1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project

It has been another long day sitting in the car. The headlining was not as bad as I thought. It is quite a thick material so trying to stretch it was not so easy and I cam hoping it will hang nice over time. I did glue the loose roof sound proofing so hoping that will stay up there.

Inserting it under the side rails was the easiest part but the front window frame was a pain and I still don’t think it is correct. It has been a year since I took it off and I am not sure exactly where it is supposed to sit. It just doesn’t look right and was tight to fit. I will need to look at another car in detail and adjust as necessary.

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The side strips fit well and I am quite pleased with the colours – this is the first time we have seen the cream and grey together.

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And as we collected our seats the other day, I could not resist putting in the rear to see what it looks like. I am very pleased with the look. I know it is not original but this car was never going to be restored to the original interior. We wanted a little comfort and something a bit different (not much but just a little)

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I put in the interior light too – at first it didn’t work, then I turned the LED bulb around, then it did work. Then the switch didn’t work. I took it out, cleaned the contacts and while doing so worked out the mechanics. So it pulls out and pops back turning on. And then pull it again to turn it off and then it pops back again. I was trying to keep it pulled out and thought it was broken. Citroen did complicate the simplest of things 😆

Installed the water temp and oil pressure gauge and hooked them up to the panel lights. Which then led to me to figure out why I had wired the panel lights directly to the 6 volts output and not to a switched supply from the lighting circuit – so a quick redesign and some wire switching (do love the simplicity of the connection strips) and the panel lights were connected to the rear light circuit and now come on with all the light scenarios.

But at the same time I was getting a short on the main battery supply to the ammeter. The connections on the ammeter had loosened and touching the side of the dash. But now it is all bolted in, the job was 10 times more difficult. But I managed to unbolt the ammeter and pull it out of the dash. Took it apart and added some more insulation and then tightened the bolts. Got it back in the dash and reconnected the main battery connections and all is good.

One of the dash panel lights exploded in my fingers splintering glass everywhere which led to blood everywhere….. what a day.

I then went onto finish the install of the EZ Electric Power Steering system. The motor is all tucked away up inside the dash and was a little confusing to begin with to find a decent fixing for it. But after a photo or two from their tech support, it all clicked into place.

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The control box is too pretty to hide away so this is the only electrical item on show at the from of the car. Carpets fitted and even the original pedal covers cleaned up.

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So now it is time to get on and build this engine.

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Another busy day today, and yes, I did post a couple of questions but then deleted them as I had worked through the problems (come on guys you should be there 24/7 😆 😆 )

While I was waiting I installed the front seats, the glove box and ash tray. So the interior is near enough done except for the door cards, which I am waiting for the sticky back vinyl for.

So onto the engine. I did have a little too much play on the crankshaft and probably still have but I removed the shims and once tightened to the correct torque the gap was just about there although I have been told the tolerance for an 11D is even tighter – I will keep this in mind for when I pull the engine again later this year. 😯

I installed the crankshaft and the oil pump as well as all the end bearing seals. I fitted the timing chain and although not seen on the picture I also put in the after market chain tensioner from CTA.

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I am following the procedure to the letter. But trying to work out some of the terminology is quite tough as they assume you know all the parts off by heart 😆

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I put the sump cover back on too which was quite a task squeezing it over the rubber end seals but tightening each bolt in turn brought the cover to its final position providing a very good seal indeed.

Not happy 😥

There is something catching in the sump – the engine turns but at a certain point it goes very tight. When I was putting the sump on it felt it was pressing against the oil pump so I am wondering whether this is then pushing the oil pump onto the crankshaft….. so annoying.

Ca n anyone let me know how to check on TDC on piston No 1. I have the flywheel attached so can see the groove (normally for the pin) I can see the pistons but at which point is TDC on No1 and not No4 – I will need to do this for refitting of the oil pump when I unbolt the sump.

Thanks
Ian

My plan with moving the engine worked – so it is now the right way up on a stand.

But there is a slight knocking when I rotate the flywheel. I think the oil pump is fouling the crankshaft. So I will need to get back into the sump – big pain. I also will check the oil pump orientation as I am not 100% sure that it is correct. I though it was but looking upside down back to from tI may have got it 180 degrees out of sync. (this also powers the distributor). Any tips on how to do this would be welcome 😉

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I also checked the clearance of the pistons to the head. There is a slight scratch on all 4 pistons so they are fouling the edge of the head. But that is good to know as I was anticipating this due to them be domed. So I will take it to the machine shop in Toulouse for them to take out a few millimetres to give clearance.

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So I had two issues, one the distributor timing will be 180 degrees out and I had a knocking in the crankcase when I turned the crankshaft.

So I had to lift the engine and remove the sump case (which was annoying as I had sealed it quite well but it came off quite easily in the end). I then rotated the crankshaft and “voila” it was just touching the oil pump.

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So I loosed then pointed bolt on the side of the crankcase and lowered the oil pump out. I then noticed something that is so obvious now – there is a locating hole in the side of the oil pump that the pointed bolt goes into (hence it being pointy I suppose). So I had pushed the oil pump in to much (by about 1 cm). So this then was too close to the crankshaft and it also misaligned the distributor timing (although I think I had it 180 degree out too, so I painted the short side with tippex).

Put it all back together and the engine spins for the first time in 43 years. I put the sump back on and the timing case and lowered the engine back onto the stand.

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I put 12 volts across the starter motor and the pistons went up and down. The small pleasures 😆 😆

Put a few other parts onto the engine and placed all the bolts where I think they should go in readiness for the gear box. But first I head to Toulouse tomorrow morning with my head to be machined for clearance.

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Not this particular one (this is a new part) but yes, originally it had one behind the fuel pump.

Here is the original.

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