Hello boralogist... My K is a 1975, formerly owned by FGM... It has the 'b' badges on it.. Regarding the shift knob, I don't really have a problem with the stock one.. It seems comfortable enough to me.... I would recommend that if you replace yours, might be good to ensure the new one is interchangeable with the original... Mike
Hi Mike, here is a photo of the pump in place (breather has been removed at this point) from the front, a photo from the rear, a photo of the flange of the differential, and finally when its all back together again. Regards Paul
Thanks again Paul. I really, really need to read that owner's manual I am going to call Dave on Monday to see if there is a way I can bench test this pump. If not, I'll send it to him. Before and after photos would be great. Ivan
Transmission oil, SAE 80 or 90. I dont know the amount; I opened the cover and filled it to about 60 %. You can seal the cover with silicone. ( If you open the cover you can also check the rubber seal, if its broken, green LHM will mix to the oil ) ( In Citroen SM the pump it at the transmission and gets his oil from the transmission )
Ivan, yo you can test the pump, according to the manual from Citroen ( see my photo) I bought an hand-hydraulic pump and filled the tank with green fluid. connect the pump to the pressure inlet of the steering hardener. connect an hydraulic pressure gauge instead of the pipe to the steering rack put the low pressure rubber hose in a glass open the housing, take out the seesaw and the rubber sealing. Dont lose the pin. the little piston must be free, if you pull it a little bit out you feel a spring inside pump pressure, you see the piston comes out a little bit. no fluid should come out of the low pressure hose, and you see a little leakage around the piston. than push the piston a little bit in ( like the seesaw does, when RPM rises ), the pressure on gauge will rise when you do not push any more, fluid comes out the low pressure hose, and pressure on gauge falls I think I can find a video of my work later You can adjust the steering hardener with the screw in the seasaw, according to the Citroen manual The piston in the steering hardener of my car was totally blocked by rust and dirt. I opened the plug on the backside and hit the piston out of the liner... cleaned it finally it worked, but leakage was too much. I pressed out the liner ( very tricky ) and replaced piston and liner with a good one, which I took from a Citroen CX steering hardener. The CX hardener looks different, but piston and liner are identical. The problem in Khamsin is, that the steering hardener is in very low position of the car, all dust of the system goes to it. ( please excuse my bad English ) Regards Achim
Thank you for all these very interesting pictures and explanations on the steering hardener. A quite complex piece of engineering on the K coming from Citroen, unfortunately with that bad positioning that may lead to progressive failure. I was not aware of such failing hardeners over time and mileage on K's: is that recurrent and therefore a weak point?
Right so I can finally respond from this post that is now three pages three days old, lots of activity! Had a VERY busy week... 377: a few years ago photos of it appeared in France at le Touquet a seaside resort in extreme northern France not far from Calais. Some photos show it in front of the Westminster hotel. It had bizarre EU number plates that really really intrigued me (with the initials of the country bottom left hidden which is very unusual and probably illegal!), I thought it was from Latvia or Lithuania maybe...some mobster trying to elude identification. But the car was seen in a local concours so I was clearly wrong. In fact it wasn't anything as far fetched as that; Andy Heywood of McGraths gave me the info. It has been owned for decades since the early 80's by a famous chef, Pierre Koffman with restaurants in various places, London in particular and elsewhere. Not sure of his nationality. He needed to register the car on English plates but was in France so he had a French garage make his plates with the correct English numbers THAT is why the plates looked so bizarre (see photos taken in recent years with number plates BTR 377S). The photos where it has plates BTU 799S are the oldest, note it is light blue there, celeste. Andy said the car used to have an orange (!) interior; It came to McGraths many years ago after a very poor restoration so the body shop McGraths use redid the body. Andy provided a quote to do the engine which was not right but Koffman took the car away and had a chap in France do it. McGraths has not seen that car in many years as far as I know. Then as you can see in the ad the car has yet another set of number plates TAO 910S. Despite all this very low miles... Any interested party needs to ask the seller if the MOT has been done and for RECENT maintenance bills. In my humble opinion I smell deferred maintenance. I have no bone in this and do not know Pierre Koffman. FYI I know of three UK registered K's, all RHD which have been in mainland Europe for years yet were never registered in their nation of (unofficial) residence, one apiece in Paris, Monaco, Rome....just like when I spent three years racing in the UK 86-89 I kept my road car on French plates....nothing extraordinary there. Photos below from oldest to more recent. Of course the photos in the ad show the car as it is now and evidently back in the UK. