The Next Diesel Road trip Adventure Starts Saturday!
 

This Saturday I get on a plane, fly to Orlando and visit The Don, from whom I have bought a 1978 240D.

The experience so far has been very good with the Don.

We'll see also if that's true for Spirit Air, who likes to nickel and dime ya to death.

The plan is to drive from O-ville to Kent Ohio, where I'll be meeting the well-known Citroenist Don James. He has been a consultant in the rubber industry and owns a machine shop. He is now gearing it away from Citroens and more toward super fast bikes and ultra-light aircraft (Don has several).

Don is selling me tooling to make all internal parts for the hydropneumatic suspension and brake pumps used in Cits from 1955-1998.

From there a short, three-hour drive back to Michigan where I'll sort out the jigs and fixtures and write manufacturing process sheets for the pump manufacture that my friend Wally will do for me.

Then we'll re-build all the Cit pumps available, sell parts kits and keep these cars on the road.

Am thinking also about making fibreglass fenders for the DS21 and also some plastic parts for W123 cars..

Have also thought about equipping a Citroen DS21 with a W201 turbodiesel if I can find the engine and if the mating is possible.

Otherwise, I will put am OM617.952 into a 1950 DeSoto limousine, as soon as it arrives.

But the start to all of this will be the trip from Michigan-Orlando-Ohio-Michigan.

Stay tuned for details.

I might be looking for members between in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas toi say hi on the way.

My route will be shown on Mapquest going from Orlando, FL to Kent, Ohio.

Maybe I'll talk to some of you on the way!

Always fun to see another member taking a trip!

Since that is a 240D you'll have very few things to worry about failing on the way...the reason why I love my plan jane euro for road trips...have the power of the 5cyl but not all the luxury accessories known to not age well..

Have an excellent trip!

Diesel Road Trip
 

Have fun and BE SAFE ! .

Remember to stop and check the oil , ATF and so on every 200 miles until you get a handle on how much it uses .

Remember too that the OM617 _will_ go much faster on the flat than is good for it ~ mindlessly pinning the throttle on the Interstate will beat the engine to death .

I'm also hitting the road Saturday morning with my Brother , we're going to drive his 19?? W126 300SDL (6 cylinder mechanical F.I.) from Sunny Southern California , land of Fruits , Nuts Flakes , to grumpy old Boston , Ma. and bury Mom . then drive home via the Trans Canada (? Trans Canadian ?) Highway , *if* I can find my flusherginner passport .

I hope you post some of your road trip exploits .

It's a manual so you can't check the ATF in it.....

No leaks from the tranny or rear end. Heck the engine barely marks it's spot.

I drive the car daily for 6 months with the only issue being the drivers side key tumbler jamming.....aaaaaand I lost my brakes. But I replaced the hoses, bled it all with fresh fluid, and replaced all seals on the reservoir. So he should be good to go test drove the car yesterday and everything works like it should.

Installment 1: Spirit SUCKS!

They nickel and dime you to death but you don't find it out until after you've paid for the ticket.

After you've paid for your ticket, you have to pay $ 12 for your seat

A carryon-- read ANYTHING: purse, I phone etc another 26.00

Then they bombard you with advertising about how awesome they are: BARF

Got to the airport and tried to use my TSA pre-check

Spirit doesn't participate so I wait additional 20 min in line after my minimalist briefcase is emptied by the TSA guy.

I had CHEWING GUM in it-- you know what THAT means!!

Still waiting at the airport, found a wifi to attach to.

My gate has changed three times. Even the flight attendants don't know where it is. Most are singularly unhelpful.

I asked one where to check my flight number since it was not posted. She said " That's not my job."

Having lived in Orlando, it should be a good return, once I get out of Spiritville

Should have followed my instincts when I saw all the flight attendants looked like former cafeteria workers (maybe they were? Cheaper that way?).

Sending a note to The Don, so he knows I made it this far.

Cue scene from the movie Airplane where the plane ( space shuttle? ) skids down the runway and a crowd of people run through the airport trying to get to the correct gate. " Flight 209 now arriving at gate 8, gate 9, gate 10.. . .Gate 13. Gate 14. Gate 15... Gate 23. 24. 25.. . . . . . "

...well you know what they say


"Pictures or it didn't happen"



(Not interested in crappy airlines though - seen and experienced enough of them already)

Installment two: Meeting with the Don (cue music)

A dakr green E320 with the Don in it picks me up.
We talk and I offer to buy him lunch.
We stop at a non-descript restaurant that has phenomenal chicken, service by a waitress that has the body of an Olympic athlete, sadly covered in material :mad: but very nice. Yes pics or it didn't happen, but thee Don saw her too!

