My bodged Citroen BX 16v
Discussion
Having updated the estate's thread, I remembered I'd done one for the 16v too.
So what's changed since the last post? Not too much really (the world of BXs is a fairly boring, almost reliable one!) I've still got it, covered around 3000miles since the last update. It failed it's MoT this year (on more than a bulb....grrrr!) Had to fit two new balljoints, new front wheel bearing and a couple of other bits. Can't complain....I haven't changed any drivetrain parts on it since I got it in 2004, and that was 35,000miles ago!
I'll be using it as my daily for October, and was using it as a daily up until earlier this year. It's been running really well, managing high 30's to the gallon on runs (even hit 42mpg last summer) and still managing to keep me entertained behind the wheel. Every time I drive it, I always want to drive further than I need to, taking the long way home etc. It's that kind of car, and the more time goes on and modern cars get more and more anonymous, the more this thing appeals. I just can't imagine driving a modern car at all these days.
I took the car to The Wheel Alignment Centre having taken my TVR down there the previous day. I was so impressed with Nick on that car I took the BX for a geo-check (didn't really need a check....I knew it was miles out!) Nick, the guy who runs it is a top bloke, and really knows his onions. His wealth of knowledge on all things alignment-related is always impressive, which led to me learning something I found funny that day; on hooking my car up, I noticed the camber differed from left to right on the car. I thought that was odd, as you can't adjust the camber on it (hydropneumatic suspension self-levels....it barely needs any castor or toe either).
So I asked Nick....his repsonse "well, it's French innit." Before I went on with the "oh, yeah here we go, slag the French cars off then just as everyone else does" he carried on with "I like the French cars, but they're all built like that. It allows for the cambers on their roads, so they're cambered from the off to deal with continental roads." I said "well, what about the English? We drive on the left." "Well, we can get f
ked can't we?!" he said!
So it's pretty amazing that they make some of the best handling cars around, when they're not naturally geared for our roads. Apparently it's a very common thing on French cars....stereotypically arrogant! Don't ask him about Audis or Mercs though
French really do like snails, too:
(Parked in my fecking garage, windows shut....must be BX panel gaps!)
Carrying on from a previous comment about it going on a bullst rolling road, and us (at work) putting a rolling road in, well we did. I've been playing and learning on my own cars ever since. A while back, I switched the correction factor to DIN (just as it would have been back in 1990) instead of SAE correction factors. They were rated at 160bhp DIN, or 158bhp SAE.
Result:
Now chassis rolling roads can never be taken as 100% accurate, as there are too many variables between the run and the finished graph. But even so, I enjoyed that!
I even videoed it:
[pic]
[/pic]
I even organised a BX rolling road day. Seven cars hit the dyno in total, and all were either 16v or turbo diesel models. All had over 100k miles on, and the 16vs did 149bhp, 150bhp, 152bhp and 156bhp (book figure is 158bhp (SAE)). TDs did 89bhp, 90bhp and 92bhp (book figure 88bhp SAE/90bhp DIN).....I run a dyno, and that really doesn't happen too often; having a group of old cars ALL being on the money!
I already had a second 16v, this time in grey, but that has turned out to be totally rotten and is now being broken for spares. I'll be lifting the aircon from that car and fitting it to this one. I've also bought ANOTHER 16v, this time another red (well, it's pink) version of the same build year. Didn't come with an engine, originally bought for spares. Annoyingly (in a way) it's actually mint underneath, with one really bad area of rot which is leaving me umming and ahhing as to whether to fix it.
BAH (as I call it) is going on the BXC stand in the NEC Classic Motor Show in November. It's all original, battle scars, the lot, so it might stand out a bit from the other resprayed cars dotted around the place. But if you're at the show and see it, come say hello! It's the only weekend of the year I'm going to be upbeat and sociable!
Anyway, as you can tell I can't really think what to write. But, like the estate, it's going well, ageing gracefully and still making reps in Insignias double take when immaturity strikes and I out accelerate them having moved over after they've tailgated me for 10 miles on a motorway.
So what's changed since the last post? Not too much really (the world of BXs is a fairly boring, almost reliable one!) I've still got it, covered around 3000miles since the last update. It failed it's MoT this year (on more than a bulb....grrrr!) Had to fit two new balljoints, new front wheel bearing and a couple of other bits. Can't complain....I haven't changed any drivetrain parts on it since I got it in 2004, and that was 35,000miles ago!
I'll be using it as my daily for October, and was using it as a daily up until earlier this year. It's been running really well, managing high 30's to the gallon on runs (even hit 42mpg last summer) and still managing to keep me entertained behind the wheel. Every time I drive it, I always want to drive further than I need to, taking the long way home etc. It's that kind of car, and the more time goes on and modern cars get more and more anonymous, the more this thing appeals. I just can't imagine driving a modern car at all these days.
I took the car to The Wheel Alignment Centre having taken my TVR down there the previous day. I was so impressed with Nick on that car I took the BX for a geo-check (didn't really need a check....I knew it was miles out!) Nick, the guy who runs it is a top bloke, and really knows his onions. His wealth of knowledge on all things alignment-related is always impressive, which led to me learning something I found funny that day; on hooking my car up, I noticed the camber differed from left to right on the car. I thought that was odd, as you can't adjust the camber on it (hydropneumatic suspension self-levels....it barely needs any castor or toe either).
So I asked Nick....his repsonse "well, it's French innit." Before I went on with the "oh, yeah here we go, slag the French cars off then just as everyone else does" he carried on with "I like the French cars, but they're all built like that. It allows for the cambers on their roads, so they're cambered from the off to deal with continental roads." I said "well, what about the English? We drive on the left." "Well, we can get f
ked can't we?!" he said! So it's pretty amazing that they make some of the best handling cars around, when they're not naturally geared for our roads. Apparently it's a very common thing on French cars....stereotypically arrogant! Don't ask him about Audis or Mercs though
French really do like snails, too:
(Parked in my fecking garage, windows shut....must be BX panel gaps!)
Carrying on from a previous comment about it going on a bulls
t rolling road, and us (at work) putting a rolling road in, well we did. I've been playing and learning on my own cars ever since. A while back, I switched the correction factor to DIN (just as it would have been back in 1990) instead of SAE correction factors. They were rated at 160bhp DIN, or 158bhp SAE.Result:
Now chassis rolling roads can never be taken as 100% accurate, as there are too many variables between the run and the finished graph. But even so, I enjoyed that!
I even videoed it:
[pic]
[/pic]I even organised a BX rolling road day. Seven cars hit the dyno in total, and all were either 16v or turbo diesel models. All had over 100k miles on, and the 16vs did 149bhp, 150bhp, 152bhp and 156bhp (book figure is 158bhp (SAE)). TDs did 89bhp, 90bhp and 92bhp (book figure 88bhp SAE/90bhp DIN).....I run a dyno, and that really doesn't happen too often; having a group of old cars ALL being on the money!
