Citroen AX GT.......no idea what it's like!
Discussion
So, time for an update! Last week or so has been pretty hectic, and aside from chuck it in for an MoT and a (small) bit of cleaning, I haven't really done much to the latest acquisition.
This is the site I was finally greeted with on Sunday:
The very same truck from the pictures I was sent from the south of France, only now complete with two new rear tyres after the blowout (I was trying to stay calm!)
Light disappeared fairly quickly, so I went home left with memories of this:
The next day, I came back into work at Southways, and was eager to get cracking on the AX. Sadly, I remembered I was at WORK, and had to wait until lunchtime to get some snaps:
One of the first issues identified right away, is that it's had some light front and rear impact action! Alignment of the front end is, interesting:
While the rear still bares the scars:
The bootlid is cracked, and the rear bumper is damaged beyond reasonable repair. Luckily I have a pretty good bootlid on the other white AX. You know, the one I was going to do up, and didn't do up because I got this, and planned to sell but now plan to sell after I've raided the best bits off of it? That car...:
The bodywork is pretty tatty, but that's to be expected. That said, overall it's not much worse than my other white car, and the long-term intention was to get the thing resprayed, as long as the values of the cars continue climbing to match the input! But overall, for nearly quarter of a million miles on a car with the build integrity of a crisp packet, it's actually fared pretty well
Other greatness includes semi-tidy interior condition:
Jen-you-iiine rubber mats:
Original Blaupunkt stereo (which does still work):
Evidence of canine-carrying activity:
Evidence of paint-carrying activity:
Evidence of carrying heavy s
t and working for a living activity:
And evidence of being a propaahh French motah from actual France. Activity.:
Looks like I'm trying to paint a bleak picture, doesn't it? I'm not. Sure the dash is broken, but I have a good dash in the other car. Sure the seats are broken (the lever to slide it anyway), but I have good seats in the other car. Why don't I just crack on with the other car, you might ask! Well, this car has lived near Spain for many years, and prior to that seems to have spent most of its life bombing up and down motorways, while leaking the odd bit of oil. The underside and all the bits of an AX that normally rot away are preserved brilliantly! The car is filthy dirty, but it's still largely original and it can be cleaned. I'm confident I can get it looking sharp
First job in hand was an MoT test on Monday. I need to do this first, along with telling HMRC the car is in the UK (which is proving difficult, being that their online system for doing this is utter dogste. The MoT station did their bit however, and produced a lovely failure sheet using the vehicle's chassis number!:
Happily, no big fails (not even an advisory on rust - happy days!) and many of the parts needed there I already had in stock ready for the other car. Headlamps....DOH! Didn't think about converting them back to RHD!
More to come, later on
This is the site I was finally greeted with on Sunday:
The very same truck from the pictures I was sent from the south of France, only now complete with two new rear tyres after the blowout (I was trying to stay calm!)
Light disappeared fairly quickly, so I went home left with memories of this:
The next day, I came back into work at Southways, and was eager to get cracking on the AX. Sadly, I remembered I was at WORK, and had to wait until lunchtime to get some snaps:
One of the first issues identified right away, is that it's had some light front and rear impact action! Alignment of the front end is, interesting:
While the rear still bares the scars:
The bootlid is cracked, and the rear bumper is damaged beyond reasonable repair. Luckily I have a pretty good bootlid on the other white AX. You know, the one I was going to do up, and didn't do up because I got this, and planned to sell but now plan to sell after I've raided the best bits off of it? That car...:
The bodywork is pretty tatty, but that's to be expected. That said, overall it's not much worse than my other white car, and the long-term intention was to get the thing resprayed, as long as the values of the cars continue climbing to match the input! But overall, for nearly quarter of a million miles on a car with the build integrity of a crisp packet, it's actually fared pretty well
Other greatness includes semi-tidy interior condition:
Jen-you-iiine rubber mats:
Original Blaupunkt stereo (which does still work):
Evidence of canine-carrying activity:
Evidence of paint-carrying activity:
Evidence of carrying heavy s
t and working for a living activity:And evidence of being a propaahh French motah from actual France. Activity.:
Looks like I'm trying to paint a bleak picture, doesn't it? I'm not. Sure the dash is broken, but I have a good dash in the other car. Sure the seats are broken (the lever to slide it anyway), but I have good seats in the other car. Why don't I just crack on with the other car, you might ask! Well, this car has lived near Spain for many years, and prior to that seems to have spent most of its life bombing up and down motorways, while leaking the odd bit of oil. The underside and all the bits of an AX that normally rot away are preserved brilliantly! The car is filthy dirty, but it's still largely original and it can be cleaned. I'm confident I can get it looking sharp
First job in hand was an MoT test on Monday. I need to do this first, along with telling HMRC the car is in the UK (which is proving difficult, being that their online system for doing this is utter dogs
te. The MoT station did their bit however, and produced a lovely failure sheet using the vehicle's chassis number!:Happily, no big fails (not even an advisory on rust - happy days!) and many of the parts needed there I already had in stock ready for the other car. Headlamps....DOH! Didn't think about converting them back to RHD!
More to come, later on
S10GTA said:
so you're going to use the white one as a donor for the white one?
How will you know which is which - I can see you taking both apart, putting one back together, standing back and realising that you've rebuilt the crappy one with the crappy parts 
That's what I'd end up doing anyway
Brilliant and will follow this, first weekend of Dec 89 I picked up G807RGU my beloved black MK1 AX GT, loved that car, rant it for 5 years and 100k, was ruined when I'd finished with it, was brand new, cost me 8k and as an 18 year old first years insurance was 1250, I can remember taking the money in cash to the Endsleigh office on the Old Kent Road, would love another but decent ones are rare. Keep up the good work fella.
dibblecorse said:
Brilliant and will follow this, first weekend of Dec 89 I picked up G807RGU my beloved black MK1 AX GT, loved that car, rant it for 5 years and 100k, was ruined when I'd finished with it, was brand new, cost me 8k and as an 18 year old first years insurance was 1250, I can remember taking the money in cash to the Endsleigh office on the Old Kent Road, would love another but decent ones are rare. Keep up the good work fella.
