Fuel door hinge for Citroën Xantia

Background:

The fuel door hinge of the Citroën Xantia has springs that hold the door in the closed or open position, these springs are an integral part of the hinge and are often broken. Original replacement parts are no longer available.

Members of the German Andre Citroen Club Forum created a replacement using 3D-printing, their great work inspired me to create my own version where I deviated a bit from the original, which is injection molded, to optimize my model for 3D-printing.

The original part number is 96081621, it should fit all Xantia regardless of model year.

Printing:

I recommend using ASA-Filament but if you live in a mild climate without high heat, PETG should work fine as well. It is important to use the print orientation shown in the screenshot, otherwise the springs aren’t tough enough. The mounting holes don’t need support, I used support blockers. I added a sacrificial bridging element to the springs, so that you get good printing results while using Tree support placed only on the build plate.

My print settings:

Material: ASA, PETG

Nozzle: 0.40mm

Layer height: 0.20mm

Walls: 5

Bottom Layers: 5

Top Layers: 5

Infill: Grid 35%

Support: Tree

Post processing:

After removing the support, cut the sacrificial tabs, which extend from the springs, flush. I strongly recommend to ream the holes for the pin of the fuel door with a 3mm drill. Use a little bit of water resistant grease on the springs to avoid squeaking.

Updates:

2023-10-11 Sacrificial bridge tabs added, overhang angle reduced, height of the axis increased by 0.5mm

Origin and disclaimer:

As mentioned above the model was inspired by the work of others, but since I created the CAD-model from scratch I marked this model as my own creation, if anybody thinks otherwise please contact me.

I tested the part, but as mentioned in the Creative Commons license this comes without any kind of warranty, use it at your own risk.