1985 Citroen BX 19GT overhaul

[Kitchski]

Zombie said:

Just found this thread and being a BX I thought your name would be attached to it, Nice work as ever! I still miss the BX 16v I had off you and rue the day I lent it to lad who crashed it!

Yeah it was a half decent one, that. Bit rough around the edges, but had potential and went well. Black's always a good colour for a ph2, too.

Funnily enough I went on to buy a 156 V6 a year or so later. Friend of mine (S10GTA on here) bought a GTA and it's an itch I had to scratch.

[Kitchski]

cirian75 said:

You won't find any on here! There are some for sale at the moment, though not a GT (there are only 11 left I think), or even a mk1.

A GT got broken a few months back. Real shame too, but the guy reckoned he'd make more in bits, and it became one of those 'ransom' posts on a forum where 'This car is for sale and if I don't get £400 (or something) for it I'm breaking it' (even though he paid £150 for it) followed by a bump to the thread every day for about 4 days before declaring there was not sufficient interest in it (over FOUR days....some people have a life, and haven't even been on the internet in 4 days!) that he would be breaking it. That's not exactly what happened, but it's that kind of thing.

Anyway rant over, it made this one rarer at least

[TooMany2cvs]

Kitchski said:

That's not exactly what happened, but it's that kind of thing.

It pretty much was that kind of thing. Did you spot his stroppy little "I'm vindicated!" the other day, in reply to the bloke that bought the ashtray...?

[Kitchski]

TooMany2cvs said:

It pretty much was that kind of thing. Did you spot his stroppy little "I'm vindicated!" the other day, in reply to the bloke that bought the ashtray...?

I did lol at that, yes.

To be fair, if you buy a car it's yours to do whatever you want with it, but you're going to rub people up the wrong way in the process. If it was me, and I wanted to break it, I'd have found some terminal rot somewhere to justify it!

[TooMany2cvs]

Kitchski said:

If it was me, and I wanted to break it, I'd have found some terminal rot somewhere to justify it!

<looks back through photos in this thread>

[Kitchski]

TooMany2cvs said:

Kitchski said:

If it was me, and I wanted to break it, I'd have found some terminal rot somewhere to justify it!

<looks back through photos in this thread>

Oh this one could have been broken a million times over. I'd have gotten over it by now, and my Dad would have either bought something else old, or just not bothered. As it stands, it's taken years of dicking around between working on other projects (some mine, most of them customers) and then trying to fit this one in. And then each time I feel I'm getting somewhere, I get a massive setback, like more rot.

I've come to the conclusion that BXs are not too bad at fighting the amount of rot in a shell, compared with most rivals of the time. However, when they do go, they REALLY go, and it's always in hidden places. You don't see many with rusty bodywork, but's there all right.

Can't even remember how the bloody thing goes back together

[james_tigerwoods]

Kitchski said:

Can't even remember how the bloody thing goes back together

Just remember to keep the bucket of "leftover" bits

[Kitchski]

james_tigerwoods said:

Just remember to keep the bucket of "leftover" bits

I can't even remember which bucket I'm on, or where it is

Anyway, quick update time. My original plan was to have front end all sorted, painted, assembled and powered by Xmas, leaving me free to continue with the interior. Well, that's obviously not going to happen. However, I did manage to get the front painted today, meaning I'm at a point where I can start putting the front back together. That's a nice feeling!

So the nearside wing was completed. The original rustproofing wasn't as good as the other side, so I went with the Rustbuster all over. The whole lot's getting primed and painted both sides, and it's totally out of sight so I'm happy to do this. Did manage to practice the 'orange peel' effect usually created by factory spray underseal thought, which is good practice for later. Managed it using more mastic, less thinners and giving it 20mins to start to cure, before going at it with a stipple effect technique:



Then it was on with primer:



Before going at it with the top coat:




All the masking sheets (or really st, cheap car seat covers I had no use for - you decide!) removed. Time to refit the first part. Can anyone guess what it was?



Next up, VIN plate. When I can find it....

[Lowtimer]

First part on was the bonnet prop by the look of it. Great stuff, all power to you.

[miniman]

Great thread

[Kitchski]

Lowtimer said:

First part on was the bonnet prop by the look of it. Great stuff, all power to you.

Sunk in just over 12 hours!

[Blue Oval84]

Wow, awesome work!

Someone linked this thread in my GG thread about my Mondeo rot, I guess mine isn't as bad as I thought!

I now realise however that I clearly need to start budgeting for what will effectively be a rebuild of the car at some point in the next decade. Oh well, better start saving now...

[Kitchski]

Blue Oval84 said:

Wow, awesome work!

Someone linked this thread in my GG thread about my Mondeo rot, I guess mine isn't as bad as I thought!

I now realise however that I clearly need to start budgeting for what will effectively be a rebuild of the car at some point in the next decade. Oh well, better start saving now...

