1972 Citroen DS 21 Pallas

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Head returned from Stewart Machine Service

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Lotsa parts cleaned, ready for wire-brushing and painting.

Gotta roll the car out, clean and paint the engine bay

Starter cable frayed, corroded and insulation failed

Starter cable insulation damaged and corroded

Weber carburetor is disassembled for cleaning

Gunk in the bottom of the carb bowl - but no corrosion

Careful to take photos of disassembly to make sure the right size jets go back in the right hole

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Tank before cleaning with Marine Clean and hot water

Fuel tank after cleaning with Marine Clean

Battery tray parts are painted with POR 15 after cleaning

Head back from Cal Stewart with 2 new valves, all new guides

Fuel tank and radiator getting cleaned with hot water and Marine Clean

Delta cam completes the regrind, they welded three lobes and did a very nice job

Delat cam also ground the followers and ran them in the tumbler for a while to knock off the sharp edges

Closeup of the cam. Very nice and only $150 for all of the work, followers included.

New interior trim, plug hides the fastener

Under the basdcule bridge on the Hylebos Waterway

Using a long breaker bar, a puller and my 1/2 drive ratchet to get the tri-axe off the axle

Dampers come off so I can get the new boot on

Engine and crank waiting for new bearings, pistons, rings and liners

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$They\'re pretty!$

Citroen NOS pistons, liners, rings arrived late last night in the dark.

Regulator and spheres back from Citraulics

$I\'ll remove the brake ducts and lower pan for more cleaning$

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Tabby Cat comes down to inspect work in progress

Installing the new standard bearings in the crank bearing caps

Assembling the pistons, pins and connecting rods

The crank gets cleaned again and goes in, new bearings installed

Old cracked and hardened cam seal replaced in the distributor tower

The tank cleaning continues, after the Marine Clean, I rinse it and put in a quart of blue Prep and Ready

After rinsing out the Prep and Ready, I dry it for four hours using a heat gun and the Kerosene heater

After sloshing the sealer around, it completely coats the inside of the tank. Has to dry for 96 hours.

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Warming up the pistons and small end to install the pins

Installing rings and inserting into liners

Placing the paper gasket on the liner flange

Liners, pistons and rods going into the block

Lining up the rods with the crank journals

After the oil pump and filter housing goes in, the sump goes on

I go to the auto parts store to get a clutch alignment tool, fuel filter and some hose and I see Turbo the auto parts store security cat has staked out the warm sunny spot by the battery display rack. She's a big cat, at least 14 pounds and she's always there when I go in to get stuff.

Setting the chain guide clearance using my 12 inch scale that is .42 mm thick - perfect for the job!

Timing cover in place - enough work for one day, time for a glass of wine

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I apply some Epifanes varnish to the new mahogany trim

We go for a cruise on the Monk, Renee takes photos of a Polish grain freighter with her new camera

Approaching the Foss Waterway and The Dock pub where they have good cod and chips.

The old boat has the Foss Waterway to herself.

Back home after the cruise and I get ready to instal the head

I remove the long exhaust studs and install short one to accomodate the removed smop pump air manifold

$Renee takes a photo of me installing head bolts. I use my Nokia BH905 bluetooth headsets to listen to Shpongle on my iPhone. After I go through all of my Shpongle albums, I listen to some Sci Fi audio books, or some such thing. If someone calls, I can press the button on the headset with a non-greasy knuckle and answer the phone. Also alerts me when I get a text from the FAA\'s Regional Ops Center about something. I love these headphones, but they\'re getting pretty dirty.$

New o-rings on the rocker shafts - the old o-rings were hard as rocks

All rockers installed, head with final torque

Distributor tower installed, flywheel bolts getting torqued

The basic engine is getting near complete, time for more cleaning and accessory installation

$I use my torch and lots of Kroil to remove the exhaust stud nuts that hold the lower pipe on to the headers. I\'ll clean these up and install new gaskets and nuts$

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Clutch installed, ready for transmission

Getting everything ready in the bell housing

New camshaft seal on the bell housing glued in place with some Aviation Form-A-Gasket

My neighbor Terry came over and helped me slide the transmission into place on the engine

The rubber bushings on the hydraulic regulator were rock hard, so I chipped them out and made new ones from some new, green, hydraulic hose I got from McMaster-Carr.