Ah good old Endsleigh. Back in the early - mid nineties, they were the only company that would touch us young uns with something sporty The AX GT is one that got away from me. Put a deposit on a Black G plate in 1996, got home and the woman phoned to say she'd had a higher offer! Ended up with a 309 SRI instead.
james_tigerwoods said:
S10GTA said:
so you're going to use the white one as a donor for the white one?
How will you know which is which - I can see you taking both apart, putting one back together, standing back and realising that you've rebuilt the crappy one with the crappy parts That's what I'd end up doing anyway
Frimley111R said:
Excellent. I had a white AX Splash back in the day and used to clean the bumpers with Jif and a stiff brush! They came up like new every time
Will try that, cheers!dibblecorse said:
Brilliant and will follow this, first weekend of Dec 89 I picked up G807RGU my beloved black MK1 AX GT, loved that car, rant it for 5 years and 100k, was ruined when I'd finished with it, was brand new, cost me 8k and as an 18 year old first years insurance was 1250, I can remember taking the money in cash to the Endsleigh office on the Old Kent Road, would love another but decent ones are rare. Keep up the good work fella.
My first AX GT was a black one (with white 15in Dare RLS wheels). Had that at 17/18yrs old. That was G148TKL. Then a grey one (G140TKL....really!) Then a silver one me at S10GTA went and bought from a pub garden near Kent/London for £30, which I gave to a girlfriend as a birthday present, only for her to return it to me when we broke up (I was a bit of a bd to her looking back, which takes the rose-tinted specs off a bit). That was G706DAB. Then there was K501MMR, a white GTi I paid £50 for, and had covered 29k miles. That ended its days in Scotland, a week after being converted to run a 106 GTi engine a van drove into the back of it! Then there was G313XAE - a grey mk1 GT that I was given F.O.C (seems to be a reoccuring theme) and to be fair that was probably the best of all of them. Then these two white ones. I paid more than £1250 to insure my black one at 17 though. Think it was £1600 IIRC. rossub said:
Ah good old Endsleigh. Back in the early - mid nineties, they were the only company that would touch us young uns with something sporty
The AX GT is one that got away from me. Put a deposit on a Black G plate in 1996, got home and the woman phoned to say she'd had a higher offer! Ended up with a 309 SRI instead.
It was CIS back in the days for me. Endsleigh wised up just before I got driving! CIS would also let you drive other cars third party, which was great for swapping cars with mates......in emergencies. Honest.The AX GT is one that got away from me. Put a deposit on a Black G plate in 1996, got home and the woman phoned to say she'd had a higher offer! Ended up with a 309 SRI instead.
Something great about AX GTs and football. A year ago, I went to pick up the other white GT I have, which we got from Cornwall. That day, we (Southampton FC) beat Aston Villa 6-1.
Yesterday, I went to spend the day working on this AX. We end up beating Liverpool 3-2, having trailed 0-2 at half time. Boring as sin for people who don't like football, but for those who do - get an AX GT, especially if you live in Leicester!
Anyway, slightly prior to the weekend of sporting triumph, I made a start on the AX's MoT issues. I've ticked the HMRC box - they know it's in the UK and have confirmed there's nothing to pay. I still need to get it MoT'd within 14 days though (seems daft - what if it's a project car?!) so I'm cracking on with that. Except for the first few minutes, where I'm just trying to clean the engine bay up a bit! Here's how it started:
Including oar-sum bonnet stay clamp (original plastic one long gone!):
A long while later, it looked slightly less filthy dirty under there:
That's because most of it was on the bodywork:
So a quick clean on the outside too, mainly to assess how tatty it was and whether it was worth raiding bits off the other white GT for, which in fairness isn't un-tatty itself! It came up ok though, so I'll live with it like this for a bit (these pics make it look much better than it is - white hides dings well!):
Granted, this wasn't strictly necessary for the MoT, but progress is good for morale! What was necessary was to try and sort out the rear light interaction issue:
Annoyingly, this wasn't as simple as just cleaning the earthing point, but I did this anyway along with the rear panels behind the lamps, just to see how it came up:
Pretty well was the answer. Nice and clean and straight:
Rear lamp issue persisted after cleaning of earth contacts though. Ran out of time that lunchbreak, more time needed!
I also switched the fair-condition mk2 bonnet the car came with for a poor condition mk1 bonnet. More madness? No, it MUST have a mk1 bonnet. It's just wrong without it!:
Also, one of the MoT fails was a faulty/blocked washer jet. Changing the bonnet to repair a washer jet.....excessive? No way!
I popped the car up onto the ramp on Friday evening in preparation for some MoT work I'd hope to get done on Sunday. Had a quick nose around underneath for the first time, too:
First thing I noticed was the downpipe's taken a beating. The flat patch is actually supposed to be there, but the heavy dings aren't. Luckily I have the spare on the other GT, and I really want to retain the original GT type because they have a divider in the centre, meaning the exhaust is a genuine 4-2-1 system from new.
It's the same idea as my BX's, although that's 8-4-2-1, which sounds much cooler!
Happily, it's in VERY good condition under here. It might have done some mileage, but I don't think I've ever seen an AX as original and straight as this underneath. I can find no evidence of welding anywhere on the car, and preserving that is my number one aim. It'll possibly never be worth much later in life because of the miles, but to the right person this is a massively original AX, with A LOT of history, which will be fully reconditioned. What's not to like?! Good job I'm not selling it anyway!
