AK350
Citroën started making the
utility
version soon after the introduction of the 2CV, the early ones had
short
box and capacity of 250 Kgs. and designated as AU, AZU and AZUL.
The AK350 van was the first to
get the 602 CC engine, the M4 engine from the AMI was used, the cargo
box
was a little longer than the AZU and the capacity was increased from
250
Kg to 350 Kg, the height of the box remained the same. This model was
only
made for a short time and was replaced by AKS with higher cargo box and
400 Kgs. load capacity.
I
got this car a few years ago, it has seen a lot of abuse and the
front sheet metal is badly damaged, fortunately they can easily be
replaced
with new parts, the cargo box and chassis are in good shape and easily
restored, the floor boards and sills are rusty and need to be replaced.
The engine and transmission are in running condition but are planned
for
rebuild.
The
rear view shows the cargo box which is in relatively good condition,
the
stop lights are not original and will be replaced. This van has
modifications
such as sliding windows done by Glacauto, a company that did after
market
work on many Citroën cars, their tag is attached to the firewall
indicating
the style.
The
poor car sat outside for two years, finally I moved it in the
back garage
and started the restoration.
After
taking off the removable panels the body bolts were removed, most of
them
had rusted solid and spun the captive nuts and had to be cut off, the
body
then was attached to the rafters and lifted off. Here the chassis is
being
rolled off.
The
inside of cargo box is in reasonable shape and only needs some surface
treatment.
Unfortunately lot more rust
problems were discovered as the work continued.
The
fire wall, window frame vent opening and hood hinge look reasonable,
battery try is shot and some rust is showing at parcel shelf. Engine is
in running good but I will
go through it and the transmission, the canister on the firewall is a
Frantz
external oil filter which may have contributed to the engine's good
condition,
I may keep this filter on, even though not a full flow unit, some
filtration
is better than none.
Frantz oil
filter
Glacauto modification
tag
Double cardan used on early models
The project was delayed about
five years due to business commitment and restarted in 2007, following
pictures show the extent of rust on body.
Started with the chassis, the cab floor was
fiberglassed at one time to cover holes in floor board, this had caused
some rust in that area of chassis that became visible during sand
blasting.
The rusted section was cut
out, this gave access to the inner part which was cleaned and sprayed
with rust inhibitor as well as the outer surfaces, the inhibitor was
also applied to the inner parts of front and rear extensions.
The black color is the result of rust inhibitor used, it forms a layer
of hard iron phosphate protecting the metal.
Patch welded over the cut
section, additionally another patch was made with the aid of
shrinker/stretcher tool for the lower area of the curved section to
repair some rust.
The chassis is coated with Epoxy
primer which offers better protection than standard primers. The black
paint used for all chassis components is also epoxy based.
The axles were cleaned, treated and painted similar to the chassis and
are ready for assembly.
Suspension
pots were taken apart next due to uneven length of the rods, someone
had replaced one with wrong type, (front and rear are different),
correcting this also made it possible to clean the components and chase
the threads for ease of assembly and height adjustment later. After the
ends were welded back, they were prepped and painted.
With all components ready, the chassis was reassembled and ready for
the body.
On to the body work, there
was some damage to the right side of the cab, it was pushed in by about
2" possibly because of being rolled over, as a result the windshield
frame was tilted, the side panel in front of cargo box had some
crumpling and some dents on the cab top.
Using a Porta Power, pushing, pulling and measuring things were brought
back in alignment, then after hours of body work the cab was roughed
in. Time now for rust repair, the inner right side of windshield had
serious rust which was cut out and replaced with a piece I fabricated,
the left side only needed a small patch.
The side right side rail on right only needed a couple of patches, The
left side was hopeless, my sheet metal brake max. is 3', took a sample
to the local sheet metal shop and he made a 10' piece that I cut to
size and rounded the ends, a section of the side
behind the rail was also replaced, along with areas of cargo shelf, as
there are corrugations on these, had to machine rollers for bead roller
to make proper profile for patch pieces.
The tail light panels had to be replaced with new ones,
rear apron and its edge trim also needed attention, had to fabricate a
new trim.
The B cross member was
rusty
and the lower half and end caps were replaced.
Next the patching was done on
firewall and battery shelf, a new battery tray had to be fabricated.
I had a replacement for
spare tire cover but had to repair the fuel tank one along with the
mounting brackets.
Got replacement toe board, floors
and sills from FPS, the sills were for 2CV and had to be cut to size,
the rusty lower part of panels ahead of A pillar was replaced with new
patches and since the A and B pillar tubing seemed weakened by rust at
the bottom, 6" long tubing was inserted inside for reinforcement and
plug welded. Before
welding the floors, the body was put on chassis to align mounting
holes.
Next was the tedious
process of stripping the body down to bare metal using chemical
removers and sanding, then the finish work of grinding the welds and
many hours with hammer and dolly, it proved worthwhile as only a light
skimming of filler was needed to get it ready for painting.
With body on its side, applied rust proofing to the bottom, then
primered and painted it. Mounted back on the chassis it was stored for
the winter, once the rest of body is painted the reassembly can start.
