Thanks for that. I do believe cars are for driving not polishing! I was out int he West End of Glasgow for my regular Sunday Coffee with the K. A very elderly lady on her way back from Church stopped to admire the car and ask me about it and young kids were taking photos of it with their phones. I have a stainless system on mine which makes it sound a bit more sonorous and deep, which results in people giving you the signs to rev it or give it some pedal when moving. So aurally, visually and physically attractive! Wish I was! Mind you the owner of the Restaurant where we went for lunch loved the car as did the chef and the staff, she claimed that she had used "Bond" as the table description note on our order, rather than 'old ugly man' that I think waiters usually use for me!
Graeme, That is looking just great. Beautiful, I know what to shoot for.. I have 2 questions: 1) Your steering rack is green, I've seen the same on some other engine-bay pics, mine is black and I believe the rack on 439 is black as well. Was this changed somewhere in the production? 2) Your bonnet louvres appear silver in your photo. Mine are definitively black all the way. What's up? Best, Jack.
Goedenavond Jack, I attach 3 pictures of the power steering unit and pressure reservoirs. #1 picture concerns K#504 an absolutely untouched car and in its original lay out (except for the left floor mat and rubber encapsulation of the front seat lift button missing..). You can clearly see the difference of the green colors of the pwr steering and the pressure reservoirs. Also note the yellow paint markings for security. The second one is K#406, also a very original example, the owner is extremely meticulous about this. Note the slightly different shade of green on the pwr steering unit. Also one has the valve housing on the pwr strg in green and the other one in aluminum. Look at the other under the hood details: both cars have the ignition elo unit mounted on the right inner wing (to avoid moisture from getting in in the rain! A late mod). 504 has the Maserati script on the valve covers in aluminum and 406 has them in wrinkle paint. The third pic is how I did mine trying to come as close as possible to original. With yellow security "seals" and red dots on the heads and water pump housing. Mind the details! It is not easy to be a perfectionist! Now to your louvres question: they came from the factory in metallic grey as an optional extra or satin black as a standard. Very much up to the owners wishes. ciao, Bart Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Bart and Jack Given the picture bart has up loaded is untouched and the fact that the SM rack I have is a dark green I would say that colour is correct. The Dealer whom I know that sold one of the cars here, tells me the cars came from the factory with ever thing sprayed black. One thing I would like is to have the original Fiamm decals reproduced I had one made and its pained on as peroriginal but thats a detail I would like to confirm. Graeme
Goedemorgen Bart, Thanks for your elaborate and well documented reply! Upon seeing the photos I start to doubt myself and will verify the colour again; perhaps I mistook the dark hue of green for black, will confirm later. I didn't properly clean the rack yet, and it also has to come out as one of the rubber sleeves must be torn, as it has some tape around it in a spot. Will check for yellow dots as well. I had seen a pic or 2 of K's with silver louvres, but didn't realise it could be ordered that way. Not a widely ticked option then., but with some exterior colours a nice one. Best, Jack.
This Saturday I took the K to the inaugural Warren Concours where it was placed in the Italian GT class, won by a beautiful Lusso with an Iso Grifo coming in second place. A good day was had by all! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Graeme, The original Fiaam marking was printed on the cover. A friend of mine had the cliché remade and was so kind to print it on my Ghibli air filter cover. Just recently I have read somewhere that they are now available as sticker or decal. It is indeed Fiaam, Fiamm are the compressor horn manufacturers Ciao, Bart
Bart, Graeme, Graeme, sorry, I missed your message when I replied to Bart. I had a closer look at the rack and yes, where it is painted it appears a dark green. Still having fun cleaning the centre real axle.... Best, Jack.
Jack, I had a torn sleeve on the pwr strg unit too and had to disassemble the whole unit to get the darn rubber on. Success Bart
Hi Bart, Looking at it I came to the same conclusion. Very unfortunate, because there are no leaks, and I don't like disturbing things that work perfectly well. It's right at the end of the sleeve, I haven't taken the tape off yet, but I count on having to replace it. Bummer. Best, Jack.
Bob, I didn't take the tape off yet, I'll do that when I get to the rack, and see what the damage is. Perhaps I can get away doing just that and turn the sleeve over so it is invisible. That is usually not how I go about things, but if it saves me from taking a perfectly operating leak-free rack apart it becomes tempting. Best, Jack.
