More ageing French tat joins the fleet...

[wuvvum]

I picked this beauty up from sunny Hampshire this afternoon.

 

 

 

Yep, it's one of those. It drove home fine - rear spheres are a bit bouncy and fronts are a bit firm but nothing excessive - but the gearbox is going to take a bit of getting used to.

 

More pics tomorrow when the light is better.

[dollywobbler]

Wow. Is that the one that's been for sale in Classic Car Weekly for several years? I miss my CX. Almost...

[pandamonium]

That is gorgeous, I'm really feeling the Citroen love at the moment.

Have you sold that Alfa yet? Tempted to take it on.. .

[cort16]

That is ace. once again wuvvum you prove youself a black belt shiteist

I'd be interested to see a list of your fleet sometime as every week you seem to be buying A grade tat.

[RoadworkUK]

Your collection must be visible from space. Absolutely incredible. Top work.

[retrogeezer]

very nice....

 

[trigger]

I think the next Autoshite meet needs to be around your gaff Wuvvum! You are the Shitemaster.

[autofive]

L U R V E L Y

[outlaw118]

That. Is. Lovely.

18796.24/10

[Felly Magic]

Eleventy hundred billion bonus shite points for that CX. When Shitroen made completely bonkers cars!. Needs a Long Vehicle sign on the back LOL

[Mr Lobster]

That looks nice. I am in admiration of your bravery!

[brammy777]

This was the one for sale in Alton wasn't it? Right on my doorstep that is! Glad it went to someone who will look after it, you never see the earlier, pre plastic bumper CX Estates now.

[scooters]

Awesome....the best colour in the best trim in the most practical incantation....hats orf

[ProgRocker]

Lovely.

 

A stablemate for the white DS.

[DSdriver]

Fantastic! Cmatic too for extra WIN.

I used to amaze people by parking mine in gaps only a foot longer than the car, totally effortless with the self centering steering. Also the electric cooling fans frightened an old lady or two on Zebra crossings when they cut in making a lot more noise than the engine. The poor old dears thought I was revving up to run them over.

[theorganist]

Excellent

[dieselnutjob]

congratulations

I bet that's a fantastic tow car

[catsinthewelder]

Well done, that looks ace

 

I'm really feeling the love for these at the moment

[wuvvum]

Also the electric cooling fans frightened an old lady or two on Zebra crossings when they cut in making a lot more noise than the engine. The poor old dears thought I was revving up to run them over.

My GTI Turbo had a boost button on the roof console which made one of the two radiator fans rev up like a turboprop on takeoff. Never actually needed it, but it was an amusing party trick...

[wuvvum]

Here's a few more pics taken this arvo.

 

The leviathan at rest

 

Don't think those front fogs will be staying long...

 

"Brown" is the word that springs to mind. It's actually even browner than this in real life.

 

C-Matic gearchange, complete with "Park" position. I'm not convinced the transmission is working quite as it should, as first can be awkward to engage at a standstill when the engine's warm. I think the switch that operates the "clutch" (actually a valve which takes fluid away from the torque converter, thereby disengaging it) needs adjusting as it doesn't seem to be completely disengaging drive.

 

Lots of seats, all equally brown.

 

Best ashtray of evAr.

 

2.4-litre carb'd four-pot - nice and torquey but not the most economical engine in the world, especially when coupled to a torque converter.

 

Nice stock of Total T fluid which came with the car - this is the stuff the gearbox uses, there's no equivalent and it hasn't been made since 1981, so I need to keep this safe...

 

And that's it for now. When the fugging wind stops turning my blood to ice I'll have a more detailed poke around it, but from what I've seen so far it seems pretty solid. Next priority after that is to find someone who knows about C-Matics to get it adjusted properly - it's perfectly useable as it is, but I think it could be better.

[dollywobbler]

Fabulous. If you get desperate, I've got a tin and a half of C-matic fluid somewhere. Came with the BX for some reason! (I think the previous owner used to own a GS C-matic at some point). I guess Chevronics probably know their way around the C-Matics?

 

Interesting to see how different the interior is to the Series 2 I owned. Much better in Series 1 form I reckon.

