D Special rehabilitation

[Greenpeace]

Hi all, I recently purchased a "barn find" 1971 D Special which I will be rehabilitating for casual use. I won't be restoring it, as after looking through some of the threads this can soon become a bit of a wormhole with a D. Car has had one colour change from white to black in its deep dark past but this paint job is also well past it's use by date. All panels appear to be original to the car as there are traces of the same shade of white on all the undersides. It has the usual rust areas needing attention (the boot lid is a shocker) but I will be more focused on "freezing" the oxidisation process at this stage rather than cutting and welding. The car seems pretty sound, the doors all open and close the same whether it is sitting on its wheels, lifted by the jacking points or raised a 4 post hoist. The interior is tidy for a 50 year old and 95% of the rubbers are in amazing condition. The engine and trans seem sound and the hydraulics do everything they are supposed to. Time will tell I suppose.
Cheers Rob.

 

[KAndy]

Best wishes Rob, a wise approach I reckon.
Looking forward to some photos
Cheers!

 

[ajaxvte]

Push button doors, no side strips, cleanest lines of all the Dees in my view...

 

[DS/ID]

I think you're tackling it the best way. Get it on the road and enjoy first and you will enjoy the ride as well as finding things out about your
car. A full restoration can be done further down the track when you are completely in awe of the genius of such a car! Good luck with it.

 

[Greenpeace]

I think you're tackling it the best way. Get it on the road and enjoy first and you will enjoy the ride as well as finding things out about your
car. A full restoration can be done further down the track when you are completely in awe of the genius of such a car! Good luck with it.

Thanks DS/ID,
I've looked at big Citroens (DS/CX) many times over the years. The thing that held me back in the past was that they would have been my sole transport at the time. I actually shook hands on another D Special a few years ago and the seller subsequently pulled out under controversial circumstances. I bought a GS shortly after that, good car, but it ended up getting vandalised and written off. Times change and this Citroen has to share my spare time with several other cars and bike's.
Regards Rob.

 

[Greenpeace]

Push button doors, no side strips, cleanest lines of all the Dees in my view...

I agree, even in its battle weary paint I just keep standing ogling it.

 

[Greenpeace]

Best wishes Rob, a wise approach I reckon.
Looking forward to some photos
Cheers!

Thanks KAndy.

 

[Greenpeace]

Here are some interior shots. I haven't cleaned it as yet but it looks like it will come up well with some elbow grease. The only thing I have done is make the door trims as the old ones were a bit sad and I also replaced the very badly cut (blue/grey carpet) parcel shelf cover. The door trim boards were all buckled and/or broken from water ingress and the plastic covers had faded to a light gold colour. I cut new panels out of 3mm marine ply and found a nice 1970s style corduroy fabric that I think is a good colour match (it was fun keeping the lines straight though)! I also reattached (and remade where necessary) the plastic waterproofing panels on the inside door skins. The parcel shelf cover is a black basket-weave "pleather" which I glued to a sheet of closed cell foam, not original I know but is it quirky enough to pass as "French"? I initially thought the seats had been retrimmed at some stage but when I removed the rear squab I found a tag attached to the cover with the word "Australie" written on it. Has anyone seen this same trim combination before? Carpets are all original and should clean up well. The headlining has a couple of little tears that have previously been glued up but otherwise all the upper trims present well.
Cheers Rob.

 

[Greenpeace]

Here's the outside, I have had all the guards off and been inside all the doors and there are no signs of distortion from dents/scrapes. Not sure why but the L front guard and door have a very, very thin coat of red between the original white and the black respray . It's actually glossy red so isn't red oxide primer. Maybe started to paint it red and didn't like it so went to black, who knows? I never took any photos of the boot lid when I bought the car, but is was flopping around on the back like a fish out of water. The lock, catch, badges and struts were thrown in a box. It had 3 big holes cut out of it (where the badges and lock go) with an angle grinder, all the underside panel had rusted off and was laying in the boot floor, the corners and much of the lower edge had been "reconstructed" with fibreglass and bog which was all delaminating as they were very old repairs. I had it flagged for the bin until the $1200 quotes (with freight) out of Europe for a fibreglass one arrived!! Without going into too much detail I rehabilitated the old boot lid and finished it with a "worn look" to match the rest of the car. I know the D Special badge is a 72 but the old 71 script badge was in the box of bits (broken in half) along with the 72 one, so I used the good one. Hoping to get a RWC in the next couple of days and put it on club rego.
Cheers Rob.

 

[Budge]

I actually quite like that patina of age. How did you 'freeze' it?

Probably not high up your list, but at least one of the European suppliers sells reproductions of the 1971 style of 'D Special' badges.

 

[Greenpeace]

I actually quite like that patina of age. How did you 'freeze' it?

Probably not high up your list, but at least one of the European suppliers sells reproductions of the 1971 style of 'D Special' badges.

