Brooklands July

5 July 2002

Continuing to look for likely donor cars, I came across a likely contender once again on the Loot
website. A "C" reg with 27K miles (yeah, right, 127K more likley!) in London. It was ratty and
tatty, but the mechanicals looked OK. It started on the button from cold, but had clearly had no
love and attention, apart from white spray over the rust. So, we exchanged beer tokens and I
drove it the 70 miles home. Well, I almost drove it home. It started kanagrooing and losing power,
the last thing you need on the A1. I nursed it as far as I could but 10 miles before home it finally
cut out. There was no fuel getting to the clear plastic filter, and as the fuel pump was new, I
suspect s**t in the fuel pipes which the previous owner had diagnosed as duff fuel pump. So I
spent the last 10 miles attached by a strap to the back of Dave's Audi as he towed me home.

I also bid for and won a 2CV Haynes manual on eBay, which will hopefully arrive soon. bargain at
Ł4.

So, pictures below of my acquisition, soon to feel the loving caress of my spanners, hammers and
angle grinder!

OK, the weekend had come, time to get serious about the preparation. I started as I meant to go on
(not) by going to Silverstone on Saturday with some tickets that came up late. I have to say that of
the whole day, the most exciting part was watching the BRDC historic racers qualifying for their
race – it was all out war and you really could see these guys on the ragged edge.

So a restart on Sunday. First thing was to tidy up the garage, which had become a bit of a tip. I
had loads of bits that were taken off crossflow engines as well as old brake pads and shoes etc.
There was also lots of detritus that wasn't car related. Most of this went to the tip (I was
ruthless), I have some larger items left which I'm trying to sell.

I decided to strip the bike as I only needed one bit from that and would therefore be quicker,
thus freeing up garage space. In about an hour I had removed seat, tank, battery and lower
fairing before I decided to call it a day. I had also discovered that there was lots of unused
wiring under the tank and under that glossy red paint was a white colour. Seems plod owned this

one at some point in the past.

On Monday evening I spent three hours and was going great guns. Off came the clean air system,
carbs, exhaust cans, rear wheel, cylinder head protetction bars and the oils were drained. It
doesn't sound like much, but working on a bike is a bit different to a car. To get to one part,
several others have to be removed, a result of trying to get a lot into a relatively small package. On
the plus side, the sizes are all metric and don't vary much.

It all came to a shuddering halt. To remove the engine the gearbox has to come out. To remove the
gearbox the monolever and driveshaft has to come out. The pivot for this is held on by a recessed
27mm nut and my largest socket was 24mm. Visit to Halfords needed. In addition the finned

exhaust retaining rings are soft and trying to tap them off was causing too much damage, so I need
to obtain the correct BMW tool.

One other thing I noticed once the fairing was off was that there was no oil filter cover, which
might explain the oil coated sump cover. I know the engine works OK and the oil was full, but its
worrying all the same.

The 2CV manual arrived yesterday, right on the button. I also received a letter from BMW saying that
without a frame number, they cannot ascertain the age of the engine, as everything is keyed by the
frame reference. This is a problem as the bike was re-engined. I called BMW and explained my
predicament. They stuck to the "frame number" line, but this must be rubbish. If this is the case why
are the engines serialised, even to the point where they changed the method in the late '70s. I
continue to chase, but if anyone else if following this route, make sure that you have the pukka frame
number, especially if you are buying a rebuilt engine.

The evening's events were more heartening. I had been and got the 27mm socket and exhaust rose
spanner, and the whole thing came apart easily in a couple of hours - I have to say the quality of the
engineering is apparent when you are taking these bikes apart. Having said that, the gearbox was a bit
awkward to remove, and the engine was really awkward.

Firstly, the Haynes manual does not tell you how to remove the actual engine from the frame, so for
anyone else who is attempting this, proceed as follows. Remove all of the mechanics from the rear
forwards, including the battery tray and air filter, and also the lower fairing if you have one.
Disconnect all the cables going into the top cover. Remove the top and front covers from the engine,
and use a length of wood to support the rear (removing the engine will upset the balance.)

Now call a friend to help (best if they don't have a bad back!), Dave came over to help me. With a
block of wood on the jack head, support the engine via the sump (note that this means you can't take
the sump off before removing the engine). There are four nuts on the lower frame just above the
sump, undo these, on one side only, and then tap out the bolts which go right through the engine block.
The engine is now free but here come the artistic bit, the engine won't fit directly between the upper
and lower frame, so slide the engine back, lift and roll it forwards on its nose and then rolling it
sideways whilst twisting it in the con-rod axis. You can rest it on the frame, but be careful of the
pushrod tubes under the cylinder. And its b****y heavy!

Once on the bench we could see that although an oil leak between the block and timing chain cover
made it look bad externally, with the sump and a rocker cover off, the inside was pristine. The only
problems were with one cylinder head where the exhaust rose threads were corroded and stripped,
and on the same head the pure air fitting had stripped the thread in the head. the pure air vents will
get sealed anyway, but it looks as though a neanderthal has worked on this side of the bike.

Oh, and I also found that there was a cover on the oil filter housing, it was so badly cacked up with oil
from the aforementioned leak that it couldn't be seen. Next thing is to remove the electronic ignition
bits from the frame and then get rid of the remains.

I sold the bike on Friday, but the buyer started dithering so I called a local BMW bike breakers, called
MotoBins. In the end we agreed they would take the bike, and in payment provide the goods and services I
needed, such as threads re-cutting and gaskets etc. I was more than happy with this.

I carried on working on the engine, getting most of the electrical stuff off, but hit a problem when the
double acting bolt holding the alternator rotor to the crankshaft nose decided to only act singly. Feels like
the thread in the rotor is stripped, so getting this apart will be a challenge. In the end I left it rather than
try brute force born of frustration. Left a while, a solution is usually forthcoming.

