Citroen GS Break with assistance from Mel Gibson

[Stinkwheel]

A thrilling collection delivery has occurred.

First off let me say I will be using snippets of Mel Gibson movies to assist with this post, be warned.

OK, the elephant in the room, why didnt i just go and drive it home?

well,

Along with legit reasons of I'm working, the car doesnt have a functioning starter motor and hasnt really been on the road for 20 plus years

But what is it i hear you ask, 

again, well,

Here it is, joining its smaller air cooled sibling in the sunshine

 

To quote Mel in the next pic - 

I'd like to thank everyone for such an amazing process, with special mentions going to 

@jonathan_dyane for his work thus far, likewise @Marshall2810 ofr all his work thus far and special mention to @SiC for being a real gent and realising he needed this money pit of chevron adorned trouble like a hole in the head and passing it on to a serial Citroen licker such as myself. Peter the recovery/delivery guy and his truck, he's not on here but it turns out he moves a lot of cars for a Citroen A series specialist I know, small world.

There will be updates as time passes, but I'll leave you with Mel for the last word at the moment ...

[Dyslexic Viking]

When he said he had moved it on, my thoughts immediately went to you and it will be nice to follow this one further. 

Is there any hope of getting it on the road this year?

[Stinkwheel]

  On 19/03/2025 at 16:44, Dyslexic Viking said:

When he said he had moved it on, my thoughts immediately went to you and it will be nice to follow this one further. 

Is there any hope of getting it on the road this year?

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I'm really lucky to have been in the right place and in the right persons mind when it came up after the roffle

I'd actually wanted to buy it when Jonathan_Dyane had it for sale and also then when Marshall2810 had it for sale, but it was both wrong times logistically (read financially), when it became available this time the logistics worked and all was well.

I need to get mrsstinkwheels mini on the road first, as i did promise her, but I'd almost guarantee (barring major faults being found and tricky to source parts not being needed) that it will be on the road in some form this year. I shall definitely be working on it alongside the other jobs/projects

[Stinkwheel]

Starter is off, its fucked I've got a new (remanufactured) one coming from France, when that arrives then things will progress hopefully 

[Stinkwheel]

Memory has returned this morning and I realised there was also a thank you in the acceptance speech that Mel forgot to give above, it also passed through @HMC's hands and that should have been mentioned above for the work done there as well

I blame Mel, he's not what he used to be 

He's had some up 's and downs.

Really he needs a Citroen GS to handle them smoothly

[Westbay]

A truely heroic gesture sir, and thank you,  I and, I suspect many of us here gathered, can now get a good nights sleep not debating the sensibility of buying this fine vehicle !

[High Jetter]

Best of luck with it. A mate at school's Dad ran a Citroen & Lotus dealer, I often got lifts in a new Dyane or GS.

[Stinkwheel]

  On 21/03/2025 at 09:01, High Jetter said:

Best of luck with it. A mate at school's Dad ran a Citroen & Lotus dealer, I often got lifts in a new Dyane or GS.

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Citroen and Lotus, thats a weird mixture of dealerships at first thought, but then you realise they have the same issues as each other, a) people either know everything about them or flatly refuse to work on them and b) when they give trouble its a wait for parts and then quite expensive. 

Maybe Citroen and Lotus should have joined up in the 70's instead of Citroen and Maserati?

[High Jetter]

  On 21/03/2025 at 09:08, Stinkwheel said:

Citroen and Lotus, thats a weird mixture of dealerships at first thought, but then you realise they have the same issues as each other, a) people either know everything about them or flatly refuse to work on them and b) when they give trouble its a wait for parts and then quite expensive. 

Maybe Citroen and Lotus should have joined up in the 70's instead of Citroen and Maserati?

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I don't know how it came about, maybe personal interest or the only franchises they could get. Small garage in town, Cornfield Garage, then. Still going strong on an industrial estate, Visick Cars, though repairs only I think, and still in same family after 100+ years.

[HMC]

  On 21/03/2025 at 08:37, Stinkwheel said:

Memory has returned this morning and I realised there was also a thank you in the acceptance speech that Mel forgot to give above, it also passed through @HMC's hands and that should have been mentioned above for the work done there as well

I blame Mel, he's not what he used to be 

He's had some up 's and downs.

Really he needs a Citroen GS to handle them smoothly

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All i did was look at it, and realise im better at driving cars rather than fixing them, especially leaky GSs 😂

[Stinkwheel]

  On 21/03/2025 at 10:32, HMC said:

All i did was look at it, and realise im better at driving cars rather than fixing them, especially leaky GSs 😂

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Sometimes that is the right realisation to make 😉

[hairnet]

thats not a knife.........

oh wait...........

red wire blue wire..................

[Stinkwheel]

  On 21/03/2025 at 11:08, hairnet said:

thats not a knife.........

oh wait...........

red wire blue wire..................

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[hairnet]

last of the v8 interceptors (yeah i know)

touch it and boom

never seen anyone beat the snake before youre really faaaaahhhhst

[Stinkwheel]

A reconditioned starter arrived (looking at it, I suspect it isnt reconditioned and what i bought is a used, working starter, should have brushed up on my french before hitting purchase)

Isn’t it great how you have to take off an inlet manifold (1 of 2 on the car) and engine cooling cowlings to get the starter in and out, thank you Citroen 🤪

Can you see how happy the new starter  is nestled  in place?