I already had a second 16v, this time in grey, but that has turned out to be totally rotten and is now being broken for spares. I'll be lifting the aircon from that car and fitting it to this one. I've also bought ANOTHER 16v, this time another red (well, it's pink) version of the same build year. Didn't come with an engine, originally bought for spares. Annoyingly (in a way) it's actually mint underneath, with one really bad area of rot which is leaving me umming and ahhing as to whether to fix it.
BAH (as I call it) is going on the BXC stand in the NEC Classic Motor Show in November. It's all original, battle scars, the lot, so it might stand out a bit from the other resprayed cars dotted around the place. But if you're at the show and see it, come say hello! It's the only weekend of the year I'm going to be upbeat and sociable!
Anyway, as you can tell I can't really think what to write. But, like the estate, it's going well, ageing gracefully and still making reps in Insignias double take when immaturity strikes and I out accelerate them having moved over after they've tailgated me for 10 miles on a motorway.
Cheers guys.
I'm looking forward to the NEC, because along with it's little cousin the AX GT, these cars always seem to bring out stories and tales from people. I always end up speaking to someone whose mother's brother's mate's supervisor had one
Usually hear some funny stories about 'hydrolastic' suspension systems blowing up and making the car roll off a cliff too!
I'm looking forward to the NEC, because along with it's little cousin the AX GT, these cars always seem to bring out stories and tales from people. I always end up speaking to someone whose mother's brother's mate's supervisor had one
Usually hear some funny stories about 'hydrolastic' suspension systems blowing up and making the car roll off a cliff too!
Quick update time! With the NEC looming, I had to make some small changes:
Old:
New:
Old:
New:
Much better, I think. The newer font plates just don't work on older cars. Obviously these are show plates....I won't actually drive with them on. Honest.
A few other issues to attend to, like the coolant leak that's just decided to....well, happen really. I've also had a buzzing noise coming from the backbox for a couple of weeks. It's not the OE 16v one, it's a cheapo Walker copy cat. I bought a centre section a few years ago too, but that's made of monkey metal and has already rusted through, so I found a spare off another 16v I'm breaking....a GENUINE Citroen one!
So, fitted my original genuine backbox that came with the car way back in 2004 (that I'd removed to preserve it for future use, but decided to stop being a tart) along with this centre silencer. Had to clean it out first though:
Something had been living in it!:
All fitted now though:
Added bonus.....this exhaust system is a genuine one, front to back! And it makes a unique noise that the aftermarket ones can't hit. It's subtle, like a sort of muted hum, but with a muffled rasp if you give it some welly. I'll need a bloody anal camera to capture the noise on film, but I'm aiming to try!
I also removed my cone air filter and refitted the original airbox setup, and I have to say I'm enjoying it without it now! So currently, my 16v is pretty much totally standard....and all the better for it (you can tell I've hit 30!)
Enjoyed the drive home tonight
Old:
New:
Old:
New:
Much better, I think. The newer font plates just don't work on older cars. Obviously these are show plates....I won't actually drive with them on. Honest.
A few other issues to attend to, like the coolant leak that's just decided to....well, happen really. I've also had a buzzing noise coming from the backbox for a couple of weeks. It's not the OE 16v one, it's a cheapo Walker copy cat. I bought a centre section a few years ago too, but that's made of monkey metal and has already rusted through, so I found a spare off another 16v I'm breaking....a GENUINE Citroen one!
So, fitted my original genuine backbox that came with the car way back in 2004 (that I'd removed to preserve it for future use, but decided to stop being a tart) along with this centre silencer. Had to clean it out first though:
Something had been living in it!:
All fitted now though:
Added bonus.....this exhaust system is a genuine one, front to back! And it makes a unique noise that the aftermarket ones can't hit. It's subtle, like a sort of muted hum, but with a muffled rasp if you give it some welly. I'll need a bloody anal camera to capture the noise on film, but I'm aiming to try!
I also removed my cone air filter and refitted the original airbox setup, and I have to say I'm enjoying it without it now! So currently, my 16v is pretty much totally standard....and all the better for it (you can tell I've hit 30!)
Enjoyed the drive home tonight
Loads of cleaning, planning and collapse/failure of said plans over the weekend. In other words, the NEC Classic Car Show. The BX stand did well, with six cars AND carpet! Was quite busy, loads of stories from passers-by reliving memories, which is what it's all about.
The old girl scrubbed up better than I thought it would too, and I nicked this picture from Honest John's Facebook page:
It's actually quite a good page for pictures of other cars too, if you follow the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=6191165714...
Downsides? Well other than the legendary diesel estate I had giving in and being left in the midlands, nothing too serious. The 16v has developed an intermittant misfire though. Thought I'd solved it when I found the dizzy cap central contact seized into the cap and carbon soot everywhere! Pulled one from my breaker and switched it over, but the problem remained. Pretty sure it's now the TDC sensor, which is located on the top of the bell housing. Underneath the HP suspension pump. Can I be fked to remove that and change it? Can I fk! BX has gone into the garage, tax cashed in. I'll get back to it in the new year
On the plus side, other than the misfire it's driving really nicely. Suspension has hit a sweet spot where I think the spheres are starting to go off, but they've stiffened the ride very slightly without ruining it. It goes round corners better than ever at the moment, so that's all good. No knocks, no rattles....it could have done 50k miles if you shut your eyes.
Until it misfires.
The old girl scrubbed up better than I thought it would too, and I nicked this picture from Honest John's Facebook page:
It's actually quite a good page for pictures of other cars too, if you follow the link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=6191165714...
Downsides? Well other than the legendary diesel estate I had giving in and being left in the midlands, nothing too serious. The 16v has developed an intermittant misfire though. Thought I'd solved it when I found the dizzy cap central contact seized into the cap and carbon soot everywhere! Pulled one from my breaker and switched it over, but the problem remained. Pretty sure it's now the TDC sensor, which is located on the top of the bell housing. Underneath the HP suspension pump. Can I be f
ked to remove that and change it? Can I fk! BX has gone into the garage, tax cashed in. I'll get back to it in the new year On the plus side, other than the misfire it's driving really nicely. Suspension has hit a sweet spot where I think the spheres are starting to go off, but they've stiffened the ride very slightly without ruining it. It goes round corners better than ever at the moment, so that's all good. No knocks, no rattles....it could have done 50k miles if you shut your eyes.
Until it misfires.
Good find!
I spotted a kid (must have been 12-14 or so) with a posh camera looking over the BX while it was parked in the paddock. Then when we left he sprinted (literally) across the grass and took up a spot above the tunnel. I wondered if I'd ever see the pictures, or if he'd hang around and snap the Sierra too
Double win
edit: Found this on his page....
I spotted a kid (must have been 12-14 or so) with a posh camera looking over the BX while it was parked in the paddock. Then when we left he sprinted (literally) across the grass and took up a spot above the tunnel. I wondered if I'd ever see the pictures, or if he'd hang around and snap the Sierra too
Double win
edit: Found this on his page....
RareCars said:
Literally waited 1 1/2 hours to get a front shot.
Jesus mate, it's only a BX Edited by Kitchski on Wednesday 2nd July 22:42
carmadgaz said:
Thought that number plate rang a bell...
