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(New) New minge-bag motoring - 1983 Citroen LNA 11E


Largactil

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Following on from my original minge-bag motoring thread (here: http://autoshite.com/topic/10888-new-minge-bag-motoring/) regarding the peasant-spec Peugeot 205 XE I acquired from wackywacerwill (who seems rather quiet of late?), here's another for the LNA I bought from Wuvv last weekend.

 

The collection thread is detailed here: http://autoshite.com/topic/17940-live-international-shite-collection/

 

As mentioned in it, I was too knackered & hungover on Sunday to make a timely start on the LNA - I did spend a couple of hours washing & hoovering it out, but ideally it needs the full Vulgalour treatment at some point.

 

The paint is flat as a witches tit. I did T cut a couple of areas which had some dark streaks caused by runs from the rubbers (oh err!), and it came up very shiny. I'll probably borrow a mop, as T cutting the whole thing by hand would be rather long-winded and knackering, despite its diminutive proportions.

 

Grot-wise, it's amazingly solid for a 30+ year old Citroen.

 

Wedding-2_zpscc8415d7.jpg

 

 

Only bit I've found so far, was behind the glovebox on the bulkhead (it's maybe 5cm x 3cm). Be an arse to weld a patch in (need to pull out the entire dashboard), so I'll treat it with some rust killer, and look at a sensible way of sealing it to stop the sound-proofing from getting damp.

 

lna-6_zps8c6dfe3a.jpg

 

All the external plastic has done the usual 80's car trick of turning grey. Some of the trim tape is knackered, so I'd be as well taking it all off when I polish the bodywork, applying boiled linseed oil / peanut butter, and reattaching with new tape.

 

The OSR bumper corner is borked. I might have scored a new old stock one, if the chap gets back to me.

 

Wedding-12_zps45518d96.jpg

 

The tyres were old (date code reckons Feb 1988) and cracked before I blasted it up the A1, and I doubt 420 miles at high speed helped matters. Some of the sidewall cracks are now almost circumferential, and there's no danger my MOT man will pass it with them in-situ.

 

Thankfully Tyreleader have Uniroyal Rain Experts in the correct 135/80/13 flavour for £29 each, so I'll be ordering up a new set of boots in the next few days.

 

While away in Europe last month, I'd tried several times to get in touch with a leboncoin vendor flogging a set of Peugeot 104 Sundgau alloys for €125. We were passing literally within 2 miles of his address, but I was rubber-eared. Bah.

 

http://www.leboncoin.fr/equipement_auto/597622945.htm

 

If anyone knows of a set of Samba / 104 / any other 115 x 3 PCD alloys for sale, can you let me know? Ta.

 

Mechanically, it seems pretty good too - Hasn't been serviced for a while (hasn't been covering many miles), so probably do an oil & filter change before the MOT next month. Will then make a list of priorities, and work my way through the various systems, replacing old for new. (Parts are dirt cheap - Clutch kit is £12 from eBay!)

 

Couple of things, though; gear change was always supposedly crap on these, but the selector rod's bent and at the end of its adjustment. 2nd -> 4th are okay, but finding 1st in a rush can be a tad hit & miss. Will investigate further and possibly replace the rod / bushes.

 

Gearlink1_zps865771d9.jpg

 

If left for a while, the fuel runs back down the line to the tank, and the (cam driven) fuel pump hasn't the OOMPH to pull it back. I think a little 0.5 psi non-return valve from a fish tank might solve this, so I'll source one and give it a go.   

 

Did get one job ticked off yesterday - It's never ever had a stereo fitted.

 

I'd sourced an appropriate one from eBay for 30 quid a while back, so in it went. A lot of guddling around behind the dash to find the speaker wires, as although it must have come pre-wired from the factory, they'd helpfully* tucked them deep behind the dash.

 

lna-1_zps07602b53.jpg

 

lna-1-2_zps35941191.jpg

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lna-5_zps1530389f.jpg

 

lna-7_zpsebfd1dc3.jpg

 

Surprisingly the 31 year old speakers made noise for the first time, and seem okay.  Didn't have the proper Blaupunkt 2 pin din plugs, so bodged the wires in with split-pins till I can acquire some. The radio hole is an odd shape - Too narrow / too tall. Took a little fettling to get the cage in, and there's a slight gap at the top, so I'll get some 1mm thick black plastic sheeting to create a fascia.

