And you think Delicas are weird and exotic?

Growlerbearnz

Growlerbearnz

Administrator
Staff member
My mission for today (and probably a few more days besides): sort out the misbehaving fuel injection on a Citroen SM.

20150207_131941.jpgDSC03765.jpg

Primitive first-generation German electronic fuel injection, fitted to a weird Italian 90-degree V6, shoehorned into a nest of fiendishly complex Citroen hydraulics.
We're two hours in and I've completely run out of swear words. Making up new ones as we progress.
 
2626

Progress so far: one failed crimp in the factory injection wiring loom (injector #1 only firing when it felt like it), a vacuum leak on a couple of intake runners, oil leaks, and hoses everywhere.
 
Growlerbearnz said:
My mission for today (and probably a few more days besides): sort out the misbehaving fuel injection on a Citroen SM.

View attachment 2622View attachment 2623

Primitive first-generation German electronic fuel injection, fitted to a weird Italian 90-degree V6, shoehorned into a nest of fiendishly complex Citroen hydraulics.
We're two hours in and I've completely run out of swear words. Making up new ones as we progress.
Click to expand...

That looks ... umm ... F.U.N.

 
We reassembled everything, cranked the engine, there was a mighty BANG, and it blew one of the intake manifolds clean across the workshop. Turns out the coils (it has two because Citroen/Maserati) were mislabelled and our spark timing was totally wrong. Reinstalled the manifold, retrieved the cat from the rafters (loud noises cause cats to levitate! Who knew!), and tried again and it's running... as well as an Italian V6 can be expected to.
Lots of power at full throttle, slight misfires at cruise, and a begrudging idle. Better than before, then!
 
Just wow! I had never seen one of these until this weekend. There is a beauty up for auction in Japan with an opening bid of 1,800,000. I was instantly in love with it. It failed to sell earlier this week and is coming up again. From what I've read they were super innovative ,including had pivoting headlights. If anyone is up for this, you are the man for the job!
 
jeffery said:
There is a beauty up for auction in Japan with an opening bid of 1,800,000.
Click to expand...

DON'T DO IT. Total nightmare. Gorgeous to look at, incredible to drive (130mph is as effortless and comfortable as 65), but parts are nonexistent and working on anything in the engine bay is horrible. They chose to call it "SM" on purpose.

Transplant a Tesla drivetrain into it and it would be the best car in the world.
 
They are absolutely gorgeous and utterly glamorous. Like a spaceship from the '60s, but with the performance and luxury features to back it up.
Until they break (and they will!). Then they're evil.
 
Anyone else notice that every proper Citroen owner has 3? The one that "runs", the one that could reasonably run with a bitof work, and the one that's being scavenged for parts.

Trivia time: Anyone know where the Citroen double chevron logo comes from? Answer below...

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

It's a graphical representation of herringbone cut gears. Super strong and ulta quiet, without the issue with helical cut gears trying to split the transmission case apart..
 
Oh and an update: after fixing the electrical faults, modifying the (analogue!) injection computer so it's now adjustable, correcting every damned vacuum leak, and doing a damned good tuneup it ran great... from 2000 to 6000rpm. Below 2000rpm it still had a bit of a misfire. Aaargh!

So we started to work on the suspension. The fluid leak from the right hand side front was getting unacceptable (they leak from everywhere, you just have to choose your battles) so we removed the front panel, bonnet, and wing to get at the suspension. Which also exposed the battery.

You'll never normally see a photo of a Citroen SM's battery, because it's installed in a truly insane position: just in front of the right front wheel, below the headlamps, completely enclosed and inaccessible unless you dismantle half the front end.

Me: "Why is the battery sticker in French?"
Carl: "Oh that's the battery it came with"
Me: "You mean 6 years ago? When you bought it? From that museum in France? And then it spent 8 months in transit?"
Carl: "Yeah. Do you think it's too old?"

....the battery was from 2008. 12 years old. Fit a new battery and... WOW. It idles. It's smooth. It doesn't stall when the AC kicks in. We're idiots for not checking it first.
 
Growlerbearnz said:
Oh and an update: after fixing the electrical faults, modifying the (analogue!) injection computer so it's now adjustable, correcting every damned vacuum leak, and doing a damned good tuneup it ran great... from 2000 to 6000rpm. Below 2000rpm it still had a bit of a misfire. Aaargh!

So we started to work on the suspension. The fluid leak from the right hand side front was getting unacceptable (they leak from everywhere, you just have to choose your battles) so we removed the front panel, bonnet, and wing to get at the suspension. Which also exposed the battery.

You'll never normally see a photo of a Citroen SM's battery, because it's installed in a truly insane position: just in front of the right front wheel, below the headlamps, completely enclosed and inaccessible unless you dismantle half the front end.

Me: "Why is the battery sticker in French?"
Carl: "Oh that's the battery it came with"
Me: "You mean 6 years ago? When you bought it? From that museum in France? And then it spent 8 months in transit?"
Carl: "Yeah. Do you think it's too old?"

....the battery was from 2008. 12 years old. Fit a new battery and... WOW. It idles. It's smooth. It doesn't stall when the AC kicks in. We're idiots for not checking it first.
Click to expand...

Sitting in on those product review meetings at Citroen would have been fascinating. Do you think the engineers lost every battle in the name of preservign the design? Or did their engineers actually do all this stuff intentionally?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top