I got the gray car in 1986 when a family from Lyon brought it to Canada for a vacation tour (a Frenchman would surely notice by the number plate). This is the first view I had of the car from my bicycle, near Banff somewhere in the Canadian Rockies. I didn't speak French back then but any car guy seeing a sign like that in the window knows it must surely mean "For Sale".
We stopped, found the owners, had a long happy lunch, and parted a bit enamored. The next day we saw them again and we struck a deal to buy the car. Of course, we were on bicycles, had no cash, etc but as they were headed to Vancouver anyway, they agreed to deliver the car to my mother's house near Seattle in a week. Here's the "drop-off" picture with happy at the wheel.
I had to fly home to go back to work, my wife went to Seattle and got the car, and we met up at Laguna Seca (you saw the Chevrolet event photos recently in this forum). We drove it home to San Diego and have enjoyed it for 30 years. Commuting to work, various trips, etc. in addition to crossing Canada, it's been to Area 51,
to the middle of Baja California (this is NOT a trick photo)
For a brief time it was in the hands of my good friend Gary who put on the wood panels which he'd created for the Flying 2CV (Click Here for that convoluted story). I continued to have access to drive and enjoy it around town and in parades (This was Joe Versus the Volcano if you remember the movie starring Tom Hanks)
When Gary got the car painted, the non-Citroen body shop guys were baffled by the French engineering, and messed up a few things. Gary convinced them to refund some of his money, and he paid me to fix my own (former) car. When he passed away a couple years ago, I got the car back, and have continued to use it lightly. But it hasn't run well, and I was quite frustrated.
I fixed the wiring, replaced the coil and plug wires, and rebuilt the carburetor. A slight improvement was noted, but nothing significant, considering the effort expended.
There was an issue with the fuel supply to the carb, so I replaced all the rotten and cracked rubber hoses, and tried again. No real improvement.
Darn it! I pulled the tank and cleaned the screen there. Nada. Nyet.
At this point it was feeling like a watch that's been sent back a couple times and not getting better - just getting scratches added to it. Hmmmm.
Now let me digress. About 15 years ago I had my Lotus Elan Twincam engine rebuilt by Bill Schlossnagel, a well-known racing engine magician in Southern California.
I went to see Bill on Saturday to ask him some questions about tuning my Lotus. We started talking about bad fuel, rotten hoses, and bad running cars. He had an Elan like mine in his shop and said,
"This car's engine is identical to your Elan's engine, and runs just like you have described the 2CV. I think it's fuel - I put it on the dyno and had to jet the carbs about 15-20% richer to run on today's ethanol."
Bingo!
I guess I will have to go deeper into the bowels of the carburetor to solve this problem.
I got out my Citroen factory manual -- the carbs to the left in this table (110,111) are 1970's. As you progress across you see the carb jet sizes going down (leaner) as the cars get newer. My 1986 car has a 225 carb. So do most 2CVs through the end in 1991. In today's world with low octane plus ethanol they just won't run. There are 3 jets I can change - the idle jet, and the main jets for 1st and 2nd venturis / barrels / chokes.
I have two "parts" carburetors plus one on each of my two vehicles. So I pulled and compared the jets in all but the van. With an engine from the Seventies, it still runs well (rich) enough.
After cleaning and sorting I realized that the "new" jets in my rebuild kit from 2 years ago were even leaner than the ones it was originally built with (of course I kept the old parts, wouldn't you? Every watchmaker should).
Getting onto the web, I went to the ECAS parts site run by a fellow Citroen nut in Shropshire. As I dug through Roy's inventory of parts I found this listing of Solex carburetor main jets.
For reference mine existing jets are PRIMARY 102 and SECONDARY 87. The primary 102 seems to have been common and changing up seems to be the rage...
This listing was very helpful as it indicates that people in the UK are also jetting richer for their fuel problems. I could order a box of jets for 30 quid and wait a week or two, or I could think like a watchmaker. Preferring the watchmaker alternative, I went down to my newly-cleaned shop and sorted through a few drills.
For reference, the 3rd smallest drill in my blue tray is the size of my original idle jet. You can see the original jet size (left) and new diameter (right) next to a spring bar for size comparison. They are TINY! No wonder it wouldn't idle. Even a speck of dust would clog it.
The "enormous" drill in the photo above is the size I decided to go with for the primary jet. You can see the jet below after I bored it out from 102 to 110. (Yes, I broke the tip off the drill bit).
Here's my proper, teeny-tiny drill press with F1 motor capable of 17,000 RPM.
I know you are wanting me to stop rambling and tell you if it works now.
IT DOES!
I screwed in the idle jet at the front of the carb. I started the car, tweaked the mixture screw a bit, and it idled as smooth as silk - like it did 30 years ago.
Extract the fuel, replace the jets -- you can't see the primary jet, but it's in line with my screwdriver tip which is coming through an access hole in the side of the carburetor. Replace the fuel and carb gasket, and reassemble.
About 20 minutes later we went for a test drive, then quickly changed and rushed off to an evening event. The car was FANTASTIC! The Presage Chrono agreed.
MORE POWER, SMOOTH, RESPONSIVE. WOW!
Over the Coronado Bridge in 4th geat all the way, and we actually pegged the speedo on the way home last night (ok, I know it's only 125 km/hr but still...)
Thanks Ken B, for the watch factory, drills and mentoring; thanks Bill S for the suggestions; thanks Roy for the data.
Cazalea
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