gets filthy and not sure it was even there to begin with I'm putting in 2 layers of EZ Cool, ( thankyou Shane L) and the aluminium mystery shield. The best thing about all this is I have rounded the cape and heading into rebuild waters! Goodbye cleaning sandblasting rustproofing and painting.

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[forumnoreason]

Plugging along like Matthew, putting back hydraulic lines, replacing seals, hoping they're in right... The compliance plate has SA Automobiles Citroen on it, so I assume that is South Africa, noticed a stamp on front left top of block, clearly this is manufacture date. Got firewall in with ezcool liner, had to use 2 layers as 3 was too much to squeeze down the 'home made' aluminium firewall, its ticking along now, much more fun than cleaning and painting.

[UFO]

SA = Societe Anonyme or some such. Like our Pty Ltd.

Someone will set this straight

[STALLED]

SA = Societe Anonyme or some such. Like our Pty Ltd.

Someone will set this straight

S.A. (corporation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[forumnoreason]

And there I was thinking the D had deglamorized itself... Thanks for putting that straight. Put back the colour disc this morning for something quick to do... No turning back on painting it Blanc Meije now!

[forumnoreason]

Guessing game time... Was is das?
Has identical rubber ends, metal sleeve and washer on ouside end of one rubber. I've just done one and a half laps of 648-1+2 no luck, all guesses judged on their merit and accolades awarded accordingly!

[ds21bvh]

Hi Steve,

They are the rubber washers to hold the LHS fan assembly to it's bracketting... a longish 5mm bolt goes through the lot.

Cheers,

Mark...

[forumnoreason]

Bingo! I'm buying that Mark Merci Beaucoup : )

[forumnoreason]

Well the weather here is making working on cars much more pleasant, whilst southern cousins are starting to get numb fingers i have a window of perfect weather allowing some opportunity to push ahead getting this vehicle back together! I had the pistons in (new 90mm bore plus sleeves from CitroenAndre) and had just put them in and big ends when I noticed several screws were sheared at the heads. Not good. I kept going but on another reading of manual 814-2 noticed the instruction to completely renew these on overhaul of engine. Bugger. A quick email to our good mate Andre and yep he's got them. So when they arrive I can carry on the rebuild. Note to anyone doing this put the screws on the connecting rods FIRST before you stick them in the bores. No room after to try and get them into position. Save yourself a lot of trouble by following this little tip.
Put most of the front brakes back together, new felts and seals. Also got back a 3 core radiator from Franzose, plus the shroud, and tarted up the airscoop, replaced the rubber with homemade job, the original one had looked sad and always annoyed me (weird small detail huh?) and riveted it all together using bifurcated rivets, ( our resident guru Leo here at Hangar supplied these-"everything for the motorist" as he says. Tapped away using bits and pieces till in place, to do this job start by riveting side holding discs. then do the top and come back to the base, this is the tricky one as you have to get the rivets to fold over inside the scoop. Also had to drill the scoop as the new aluminium holding strips have holes for rivets or staples. When I disassembled the rotting shroud originally taking the staples out was a pain and I thought this is going to be a bugger of a job to do, with the correct rivets though simply a quiet afternoons work, just needs some patience and accuracy.
Came up pretty good. Tomorrow the suspension cylinders are getting put together. Slowly but surely...

[renault12]

Nice work! I love the rubber flap you made for the air scoop; that came up a treat! Looks as good as the original.. I may have to do that to mine as well!

How is the radiator from Franzose? Are you happy with the quality? Does the core appear visually much thicker than the original?

Thanks for the update.. Always interesting to see a project progressing!

[forumnoreason]

Toby I was slightly disappointed with the presentation of the radiator, the base where it. Bolts onto the gearbox support has rust on it and the prep is a rush job. I will need to look at cleaning this up shortly, but still as long as it works... No noticeable difference in scale, I should have measured the one I sent off as Denton from European Autos told me years ago the one he replaced was a bigger South African version, so not sure if I got mine back as such. I am finding it is better to have all the pieces you need to do jobs at hand at the time of replacement as finding you're missing things is a big time waster, and I am on a mission. Also tackling 3-4 things at once while speeding things up make sit more tricky keeping track of progress. Anyway I have some time off at present so always something to go at. I'll be happy when I get this motor back together and in. Soon. Like your seats me wants!

[renault12]

Ah right.. That's surprising. Everything else of theirs I've bought or seen has been superb! Still, like you said, as long as it does the job then you can always fix the presentation later.

Interesting about the size of your South African radiator! This one will do plenty well enough, I'm sure!

[forumnoreason]

I have been waylaid with engine rebuild since realising I needed new big end bolts to continue, so veered off to anything I can find to do, cleaned up the fresh air heater radiator unit in fan, be very careful with these if tarting them up as they are quite delicate.
Replaced insulation on wires for wiper motor and cleaned up, this whole effort is the result of having extinguished a fire in the motor with foam spray and the damage it did to everything that it came in contact with. Connected wiper motor to battery and it still worked! Reinstalled the driveshafts, easy to do, you have to fold out the outer boots first before putting through wheel hub as they need a bit of a push to get through. Put 210g of grease in boots, came in 70g sachets. I followed the info from the German guys site, Thomas Zink, DS20 Teil04 Technik
Did ligarex for the first time, SHOULD have bought the ligarex in a ligarex box, it springs out and turns into fishing line if you don't hang onto it! Ha ha. Spent 15 minutes recoiling the bloody stuff! I got the ligarex on ok with el cheapo Chrysler tool, not sure if it's as tight as it should be but I tried dislodging it form side to side to check and it didn't move, I may do it again though if it keeps bugging me. I do have a tendency to try and overtghten the buggery out of every nut and screw I find! So backing off isn't a bad idea. Regulator is off at auto electrician for installation of solid state one. Onwards and acrosswards.

