1985 305

[FarmerPug]

I was thinking of 5mm plate for the top something that would take a bit of abuse, and could be earthed for welding if needed. The angle iron drawers sounds like a good idea.

As for mig welding its not hard to make bits of metal stick together, i went to the tech for about 8 weeks doing recreational welding, im still not great at it, i had to cut the first two legs of the table off again as i noticed they werent square i never really expected the actual welding to pull them to one side.

[Welly]

Thanks for the updates, I still enjoy your freds.

[FarmerPug]

I still havent put the car on the jig, aidain is using his for a series 1 e type at the moment and commented on the fact that if the car isnt balance its an absolute pain to spin around or it becomes a pendilium. So told me to make up one that can be balanced, there are plans on ebay for about £15 and plans on google for free.
The more economically affordable plans were downloaded and printed out, but one problem is they are all in old money measurements, i changed them all into nice decimal metric measurements, and made a few changes mostly using plate instead of having to cut the box at an angle.

This is what i have planned:



So far ive got the speed bar for the levelling head assembly (M24 with a wide thread pitch), the small bearings for the same assembly and ordered the bulk of the box section through work, the plate parts are all nested ready to be cut.

I had initially give up on the idea of putting rams on it to lift the car up and down because trying to find a hand pump, hydraulic rams and the piping was working out to be rather expensive, but then looking for engine crane ram brought up rams at the right sort of money:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-NC10-S ... 1634585363

Is there a generic term that would apply to this sort of ram, searching for engine crane ram on ebay gets a list of spare parts for engine cranes which are a bit more expensive, there is probably a cheaper way to buy them if they are just listed as a hand operated ram rather than an engine crane ram.

[OllieNZ]

Could you use a long travel bottle jack instead?

[FarmerPug]

I went ahead and bought a pair of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381078171407? ... EBIDX%3AIT

The stroke is 490mm, what ive drawn up in theory can travel up and down 500mm the 10mm loss in overall travel is no big issue.

[FarmerPug]

Slighty unrelated. My mum got diagnosed with dimentia about 2 years ago and gave in her licence, and sold the clio. It has been a bit ackward for her, i try to do all the shop runs and take her where she needs to go but living out in the countryside not having a car is a massive loss.
She has had tonnes of tests, seen "specialists" and "consultants" and was even taking medication for dimentia, in september we then got told it wasnt dimentia it was some sort of thyroid problem linked to the medication she takes for the artificial valve in her heart.
She has been given the ok to drive again, and asked me to look out for a cheap car for her as long as it wasnt a clio.

So i went and bought her this as a bit of a christmas present:


Its a 2001 Citroen Xsara 2.0 HDi (Presumably 90 theres no intercooler) LX with 101000 miles for £610
There are a few niggling faults that ill need to get fixed; the front left hand door is showing up on the mfd as being open, the central locking does not work either remotley or from the key, the drivers electric window does not work (absolutley no noise), the interior fan is stuck on full speed it wont even go off, a few slats in the air vents have popped out of place, the glovebox doesnt close, and the steering wheel controls dont control the radio. Nothing really that worries me, this is why i love french cars.
Mechanically its perfect, starts and drives very well with no funny noises or squeaks, there is MOT to december 2015, these really are a cracking car, essentially a 306 with more space and comfier seats.

[Welly]

That's great to hear your Mum is finally getting the help she needs and it sounds like your doing a sterling job looking after her too. I reckon that's a great choice of car, nice and comfy and not too fancy to worry about.

The niggles shouldn't be too much trouble for someone like yourself.

[FarmerPug]

Here are a few pictures of the car (ignore the sawdust thats for an oil change that got a bit out of hand)



bit of a tear on the headlining:


a bit of a ripple/dent/scuff all in one:


Is it me or does one tail light look different:

Possibly a bit of a mistake when jacking the car up?

a wee scuff on the front bumper:

though overall not bad for a 14 year old car, there is no rust to be seen anywhere:

[Welly]

I reckon that'll do nicely. I like the passenger Air Bag switch kinda hidden on the end of the dash, good idea.

[FarmerPug]

I got a few bits gathered up for the xsara; a glovebox, heater resistor repair kit, drivers door loom, cd player from a picasserole, wiper stalk with trip button, type b mfd (for the trip computer), a key and a speaker grille. I just need to put them into the car.

Here is the box all cut up ready to be welded together to make the rotisserie:


I havent done much more to the 305 recently, so here is a few photos of what my cousin adain is working on, the plan is to get him to do the welding on the 305 once its been sandblasted:










Its a series 1 E type which has been imported from california, although there was still a fair deal of rust on it.

[lozz]

Excellent [pics

that E type will look amazing when completed,


the Xsara looks good, Not many left now in Diesel form,over here,
wished inever sold mine it was a good pocket rocket, 110bhp. ive asked to buy it back several times but the old fella wont part with it,
they are much better than some of the psa/citroen modern stuff.,

[D4B]

Some lovely metal fabrication going on there

[Ares]

Could be some mechanic was too widl around the back wheel and made damage to that rear quarter panel.

Yes,the rear lights are different,maybe its soe weird camera effect on it or one of them is lighter than other (newer).
Anyway,glad to hear your mom is doing better,the Xsara is a wonderfull gift,so big and easy to drive.

[FarmerPug]

So far ive sorted, the electric windows some one had tried fixing one of the wires but seemed to have put it back in the wrong place aswell as doing a terrible job of connecting them, the glovebox lid is fixed, heater blower now does multiple speeds including off, trip computer and cd player installed, i took apart the steering wheel to investigate the non functioning steering wheel controls, the corrosion looks like its caused the problem:




One ruined PCB, i wonder how moisture got into the steering wheel?

The central locking is the last problem, the passenger front door i think is the main problem, it never registered as closed there seemed to have been a problem with the microswitch, the key makes the lights flash, boot open, and when i press lock it locks the car but unlocks straight away (in the same way a 406 will if you try to lock the doors and one is opened), but the back doors locks make a groaning strained noise, hopefully they dont need to be changed aswell.

[lozz]

One ruined PCB, i wonder how moisture got into the steering wheel?

^ perhaps its been left parked up at one stage..in a Downpour..(window left down)