My Citroen XM 3.0 PR-Vestige

[xmexclusive]

Hi Will

My point is that the corrosion had widened the top of the opening of the central cone from 90mm to 95mm.
Much of the rest of these areas were paper thin over the top 5mm.
This from metal that started life 3mm thick.
So the cone resistance that holds the rubber dome down had an effective 100mm hole instead of the design 90mm.
The sharp paper thin edges would in my opinion quickly start cutting any new encapsulating rubber or elastomer.
Particularly so if run for extended periods with flat spheres.

I am saying that that particular baseplate if rebuilt without weld repair to return design shape and strength would present a serious and hidden risk no matter how good the rubber or elastomer bonding.

In my opinion it is the internal structural integrity of a rebuilt strut head that is the critical issue.
Salting of our roads have much to answer for.
Only when this design integrity is ensured worry about selecting supplier on appearance and cost grounds.

John

[Dean]

Leverage

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D

[Dean]

New non Hydractive strut top installed, the car is on stands, both front hubs removed and on the new top the strut has been removed, note the sphere to bulkhead lip clearance.......

[White Exec]

Hi Dean,

Have been following this thread, but a bit confused by your last post.
Are you just saying that tiring/tearing rubber brings the sphere top nearer to the bulkhead lip, or something else? What are we comparing?
Also, I thought non-HA systems had 3.5mm pipework - or was that rationalised to HA 10mm?

Chris

[Dean]

The ns top is the original and sits very close to the bulkhead lip, the new top which was 3.5mm but drilled out to 14.5mm then tapped using a 16mm x 1.5 tap sits a long way off, maybe only 5mm from the strut tower in the chassis, is it tearing of the rubber creating a slow north migration of the core on old units, will connecting the strut and hub twist the strut over as it pulls it into alignment for the first time, do non hydractive tops sit lower, is It a defective top, is it normal? Certainly not bad that's for sure, just interesting.
I don't know but when I put the little one to bed Iwill get the hub and strut back in and see wwhat'swhat.

Thoughts welcome.

D

[White Exec]

Clearances and angles may well change when the strut is installed.
I am still not clear why you are getting involved with non-HA tops (presumably on a HA car) - unless it's the result of your having been sent a non-matching pair. Why not use the correct top?
Really sorry if I've lost the plot on this.

[russ92xmsed]

Availability maybe Chris. It takes a while to get new tops from either kingas or Aad.

That is interesting the difference in height. Would be good to measure the final depth when it's all fitted and bearing weight. I measured mine recently and both were even heights and the lip not distorted, which can happen. Creeping up is a classic sign they are going.
My grey xm had the passenger top sitting further up, but was the better condition top, or so it seemed. I must go and see if it was failing underneath. I never looked.

[Dean]

All installed and on full right lock the sphere kisses the engine mount plate attached to the chassis strut tower (so the strut top is too low)

This will not be an issue on the n/s as the tower is much smaller and the car is on axle stand with the strut hanging at full extension with no load on.

I can't help but think if this later (2001 built) strut top could not be built with the earlier 2.0i engine in mind.

It may not be an issue when the car is on the ground and with the steering arm connected, limiting steering travel, so im not too fussed at this point .

The new strut allows lots of fore/aft swivel but about 90% less side to side movement of the old torn top.

I am using a modified non hydractive top for 2 very important reasons, it is a brand new oe top with a shiny OE virgin appearance and secondly for varying reasons the next few years will be very dry financially and I just cannot spend €250-€300 on a car I don't need, if I did it would have to come off the road for a year to compensate, spending that and ending up with less than perfect strut tops cosmetically is not my preference, if I can track down a matching top for little money then I'm a very happy boy with two NFP brand new OE tops for peanuts.

D

[xmexclusive]

The acid test is with the car on the ground with the wheels loaded.
Fitting the strut rod puts the strut head rubber under torsional load.
The sphere moves with every load change.
The fore and aft resilience of a strut head is much softer by design.
That is why there are two large insets in the underside rubber front and rear of the strut rod.
In the lateral direction the rubber is solid to hold the steering very firm.
All these technical issues were reviewed as part of the acceptance of the KINGas strut head rebuild.
The strut head that Dean has just fitted was bought NOS and fitted to a SORN car with matching strut to conduct resilience measurements.
At the time it was fed with a 3.5mm supply.
Once it had served that purpose it was passed on to Dean to see it the feed connection could be drilled out and threaded for 10mm pipe,
At the time there were a number of NOS non HA strut heads turning up because Citroen had ensured a selected few UK dealers held stock.
As far as I am aware all the UK stock is now sold off.
There is a small angular difference between HA and Non HA front suspension but this is done by different clamps for the rear wishbone mount.
Colin a former member on the other XM site fitted HA clamps to his Non HA 2.1 without problems.

John

[Dean]

I think the increased fore aft swivel of the new top and lack of side to side movement in comparison is a measure of the poor condition of the old rubber in my tops. I think the rubber had hardened in them reducing movement where it should be but the complete tearing of one block and a 50% failure of the other has resulted in too much movement where it should not be.

I've got a few other bits to finish before I drop the car down later this week but I fully expect the new top with a bit of flex to it compared to its rock hard original to settle into position nicely.

I'm waiting on the other TRW bottom ball joint to arrive for the n/s as this years limited use seems to have killed it off as well as the O/s one.

D