I drill and tap one of the oil galley plugs for an oil pressure gauge

$You can see the tapped oil pressure plug with the pipe fitting installed - just under the head. I was going to relocate the pressure regulator, but this project is taking long enough as it is - I\'ll do that next time$

This engine is complex - lots of things to install and get lined up. The old alternator belts were too small on the original alternator, so I cut the old one to fit it and measure how long the new ones should be.

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New water pump and green hydraulic hose arrive

I test the starter and get some oil flowing through the engine

The o-rings in the hydraulic system are all old and hard

I can crack the o-rings in half - time for new ones

Takes a lot of time to install new o-rings, new fitting seals, etc.

Have to clean out the old seals and install new ones

I use the hand crank to get the engine to TDC on #1 and install the camshaft pulley

Have to replace the water temp sender wire

I like using these heat shrink butt splices

I cover the new wire and butt splice in a sheath of heat shrink

I use a Q-tip to get the rubber bits out of the seal holes

I could not figure out where this hose terminated, after a half hour of looking at all of me removal photos, I e-mailed Steve Hammond and he responded immediately telling me that the hose does not terminate, it's a drain for the manifold and must be 400mm long. Very helpful.

It's been a long day, but it's almost ready to go

Exhaust manifolds and shrouds installed, I used some ceramic filler that Steve Hammond recommended to plug the smog pump sensor holes in the head, thereby allowing me remove that spacer plate and install shorter exhaust studs.

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New air filter decal :-) also a sphere gets installed!

Steering rack o-rings had red RTV goop slathered on them, plugging one of the holes in the rack

$Rack goes on, but it\'s not centered, checking my old photos, that\'s how it was when I got the car, so now I have to figure that out.$

Mount bolts in and tight, time to start connecting

$Wiring rat\'s nest$

O-rings in the transmission connection are replaced

I drain the red Dexron out and clean the tank, refill with green LHM

The Nissan filter that fits perfectly, great tip from the Yahoo DS list guys!

I made sure all the stuff below the head is well and truly secure because access will be a problem if I have to adjust something!

Engine bay cleaned and painted, after this photo, I reinstalled the bottom pan and brake cooling ducts

Carburetor reassembly with help from the breakdown illustration, a photo printed out from the DS Yahoo site and the iPad cache of disassembly photos

Some help from Steve Hammond was key in understanding and assembling the idling valve body onto the carburetor

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I pour new LHM fluid into the hydraulic reservoir

Prior to installing the left front suspension sphere, I install a new o-ring into the suspension actuator

Newly charged front suspension sphere screwed into place

$Carburetor controls installed and rigged. Next it\'s time to connect wiring$

Wiring from the battery to the alternator and fuse panel is completely corroded

Only these wires are damaged, the other wiring appears to be relatively new and uncorroded

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The fuel tank bay is clean and rust-free. This car is in excellent structural condition.

Prior to installing fuel tank, I apply LPS-3 to the fuel tank bay.

Old brass connectors replaced by marine shrink-fit butt splices

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I install the new snoot I got from Western Hemispheres

$Using cleco\'s to hold the pieces in place while I pop-rivet it back together$

After almost 200 miles on the clock, the engine still blows blue oil smoke - not good!

$I remove the plugs for inspection and do a compression test, plugs look good and compression is high 170\'s on every cylinder$

Oil leaking from the exhaust side of the engine

$Time to pull the engine back out and remove the head and see what\'s up with this smoker.$

Head and head gasket look very good, pistons are coated with oil - not good

Head has oil residue built up thickly on the combustion chambers

Cylinder no. 1 cross-hatching still evident

Cylinder 2. Rings should certainly have seated by now, but the amount of oil smoke coming out means there is definitely something up with the rings.

Cylinder 3. Might have the scrapers in upside down, but I was very careful!

$I ordered a new head gasket from Western Hemispheres on Monday along with some other gaskets, the box showed up today in the UPS - but no head gasket, says on the invoice it was shipped, bit the box isn\'t even big enough for a head gasket. Kinda dismayed tonight, but I\'ll get over it. Oh well, I need to order a new set of rings anyhow, I\'m not taking any chances with the existing set of OEM rings, I just don\'t want to have to do this again!$