Hey guys!
I'm not a big forumer; hung out on here and posted occasionally over the years so you'll have to excuse me for being a relative unknown!
Anyway, I've bitten the bullet and bought myself a D. Always wanted one- Not requiring a car as daily transport has finally provided me with the right time for a car like Celia (named by the girlfriend..!).
So.. Mainly starting this thread to document, share and provide a bit of history to my work over years to come. May not be to everyone's liking (or standard) but I'll give most things a go and hope to have a "period" car in terms of originality that'll be up to lasting another 40 years!
Mainly focusing on long term.. I'm a fan of doing something once and doing it properly, so budget can slow things down at times!
Anyhow, here's the car as I bought it. Some of you may have seen it on carsales; it was the ideal start to my project- registered, running and in generally clean condition. I can't really undertake a massive restoration of a total wreck given my facilities and requirement for a running car in the fairly near future so I was after a car I can work on a sort of rolling restoration basis.
Took her for a drive to katoomba the very next day; what a pleasure! I thought my BX 16v rode well!
So; I've been soldiering on for a few months now, making progress. Slowly, but progress nonetheless. It's a solid learning experience; teaching myself metalwork and welding as I go!
So- from my disassembly and inspection, she's a pretty solid car. Had plenty of work over the years to keep her going (on the road continuously for last 40 years!) but obviously needs some pretty serious tidying up to meet my standards and requirements.
So- first was to disassemble the front end after discovering serious rust in the numberplate panel.. Signs of things to come...!
All disassembled and I discovered the front of the sills and crossmember (guess that's what it's called..?) were seriously rusty.
Repair time. I cut out all the rusted sill, bought myself some 1.6mm steel and set about fabricating some repair panels and protecting the sills from further rust.. Liberal application of cavity wax while all was apart.
The old front crossmember. Surprised to find so much rust here.. Is this a common spot?
Time to spend some money. Citroworld have been great; the crossmember wasn't listed, but an email and the part was listed and bought. I bought a new numberplate panel and some supplies for phase 2 (repainting and sealing the roof).
Anyhow, they turned up the other day! So, I spent my spare time polishing the front bumper using a josco polishing kit from bunnings- HORRENDOUSLY time consuming but really happy with the results!
I spent the last few days fitting up re front section and welding in the crossmember. I got the numberplate panel painted at scientific motor body works in rose bay for $100- amazed at the quality; thanks guys! Needed plenty of high-fill to get the finish they did!
Here's the crossmember installed after seam sealing and before paint:
I'm not a big forumer; hung out on here and posted occasionally over the years so you'll have to excuse me for being a relative unknown!
Anyway, I've bitten the bullet and bought myself a D. Always wanted one- Not requiring a car as daily transport has finally provided me with the right time for a car like Celia (named by the girlfriend..!).
So.. Mainly starting this thread to document, share and provide a bit of history to my work over years to come. May not be to everyone's liking (or standard) but I'll give most things a go and hope to have a "period" car in terms of originality that'll be up to lasting another 40 years!
Mainly focusing on long term.. I'm a fan of doing something once and doing it properly, so budget can slow things down at times!
Anyhow, here's the car as I bought it. Some of you may have seen it on carsales; it was the ideal start to my project- registered, running and in generally clean condition. I can't really undertake a massive restoration of a total wreck given my facilities and requirement for a running car in the fairly near future so I was after a car I can work on a sort of rolling restoration basis.
Took her for a drive to katoomba the very next day; what a pleasure! I thought my BX 16v rode well!
So; I've been soldiering on for a few months now, making progress. Slowly, but progress nonetheless. It's a solid learning experience; teaching myself metalwork and welding as I go!
So- from my disassembly and inspection, she's a pretty solid car. Had plenty of work over the years to keep her going (on the road continuously for last 40 years!) but obviously needs some pretty serious tidying up to meet my standards and requirements.
So- first was to disassemble the front end after discovering serious rust in the numberplate panel.. Signs of things to come...!
All disassembled and I discovered the front of the sills and crossmember (guess that's what it's called..?) were seriously rusty.
Repair time. I cut out all the rusted sill, bought myself some 1.6mm steel and set about fabricating some repair panels and protecting the sills from further rust.. Liberal application of cavity wax while all was apart.
The old front crossmember. Surprised to find so much rust here.. Is this a common spot?
Time to spend some money. Citroworld have been great; the crossmember wasn't listed, but an email and the part was listed and bought. I bought a new numberplate panel and some supplies for phase 2 (repainting and sealing the roof).
Anyhow, they turned up the other day! So, I spent my spare time polishing the front bumper using a josco polishing kit from bunnings- HORRENDOUSLY time consuming but really happy with the results!
I spent the last few days fitting up re front section and welding in the crossmember. I got the numberplate panel painted at scientific motor body works in rose bay for $100- amazed at the quality; thanks guys! Needed plenty of high-fill to get the finish they did!
Here's the crossmember installed after seam sealing and before paint:
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