Citroen XM Forum

Paul encouraged me to document this separately to my XM diesel, which seems fair enough.

I bought the car over two years ago, I hold it entirely responsible for my Citroen purchasing obsession and my impending bankruptcy. While the car had had the hydraulics and engine overhauled by Andrew Brodies, numerous issues such as constant stalling while hot, misfiring, needing a new clutch and front brakes have kept it mainly off the road. With help from another owner the stalling was traced to old HT leads, so a new distributor and wiring from Renard in Holland was fitted. The remaining issue was the economy - the car runs a very early Bosch D jetronic fuel injection system and it over-fuels horribly. Searching around, I came across Renard who had fitted modern (CX) injection with Megasquirt ECU and Bosch sensors, and had it mapped by Autotune in the Netherlands. They have done this numerous times now to SMs, CXs and DSs, so having been to visit in May, I formed an immediate liking of Nard van der Meer there, and I drove the car over a fortnight ago for work to begin.

The first report arrived yesterday:

"I have done some work already. All hardware is installed. Monday my Freind Jeroen will come to do the wiring and startup. I think thuesday will be the first testrun.

pictures
1 engine bay

2 I made a little modification on the tableau for generator, hydaulic pump and AC pump. Original there are some crappy rubbers. In your car there was zero damping. It was just bolted on! Very noisy. Picture shows home made silentblocks and front of ac pump.

3 Intake manifold with new CX injectors and fuelhose
4 patient on hoist
5 the oil pipe of the clutch broke when i touched it. So i had to replace for new one
6 for clutch pipe wing had to come of.

I did find some extra work. The silent bloks and the oil pipe. Also the wiring of the right headlight was wrong, and the main negative wire of the right side of the car was diconected. I fixed this already. I also regassed the front spheres, they where half empty. . Also fixed glovebox cover...Still left is the big electrical mess behind the oilcooler. Al the relais are just hanging around.... Do you want me to clean this up??? Also the middellights don't work and the low horns doesn't work too.
please let me know."

Just a few things - however, I finally feel the car is in the right hands, especially to get that Maserati V6 singing!

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When not in bits!

That's a very smart SM Charles, inside and out! I've heard good things about Renard conversions - you're going to get a rock steady idle, crisper response and the right fuelling across the range. Should make a big difference compared with D Jetronic.

Would be interested in how they do the ignition timing. Is it off a cam sensor looking at a timing wheel fitted to the auxiliary shaft or do they modify the flywheel and run it off a crank sensor? I prefer carbs myself and run with Lumenition but have never been totally happy with Lumenition.

Cheers

Marc

Marc - they drill the edge of the flywheel and use a crank sensor. Nard mentioned he'd tried numerous other routes but kept on coming back to the flywheel, as that is what manufacturers do. Having had a BMW 2002 where the retro-fitted crank sensor was mounted on a non-standard alternator bracket that kept shearing off, I knew exactly what he was talking about - this wasn't some fly by night operation. I decided to go ahead when I realised that half the work was fitting the new flywheel, and of course, when the front brakes and clutch were done, I was not at all far away.

I love the sound of carbs, but this will be my second efi conversion to a mappable ecu. Apart from all the fuelling and responsiveness, I want to future proof the car for another 40 years.

The new distributor is a Rootselar, from Nard - I think this has singlehandedly improved the car more than any tuning that's been done so far. Note only one coil now and no more points! Previously a journey round the M25 and the Antwerp Ring would have made me into a nervous wreck, expecting the car to conk out at any point, but I sailed over there with some exceptionally heavy traffic. Not a single stall!

Oh Charles, that's lovely

The colour suits it a treat and is magnificent...

I love it

It's been my dream to have an SM one day but I doubt it’ll ever happen... I can carry on dreaming though..

CitroJim wrote: It's been my dream to have an SM one day but I doubt it’ll ever happen... I can carry on dreaming though..

There are still a few bargains to be had in France (also some dogs). this one should be dirt cheap because withou a CG (french V5) it will be impossible to register in France, it must be exported or scrapped. I beleive that it is usually possible to re-register such a vehicle in the uk.

I keep looking at cars in France. Would you be willing to act as an intermediary if I see one I like?

Charles, it's good that they do it from the flywheel, sure must have taken them some development time to figure things out. Do they do just the ignition conversion for cars with carbs?

Jim, have you set off with trailer to France yet?!

Marc

Mike, until I get a big garage where I can keep and work on projects like that all thoughts of SM ownership are out. Trying to revive a poorly SM on my driveway I think is sadly just a step too far...

My advice to putative owners of SMs is buy one someone else has blown a fortune on at a price far below what they've spent (known in the trade as a kick in the nuts), Nard reckons a decent one from France will need a minimum of £20k spent on it, and you try finding one.

Marc - they sell the Rootselar separately yes - they can fit it or they will send it to you to do, all they need is the top half of your distributor. I'd ask Nard about the carb bit as I don't know the ins and outs of that.