 

Celebrated with a run to Tesco. It does look a tad out of place in a modern car park (!)

 

lna-1-7_zps2f0e899d.jpg

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Excellent.  Great to see it getting the attention I should have given it ages ago. :oops:

 

Funnily enough, it used to do the "fuel running back to the tank" thing when I first got it, but more recently it'd been fine - even when left for three weeks it was still firing up OK, albeit with prolonged cranking.  Fitting a non-return valve would probably help extend the battery / starter motor life span though.

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I remember doing my work experience at the long defunct rover dealer ( hall motors widnes) - a pug 104 came in as part ex.

 

The car quickly found an owner and one of the technicians was tasked with sorting it for sale.

 

Eagle eyed, he spotted a hairline mark almost the width of the bulkhead at the back of the engine bay. Stabbing at it with thin nosed pliers revealed a breathtaking amount of rot.

 

The car was still sold.

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That is lovely and so rare. Are you bringing it to Dublin?

 

That's the plan eventually - My Irish daily driver, with 'cheap' VRT (€200) and €56 a year road tax.

 

Stick a ZV plate on it (maybe find someone to make a red rear plate), and go annoy the chap from Tipperary at shows, who currently has the only LNA in the ROI. :-P

 

In the meantime, the plan is get it through an MOT in the UK and replace a few bits as I go, in an attempt to improve future reliability.

 

VAG radio in PSA car. 

My brain hurts!

 

Ah, that's just the box it came in (no VAG branding anywhere else) - I've seen the official LNA accessories catologue, and you had a choice of Philips or Blaupunkt radios. This unit is from 84/85, so is from the correct period. :-)

 

 

Excellent.  Great to see it getting the attention I should have given it ages ago. :oops:

 

Funnily enough, it used to do the "fuel running back to the tank" thing when I first got it, but more recently it'd been fine - even when left for three weeks it was still firing up OK, albeit with prolonged cranking.  Fitting a non-return valve would probably help extend the battery / starter motor life span though.

 

Good to know; the car is currently in the drive at my folks place, which is a 10-15 degree slope, so we'll see how it gets on with that!

 

Plan is for a general tart up - I'll keep the thread updated, so you can see how the old girl's getting on :-)

 

Liking the 'economy meter'

 

Yellow means your driving up a slight incline / red means a decent hill :-P  :mrgreen:

 

lna-2-3_zpsc687625e.jpg

 

Found the build sheet under the boot carpet - Not many options ticked!

 

Wedding-3_zps85ea2b58.jpg

 

Looking at the wiring for the rear wash-wipe, it's definitely been retro-fitted by a previous owner, from a scrapped 11RE - Thought it was an odd option to have in an 11E which hadn't even had a radio fitted!

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The original factory-fit radio in my 11E wasn't DIN-E, but a two spindle job, with an oversized metal front panel that fitted over the odd-size gap. When I swapped mine for a posh Pioneer in 1991, ISTR getting a spacer gubbins that fitted around the DIN-E cage and filled the gap. A quick Google finds plenty still on sale.

 

I also fitted 10cm Pioneer speakers in place of the originals, which required a bit of the metalwork behind the speakers gently adjusting with a hammer to fit the larger magnets. The original speakers and radio went back in when I sold it.

 

A rear wiper was the stuff of dreams though.

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Very nice.  Looks like it's going to come up a treat when you're done with the fettling.

 

For the carpet there are two approaches you can take to get it back to being SACRE BLEU once you've removed it from the car, it looks to be the sort that's a thin moulded sort of deal in a nasty cheap plasticy material for the pile.  Weird stuff, but incredibly tough when it comes to cleaning.  First option is a nail brush and washing powder, a bucket of clean warm water and much time on your hands and knees scrubbing the whole thing.  The second option (providing the carpet is in good order) is to get a jetwash/power washer/Karcher and give it a good old blast with a bit of car shampoo and watch as all the EW comes pouring out leaving an eye-searingly blue carpet behind.

