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320Touring's Citroen GSA. Boom, back in the room (unit) 11/07/2021


320touring

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I can confirm its idling issues.

 

When Mr Touring kindly gave me a shot of the GSA, I was frantically adjusting the choke as soon as I got into the driver's seat as it was idling so low the charge light was blinking. It really was not a happy bunny. It was behaving fine under load though. Very very lovely to drive!

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I can confirm its idling issues.

 

It really was not a happy bunny. It was behaving fine under load though. Very very lovely to drive!

The 1299 (lighter flywheel, higher compression, theoretically more economical but rarely in practice) engines were under-fuelled and notorious for flat spots on the first choke, often the only solution was to leave the choke flap chanted by a few mms.

 

If this one pulls without hesitation, I'd forgive it the lazy idle.

 

One gorgeous GSa I bought from a WW2 tank engineer was perfect in every way other than this, only on hot days did it run ok without a smidgen of choke. Yet when across the Channel, all was well even on cold Spring mornings - I put it down to the fuel quality we suffer in the UK.

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I've decided I like this thing sufficiently enough to actually attempt to tend to its issues..

 

MrCitroen of this here beige has generously offered to come round tomorrow to help me rectify the exhaust blow and try to sort the low idle.

 

I took the opportunity to do some preparatory work so as to best utilise his time (and to start to comprehend just what the little Citroen was made of..)

 

First, Regardez le engine bay.

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It's a bit of a pickle - pipes, tubes and wires flutter back and forth, seemingly at random.

 

It's certainly a lot more cluttered than the other flat 4 air-cooled engine I have any experience of - the venerable VW.

 

Ah well, let's start at the top. The Airfilter is held on with some jubilee clips and (supposed to be) 2 8mm nuts.

 

The clips and single nut present came off easily, revealing quite the scene.

 

 

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I'd say it's safe to say that at least part of the exhaust blow is caused by the pipe that's no err. This has obviously been an issue for a long time - looking at the condition of things I reckon this was done before import.

 

In preparation for trying to get a new one fitted, I thought it best to try and remove the remnants of the old.

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This bottom piece had been jerryrigged to buggery with the clamp (14mm nut/bolt)

Slathered with sealant. And a bit of wood inside the pipe!

 

 

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That done, it was time for the topside.3 11mm bolts hold the flanges together

 

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Whit a mess, and the cardboard 'gasket' was doing not a thing.

 

I stopped to have a bowl out of the air filter - not looking the best so I shall hunt down a replacement:)

 

 

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Next up was the spark plugs. Tentative pulling at the HT leads resulted in them coming off cleanly - though I think they are somewhat past their prime.

 

Access to the left bank was ok, but the right was somewhat more troublesome. A plethora of bracketry and ignition paraphernalia meant that my short extension and plug socket were exactly the wrong length.

 

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Nevertheless, persistence paid off, and I have 4 sooty plugs removed. Again, I suspect they were of the last millennium..

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Those HT leads are certainly pre c1998, if they're (red) Bougicords. Very likely originals - amazing.

 

The exhaust balance pipe is a thing of the devil to fit especially now OE isn't easily available, likely intended to encourage a French owner who'd hung on to his G a bit long to buy a new one.

 

Make sure both engine mounts are rock-solid before clamping up front exhaust bits.

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Those HT leads are certainly pre c1998, if they're (red) Bougicords. Very likely originals - amazing.

The exhaust balance pipe is a thing of the devil to fit especially now OE isn't easily available, likely intended to encourage a French owner who'd hung on to his G a bit long to buy a new one.

Make sure both engine mounts are rock-solid before clamping up front exhaust bits.

Thanks for the hints :) didn't touch the main exhaust today - a full report of what was achieved will follow shortly!

 

I think the leads are original - and a new set is on the cards I think, Mr Auto seem to sell them.

 

  

Neil, you should have a word with my mate Jon who knows many things GSA and Citroen generally.  He's the one who prepared our GSA for Scally Rally in 2006.  The car still exists, so he must have done an alright job.

 

Look for @spannersAK350 on Twatter.