Sills and rear inner arches are in much better condition than they have any right to be!:
Made a start on the most pressing issues - front shock absorbers, and wheel bearing. The damper issue is actually where the shaft has play in it, rather than anything else, though if it has sufficient play to fail an MOT, it's pretty much goosed anyway! The wheel bearing on the driver's side had excess play, and the CV boot on the nearside was guff, so it was a case of ripping it all out:
I work on quite a lot of reluctant, 'questionably' engineered stuff at work, so to pull this apart was a joy. Everything so simple, small and lightweight to manhandle!
The front dampers on an AX are inserts. The uprights/lower struts are one and the same bit, as they are in Saxos and 106s, so you need to remove the damper inserts from the struts themselves. There is a special tool for this. There are also Stilsons. I used Stilsons
Removing insert from strut. I appear to have interrupted the bath it was taking in its own oil:
Original? Could they be?! They look like it, but they can't be, can they?!:
Wheel bearings were a little bit more of an AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH fkING ahole to remove, but we got there (calmly) in the end:
Eventually I plan to overhaul the whole car, but for now the goal was to get the MoT and get her on the highways. That said, I was having to completely strip one of the front strut assemblies here, and if I were to overhaul them now, that's one less job for the future. So, I made the decision - I was going for it! First thing first, assemble together all strut parts that are AX-speciific and hard(ish) to find:
Shot blast these, and the strut legs themselves. Curse wildly when the compressor overheats and cuts out before the struts were finished:
Note one of the upper top mount cups is a little....pissed:
That's another part raided from the other GT (whose future is looking more bleak by the second!)
Crack on painting these bits up with the best stuff in the business at this kind of thing:
When that's all done, you're ready to tackle the back end. Changing the rear bearing takes 10 mins. Unless it takes you an hours to get the bd drum off because the old bearing is very old:
Then....
10mins later:
No more rough wheel bearing! Was going to do the other side too, until I wked out the first bearing kit trying to use a too-snug-fitting socket to push the new one back in. Doh!!
I went back to the front while the POR15 dried and thought I'd take a look at the exhaust. Then I noticed some more issues (once of which even eluded the MoT tester!):
So that's new track rod ends needed then! And either a brake caliper rebuild, or replacement. And I might as well do braided brake hoses while I'm at it. It's all done then!
And then I found LOADS of play in the anti-roll bar D-bushes:
I've got a full Powerflex kit for it, so I'll do these now and leave the wishbones and rear end until later I think!
So then.................(it's still going)........I thought I'd tackle another big issue, the blowing exhaust. This failed the moT, gases out the occupants of the car and generally makes it sound like 98% more of a wreck than it actually is. It had to be fixed. Luckily I have a spare manifold in stock, as I had a feeling I'd sheer some studs off in this one (why change the habit of a lifetime?!) Anyway, I did, and luckily I do, and I found out why the exhaust was blowing:
The flow divider I was talking about earlier:
The thought had crossed my mind to get a nice 4-2-1 aftermarket manifold, but if you do that you lose this unique 'tingling' noise the TU engine makes under light throttle inputs. I want it to feel, drive and sound original, so I need the original exhaust with the divider. I'll blast and paint the best two I have and fit them.
Last job for the day after I finished up this afternoon was to remove the manifold itself:
|http://thumbsnap.com/BdmFRN9I[/url]
That engine's going to need a clean too....
Yesterday, I went to spend the day working on this AX. We end up beating Liverpool 3-2, having trailed 0-2 at half time. Boring as sin for people who don't like football, but for those who do - get an AX GT, especially if you live in Leicester!
Anyway, slightly prior to the weekend of sporting triumph, I made a start on the AX's MoT issues. I've ticked the HMRC box - they know it's in the UK and have confirmed there's nothing to pay. I still need to get it MoT'd within 14 days though (seems daft - what if it's a project car?!) so I'm cracking on with that. Except for the first few minutes, where I'm just trying to clean the engine bay up a bit! Here's how it started:
Including oar-sum bonnet stay clamp (original plastic one long gone!):
A long while later, it looked slightly less filthy dirty under there:
That's because most of it was on the bodywork:
So a quick clean on the outside too, mainly to assess how tatty it was and whether it was worth raiding bits off the other white GT for, which in fairness isn't un-tatty itself! It came up ok though, so I'll live with it like this for a bit (these pics make it look much better than it is - white hides dings well!):
Granted, this wasn't strictly necessary for the MoT, but progress is good for morale! What was necessary was to try and sort out the rear light interaction issue:
Annoyingly, this wasn't as simple as just cleaning the earthing point, but I did this anyway along with the rear panels behind the lamps, just to see how it came up:
Pretty well was the answer. Nice and clean and straight:
Rear lamp issue persisted after cleaning of earth contacts though. Ran out of time that lunchbreak, more time needed!
I also switched the fair-condition mk2 bonnet the car came with for a poor condition mk1 bonnet. More madness? No, it MUST have a mk1 bonnet. It's just wrong without it!:
Also, one of the MoT fails was a faulty/blocked washer jet. Changing the bonnet to repair a washer jet.....excessive? No way!
I popped the car up onto the ramp on Friday evening in preparation for some MoT work I'd hope to get done on Sunday. Had a quick nose around underneath for the first time, too:
First thing I noticed was the downpipe's taken a beating. The flat patch is actually supposed to be there, but the heavy dings aren't. Luckily I have the spare on the other GT, and I really want to retain the original GT type because they have a divider in the centre, meaning the exhaust is a genuine 4-2-1 system from new.
It's the same idea as my BX's, although that's 8-4-2-1, which sounds much cooler!
Happily, it's in VERY good condition under here. It might have done some mileage, but I don't think I've ever seen an AX as original and straight as this underneath. I can find no evidence of welding anywhere on the car, and preserving that is my number one aim. It'll possibly never be worth much later in life because of the miles, but to the right person this is a massively original AX, with A LOT of history, which will be fully reconditioned. What's not to like?! Good job I'm not selling it anyway!