But once it’s all back together, you can hardly see it

 

Next job will be carb off and rebuild when the kit arrives. 
And I’ve already spotted another couple of hydraulic lines that will want changing ideally. Despite all that I’m still enjoying it so far 

Mel's happy though

[urpert]

😦

Doesn't look very happy

[Stinkwheel]

I did consider posting the pic in the Y tho thread 

[SiC]

  On 21/03/2025 at 14:31, urpert said:

😦

Doesn't look very happy

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That is exactly my wallets face when my phone went wild with notifications of a surprise roffle win of a GS. 

[High Jetter]

  On 21/03/2025 at 20:31, SiC said:

That is exactly my wallets face when my phone went wild with notifications of a surprise roffle win of a GS. 

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It looks meaner, tho. That nose will have a mighty suck.

[Stinkwheel]

What’s better than 1 working Citroen flat 4 starter motor ? 
 

Well, fairly obviously it’s two. So here is the other one 

Now check this out, ever heard of B-parts? Online parts supplier that organises breakers across Europe and sells their parts online, what’s even weirder, B-parts is owned and operated as a Stellantis company, yes, really. 
So what we I have here is actually a Citroen approved used starter motor. You couldn’t make this stuff up. 

I’m also part way through rebuilding the carb, no pics as it’s in the ultrasonic cleaner at the moment. 

[Bear]

I am so glad you got this, I wanted to win so I could give it to you, so it's awesome that you ended up with it anyway

[Stinkwheel]

  On 24/03/2025 at 16:58, Bear said:

I am so glad you got this, I wanted to win so I could give it to you, so it's awesome that you ended up with it anyway

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Aw shucks, thanks man. Appreciate the sentiment, I really do. 

You can at least live vicariously through seeing the continuing trials and tribulations of the thing on here 👍

[Bear]

  On 24/03/2025 at 17:52, Stinkwheel said:

Aw shucks, thanks man. Appreciate the sentiment, I really do. 

You can at least live vicariously through seeing the continuing trials and tribulations of the thing on here 👍

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When it works we'll need to get it together with the Insight - I always think the Insight is a bit like if Citroen had kept the GS line going and evolved it sensibly. And the Insight would benefit hugely from GS suspension.

[Stinkwheel]

  On 24/03/2025 at 18:02, Bear said:

When it works we'll need to get it together with the Insight - I always think the Insight is a bit like if Citroen had kept the GS line going and evolved it sensibly. And the Insight would benefit hugely from GS suspension.

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Thats a really good thought process, I like the fact the mk1 insight already kind of slightly had DS inspired looks (if you squint a bit) It does kind of make sense its the direction Citroen should have gone in

[Stinkwheel]

Today I realised I still had a set of Pallas spec full wheel trims. 

OK, it’s not real progress but it is pleasing. 
Mel Gibson had little to say on the matter. 

[Stinkwheel]

More tinker time today, as I’d retrieved my NOS spheres from storage. 
Can’t be many of these BX fronts left in genuine packaging these days I shouldn’t think. Hopefully they have survived storage, they usually do as the bladder isn’t subjected to any pressure changes In storage it will also be flat against the inside having not been used and, in theory, it’s a lot harder for the nitrogen charge to leak away as there. Is no air gap the other side of it. We shall see how that theory goes when I get the carb back on it, the alloy manifold body needs a bit of helicoiling before that can happen. 
 

The old spheres were a swine to get off, my Citroen sphere tool wouldn’t touch them. I resorted to the cold chisel and lump hammer method to get them initially cracked off, you can see the witness mark in the next pic. The old ones were solid, no nitrogen left and although they have recharge valves, I doubt they will be any good to recharge. 

As @Marshall2810 had found, you touch the hydraulic lines and you need. To change the associated pipe, this was no different.

old line

New line, with its special Citroen weird flare

 

And finally got now, new sphere and line in place

 

That’ll do for now, Mel Gibson wasn’t involved today, he’s slacking. 

[SiC]

Again as I said before in PMs to yourself and Marshall2810, I really wouldn't have been the best home for this car. None of the skills, tools or knowledge to work on these! I'd probably not even have realised the cylinders were knackered let alone having them available on the shelf. 

Fantastic to see it getting the love it needs by someone who both knows and wanting it to survive. 

[Marshall2810]

The suspension pressurised and raised but didn't seem to adjust on the front so that explains it? I couldn't find anything wrong with the height control mechanism itself  

[Stinkwheel]

  On 03/04/2025 at 15:28, Marshall2810 said:

The suspension pressurised and raised but didn't seem to adjust on the front so that explains it? I couldn't find anything wrong with the height control mechanism itself  

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Thats it, the spheres were totally flat, so there is no damping effect at all and you cant compress fluid, so it just bounces. Had anyone driven this far it would have put the struts through the bonnet (maybe) at the first big bump or cracked subframe mounts or something similarly horrible.

There is also some adjustment to be done when it runs again, the height it sits at is adjusted by the clamp on the anti roll bar, which leads back to the in car height control lever through rods and linkages. It sits a bit too hight on the standard driving position. Something that can only be adjusted properly from beneath with it running to see what difference the adjustment makes, so a pit or lift is the best way to do and not die. 

[Bear]

It's a GS. It weighs so little death is optional.