After the sale was completed for Eur2000,= I went to pick up the Citroën Traction Avant 11BN (built 1955) in Leiden with the rented auto-ambulance behind my station wagon.
The pictures are from Marktplaats.nl:
At home:
After the first inspection it turned out that nothing actually worked.
The engine was stuck, there was water in the oil, the gearbox was broken, holes in the fenders, headlight mirrors rotten, rear light lenses broken, gas tank leaking, exhaust rotted, tires on, front bumper was rotted off and so on.
But the bottom, side, roof and body were rock solid.
I started photography as we nowadays say analogue, with a LubitelII and a 6×6 Agfa camera when I was 13.
In 2005 I bought my first serious digital cam, a Fujifilm finepix S5600. After this, I kept track of what was available and I usually was able to obtain 2nd hand equipment and later sometimes new equipment to keep me updated.
I started tyhese updates first with Canon, the EOS5DII and later the EOS6D and a number of APS-C types. I now have just about all the lenses for that, from wide-angle zoom to tele-zoom and quite a few primes. I also have a few M-series cameras from Canon including a double set of lenses but I don’t really use them because the quality is fine but incomparable with my full-frame and M4/3 equipment. While the capabilities of the M series are less than brands like Panasonic, Sony and Olympus and the portability is about comparable.
Because I also like to shoot movies, at some point I switched to the Sony A7 line in addition to the Canon full-frame cameras that I still use for still photography. I still have my first A7, as well as the 42MP A7RII. I also have a fair amount of lenses for these cameras, but still mostly zoom lenses because the primary use of these cameras is movies. I find (and this is of course very personal) the look and feel of Canon very suitable for quick snapshots and the Sony cameras are too angular imho for that. It’s OK when in a holder with all kinds of extras on it but not as a camera for walk-arounds.
Eventually around 2018 I got hooked on the Olympus and Panasonic setups with the micro 4/3 sensors. I pretty much own the top cameras from those, and with that a substantial collection of lenses. The 2 cameras I use the most are the Olympus OMD-1 MII and my favorite walkaround is the Panasonic DC-G90 with the short OLYMPUS MFT 7-14MM F/2.8 M.ZUIKO on it. This also has built-in flah.
On vacations, I never use anything but my Sony RX-100 MV again. With the extendable eyepiece and the almost unbeatable image quality of the 1 inch sensor, I have found that I never need to take anything else on the road. On top of all this camera also shoots very good video.
In the city I mainly use my Canon RP with the short zoom F4.0 14-35 mm. It’s compact and uncomplicated.
BTW, I always carry the Ricoh GRIII with me, as this APS-C camera with its 24mm fixed lens produces super sharp pictures, rich in details and very easy to carry around in a coat- or trouser’s pocket.
For serious work I like to use my set of Panasonic GX8s. Can take a beating, includes flash and the adjustable eyepiece (viewfinder) is always nice to use, even in bright sunlight. On these cameras, I usually have the Panasonic short zoom lens and an Olympus prime mounted.
The above list does mean that I have about 80-90% of my photography gear unused. I’ve tried to sell everything but it just doesn’t make enough money. So every now and then I grab a set from the loft and use it again, which is also quite fun!
And- recently I got me a Mamiya RZ-67 and an Aptus digital back, lenses and I get it to work properly, heavy and great! Just experiencing now what you can do with this…
Really crappy, I don’t have another word for it:
The old contact point ignition with its coil.
I tried 3 of them on 6 volts and the combination of 6 volt battery, starter motor and points always gave me trouble, both with cold and hot starts.
So I installed an electronic one, and NO 123 ignition.
Just an English ignition, specially for 6 Volts OR 12 Volts.
First installed with the 6 Volt installation and it worked perfectly.
Still does, but now on 12 Volts.
When reinstalling the head, you have to take very good care of the tappets.
The tappets all have a different size (tappet size) because the valves all end up at a different valve stem height due to wear.
Therefore, you must always measure which tappet should be placed where. The tappets on my type of car are fixed and not adjustable.
More modern tappets are often hydraulic and self-adjusting, unfortunately this was not the case with my car. I ended up grinding a few tappets to get to the right value, see the pictures below.
The measurement can only be done by placing and tightening the head, placing the tappets as best as possible, starting with 1 and then 1 more where the camshafts are mounted, pressed and then measure the play and so on. Quite a job but if you are handy it can be done in 2 hours.
I eventually traded in this beautiful V70-II for an even more beautiful silver-gray C70 D5 automatic, 2nd version from 2006.
That was a fantastic car, both the driving and the experience. I traded in the C70 after 2 years for a black 2010 V70-III BW F (LPG-G3/ethanol/petrol) with manual transmission.
Fantastically economical with the 4-cylinder Ford Duratec engine, quiet and comfortable.
The C70 was still perfect but I just couldn’t take anything or anyone with me, and that eventually broke me down.
Also, the 160 Euros in road tax per month was on the high side for the C70 diesel while the V70-III on G3 LPG does ‘only’ 100 Euros in road tax per month.
