Conference terri::cars_uk

    SM carb 1970-72      Good : 75,000F  Poor: 35,000
       Inj  1973-75        "    85,000F    "   32,000
       carb auto 1972-74 Good : 65,00F     "   30,000
    
    Figures from Retro Viseur magazine. I don't know about specialist
    garages, but they seem fairly common down here (Nice area).
    
    Ken

    Ask Haitze de Jong at Dutch HQ.
    He just replaced he Maserati BI-Turbo by an SM.
    
    His DTN is 838-2295
    
    
    Cheers,
    
    Hans

    

Anyone got any experience of Citroen SMs?  Friend of mine has just bought one
and would be interested in any experiences, good or bad.  Also any sources of
spares, technical info. etc.

    

    

Advice sought:

The Citroen SM, has a Maserati engine basically similar to that fitted in 
    the Maserat Merak. 

A known problem with this engine is that the timing chains, one primary and two
secondary, tend to stretch, or even break unless frequently adjusted and
periodically replaced. Apparently some French specialists replace the standard
Renold chains with either 'Jiwis' (a German make of chain?), or 'Hi-Vo'.

Anyone know anything about these other types of chain?  

Is Jiwis better than Renold?  

What about Hi-Vo? Someone has said this is the same as a Morse chain. Is this
true? Is it good? Does a Morse chain need special sprockets?

Another part of the problem is that the standard tensioner on the primary chain
is, by general consensus, crap.  Two modified forms exist. One was designed by
Renolds using incursively curved tensioning pads on both the drive and the
slack runs of the chain, the latter one being spring-loaded. The other was a
more radical modification consisting of a hydraulic tensioner using a jockey
sprocket on the slack run. This latter was engineered by Maserati and is the
system used as standard on the Merak engine, which followed on from the SM. 

But - there is much disagreement (vested interests probably) over which
modified tensioning system is best. Any thoughts?

Incidentally, the primary timing chain on the SM engine has an inordinately
large job to do - the poor thing drives not only the secondary chains, hence
the (4) camshafts, but also another shaft which drives the hydraulic pump,
alternator and air-conditioning compressor. Hence the problem. There's also no
space to run any of these direct from a crankshaft pulley.

Thanks for any info.
    Richard.
    

    was that the sports car version of the CX ? 2 door yet still as long as
    the normal C. as I recall it also had a starnge glass bubble around
    both the headlamps and the licence plate.
    
    I  saw one a couple of years ago at a garage at Knutsford, cheshire in
    gold. It's so bizzare I loved it.

    


Any thoughts on the following would be much appreciated.

Some Maserati engines (e.g. Merak, Citroen SM) have sodium-filled exhaust
valves as standard. All very nice for heat dissipation, which is the reason
they were fitted in the first place, but a reported problem is that if the
engine is left standing for long periods the valves rust slightly, and are 
subsequently liable to break (heads dropping off), which causes $$$HAVOC$$$.

The normal preventive fix is to fit solid valves, and/or, regrettably,
mollycoddle the thing and not use peak revs.

Two questions:

For typical, even hard, road use are solid valves significantly inferior?
('typical' might include an infrequent blast down a hot autoroute for an hour
or so).

Could one expect modern replacement sodium-filled valves to be tougher than
those originally fitted by Maserati back in the 70s and early 80s?  Any
especially good brands to go for (sodium-filled or otherwise)?

Richard.

    
    Re .2
    
    The SM came out in about 1974 or maybe even slightly earlier, so I
    think it just pre-dates the CX. 
    
    The car tapers from front to rear. The front headlight assembly (6)
    amd front grill area are all encased in glass. The back is "squared
    off" in the way the CX was, although the light clusters are bigger
    and are horizontal. 
    
    It was, when I first saw one, the most beautiful looking car I'd ever 
    seen. 
    
    Richard.
    

    Apart from the engine problems reported above, the SM is like the DS,
    CX, XM, XANTIA Hydractive ie it works on lots of hydraulics. Steering,
    braking, suspension, etc ... everything works with oil. To keep the
    whole thing in running order requires care and lots of $, FF, �, ...