It’s starting to seem like Monday’s Cold Starts are just becoming updates on the progress I’ve made with my 2CV, and I think that’s a good thing because it (A) means I’ve made some progress and (2) I don’t have to scramble for an idea Monday morning. This weekend brought some good 2CV progress, again thanks in large part to local 2CV maven Til, who helped me sort out that absurd rat’s nest of wiring that had been intimidating me. Progress was made, but I’m not there yet, as there’s still a strange issue I need to figure out. Or, more likely, ask smarter people to figure out for me.
The main goal of the weekend was to get the wiring harness in some sort of basic order, so I can really see how bad it is and if I need to replace the harness, or if what I have can me made to work, at least for a while. Getting things shipped to the US is tricky right now, and I really want to know what works and what doesn’t!
So, Til and I methodically tested and checked each wire, and, incredibly, we figured out what they all did, and finally the electrical system started to come back to life; I had lights and indicators and dash warning lights. Wipers, too!
That’s the mess of wires, but now all repaired and labeled. It’s still not pretty, but it’s at least working better and a bit less incomprehensible.
As you can imagine, it was magical. Look at the glory of this indicator!
Majestic, isn’t it? Sure is. And these dash warning lights, that tell me two whole things! That’s technically plural!
The upper one is the brake warning lamp (I’m pushing the test button to make it illuminate), and the lower one is the oil pressure warning light. Oh, I guess the hazards have their own blinky light, so this dash has a lavish three warning lamps.
Some of that was short-lived, because when I was replacing headlight bulbs, I tested the sidelights, and the one I replaced came on, then went out, and now my headlights and brake lights and hazards don’t work again. The turn signals still do? I need to see what happened.
I was also finding that I kept popping the “blue” fuse (second from bottom) and wasn’t sure why, until we found that a terminal on the alternator was bent and grounding to the housing. A quick twist with some needlenose pliers and that solved that. And yes, I checked to see if it was a fuse causing the running lights to stop working, and it doesn’t seem like it is that.
But still, that can wait, as what I really want is to get this thing driving. Last week I had it running for a bit, feeding fuel from a gas can. Now I want to get the fuel tank reconnected and make sure it’ll run from the tank, as it should. I also wanted to get the cooling fan back on and button up all the other stuff I took apart last time when I was cleaning the points.
The guiding philosophy of the 2CV was that if you can get rid of a part, great, because a part can’t break if it doesn’t exist. This also means that whatever is left is necessary, even if it seems tiny and trivial. A good example of this is that rubber sheet thing that you install behind the fan, under the oil cooler, which is crucial for directing cooling air properly. Our own Stephen Walter Gossin found that Cadillac CTS fender bolts fit this part, so that’s what’s holding it in place now.
I also did this when installing the fan – which uses an odd reverse-threaded bolt – but I was able to extract the socket after just a few moments of mild panic.
Eventually, I was able to get everything reconnected, and was rewarded with this triumphant display of idling:
It sounds so good! Two determined cylinders, happily sliding back and forth in that numinous dance we call the Otto Cycle! It idled fine, but then after five or so minutes stopped, which confused me.
The coil felt pretty hot – hotter than I think coils like to be, so I connected this spare coil that very fortunately came with the car, because I don’t think Autozone stocks these weird double-ended coils. It seemed to run with the spare coil just fine, and that one wasn’t getting so hot, so I swapped it out properly, instead of just laying it on top like you see there.
But then later attempts at running the car – I was still hoping to take it around the block – didn’t quite work out. After a few minutes of idling with the carb choked, the engine would run rough and the choke flap (shown) would kind of cough and then the engine would cut out.
It’d be hard to start again after that, too. This thing did sit in a field for a good number of years; I’m not really sure what condition this carb or its jets are in. It could be dirty or clogged in there? This feels like a fuel/carburetion sort of issue, but I’m not certain. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!
A more positive development is that my son Otto, who is now the tallest Torchinsky ever recorded, had figured out that he could drive the car even with the front seats removed using this method:
So that’s good to know.
Man, I want to get this thing on the road! It’s closer, but I’m not there yet.
The post Here’s My Citroën 2CV Progress Update And What’s Currently Baffling Me appeared first on The Autopian.
