I now finally have the CX somewhere dry, and resting on axle stands. Such comfort means that a proper strip down and review of this spaceship like machine can commence.
Where better to start than with something that should be familiar. What could be more straightforward than a caliper and brake lines?
First up, the 5 x 19mm wheel bolts were removed, and the completely solid wheel was removed. This is Citroen at its best – name the car after the French version of Cd (Coefficient of Drag), and then follow it through to the nth degree. A solid wheel causes significantly less air disturbance than one with spokes and holes. So much so, that the folks over on Ecomodder are prone to going out their way to re purpose pizza dishes in the pursuit of such advantage.
So Solid Wheel!
Immediately though, it should be obvious to seasoned readers that all was not well. As we had noticed when collecting the car back in October last year, the brake pipe was making a jolly good job of skooshing LHM about the joint.
The culprit
Before we go any further, take a moment to digest what you are seeing here.
Bottom of the picture- a vented brake disc – so far, so normal.
But, wait a minute, does that flexi line come into a banjo fitting on the left hand side, leading to a solid pipe onto the Caliper? And the less said regarding the steering being connected to the caliper, the better.
We stopped for a cuppa at this point, and let it sink in. It became obvious that the best plan of attack was to remove the flexi and solid pipe to see what the lie of the land was.
This was a game of 2 halfs, the flexi came undone with no issues from top solid line, but was most stubborn in its refusal to detach from the banjo fitting.
We then turned our attention to the caliper solid pipe. It was not very good at all,
Boke
but thankfully the bolt loosened easily once the chemical metal was removed.
Huzzah!
The small pipe into the banjo fitting was very brittle and broke straight away – so I’ll need to either source a 2nd hand one or work out how to reconstruct it.
You can see where the pipe sheared at the bottom of the banjo fitting.
So far, I need a Flexi and a new fixed line for the caliper.
Onto the Caliper/Disc and Pads – I intended to check their condition and see if anything was needed.
That looks a bit tasty..
Retaining clip and locating pin removed, the pads slid out easily and appeared to be in great condition. Certainly, the brakes had given no real cause for alarm before, but it was nice to see that this side looked in good order.
I was also pleased to note the superb brake setup here- we have 4 piston calipers!
Count them bad boys!
The disc also proved to be in superb shape, so it looks like no other parts needed at the moment.
Pleased with what had been achieved, I decided to quit whilst ahead, and tidied up after lathering the caliper in some degreaser so I could start to clean off the LHM.
Foamtastic
But that can wait for the next installment!
fu'guttycars 