1964 Citroen HY Van (part 2)

[hanger18]

After finishing my last project the wife insisted I spent my spare time renovating our house which was way over due. (Like 15 years) To be honest the love affair I’d had with hotrodding for the last 40 years had died. I was utterly sick of spending ALL my waking hours in the workshop. For 2 years I did normal family things (I think) days out, relaxing, gardening ect ect. But slowly and surly the urge to build another hot rod based vehicle was returning. During this period we spent a lot of time at the beach with me becoming heavily involved with Kite buggieing/surfing. We tried using the splitty for these trips which was fantastic but with the V8 only giving about 20MPG it was knocking a huge hole in my wallet. Also the sea air was attacking the wheels and other aluminium parts. A T4 was bought which was great but totally characterless. So the search for another vehicle was started that would cover every angle.
i.e. Hotrod / camper / surf bus.
Long story, short… A Citroen HY van.
When one came up on e-bay last week I immediately called the owner for a viewing.
At 10 am the next day I arrived at the garage in Hull where it was being stored.
Within 10 minutes I had paid the “Buy it now” price and was on my way home. A few days later I was back in hull to collect my new project


Safely back in its new home this picture either makes my splitty look small or the Citroen appear huge.

[stonio]

OHHHHHH YES.!!! l can tell lm going to love this thread already... Cant wait.!!!!

[camper damper]

Now that something I haven't seen in a few year

[foxye28]

awesome

[Deleted]

Good Purchase!

The panels look good on it too. I'm assuming the woeful engine and three speed 'box will be making way for something much more interesting?
I know of a guy with one sat in his field and another complete set of panels and a four speed conversion too - all for sale, but at a price sadly or I'd own it by now!

Joe

[jeth]

This will be awesome!

[grizz]

Just gonna be awesome.

[gt]

can't wait to see more updates on this, fantastic van.

[8tee8]

20mpg doesn't sound all that bad for a splitty with a v8, what's the story with that?

[hanger18]

Jun 18, 2013 23:28:49 GMT 8tee8 said:

20mpg doesn't sound all that bad for a splitty with a v8, what's the story with that?

www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=403767
There you go. Full build thread. hope it works I'm not that hot with computers.
Spend all my spare time down the garage....

Dave..........

[hanger18]

With the van safely home. I decided my first priority was to get it registered with the DVLA (as its still on French plates) for this I need an MOT. Doing this before any modifications to engine, chassis brakes ect should keep DVLA/VOSA of my back. The garage I collected it from had already looked over the van for its previous owner. Telling him all the brakes were seized solid and eclectically only the horn worked.(all of this being true) the cost of 6 new wheel cylinders and a set of shoes being a whopping £1200 alone. (End of his dream ! ! !)As it was going to be a quite week, work wise, I decided to put the van on the lift and get stuck in.
Problem number one. The brakes were indeed seized and no amount of hammering or levering on my part would pull the drums off. I read somewhere that a puller would be needed for this task so I made one.


With the drums finally off I found all six wheel cylinders rusted solid.


I have discovered over the years that with allot of patience and careful handling most things mechanical can be coxed back into life. With this in mind I set about the wheel cylinders. Using copious amounts of WD40 and gently tapping the cylinder all over with a small hammer. to free the rusts hold. I eventually freed of my first cylinder. This did take a few hours but I kept the thought of the £1200 in the back of my mind. The remaining 5 cylinders took a further 2 days. I also managed to save the seals. As the braking system has not leaked todate.
With the brakes sorted I set about the electrics. Got to admit I do love old car electrics, there so simple and it gives you a great feeling of satisfaction as every thing slowly comes back to life.
Whilst under the van I noticed a complete lack of holes or rust. I then washed of a small section with hot soapy water. This is what I found…

Shinny black paint the whole underside of the vehicle is like this.
Happy days….

[darrenh]

pig nose !

what a thoroughly interesting vehicle, look forward to your updates

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

Nice, I always thought this was the A van, is the HY the next size up?

Bookmarked.

[wheeler]

What a delightfully ugly looking thing! Can't wait to see what you do with it

[niwid]

This is fantastic. I don't envy you spending all that time freeing up the cylinders though. I don't think I'd have the patience

[welshpug]

there's one of these in Newport in regular use as a sandwich van

[hanger18]

Next job for mot was the 2 steering rack boots. One was easy but the other needed me to remove the rack and strip it right down to its component parts just to get the curse word on. This I did but whilst in bits I completely rebuilt it and made a few new parts.


With the rack sorted I was ready for the MOT. The van sat outside all weekend with me dreaming, planning and measuring various parts. Finally I could stand it no more.. I HAD to go for a spin. Studying the strange gear shift patter I set of down the lane.

Well it goes stops and steers….







Didn’t go too far as the local nick overlooks my workshop……

[georgeb]

Very definately bookmarked!

[Seth]

Your split screen is pretty mega! Looking forward to what happens with this

[niwid]

Those seats are awesome. Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Will it be as low as the splitty?