Sills and rear inner arches are in much better condition than they have any right to be!:
Made a start on the most pressing issues - front shock absorbers, and wheel bearing. The damper issue is actually where the shaft has play in it, rather than anything else, though if it has sufficient play to fail an MOT, it's pretty much goosed anyway! The wheel bearing on the driver's side had excess play, and the CV boot on the nearside was guff, so it was a case of ripping it all out:
I work on quite a lot of reluctant, 'questionably' engineered stuff at work, so to pull this apart was a joy. Everything so simple, small and lightweight to manhandle!
The front dampers on an AX are inserts. The uprights/lower struts are one and the same bit, as they are in Saxos and 106s, so you need to remove the damper inserts from the struts themselves. There is a special tool for this. There are also Stilsons. I used Stilsons
Removing insert from strut. I appear to have interrupted the bath it was taking in its own oil:
Original? Could they be?! They look like it, but they can't be, can they?!:
Wheel bearings were a little bit more of an AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH f
kING ahole to remove, but we got there (calmly) in the end:Eventually I plan to overhaul the whole car, but for now the goal was to get the MoT and get her on the highways. That said, I was having to completely strip one of the front strut assemblies here, and if I were to overhaul them now, that's one less job for the future. So, I made the decision - I was going for it! First thing first, assemble together all strut parts that are AX-speciific and hard(ish) to find:
Shot blast these, and the strut legs themselves. Curse wildly when the compressor overheats and cuts out before the struts were finished:
Note one of the upper top mount cups is a little....pissed:
That's another part raided from the other GT (whose future is looking more bleak by the second!)
Crack on painting these bits up with the best stuff in the business at this kind of thing:
When that's all done, you're ready to tackle the back end. Changing the rear bearing takes 10 mins. Unless it takes you an hours to get the b
d drum off because the old bearing is very old:Then....
10mins later:
No more rough wheel bearing! Was going to do the other side too, until I w
ked out the first bearing kit trying to use a too-snug-fitting socket to push the new one back in. Doh!!I went back to the front while the POR15 dried and thought I'd take a look at the exhaust. Then I noticed some more issues (once of which even eluded the MoT tester!):
So that's new track rod ends needed then! And either a brake caliper rebuild, or replacement. And I might as well do braided brake hoses while I'm at it. It's all done then!
And then I found LOADS of play in the anti-roll bar D-bushes:
I've got a full Powerflex kit for it, so I'll do these now and leave the wishbones and rear end until later I think!
So then.................(it's still going)........I thought I'd tackle another big issue, the blowing exhaust. This failed the moT, gases out the occupants of the car and generally makes it sound like 98% more of a wreck than it actually is. It had to be fixed. Luckily I have a spare manifold in stock, as I had a feeling I'd sheer some studs off in this one (why change the habit of a lifetime?!) Anyway, I did, and luckily I do, and I found out why the exhaust was blowing:
The flow divider I was talking about earlier:
The thought had crossed my mind to get a nice 4-2-1 aftermarket manifold, but if you do that you lose this unique 'tingling' noise the TU engine makes under light throttle inputs. I want it to feel, drive and sound original, so I need the original exhaust with the divider. I'll blast and paint the best two I have and fit them.
Last job for the day after I finished up this afternoon was to remove the manifold itself:
|http://thumbsnap.com/BdmFRN9I[/url]That engine's going to need a clean too....
Edited by Kitchski on Friday 6th May 13:20
Ahhh the AX GT, had 2 of these. Brings back some fantastic memories
First car was an early 88 E-reg red one which came with no rear spoiler, I was only young and Dad had seen an advert in the local paper, the ad simply read '1988 Red Citroen AX £1200' (the days when every word was about a £1) Dad says to me, this sounds ideal for you as a little runabout, its only local, lets go take a look. The year is 94/95 and for an 88 car the price seems cheap.
I was not to impressed as I had my heart set on the Fiesta MkII 1.4S that Dad had taken in P/X but he had a buyer lined up for this and he thinks it too fast for me anyway, but not to upset Dad I went along as I liked cars.
We arrive and we see the AX on the drive, straight away I clock that its got a bodykit, I'm thinking is this a 1.0E with bodykit, a quick look inside and round to the bootlid clearly tells me its a GT, Dad doesn't really spot any of this as he is not really that up on the model. He says to me, this is nice and sporty, this will do you wont it? I umm and ahh and say 'yes maybe'. We knock on the door, a middle age lady answers and explains she has had it from new and is now emigrating to Australia and would like it sold quickly.
We explain that it is a well kept car but not keen on the colour and once Dad finds out the engine size his not to sure himself now, but the best bit was when she turned to us and said well I need a quick sale and I am open to an offer, Dad thinks and goes in well cheeky with £700, because he is thinking if I have to pay his insurance on a 1.4 we need it cheap. Boooom she accepts £700.
Long story short, this car was an absolute raucous rocket, rev counter zinging round to 8k regularly, cocking its rear wheel at every opportunity, racing 4.0 XJ6's with aplomb and just putting a smile on my face every drive (all on an airfield of course) I loved this car, kept it for 14 months and only sold it as the car got a name for itself among friends and was offered £2200 for it.
Second car was a 88 F-reg White AX GT Sportif, got this for £900 as it needed the drivers seat welded and a good clean. The chap I bought it from was about 40 stone....that poor seat This car never had the same feel or get up and go as the red one, kept it about 6 months and sold this for £1750.
When the GF (now wife) passed her test, I steered her to a 1.4D Jive as her first car, this was a fantastic little car that we traveled the length and breadth of the country for long weekends in Cornwall/Wales/Yorkshire, this thing ran on fresh air and was nippy enough.
