Citroen XM Forum

so is the 1.7td in the BX - it's 'almost' like a switch! In comparison, the turbo on my C5 HDi is barely noticeable
In further contrast, the Xantia 2.1TD had a much more marked 'phase' of oomph than the XM, but that may be due to it being a lighter car and a manual.

Peter, what do you mean by conversions? N/A to turbos? In any case, that's over 50 years of experience! In which case, what would you expect to be the case if an XUD9TE (8v) head was placed upon the 2.1 block?

D'man, by the way, I meant to tell you. Do you remember I had starting issues on Battlescar and you mentioned that as a last resort I may have to consider poor compression as the fault? Well, when I removed the head for Paul and removed the injectors also, well one was NOT very tight at all, I mean really not tight. So twas probably that - never thought to check tightness of injectors.

Oops..

turns out you were in all likely hood correct though!

Hi Goeff

Prepare to be bored. In the late '50s Perkins brought out a series of conversions for practically every popular car of the time, the engine was called the 4.99 and was the first major high speed indirect injection engine, it produced the princly figure of 43 bhp at 4000 rpm and 71 lbs/ft of torque. I bought a kit, brand new (I had more money in those days) and fitted it to my 1955 Vauxhall Velox. It was a very comprensive kit and included just about everything to use your original gearbox, clutch mechanism, exhaust radiator etc. After the 2.2 litre straight six the performance was embarrassing but the fuel consumption for the time was phenominal.

A few years later I fitted another one in a 1954 Morris Oxford Traveller, one with wood like the Minor, you never see them now, anyway for this conversion I bought a secondhand engine and fabricated much of the conversion myself, this one went much better on account of having a four speed box and higher axle ratio. I had a couple more Diesel oxfords which I bought already converted then one of the earliest manufactured diesels the Austin A60 Cambridge - then we moved from Kent to Dorset.

Once we got down here the conversion bug bit again and I fitted one of the BMC 1.5 engines to my Morris Oxford estate that I had owned for a few years - not very good at all, this engine had the distinction of the starter actually producing more torque that the engine. By this time Perkins had brought out a new engine, well actually it was a beefed up 4/99, the capacity had been increased to from 1621 to 1763cc and the power upped to 52 Bhp and 79lb/ft.

Second round of convertions. My first introduction to the 4/108 was from a Bedford CA van, the 'Doormobile' type which I bought for my work, the gearbox this used was basically the same type as the Vauxhall cars of the time used which was the secret of my 'better' conversions. I subsequently fitted thes to half a dozen cars from a Vauxhal Viva to a Granada estate.

I was driving down the motorway one day at about 60 mph with my engine screaming when I was overtaken by a lorry with a much worse power to weight ratio tha me, which purred past completely unstressed, this was my 'eureka' moment the reason was of course a large choice of gear ratios so I set about providing the same.

I spent many happy hours roaming the scrap yards seeking out Vauxhall overdrive gearboxes from VX490s, Crestas and the like. My supply of engines came from scrap vans and carried the vauxhall gearbox bellhousing onto which I could bolt the overdrive box. This, with a little modification of the inhibiter switch gave me eight forward gears, but they were much to close together making it difficult to pull away in 1st, so I fitted the gears from the van box which had much wider ratios, onto the overdrive mainshaft, I now had a cor with theorectically eight gears, although 1st and 2nd would slip if pushed so lets say six. This gave me a car with high enough gearing to cruise relatively quietly down the motorway.

The I drove my First CX diesel - needlessly to say I never needed to do another conversion conversion

Peter.

Starter motor had more torque!!!!
I shall never forget as my mum pulled away from a junction in our NX 1.9 n/a and the chap behind was in a 1.7TD - it just flew! I like to think of the XUD7te as the instigator of the the diesel revolution

When I was a child I had a ride in an Austin Cambridge diesel...noisy, slow and smoky is what I remember..

That's about right - but it was diesel

What do you think of an 8V head on a 2.1? part of a project I have in mind

A retrograde step I would think Geoff - if you are serious I think the 16v head is what gives the 2.1 its wonderful flexibility. Apart from that it has a much better cooling system, you can boil them and get away with it - guess how I know - twice . The thermostat being in the return means you can't get an airlock in the head, cause of the destruction of so many 1.9 heads. The 2.1 head was designed with this problem in mind.

Peter

Excuse my ignorance , but why "The thermostat being in the return means you can't get an airlock in the head"?
Despite several coolant/rad changes, I've not (knowingly) had air lock problems on a 1.7. Whats the root cause, poor practice or poor design?

It seems rather counter intuitive I know, but I've half a plan to put the 2.1 in a BX, but using an 8V head would make life much simpler.