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I got slightly carried away at an auction this weekend, and so I am now the proud owner of a 2CV which has seen better days... I've always wanted one of these and I've been having great fun getting my head around some of the quirks. I haven't got it running yet - it turns over with good compression but unsurprisingly there is no spark. There's a new unfitted coil with it so fitting that will probably be a good place to start. It's showing ~37,000 miles which may well be genuine since it's been off the road since 1995 so only had 7 years of use before being laid up. Bits of it are surprisingly solid and other bits are distinctly not. Oddly, the front of the car appears to have sagged downwards, the opposite of what you'd expect with a rusty chassis, so that'll definitely need further inspection. I'm not quite sure what direction to take it in yet, it'd be a good contender for being rebuilt onto a new galvanised chassis and I've also always fancied the 2cv racing series. Either way there are a couple of cars ahead of it in the queue so things won't progress much beyond getting it running for the time being. Some pics:     I've lots of questions about various bits, and what's worth doing in the way of clubs and spares etc., but that's enough for now! |
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IIRC, this colour scheme was known as plums and custard!
Looks like it needs some tlc.
Good luck, keep us posted.
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simes
Part of things
Posts: 734
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Lots of spares and clubs available.
Easy to work on,
Saying that my dad starting restoring his 1958 deuche in '2005, he had been a bit unwell but it's still not finished!
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Simes
205Mi16 - 262 cams, Jenvey Throttle Bodies, Emerald managment blah blah......
E91 320D MSport
Honda NC30
Vespa 300GTS
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düdo
Part of things
wide as house
Posts: 770
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Looks fine to me. Soon have that sorted. Nice and easy to work on.
I was driving worse, multi-coloured 2CV sheds in the 90s and eventually ended up in '97 in one the same as this - seemed posh - in which I was underway with my then girlfriend from her parents house in France back to London. In some French nowhere the thing went bang and laid a slick of oil down the road which I remember looked like one of those gangster hits with the victim lying in a pool of blood. Two weeks later she f'ed off with another bloke after seven years together. I saw that breakdown as symbolic! Haha
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Last Edit: Mar 6, 2017 22:23:02 GMT by düdo
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IIRC, this colour scheme was known as plums and custard! Looks like it needs some tlc. Good luck, keep us posted. The plum and custard colour scheme along with some of the less solid aspects of it have resulted in the name of 'Crumble' |
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Can anyone tell me what this little electrical jobby is? It's mounted on the front crossmember below the fan and has three wires coming out it leading into the rest of the loom. I'm not sure why it's been placed so far away from anything else electrical.  |
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Can anyone tell me what this little electrical jobby is? It's mounted on the front crossmember below the fan and has three wires coming out it leading into the rest of the loom. I'm not sure why it's been placed so far away from anything else electrical. It's a French car. It doesn't have to make sense. |
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simes
Part of things
Posts: 734
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Dim/dip resistor......I think.
Looks like a common PSA component.
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Simes
205Mi16 - 262 cams, Jenvey Throttle Bodies, Emerald managment blah blah......
E91 320D MSport
Honda NC30
Vespa 300GTS
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Lovely purchase, had a Dyane in same condition years ago, great fun !
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1994 Mercedes e220 petrol estate, daily driver.