Will do cheers chief. When you bringing the Dyane up to meet this?

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Fast forward to this morning, and it was time to get cracking.

 

We had 3 main goals..

1. Change the sparkplugs

2. Get it idling correctly

3. Sort the missing hotspot pipe.

 

As I said yesterday, the positioning of the sparkplugs was specifically designed to invoke innovation on behalf of the owner.

 

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MrCitroen proffered an exceptional solution to the thorny problem of introducing the new sparkplugs to their respective holes.

 

Step forth the 'angle of dangle' mod -

 

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a piece of silicone piping that makes seating the sparkplugs a doddle.

 

With them in, we reconnected the HT leads, noting that the original Bougicords looked a bit well worn - I'm considering getting a new set, and have some secondhand known good ones present as a backup just now.

 

Next we moved on to check the wee fuel filter in the carb - a 14mm bolt winds out to reveal a tiny little filter.

 

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This looked reasonable, so we cleaned it up and refitted.

 

We gave the carb a dousing in cleaner, and with the car idling, you could hear it start to clear.

 

Eventually we had it idling on all 4 after a fashion, and it was time to move onto the next piece of the puzzle.

 

Even though the BMW e30s have distributors and rotor arms, I've never had to set the ignition timing on one.

 

And the last time I faffed with a dizzy was likely on my parent's VW type 2 (aged about 13).

 

Time for a crash course then.

 

First up, we had a look at the dwell - it should be between 55-59 degrees (approx a 15thou feeler gauge). My car was showing 70 degrees.

 

Time to remove the distributor to adjust the points then.

 

We started by noting the position of the marks on the body.

 

These had been made by a previous owner - we didn't know what they meant but a reference pic is always useful!.

 

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Access is bloody tight with inner wing and bulkhead restricting both backwards and sidewards movement.

 

We took the distributor cap off firstly to increase the available space.

 

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Again, this is hardly in its first flush of youth, although the contacts looked servicable.

 

Next up was taking the distributor out. There are two 14mm nuts that hold the body into the engine. The top one sits in a slotted hole,to allow for advancing and regarding the ignition timing (much like n alternator tensioner may work).

 

We got the distributor off and were able to identify that we had the glory of cassette points to deal with.

 

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The small silver thumbwheel is turned (either with a screwdriver or a 3mm Allen bit) to open/close the points as required. A couple of attempts and checking got us to the magic 15 thou, and we put it back together.

 

Getting the distributor and cap back in place was a fiddly job, so we took it in turns - working until we got grumpy then swapping!

 

With it all back in place, we tried starting it, only to be met with no spark.

 

Mild panic ensued with much multimeter action and a distinct lack of 12v at the coil - odd given that we hadn't touched it!

 

Methodical retracing of steps plus some problem solving showed us the fault lay on the ballast resistor. Eventually, we got the correct combination of connections to have her burst into life!

 

Relieved, I set to replacing the missing hotspot pipe. MrCitroen had most generously donated a spare pipe he had.

 

Firstly, it was trial fitted to check for sealing at the top end - all looked very positive

 

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Then it was time to attend to the obvious issues with it.. there were 2 holes in it.

 

In a harking back to the Morris Oxford, it was time to crack out the welder!

 

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Holes filled and ground down a touch, it was time to refit it (3x 11mm bolts at the top, 1x14mm nut/bolt on the clamp at the bottom.)

 

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We got the engine wholly back together and went out on a test drive.

 

Starting was nice and positive, and the idle was much better.

 

On the open road, it's significantly quieter, and I'm now starting to see where these boxer 4 engines get their 'turbine' reputation from - ramp up the Revs and they get really smooth:)

 

I think there's still some tweaking to be done with timing, as there is the occasional hesitation, but it's a much nicer drive. Overall I'm very pleased!

 

A big thanks to MrCitroen for All his help, knowledge and parts!

 

Have a picture of my GSA and his GS Pallas side by side.

 

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Lastly, I took her out for a shakedown run and to get petrol as she has many miles to cover over the next two days..

 

She looks good in the sun!

