A JRS project thread - 1968 Citroën ID19

[JRS]

Running again

***edit***

Running again within 12 minutes of me getting home. Lo, I am unto a God.

But it's definitely now accelerated the plans to go electronic for ignition. It's just better. I'm all for leaving classic stuff vaguely stock, but points+condenser setups belong firmly in the past.

 

[JRS]

My #winning streak continues. Got the turn-y driving lamps connected back up at the front.

So there's a lever on the steering rack that operates on a rod that pushes on another lever that drags a rod-and-cable that pulls on the housing of the offside light. With me so far? Another cable connects that gubbins to the nearside light. That cable was slackened off and the first control rod disconnected when the car was put in storage before we acquired it. Figured it would be a straightforward job, just reconnect everything and wait for dark to do a fine alignment.

Someone who had been there before me had other ideas...

The battery tray sits over the top of the lever that's connected to the steering rack. The battery tray was also pretty badly mullered. I had to yank the battery and get various implements of prying under it to bend it back up into good enough shape that the lever and rod wouldn't foul on it.

It was also quite warm today. And I'm only really in shape if 'round' counts as a shape

Multiple pints of water in and sweat out for about an hour and a half. But now the driving lamps do indeed move with the steering Once it's dark tonight I'll line everything up properly - the main lamps are height-controlled with the suspension to keep them pointing at the correct level on rough terrain, 9/10ths certain that their alignment is good so hopefully just need to tweak the driving lamps at the 'steering straight ahead' starting position.

Initial wonky gaze




Well, that's not good...



Closer to decent



Reattaching stuff




Lamp goes left...



...and right!

 

[JRS]

I just ordered a whole ruck of parts.

Headliner. Side trims. Rear light lens. Gear lever aperture rubber. Sill covers.

Just over 400 quid after shipping. Or a little over half of the money I'd negotiated off the purchase price. And pretty much all of it absolutely required (the sill covers could be said to be a luxury, though they do serve a practical purpose beyond the aesthetic). The headliner is going to make a huge difference to interior temps and comfort, the light lens will replace one that is utterly buggered, same for the gear lever aperture. And one of those side trim pieces is currently AWOL so having that back on will make a real difference to how the car looks. Then I can look at fixing some of the paint issues (chips, scratches etc).

My current goal with the car is to have it presentable enough and driveable enough that it can be in regular use from September. From there on out...well, we'll see. Electronic ignition for starters. Maybe one of those electric power-assisted steering kits for classics.

 

[JRS]

Driving the car yesterday, it felt like I had fueling issues. Stumbling off idle was bad enough, the surging worse Got it to where it would run at least vaguely right, then took off down the A38 for an exploratory.

The engine sort-of laid over when I shifted to third, so I backed out of it and then gradually re-opened the taps. Wound it up to ~65mph in third then went for top. Wound it up some more STAYING UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT AT ALL TIMES OFFICER *looks around shiftily*. Sat cruising at somewhere between full and flank speed. Came off at Branston, it seemed to be running pretty okay at that point so I went to the supermarket for provisions. There was a fun moment there - I get back to the car, and a chap comes bounding over. "I haven't seen one of these in real life before!" Told him about the project, he had an admiring look-around, then went on his way. I fired back up, figuring that if it stumbled at all as I came out of the car park that I'd head back through town instead of risking the A38. Pulled out, seemed fine. Drove down to the A38 island, seemed perfectly fine. Drove around to the A38 exit, fine. Accelerated to join the A38 and whoosh - she took off like there had never been anything wrong. Banged through the gears up into top, full speed ahead, cruising at warp factor 1.

I figure I had fuel starvation going on. Stumbling off idle could easily be a fuel supply issue. Running into a lean condition would also explain the surging. Or maybe there was just some crud in the carb and the run at speed cleared it up. Gonna pull the fuel filter out and replace it anyway since I have replacements.

 

[JRS]

Definitely got those fueling issues sorted. Car now performing even better than it did on the initial drive home when we picked it up.

Meanwhile...

Before...



...and after

 

[JRS]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread, keep it up dude!

I know you were talking about ditching the points for an electronic ignition, Did you get it sorted? And do you have any plans for an EFI at all?

Oh and how's yer paps enjoying it?

I cleaned up the points, but the whole dizzy looks old and the rotor arm in particular is pretty hammered. I can't see us putting any effort into repairing the existing setup more than my tidying of it so we'll probably go electronic in autumn. EFI...I've seen a setup that I'd love to put on it, one of those self-learning jobs with a throttle body and injector unit that bolts right where a carb would normally be. We'll see.

Pa drove the car a few times to get the feel of her and to show her off to his mates, then he and ma buggered off on their hols so he won't be driving her again until early September. Gives me time to go right through and iron out any showstopping bugs, and also do stuff like replacing the cacked or missing trim and get her looking purty

Sadly, rain has mostly stopped play right now. Going to nose her into the garage so I can get at the fuel filter, that'll be about all I can do today.

 

[JRS]

Made a start on the side trim today, replacing the missing one on the left front door. 3M double-sided spoiler tape is my weapon of choice, it's relatively easy to work with and sticks like a limpet once it's cured and flowed.

The old one had apparently been drilled and screwed on - not how the factory did it (they used adhesive tapes like I am). One of the screw holes that had been drilled in the door was mullered and standing a bit proud of the surface of the door skin, so I ground that back and tidied the area then washed the door down to get any grease or other contaminants off. Lined everything up, pushed trim on, applied pressure along it to get the adhesive flowing. Going to see what it looks like in the morning, so pics to follow then. For now, it's beer time.