Yeah I know, me either. It may also be that the rest of the boot doesn't have all that long to remain in one piece. Good luck with it. I used to blow CV boots on long fast drives out in Nevada on my way to the Silver State open road race. On one trip I tried to find someone to replace the boot but eventually gave up. I took a chamois soaked in grease and wrapped it around the exposed joint and attached it with wire for the drive home. The joint was unscathed. I eventually figured out the boot problem.
Over here, these days you really battle to find a proper chamois (not the synthetic 'equivalent' they sell) Why did the boots blow? Best, Jack.
They're very close to the exhaust on a Bora and when you run at top speed for long periods of time the boots expand from heat and eventually explode. You have to vent the joints. I though it was interference bumping at high speed but after blowing them twice I decided to get the car real warm and have a look. They looked like the GD Goodyear blimp. I did too good a job of sealing them up. So I drilled a 1 mm hole in the backside of the joint cover plate with a piece of felt glued on the inside of the cap. That worked just fine. Some racing guys I know who have the same issue with their open wheel cars just slip a plastic tube from a can of brake clean inside the other end under the clamp. That doesn't sound like a great long term solution but those cars are apart a lot anyway.
Uploaded some new pics: Cleaned diff and peripherals. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.150126728502281.1073741826.119309631583991&type=3&uploaded=4 Also have a question: The fuel pipe coming from the tank going to front, is it supposed to be black or blank copper? If the latter, I may have rubbed a little too hard, as the first part of it is now looking like the ships-bell of the Queen Mary. Best, Jack.
Hi, In order to replace the two gaiters on the steering rack, I ended up dismanteling the entire system, which I found quite interesting and at the same time quite complex. As you can guess, I now have the self centering problem of the steering which does not correspond with the wheel positioning. It seems as if the "mechanical break spring for the steering box" has a position "0" which needs to be considered when assemblying it. I did notice or found any marking which identifies this position. Before I make any further approach, I would appreciate any guide line or technical descriptions as to how I can adjust the "0-position". I think the fine tuning can be accomplished by the tie rods but I first need to get close to the center position. I would appreciate your comments. Thank you
Hi Its the boring Tech person back again. The self centering system is the same as part of the Hydraulic flight control systems in Jumbos. Basically its what is refered to as a spring centered cam unit. However in the Citroen system the certering part comes from the regulated pressure to the centering piston in the head of the rack. it is this that gives the static slack when the cars Hyd system has bleeds down. The Picture of a sorry rack from this site, Parts The Red arrow points to the centering piston housing. The Blue to the adjustment pinch bolt. A couple of pointers taking the rack out... its heavy. Carfully measure a point on the rack to a fixted point on the chassis so as it goes back in the same splines, if it isnt exactually right the pich bolt allows a small amout of micro adjustment left or right as it moves the whole head unit around. Hope you all didnt fall asleep........ OH and there is a rack garter on e-Bay Cheers Graeme Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dear Graeme, Thank you very much for the Kind explaination. Just one question, when you mention small micro adjustment, do you mean small micro adjustment on the screw. Or do you mean that we can only make slight adjustments. The reason why I am asking this, is that the wheels are currently, in the self centered Position, pointing 6° - 10° from the vertical line. Do you think this could be arranged using the screw. Thank you for the Support.
Hi Reddy, By undoing the long sleeve nut you can turn the hydraulic unit on the housing and change the centering position. I found it of help to put 2 marker lines with a scratching pin on the housing and the hydraulic unit. It is a bit of a trial and error experience to do the fine adjustments and have the car roll on a straight line. After this you may have to set the steering wheel on the shaft or the steering rod flexible coupling to have it "straight". Success, Bart
Hi Guys Bart is correct loosing the pinch and rotating the head bolt allows probably that much movement you can do it with the system running infact its probably the only way to get it spot on. If not you need to diconnect the steering input shaft and move it one spline. The final part will be if you need constant input while driving then you need to move the whole rack across, trail and error. Hint for any one else make sure you have a reference points and measurements. RHD cars the is limited movement of the head unit due to space LHD I can't comment on. Hope that helps Cheers Graeme
Hi guys, Thank you very much for the hints. Life would have been much easier with the reference markings but I have to do without it. I am going to have a go at it tomorrow and will inform you on the result. Thank you, Armaz
Hi Bart and Graeme, With your useful hints and a lot of patience we managed to adjust the steering rack. For someone with limited knowledge on the function of the self centering system, it was a courageous act. Thank you and best regards, Armaz
