1980 Citroen Visa Super E

[Mr Livered]

Since I had the immense good fortune to become the latest custodian of this little ambassador of Gallic charm, I thought I'd start a thread about it. There are other threads on here about its journey through time (and from Normandie to Angleterre); for context, here she is in a pic provided by @Sigmund Fraud, the Visa's previous custodian.

@Sigmund Fraud told me that there was a hesitation under load and it wasn't quite running as it should, and I'd be better off having it picked up and delivered to me - with apologies to those who enjoy collection threads, I took this advice and the delivery of a gorgeous little Citroen really made my day

Quick check of fluids etc...

... all was well, she came with me on a quick shopping trip to the next town:

It kind of goes, but not quite right, as I had been warned. Of course when I did my very cursory checks before I set off, I didn't even bother to remove the spare wheel which sits right on top of the engine. When I got home, off it came:

These suitcase engines lie right down on their side with the carb on top: I don't know if it's clear from my pic, but there is an awful lot of very green puddle directly on top of the block and in particular right under the carburettor. Will attempt a closer view:

So I have a feeling that I'd better have a good look at that area. There are not one but two carbs in the boot, very kindly provided with the car, but the one that's fitted looks the shiniest and newest.

Other than that... er... not much wrong really. The windscreen washer doesn't seem to operate, but beyond checking that there's washer fluid in the little tank I haven't investigated that yet.

I shall have a go at getting it running sweetly and report back. I'm booked in to Rustival as an exhibitor with another car, and I'm thinking if I can get this running well enough for a trip upcountry by then it would be nice to go in the Visa instead. We'll see.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

@Mr Livered I'm really pleased to see this nice old thing finally getting some use ! The puddle of doom is coolant - there is a heat exchanger at the base of the carb and two hoses leading to/from it. They looked quite perished last time I was there, so I am pretty confident that they are the source of the leak !

[Mr Livered]

32 minutes ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

The puddle of doom is coolant

Oh yes it's very obviously coolant; what I was trying to say was that I spotted said puddle of doom, photographed it and went no further for now. I got called in for supper by my wife away to an important event. But that's good info about the hoses, I'll maybe start there.

Seriously loving this car though!

[garellikatia]

Gorgeous this car, let me know if you ever sell it 

[Mr Livered]

5 hours ago, garellikatia said:

Gorgeous this car, let me know if you ever sell it 

Well I shan't sell it anywhere other than on here

[garellikatia]

1 hour ago, Mr Livered said:

Well I shan't sell it anywhere other than on here

Excellent ! Have you been out and about much in it? 

[Mr Livered]

41 minutes ago, garellikatia said:

Excellent ! Have you been out and about much in it? 

Yes, I've been using it for local errands. Today my sons and I used it to go to the pub in the next village. Greatly enjoying this charming little car; my wife calls it Albert after Albert Leblanc, a character in children's books to whom she thinks the Visa has a resemblance. 

It's not quite running right still, though this doesn't feel like it's going to be difficult to resolve when I get around to it. All four spark plugs are completely stuck; I might have to get my local friendly mechanic to have a go at them with an impact gun. Just changing the HT leads seemed to help quite a lot.

[garellikatia]

Ahh nice! The weathers been perfect for it too. Yea absolutely, I guess the beauty of these things are that they're so easy to work on.  Could be a few simple things. Haha she does have a point to be fair, I can see the resemblance 😂. 

[Mr Livered]

I don't have a lot to report about this Visa so far, because all I have done in my ownership is set the carb up properly (which was a right faff, to be fair) and use it at every opportunity . I have really bonded with this little car, it's full of personality. It hasn't been far, but 90% of my local trips have been by Visa.

Today, the indicators stopped working - probably need a new flasher module - so I might take that as a prompt to do some proper work on it.

[Somerset Suffolk]

was convinced I was going to win this fabulous Visa when it was roffled (with my 1 ticket purchase ... ) and I would be the one cruising North Devon with broken indicators ... you sir are a lucky man ! well done and enjoy !   

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Mr Livered said:

It hasn't been far, but 90% of my local trips have been by Visa.

That'll do nicely.

[jim89]

11 hours ago, Mr Livered said:

.

MERMAID ! Mid left...

Clearly a (part) chick magnet too 👍🏻

[EyesWeldedShut]

5 minutes ago, jim89 said:

MERMAID ! Mid left...

Clearly a (part) chick magnet too 👍🏻

Used to live about 4 miles top right from that spot - never did see a mermaid, nor a Visa.
Story of my life  

[grogee]

12 hours ago, Mr Livered said:

I don't have a lot to report about this Visa so far, because all I have done in my ownership is set the carb up properly (which was a right faff, to be fair) and use it at every opportunity . I have really bonded with this little car, it's full of personality. It hasn't been far, but 90% of my local trips have been by Visa.

Today, the indicators stopped working - probably need a new flasher module - so I might take that as a prompt to do some proper work on it.