Sorry for the long post but the AX holds really good memories for me when I was younger.
First car was an early 88 E-reg red one which came with no rear spoiler, I was only young and Dad had seen an advert in the local paper, the ad simply read '1988 Red Citroen AX £1200' (the days when every word was about a £1) Dad says to me, this sounds ideal for you as a little runabout, its only local, lets go take a look. The year is 94/95 and for an 88 car the price seems cheap.
I was not to impressed as I had my heart set on the Fiesta MkII 1.4S that Dad had taken in P/X but he had a buyer lined up for this and he thinks it too fast for me anyway, but not to upset Dad I went along as I liked cars.
We arrive and we see the AX on the drive, straight away I clock that its got a bodykit, I'm thinking is this a 1.0E with bodykit, a quick look inside and round to the bootlid clearly tells me its a GT, Dad doesn't really spot any of this as he is not really that up on the model. He says to me, this is nice and sporty, this will do you wont it? I umm and ahh and say 'yes maybe'. We knock on the door, a middle age lady answers and explains she has had it from new and is now emigrating to Australia and would like it sold quickly.
We explain that it is a well kept car but not keen on the colour and once Dad finds out the engine size his not to sure himself now, but the best bit was when she turned to us and said well I need a quick sale and I am open to an offer, Dad thinks and goes in well cheeky with £700, because he is thinking if I have to pay his insurance on a 1.4 we need it cheap. Boooom she accepts £700.
Long story short, this car was an absolute raucous rocket, rev counter zinging round to 8k regularly, cocking its rear wheel at every opportunity, racing 4.0 XJ6's with aplomb and just putting a smile on my face every drive (all on an airfield of course) I loved this car, kept it for 14 months and only sold it as the car got a name for itself among friends and was offered £2200 for it.
Second car was a 88 F-reg White AX GT Sportif, got this for £900 as it needed the drivers seat welded and a good clean. The chap I bought it from was about 40 stone....that poor seat
This car never had the same feel or get up and go as the red one, kept it about 6 months and sold this for £1750.When the GF (now wife) passed her test, I steered her to a 1.4D Jive as her first car, this was a fantastic little car that we traveled the length and breadth of the country for long weekends in Cornwall/Wales/Yorkshire, this thing ran on fresh air and was nippy enough.
Sorry for the long post but the AX holds really good memories for me when I was younger.
Edited by TonyF55 on Tuesday 22 March 22:14
TonyF55 said:
Ahhh the AX GT, had 2 of these. Brings back some fantastic memories
First car was an early 88 E-reg red one which came with no rear spoiler, I was only young and Dad had seen an advert in the local paper, the ad simply read '1988 Red Citroen AX £1200' (the days when every word was about a £1) Dad says to me, this sounds ideal for you as a little runabout, its only local, lets go take a look. The year is 94/95 and for an 88 car the price seems cheap.
I was not to impressed as I had my heart set on the Fiesta MkII 1.4S that Dad had taken in P/X but he had a buyer lined up for this and he thinks it too fast for me anyway, but not to upset Dad I went along as I liked cars.
We arrive and we see the AX on the drive, straight away I clock that its got a bodykit, I'm thinking is this a 1.0E with bodykit, a quick look inside and round to the bootlid clearly tells me its a GT, Dad doesn't really spot any of this as he is not really that up on the model. He says to me, this is nice and sporty, this will do you wont it? I umm and ahh and say 'yes maybe'. We knock on the door, a middle age lady answers and explains she has had it from new and is now emigrating to Australia and would like it sold quickly.
We explain that it is a well kept car but not keen on the colour and once Dad finds out the engine size his not to sure himself now, but the best bit was when she turned to us and said well I need a quick sale and I am open to an offer, Dad thinks and goes in well cheeky with £700, because he is thinking if I have to pay his insurance on a 1.4 we need it cheap. Boooom she accepts £700.
Long story short, this car was an absolute raucous rocket, rev counter zinging round to 8k regularly, cocking its rear wheel at every opportunity, racing 4.0 XJ6's with aplomb and just putting a smile on my face every drive (all on an airfield of course) I loved this car, kept it for 14 months and only sold it as the car got a name for itself among friends and was offered £2200 for it.
Second car was a 88 F-reg White AX GT Sportif, got this for £900 as it needed the drivers seat welded and a good clean. The chap I bought it from was about 40 stone....that poor seat This car never had the same feel or get up and go as the red one, kept it about 6 months and sold this for £1750.
When the GF (now wife) passed her test, I steered her to a 1.4D Jive as her first car, this was a fantastic little car that we traveled the length and breadth of the country for long weekends in Cornwall/Wales/Yorkshire, this thing ran on fresh air and was nippy enough.
Sorry for the long post but the AX holds really good memories for me when I was younger.
Good story chief, most people have a good memory or two with these cars!First car was an early 88 E-reg red one which came with no rear spoiler, I was only young and Dad had seen an advert in the local paper, the ad simply read '1988 Red Citroen AX £1200' (the days when every word was about a £1) Dad says to me, this sounds ideal for you as a little runabout, its only local, lets go take a look. The year is 94/95 and for an 88 car the price seems cheap.
I was not to impressed as I had my heart set on the Fiesta MkII 1.4S that Dad had taken in P/X but he had a buyer lined up for this and he thinks it too fast for me anyway, but not to upset Dad I went along as I liked cars.
We arrive and we see the AX on the drive, straight away I clock that its got a bodykit, I'm thinking is this a 1.0E with bodykit, a quick look inside and round to the bootlid clearly tells me its a GT, Dad doesn't really spot any of this as he is not really that up on the model. He says to me, this is nice and sporty, this will do you wont it? I umm and ahh and say 'yes maybe'. We knock on the door, a middle age lady answers and explains she has had it from new and is now emigrating to Australia and would like it sold quickly.