 

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Interesting, the whole balance pipe over the top setup with the exhaust is almost exactly the same as the setup in the Invacar, just that the top half of the pipe on that is part of the inlet manifold.

It's bizarre to a boy who has only ever played with VW boxers - so much complexity on these engines, but it has a starting handle and a manual choke..

 

Not to mention a carb.

 

Weird! But fun to work on so far.

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Surely having had the distributor out and the points out of that, you'd want to check the timing?

 

Chasing poor running is points, then timing, then fuel.

 

I've a light if you need to borrow it.

We checked the timing, was bang on the 10degrees as recommended by hbol.cheers for offer of the gun!

 

So we one point are gapped ok, timing is to spec. That leaves fuelling then..

 

Assuming it's happy to start this morning, I'll not be doing anything for a couple of days - need it for using.

 

I can investigate more if needed

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Yesterday was good fun. I enjoyed it.

 

 

Yes, we gapped the points to the recommended .35mm set the timing to 10 deg btdc using my fancy snap on strobe and fitted new correctly gapped plugs.

 

It did run much better after that. The points had closed up considerably. The SEV Marchal cassette points are a nightmare. To adjust them the dizzy needs to come out, but I showed Neil that you can drill a hole in the dizzy body and insert an Allen key and adjust in situ. A dwell gauge is used if going that route.

 

Incidentally, I have the factory manual and it recommends setting the points by dwell rather than gap.

 

I definatley think the carby needs a service kit thrown at it. I done that on my more complicated Solex and it made the world of a difference. Luckily Neil has the much nicer Webber.

 

All good fun. The car is a wee cracker really. Most importantly it's solid in all the right bits.

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These engines are quite something, they look a dog's breakfast on the outside compared with German boxers but are far better engineered where it matters. Few production engines are good for 8000rpm+, let alone the ten thou they were originally designed for... someone realised your average Frenchman, even were he used to 2cvs, wouldn't be happy revving so high.

 

The pre-production engines were deemed not sufficiently quiet at idle given the quality of the cars, so economy was sacrificed for a little less noise by adjusting the shape of the combustion chamber.

 

I've had one (1015) with a documented 300k+ miles with nothing more than sealing of the common oil drip from the O-rings on the return pipes for the heads. It ran smoother than any Porsche boxer unit I've driven and like any really good air-cooled Cit, power delivery took off over about 5500rpm with no apparent ceiling - I limited it to 9, given the miles.

 

I always struggled with fuel mileage, perhaps because English roads often don't suit the cars well, they're too congested and small. 90 always seemed the natural cruising speed, 1015 or 1222. So I used CXs in part for their towing ability - but always missed the utterly amazing flat four. If only it had been engineered for 1300-1800cc, which would have made more sense for the German and UK markets.

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Really need to drive one of these cars one day. Been a passenger in one when I was really young but never driven one. CX, XM, Xantia (obviously), and 2CV...but never had a shot of a GSA. Visa is the other obvious gap.

 

Stop making me want one even more than I already do.

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Really need to drive one of these cars one day. Been a passenger in one when I was really young but never driven one. CX, XM, Xantia (obviously), and 2CV...but never had a shot of a GSA. Visa is the other obvious gap.

 

Stop making me want one even more than I already do.

 

Agreed, all this Citroen bothering is making me want one as well.

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Really need to drive one of these cars one day. Been a passenger in one when I was really young but never driven one. CX, XM, Xantia (obviously), and 2CV...but never had a shot of a GSA. Visa is the other obvious gap.

 

Stop making me want one even more than I already do.

If it helps I can say it is not very nice to drive.

 

 

 

Obviously that isn't true so just don't read this bit :)

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Really need to drive one of these cars one day. Been a passenger in one when I was really young but never driven one. CX, XM, Xantia (obviously), and 2CV...but never had a shot of a GSA. Visa is the other obvious gap.

Stop making me want one even more than I already do.

They're more rapid, super-smooth 2cv than anything else. Owners of big Cits never really acknowledged them for how good they were until pretty recently, probably because of this.

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