You're assuming that I intend to stay in the US for more than another year or two. If I get a DS, it will be in Europe -- let's say that I my uncle is in the business of restoration and has been for the past 30 years. Reading and understanding French isn't a problem either.

(Honestly, I plan to be 50/50 after I exploit this country to the max, buy a few more rentals at foreclosure...)

Take your time, though!

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

I need a new middle damper for mine, any good leads?
Stainless?

Later J

__________________
85 MB 300TD with om616 4 spd
83 MB 300TD
83 MB 240D scrapped
82 MB 240D scrapped
97 Ford E350 diesel 4x4, WVO
94 Ford E350 4x4 diesel blown head..parts car
85 cherokee diesel 2.1, 300.000, WVO
85 cherokee diesel 2.1
85 lebaron convertible, to be electric
85 lada niva 4x4 with 1.9 peugeot diesel,
72 citroen DS 5spd, LPG
77 Jaguar XJS, LPG
73 corvette 350 auto
88 MB Gelande 240 GD military
98 Ford E350 mini bus to be new 4x4 camper

Are you talking the rubber in the vibratuion damper on a D Super 5?

Got a part number?
Which engine? if a 1972 (like mine,) it would be for a DX2 or DX3 engine.

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Good. Save your money; without Systeme D, you'll need it!

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

I ma sorry,

I meant the exhaust muffler . I replaced both the rear pipes already with stainless. Bought this in 1986 in southern France. Last time I drove it was 1993. It started as hydraulic. At some moment I changed to a 5 speed for better fuel economy and less noise. At this moment the clutch is frozen. I will get to it , first solve my other cars problems.....

Later J

__________________
85 MB 300TD with om616 4 spd
83 MB 300TD
83 MB 240D scrapped
82 MB 240D scrapped
97 Ford E350 diesel 4x4, WVO
94 Ford E350 4x4 diesel blown head..parts car
85 cherokee diesel 2.1, 300.000, WVO
85 cherokee diesel 2.1
85 lebaron convertible, to be electric
85 lada niva 4x4 with 1.9 peugeot diesel,
72 citroen DS 5spd, LPG
77 Jaguar XJS, LPG
73 corvette 350 auto
88 MB Gelande 240 GD military
98 Ford E350 mini bus to be new 4x4 camper

Is there a relatively popular engine swap to improve the performance of the DS? What about the engine of the Citroen SM?

The SM engine is the same very finicky engine in the Maserati Merak of that era. Either a 2.7 or a 3.0 with a very slow auto trans, so a manual is de rigueur.

There is a guy who is putting a 3.5 turbo diesel in DS and SM cars in France, am trying to tour his company factory when I go to France in September.

__________________
Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

I think the diesel from the C35 Van series is a direct drop in. The diesel from the CX series fits but rotates the other direction. I am not sure if the differential can be inverted as is possible with the 2cv

The factory has experimented with the SM motor in the DS , never in production.

You have a link to the guy in France with the 3.5 conversion?


Later J

__________________
85 MB 300TD with om616 4 spd
83 MB 300TD
83 MB 240D scrapped
82 MB 240D scrapped
97 Ford E350 diesel 4x4, WVO
94 Ford E350 4x4 diesel blown head..parts car
85 cherokee diesel 2.1, 300.000, WVO
85 cherokee diesel 2.1
85 lebaron convertible, to be electric
85 lada niva 4x4 with 1.9 peugeot diesel,
72 citroen DS 5spd, LPG
77 Jaguar XJS, LPG
73 corvette 350 auto
88 MB Gelande 240 GD military
98 Ford E350 mini bus to be new 4x4 camper

My kind of French car.
It's relatively simple, with Ford V8 power, and late '50s Studebaker styling.
Anyone guess the name?

Happy Motoring, Mark

__________________
DrDKW

that would be a Simca. I had one but with the normal simca engine which was junk. My 1960 simca aronde was my first car. It drove and handled very sweetly but the engine and transmission were low quality and fragile. I changed the engine twice and the transmission three times IIRC....but of course I had no money for even proper parts purchase back then. If using all the proper procedures the engines probably would have lasted a bit longer.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The Simce Aronde was fairly popular here at the height of the late '50s import craze. But like many such small cars, wasn't really built for American freeway driving. By the mid-late '60s, most survivors were $50 or $100 orphans, often suffering from years of PO abuse & neglect.

The Vedette was a French Ford, powered by a tiny version of Ford's famous flat-head V8, and styled very much like a miniature '49 Mercury.
When Simca bought the French Ford plant in the mid 50s, the Vedette became Simca's 'big' car, with a four-door sedan and wagon, and new styling that strongly resembled a '57 Studebaker. If Simca had tried to market it here, the Vedette might have been more suitable for US conditions, but it would have cost much more than a typical new Ford or Chevy.

Happy Motoring, Mark

__________________
DrDKW

Yep, it was wound out at 73 mph. That's about what an air cooled vw would do too but if you did it with the simca you might blow it up....like I did on a little downhill section.

You just told me more than I ever knew about the bigger simca. I had seen the flathead v8 mentioned in the repair manuals though. I suspect it was an English flathead.

I seem to remember recently seeing some of them left over on ebay from some sort of a military application.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I miss the Renault Fuego...

Back in the day, I recall one auto writer slammed the Renault Fuego for it's "snail-like styling and acceleration"!

In 1980, I briefly owned a faded red, grey-market 1973 Renault R6-TL - a tiny, tinny 4-door hatchback, using mostly the same mechanicals as the version we got here later as the Le Car. This Renault had been given to a neighbor for his son, who had little mechanical ability, and even less interest in a funny-looking little French car. So the neighbor signed it over to me just to get it out of his driveway.
The major coolant leak turned out to be a heater hose - not the bad head-gasket the PO's mechanic had claimed. New brake pads and a CV axle were standard Le Car items so they were readily availible here at the time. Trips to local salvage-yards yielded a replacement Renault R12 rear tag light and a pair of Dodge Dart 7" headlights with mounts, so I could replace the broken original amber French 5" quartz-iodine headlamps and get through inspection. I wound up driving it for a few weeks, while my regular car was out of commission.
Front-drive, with a 1.1 liter pushrod engine behind the transaxle, four-wheel torsion-bar suspension, very comfortable ride & seats, leaned like a sailboat in corners, and a weird 4-speed shifter in the dash. It looked kind-of like an umbrella handle, but worked way better than the horrible, rubbery floorshift used in the later American-market Le Cars.
I had about $150 in it, then sold it to a co-worker's friend for $350. He got drunk and totaled it 6 months later!

Happy Motoring, Mark

__________________
DrDKW