Welcome !

My name is Stephane and I live in Canada, in the Montreal area (province of Quebec).

This site presents my antique cars

This is about a Citroën SM currently under restoration, a second SM in very good condition and a Jaguar E-Type. You’ll find also a Citroën 15 Six and a Citroën 2CV that I used to own but then sold.

Introduction

I found so many valuable information on the Internet about our beloved classic Citroën’s that I thought it was my turn to communicate. I even try to do it in english. That’s quite an effort for me because you’ll see that my english is far from perfect 😉 So, with pictures and more or less technical comments, I try to share my passion, hoping that it could inspire or help some of you.

Warning

Caution: pictures make everything shine and look slightly better than it should, so what you see on this site is not always so nice in reality.

The cars

1954 Citroën 15 Six H

Bought in 2012 and sold in 2021

1972 Citroën SM

Bought in 2003… and under restoration ever since 😉

1974 Citroën SM I.E.

Bought in 2006

1970 Jaguar E-Type 2+2

In my little collection since 2008

1984 Citroën 2CV6 Special

Bought in 2006 and sold in 2008

Garage

Toy box and workshop at the same time

Latest news

5 E-Type Jaguar at Ogden

5 E-Type Jaguar at Ogden

In September 2009, I went to the "Art and the automobile" event in Ogden (Quebec), this is a 1h30 drive south from Montreal. There are not so much cars there but we can find 5 Jaguar E-Type, that's pretty unusual. Some photographers were covering the event...

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E-Type: Installation of an electronic ignition system

E-Type: Installation of an electronic ignition system

Starting this car has always been quite tricky. Since I use it on a more regular basis, I'm more successful, but I noticed a few times that the starter motor used so much current that the ignition was poor and some times the engine seems to fire correctly...

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SM IE: End of reassembling

SM IE: End of reassembling

Continuation and end of what started as a "primary timing chain work", which eventually went a lot farther than that, you probably noticed ;-)So this is the end of a few months of efforts and bas surprises, but this is also a happy ending. I'll now be more confident...

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SM IE: Reassembling, continued

SM IE: Reassembling, continued

There is still a lot of work to do, dozens of hours in facts for the following steps. My parents were in Montreal for a few days so my dad helped my, thanks.The conclusion of this chapter is that the car has not been ready for Saratoga. What a shame 😉 I went to this...

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SM IE: Reassembling begins

SM IE: Reassembling begins

The parts I was waiting for arrived quite quickly, with special thanks to the French SM Club. I'm far but I'll have to finally find a way to meet these people who help us to maintain and restore our cars. Thanks again for your support.At this point, I still hope the...

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SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain, finally

SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain, finally

Cleaning is not over yet, I still have to clean the engine and gearbox, of course, before starting the timing chain work, which was the initial goal of this long operation, remember ;-)Now that everything is clean and I have all the required parts (I hope), I call my...

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SM IE: More work on the primary timing chain

SM IE: More work on the primary timing chain

I call my friend Philippe for help to remove the engine and gearbox. They came out without too much trouble. I just thought I could let the first exhaust pipes in place but we had to remove the right side pipe, this part was quite difficult.Now that the drivetrain is...

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SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain, continued

SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain, continued

Still on the same timing chain intervention, my main goal is to remove this annoying water pump cover. After a few "soft" solutions, I then tried more "violent" ones. Here are some of them with pictures:So what can I do? The tiny space I have behind the engine reduces...

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Ultrasonic cleaning tank

Ultrasonic cleaning tank

After some shelves and tables, I had the opportunity to get an ultrasonic cleaning tank at the company I work for. So thank you very much to my employer to reorganize the production workshops on a regular basis 😉 In this case it was an ultrasonic cleaning machine...

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SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain

SM IE: Work on the primary timing chain

Winter is here so I forget the air conditioning system for a while to do some more consequent work. In fact, even after the replacement of both secondary timing chains and the valve adjustment done last year (see previous page), this SM still makes a annoying noise...

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SM IE: Work on the air conditioning system, continued

SM IE: Work on the air conditioning system, continued

Because of the leak discovered earlier when testing the circuit, and following the advice of the specialist I saw, I decided to replace all the pipes, hoping to fix the leak and increase the system reliability.Modern air conditioning pipes are a lot more rigid than...

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SM IE: Work on the air conditioning system

SM IE: Work on the air conditioning system

As planned, I worked on the air conditioning system. The goal was to replace the original compressor by a modern and more gentle one (for the timing chains), replace the drying cartridge and then try to put the system back in working order.I also had a problem with...

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SM IE: Rear height adjustment

SM IE: Rear height adjustment

The rear suspension needed a height adjustment because the driving height was too high. I knew it and then Marcel and Othello told me about that when we were driving to the Saratoga's RendezVous, it finally motivated to do the adjustment.Here is a job that, for once,...

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SM IE: Replacement of the injection wiring harness

SM IE: Replacement of the injection wiring harness

Following the electrical difficulties I had in September 2007, I ordered a new injection wiring harness. So here comes the moment to install this new wiring harness, this is early June 2008.This intervention took me 4 or 5 evenings of work. I complete this work on a...

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SM: Bad news from the body shop

SM: Bad news from the body shop

During April 2008, as planned, my sheet metal specialist calls me but not to tell me that both fenders and the door are ready, he rather tells me that he did almost nothing on these parts and he will not be able to do anything in the future. Cool! He just took time to...

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SM IE: Suspension buffers and boots

SM IE: Suspension buffers and boots

Suspension buffers are important. When this car first arrived in Canada, I had problems because of these buffers. It was difficult to move the car manually because the rear wheels were touching inside the wheel arches. I initially suspected brake problems but it...

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SM: Preparation for the body work

SM: Preparation for the body work

2007 has been pretty calm for this restoration because I've been mainly busy on my other SM. But I gave the fenders and the driver side door to a sheet metal specialist and he offered me to find other fenders and doors, which he did. I don't have pictures for now, but...

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SM IE: Valve adjustment and suspension noise

SM IE: Valve adjustment and suspension noise

During September 2007, my mechanic can finally work on the car. The goal is to adjust the valves, replace the secondary timing chains and track and fix the annoying suspension noise I have for a long time now. It will be a good occasion to do an interesting...

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SM: Engine conditioning

SM: Engine conditioning

At the end of 2007, I decide to close every possible circuit and put oil everywhere to keep the engine in good condition, because I'm far to be ready to put it back in the car 😉

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Contact

You can contact me by email.
The address is stephanepalumbo at outlook.com.
Replace “at” by a @ character and you’ll get the full address.
Sorry, I don’t show the full address here to avoid spams.