My Fleet - end of year update

[chodweaver]

As you have new relays on the way, I'd pop one or both open and see if the contacts look a bit charred or corroded - a sliver of emery paper is my preferred method of cleaning them up if they are. For complete ocdness, I put a multimeter across the relay and click it closed manually, looking for the resistance to drop to 0 ohms or close - if the state of the contacts is hindering it, the resistance will hop about or still have a few ohms at closed - test again after cleaning them up to be sure you've nailed it. Put them in the spares drawer if they're fixed.

 

Good luck

 

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[They_all_do_that_sir]

So recently I done some towing, a mate bought an old caravan and has no towbar, so I offered to do some collectioning. Of course it rained. Have a nice video:

https://youtu.be/poZcNgMK7XE

 

This proved the XM is ready to tow, bar a bit of a hot oil smell during one climb the temperature stayed stable and no oil, coolant or LHM was used.

 

We are going to drag our own terrible old caravan out of storage for an overnight this weekend. In preparation ive bought a shonky old CD player off ebay. So far I have removed the tape player and discovered MANY WIRES

 

What is this?

 

Two antenna cables?

 

Must consult the HBOL....

 

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[chodweaver]

Yus. I believe XMs have separate AM and FM aerials. Mine has two connectors for them, just the same.

 

And the multipin DIN? Now I think of it, there's one of those in mine too. And I'm guessing it's the connections for the steering wheel controls. Only of use if you have a head unit that matches.

[Heidel_Kakao]

I hope you have better luck installing your CD player than I have in mine. I got it working but the steering wheel controls don't work properly. Apparently it is a problem that can happen with Alpine head units.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I might have a go at making something to convert the analogue steering control commands into something the stereo understands

 

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[chodweaver]

There are adapters available, otherwise you're stuck with the two vintage Clarion units that Citroen fitted which interface directly with that DIN plug. And the Clarion unit I have is not terribly inspiring, so I may be going the adapter route in time, to make better use of the speakers and crossovers PO fitted.

 

If you google 'XM Steering wheel controls', a bunch of adapters by head unit manufacturer will come up from ebay. They all seem to be for S2 XMs though...

[beko1987]

I looked into making/buying an adapter for my xm's wheel controls, then swiftly gave up! Maybe a raspberry pi nailed under the dash would help?

[chodweaver]

Did you see this on club-xm? Again, S2 though I think...

 

http://club-xm.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6183

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Recent adventures in caravan collectioning reminded me I really needed to sort my own van out. But before all that some battery bollocks - the XM does sit for long periods and I'm lazy so only charge the battery when I remember. To compound things something deep in the bowels of its French wiring is slowly draining the battery.

Rather than trace the drain I just bought an isolating terminal switch.

HOWEVER the negative terminal was bodged onto the existing battery as it appears to be too big. Meaning it slips off the isolation jobbie when fully tightened. Bugger.

 

So I just put it back the way it was. At some point I'll get a suitable terminal.

 

And onwards to caravan storage. God I'm bringing down the tone aren't I?

 

 

Its a Swift Corvette of 1989 vintage so period correct for the car. It was also bloody filthy

 

 

"We advise the public not to approach this outfit"

 

 

Anyways a good couple of hours washing the bastard thing and it looks OK again. I even managed an EBAY special photo of its magnificence

 

 

I'm not sure either

 

 

Still much to do. Some twat nicked my wheel trims. Fuck knows why, they were mismatched cracked cheap ass aftermarket specials. Unless someone was just really offended by them and binned them for me. Anyhow I plan on painting my phat rimz. Unsure on colour. Perhaps white, most likely resale silver but I have had a stirring for a nice bottle green to match the side stripes....

 

 

Anyway its back in storage for now. Isnt she a looker etc etc

 

 

And another spaff worthy picture of the XM for shits and giggles

 

 

Theres some really fucked looking caravans in that storage place. This one isnt even that old. Probably owned by some long deceased giffer...

 

 

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[oldcars]

Your caravan is class. You need some autoplas trims for it.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

 

 

Your caravan is class. You need some autoplas trims for it.

Cheers dude. Weve owned it for around 5 years or so. Amazingly the inside is bone dry. The floor in the gas locker is quite damp unfortunately, the locker door needs a small repair to the hinge as its dropped on one side and isnt weather tight

 

 

The gas isnt great either, the hob is fine however the water heater has never worked, the flame from the fire is yellow so it needs attention (dont worry we dont use it, I know a yellow flame on a gas fire = certain death from carbon monoxide.....) and we have never used the fridge on the gas.