Yup, though luckily I'm not in the picture! No BX stand at the NEC this year, sadly. Two years on the trot for what is quite a small forum-based community was good going though, and it was bloody good fun to take part in it (even if I had a weekend from hell!)Peugeot304 said:
hi, great to see you saw the photos. took them last year!
was nice to see a BX that's why I waited ages to photograph it, nice to see you appreciate that!
Didn't sprint over, I was standing by the tunnel anyway!?
Camera isn't posh if it was the photos would be better!
hope the BX is still going well
William
Hi William, small world! Must have been someone else I saw running. I remember seeing a young lad with a camera doing the rounds in the paddock, assumed it was the same but it seems not. Either way, pretty cool that they were found on the internet, and cooler still that you then found this! was nice to see a BX that's why I waited ages to photograph it, nice to see you appreciate that!
Didn't sprint over, I was standing by the tunnel anyway!?
Camera isn't posh if it was the photos would be better!
hope the BX is still going well
William
Just over a year since I last updated and I'm on a lunchbreak. So what's happened in the world of the bodged BX? Grab a cuppa!
Well firstly, I regret calling the thread 'bodged' BX, being that in the grand scheme of things one small lump of chemical metal acting as filler isn't really as bad as it could be (this is where I find out all the sills are full of P40). Admin please feel free to change the title to just Citroen BX 16v or something, with my gratitude!
So, most importantly, the car is still here, still with us. Last year on 13th June marked 10 years since quintessential boring car collector Simon and myself headed to Penenden Heath to buy the trusty steed. The car was on the road at the time of the anniversary, and spent most of the summer buzzing around (including getting snapped at Goodwood above).
Around July/August-time (the week before the Goodwood Hot Hatch meet I was looking forward to driving it down to), whilst on a local jaunt to drop some other BX wheels off to the local wheel specialist (actually known as The Wheel Specialist - they're dead good....) I was cut up by a Vauxhall Zafira on a local A-road. The sensible, mature, level-headed citizen would have observed the manoeuvre, made some sort of judgement against the perpetrator and moved on with their lives. Obviously, what I did was mash my foot to get alongside at the next set of lights so I could blow him into next week. There aren't many better experiences in life than immaturely squaring up to newer cars in an old BX, knowing that the outcome would be hilarious, should the BX be victorious. It often is, but then I'm quite careful about who I vent my rage at (note to self, if a Mazda 6 MPS is making progress and you're in a BX 16v, just drive behind them). Anyway, so aligned at the next set of lights and cursory evil glance administered (but not sufficiently to catch his attention - I'm not a masochist) I proceed to belt the BX to death at the first signs of a green light. Zafira chap does the same (after all, it's just a stty old Citroen, right?) BX storms into the lead! 7000 + rpm and then the briefest of cuts of the limiter before I grab second. 5000rpm and climbing and the once dual-lane A-road has merged into a single lane, my lead sufficient to allow me to slip in front and provide a (slight) slipstream to the charging MPV. 7000rpm approaches. We're at 55mph, and only seconds have passed so far (6 or so, I'm guessing) with the knowledge that I know I'll need to grab third before the 60mph mark comes. The engine dips again, slightly earlier than I thought it might (you have a sort of sixth-sense as to when the limiter's coming in) so I grab third and floor it. Nothing. Not zip. All red lights illuminated. Rev counter at zero. fk! The single lane now opens back into two as I roll helplessly along at 50mph or so, all traces of power assistance from the steering gone, and with the brakes slowly dying away. The Zafira steams past. An atheist doesn't pray, but I'm sat there doing just that, hoping he hasn't heard a bang, or seen smoke, or noticed anything other than my resounding success! I turn right across oncoming traffic (really not wanting to stop!), aiming for the local College, and roll to the side of the road. Turn the key, and there's a click. Not a flat battery click. Not a knackered starter click. A deeper click. Sounds bad, really bad. I did the first thing anyone would do. Take a pic and update Facebook:
OMGZ i haz brake downs :sadface:
Eventually the engine un-seized itself, which was unexpected to say the least! Problem is, this BX is what's known in Citroen circles as a bit of a 'sinker'. Some BXs take 24 hrs to fully sink once the engine's been shut down. Some take 12. Some lower the back within 2hrs and the front within 2 days. Mine takes 30mins, top to bottom, which is down to an internal leak the system's had for donkey's years. What this meant, however, is that if I wanted to get back to work within 3 hours I needed to be towed back. My RAC membership would get me back, but it'd be on the deck by the time they arrived, meaning it could either towed on a dolly with no rear suspension (and no arm bearings or bumpstops left by the time it got to the workshop) or moved on a flatbed......that they wouldn't be able to winch it onto because the exhaust pipe would be sitting 7mm from the floor. A call to my business partner saw the BX being towed by rope back to the workshop, which luckily was only a mile away. Unluckily, the BX tripped over the towrope on the way into the estate and ripped the front bumper off its mounts, right in front of a group of people having an hourly yellow-finger-staining break outside. It was pushed into the workshop with presumed terminal engine problems and my sweet new ride pressed into service:
Original plan was to take it off the road around Autumn '14 time and stow it up in my parent's garage for the winter (I know cars are there to be driven, and I'm not trying to be a total tart but there are some pretty grotty areas or rot around the sills and rear inner arches that don't need any incentive to flourish by salt-covered highways). Obviously the breakdown had put me in the difficult position of having my car stuck in my workshop, with no idea what had gone wrong. By now (September 2014) I'd established I had decent compression but a noisy starter and no visible damage or leaks. Thinking my flywheel might have come loose or something scary like that, I tried depressing the pedal while cranking, but no difference was made to the noise. Eventually, the starter began to sound normal again! Weird! I also realised I had no spark, and no injector opening. I did have a fuel pump, however. Now, on a Motronic system, no injector and no pump basically means crankshaft sensor has failed, but the crankshaft sensor was new (having been replaced back in my quest to rid it of the misfire around the NEC time the year before). Was a proper Bosch one too. I remove the sensor and find it totally destroyed! I remove the guard plate at the bottom of the bell-housing, revealed a fairly mangled but saveable ring gear. And behind the ring gear? A small M6 bolt! I remove the bolt, renew the sensor, turn the key and BANG!
Not really, it started without drama.
Turns out there are supposed to be two bolts holding the ignition coil bracket to the inlet manifold, and on my car there was one. The ignition coil is directly above a small (2x5cm at most) opening in the top of the bellhousing, used for inspecting st. There's supposed to be a cover there, but on mine it was missing. You couldn't make it up! It still doesn't have a cover.
Edit - the remains of the TDC sensor:
|http://thumbsnap.com/1VayNlbb[/url]
And a pic I did showing just how bd unlucky (or is that lucky?) I'd been!
|http://thumbsnap.com/uFu1rMjl[/url]
So now the BX is running, though now with slightly damaged front bumper. A plan is hatched to remove the BX from the unit and move it to Eastleigh to my parent's where it can live in the garage normally occupied by my Dad's BX (which I have in the workshop....keep up at the back!)