 

[JRS]

Wandered outside with my beer because it seemed like a nice evening. Unfortunately, the mossies think it's a nice evening as well so I didn't stay out very long! But here's a couple of shots of the new trim piece in place:




The door needs tidying anyway (paint mainly) so that trim may not be on there for good. But at least it makes the car look a bit less unfinished while we decide what we're doing there. If the weather isn't horrendous tomorrow I'm going to try and sort the alignment on that front wing panel, because it's nowhere near correct. All the panels and doors (with the possible exception of the roof skin) can be peeled off and realigned, you're supposed to start with the rear wings and work forward. I'm happy with where the rear wings are, and the doors line up nicely with them and the door seals, so I'm going to shift that front wing forward a little and down at the trailing edge. That, combined with getting the bonnet alignment better, should have it about right.

 

[JRS]

Really pleased this is going well so far. Glad it just needed an Italian tune up to get things running smoothly!

She's still going to need electronic ignition, because it's just better. Carbs, I'm absolutely fine sticking with - I know how they work and they're tunable with a screwdriver. EFI is a nice thing to be sure, but it's a luxury rather than a necessity. Points and condensers meanwhile belong firmly in the past

 

[JRS]

Had some time this morning before an appointment with the ophthalmologist. Figured I'd get a quick job done that's been bugging me.

Ruined gear lever gaiter



Housing and rubber off the car



Pop some clips off



Old and new



Reassembled



Back on the car




A minor job, but one that needed doing.

 

[JRS]

And that's the new trim on the right-rear door. Straightened the door skin out some while I was at it, not perfect but a hell of a lot better than it was. Been repaired more than once in the past by the look of things, so if I go any further than a skim of filler and some paint then it'll be going somewhere vaguely professional to sort. But I reckon I can get it at least presentable

 

[JRS]

I love the job you're doing with this. It really is an amazing looking car, and it keeps getting better with every update.

Love this thread, great car.

Cheers guys. Currently on holiday in the land of her birth, so won't be any major updates for a short while. Unless I find interesting parts at a vide grenier or similar occasion

 

[JRS]

Ordered a headlight loom to sort out some aging wiring at the front - we used a similar piece on the Landy when we converted her from sealed beam to proper headlights, the aftermarket loom sections also add relays and fuses to the system that tidy up the power going to the lights. Pa and I have also pretty much settled on what we're doing with the ignition - going to go with a whole EI distributor and coil rather than convert the existing dizzy. Once we've got good ignition I can then clean and set the carb up properly, and we'll see how she does when the colder weather hits.

 

[JRS]

My patience snapped tonight. Engine lumpy as all get out firing up, whipped the bonnet up and checked the HT leads. Three out of four are suspect, No.3 especially. So the hell with it - new leads, plugs and boots ordered. New EI distributor and a coil with some 'umpy to be bought soon as I decide which to go for.

 

[JRS]

It's the same problem we hit with the Landy, ignition stuff deteriorates while a car is in storage. I really should have gone right through it as soon as we got the car home, but she was running okay then and I was concentrating on stuff like the wipers and headlights. Hey ho!

 

[JRS]

Photos to follow, but I've replaced the leads (couldn't find a long enough plug spanner to get all the way down to the spark plugs! Hemi head ). Already running more smoothly.

Went with Bougicord leads, since they are the OEM ones. The ones on the car were Lucas Silicone Speedlead ones, and as we all know 'Lucas' is synonymous with longevity and quality.

*snort*

 

[JRS]

Old trashed leads



Note that number 3's seal at the top isn't sealing at all. The clips that they're supposed to have were long gone. Or, given that they're Lucas parts, were never there to begin with. Who knows?

Shiny new ones



You know how sometimes you can hold a car part and feel the quality? Yeah.

Rough fitted



Going to make myself some extra wire separators, using the patented Freiburger Ziptie Method™.

This thing was no help at all



At 19+ years old she's done with coming outside to see what I'm doing with cars

 

[JRS]

So, hilariously it appears that every lumpy/uneven running issue, every moment where the car seemed a bit hard to start, every time it felt like something was a bit untoward in the engine compartment...was purely down to some of the bits marked 'Lucas'. Because replacing the Lucas plug and coil leads with Bougicord ones has solved the lot.

The Prince Of Darkness™ strikes again. WHO COULD POSSIBLY HAVE FORESEEN THIS???

And I mean it - it's better enough now that we might not even need to replace the distributor and coil with EI-spec kit. Gonna give it a couple of weeks and see how we go, but take tonight - it's poured with rain nearly all day and it's not been what you'd call warm, but the car fired off clean with the choke cable pulled halfway and ran fine off-choke within a minute. Of course, I do now have to un-arse the carburettor settings and re-do them from scratch because I've been tuning around the ignition issue (I'll be charitable and say that the engine is running a tad rich right now, in fact it's absolutely pig fat ).

 

[JRS]

Been tuning on the carb, trying to lean it out some and get the transition from closed to part throttle behaving better. Drove well on a shopping trip into town tonight (I *medically* needed beer, and the car needed driving).

Funny moment on my way home. Was stopped at a set of lights, window down, listening to the engine idle. Family come out of the building next to me. The father's eyes widen, then he calls over. "Is that a Citroën? A DS19?"

"Similar, it's an ID19."

"Beautiful car!"

His little boy meanwhile was just staring at the car, eyes out on stalks, jaw dropped. He gave me a sort-of wave, I wave back, and he gets a full-on Cheshire cat grin on his face

 

[JRS]

I reckon that french car has turned you to drink

Oh, I turned to drink a long time before French cars. I drove a Fiat Seicento for ~12 years.