We explain that it is a well kept car but not keen on the colour and once Dad finds out the engine size his not to sure himself now, but the best bit was when she turned to us and said well I need a quick sale and I am open to an offer, Dad thinks and goes in well cheeky with £700, because he is thinking if I have to pay his insurance on a 1.4 we need it cheap. Boooom she accepts £700.
Long story short, this car was an absolute raucous rocket, rev counter zinging round to 8k regularly, cocking its rear wheel at every opportunity, racing 4.0 XJ6's with aplomb and just putting a smile on my face every drive (all on an airfield of course) I loved this car, kept it for 14 months and only sold it as the car got a name for itself among friends and was offered £2200 for it.
Second car was a 88 F-reg White AX GT Sportif, got this for £900 as it needed the drivers seat welded and a good clean. The chap I bought it from was about 40 stone....that poor seat
This car never had the same feel or get up and go as the red one, kept it about 6 months and sold this for £1750.When the GF (now wife) passed her test, I steered her to a 1.4D Jive as her first car, this was a fantastic little car that we traveled the length and breadth of the country for long weekends in Cornwall/Wales/Yorkshire, this thing ran on fresh air and was nippy enough.
Sorry for the long post but the AX holds really good memories for me when I was younger.
Edited by TonyF55 on Tuesday 22 March 22:14
Some more progress to report since the last update. We haz MoT 
Took a while to get there, but then for the mileage, age and fact the car was given away, I'm more than happy. It was all easy stuff to rectify, and I was able to sort everything out, bar the advisory about the chip on the windscreen. So 244,000 miles, one advisory. I'll take that!
To get there, I had to carry on repairing, and chose to spruce some bits as I went. I left with the engine being very mucky, and to be honest, after many hours of scrubbing, it is still pretty mucky. Much better than it was though, and the fact it's all oily is actually a blessing in disguise as it means there is very little in the way of alloy corrosion anywhere. Once you've cut through the muck, the finish of the engine is actually really good!
The reason for being here in the first place was because of the leaky exhaust manifold. Turns out, the manifold was shot anyway:
The divider was totally broken up, which wouldn't have helped the gasket as a bit more back pressure would have built up there. Luckily I had a good spare, which I shot blasted and then painted with POR15 VHT spray in cast iron finish:
The original downpipe was a bit battered as I mentioned, so I raided my now-spares-car for a much better one, and shotblasted it:
Quite happy with that, but there was a problem:
One of Peugeot/Citroen's favourite tricks in the 80's & 90's was to put divider plates in their manifolds (not much left of the one above) and downpipes, meaning officially the original AX GT exhaust is a 4-2-1 (check out the BX 16v, which is 8-4-2-1!). The divider works well for an OE system, and you genuinely do lose power if you go for a dividerless system. However, not really that noticeable by camera, but noticeable by eye was a haircut crack running along sections of the divider's outer edge. It's basically where it's rusted over the years and lost a bit of weight! I decided to weld over any cracked or thinner areas, as well as giving the usual AX weakspots an extra seam for future proofing:
Then I gave it matching treatment with the VHT spray and fitted it with new gaskets. I also fitted the lower gearbox bolt, which passes through the downpipe and braces it, as well as providing a fixing for engine to gearbox. It was missing from the car, which could be another reason the joint started leaking.
I chose the cast iron finish, as the original manifold was, well, cast iron! I wanted it to look OE, but tidy, and the cast iron bronzes off very nicely once you put some heat through it.I also blasted and sprayed the heat shield, so the manifold will barely be visible anyway! But at least I've done it.
One of the advisories on the MoT was a minor leak between the exhaust centre section, and the back box. I hate exhaust leaks - cars always sound like total sheds with a leaky exhaust, so I wanted to put this right. Just as I went to strip and refit it, I noticed the centre section also had some hairline cracks in around the silencer welds. This is very common, and aftermarket exhausts are known to split here. So I ordered a new one in. Bosal wasn't available, so I went for a Klarus system, on the advice of the exhaust supplier. When it got here, I pretty much decided straight away I wasn't going to fit it!:
For a start, it's just a cheap AX exhaust. It's a smaller bore than the one on there (which, though it looks genuine, is still aftermarket) and the mandrel bends are just guff! The pipe is compressed on all the kinks way more than the original, which has been made using the more expensive but much better method of retaining the pipe diameter. also, the replacement wasn't even lined up right!
I decided to sack that off and repair my original by welding over the cracks, though I did notice the backbox (which at £24 I just got for the sake of it) actually appeared to use a much beefier diameter pipe, and the quality looked noticeably better, even though it was badged as a Klarus too! I guess they don't make them, they buy them in and label them. So, I decided to fit the backbox, which was the one bit that never actually needed renewing:
Along with attending to said fractures. Before:
After (no, I didn't forget to take a pic after I'd done it and grabbed one under the car later on. Honest.....):
In the end I welded three ends up. The 4th had been done already.....interestingly:
The result was, well....a result! The fit of this system combined is brilliant! You see so many AX/Saxo/106 models around with the exhausts hanging low off the bottom, rubbing the bumper or rubbing the heat shield underneath. This thing is tight, perfectly aligned, nicely tucked up underneath, leak-free and to cap it all off, it makes that tinny, raspy note the AX GT is supposed to make. I really couldn't have got luckier!
So, back to more pressing issues, namely the suspension and wheel bearings. The uprights were now all painted up in POR15 gloss black, and I was in the process of rebuilding them with the new Bilstein B4 dampers, wheel bearngs, top mounts, brake discs........it goes on!
Dampers going in:
Spring cups all blasted and painted, new top mounts fitted:
Strut assy nearly complete:
Time isn't on my side with this one, so the road springs will have to wait another time to be painted up. AXs don't tend to suffer snapping of the coil springs though, and there's nothing in the history to suggest these aren't original. They're in very good condition either way!