We head to the workshop one Saturday morning, all three kids and the missus and grab the BX. I'll drive it to Eastleigh, my missus following in the Picasso snotbox. We make it to the end of the estate before BANG!
This time, something really happened:
My wife, now totally distraught by the event, had misjudged me pulling out of a junction and slammed the Picahole into the back of the BX! I take some responsibility as I was balancing it on the throttle and clutch while waiting to pull out of the junction on a slight incline. Chances are she saw the BX's rear end squat slightly and thought I was going for a gap, so started to pull and quickly see if she could get out too. I aborted, she didn't realise. Kids all ok, only a minor bump, but because the 16v used GRP bumpers the damage looked much worse than it was. The BX was stowed up in my parent's garage until July this year. I had originally planned to leave it off the road this year, as it's got too many jobs waiting to be sorted on it, but I missed driving it so much I went and dug it out. First job, replace the bumper. Luckily I had a spare:
With the spare bumper attached, an MoT was achieved. First time pass, naturally:
Next on the list was to replace some leaky coolant hoses and an oil pressure gauge sender unit. I'd managed to source a full silicone hose kit (in black, thankfully) and had planned to convert the car to run Evans Waterless Coolant at the same time. All done, along with oil pressure sender which required the removal of the inlet manifold and subsequently the improving of lots of iffy wiring I'd found:
Sadly, changing the oil sender didn't bring the gauge back to life, and it was also at this point I realised my cooling fans weren't working (right when I spotted the gauge at 110deg!) Seems I've got some electronicaliky gremlins to put right. I did manage to polish it for the first time since 2013 though:
With the MoT and replacement rear bumper (but still a loose front bumper, inop rev counter, inop battery light, inop oil pressure gauge, inop oil level gauge, inop cooling fans and now a leaky heater matrix), I drove the car to the Chrevons Rally, somewhere in Bedfordshire. The matrix leak worsened by the mile, and I was thankful I'd converted the car to run waterless coolant as it doesn't pressurise anywhere near as much as regular coolant, meaning the leak on my matrix wasn't being pushed to the limit as it might have done. My lack of cooling fans also would have caused havoc with standard coolant, so again I was lucky that I could use the heater blower alone to hold the temp at around 110-115degrees in traffic with no resulting issues, other than my expensive coolant leaking into my driver's footwell. Anyway, it made the rally, and, having driven there and back alone, it reminded me just how at home I feel in the thing. I haven't really bonded with many other machines in my life like this one. Hell, I don't even bond with humans that well!
The car returned from the event, and being that the whole journey was one of those 'Will it? Won't it?' tense-type affairs, it felt right to get it home and stow it up in the garage. The last picture I planned to take of it on the road was this one, taken round the corner from my house at the end of the journey:
And for 2015, that's where the story ended.
Except it didn't. I'd forgotten I'd commissioned The Wheel Specialist to take one of my many sets of BX 16v alloys and do something different with them. Normally the Speedline SL311's fitted to BX 16Vs are either silver all over (ph1) or Anthracite with a diamond-cut lip (ph2, like mine).
After a previous convo with Vernon of TWS and a bit of random thinking on the toilet, I had the idea to try coating the things completely in black, then diamond-cutting the surface faces. It's the way they used to do AX GT, CX GTi and Visa GTi alloys back in the day. The result?:
Awesome, frankly! Even with P6000's on, these things were gonna be an upgrade!
Only......I don't think they are:
I think on a really early BX they would, but I'm not convinced on this one. I've still got the originals, so worst case is I just sell these. What to do!
Anyway, I'm sufficiently late back from my lunch I'll be staying late to make the hours up!
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/1VayNlbb.jpg[/img]|http://thumbsnap.com/1VayNlbb[/url] <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/uFu1rMjl" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/uFu1rMjl.jpg)
Well firstly, I regret calling the thread 'bodged' BX, being that in the grand scheme of things one small lump of chemical metal acting as filler isn't really as bad as it could be (this is where I find out all the sills are full of P40). Admin please feel free to change the title to just Citroen BX 16v or something, with my gratitude!
So, most importantly, the car is still here, still with us. Last year on 13th June marked 10 years since quintessential boring car collector Simon and myself headed to Penenden Heath to buy the trusty steed. The car was on the road at the time of the anniversary, and spent most of the summer buzzing around (including getting snapped at Goodwood above).
Around July/August-time (the week before the Goodwood Hot Hatch meet I was looking forward to driving it down to), whilst on a local jaunt to drop some other BX wheels off to the local wheel specialist (actually known as The Wheel Specialist - they're dead good....) I was cut up by a Vauxhall Zafira on a local A-road. The sensible, mature, level-headed citizen would have observed the manoeuvre, made some sort of judgement against the perpetrator and moved on with their lives. Obviously, what I did was mash my foot to get alongside at the next set of lights so I could blow him into next week. There aren't many better experiences in life than immaturely squaring up to newer cars in an old BX, knowing that the outcome would be hilarious, should the BX be victorious. It often is, but then I'm quite careful about who I vent my rage at (note to self, if a Mazda 6 MPS is making progress and you're in a BX 16v, just drive behind them). Anyway, so aligned at the next set of lights and cursory evil glance administered (but not sufficiently to catch his attention - I'm not a masochist) I proceed to belt the BX to death at the first signs of a green light. Zafira chap does the same (after all, it's just a s
tty old Citroen, right?) BX storms into the lead! 7000 + rpm and then the briefest of cuts of the limiter before I grab second. 5000rpm and climbing and the once dual-lane A-road has merged into a single lane, my lead sufficient to allow me to slip in front and provide a (slight) slipstream to the charging MPV. 7000rpm approaches. We're at 55mph, and only seconds have passed so far (6 or so, I'm guessing) with the knowledge that I know I'll need to grab third before the 60mph mark comes. The engine dips again, slightly earlier than I thought it might (you have a sort of sixth-sense as to when the limiter's coming in) so I grab third and floor it. Nothing. Not zip. All red lights illuminated. Rev counter at zero. fk! The single lane now opens back into two as I roll helplessly along at 50mph or so, all traces of power assistance from the steering gone, and with the brakes slowly dying away. The Zafira steams past. An atheist doesn't pray, but I'm sat there doing just that, hoping he hasn't heard a bang, or seen smoke, or noticed anything other than my resounding success! I turn right across oncoming traffic (really not wanting to stop!), aiming for the local College, and roll to the side of the road. Turn the key, and there's a click. Not a flat battery click. Not a knackered starter click. A deeper click. Sounds bad, really bad. I did the first thing anyone would do. Take a pic and update Facebook:OMGZ i haz brake downs :sadface:
Eventually the engine un-seized itself, which was unexpected to say the least! Problem is, this BX is what's known in Citroen circles as a bit of a 'sinker'. Some BXs take 24 hrs to fully sink once the engine's been shut down. Some take 12. Some lower the back within 2hrs and the front within 2 days. Mine takes 30mins, top to bottom, which is down to an internal leak the system's had for donkey's years. What this meant, however, is that if I wanted to get back to work within 3 hours I needed to be towed back. My RAC membership would get me back, but it'd be on the deck by the time they arrived, meaning it could either towed on a dolly with no rear suspension (and no arm bearings or bumpstops left by the time it got to the workshop) or moved on a flatbed......that they wouldn't be able to winch it onto because the exhaust pipe would be sitting 7mm from the floor. A call to my business partner saw the BX being towed by rope back to the workshop, which luckily was only a mile away. Unluckily, the BX tripped over the towrope on the way into the estate and ripped the front bumper off its mounts, right in front of a group of people having an hourly yellow-finger-staining break outside. It was pushed into the workshop with presumed terminal engine problems and my sweet new ride pressed into service:
Original plan was to take it off the road around Autumn '14 time and stow it up in my parent's garage for the winter (I know cars are there to be driven, and I'm not trying to be a total tart but there are some pretty grotty areas or rot around the sills and rear inner arches that don't need any incentive to flourish by salt-covered highways). Obviously the breakdown had put me in the difficult position of having my car stuck in my workshop, with no idea what had gone wrong. By now (September 2014) I'd established I had decent compression but a noisy starter and no visible damage or leaks. Thinking my flywheel might have come loose or something scary like that, I tried depressing the pedal while cranking, but no difference was made to the noise. Eventually, the starter began to sound normal again! Weird! I also realised I had no spark, and no injector opening. I did have a fuel pump, however. Now, on a Motronic system, no injector and no pump basically means crankshaft sensor has failed, but the crankshaft sensor was new (having been replaced back in my quest to rid it of the misfire around the NEC time the year before). Was a proper Bosch one too. I remove the sensor and find it totally destroyed! I remove the guard plate at the bottom of the bell-housing, revealed a fairly mangled but saveable ring gear. And behind the ring gear? A small M6 bolt! I remove the bolt, renew the sensor, turn the key and BANG!