 

Im planning on ripping out the gas fire and replacing it with a wall mounted electric convection heater.

People will say this will make the van worth less but as we bought it for £800 5 years ago Im hardly worried about resale.

The big motivator for us is we only ever use it on commercial sites where 240v hookup is included in the fee, and consequently we have always heated it with electric means.

 

I want to end up with the gas only feeding the hob. It makes the system safer (less points of failure) and simpler.

 

I'm paranoid with kids in the van so the valve on the gas cylinder only gets switched on to cook then shut off straight after.....

 

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[oldcars]

Cheers dude. Weve owned it for around 5 years or so. Amazingly the inside is bone dry. The floor in the gas locker is quite damp unfortunately, the locker door needs a small repair to the hinge as its dropped on one side and isnt weather tight

 

 

The gas isnt great either, the hob is fine however the water heater has never worked, the flame from the fire is yellow so it needs attention (dont worry we dont use it, I know a yellow flame on a gas fire = certain death from carbon monoxide.....) and we have never used the fridge on the gas.

 

Im planning on ripping out the gas fire and replacing it with a wall mounted electric convection heater.

People will say this will make the van worth less but as we bought it for £800 5 years ago Im hardly worried about resale.

The big motivator for us is we only ever use it on commercial sites where 240v hookup is included in the fee, and consequently we have always heated it with electric means.

 

I want to end up with the gas only feeding the hob. It makes the system safer (less points of failure) and simpler.

 

I'm paranoid with kids in the van so the valve on the gas cylinder only gets switched on to cook then shut off straight after.....

 

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Your like me, gas on cook, gas off. Mine has a shut off for everything under the sink. Only put the cooker feed on. Fridge off the 240v as we don't have a battery either. Does me fine. Paid £550 for mine 5 years ago. Has leaked a bit this year, but i have sealed it and last weekend in the hammering rain it was dry. Love my old van

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Can you put it on the negative terminal?

 

Ben

That is the negative terminal unfortunately!

 

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[DodgeRover]

Just open up the slot a bit wider with a hacksaw (ie fetch a bit off the inner edges that go together) to achieve more clampage on the battery terminal.

 

Gas fire and water heater - give them a good hoovering out especially over and around the burners and vents - They can easily get blocked up giving poor combustion

[They_all_do_that_sir]

This arrived today

 

 

Which meant I could fit this

 

 

Its a Sanyo Excedia. I chose it mainly because it doesnt look hideous - most aftermarket stereos give me a headache just looking at them and would look terribly out of place in the car.

 

Secondly it has AUX in which is essential as I don't trust many radio stations to provide me with music I find acceptable, and CDs don't really fit anywhere bar the glovebox, taking up valuable space for, well, gloves I guess...

 

Thirdly it has a rotary volume knob. I really really really despise stereos that use little up and down buttons for making everything louder. Sorry but it's just not proper form.

 

Finally it was much cheapness. £15 on ebay delivered to my door. This however means it has the one downside associated with every fecking second hand stereo I've bought - butchered wiring. Why do people do this?

 

 

As mentioned an adapter was sourced to allow electricity and music to flow in a glorious multi cultural marriage of Japanese and French wiring. With everything connected together I now have about 50 foot of wires to stuff behind the dash

 

However this was all for testing purposes, as I intend ripping it all out, chopping most of it out and soldering together a nice neat harness using the ISO plug at one end and the citroen compatible plug at the other.

 

So here it is. the keen eyed amongst you will spot that I have swapped the stereo and cubby hole around. Ive seen a few cars with this arrangement and thought I would give it a go....

 

 

I also found the tape deck I removed was standard fit in some 80s German sports vehicles, with a suitably "barn find" advert it netted me £77 on ebay!

 

 

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[Heidel_Kakao]

So did the head unit come hidden from the factory on series ones then? I notice you have a musical note on your door opening button.

On mine which I am pretty sure had not been messed with since it left the factory, the cubby hole originally lived behind the door and I have a different symbol on the door opening button.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

So did the head unit come hidden from the factory on series ones then? I notice you have a musical note on your door opening button.

IMG_20170823_194619.jpg

On mine which I am pretty sure had not been messed with since it left the factory, the cubby hole originally lived behind the door and I have a different symbol on the door opening button.