[GreenBlood]

You're doing some really nice work there Steve, looking very pro

What colour have you used for the brown, it looks near perfect

Cheers
Chris

[forumnoreason]

It was a 2 pak I took cleaned parts in to paint supplier, actually the plate between gear box and engine was a good one because paint was like new, anyway just sat there with the guy and colour matched it, it was Dulon paint. Some is a bit rough around the edges, other bits looked excellent, pretty rough in shed here, I counted about 40 individual parts I had hanging up to paint at one point along a wire line set up with hooks, looked quite industrious at one point. I'll hopefully have all the plumbing back together shortly, painted the LHM tin, it was too far gone to polish up. I'm going to have a crack at Herr Zinks dash painting method using Revell model paint, sending it to Brissy seems too precarious with the packaging, it would need to be wrapped like Fort Knox to survive, cost etc. Fingers crossed.

[mnm]

I'm going to have a crack at Herr Zinks dash painting method using Revell model paint

Sorry, please explain.

Matthew

[forumnoreason]

If you go to DS20 link above in interior section http://www.zinkweb.de/ds20_sec/ds20_teil0504.html Thomas has used Revell paints to spray his dash, looks pretty Schmicko! I bought 6 tins each of black and anthracite plus mix 50:50 with white spirits. I'll bravely post result when I daringly attempt this method.
The brown which Doesn't have a AC number as far as I have been able to research is best colour matched. The paint I used was a Deltron not Dulon.

[forumnoreason]

Replaced rubbers in front height corrector today, thought why not it's probably not been touched in 40 years. Rubber was all pretty good but.
Opened it up and voila, found the reason I was looking for. Plumbing back to reservoir in tomorrow.

[forumnoreason]

Big end bolts get here this week, might have a motor back together by next week. I've veered off to the body and poked around under sills, found ALOT of dirt, cleaned out the tank and KBS treated it, found all the plugs missing in the floor section underneath. Discovered rust in drivers side front floor, that will be cut out and replaced, some rust in boot floor, not too bad but section to be cut out, new boot gutters ordered, so lopping off old rusted ones, overall it's not too bad, two of the cage nuts for seats are in a bad way so that needs to be cut and sorted. I've started to get into panels, bootlid and front tray got attacked today, it's all happening. Crazy.

[forumnoreason]

Getting floor mats out for cleaning up and reinstalling sill and mats, soaking the wretched mats in turps to scrape off, think I found the culprits!
Ps I dropped an axle stub on my big toe yesterday wrestling it out with trainers on, shold have been wearing my black espadrilles. Really!
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_329887-...uper-1972.html

[GreenBlood]

Getting floor mats out for cleaning up and reinstalling sill and mats, soaking the wretched mats in turps to scrape off, think I found the culprits!

Cheers
Chris

[forumnoreason]

Also pulled the rear axles off, the bearings are as dry as a... Lots of fun separating them, seals ok but nearly zero grease left, brake pads virtually non existent and a scored drum, the rear is getting the Herr Zink treatment, you need big tools to do this job like massive wrenches and a whoppa strength vice, fortunately my mate Leo here at club brings in the big guns when needed, took half a day to disassemble one, so slow job, new sleeves and repad shoes, hone drums next.

[forumnoreason]

had the Drums honed .75mm on one side, ready to send shoes for new liners one size up, pistons 'feel' ok but new sleeves and boots anyway. took apart right axle and the wheel outside bearing was rooted, will add photos to impress anyone who has a D and thinks it's all hunky dory back there. Get one on a hoist or jack it up and rotate rear wheels, if you're hearing a quiet scrape or whirring then there's no grease in there at all... Fair enough given how many have been touched in 40 years plus!
ordered the Mike Sanders rust prevention wax injection kit yesterday for sills, he phoned me today and we had a chat. Cool dude. After I finish this little activity I will be looking at selling the gun so if anyone is interested...all you need then is a gas burner and a saucepan plus 4 kilos of the super concoction to help you sleep at night knowing your baby isn't rusting voraciously from the inside out.
Still scraping off the old bitumen from floor pan and investigating sound deadening options, want something that won't absorb moisture I found some stuff from Eastwoods in the states but not sure yet.
I can confirm the only way to get this bastard gunk out easily is with a heat gun and scraper.
Onwards and across wards

[forumnoreason]

The images of what you might expect on dismantling rear axles, not pretty. The outer races of the inner stub axle are in the parlance rooted. The bearings on the torsion bar ends are extremely worn also, but their movement is restricted so I might try and skim a bit off and hope it reduces the wear, some decent grease is going to be appreciated after a thorough clean and paint. I also discovered that a heat gun and scraper are no match for an air chisel on tar floor matting. Bastard of a job, only gouged one hole in the floor pan, no big deal as some welding lined up.

[GreenBlood]

The images of what you might expect on dismantling rear axles, not pretty. The outer races of the inner stub axle are in the parlance rooted. The bearings on the torsion bar ends are extremely worn also, but their movement is restricted so I might try and skim a bit off and hope it reduces the wear, some decent grease is going to be appreciated after a thorough clean and paint. I also discovered that a heat gun and scraper are no match for an air chisel on tar floor matting. Bastard of a job, only gouged one hole in the floor pan, no big deal as some welding lined up.

Getting serious there

With the tar based sheets on the inside of my guards I used a thick coating of paint stripper(gel), left overnight I found when I came back to it I could pretty well use a paint scraper to remove the bulk of it and thinners for the residue.

Cheers
Chris