Not really, it started without drama.
Turns out there are supposed to be two bolts holding the ignition coil bracket to the inlet manifold, and on my car there was one. The ignition coil is directly above a small (2x5cm at most) opening in the top of the bellhousing, used for inspecting s
t. There's supposed to be a cover there, but on mine it was missing. You couldn't make it up! It still doesn't have a cover.Edit - the remains of the TDC sensor:
|http://thumbsnap.com/1VayNlbb[/url]And a pic I did showing just how b
d unlucky (or is that lucky?) I'd been!|http://thumbsnap.com/uFu1rMjl[/url]So now the BX is running, though now with slightly damaged front bumper. A plan is hatched to remove the BX from the unit and move it to Eastleigh to my parent's where it can live in the garage normally occupied by my Dad's BX (which I have in the workshop....keep up at the back!)
We head to the workshop one Saturday morning, all three kids and the missus and grab the BX. I'll drive it to Eastleigh, my missus following in the Picasso snotbox. We make it to the end of the estate before BANG!
This time, something really happened:
My wife, now totally distraught by the event, had misjudged me pulling out of a junction and slammed the Pica
hole into the back of the BX! I take some responsibility as I was balancing it on the throttle and clutch while waiting to pull out of the junction on a slight incline. Chances are she saw the BX's rear end squat slightly and thought I was going for a gap, so started to pull and quickly see if she could get out too. I aborted, she didn't realise. Kids all ok, only a minor bump, but because the 16v used GRP bumpers the damage looked much worse than it was. The BX was stowed up in my parent's garage until July this year. I had originally planned to leave it off the road this year, as it's got too many jobs waiting to be sorted on it, but I missed driving it so much I went and dug it out. First job, replace the bumper. Luckily I had a spare:With the spare bumper attached, an MoT was achieved. First time pass, naturally:
Next on the list was to replace some leaky coolant hoses and an oil pressure gauge sender unit. I'd managed to source a full silicone hose kit (in black, thankfully) and had planned to convert the car to run Evans Waterless Coolant at the same time. All done, along with oil pressure sender which required the removal of the inlet manifold and subsequently the improving of lots of iffy wiring I'd found:
Sadly, changing the oil sender didn't bring the gauge back to life, and it was also at this point I realised my cooling fans weren't working (right when I spotted the gauge at 110deg!) Seems I've got some electronicaliky gremlins to put right. I did manage to polish it for the first time since 2013 though:
With the MoT and replacement rear bumper (but still a loose front bumper, inop rev counter, inop battery light, inop oil pressure gauge, inop oil level gauge, inop cooling fans and now a leaky heater matrix), I drove the car to the Chrevons Rally, somewhere in Bedfordshire. The matrix leak worsened by the mile, and I was thankful I'd converted the car to run waterless coolant as it doesn't pressurise anywhere near as much as regular coolant, meaning the leak on my matrix wasn't being pushed to the limit as it might have done. My lack of cooling fans also would have caused havoc with standard coolant, so again I was lucky that I could use the heater blower alone to hold the temp at around 110-115degrees in traffic with no resulting issues, other than my expensive coolant leaking into my driver's footwell. Anyway, it made the rally, and, having driven there and back alone, it reminded me just how at home I feel in the thing. I haven't really bonded with many other machines in my life like this one. Hell, I don't even bond with humans that well!
The car returned from the event, and being that the whole journey was one of those 'Will it? Won't it?' tense-type affairs, it felt right to get it home and stow it up in the garage. The last picture I planned to take of it on the road was this one, taken round the corner from my house at the end of the journey:
And for 2015, that's where the story ended.
Except it didn't. I'd forgotten I'd commissioned The Wheel Specialist to take one of my many sets of BX 16v alloys and do something different with them. Normally the Speedline SL311's fitted to BX 16Vs are either silver all over (ph1) or Anthracite with a diamond-cut lip (ph2, like mine).
After a previous convo with Vernon of TWS and a bit of random thinking on the toilet, I had the idea to try coating the things completely in black, then diamond-cutting the surface faces. It's the way they used to do AX GT, CX GTi and Visa GTi alloys back in the day. The result?:
Awesome, frankly! Even with P6000's on, these things were gonna be an upgrade!
Only......I don't think they are:
I think on a really early BX they would, but I'm not convinced on this one. I've still got the originals, so worst case is I just sell these. What to do!
Anyway, I'm sufficiently late back from my lunch I'll be staying late to make the hours up!
Edited by Kitchski on Tuesday 6th October 20:54
Edited by Kitchski on Tuesday 6th October 20:56
S10GTA said:
Kitchski said:
S10GTA said:
Wheels look st, and my cars not THAT boring
You're clearly visually impaired, and your car is boring.t, and my cars not THAT boringEdited by S10GTA on Monday 5th October 16:07
Unexpected update time on the bodged (it's not really bodged BTW!) BX 16 valve.....
I didn't keep the wheels in the end. They were sold to a fellow BXer who thought they looked better on the car than I did. I LOVED the look of the wheels themselves, but on the car they just didn't look quite right for my eyes.