We chat for a while, go the house, get the vehicle ready, he shows me a few foibles, and I made a startling discovery:

The Michigan Secretary of State has titled my W123.123 as a MERCURY, not a MERCEDES! Blood when I get back!

We put the plate on and get ready to go anyway.

I follow the Don's directions, get on FL535 then I-4 then I-95, disrupted for 45 minutes by a four-lane crash that takes me 30 miles out of my way.

Then I get on I 95 and the 240D SHOCKS me.

The four-speed smoothly gets up to 75 , as if it were a bigger engine.

Must be the four-speed and the diff.

The engine just eats up the road. In another hour I'm in Georgia.

In another hour, in Savannah.

Need to stop for food, have a steak and eggs at a waffle house.

Terrific!

Much drama: the cook tells the manager to kiss her A** after he bugs her about something, am not in earshot.

I leave after giving her a true compliment on a really good 8 oz steak.

Too tired to do much else, have to get up early tomorrow.

Things to check out on the 240D when I get home:

1. AC has to be done
2. Need to fix the door lock system, and repair the driver's door lock.
3. For some reason, I am unable to shift into reverse, which has made for some challenging maneuvers in parking lots
4. Fix the sticking glove box lock
5. Ultimately replace the radio, since the LED lights can't be seen in bright daylight. It's a good radio, but I can't see the controls, so I can't use it. Will look for a

Darn I should have kept that radio. The reviews did mention that being it's only downfall. It never bothered me once I had it programmed and I just did everything by feel. Look up the manual inline, I think the lights can be adjusted.


Sorry about the I4 thing, that's kind of a daily thing here. I never had issues shifting into reverse and I did rebuild the shift mechanism and linkages. One thing I can remember is I always had the clutch pedal all of the way down when shifting into reverse.

The door locks should work because I did test all corners for leaks and didn't find any. Try this, ( make sure the key us in your pocket first ). Close the drivers door, go to left rear door, open it and reach to the front and lock it. All locks should go down. If not the. That us news to me. When I pulled the car from it's last home and toyed with it I was amazed the doors still locked via vacuum after sitting forever.

Going Home
 

Thanx for the update ~

It sounds like you got a good one ! .

It's nice to know the manual tranny makes it a good Highway car .

I love my 240D W/ slushbox but if I run @ 75 MPH , it's buzzy , uses more oil & fuel too .

How is the car on hills ? .

Greetings from Mesquite , Nevada , we're on our way to Boston in the '87 300SDL , so far so good although it runs noticeably cooler if I keep it below 65 ~ this means everyone passes us :rolleyes: .

Nice purchase. On the not going into reverse issue. Mine is similar. I have to hold it in reverse or it just pops right out. With regard to the Don's comment, where would you have the clutch when going into any gear except all the way to the floor?

These cars do get up to highway speeds quite decently, but with mine I try now to never take it above 65 if at all possible. I just don't see it doing the motor any good given its age an mileage.

- Peter.

Regarding not going into reverse....the steps I would do in order to diagnose the problem as this is the list I am going down is...as I am having issues with the transmission binding and not going in gear...

linkage bushing replacement
bleeding the clutch
replacing the clutch master and slave cylinder.

If the slave/master cylinder start to leak you will be up crap creek as the hydraulics for the clutch runs from the brake reservoir and it doesn't take long at all for all the fluid to leak out and soon be left with out brakes....don't ask me how I know..:p

slave is brand new and properly bled. I moved the car and drove it earlier in the day and had no issues putting it into reverse. shifter mechanism has been rebuilt and all new bushings.

The only issue I ever noted was minor grinding when putting it into reverse and my work around was putting it in first before bumping it over into reverse.

That is what my euro is doing...and my exact work around...I was told by another member that its the master cylinder...he was stating that they leak internal and won't show it externally....when I replaced my slave I read tons of threads stating to replace them as a set...now I know why but I know for a fact I have missing bushings so I am holding off on that choir till I do all those...