Hi Budge,
I wire brushed as much as possible, treated with rust converter, sprayed with black zinc primer then liberally used Tectyl 506. It is stored under cover and (unless caught out) won't be seeing rain. There are no signs of any previous welding so I figure what's there is 50 years in the making. Although from what you read about these cars, what rust is there might have been there 45 years ago anyway!! There are no signs of rust in the floors, sills, front horns, rear bumper mounting points, suspension mounting points, door frame pillars etc. Obviously these areas would need proper attention if they were affected in any way.
Yes I am fond of the "old battleship" look myself but I can certainly appreciate ANY car that has been restored to as (or better than) new.
I did see the replacement badges on line. I guess it would be like a rat with a gold tooth at the this point in time though .
Regards Rob.

 

[Budge]

Thanks. I've seen old Citroens at events in Europe where the rust has been 'preserved' in some way. still looked red but treated in some way and then (lacquered?) over.

 

[Greenpeace]

Hi Budge,

yes there are a lot of different methods of "preserving" the original finish, I believe some are more effective than others. A light scrub with CLR clear will remove the heavy oxidisation and actually brighten what paint is left up quite considerably. I've clearcoated over this myself (on other vehicles) but it does start to peel/flake after a while. I haven't tried it personally but using floor polish, linseed oil or WD40 all seem fairly popular in the USA. Floor polish appears to be the longest lasting with the least surface residue (from what I've read). Be a bugger to get rid of though if you decided you wanted to repaint the car, as they often contain wax! My Citroen's problem areas are all hidden, hence the way I approached it included black zinc priming the surface.
Regards Rob.

 

[Greenpeace]

Got a RWC on the old girl yesterday via a mobile service. The youngish mechanic (to me) was in awe of the technology for the year of the car. He said "An old guy told me about them years ago but I've never actually been near one".
I guess after gaggles of RWCs on Falcadores, Euroboxes and Japanese/Korean cars it would be a breath of fresh air! He had a grin from ear to ear as the car lifted it's skirts on start up (I'd parked it on its lowest setting).
Had a great yarn with him, dispelled a few myths and showed him how to check for blown/flat spheres, where the disc pads were etc. He thanked me as he was leaving and said "I've finally seen one in the flesh and I doubt if I'll be seeing another".
Cheers Rob.

 

[Greenpeace]

Club rego is taken care of, couple of hiccups at Queensland Transport due to the car's age and unknown rego history. The car was stored for a looong time, (thankfully high up in a shed on a 4 post hoist, so no furry visitors). Transport staff were great however and between three of them and a couple of phone calls they worked out a solution.
Weather is crap, so no driving it today . I'll post a couple of "action shots" once it fines up!
Forgot to to mention the car came with a dozen ring binders full of photocopied workshop manuals!
Plenty of light reading on a rainy day .
Rob.

 

[Greenpeace]

First real drive today (40 kms or so, mix of flat and hilly running). I'd like to say it went well but a couple of issues became apparent. It's slowly getting hot (I've had the radiator rodded and cleaned/tested since I bought the car) and charge light coming on intermittently. Took a photo in front of one of my favourite buildings while I was out and about. Reminds me of most of my vehicles, old and dilapidated but refuse to fall over. Rob.

 

[Greenpeace]

My wife reckoned the picture would look better in black and white, not sure if she meant the photo would look better or the car wouldn't look so bad. Second photo is another old building about 5 kms from the first one. The posts that used to hold the awning up were dangling from the roof until recently, they finally rotted off! Got to love those QLD termites. Rob.

 

[faulksy]

The engine block often needs backflushing as well otherwise all the crud just blocks the radiator again. Stick the foot of a stocking into the top radiator hose and check it regularly. Also make sure that the zip in the vinyl duct is closed and that there are no holes in the vinyl.


Have a look at the wiring around the voltage regulator on the side of the battery frame. A loose wire on the R terminal could cause the light to flicker. Have a look at the L wire and see if the insulation is worn or broken anywhere. If that wire hits the frame or anything else grounded it will turn the light on.

 

[Greenpeace]

Hi Faulksy, I drained/filled/heated/backflushed the block several times before I removed the radiator for repair. I kept doing it until the water came out the bottom hose crystal clear. The radiator had a plastic mesh cone filter in the top tank already. Tested the thermostat, the vinyl shroud is fine, zip is intact, I have had the metal duct out, no problems there. Water pump looks new, belts are tight, fan is stock, fan shroud in situ, heater works, Ignition timing is fine, not running lean, exhaust is new, brakes aren't dragging, tyres are correct pressures. The big stop light hasn't come on yet but the car has an electronic accessory temp gauge and it is creeping up to over 100C. The stop light came on once prior to getting the radiator cleaned and the gauge was reading 110C. I'm starting to run out of ideas???

I thought I found the charge problem, the black wire spade terminal was broken inside the clear insulation, however a new terminal has not cured it. Now the light is off at idle and comes on and stays on when I rev the engine a bit? Thinking regulator? Alternator doesn't have the rattle that you sometimes hear with a blown diode???

Cheers Rob.

 

[Hotrodelectric]

Rob-

Does the car still have the original alternator/regulator setup? It almost sounds like the three ring terminals are mis-connected. Difficult to do with 3 different size rings, but I've seen a lot crazier.....


Edit: stupid me. I typed "cat" for "car"