The update's unexpected, because the plan for this car was to sit 2016 out completely. I finished last year by going to that Citroen meeting and drove the car back with no speedo, no rev counter, barely any warning lights and no cooling fan. Because the various dials and gauges were inop, I'd had a quick look to see if it was an easy fix (tried a different binnacle - made no difference) and left it in pieces. There are rust patches to sort out, a leaking heater matrix, the front bumper was hanging off (after it tried to ingest itself having trodden on the rope that was towing the car over a year ago when a bolt fell into the bell housing from the ignition coil bracket and munched the crank sensor) and there were many issues that had been lingering for years, that I'd always put off and say I'd sort out the next year. Had no plans to drive it this year, and had wanted instead to get the AX GT on the road, and finish my Dad's BX GT and my mk1 BX 16TRS off. I also have a TVR to sort out, so there wasn't going to be much time for the 16v.
And then I got asked if I could supply a BX for some filming for a TV programme in Chichester on 20th April. It was very hush hush, other than to say it was an ITV production. Almost too hush hush, in fact.
I was very curious as to why a BX was even wanted, to be honest. Sure, I love them, but the majority aren't fussed and most car programmes on TV are the boring, predictable types. If it's a classic car programme, there will be an E-Type, or a Morris Minor. If they slag a car off, it'll be an Allegro, or a Marina. It's all so shamefully generic.
It had been on TV previously, of course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLXEf4rcfZQ
(Complete with leather interior, which I sold not long after that was filmed. Jason Dawe genuinely loved them, and Mallory genuinely hated them. Mallory was a bit funny, but Jason Dawe was a genuinely friendly guy).
In the case of this show, all they'd say is that they wanted a stand out car, and could I have it at Goodwood for 9am on April 20th? I said yes. I tend to grab opportunities, and if it's a chance to put a car you don't normally see on the small screen out there, then surely that's a good thing?
Only problem was it was still in lots of bits. Luckily it's still MoT'd until July, so I didn't have to worry about that. Was jsut a case of taxing it, and getting some of the issues sorted. First job, remove it from it's hidey-hole:
I'm immediately reminded of one of the issues that plagued the car before I stowed it up last year:
The low level warning light sensor in the header tank has a leaky seal. Being that it's running Evans Waterless Coolant, that's about £5worth on the floor no doubt!
I dragged the car into work (on the 18th...left it nice and late) and with work being massively busy, I put more stress upon my future self by taking some time out of the day to sort some bits on the car on the 19th. I also had to clean it up, though I'd polished it the year before with the T-Cut 365 stuff, which seems to last longer than any of the other polishes I've used on it, so this time around I spent more time fixing bits up like the dials and heater controls (which didn't work or light up) and less time cleaning. I actually started cleaning it at about 5pm on the 19th...just over 12 hrs before I was due to take it for filming. I put a fair amount of effort into getting it sorted out too. Even changed the centre console over, got all the heater controls working and lighting up with the rest of the dash again:
That's an original A/C heater panel. I plan to fit A/C to it (I have all the bits from another car) but that wasn't for the 19th! So I made do with the heater panel, which gave me working switches, full lighting, and I even fitted an old CD player I had kicking around. Sounds surprisingly good!
I managed to get the rev counter working too! The fix? Fuse #1 (10A) had FALLEN out of the fusebox! That also controlled the signal wire to the cooling fan relay, so the rev counter and cooling fans were a delightfully quick fix!
So, at about 8pm on the 19th, having spent a good 7 hours fitting my tidier wheels, getting all the dash working and cleaning the bejesus out of it inside, it was ready! I was excited! Maybe it would be ragged around Goodwood by some cool car guy? James May? Guy Martin? Jay Leno?! I'm getting carried away, but I had hopes that someone would be on board with the idea behind the BX and what it brought to the medium hatch section back in the 80's. Truth be told, I was even more keen to see what other forgotten gems they might feature! Would I see a Starion? Would I see an MG Metro Turbo? I was quietly excited!
And then the 20th came. I rocked up at the Chichester Park hotel at 8:15am and met with the team. We headed to Goodwood circuit, but they couldn't sort out a location. So we moved to Goodwood House and set up camp. I was uber excited to be on the Festival of Speed course!:
And finally the moment came. The presenter (I'm not allowed to name him, signed a bit of paper and everything) arrived! He got out, discussed some stuff with the director, mentioned the phrase "Get it to the scrapyard" as something he could use in the ab-lib delivery, and moaned that it wasn't as easy to take the piss out of as the Allegro last week. In the end, the BX got about 10secs of time, which was enough for the chap to declare that cars are all about you and your sense of style. A well-designed car tells a story.....but he couldn't figure out what sort of story this thing was telling.
And that was it.
I'd gone to all that hassle, all that trouble and effort, for some rich TV personality to rock up and slag off my most prized possession. I can take a joke, and I get a fair amount of piss-taking for the BX love, but in those cases I can counter back. I can take the piss back. I'm happy to get ranty because I know the BX was a great car, irrelevant of how much I like them. I don't like Audi A4s, but I'd never say they're crap. The BX was a great car of the 80s, and I just so happen to love them too. In this case, the BX had been brought in to be the butt of a joke. That's why I was getting smoke and mirrors in the first place.
I nearly had a Paddy.
While it was all going on, I was pretty disappointed, but on the whole took it in my stride. It was only when I got home I started to feel really pissed off about it, to the point I emailed the producer and told him what I thought. He never emailed back. We'll all have to wait until October to see what actually came about.
That said, it wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened. If it weren't for this, I'd never have got it out of the garage and gone to town fixing it up. It'd still be sat in there now, part of my massive to-do list. The cooling fans would still be borked, the rev counter wouldn't rev....I definitely wouldn't be pretending to have air-con!
And, the day was a good one because I had a good day out with a mate, who also happens to be a st-hot photographer. After we'd razzed it up the hill climb at Goodwood (had to be done) we headed out into the sticks, and he got to work:
He's also a dab hand at videos, so with a compilation of what he grabbed that day, he made this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqpdoMK6l_Y
(Watch it to the end, it's not what you think! And it doesn't work on mobile devices, due to one of the songs having a copyright, or something)
After this, I popped the BX away again but found it was still taxed on Drive it Day, 24th April. So, it was off out again. The Goodwood.....again! I took some pics this time, but sadly don't have anything like the talent of my mate!
All in all,I really enjoyed driving it again. I just never get bored of it, and it's easy to see why I'll never get rid. It's just such good fun, and the engine really is a gem. Sure it's not the fastest thing in the world, but for the technology and era it was made, it's pretty good. Certainly quick enough to have fun with, though something modern would destroy it! But it's comfy, it's cheap, it's reliable, it's interesting, it's fairly frugal. I love the thing!
I didn't keep the wheels in the end. They were sold to a fellow BXer who thought they looked better on the car than I did. I LOVED the look of the wheels themselves, but on the car they just didn't look quite right for my eyes.