The reason for installing LPG is not because of cost. I hardly ever drive the car, and starting with LPG is just a lot easier. And-the consideration to drive on LPG is also made from environmental considerations, next to ease of use.By means of a well regulated LPG installation preferably WITH use of a lambda probe, the emission of harmful substances is reduced considerably.Why not do a gasoline injection with lambda sensor and controller? This solution was preferred but did not fit easily on the ID19D cylinder head. To fit the petrol and/or GPL injectors properly you need to be able to use individual inlet ports and with this cylinder head only 1 external inlet point is available. The distribution to the intake ports is all hidden inside the cylinder head. Drilling-in channels for any petrol or LPG injectors is therefore not possible (at least not easily for me). An after market valve lubrication system has been installed. The evaporator and gas tank are of traditional origin. The entire electrical system as well as the valves and pipes were simply purchased over the Internet from an authorized LPG supplier. The LPG injection was not done with a traditional intake manifold but with SPUDS, directly into the intake venturis of the double Weber carburetor, due to space constraints. This was done both for the LPG intake, with large spuds and for the lube intake but with small spuds. The photos show some of this in detail. The LPG spuds are screwed into the side of the carburetor, and come from a donor evaporator where they were used as water inlet and outlet adapters. These adapters are the right size and have a nice kink on 1 side that allows the LPG to get into the flow of the venturis properly. The Traction has 2 venturis because the engine upgrade to a Citroen ID19dD including cylinder head, carburetor and air filter was done. To do everything neatly I applied the latest governmental inspection requirements to the entire installation. An interesting detail was that a number of requirements do not apply to the traction because the date of admission of the car is already very far in the past. As far as I understand, the valves and evaporator may be used without a new inspection mark but must at least bear the old inspection mark, whereby age should not be a problem. As with new cars, the tank must be less than 10 years old, and the filler hose less than 1 year old. The LPG hoses that are used must have an approval mark, the line for supply between tank and valve and between valve and vaporizer must be properly secured and may not protrude under the car, etc.
1) The original TA engine that turned out to be cracked at the corner of the lower block;
2) An ID19P long-stroke lower block that I assembled with the parts from the original engine such as the overhauled ID11 TA head, TA sump, etc.
3) The final DW long-stroke engine from a donor Citroën ID19 (early DS model 1), including the ID19 head, carburetor, manifold, oil pan and modified (=shortened) crankshaft.
Below I added an overview of all of my engine exchanging photos:
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”79″ gal_title=”ID engine in TA”]
The original TA under block
The ID19P engine
The DW block with shortened crankshaft.
Below you can see how I used the TA head, oil pan, oil pump, camshaft, pushrods, water pump and so on in option 2) to be able to drive the Traction again with the ID19P engine.
Above you see the first replacement engine that worked in my TA for about 4 years. It is an ID19P engine that fit my Traction without question. I transferred the head from the Traction engine and the camshaft as well. Unfortunately the oil pressure of this engine was too low to be reliable when the engine was warm. Probably too much wear. In the picture below you see this block with the TA head on it and with the 3-speed gearbox mounted. Update 3-2021: After I put the right (SAE30) engine oil in this block, the problem with oil pressure also disappeared completely at warm engine!
With option 3), so the second engine that I bought together with the 4-speed gearbox, a DW engine, the crankshaft had to be shortened because I wanted the vibration damper to come off, see the pictures below:
The DW engine
Above: Crankshaft of the DW engine in the lathe
Above: The right part is already quite turned, the thread is already cut just right of the (to fit back) camshaft gears and the remainder of the right-hand thread can now be cut off.
Above: At the same time the oil pump was overhauled with new gears
And I replaced the aluminium oil pan that was torn during transport with one that I still had lying around. I later repaired this oil pan with aluminum solder [LINK].
Almost ready for the test run, you can also clearly see here that it is not a TA head, just an exhaust manifold on this side. This block was perfect, both in compression and oil pressure. Also at hot engine fine! Underneath this block an aluminum sump pan was placed again so the original oil pump could be mounted again.
Here you can clearly see why the balance wheel has to come off on a traction avant: The rear engine mount sits on the camshaft distributor cover, that’s going to be a bit tricky to rebuild all that while retaining the balance wheel
DW engine specs:
construction years: 3/1963-8/1965 bore: 78 mm stroke: 100 mm capacity: 1911 cc features: 3 main bearings on crankshaft, slightly convex pistons, balance wheel on timing gear, internal intake manifold, nameplate on carburetor side; used carburettors: Weber power output declared by Citroen: 83 hp (sae) 61 kW fitted in; DS manual, ID Break and ID Export (according to De Serres) Citroen ID DW block ready for assembly in Traction Avant 11BN
Citroen ID DW blok gereed voor montage in Traction Avant 11BN
The head of the BW block, with the TA water pump mounted on it. That all just fitted.
Side of the DW block with the sealing plate on the left where the hydraulic pump sits on an ID. The cloth is on the place for the fuel pump.
For comparison the crankshaft of the TA original (top) and the ID BW (right)
ID BW engine with on the left the protrusion that should come off
My solution to reassemble everything correctly: When disassembling, fix it right away!
First, the original shafts were overhauled, but when the 4-speed gearbox got installed, double homokinetic drive shafts were installed at the same time!
Above: At the time of purchase, Below: At the MOT inspection
Above: After replacing the old driveshafts with the driveshafts fitted with dual homokinetic joints
Assembly of the new axles whereby really everything has to be loosened….