 

I have tried the former method to good effect but not the latter method as I've not yet had access to a jetwash to do it with.

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Very nice.  Looks like it's going to come up a treat when you're done with the fettling.

 

For the carpet there are two approaches you can take to get it back to being SACRE BLEU once you've removed it from the car, it looks to be the sort that's a thin moulded sort of deal in a nasty cheap plasticy material for the pile.  Weird stuff, but incredibly tough when it comes to cleaning.  First option is a nail brush and washing powder, a bucket of clean warm water and much time on your hands and knees scrubbing the whole thing.  The second option (providing the carpet is in good order) is to get a jetwash/power washer/Karcher and give it a good old blast with a bit of car shampoo and watch as all the EW comes pouring out leaving an eye-searingly blue carpet behind.

 

I have tried the former method to good effect but not the latter method as I've not yet had access to a jetwash to do it with.

 

I liberally poured G101 over the carpet mats in my 940, used a deck scrubber to work it in then hung them against a wall and jetwashed them. The shit that came off was incredible.

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That's ace in every respect (although I can't approve of you wanting rid of those steel wheels!)

 

Not so much wanting rid of them - More a case of the fact the 3 stud Amil RIMZ can take a 165 tyre as opposed to the 135 on the steel wheels; the peasant-spec 205 was much more pleasant to drive at speed when I swapped from 135's to 175's.

 

Yay!

 

I'll be looking to pick your brains SambaS - I possibly need a gear linkage rod like the one your mate bent the other month. Also looking for a set of the aforementioned Samba Amil's if you know of any... :-)

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Very nice.  Looks like it's going to come up a treat when you're done with the fettling.

 

For the carpet there are two approaches you can take to get it back to being SACRE BLEU once you've removed it from the car, it looks to be the sort that's a thin moulded sort of deal in a nasty cheap plasticy material for the pile.  Weird stuff, but incredibly tough when it comes to cleaning.  First option is a nail brush and washing powder, a bucket of clean warm water and much time on your hands and knees scrubbing the whole thing.  The second option (providing the carpet is in good order) is to get a jetwash/power washer/Karcher and give it a good old blast with a bit of car shampoo and watch as all the EW comes pouring out leaving an eye-searingly blue carpet behind.

 

I have tried the former method to good effect but not the latter method as I've not yet had access to a jetwash to do it with.

 

 

The carpets come out very easily, so the latter could well be an option - Working away at the moment, but I'll have a go when I get back.

 

Shame about the seats - Whatever cloth the French used in their 80's cars seems to completely disintergrate with prolonged sun exposure (my old 205 suffered the same). One of the Visa forum chaps reckons he knows of a place which will re-upholster them for £375, but I'd baulk at laying out almost what the car cost to have nice seats, when there's more important stuff that needs doing first.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm guessing this is the same motor from over on the visafree forum. So hi again.

 

Hi Lee - Yep, that's me  :-)

 

Found out a bit of its history from a helpful chap off the Visa forum - It was bought new in 1983 by a lady from Hampshire - She owned it for 27 years, and then it found its way to BCA auctions in Blackbush in November 2010. An enthusiast bought it, and did some light reconditioning before using it for shows etc. He sold it in late 2012 to a Peugeot specialist, who advertised it on eBay and I guess is the bloke that Wuvv bought it from.  

 

(Handy for a DOCTOR style write-up if I ever sell it  :-D )

 

Anyway, fun and games with the LNA over the past couple of days  :?

 

I'd had a new set of boots fitted in preparation for the forthcoming MOT; these replaced the 26 year old set, which were older than the tyre fitter who stuck on the new set.

 

Out with the old...

 

tyre-1-2_zpsf51305bd.jpg

 

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In with the new...

 

tyre-2_zps1e966eb6.jpg

 

Larger 145's rather than the original 135's - Feel the extra grip...Worth a few tenths around the roundabouts of the local bypass*

 

£29.29 per tyre delivered, and all four fitted for £20 - Bargain.

 

I had to head to Southampton for work, so the car was dumped at the top of my folks rather steep drive, where it sat dormant for 2.5 weeks.