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is a mystery car which appeared on Instagram, in oro kelso like my ex car, but not my ex car as it has always had a sticker from new on the bottom corner of the windshield on the passenger side. This photo supplied by its author hiwatt1000 on Instagram was taken in Newport Beach California in 1996. I am told the unusual plate is a California plate...the wipers appear to have been removed....I had a thought...and yes it is AM120US1108 owned then by Robert Young of Hawthorne California who later moved to Los Angeles and had written to me in 2006. I have had the second photo in my files for many years. Here is what he wrote then: 5 speed, gold tan new, he was the third owner, bought it in LA in 1984. Approximate mileage in 84 17000, in 2006 27000. The transmission was repaired (it would not stay in reverse) reinforced the diff carrier. Modified the water pump similar to factory modification using Ferrari 308 seal surface. Smog equipment removed, now has an oil leak. Enjoyed it on Alfa club outings at...Riverside Mentioned that he published a lot of tech tips in old MOCNA newsletter. End of quote. Has anyone seen this car lately? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Is it because of the orange interior that you know that BTU799S is #377? The BTU registration still exists (see GOV Uk website) so maybe it's possible to put that (back) on this car instead of the TAO registration. Maybe an MOT is not needed for this car because it is more than 40 years old. I think I would check the engine number to be sure that's it's still the original engine.
Andy Heywood provided me with that interior color info and old BTU 799S reg for #377; as you know there have been some bizarre interior colors over he years. UK regs I still can't believe they pay thousands of Pounds for a plate that is usually not exactly spelled/numbered right, just ridiculous when in the US you pay fifty Dollars and get exactly what you want (as long as it is not political or obscene/offenssive. in France there are no personalized number plates at all.
Yes, in the Netherlands also no personalized number plates. I do not understand the colours they mention in the advert of #377: External Colour: Celeste Chiaro Interior: Fungo (Beige) Connolly hide Based on the photos I would say that it is dark blue (not Celeste Chiaro) and senape (not fungo). But it would be nice if the new owner would repaint it in Celeste Chiaro, the original colour. Another Celeste Chiaro car is in this article from April 1975: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-1975/68/maserati-miscellany-april-1975 See also photos (bad quality scans unfortunately) below. Celeste Chiaro, dark interior, manual, one of the first five UK cars. Demonstration car of dealership Kesteven cars. Registration “GJL 788N”. Do you know the VIN of this car? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hello AMLC This celeste car is shown on the Cover of the follwoging book and it says it it AM120 305 kindly loaned by Kesteven Cars Ltd. Image Unavailable, Please Login
A quick thank you for your pictures. I did not see your reply until now (I wish there was a follow this thread option?). I use Tapatalk. My mounting points are different and set further back.. so to avoid the retractor at the mid height point (where entry/egress to the rear seat may be affected) I am going to use a single retractor in the lower/back foot well location rising up to the shoulder..then curved over the shoulder bend to the inner hip buckle spot and back to the out hip anchor point where the retreat starts. Not perfect but the best I can so without modification.. at least I will have adjustability and be able to lean forward when I want to... Thank you again Richard
A quick thank you for your pictures. I did not notice your reply until now (I wish there was a follow this thread option?). I use Tapatalk. My mounting points are different and set further back.. so to avoid the retractor at the mid height point (where entry/egress to the rear seat may be affected) I am going to use a single retractor in the lower/back foot well location rising up to the shoulder..then curved over the shoulder bend to the inner hip buckle spot and back to the out hip anchor point where the retreat starts. Not perfect but the best I can so without modification.. at least I will have adjustability and be able to lean forward when I want to... Thank you again, this is helpful for perspective.. the blessing of an early release is.... Variations found often. Richard
this same car was sold in 11-8-1997 on auction by BCA Camberley for GBP 8200 and before by Brooks Chichester 20-6-97 GBP 7475 where it wore the registration KEH 689 N
The ad is referring wrongly to the color new and not the color now...I agree on bringing it back to original of course. The car in the article could well be the very same one on the book cover Roger posted: an early celeste black the mirror and the way the wipers sit askance match (and yes the number plate could have been changed). 305, celeste black, was owned by Scandinavian UK resident Arvid Bergval until sold at auction in 1997 after which it disappeared....I don't have a color for 303 sold new by Citroen Slough but after that the next celeste car is 323 which was registered MHR 603 P and is now in Belgium owned for over 10 years by Patrick H. The only other celeste UK market cars are 349, 397 and 429 ALL with cream interior. Bear in mind this is what I have from cars sold new in UK. The list has gaps for cars sold in Australia and other RHD markets so the number of RHD celeste black cars is very small.
