My new challenge - 1964 ID19F Safari

[Middlemoon.1]

Hi Sven,

Does the motor have high compression pistons? Should do. I happen to have taken my ID head off last week also...discovered it had the domed pistons which in addition to the webber carbie seems to suggest a safari / DW style upgrade. I got the waterpump housing off without breaking the bolts, but the housing itself has to be replaced due to bad corrosion around the hose.

 

[bleudanube]

Hi Sven,

Does the motor have high compression pistons? Should do. I happen to have taken my ID head off last week also...discovered it had the domed pistons which in addition to the webber carbie seems to suggest a safari / DW style upgrade. I got the waterpump housing off without breaking the bolts, but the housing itself has to be replaced due to bad corrosion around the hose.

Same in mine: domed pistons and a Weber carbie. My housing is also a bit chewed out at the hose connection end, but I think it is recoverable with a bit of attention. Do you know of a decent machine shop in Melbourne to overhaul/cleanup the head, hone the barrels and hydro blast all the parts?

 

[faulksy]

some light reading for you Sven http://hd19.net/restauration/DS19 1960/DS19_1960_EPISODE22/restauration_ds191960_episode22.html

Undoing the bearing retaining nut requires this giant box spanner according to the manuals.

 

[bleudanube]

Thanks faulksy. What a bizarre design - I will have a think whether I invest in a 44mm box spanner (in the parts book it says 30mm nut, so I better check what size it really is). Would be good to get it apart as the rubber bushes are knackered. To be continued...

 

[Middlemoon.1]

Same in mine: domed pistons and a Weber carbie. My housing is also a bit chewed out at the hose connection end, but I think it is recoverable with a bit of attention. Do you know of a decent machine shop in Melbourne to overhaul/cleanup the head, hone the barrels and hydro blast all the parts?

Yes. I will PM you.

 

[DoubleChevron]

sockets are cheap these days.... If you have the space ... you could cut the 3/4-1/2" end from a standard socket and weld it to a piece of pipe to make a good strong tool. I've found all the "tube" type tools absolute rubbish that bends (eg: long reach plug sockets).

 

[fritzelhund]

That plan won't work. It has to be a tube spanner as the output shafts from the differential are within the extension housings. The short shafts link the final drive to the discs. The design is not bizarre at all, a necessity to locate the inboard discs close to the final drive housing.

 

[bleudanube]

Ok, tube spanner ordered - to pull the brake disc and drive shaft housings apart...

While I have to wait for it to arrive I got onto the brakes themselves. After a bit of fiddling I finally got the first one apart, as always the second one is easier when you know how it is done. The little semi circle shims in the edges of the pads had me stumped a little.

only issue I have is that one set of pistons won’t budge with compressed air. The second set came out easily and is in good condition, so I would expect the other set to also be ok, but they are stuck.

Anyone with any ideas how else to get them out? Heat up the body maybe and try again?

I also was successful in disassembling both headlights! I filled them up with petrol and left them sit for two weeks, then scraped the mastic off from the inside as much as I could get at, pried the edge flange out a little and carefully pushed from the inside.... phew, a tad nerve wracking, but I now have two matching lenses and will send the reflectors to the guys in Queensland (Hi-qual??)

Next job: distributor clean up and check. Nice little job - no issues with it. Came up well !

The wiper motor was a bit more work. As is often the case it wasn’t just grotty, a number of the wires’ insulation was also brittle and needed to be repaired.

So I replaced the insulation with new heat shrink, checked and greased the lot, cleaned it all up and gave it a coat of silver for the steel body and a coat of clear for the lot - that should maintain its shine for a while yet.

Also overhauled the Ducellier starter motor - no issues found. The heater core was clogged up with hardened coolant residue. After endless repeats of hosing both inlet and outlet it is now free flowing again.

My first box of parts from the UK also arrived today, so I can get started on rebuilding the hydraulics soon.

All engine parts will also be sent off to the machine shop for checking, honing and cleaning soon. And with lockdown closer to being finished in Melbourne I can get the chassis to the painter as well soon.