 

The MOT runs out today (6th October), so I'd booked the car into the place I use for all my spannering needs - Flew in from my gaff in Dublin last night, and decided I best see if it'd start.

 

Nope.

 

Turned over, but didn't even try and catch.

 

Pulled the fuel feed off the pump and there was nowt there, so sucked the line using a straw, which meant I only got half a mouthful of petrol. Yum.

 

Still nowt.

 

Pulled the air cleaner off the carb, and reckoned I could see an empty float bowl - Chucked a thimble full of petrol in the top of the carb (couldn't find my Easystart), and tried again - Fired this time, but died straight away.

 

Progress.

 

Did this again, with the same result - But when I turned the ignition for a third time, nothing happened. Stuck the lights on, and tried again - Still nothing, and the lights didn't dim when turning the key = starter motor or wiring. Bah.

 

Lost the will to live at this point, so stuck the battery on charge, and went to the pub to get drunk.

 

Awoke this morning to the effects of several pints of Guinness wrecking havoc on my bowels - Had the joy of combining this with standing in the pissing rain for half an hour, checking wiring and connectors, and failing miserably to get anywhere.

 

My old man offered a tow, and dragged the LNA 4 miles down to the garage - A Nissan Juke towing an LNA must score fairly highly in the ranks of coolness & street cred.

 

(And being towed 3 metres behind your old man's P&J in a shit car with unservoed brakes certainly focuses the mind!)

 

The MOT man welcomed me with great joy and delight* as I pushed the LNA into his yard  :-P

 

Waiting game now - He's giving it a big service for me (oil / filters/ leads / plugs / coil / water pump / belts etc), and changing the fuel pump.

 

I would have a go myself, but I haven't got the time / skillz / WMD's required to loosen some of the seized 31 year old bolts.

 

(Poor excuse, I know).

 

At least he got it started - Sticky starter solenoid, which I suppose I should have guessed, but he did have to strip the motor to get it working.

 

Old cars - They're great, aren't they?  :mrgreen:

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Hmm.  I'm not surprised about the fuel thing, especially if it's been parked on a slope - it did that trick a few times during my ownership, although sucking the fuel through normally got it going again.  Never had any issues with the starter motor though.  I know some people might think of this as sacrilege, but I'd be tempted to put an electric pump in line with the mechanical one - the fuel-running-back-to-the-tank thing is a common issue on these apparently, and letting an electric pump drag the fuel back through uses a lot less battery power than cranking the engine to get the mech pump working.  It's worked a treat on the 164 anyway.

 

Is your man going to have a bash at sorting out the gear linkage while he's at it?

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Haven't had the chance to try the Rain Experts properly, as it was bone dry the day I had them fitted, and although it was grim yesterday, I was being towed at 30-40 mph behind my dad's Juke... ;)

 

Think it was a combination of things, Wuvv - Sitting for nearly 3 weeks on a steep drive certainly didn't help (my old man would usually turn it over occasionally, but my folks were away on holiday).

 

Repeatedly abusing the starter probably caused it to jam - was never likely to start anyway as the carb needle valve was sticky, apparently.

 

(Starter is seemingly rather new - should be fine after its brush clean up).

 

Quite a few perished hoses which will be replaced - one of which is the vacuum line from the carb (possible cause of the acceleration hesitation?)

 

New fuel pump being fitted too - I'll probably fit a back up electrical pump for piece of mind when I get the chance.

 

As for the gear linkage - SambaS put me onto a source for a new old stock linkage rod, so that'll be getting swapped too. I have the settings from the workshop manual, so he'll set the position to that. (There is a bush kit available, but that's a job for another day).

 

So, jobs being completed at the moment are:

 

Oil / oil filter

Air filter

New water pump

New aux belt

New thermostat

Coolant change and radiator flush

New HT leads

New coil

New spark plugs

New hoses

Tappets & valve clearances set (new rocker gasket too)

New gear linkage rod

(Hopefully) new MOT

 

(My spanner man's labour rates are very reasonable & he gets a lot done in an hour.)

 

I'll have his verdict soon, but seems quite positive so far... :)

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