Three Speed

Not only twins but sequential number plates too. Only one of these trucks was for me. But you know how it is - you wait all day for one and two come along at the same time.

Living the dream in Ealing

Bit of a cheat but these two beauties stood out at Brooklands today.

The DS is finally back together and not leaking. When I tried to fit the new brake pads I found one of the pistons was stuck fast so needed a recon calliper which is now fitted. I started it up yesterday to check the clutch pushrod setting as I had to disconnect this to change the belts (RHD manual change cars have a complicated clutch arrangement where the cable pulls a bell crank which pushes a pushrod which pushes the clutch fork). I got distracted by a noise that wasn’t there before and couldn’t work out what it was. I hoped it wasn’t the pump or the alternator but it was coming from that general direction. Stopped the engine, restarted it a couple of times then - oops - the starter relay buzzed and smoke escaped from somewhere near the battery. Quickly switched off everything and hunted for 13mm spanner to disconnect. Turns out the noise was the wire from the starter relay to the motor solenoid rubbing on the alternator fan making a ringing sound as it stripped the insulation off. Quick fix with tape and a tie wrap and no harm done. Not even a blown fuse 🤨. Thanks to Darrin at Citroen Classics for advice of setting clutch. Much simpler than the words in the manual. Now the DS can back to doing its job of being a car and I can fettle the Traction.

Some Citroen colour on an otherwise dull Drive It Day today.Colour coded brolly belongs to the green CX organised by Darrin in the Citroen Car Club.

or percussionist. Back in the 60's, we lived round the corner from James Blades who was famous for recording the gong at the beginning of the J Arthur Rank films. His day job was playing the kettle drums for major orchestras and he used to carry them around on the roof of his P4, which I think was a 110.

Apparently it’s a 1971 car that was first owned (and registered?) by the RAF and then sold on in 1978. Not quite sure why it has a ‘76 plate. Whatever its age it was in very good nick.

Might not be their caravan.

it was - as was the Capri next to it. I was quite surprised by just how many Consul Capris there were. After the TR3s and TR6s and they must have been the most popular car model there. There were so many I didn't take any photos of them. Amazing really given how few were made and how long ago that was - they haven't started making them again have they?

The new pipe is in. And the belts - all 4 of them. But - of course there's a but - I thought I would take the opportunity to change the front pads since, with the radiator out I could at least see them., and they may have got bit covered in LHM. 3 out of 4 came out fine. The 4th piston is stuck fast. I've taken the calliper out and, if I can't free it off tomorrow I'll get a replacement. And so I went to the Brooklands Easter Meeting today. I very much liked this Minx: And this thing was nice too: Why have one engine when you can have two: Of course there were lots of other lovely things there too - most of them were very shiny and a credit to their owners.

Yes - assuming it’s got a floor that Light 15 does look to be a good buy for someone. The video shows it runs well enough. The seats looked like they could be repaired.

It’s called Raggare and is practiced in Norway and Sweden. It’s a whole lifestyle with a car part to it. The cars are all really well done under the skin but look as terrible as possible.

Ha ha. Not off the high pressure side? It most certainly is. It's the highest pressure pipe the car has - the one between the pump and the regulator. So it gets all the pulsations and apparently work hardens and then fractures. To even be able to see where the leak was I had to remove the radiator - which looks like this. Not a pretty sight - this is the front and most of the copper ribbon on the right hand side is falling off. The left side and the stuff behind is ok so it will do for now. The alternator and fan also had to come out so I had a chance to see where the leak was when I spun the engine over. I took this photo after I has removed the pipe. I've stuffed blue pair into the pump outlet on the left and the regulator inlet on the right. This is the offending pipe. And this is the leak - caused by the fan belt pulley rubbing on it. So - no sign of work hardening here. I need to make sure it's better positioned when I put the new on back. As well as a new pipe I've ordered new belts because they've all been doused in LHM and replacement will be so much easier without the fan and radiator in the way. Same for the inboard front brake pads. I have never tried to replace them before. They've still got some life left but, again, it looks so much easier without the radiator in the way. Hope to get it back together on Sunday.

There's got to be a joke about a Wolseley 6/80 here.

Thank you @inconsistant for setting this up. It was a very good choice of venue and great to meet people. Will come again. I completely forgot to take any photos.

Not something you see often (the black one is mine so I see it quite frequently)

This is at the end of the road - in more ways than one.

Dodge Ram and Pontiac Transam and a blue car in West London

I love those fins!

It's been ages since I updated this. I've been using the DS quite a bit. It's been my daily driver through the winter. I was feeling quite proud of its failure to fail - until the end of November when the big red light of doom came on demanding I stop. I was driving back from a meeting in Bristol for a meeting in Sussex and had got as far as Gatwick - so nearly there. 10 miles to go, maybe I could make it? No - the steering went heavy. So I stopped before I lost brakes. It was my first experience of stopping on a smart motorway - luckily there was a yellow painted lay-by. Apparently you are supposed to use the phone in the lay-by to let the control people know what you are up to - but I didn't. I assumed I had an LHM leak. But no - I found one of the bolts fixing the hydraulic pump had come out so the drive belts were slack. It's funny - since this is an important pump, Citroen sensibly fitted 2 belts. But it only takes one bolt to come out for it not to work. Anyway, I had no tools and couldn't lever the bolt back in so I called the AA. The bolt was still having in there and luckily the nut had dropped into the sticky oily mess i like to keep on top of the gearbox so I was on my way a few minutes after the AA man arrived. Actually we had to wait while he called the smart motorway people to close the nearside lane for me - and the AA man - to pull out. So so all was well until today. On my way to work I decided to press the test button for the big red light of doom. I have no idea why I did this - bored I suppose. Or maybe I had subliminally noticed something amiss? The light was working fine which it demonstrated on its own a mile later. Steering immediately heavy again - so I immediately pulled into a cafe car park. A look under the bonnet showed the pump was still in place and being driven by the belt which was throwing leaking LHM all over the place. I had half a litre with me which I poured into the tank but the leak was going to need more than that. If I called the AA they wouldn't be able to fix this and I'd have to wait for a flatbed so I decided it would be quicker to walk the 4 miles home and come back with enough LHM to be able to drive it back. I came back and gave it another 2 litres which was enough to get it home. I now look forward to a weekend removing all sorts of things to be able to get close enough to find the leak. I don't think it is on the high pressure side as the leak was coming out as liquid rather than an atomised spray. Happy Days.

Yup.