 

[DoubleChevron]

The brake pistons are easy to get out. Just hook a hydraulic source to them. I use my sphere tester. Just slowly turn the pump until the pistons come out. One will move first, so you a Gclamp or vicegrips to hold it until the one moves as well. A grease gun will also work if you have a nipple that will fit.

 

[forumnoreason]

I've used a grease gun on later brakes. Just make sure you're ready to catch and cushion it when it flys out.

 

[bleudanube]

Don’t have a sphere tester. Have a grease gun though... assume you use the grease gun with grease? Or without..? Have to work out how to fit a grease nipple to the hydraulic line thread...

 

[IDear]

I used a grease gun (with grease) to do this job Sven.
You have a good team of helpers .............
Michael

 

[Ken W]

I use a tyre pump with one of those conical adaptors. You only need a little pressure behind them to get them moving.

Cheers, Ken

 

[DoubleChevron]

I will be interested to see how your heater core works out. I unsoldered the tanks on several ID heater cores. The tubes were so blocked I couldn't even start to clear a single one. Even with a ground down hacksaw blade to try and break away the deposits. The deposits are so strong you actually split the tubes well before they'll clear! I decided replacement was the only option

 

[bleudanube]

Thanks for all the recommendations to get the last two pesky pistons out of the brake pad... will keep you in the loop as to how it will go.

Re the heater core: Good point! I might have only washed out any grot that was stuck in the top of the housing and the tubes are still blocked... I guess once I assemble the car it will be easy to check whether it works or not and it is easily replaced if it isn’t working...

 

[deesse]

Hi Sven,

Wow, this is such a great resto post. Your descriptions, photos and questions are clear and concise with such a good fund of knowledge to help. Very impressed with how it is progressing and can't wait to see what happens next.
cheers Tony

 

[bleudanube]

Using the grease gun did the trick! Thanks guys for the tip. I used a short bolt, drilled through it and tapped the top to put the grease nipple on. The pistons started moving straight away... and again they are still in good condition.

As I didn’t pull apart the gearbox (all seemed fine and I could not see any wear or pitting on any of the gears) it needed cleaning with all its innards in place. Plugging up all orifices And going to town on it with degreaser, wire brushes, scrapers and picks. It took a whole day and an impression of ‘black face’ followed, but it was worth it. Dirty work, lots of washing and brushing, but it is now ready to be used again.
It also gave me an opportunity to drain old, gluggy oil from areas that seem to hold oil in cavities that don’t drain during normal oil changes.

Before:

After:

One major item finished. Once my tube socket arrives I can finish the drive shaft housings with the brake discs.

 

[bleudanube]

The other items I dismantled and started working on are the two Marchal auxiliary fog lights and the speedo.

the lights’ reflectors also need recoating, like the main headlight buckets. So, all four will be sent off to get redone. The glass lenses are in good condition, as are the housings. The chrome rings will need to be rechromed. They are a tad pitted.

Then onto the speedo. The whole thing comes apart. The gauges are fine, tacho works as does the fuel gauge.

But the housing and the frame that holds the glass had some corrosion, as did the inner cover. After a bit of careful masking up they received a coating of silver

And then I stuffed up... badly.

Thinking that I could give the glass a quick clean, I rinsed it in water... which immediately made all the numbers and lines break up and shift! Merde!!!!

I was aware that heat over time distorts the font and makes it look somewhat Dali-esque, but I never thought that a bit of water will wash them off in no time.

My thinking now is to get a sticker made up that I can use on the back of the glass to recreate the numbers, lines and the FUEL font. Mirror reverse with a backing foil to place the numbers and lines and then pull the foil off...

I hope Chris / Greenblood can help... he’s the master of Citroen decals.

It’s always interesting how quickly something can turn to custard and how much effort is then required to recover again... the joy of restoring old cars.

 

[faulksy]

It might be worth looking into screen printing rather than a sticker to redo the lettering on the speedo.

 

[DoubleChevron]

I'm sure to have another one of those speedos here if your stuck. They alll suffer in the way of yours though. You can't can't go anywhere near the text!