1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project

Black for now and when the car is fully painted I will get them polished, they do look nice that way.

Quick update – I had the oil return baffle repaired by a “professional” TIG welder. Basically he blew it to pieces and it is unusable even though he thought he had done a good job. So I was back to square one again 🙁

I put up a message on the UK 2CV forum (I do have an AZU too 😉 ) and a guy in Finland could not believe I could not find this part in France and said he had a field of these engines. I thought, yeah, OK, whatever 😆 😆 But I went back to him and asked if he had one with photos to make sure and he said he would try but there was 80cm of snow covering everything (this was yesterday). This morning is sent some photos of the exact part and even better, he has a friend coming over to Retro Mobile that will bring it with him. 😀 😀

Very lucky indeed.

[attachment=1:2et7ik0w]P9100003.jpeg[/attachment:2et7ik0w]
[attachment=0:2et7ik0w]P9100018.jpg[/attachment:2et7ik0w]

😆 – now I know I have a different unit than the normal Perfo, I won’t be forcing the graphite cord in where it should not have been.

But at least I am getting on with the rest of the car – electrics are going well and all the other engine pieces are ready to go back on. I even ordered a battery to start connecting things up to test.

Just waiting for the rear wings to come back, gave them to the bodywork guy end of November, went back on Friday, not even started them….. thats France for you 😉 I should be used to it by now but it is still annoying 😆

…………

……………

It has been a while but I have been busy at it.

The whole car has now been rewired. All 12 volt with wiring looms, relays and fuse box. It looked quite easy when it was on paper but it is a big job. About 4 days of work but it is near enough done. Just some tidying up to be done once I have tested all the circuits.

I created a new plate where I bolted all the new electrical parts onto and then this just bolts onto the original fixings as I did not want to start drilling into the bulkhead, although I have had to for some other parts. This unit is totally hidden by the dash but is easily accessible.

[attachment=2:3o4j1m1r]P1070204.jpg[/attachment:3o4j1m1r]

I tested the first circuit, being the indicators. I did make one mistake though. I did not realise the indicator switch I bought (original 60’s) was also the flasher unit so I was trying to trigger it by a 12 volt flasher I bought. So at least one piece can go and leaves room to extend the 6 volt converter if needed.

[attachment=1:3o4j1m1r]P1070206.jpeg[/attachment:3o4j1m1r]

The front end is starting to get some colour now. I picked up a 12 volt coil at the Bourse last week and a battery cut off switch so every wire is now in place….ready for the engine 😀

[attachment=0:3o4j1m1r]P1070207.jpeg[/attachment:3o4j1m1r]

Finally got the steering shaft bolted in. What a bugger of a job that it. The top bearing cap was a git to get in with out smashing it with a hammer. I took it off several times just easing it in, tapping it gently until it passed the 4 bolts and then I eased the cap on and tightened the bolts one at time until the bearing cap was pushed all the way. But that took ages with a lot of swearing, mainly as the missus who of course was not holding the steering rack properly… 😆 😆

So I have steering for the first time in a year plus a new rubber seal 😀

[attachment=2:23afpo6k]P1070219.jpeg[/attachment:23afpo6k]

Although, saying that, I don’t quite have steering yet as I am trying to figure out the fixings of the Power Steering. It is not that obvious and the instructions are abysmal. Luckily they are at Retro Mobile so I will be asking a lot of questions on friday.

[attachment=1:23afpo6k]P1070215.jpeg[/attachment:23afpo6k]

And finally, does anyone have any tips on replacing a captive nut on the lower rear corner, this will be covered by the rear wing but if there is a right way to do it, that would be good to know.

[attachment=0:23afpo6k]P1070213.jpeg[/attachment:23afpo6k]

What’s a Rivnut? never heard of it.