Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum although I have looked here over the last few years.
I have an ex UK XM series one 24V manual which was imported early in it's life to Australia. It is a great car with most top of the range options.

The front suspension tower supports ( the rubber bits that suffer cracking ) are ready to replace on my car. These are hard to find in Australia. Being a series one V6 I understand that the supports are wider to take the wider suspension towers so only V6 supports will fit.

I'm no expert on this model so would welcome any comments regarding my assertions if they are wrong.

Anyway I'm looking or near new or new replacements for shipping to Melbourne by DHL or similar. I guess I am seeking some recommended new part re-sellers that others have used in the past and their contact details if possible. Can series two struts be used ? Or maybe Xantia V6 strut/supports instead ?

thanks for any help
Hawk

Hi Hawk

UK strut heads typically die from rust corrosion.
The final end result though is the same as in Australia with the torn rubber.
Main rubber block pushes through and bends the bonnet.
That makes secondhand UK ones a very risky option on future working life.
New strut heads from Citroen are now £400 plus a side so not many new ones are bought over here.

Not good news I am afraid.

As far as strut head types are concerned I do not think the V6-24v used different ones from other Hydractive Mk1 XM's. Just the spheres had a different spec.
I also think that early Mk2's used the same struts and strut heads.
2.5TD and later Mk2's had thicker strut rods but the same size piston.
Strut and strut head fixing points are the same so provided these are kept as a matched pair either type may be fitted. Citroen do not require both sides to be the same.

You could always try Shane on FCF, he is out you way and keeps threatening to burn his 2.1TD XM because it is such a pig to work on. His strut heads should fit.

John

Hi Hawk,

Just to reinforce what John has said the two most important dimensions you need to be able to interchange strut tops with struts is as follows:

1) diameter of piston rod which comes out of the top of the strut and connects to the strut top.
2) size of the hydraulic pipe connecting to the strut top

For 1) there are two sizes available 22mm and 25mm. The thicker of the two was mainly fitted to 3L V6s and 2.5TDs and some others (See Table below) probably due to the heavier engines and increased power. The tapered section at the top of the piston where it fits into the strut top is very important because the angle of the taper depends on the diameter of the piston. It is for this reason the strut tops are not interchangeable between piston sizes.

For 2) there are two sizes available. Non-hydractive and Hydractive 1 use the more standard 3.5mm pipes. Hydractive 2 uses the larger 10mm pipes. they are very easy to tell apart.

So, to assist you in your search you need to identify the above two dimensions. to measure the piston diameter put the suspension on high, reach inside the wheel arch and pull on the concertina gaiter/dust cover. Measure the exposed piston with a set of vernier calipers or the like.

Cheers

noz

Piston Rod Diameters:

22mm
Engines
XU10J2
XU10J4R
XUD11A

25mm
Engines
XU10J2TE
ZPJ
ZPJ4
XUD11ATE
DK5ATE

Thanks very much for the information.

Your feedback was exactly what I was hoping to get.

I know Shayne and will talk to him soon also about any other options.


XM's are not very expensive to buy over here either - the cost of these parts new is really too high - but I spend a lot of my spare time saving a fleet of old Citroens so I will need to make the hard decision soon.

Hawk

Hi Hawk

I did not cover quite all the options in the first reply.

There is a supplier in Scandanavia that manufacturers sets of bolt on top half shells.
These fit over rusty strut heads with windscreen adhesive and the joint seams are then arc welded. Only seen the photos but there has been some reports on here and users seem happy with them. Not suited to the Aus type of torn rubber failure but I have thought a bit about using the windscreen adhesive to glue the torn rubber type back together. Just not a failure type we see often.

There is also a some reports and photos on one of the sites of a catch guard that can be fitted to prevent bonnet spearing.

I have had a quick look at C5 strut heads but apart from anything else they are about 40mm deeper so will not fit under the XM bonnet unless the fixing flange is dropped on spacers into the wheel arch. Not done a comparison on Xantia ones yet as over here they rust worse than XM ones but they are much cheaper to buy new.

John

Hi everyone - an update
I decided that there was no point trying to buy secondhand strut tower supports and the non factory ones were not available in Australia, so I've gone mad and purchased new factory ones and had them fitted this week. This is one job I will never have to do again ( I like this concept - I recently replaced the tyres on my 1951 Big 6 Traction Avant ( 185x400) and had the same good feeling about " job done")

This was an expensive option but the right one I feel for such a rare car.

Now can anyone tell me why I have a heavy clutch. It was replaced by the previous owner so I am pretty sure it is not worn out. We have lubricated the cable and still too heavy.

Has anyone replaced the cable with a hydraulic system from the series 2 ? - I believe Citroen changed it between model/series - obviously for good reason

Any responses will be welcome.
Hawk
Melbourne,Australia

Hi Hawk

All mine have the hydraulic clutch so cannot help with your cable one.
Not all Mk2 XM's have the hydraulic clutch.
It was introduced with the 2.5TD in 1994 using the MG5TB gearbox.
A new clutch cost over £200 and the hydraulics about £120.
Plenty of 2.5 going to scrap over here just now so might be able to point you towards a recovered box , clutch and hydraulic drive. Not sure that it would be economic to send out though.
The Mk2 V6 manual version of the XM got the same box and clutch but no UK RHD versions of these cars were made.
Not tried it yet but the ML5TB box should fit to the Mk1 V6 engine.
From 1997 the new V6-24V XM engine mated with the ML5T gearbox but again all UK RHD XM's got the 4HP20 autobox.
Plenty of PUG RHD V6-24V manuals made but not sure if a ML5T will fit to a Mk1 V6 engine.
Hope that helps.

John