Just checked your thread out (I'll give you any advice etc on there) but funny you mention it's an ST200 - this was 50% of our driveway in 2010:



We had that for about 18months. It was a bit tatty on the bodywork, and wearing about 150k miles, but it only cost £1k in 2009, and mechanically it was pretty sound. Had to renew the IMRC unit, and I also relocated it away from the engine to stop the heat soak issue. Think I also changed the A/C condenser, the PAS cooler pipe, the water pump (fitted a non-gen one as the genuine plastic ones had a habit of failed and borking the engine). Also gave it a service, a CV joint and some brakes I think. Got all the parts cheap as I used to work in a Ford dealer at the time.
I did like it. Firmly sprung, but still rode quite well and covered ground with ease. Decent enough round the bends for what it was, and the seats (full leather in ours) were comfy. Only gripes was that it wasn't exactly quick (the BX next to it would easily stay with it) considering it destroyed fuel.......and rust! It was beginning to spread when we replaced it with an MG ZS and I saw the car on ebay earlier in the year, having been broken for spares. Looks like rust won

[Lowtimer]

Two nice cars there, very different in design and technology but both highly enjoyable. I was extremely fond of my plain-jane early Mondeo 24v, base model in solid white, it looked like any 1.8LX but made very good progress indeed.

[Kitchski]

Lowtimer said:

Two nice cars there, very different in design and technology but both highly enjoyable. I was extremely fond of my plain-jane early Mondeo 24v, base model in solid white, it looked like any 1.8LX but made very good progress indeed.

Yeah, I was rather fond of the Mundaneo! Ended up liking it more than I thought I would, but I wasn't as sad as you'd expect when we got shot as it was just so juicy (I had a couple of friends with ST24s who told me high 20's mpg was easily achievable, and in the end it turned out it was actually high-teens!) Wasn't that quick either - attempted to block an Octavia TDI one afternoon who was trying to cut me up, and couldn't keep up with him to prevent him from cutting into my path! That was the day I lost faith - he was doing 40-50mpg, and he was faster. All the Mondeo had going for it on the engine front was a semi-decent soundtrack. I did like the look of it though.





I've owned a couple of Xantias in the past, so couldn't help compare the Mondeo to them. The average Mondeo's a nicer car to drive over the average Xantia (excluding the Activa) everywhere except the motorway or a particularly bumpy road. The Xantia's a smoother car, and a more refined mile muncher (was better built too, interestingly) but in normal driving the Mondeo was smooth enough as it was, and bar the diesels and the V6, all the Mondeo's engines were better than the Xantias. So were the gearboxes, and it was nicer to pilot around the bends with better steering feel, driving position and interior ergonomics. I felt the Xantia was a far better looking car than the Mondeo when they were both launched, but I always had a hankering for an ST wearing the RSAP kit in later years. I never wanted a later Xantia, as while the early cars started off handsomely, they got worse after each facelift.
Comparing it to the BX in the pictures was quite interesting too, in that the advantages the BX had over the Sierra in its day seemed to have carried on with the Mondeo/Xantia rivalry, namely packaging: The Mondeo, just seemed so cramped in the back, and the rear doors were tiny. A Xantia had a much better size/shaped boot, more legroom and bigger back seats, which is most of the things the BX has over a Sierra, given that it's halfway between an Escort and a Sierra externally. In fact, thought the BX is a 1982 design car, some ten years newer than the Mondeo, the difference between them showed how advanced the BX was. Again, packaging is better in the BX, but it's also a much lighter car than the Mondeo, and way more nimble than a Xantia, so around the bends the BX is actually more fun. The brakes are way better (BX brakes are better than lots of modern cars, to be fair), the steering was quicker geared, and it was just as fast as the Mondeo, despite a deficit of 40bhp, 600cc and two cylinders, with the added benefit of 25mpg being considered a bad return in the 16v (it can easily average 35mpg on a run, and touch 40mpg if you keep below 70mph). The BX's seats were also better (in the 16v - in a normal BX I would prefer the ST200's).

The ST200 was a good car though. I kinda fancy one today, but I know I'll be chasing rot around like I am on all the older cars I've got, and I'm sure 18mpg will quickly get boring again. Not quite sure where this sudden Mondeo vs. the BX thing came from, it's just been a while since I thought about it, and also takes my mind of the mountain of BX GT work still to do!

[dbdb]

What superb thread - my eyes were out on stalks at the extent of the rust though!

[Lowtimer]

18 MPG! Must have been stuck on cold start enrichment... Mine never did worse than mid-late 20s over a whole tank and would crack 30 on a motorway cruise at modest speed.

Thanks for the Xantia notes. I sometime wonder about them, always fancied an Activa but I imagine they are all gone now.

Edited to say: And now I've seen this, and am feeling the wantage
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C679542

Edited by Lowtimer on Sunday 20th December 08:53

[hidetheelephants]

Lowtimer said:

Edited to say: And now I've seen this, and am feeling the wantage
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C679542

Much want.

[Blue Oval84]

Kitchski said:

The ST200 was a good car though. I kinda fancy one today, but I know I'll be chasing rot around like I am on all the older cars I've got, and I'm sure 18mpg will quickly get boring again. Not quite sure where this sudden Mondeo vs. the BX thing came from, it's just been a while since I thought about it, and also takes my mind of the mountain of BX GT work still to do!

Your's looks like it was a lovely car! Although yes, I've never heard of one struggling to crack 20mpg, I got 30mpg from mine on the way home!

I'm going to see what the garage say tomorrow about mine. Realistically I think the advice I was given on the other thread may be worth heeding, specifically the bit about not going nuts yet on a car when I don't really know for certain that I'll keep.

I think I can buy myself a good few years without actually doing a full bare metal restoration as per the BX! I'll worry about doing that in a few years time!

[Kitchski]

I should point out most of the driving in the Mondeo was around town. On the way back from Devon in 2010 we got very excited when it nudged 34mpg! We didn't learn - have a 2.5T S-Max now!