The French Connection
By Ulf Remper in Sweden
One day in
early April of 2006 I was looking through E-bay for Zephyr parts when I saw a
-63 mk.III Zodiac up for auction in France. There was only one bid of one (!)
Euro, so of course it attracted my attention as the car looked quite okay. The
French climate is generally mild so rust is rarely an issue which of course
added to my curiosity.
Of course I
wasnīt REALLY gonna buy the car, it was more of a nice thought, but then I
mentioned the car for my friend Peter who got all fired up! He called the
seller as Peter speaks French and found out the reserve price was a moderate
450 Euro. The car had been with the owner for ten years and had very few owners
but had been partly dismantled for restoration. The brakes were looked over and
the running gear and fuel tank had been cleaned and some parts renewed. All of
the bright work was there too. The paint was said to be the original as well,
but as we later found out it was the original colour, not the actual original
paintwork. The exhaust was said to leak, the car had no clutch master cylinder
and a bad brake master cylinder. The gearbox and engine was said to run well
but it wouldnīt idle.
Peter and I
discussed and decided treat the whole matter as a vacation and an adventure,
and bid the reserve price.
When the
auction closed Peter called me at work saying; "We have a Zodiac, thereīs
a plane leaving for Paris at five oīclock!" After some quick phonecalls
arranging for my son to stay with friends I was on my way filling up a bag with
tools, spares, toothbrush and some clothes.
After staying
one night in Paris and taking a pic of the Eiffel tower (amazing!) we borrowed
a car from Peters friend Djamel, who runs a Jaguar workshop, and proceeded to
the small village of Variscourt outside the town Reims some 120 km. northeast
of Paris. Inspecting the car gave us some surprises.... I donīt think Cedric,
the owner, believed Peter when he said on the phone we actually was going to
drive the car home. It probably didnīt sink in until the day we took it for a
test-drive to fill up gas!
During the next
three days we put back the rear screen, the rear vent windows, cleaned the carb
and cooling system, aligned the doors, fastened the bumpers, changed two tires,
aligned the front wheels, (sort of...), got the clutch working, and bleed the
brakes. Two things turned out to be tricky; the "leaky exhaust"
consisted of the front pipes. No more. Not good when risking being stopped by
the German police. In Sweden you go into any automotive store and buy universal
mufflers, bends and pipe by the meter. Not in France. Finally we got a Citroen
BX muffler that had the right pipe diameter and both inlet and outlet pipes on
the same side. Then we cut up a hole in the opposite end, and Voila! Itīs a bit
loud, but not WWII Lancaster bomber like it was with only two straight pipes...
The other
tricky bit was that Cedric had removed the pinion seal in the rear axle as it
was leaking. I was thinking about the new seal lying at home.... However,
Cedrics friend Denis worked at a mechanical workshop, and we explained the
problem for him. The next evening he returned with two metal rings, one to go
into the axle housing, the other he pressed on to the yoke leaving room between
them for a modern seal.
Filling up the
gas tank in the next village presented us with a new problem. The fuel tank
sender locking ring had disappeared flooding the boot with fuel. We found that
an old brake reservoir cap cut around the egde worked as a replacement, and
with a thick O-ring under the sender that problem was solved.
When Friday
arrived we needed to get going and decided to fix the remaining problems, (no
charging, no brake lights, no indicators) at Djamels garage.
Iīm glad Peter
was driving the Zody as we arrived to Paris in the mid day rush and Madame
Zodiac only ran on four cylinders... In the dark driveway in Djamels garage we
could see the sparks jumping around in all directions except down to the plugs!
Some secondhand wires and some isolating tape fixed that. The charging problem
turned out to be a mystery, so Djamel gave us a used alternator from a Jaguar
XJ40. With a longer fan belt and a distance pipe it looked factory installed.
Then Peter discovered it was negative earth! We were both too stressed to think
clearly, but Djamel just looked patiently at us and said; "Turn the
battery around then." With an alternator thatīs all you have to do since
it - unlike a generator - does not have a certain polarity. An alternator swap
has been described on this site by Karl. All electrical motors without a
permanent polarity will work on negative earth since you reverse both fields.
The brake light
switch was incurable, so we decided to go without that luxury. After all we
didnīt intend to stop until we got home!
We left Paris
early in the evening. Only stopping for gas, a Pain Riche with lots of French
cheese and a cup of coffee, we roared through Belgium in the dark and then in
to Germany. By then it was getting colder and as the heater didnīt work we
decided to have another go at it. It was five degrees above zero.... The heater
matrix was full with cold water, so the water didnīt circulate. Remembering how
the water valve works we took the air line at a gas station, gaffer taped it to
make it seal in the pipe and blew five kilos of air pressure in the intake pipe
of the matrix.
Psssssss.....ffooomp!
The seal had probably been shut for at least ten years, and had stuck against
its seat, but after blowing it loose our grins widened as the temperature rose!
At eight
oīclock in the morning we called Peters wife to have her check the ferries for
Sweden. There was one leaving Travemunde at ten, and 9:36 we checked in and
parked Madame Zodiac in the waiting line.
The crossing
was slow but gave us plenty of time for a giant breakfast, a sauna, and a long
hot shower.
Rolling off the
ferry in Trelleborg and driving the last 25 km to our garage in Malmo almost
felt like an anticlimax!
Now we will
tidy up the car, and look over things. A good and thorough clean will also be
needed, but we intend to keep the car as original as possible. She has some
scars from the past and the unique French features she is equipped with will
stay on the car. The yellow lamps in the headlights for instance, and the
"town & country" horns.
She also
originally got a brake fluid level warning light, which in the future will be
restored.
A nice
adventure, a cool car and last but not least; the hospitality of my newfound
friends in France is what I got out of this. BIG thanks to; Cedric & Carole
and their children, Denis & Christine and children, Djamel and Jean-Yvon!
Iīm going back!
I never got the time to go up in the Eiffel tower....
Above: Low Brake fluid warning light.
Above: Warning sensor for brake fluid level.
Above: Switch to switch between different types of
horns for use in different countries like France etc.
Above: Well made lower mount for shocks (Ulf plans
to redo this and the top mount shown in the below photo).