Then I had to clear the threads for the brake calipers:
Earlier on I found a hole in the rubber boot on one of the brake calipers. The brakes never felt great in this car (they never feel great in any AX!) but we had a customer's AX GT track car in at the same time, and by the time I'd finished with that car, the brakes were miles better than this car. So, because of the ripped dust cover, the mileage and the fact the pads that came out looked like this:
....I decided to renew the calipers, discs and pads. The pads I took out were actually genuine Citroen, but luckily I had another set ready to fit. £16 on eBay, new old stock. Bargainous!:
So by the end, my refurbished uprights looked like this:
That was blasted/POR15 painted uprights, new driveshafts, new brake calipers, new brake discs and pads, new shock absorbers, new top mounts, new track rod ends and new brake hoses.....HEL braided, of course, only finished in black to look OE+. I just need to make a new loom to connect the brake pad wear indicators to!:
I also found the anti-roll bar bushes to be slacker than Stricklands worst student, so these were replaced with Powerflex units early on:
I've got some new wishbones and some Powerflex wishbone bushes to fit yet, and I might pop a lower strut brace on there just to sure things up a bit. But for now, it's gone well!
This was all a week or so ago, and since then I've simply been waiting for the DVLA to process the paperwork to re-register it back in the UK. I posted it before remembering to write the sender's address on the back of the envelope, so am presently stting it that they won't get it and that all my paperwork will be lost in the post. Likewise, why didn't I send it recorded?!! Durr!!!! The show I want to take it to is on the 17th April, so provided all the paperwork goes well, I'll be going to that.
This very afternoon, I'd been playing TVRs at work as usual, and as usual TVRs were giving me a massive headache. Part-way through storming out and going home to switch the xBox on, I caught glimpse of the AX sat there, and thought I might just grease the ignition barrel. Been meaning to do that for ages, and it's very sticky. They're always snapping, so I should do that.
Next thing I know, I've pulled the carb off:
Now I'd been originally restoring the other white GT I have, which is now destined for spares. In the process of doing this, I'd stripped and rebuilt the carburettor, as that car ran like a sack of st! The carb is a Solex Z2 32/34 twin-choke unit:
This AX ran much better, but was only really happy at full throttle. Prolonged driving at part-throttle got rougher and rougher, which is something I'd remembered from my younger days of driving them (I wonder if this one will conk out going round fast, tight right-handers too?) So being that I'd fully refurbished this one, I decided to fit it:
Still need to get some suitable fuel hose in! The original doesn't have long left in it!
Once I'd played around with the choke connections, mixture control and idle speeds, I'd nailed it. It runs and drives beautifully! I've only been round the private estate here, but it pulls so sweetly in any gear. No stuttering, no hesitation....nothing. Perfect! Made up for the stty afternoon I had at work!
So, in between now and the 17th's trip to Burghley House (should I get the registration done ok), I've got the following to do:
Took a while to get there, but then for the mileage, age and fact the car was given away, I'm more than happy. It was all easy stuff to rectify, and I was able to sort everything out, bar the advisory about the chip on the windscreen. So 244,000 miles, one advisory. I'll take that!
To get there, I had to carry on repairing, and chose to spruce some bits as I went. I left with the engine being very mucky, and to be honest, after many hours of scrubbing, it is still pretty mucky. Much better than it was though, and the fact it's all oily is actually a blessing in disguise as it means there is very little in the way of alloy corrosion anywhere. Once you've cut through the muck, the finish of the engine is actually really good!
The reason for being here in the first place was because of the leaky exhaust manifold. Turns out, the manifold was shot anyway:
The divider was totally broken up, which wouldn't have helped the gasket as a bit more back pressure would have built up there. Luckily I had a good spare, which I shot blasted and then painted with POR15 VHT spray in cast iron finish:
The original downpipe was a bit battered as I mentioned, so I raided my now-spares-car for a much better one, and shotblasted it:
Quite happy with that, but there was a problem:
One of Peugeot/Citroen's favourite tricks in the 80's & 90's was to put divider plates in their manifolds (not much left of the one above) and downpipes, meaning officially the original AX GT exhaust is a 4-2-1 (check out the BX 16v, which is 8-4-2-1!). The divider works well for an OE system, and you genuinely do lose power if you go for a dividerless system. However, not really that noticeable by camera, but noticeable by eye was a haircut crack running along sections of the divider's outer edge. It's basically where it's rusted over the years and lost a bit of weight! I decided to weld over any cracked or thinner areas, as well as giving the usual AX weakspots an extra seam for future proofing:
Then I gave it matching treatment with the VHT spray and fitted it with new gaskets. I also fitted the lower gearbox bolt, which passes through the downpipe and braces it, as well as providing a fixing for engine to gearbox. It was missing from the car, which could be another reason the joint started leaking.
I chose the cast iron finish, as the original manifold was, well, cast iron! I wanted it to look OE, but tidy, and the cast iron bronzes off very nicely once you put some heat through it.I also blasted and sprayed the heat shield, so the manifold will barely be visible anyway! But at least I've done it.
One of the advisories on the MoT was a minor leak between the exhaust centre section, and the back box. I hate exhaust leaks - cars always sound like total sheds with a leaky exhaust, so I wanted to put this right. Just as I went to strip and refit it, I noticed the centre section also had some hairline cracks in around the silencer welds. This is very common, and aftermarket exhausts are known to split here. So I ordered a new one in. Bosal wasn't available, so I went for a Klarus system, on the advice of the exhaust supplier. When it got here, I pretty much decided straight away I wasn't going to fit it!:
For a start, it's just a cheap AX exhaust. It's a smaller bore than the one on there (which, though it looks genuine, is still aftermarket) and the mandrel bends are just guff! The pipe is compressed on all the kinks way more than the original, which has been made using the more expensive but much better method of retaining the pipe diameter. also, the replacement wasn't even lined up right!