1998 Peugeot 406 Coupe 3.0 v6, shopping car.
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Dim/dip resistor......I think. Looks like a common PSA component. Thanks, looks like that's it! As for the BMW engine - It's tempting although given that the engine is probably the most solid part of this example I'd rather not replace it! |
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When I was younger I used to hate these cars one of my teachers at school had on
but as I've got older I've found myself really liking them
I've looking into buying one more recently but there to expensive for me now
As for parts
I was at the classic car show NEC and there was a club and it looked like most parts are still available
I believe the chassis suffer from rust
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1992 240 Volvo T8
1955 Cadillac
1994 BMW E34 M5 (now sold )
1999 BMW E36 sport touring x2
1967 Hillman imp Californian "rally spec"
1971 VW bay window (work in progress)
1999 Mazda 323F
1987 Jaguar XJ12
All current
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düdo
Part of things
wide as house
Posts: 770
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I believe the chassis suffer from rust I was driving through Wandsworth in '95 in a yellow '77 2CV, going over speed bumps a bit brisk and the revs kept getting higher and higher and I kept on stopping to try to work out what was going on. Eventually I got it : the chassis was starting to bend through corrosion, set off by the speed bumps and the middle of the car was sagging and the result was a shortening of the throttle cable throw increasing the revs. I also had a rather large friend in the car and his weight was contributing. Sheet - it was literally happening before my eyes. I drove fifteen minutes back to Brixton, pouring sweat, revs going up and up, we parked the car, and literally the chassis snapped with a soft sinking motion as we got out. In those days parts and cars were throwaway so I got another non runner donated - that classic apple green - and swapped it all over in the council carpark inc. numberplates haha. A strange yellow/green clone emerged. Some kids set fire to the remains of the yellow one. I was sat in the beer garden of The George Canning having a pint when one of my mates came over and said : your old car's on fire! |
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Last Edit: Mar 10, 2017 11:38:30 GMT by düdo
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Mar 10, 2017 11:24:32 GMT
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Indeed, check very carefully, the chassis underneath the bulkhead; they rust there unseen (from the top of the chassis downwards), and the car can literally fold in half if you go over a speed bump, making the steering go all heavy. I suffered this problem on a 1986 D-reg Plum & Custard one, that looked superficially OK - the later Portugese built cars are very rot-prone in this area! On this occasion, I was driving the car rather spiritedly around a car park with my brother on board - the car had only just passed the MOT a few days before, so I thought all was well... I had to gingerly drive it home, then effect more chassis welding.  |
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Mar 12, 2017 21:08:53 GMT
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Right so I've had a fairly unsuccessful time getting this going. After fiddling with the electrics a bit (there's no keys so it's all been hotwired/bodged) I was amazed to find that the ignition came on and most of the electrics were functioning:  I replaced the coil with the new one, but was disappointed to find that there was no spark. A bit of fiddling around got the occasional very weak spark intermittently, but nowhere near what's needed to run the engine. I investigated the points but they look good, and the gap was right as well. So the next step is replace the HT leads, plugs, condenser, and possibly the points as well just to rule them out. It doesn't help that the ignition system doesn't seem very conventional - no distributor so presumably a waste spark system where both plugs spark regardless. The other cars I've ever worked on have the coil itself directly earthed, whereas the 2CV one is distinctly insulated from the car, so I don't quite understand what's going on there although electrics aren't my strong point! |
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Mar 13, 2017 18:09:44 GMT
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Check the engine-to-body earth strap is sound and perhaps clean it to get good contacts, also do the same with the HT leads and connections to the coil. The points, IIRC, are located behind the fan.  |
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Mar 19, 2017 21:54:15 GMT
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Some slight progress today but not as much as I'd hoped. I replaced the HT leads and plugs which didn't seem to make any difference, so I replaced the points and condenser as well:  Finally I have a good strong spark - I suspect it was the condenser which had packed up. I chucked some fuel down the carb and turned it over on the off chance it would fire up but didn't get much life out of it, aside from the odd slightly promising splutter. Annoyingly the booster pack died before I could have a proper go at it, and the timing needs to be done properly as I think it's a bit too advanced at the moment. |
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Mar 26, 2017 19:09:11 GMT
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Finally got this running after putting a new battery on it. The mixture seems to be all over the place, and the mixture adjustment doesn't make much difference - I'm presuming it needs the carb rebuilding which should be easy enough. While it was running I even took it for a drive, which was interesting given the total lack of brakes. All of the rubbers on the gear linkages have perished or fallen off which makes changing gear very difficult. Here it is on its maiden voyage:  Slightly alarmingly I went over a small bump which resulted in a horrific noise, a new crack on the floorpan, and the front doors now barely closing. I knew the chassis was rotten but not that bad! Either way it looks like a new chassis will definitely be the way forward, and until then there won't be anymore driving it to avoid causing more damage. |
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The V5's come through for this now which is a bit of a relief - it didn't have one when I purchased it so there's always a few weeks of anticipation hoping the application will pass through the DVLA alright.
I investigated the brakes at the weekend, and annoyingly one of brake lines has rusted through completely! One more thing to add to the list.
Does anyone have any different experiences of the different replacement chassis which are available? The fully galvanised 2CV City one almost looks a bit too good to be true...
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