Hello Serge I can not say that the steering hardener is generally a week point, I have only my Khamsin. I bought my car as restoration project, nearly all Citroen components were bad. Jochen Hoch: CitroenDS.net GmbH overhauled my hydraulic pump, pressure regulator, accumulator hydraulic shop repaired my headlight cylinders I made all hydraulic lines new and opened the steering hardener, to see whats inside: I found: no oil, instead of oil green fluid; reason: lack of maintenance, difficult to fill in oil, who knows that car needs oil there ? bearing from flee weight broken; because no oil hydraulic piston fix, all hydraulic channels to regulation piston / liner blocked >> dust goes to deepest point in hydraulic system I think the steering hardener is a weak point. I repaired it, finally my steering hardener was perfect, but not the steering system of the Khamsin at all. In my opinion it is too direct, insensitive, and not exact enough, especially in middle position when driving high speed on German Autobahn. Though I spend so much time and money, I made the decision to search for another solution: a conventionell power steering rack ! The Khamsin rack has "center take of", very few cars have that. I found a suitable rack in older Audi A6 (C4), adapted it. Now my Khamsin drives like a modern car: still direct enough ( 2,5 turns from left to right ), but exact and sensitive. Much better feeling ! ( For originality, I keep all Citroen components, in case somebody wants move back to original )
Hello Marc Is that a typo about 397? I thought it was 357... the one that emerged 2018 after a long sleep
397 one owner car, he is a very posh Danish gent who lived decades in London but has now been in Rome for many years. The car is barely used, still UK registered. Asking for photos is like pulling the teeth of a T-Rex lol
Yes I agree, it must be the same car in the article and on the book cover, the Kesteven demonstration car, #305, celeste-black. It has a manual gearbox according to the article. In the article they write about a second Khamsin, an automatic, from Citroen in Slough that joined them, the only automatic in the UK at that time (published 04/75). I would not be surprised if that was the same car as the car tested in Motor 06/75 (see photo below), an automatic, silver-black. VIN #303, or #301 maybe? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Khamsin Help, Looking for a detailed picture of the Euro bumper tail lights in the rear glass from the inside where the wiring enters into the boxes and its routing to the boxes. Is there a cut in the boxes at the bottom for wires?
Maybe two retractors per side are standard on a US car, and on an (early) EURO car one retractor per side is normal. Look for instance at post #2832 on page 114. Marius from Norway compared Khamsin #008 and Khamsin #1000 and wrote that the B-pillars on the (early) EURO car were thinner than on the US car, and the link in that post also shows a photo of Khamsin #192 where you can see how the seat belt is installed.
Could be 303 because I have zero details about it but not 301 -the very first right hand drive built- which was 5 speed and red its entire life and has since been scrapped due to spending too much time outside. I saw it during a UK car hunting trip when I was 18 at Heathmans in west London easter 82, sorry for the poor quality (slides scanned). 39 years ago wow tempus fugit.... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
