CitroJim's Citroens

[robert_e_smart]

Don't forget that the 407 is waiting for your polishing skills Franklin! Did you ever get any of those black car polishes?

[Duke]

Oh yeah, drop it around in the morning would you?!!

I was going to get some of that Black Hole Glaze, however I found a new bottle of T Cut Black Colour Magic in the garage which does just the same job pretty much! Last weekend I fully wax'd the C4 with the Meguiars Carnauba Wax though, and the results were fabulous! Mirror finish...

[russ92xmsed]

I have found mixing two shampoos works very well too. It is an odd thing to suggest, must admit, but I use turtle wax and carplan with polish in them, cap each in a bucket of water.
That I find gives an excellent shine to then improve upon with waxes and polish ect.

I have to stock up on some more valeting things. Want to try this Meguiars range. Looks good.

You did an excellent job on Jims old car Franklin.

[robert_e_smart]

The 407 is in the airport car park this week and was washed before I left home! She's waiting for you there!

[Duke]

Perfect! Sounds a plan...

[mds141]

I usually put a capful of car wax into the bucket of car shampoo. Certainly can't do any harm.

[CitroJim]

Found a problem on the XM thanks to Chris (Citroenmad) It has e the wrong size tyres. 205/60 rather than 205/65

I'm going to swap them for the right ones but keep the wrong ones as they are Xantia size... I'm bloody annoyed though...

Yesterday was wholly spent working with Team WFA removing the Mazda RX-8 engine

Never ever let it be said that any Xantia, XM or indeed any Citroen suffers poor accessibility or that any job is difficult. You certainly won't after working on an RX-8.... They are the very definition of poor access and bizarre design everywhere and boy, did that engine, despite being a tiny thing, fight us every millimetre of the way.. It was epic but we won. Others would surely have failed on several potential showstoppers... The RX-8 makes the XM look like a really well thought out engineering masterpiece of careful design and implementation. That must give an idea of how 'fun' the Mazda is to work on

Also got my new pads and discs fitted on the Xantia V6 and just as an encore also fitted new discs and pads to Chris570's SWMBO's C4...

Not a bad day’s work...

[robert_e_smart]

I'd not bother changing the tyres Jim. They are standard on XM TCTs, and more readily available in that size too. If you are serious about buying 205 65 15, drop me a PM. I have a good contact for Michelin Energy Savers in that size.

The XM, a masterpiece indeed, think of all the different engine swops you could do with the PSA choices! Apparently some folk in Ireland put 1.9TDs in TCT XMs back in the day. I can only imagine how slow they must be!

[russ92xmsed]

That's a shame Jim, does it really matter however? I suppose really you should have the correct ones fitted. At least not all is lost if you do swap them.

Sounds like a fun day yesterday. So project RX8 is still going....

[CitroJim]

Sounds like a fun day yesterday. So project RX8 is still going....

Oh yes, it's war now. This RX-8 won't beat us even though it enjoys a greater and bigger death-wish than any XM

We're running very low on profanity at the moment. A great deal was expended yesterday so if you hear of a world shortage of it you know why...

The owner now has an engine sitting on the bench. It's currently very dirty so he has the job of cleaning it up and stripping all ancillaries off before the bare engine comes to me for full disassembly, assessment and probable rebuild...

Then we have the equally fun job of reinstalling the engine

I'll occasionally mention RX-8 progress here if the mods are content...

I had the opportunity to park my XM next to another ES9 XM V6 this morning. That one had the right tyres on it and the difference is quite staggering. Mine, on reflection, does not look right with the skinny 60 profile tyres so they will be changed...

My XM is my daily driver for the next week. My Xantia V6 has just burst her radiator and left herself sitting in a big blue puddle. It's been expected for several weeks now as I've had to top-up every week and could see stains on the rad... I didn't expect it to go quite so dramatically as it did though... Although to be fair it was after a spirtied drive where she acted as a benchmark/control during the back to back drive of two V6 XMs and a V6 Xantia. That bit of a sprint to the red-line a few times was the last straw for the poor old rad... Still, it was the original so fifteen years is not bad...