Vince's xm - 2.1TD daily driver

[Dieselman]

That is a great transformation, Vince.

If the crank pulley is noisy, it is probably loose. Worth checking.

[citroenxm]

Wow.. good work vince.. notice how complete the wing/ bumper mounting bracket is. These useually rot away easilly special amounts of protection needed here.. which im sure you have done..

[CitroJim]

Looking good Vince

[Vince]

Thanks guys. Paul I used your suggested method of the spare wheel under the body as a support rather than using the jacking points. Everything went well until I'd got the wheel back on and wanted to lift the car....started it up and went to move the height lever...it was solid! It registered straight away...I bet the selector mechanism is jammed by the wheel underneath.... I had to get the car up to remove the wheel so tried the bottle jack on the jacking point carefully...but it was just bending away
, so I borrowed my next door neighbours scissor jack out of his rover and jacked up under the front subframe. Phew it picked up just enough to wriggle the wheel out. I was very nearly in that creek without a paddle.

What panicked me was when I jacked up the car I heard a huge hissing noise which I thought must be a ruptured lhm hose. Fearing I'd broken something proper everything was dry when I citaerobic'd it. Turned out to be the spare wheel bead being forced loose and all the air gushing out.....thank god for that.

[russ92xmsed]

Excellent Vince. It looks amazing. Ahh.....if only!!

I know how you feel about jacking the car up. I hate it too. Really doesn't help with it sinking!

But I haven't got it stuck yet......

[messerschmitt owner]

had to jack mine up yesterday - with 650kg in the boot - after a puncture on the M5 between Stroud and GLoucester - it's scary on the hard shoulder.

[captainhaddock]

I always carry a small hydraulic jack just for those nights you get caught with punctures. Vince it's looking fine but I wouldn't worry that the other side would be worse, why would it be:)

[Vince]

I always carry a small hydraulic jack just for those nights you get caught with punctures. Vince it's looking fine but I wouldn't worry that the other side would be worse, why would it be:)

I hope your right...because on the inner wing from the engine bay I can detect some corrosion on the front side of the strut turret. Also the trailing edge of the front wing has had rust. As we all know rust works from within outwards...that's why im dreading it

If its as good as this side was then ill be chuffed

I don't know why Citroen put a jack in the car...they should have supplied a packet of crackers and a knife. So you can take the cream cheese jacking points off and enjoy a light snack whilst you wait for the recovery truck. Ive never seen anything so weak. Ridiculous

[Vince]

Well today saw me finish the passenger side arch also. I was fearing the worst on this side, loads of hidden rust, but in actuality it was as good at the other side

So although I took quite a few pictures of what it looked like before, Linda seems to have deleted them from the camera...so the only ones I have are the ones I took today once it was ready to be put back together. It felt good completing it as the car had been on axle stands all week since I stripped the liners out on Monday. No need to rush though have I

Next its time for the rears....






I noticed the handbrake cable conduit was quite frayed on this side....id better stash a couple of cables whilst they are still available....

[Dean]

Hi Vince

I like it, nice work, that xm will be looking even better than it did in no time.
Will you be at cxm with her this year?
A few tips though, paint the outriggers for the wing mounts with underseal to preserve them nothing else seams to work long term, also only ever raise and support an xm from the subframes, dont use the body and especialy not the cills, they just are not strong enough, jack from the centre of the front subframe with ablock of wood to spread the load and place the axle stands on the subframe under the arb bushes, at the rear jack from the centre of the cross tube and place the axle stands each side.
bending of the metal on the cills can premote rust formation from the spot welds, surface treatment isnt half as effective in prolonging the life of the car as treating the cavities, stand any shutz cans in boiling water for 15mins before application and pick a hot day to apply paying special attention to the cills, box sections under the boot floor and passenger compartment.

Keep up the good work Vince

D