[scooters]

Fabulous. If you get desperate, I've got a tin and a half of C-matic fluid somewhere. Came with the BX for some reason! (I think the previous owner used to own a GS C-matic at some point). I guess Chevronics probably know their way around the C-Matics?

 

Interesting to see how different the interior is to the Series 2 I owned. Much better in Series 1 form I reckon.

 

If you run out Castrol TQF is the best to use for similar effect - it's the fluid they developed for early GM and ford autoboxes - Don't be tempted to use Dexron III

 

see here:

 

http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/archiv ... -9158.html

[Citroening]

Good to see it's been saved! Interesting to see the spheres have been painted black!

 

That colour suits it well - Beige Opale (AC 078). CXs are the way forward...

[Cavcraft]

Don't think you could get a better colour, completely suits the car.

Looks like the original spare tyre too, or at least the 'proper' directional tread pattern one, think they were Michelin XZX.

[j-j]

Mine's a C-matic. I can haz info for you if needed

[Vin]

They are certainly fantastic looking things. Good work Wuvvum

[wuvvum]

Cheers for the offers of C-matic help / advice / fluid gents - I may well be in touch in due course...

 

I forgot to add in this picture of a French-registered Simca we followed through Alton on the way from the station to the seller's house. It was wearing some rather nice five-spoke alloys, which I didn't manage to photograph.

 

 

Oh, and on the train down to London I was sat opposite that Ronan Parke kid off the telly - the one who didn't quite win Britain's Got Talent this year. Would appear the tabloid predictions of him being "bigger than Bieber" were a little optimistic if he's still travelling cattle class on National Express with the rest of us plebs.

[j-j]

That Simca is teh sex

 

As for the C-Matic; I'd check a few basic things first anyway. First up, there's a wee transmission oil level dipstick (and it is really wee!) under the spare wheel behind the big cross member - is dips in the diff. Get the engine up to temp, go for a spin or somman, then with the handbrake on put it into 2nd or 3rd gear for 5 secs and return to neutral. Stick it in 3rd and then go check the fluide level - should be between min-max. top up with that liquid unobtainium if it's too low. Be aware though that when cold, the first gear and reverse are stiff to engage and very quickly warm up after about a mile. The owner's book says this and states something like "...in the cold resistance will be felt engaging first and reverse... don't hesitate to fully engage these gears nonetheless.."

 

If it's crunching gears though check it. With engine off, stick on the ignition and open the bonnet and driver's window. In a quiet area BTW, then proceed to move the gearstick to 1st. then move it like you're going to put it back into neutral but just apply the pressure. When you do that you should hear a clonk from way deep in the engine bay somewhere - that's the elctro-valve. Just to check it actually works. Another way is to stick on the ignition and then find the little black plastic box on top of the gearbox as you look in the engine room right below where the gear selector rods are, there's a wee spade connector at the back of the box - pull it off and the clonk sound should be heard - touch it back on and it should clonk again. Shows the EV works.

 

A weak point is the wires that go to the electro valve which is low down on the front of the gearbox. There's a pair of green wires that lead down to it with a third wire that goes to a temp sender above the EV. They begin just above and behind the battery. These wires are really prone to corrosion and suffer intermittent probs.

 

But the good thing is that if you're only getting problems in first gear it probably just means the contacts in the wee black breaker box on the gearbox need adjusted and that's pretty easy: feeler gauge and an allen key.

[dollywobbler]

Blimey - I somehow missed that Aphrodite was a C-Matic Graeme! Even cooler now.

[wuvvum]

Thanks J-J, will try some of that next weekend. Appears reverse is difficult to engage too - the only time I'd had to use it on the way home was backing out of the parking space outside the seller's house, and it crunched a bit but went straight in, but the engine wasn't up to temp at the time and was idling lower than it does when hot, so the torque converter probably wasn't doing much anyway.

 

I'm hoping it's the switch or wiring that's causing the problem rather than the electro-valve itself, as I don't really want to have to pay someone to strip the gearbox... Seller assured me he'd checked the gearbox fluid level and it was OK, but whether he was using the correct method or not I dn't know - I bought a Metrocab once which had had the autobox rebuilt at huge expense, but then they checked the fluid level with the engine off so it was far too low, and by the time I bought it the box was on its way out again...