CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

In between a lot of baking (bread, scones and flapjacks ), running Bury Field for a parkrun check, getting the parkrun kit together for the weekend and cleaning the house I got a good bit done on Bluebell

First up, removing the air intake and air box I found this horribly perished vacuum pipe feeding the summer/winter flap on the air intake.

That pipe is only about 18 months old - eBay rubbish

The air filter element, still the same one from the days before Bluebell was rescued, is now looking a bit past its best so will be replaced... I have one in stock and a couple more on order.

Then, with access gained, I set about loosening the inner track rod end locknuts... They were outrageously tight and I needed to make up a bit of a 'special' breaker bar to use with the crowfoot socket...

The inner track rod ends have, quite logically, left-hand threads. It's obvious from the threads if you know what you are looking at but worryingly, not mentioned in the BoL... I'm sure this has caught out a few people before now...

Then, with those loose, I undid the track rod end through-bolts from the rack yoke...

And out they came

The inner track rod ends would not rotate freely in their track rods so I fully removed the whole RH track rod to work on it on the bench. It soon freed up

In doing this, I found the after-market new track rod end I fitted for the MoT had an incorrect taper profile It was hellishly hard to separate it from the strut steering arm.

As the old joint was fine and just needed a new boot, I swapped the boot All now good with the old joint back in service...

That an after-market item could be incorrectly profiled is worrying. This was not an Autodoc one. I shall now check my Autodoc spares...

This is the inner track rod end up close:

The rubber looks perished to the casual eye but is not. It just superficial and there's absolutely no play or what I'd consider excessive 'give' in the joint at all. It can do a further turn in what is after all, a very lightly used car.

Strawberry's I know do so she, being the more heavily used AX, will get new inner joints.

I now have to pop the LH track rod out to free off the inner track rod end thread and give the inner track rod end rubber parts close inspection.

[CitroJim]

He's not known to be dangerous, just hang a picture of an AX from a stick and he'll follow you like a donkey. I'm sure the face looks familiar just can't think why

That's really made me giggle Ryan

I do have a few AX models and here's one of them

Posing in front of my laptop... The post being displayed is very relevant

[CitroJim]

Only a little done on Bluebell today, due to otehr activities..

When I first had her, there was a fair bit of debris in her fuel tank and it took several changes of fuel filter before the fuel ran clear.

I rebuilt the carb in the early days of my ownership as it was in a terrible state...

The last couple of time I have driven her, I've noticed a bit of a stumble if given a good dose of throttle, suggesting the accellerator pump was not quite the full shilling...

I removed the top of the carb. and this was what was sitting in the bottom of the float chamber

It's amazing what got past the fuel filters in two years!

I found a bit of muck in the accelerator pump intake valve - a ball bearing in a tube - and after cleaning it, all seems good although the proof of the pudding will be in a road test which, with the steering all in bits, was not really advisable!

I note the carb. is quite worn on the butterfly spindle and will be on the lookout for another one... If push comes to shove, I'm sure I can rebush the shaft...

[Rp0thejester]

What were the odds of that after Mikes steering column ball bearing story!?

[Zelandeth]

Seeing the mention of eBay vacuum hose, just going to do the obligatory plug I do every time I see someone either mentioning disintegrating hoses or mentioning they've fitted something bought from most motor factors (which is generally as bad as eBay/Amazon these days).

https://www.glencoeltd.co.uk/cohline-fuel-vacuum-hose/

That's the only place I buy fuel/vacuum lines from these days, and have done for the last year or two. Especially sinc Motor Parts Direct down in Bletchley, a supposed Gates Professional stockist denied that the Gates Barricade line of hoses even existed. I just gave up at that point and went with a company whose products are pricey, but who have a very, very good reputation and who apparently do very much care to keep it that way, so get their stocks directly from Cohline rather than from some random wholesaler in China.

[Rp0thejester]

Did you speak so it auto typed? Reads exactly how you speak Zel.

[CitroJim]

Seeing the mention of eBay vacuum hose, just going to do the obligatory plug I do every time I see someone either mentioning disintegrating hoses or mentioning they've fitted something bought from most motor factors (which is generally as bad as eBay/Amazon these days).

I found another one yesterday Zel, and I'm getting really fed up with the quality of a lot of stuff these days... Especially that originating in Asia

I sourced a new rectifier for Alasdair's battery charger and I didn't notice it was from China. Took ages to arrive and was totally unsuitable for the job. It did not match the description and I threw it away; it was shoddy and unlikely to have functioned...

A sad fact is some of the OE 35 year old rubber stuff on the car is still good...

What were the odds of that after Mikes steering column ball bearing story!?

In this case Ryan, the ball bearing is a functional part of the one-way valve... A sliver of something stopped it seating...

Did you speak so it auto typed? Reads exactly how you speak Zel.

Saves a lot of typing

[CitroJim]

A bad hair day for me today - I appear to have grown a mohican

It's actually the top of a tree in the background...

The picture was taken during a very social club run. I'm the one on the left

Afterwards we repaired to a Waitrose café for coffee. Surprised such a high-lass establishment lets a crowd of lycra-clad sweaty individuals in, but then, if you look past our appearance and focus on how much we drink and eat, it can't be bad for their profits!

[mickthemaverick]

Quite scary how the angle of your head in that picture actually parallels the adjacent one in your profile Jim!!

[CitroJim]

Quite scary how the angle of your head in that picture actually parallels the adjacent one in your profile Jim!!

Hey yes, now you mention it, it does! I'd not noticed it... My normal pose and demonstrating just how unbalanced I am

[Rp0thejester]

We can see your unbalanced from your laptop photo, head at the same angle....

[Rp0thejester]

I want to apologise to you Jim, I didn't realise that after my post that you would put a Hex on Letchworth and plunge us into darkness for 30minutes!!!!!..... I know you've calmed down now as power is back on. ( We honestly had a power cut for 30 minutes.)

[Rp0thejester]

Once again I apologise as power is off again....

[CitroJim]

I want to apologise to you Jim, I didn't realise that after my post that you would put a Hex on Letchworth and plunge us into darkness for 30minutes!!!!!..... I know you've calmed down now as power is back on. ( We honestly had a power cut for 30 minutes.)

My powers range far and wide Ryan

Being serious for a moment, I really am unbalanced left to right and during my diagnosis back along it was a big concern; It stems from brain damage that came along with my ME although initially it was thought I'd suffered a stroke, especially as I'm a little numb all down one side and lack coordination and balance. Running and cycling helps this aspect a lot.

MRI scans showed lesions on my brain, likely as a result of the viral infection that initially kicked off the ME.

So, I can honestly and truthfully state I'm not right in the head

[MattBLancs]

So, I can honestly and truthfully state I'm not right in the head

As my late grandad used to always say when asked "are you alright?"

Spoiler: show

yes, but just down one side!

I'm the one on the left

My left or your left!?