project (New) New minge-bag motoring - 1983 Citroen LNA 11E (OMG BARN FIND!!)

[Six-cylinder]

I still have mine after 9 years.

[Largactil]

So, yeah – Things didn’t go quite to plan.

A couple of months after my last post back in 2021, the ‘living with Covid’ era began, which also meant the ‘return to the office’ edict was issued to me. This entailed much travel and I suddenly went from being at home 24/7 to being out of the country five days out of seven.

The LNA remained stuck in the garage until Spring 2022, when I dragged it out one weekend and attempted to fire it up without success – Not a dickie bird.

Being an idiot, I decided it was some sort of ignition switch / fuse problem and went down that particular rabbit hole. I’d started a new job by this point, which meant I at least got to sleep in my own bed every night, but it was also all-consuming, meaning I had zero headspace / mojo to tinker.

Eventually I sussed out that the battery was stone dead, so a new one was procured – Which made no difference, as bridging the starter with said new battery fitted finally proved that it was the starter which was knackered.

Those who know X-series engined cars, will understand this is a bit of a pain – The engine is canted backwards with the rocker cover at a 45 degree angle, brushing the firewall. The starter is situated low behind the radiator with access underneath blocked by the subframe , meaning that the fan and rad require to be removed to get at its upper mounting bolts (the lower is accessed from the OSF wheel arch).

The coolant system was a bit murky and really wanted a flush. The fuel tank was full of old E10 from when brimmed it in April 2021. Meh.

Cue shoving it back in the garage for another 2+ years, filling it full of junk and forgetting about it.

I changed jobs again at the end of last year and found myself WFH 99% of the time – Not having a 3-4 hr daily round-trip commute has helped greatly in mustering the energy to tackle the LNA.

The front end was stripped and rad removed:

Flushed for a bit:

New starter (top) looked a bit different, but thankfully fitted without issue:

Coolant system filled with water and rad flush, fuel tank pumped out, rubber bits checked and 12 litres of fresh dinosaur juice added…

Success:

Treated it to a wash:

I’ll heat cycle it and flush it few times, before filling with proper coolant. Despite draining and adding new fuel, there’s still some stale stuff in the system, so I’ll need to address that too. 

So, what now?

As I alluded to, it’s still heading off to pastures new soon – Dibs was called a while back and arrangements are actively underway for its departure after 11 years in my ownership. 

Its replacement (of similar vintage) was sourced a while back, so it’s time to free up the garage and hopefully get some use out of that during the summer (once it’s gone through the registration process in ROI) 🤞
 

  

[wuvvum]

Excellent!  Glad to see it's alive again, cracking little car this.

[Faker]

I seriously can’t wait for your new arrival to officially become your pride and joy in the ROI!! I’ll gladly go for some spirited joyrides around the borders in the little French fancies 🤣🤣🤣

[Oi_Oi_Savaloy]

If it's that Rallye then.........ooof.  I was given a passenger ride around the Wrekin in one of these back in the early 90's and that trip (about 25 mins worth at serious leptons around country lanes in the dark) has stayed with me even now.  The way it held on............wow.  

 

V interested in whatever you buy, next.

[Largactil]

On 15/05/2025 at 15:59, Oi_Oi_Savaloy said:

If it's that Rallye then.........ooof.  I was given a passenger ride around the Wrekin in one of these back in the early 90's and that trip (about 25 mins worth at serious leptons around country lanes in the dark) has stayed with me even now.  The way it held on............wow.  

 

V interested in whatever you buy, next.

I don't know - They're not so good at sticking to the road 😬😅