Yup completely hidden

 

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[They_all_do_that_sir]

The aftermarket gear knob fitted to the citroen always annoyed me a bit - it was too tall, meaning a long throw for gearchanges which gave the car an agricultural feel.....

 

Rather than buy a new knob, as I'm a cheapskate I modified what I have.

First was drilling out this bit

 

This allows the knob to slide further down the shaft.....all fitted back together we have a neater assembly

 

Its only maybe 2 or 3 inches lower but its so much nicer to use. Pleased with that for 10 minutes faffing around

 

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[Heidel_Kakao]

Nice work, it is amazing how much the right knob can make to the driving experience. Have you been on the lookout for an original knob at all?

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Nice work, it is amazing how much the right knob can make to the driving experience. Have you been on the lookout for an original knob at all?

Yes and no, from what ive read the s2 knobs can still be had from citroen and peugeot dealers, only difference is they are a slightly different shade of colour which you wouldnt notice. Cost around £20

 

Very few used ones available, I think they are hard to remove without destroying them.

 

I really like this, it might look a bit out of place but its a nice nod to citroens of old:

 

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131863898807

 

 

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[Heidel_Kakao]

I have a similar aftermarket knob to that one in my SC100. It's ok but it is quite small so feels quite dainty in the palm rather than a nice meaty knob.

 

Yeah I don't think it's possible to discuss knobs without it sounding lewd lol.

[puddlethumper]

The aftermarket gear knob fitted to the citroen always annoyed me a bit - it was too tall, meaning a long throw for gearchanges which gave the car an agricultural feel.....

 

Rather than buy a new knob, as I'm a cheapskate I modified what I have.

First was drilling out this bit

 

This allows the knob to slide further down the shaft.....all fitted back together we have a neater assembly

 

Its only maybe 2 or 3 inches lower but its so much nicer to use. Pleased with that for 10 minutes faffing around

 

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Definitely better when the knob slides further down the shaft. fnar fnar.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

As mentioned in the news 24 thread, I am contemplating selling the XM.......

 

I'm not totally sure I want to but I'm at max capacity storage wise and the XM is getting very light use........but it is such a lovely thing.....

 

However......I have an itch for something either MX5 or MGF shaped. And either of these cars would be on the wife's hit list. This is big news because she is generally not a car person, but there are a handful of cars she would get excited about, and these two are at the top.

 

MG wise I think she would prefer a TF whereas I am inclined to think the F is the better made car?  But ultimately having something on the drive that we can both be enthusiastic over would be nice.

 

The biggest problem is.......how much is the XM worth? It's so hard attaching a value. I've seen non runners go for daft money and MOT'd examples go for peanuts. I didn't pay much for the car BUT have done a few bits and pieces to it which means its running reliably at the minute which is bound to count for something.

 

I could whack it on eBay and see what it fetches. But then you end up dealing with "the public". I don't want to take the piss with the price, and it is a very shonky example in lots of ways, but reasonably good in some more important areas....

 

Any idea?

[DSdriver]

Find someone who has an MX5 or MG and wants an XM and swopzy

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Time to update this, as much has happened on the fleet front.

 

The caravan was sold

 

The 307 shat it's turbo then shat it's timing chain so we fucked it off

 

It was replaced with my brother's old focus MK1 which was a bit "worn in" so once funds had recovered it was replaced with a Qashqai about this time last year.

 

Shortly after, the XM went to Joe Bai of this parish, and I spent the money on a very solid w203 c200 kompressor. Lovely thing to drive.

 

Then come MOT time the qashqai needed a ton of work, and wifey was doing big miles so really needed an OMGDIESEL

 

A Skoda Roomster 1.4tdi was procured.

 

Then my Merc shat it's timing chain so a second Roomster 1.4tdi was procured.

 

 

The first Roomster lost oil pressure and seized up a few nights ago.....so we decided wifey needs something that just works all the time, hence the nearly new Hyundai i30 dizzler taking pride of place on the driveway.

 

 

Yes it is a white good, literally and metaphorically but it's exactly what she needs. And it's rather nice if I'm honest

 

My Roomster has lost its handbrake, electric windows and needs drop links. I plan to rob bits off the borked one to get this one in good fettle with a view to moving it on in the new year. It's far better than the one she had, it's way lower miles and has loads of extras like a glass roof etc but it's just not me.

 

It's been a trying year!

 

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