And so to Saturday. The 2CV strip started, and in 3 hours I removed all of the front panels, doors, glass,
roof and boot. I would have got further but for family duties intervening, which is only fair, and in any
event I needed a second person to help with the next bit. I stripped each door down to its constituent parts
so that I ended up with a pile of metal, pile of glass, pile of rubber and pile of others. This is so that I can
put it through the appropriate local recycling facilities (hopefully!).

Removing all of the glass at this stage was largely for safety. All of this was done whilst joining in with the
witty repartee of vistors and neighbours wondering what the devil I was doing (this time!). Some wag
suggested turning it upside down and calling a skip company to collect it as it would be the right shape.
Cruel!

Went to the tip, sorry, household waste recycling centre with my estate car full to the gunnels, and had
no problems, they even helped unload it. Full marks. I spent the rest of the day lazing in the back garden
with visitors and got nothing done, except that my visitors made a bid for the front lights assembly!

On Monday evening I got back down to it. Took off the handbrake and ratchet assembly, which involved
chiselling off the bracket, and the same for the gear change tube, plus removing bumpers, lights etc. It is
essential that the loom is labelled as it is removed as all of the wires are the same colour - it appears
Citroen did a good deal on a job lot of green wires.

Dave came round and helped remove the rotor assembly. It took about half an hour in the end and we
removed it by locking the ring gear and tapping the rotor round until it came loose. Took of the timing
chain cover and once again the inside was pristine. Also found the the leaks were caused by a bad gasket
and bolts not tightened up sufficiently.

Took today off as holiday and spent most of the day in the garage. As you will see from the photos,
progress has been marked. But first things first, a pacakge arrived on Wednesday containing some bits
from Motobins, including some lovely stainless pushrod tubes.

The first job today was to strip off the engine ancillaries, so off came the aircleaner, carb and manifolds,
handbrake assembly heating hoses and everything else until there was just the block and 'box. Undid the 6
bolts either side to remove the driveshaft to block connections. As each wire was disconnected it was
labelled up - as yet I haven't decided whether to re-use the loom or buy a new one from somewhere like
premier wiring who do generic looms for LSIS (Lotus Seven Inspired Sportscars) which would be OK in this
application. The instrument panel was then removed and all the wiring labelled, as well as the switches and
warning lamps being saved for re-use - they look period enough.

Removing the loom through the bulkhead looked tricky until I rembered a tip in the Pembleton OC
newsletter, which said chisel a panel out around the grommet, cut a slot to the loom grommet and widen the
aperture. Worked like a dream!

Seats and all the internal parphernalia were removed and taken to the recycling centre, and then my five
year old son helped remove all of the bolts that hold the body to the chassis (or should that be hold the
upper rust to the lower rust!) I had now reached that point where I needed some help, so I called Mark,
who has a lovely Zetec powered Tiger Super 6 which I helped him with last year.

It was simplicity to lift up the upper rust/body from the lower rust/chassis and put it in the other side of
the garage. Quite how you would proceed here with a single garage is interesting. Anyhow I just had to do
the stupid shot of driving a CV with no wheels - I intend to do something very similar witrh the Brooklands
chassis when I get it.

To end the evening, the two bolts at the front of the engine and the two at the back of the gearbox were
removed, and we lifted out the engine and 'box. We split them once out so that I didn't have to ask for help
every time I needed to move them - the garage is very full now, and I will have to do some juggling for a
while - next job is probably to introduce the bodyshell to my angle grinder and then dispose of it to get
some space back

I was away over the weekend so didn't get anything done, but this evening I decided I had to make some
space. I had purchased 3 metal cutting wheels for my 115mm grinder so away we went. It was hard
work with a grinder this size, and if I had to do it again I would buy or hire a larger one. It worked,
however and in 2 1/2 hours we had a 2CV flatpack ready to be transported to the tip. Two points of
caution here for anyone else trying this, firstly I had goggles on and a dust mask over my mouth and nose
as well as thick rigger gauntlets on my hands, protection around my neck and a full set of coveralls. If
you don't have these don't even start. Secondly make sure you have removed everything potentially
flammable from the body, and be aware that the B pillars have a rubber core at the bottom.

I also found that the inner rear wheel arches were thick where they had been strengthened around the
bump stops and the seatbelts mounts. Cutting this off is a real sod.

Carried on with stripping the chassis over the last few days. Removing the suspension has not been easy
with the use of brute force required in places - something I pefer not to do. I have also got rid of the
remains of the body - lets hope I got everything off it I needed, I have managed to tick off the items in
the pre-delivery manual.

One of the major problems has been the number of special tools needed, either Citroen or general. The
first place was I came across this was the rear wheels, where a special locking ring holds the bearings
in place, and to remove the brake drum a 44mm socket is needed. Not only do Draper not list a 44mm
socket, but it will also be 3/4" drive so a new ratchet/breaker bar is needed. The track rods need a
special tool to get them off the rack ball joints, and there are large castelated nuts holding the
suspension arms on (although these can be easily tapped round)

So I've ordered the 44mm socket and 3/4" bar from ECAS which will arrive on Monday. I have also
removed the dampers and spring/rod assembly which again wasn't easy. Nuts seized on (once again,
lnuts that were 40+mm that I didn't have a suitable spanner for) and a strange design mean't I had to
grind off the mountings to remove them. I have also removed the front driveshafts complete by removing
the castellated front hub nut and tapping them through the bearings. Hopefully I am near enough to
finishing the strip down such that I can start cleaning and refurbishing the parts.

I have also started thinking about the build itself and noticed that you can get copper/bronze rivets -
I'm still wondering whether using them would look good or naff - perhaps I'll try a test panel and see.