I decided to sack that off and repair my original by welding over the cracks, though I did notice the backbox (which at £24 I just got for the sake of it) actually appeared to use a much beefier diameter pipe, and the quality looked noticeably better, even though it was badged as a Klarus too! I guess they don't make them, they buy them in and label them. So, I decided to fit the backbox, which was the one bit that never actually needed renewing:
Along with attending to said fractures. Before:
After (no, I didn't forget to take a pic after I'd done it and grabbed one under the car later on. Honest.....):
In the end I welded three ends up. The 4th had been done already.....interestingly:
The result was, well....a result! The fit of this system combined is brilliant! You see so many AX/Saxo/106 models around with the exhausts hanging low off the bottom, rubbing the bumper or rubbing the heat shield underneath. This thing is tight, perfectly aligned, nicely tucked up underneath, leak-free and to cap it all off, it makes that tinny, raspy note the AX GT is supposed to make. I really couldn't have got luckier!
So, back to more pressing issues, namely the suspension and wheel bearings. The uprights were now all painted up in POR15 gloss black, and I was in the process of rebuilding them with the new Bilstein B4 dampers, wheel bearngs, top mounts, brake discs........it goes on!
Dampers going in:
Spring cups all blasted and painted, new top mounts fitted:
Strut assy nearly complete:
Time isn't on my side with this one, so the road springs will have to wait another time to be painted up. AXs don't tend to suffer snapping of the coil springs though, and there's nothing in the history to suggest these aren't original. They're in very good condition either way!
Then I had to clear the threads for the brake calipers:
Earlier on I found a hole in the rubber boot on one of the brake calipers. The brakes never felt great in this car (they never feel great in any AX!) but we had a customer's AX GT track car in at the same time, and by the time I'd finished with that car, the brakes were miles better than this car. So, because of the ripped dust cover, the mileage and the fact the pads that came out looked like this:
....I decided to renew the calipers, discs and pads. The pads I took out were actually genuine Citroen, but luckily I had another set ready to fit. £16 on eBay, new old stock. Bargainous!:
So by the end, my refurbished uprights looked like this:
That was blasted/POR15 painted uprights, new driveshafts, new brake calipers, new brake discs and pads, new shock absorbers, new top mounts, new track rod ends and new brake hoses.....HEL braided, of course, only finished in black to look OE+. I just need to make a new loom to connect the brake pad wear indicators to!:
I also found the anti-roll bar bushes to be slacker than Stricklands worst student, so these were replaced with Powerflex units early on:
I've got some new wishbones and some Powerflex wishbone bushes to fit yet, and I might pop a lower strut brace on there just to sure things up a bit. But for now, it's gone well!
This was all a week or so ago, and since then I've simply been waiting for the DVLA to process the paperwork to re-register it back in the UK. I posted it before remembering to write the sender's address on the back of the envelope, so am presently s
tting it that they won't get it and that all my paperwork will be lost in the post. Likewise, why didn't I send it recorded?!! Durr!!!! The show I want to take it to is on the 17th April, so provided all the paperwork goes well, I'll be going to that.This very afternoon, I'd been playing TVRs at work as usual, and as usual TVRs were giving me a massive headache. Part-way through storming out and going home to switch the xBox on, I caught glimpse of the AX sat there, and thought I might just grease the ignition barrel. Been meaning to do that for ages, and it's very sticky. They're always snapping, so I should do that.
Next thing I know, I've pulled the carb off:
Now I'd been originally restoring the other white GT I have, which is now destined for spares. In the process of doing this, I'd stripped and rebuilt the carburettor, as that car ran like a sack of s
t! The carb is a Solex Z2 32/34 twin-choke unit:This AX ran much better, but was only really happy at full throttle. Prolonged driving at part-throttle got rougher and rougher, which is something I'd remembered from my younger days of driving them (I wonder if this one will conk out going round fast, tight right-handers too?) So being that I'd fully refurbished this one, I decided to fit it:
Still need to get some suitable fuel hose in! The original doesn't have long left in it!
Once I'd played around with the choke connections, mixture control and idle speeds, I'd nailed it. It runs and drives beautifully! I've only been round the private estate here, but it pulls so sweetly in any gear. No stuttering, no hesitation....nothing. Perfect! Made up for the s
tty afternoon I had at work!So, in between now and the 17th's trip to Burghley House (should I get the registration done ok), I've got the following to do:
- Change the lower arms - the bushes are knocking their tits off.
- Compression test and dyno/rolling road session. See how healthy this thing is, and check the gearing as it's had a used gearbox fitted in the past (incidentally, the guy I got it from was kind enough to go through what was and wasn't original....the head gasket, and the gearbox are all that's been done. The engine - all original!) My worry with the gearing is that unless you removed it from an AX GT yourself, they all look the same externally, and if by chance it's got the ratios from a different car in (not that it would be massively noticeable, then I have a chance to use the box in my spares car rather than selling it!
- Clutch cable - will wait until I've checked gearbox. The pedal is very stiff and jerky, and being that I've got the throttle light and razor sharp now, and the brakes are now much better, then the clutch is really letting the side down! It might be the actual clutch, sticking on the splines, but I'll wait and see if I've got a proper GT gearbox fitted first.
- Cambelt - might as well do it, as it's pretty easy. Need to do the valve clearances too, as it's a mite tappy.
- Service - matter of course, and fuel filter looks a million years old.
- Bloody good clean inside! The exterior can stay a bit ratty for now. It adds to the charm!
- Dashboard - it's broken, and rattling around all over the place. My spares car has a good dash, so I might switch them before I drive 400 miles in it. The rattling will drive me mental otherwise!
Edited by Kitchski on Friday 6th May 13:27
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