Try my trick before going further - work the hazard warning switch a few times to make sure it's not rusted up. That fixed my Maestro indicators, worth a try. 

[Mr Livered]

Right, so this Visa being known on here, I'm going to appeal to people who may know about its history.

When it came to me, there was a carburettor in the boot. What's that all about then? Is it thought to be any good?

I ask because the carburettor that's in it at the moment is starting to get on my tits. Just when I think I've set it up properly, I discover that I haven't and that there is a flat spot or whatever. I don't think it likes me at all.

I'm wondering whether the spare one might be worth taking apart and refurbishing, with a view to changing them over, but for all I know the one in the boot might have a known problem or something - in which case someone here might be able to save me some time!

[Sigmund Fraud]

6 minutes ago, Mr Livered said:

Right, so this Visa being known on here, I'm going to appeal to people who may know about its history.

When it came to me, there was a carburettor in the boot. What's that all about then? Is it thought to be any good?

I ask because the carburettor that's in it at the moment is starting to get on my tits. Just when I think I've set it up properly, I discover that I haven't and that there is a flat spot or whatever. I don't think it likes me at all.

I'm wondering whether the spare one might be worth taking apart and refurbishing, with a view to changing them over, but for all I know the one in the boot might have a known problem or something - in which case someone here might be able to save me some time!

The carb currently on there is the better of the two. It came as a spare, and I had taken it apart, cleaned float chamber and jets, and replaced the accelerator pump diaphragm prior to installing it.

The reason for doing this was that the carb originally installed (which is the one that was in the boot) seemed to have been messed around with - it was missing the idle air screw, and someone had tampered with the linkage to compensate for it. The car ran better with the replacement carb, but was still not 100%, so there's clearly something else contributing.

I never got round to checking if there were air leaks into the inlet manifold, so perhaps that's a sensible next step ? If that's OK, then the ignition side of things could be the culprit ? I had set the static timing, and checked the condition of the dizzy cap and rotor but didn't do anything beyond that.

 

[Matty]

1 hour ago, Mr Livered said:

Right, so this Visa being known on here, I'm going to appeal to people who may know about its history.

When it came to me, there was a carburettor in the boot. What's that all about then? Is it thought to be any good?

I ask because the carburettor that's in it at the moment is starting to get on my tits. Just when I think I've set it up properly, I discover that I haven't and that there is a flat spot or whatever. I don't think it likes me at all.

I'm wondering whether the spare one might be worth taking apart and refurbishing, with a view to changing them over, but for all I know the one in the boot might have a known problem or something - in which case someone here might be able to save me some time!

Not claiming to be an expert but i was always taught that most carburation problems are ignition. Theres an awful lot of new ignition parts on the market of poor quality. Assuming its a points and condensor set up, id be going down that route first. Is the flat spotting time/distance related or from the off?

[Mr Livered]

4 minutes ago, Matty said:

Assuming its a points and condensor set up

No! But you could nevertheless very well be right about the ignition generally, thank you for replying.

[High Jetter]

If there's a spacer on the carb, they can deteriorate. 

[Stinkwheel]

I hold my hand up. I tried in the end 3 different carbs on that car (hence the spare with it when @Sigmund Fraud had it from me.)

When i got it running after the engine rebuild i found a massive air leak at the base of the carb to manifold join. That bit never got taken apart, the manifold was just removed whole when the engine came apart.

I never could get it running 'quite' right, hence I listed the faults on my roffle/seeling post.

I didnt notice the carb fitted at that time had no air screw, it certainly did at some point, Dunno if it left the chat without me realising or what? 

Hopefully it can be figured out soon

[barrett]

Do four-cylinder Visas not have electronic ignition, or is that only the two-cylinder cars?

[Mr Livered]

They do, yes

[barrett]

2 hours ago, Mr Livered said:

They do, yes

Okay, I seem to remember the ignition module or whatever it is being a potentially troublesome character. There was much sucking of teeth from my old Citroen specialist garage as they were totally unobtainable, although that might not be true for four-cyl versions. I vaguely remember LankyTim having some issues with the ignition on his brown four-pot too, although if it operates at all like a modern electronic ignition I'd assume it either 'works' or 'doesn't work' with nothing really inbetween, so poor running might well just be carb issues, against the usual logic of these things.

[Stinkwheel]

2 hours ago, barrett said:

Okay, I seem to remember the ignition module or whatever it is being a potentially troublesome character. There was much sucking of teeth from my old Citroen specialist garage as they were totally unobtainable, although that might not be true for four-cyl versions. I vaguely remember LankyTim having some issues with the ignition on his brown four-pot too, although if it operates at all like a modern electronic ignition I'd assume it either 'works' or 'doesn't work' with nothing really inbetween, so poor running might well just be carb issues, against the usual logic of these things.

Piece of cake to get the ign amplifier if it is that, 

 

Although, as you say, they usually just fail to provide any spark at all