The update's unexpected, because the plan for this car was to sit 2016 out completely. I finished last year by going to that Citroen meeting and drove the car back with no speedo, no rev counter, barely any warning lights and no cooling fan. Because the various dials and gauges were inop, I'd had a quick look to see if it was an easy fix (tried a different binnacle - made no difference) and left it in pieces. There are rust patches to sort out, a leaking heater matrix, the front bumper was hanging off (after it tried to ingest itself having trodden on the rope that was towing the car over a year ago when a bolt fell into the bell housing from the ignition coil bracket and munched the crank sensor) and there were many issues that had been lingering for years, that I'd always put off and say I'd sort out the next year. Had no plans to drive it this year, and had wanted instead to get the AX GT on the road, and finish my Dad's BX GT and my mk1 BX 16TRS off. I also have a TVR to sort out, so there wasn't going to be much time for the 16v.
And then I got asked if I could supply a BX for some filming for a TV programme in Chichester on 20th April. It was very hush hush, other than to say it was an ITV production. Almost too hush hush, in fact.
I was very curious as to why a BX was even wanted, to be honest. Sure, I love them, but the majority aren't fussed and most car programmes on TV are the boring, predictable types. If it's a classic car programme, there will be an E-Type, or a Morris Minor. If they slag a car off, it'll be an Allegro, or a Marina. It's all so shamefully generic.
It had been on TV previously, of course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLXEf4rcfZQ
(Complete with leather interior, which I sold not long after that was filmed. Jason Dawe genuinely loved them, and Mallory genuinely hated them. Mallory was a bit funny, but Jason Dawe was a genuinely friendly guy).
In the case of this show, all they'd say is that they wanted a stand out car, and could I have it at Goodwood for 9am on April 20th? I said yes. I tend to grab opportunities, and if it's a chance to put a car you don't normally see on the small screen out there, then surely that's a good thing?
Only problem was it was still in lots of bits. Luckily it's still MoT'd until July, so I didn't have to worry about that. Was jsut a case of taxing it, and getting some of the issues sorted. First job, remove it from it's hidey-hole:
I'm immediately reminded of one of the issues that plagued the car before I stowed it up last year:
The low level warning light sensor in the header tank has a leaky seal. Being that it's running Evans Waterless Coolant, that's about £5worth on the floor no doubt!
I dragged the car into work (on the 18th...left it nice and late) and with work being massively busy, I put more stress upon my future self by taking some time out of the day to sort some bits on the car on the 19th. I also had to clean it up, though I'd polished it the year before with the T-Cut 365 stuff, which seems to last longer than any of the other polishes I've used on it, so this time around I spent more time fixing bits up like the dials and heater controls (which didn't work or light up) and less time cleaning. I actually started cleaning it at about 5pm on the 19th...just over 12 hrs before I was due to take it for filming. I put a fair amount of effort into getting it sorted out too. Even changed the centre console over, got all the heater controls working and lighting up with the rest of the dash again:
That's an original A/C heater panel. I plan to fit A/C to it (I have all the bits from another car) but that wasn't for the 19th! So I made do with the heater panel, which gave me working switches, full lighting, and I even fitted an old CD player I had kicking around. Sounds surprisingly good!
I managed to get the rev counter working too! The fix? Fuse #1 (10A) had FALLEN out of the fusebox! That also controlled the signal wire to the cooling fan relay, so the rev counter and cooling fans were a delightfully quick fix!
So, at about 8pm on the 19th, having spent a good 7 hours fitting my tidier wheels, getting all the dash working and cleaning the bejesus out of it inside, it was ready! I was excited! Maybe it would be ragged around Goodwood by some cool car guy? James May? Guy Martin? Jay Leno?! I'm getting carried away, but I had hopes that someone would be on board with the idea behind the BX and what it brought to the medium hatch section back in the 80's. Truth be told, I was even more keen to see what other forgotten gems they might feature! Would I see a Starion? Would I see an MG Metro Turbo? I was quietly excited!
And then the 20th came. I rocked up at the Chichester Park hotel at 8:15am and met with the team. We headed to Goodwood circuit, but they couldn't sort out a location. So we moved to Goodwood House and set up camp. I was uber excited to be on the Festival of Speed course!:
And finally the moment came. The presenter (I'm not allowed to name him, signed a bit of paper and everything) arrived! He got out, discussed some stuff with the director, mentioned the phrase "Get it to the scrapyard" as something he could use in the ab-lib delivery, and moaned that it wasn't as easy to take the piss out of as the Allegro last week. In the end, the BX got about 10secs of time, which was enough for the chap to declare that cars are all about you and your sense of style. A well-designed car tells a story.....but he couldn't figure out what sort of story this thing was telling.
And that was it.
I'd gone to all that hassle, all that trouble and effort, for some rich TV personality to rock up and slag off my most prized possession. I can take a joke, and I get a fair amount of piss-taking for the BX love, but in those cases I can counter back. I can take the piss back. I'm happy to get ranty because I know the BX was a great car, irrelevant of how much I like them. I don't like Audi A4s, but I'd never say they're crap. The BX was a great car of the 80s, and I just so happen to love them too. In this case, the BX had been brought in to be the butt of a joke. That's why I was getting smoke and mirrors in the first place.
I nearly had a Paddy.
While it was all going on, I was pretty disappointed, but on the whole took it in my stride. It was only when I got home I started to feel really pissed off about it, to the point I emailed the producer and told him what I thought. He never emailed back. We'll all have to wait until October to see what actually came about.
That said, it wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened. If it weren't for this, I'd never have got it out of the garage and gone to town fixing it up. It'd still be sat in there now, part of my massive to-do list. The cooling fans would still be borked, the rev counter wouldn't rev....I definitely wouldn't be pretending to have air-con!
And, the day was a good one because I had a good day out with a mate, who also happens to be a s
t-hot photographer. After we'd razzed it up the hill climb at Goodwood (had to be done) we headed out into the sticks, and he got to work:He's also a dab hand at videos, so with a compilation of what he grabbed that day, he made this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqpdoMK6l_Y
(Watch it to the end, it's not what you think! And it doesn't work on mobile devices, due to one of the songs having a copyright, or something)
After this, I popped the BX away again but found it was still taxed on Drive it Day, 24th April. So, it was off out again. The Goodwood.....again! I took some pics this time, but sadly don't have anything like the talent of my mate!
All in all,I really enjoyed driving it again. I just never get bored of it, and it's easy to see why I'll never get rid. It's just such good fun, and the engine really is a gem. Sure it's not the fastest thing in the world, but for the technology and era it was made, it's pretty good. Certainly quick enough to have fun with, though something modern would destroy it! But it's comfy, it's cheap, it's reliable, it's interesting, it's fairly frugal. I love the thing!
Edited by Kitchski on Saturday 30th April 00:00
Whoa, quite a few replies to go through! Here goes:
I love the way it looks, but I'd never tell anyone it was a good looking car. Not typically good looking anyway. But the seats are genuinely awesome. Some of the best I've ever had!
t would be harsh as I never spoke to him other than a few sentences, but a bit of a primadonna for sure. I don't think he was a dick, I just don't think he had a clue what he was talking about.
