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Bienvenue, Willkommen, Recepción, Benvenuto
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Welcome to the restoration of a 1974 Citroen DS 23 Pallas, The 'Goddess'.I hope to share my knowledge and guide you through the restoration progress of this classic Citroen marque. I also own a 1997 Xantia 1.9TD Desire and a 1998 Xsara 1.8 16v for everyday use. Other Citroens I have owned for my sins include numerous AX's, a CX25D Turbo Safari and a GSX2
The purchase price was a gift at £200.00 from a friend in Lancaster, even though extensive work is required to bring her back to original condition. In with the price I also received a trailer full of spare parts which I am sure will come in very useful. The car has been in storage in an uncompleted state for the last 18 years due to family and work commitments, but the time has now come to restart the restoration and resurrect the Goddess. When I left school in 1977 I started an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic with a local Citroen dealership in Preston, Lancashire servicing and repairing the D's amongst the other Citroens at the time, and have been working on these babies ever since. So experience is plentiful, I now just need to find the time and the money. I'm sure if I focus on this project everything will turn out fine and should be on the road in a few years. I will post new photographs and descriptions of the progress to the image pages on a regular basis, so have a good look around and don't forget to bookmark this page and revisit soon. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me using the contact page RegarDS
September 2006 - Work has now started in earnest to see if the Goddess is still a viable restoration project. I decided to throw a couple of pounds on her to get the engine running. First, a new battery, constantly using jump leads is no use to the DS electrics or the donor vehicle. Before fitting the battery I removed the spark plugs to see if the engine still turned, after being stood for so long the piston rings can rust solid to the cylinder walls, and they had. Don't ever attempt to turn the engine with the starter motor they are so violent and can break the rings! So half a litre of WD40 is shared down the plug holes and left to free off the rings for a couple of days. Two days later and a spanner on the crank pulley nut the engine was as free as a bird and turned over smoothly. After a few turns on the starter motor there was no signs of a spark, no wonder looking at the state of the points and condenser, so they were replaced along with the spark plugs and leads and hey presto a brilliant spark. The dwell angle was adjusted and the ignition timing set. Correct settings can be found here. On to the carburettor and in removing the top I was surprised to see some fuel in the float chamber, this was removed with a dry cloth and replaced with some fresh LRP and rebuilt. At this stage it was worth trying for a start, a few cranks on the ignition key and she bursts into life, after about 20 seconds of the hydraulic pump whirring around the pressure regulator cut out and the suspension started to rise... She's Alive!!! images can be found here
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Sponsors...please click through this link it will earn me a small
amount of money for restoration funds!
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The vehicle is a February 1974 Pallas berline model finished in
Tholonet Beige with a Tissu Caramel interior. It is a carburetted 2300cc engine
with a 5 speed manual transmission. The Tholonet beige was a colour used on the Pallas models.
To distinguish from Metallized Sand the Tholonet Beige
is slightly darker, and is a little less metallic, a little more classy.
The Tholonet is a village of Provence close to Aix, which inspired Cezanne. The
colour of the mountains, beige chestnut, seems to be the reason of the
Beige Tholonet of Citroen.