And yeah, the first song in the video made me cringe more than laugh, but then I know my mate's humour!
I've had mine round to the 'H' on the speedo, but that's there for comedy value more than anything once past 70 mph. Struggles to pull much past 130mph on the GPS, but oddly enough it can pull up to the 125-130mph mark going up slight hills. I did bounce it in 5th once (only car I've ever hit the limiter in top gear in) but that was down a slight slope.
williamp said:
Sorry to hear of your experience, but its not unusual from what I've heard.
Not that it counts for much, but I really like your car!
Thanks. I've heard bad things in the past, but then my wife's Saxo was used on one of Chris Barrie's Massive Speed shows, and he was a thoroughly top bloke. Even bought everybody lunch!Not that it counts for much, but I really like your car!
MrMoonyMan said:
Screw them!
I'd love to own that. Heck, even drive it.
Love the way bx's look and those seats are great.
Good work
If you're ever in Fareham and the car happens to be on the road, you're welcome to have a go I'd love to own that. Heck, even drive it.
Love the way bx's look and those seats are great.
Good work
I love the way it looks, but I'd never tell anyone it was a good looking car. Not typically good looking anyway. But the seats are genuinely awesome. Some of the best I've ever had!
GC8 said:
I miss everything about mine apart from the overly strong artificial self-centring steering 'feel' and the drivers seat adjustment.
I like the steering as it's weighted nicely, and quite short-geared, but I know what you mean about the feel of it. It's not as bad as later Cits like the Xantia, or even modern electro-steering cars, but it is slightly disconnected. But then, you're running on a gas, via a hydraulic fluid operating lots of valves and gadgets designed to isolate you from the road's imperfections. Bearing that in mind, I think the BX has a great level of feel. S10GTA said:
I'm sure you had a paddy. No likely. Tosser.
I really didn't. I did my usual thinking of an amazing thing to say about 5 hours after the event took place.JakeT said:
Sounds like he was a giant tt to me. Should have told them you'd be off to drive it to the scrapyard and be gone! When watching the video as soon as the music came in there was a laugh...
tt to me. Should have told them you'd be off to drive it to the scrapyard and be gone! When watching the video as soon as the music came in there was a laugh... t would be harsh as I never spoke to him other than a few sentences, but a bit of a primadonna for sure. I don't think he was a dick, I just don't think he had a clue what he was talking about. And yeah, the first song in the video made me cringe more than laugh, but then I know my mate's humour!
drewos said:
I get the love for these. A mate of mine had a phase 2 16 valve around 2000. At the same time I had a mk2 golf gti 8 valve but the BX was in a different league performance wise. Had a drive of it a couple of times and as a previous post mentioned, the grip was fantastic and so comfortable. The chairs were some of the best ever fitted IMO and really held you in place hammering around corners. We took it out not long after the head had been rebuilt due to a snapped cambelt and nearly touched 150 mph, mind you that was worked out by the mph per rpm in 5th gear as the speedo had given up working a long while back!
Yeah they waste mk2 Golfs pretty easily. Crept up on a Rallye in it once, but in fairness the Golf and this were never really fighting for the same market. An Astra GTE 16v is about level pegging with a good one of these - I certainly couldn't beat one in a straight line, and I tried! To be doing 150mph though, you'd have to be doing over 7500rpm in top gear though, so bearing in mind the standard limiter is either 7200rpm or 7400rpm, I'm guessing it wasn't standard? I've had mine round to the 'H' on the speedo, but that's there for comedy value more than anything once past 70 mph. Struggles to pull much past 130mph on the GPS, but oddly enough it can pull up to the 125-130mph mark going up slight hills. I did bounce it in 5th once (only car I've ever hit the limiter in top gear in) but that was down a slight slope.bigkeeko said:
Read the whole thread from the start. Good stuff and cool old car. Shame about the bell end having a pop at the last. Nothing like being used and a complete lack of respect. Still, every cloud as you rightly stated. She's up and running.
That's the way I tried to look at it. Did me a favour in an odd way!RemyMartin said:
I only came into say your car is fking magnificent and this celebrity is clearly a dick.
The M word might be stretching it a bit! But cheers king magnificent and this celebrity is clearly a dick.mooseracer said:
Great fun read, I admire your love of the old(ish) fast Citroens and echo what's been said about the 'celebrity'
Someone's got to like them! Don't suppose you had a mentally fast AX once by chance?problemchild1976 said:
When in my 20s (late 90's) I used to drive an H-Reg BX Meteor 1.6 in grey - loved it to bits!!
ah - the good old days when a mid sized family car could actually comfortably fit 5 people
JJ
Ah the Meteor. Limited run, still see a few about.ah - the good old days when a mid sized family car could actually comfortably fit 5 people
JJ
rallycross said:
Great photos from Goodwood the car looks fab.
My first ever sporty 16v was a mk1 BX 16v in white which I got in 1993 (swopped it for a sunburst red XR3i!).
The BX 16v felt so much faster than the on paper figures, when they get past 4500 revs they really start to fly.
I always fancied getting a late model mk2 they looked great in Grey or Red. Good to see one is surviving cant be too many left now.
Cheers Craig. They do wake up above 4500rpm for sure. Don't think there are many left, possibly about 100?My first ever sporty 16v was a mk1 BX 16v in white which I got in 1993 (swopped it for a sunburst red XR3i!).
The BX 16v felt so much faster than the on paper figures, when they get past 4500 revs they really start to fly.
I always fancied getting a late model mk2 they looked great in Grey or Red. Good to see one is surviving cant be too many left now.
The_Burg said:
Nice to see. BX is getting a rare beast now! Owned a 1.9 TR a 1.9TRD and a GTi. GTi was pretty rapid. Handling felt dead but if you drove on trust really stuck to the road.
Weigh pretty much nothing. Even the non turbo diesel went surprisingly well. Ridiculously economical too, swear someone used to fill it up when i wasn't looking.
The 16v is freakishly economical at times. Can nudge 40mpg on a run pretty easily. Best ever was 42mpg, but round down it can nearly halve that!Weigh pretty much nothing. Even the non turbo diesel went surprisingly well. Ridiculously economical too, swear someone used to fill it up when i wasn't looking.
GC8 said:
Both p2 16v cars suffered but the J registered white with herringbone car was definitely the worst. It was added resitance to moving off-centre intended to give the impression of weight, but it needed too much force to overcome. This was on new-20k cars.
Both the BX and Xantia owned afterwards (both steady) didn't suffer.
It was the rocking tilt which always niggled me - the seats were great but you couldn't ever get them positioned correctly.
I know what you mean on the seats, and I can imagine not everybody finds them comfortable.Both the BX and Xantia owned afterwards (both steady) didn't suffer.
It was the rocking tilt which always niggled me - the seats were great but you couldn't ever get them positioned correctly.
mooseracer said:
Yes indeed I did. Turbocharged VTS engine, stripped interior, plastic windows etc. The guy I sold it to wrapped it around a tree I believe 
I still have the PFC mag it was featured in! Took that car as my inspiration many years back (before giving up!)Now have another AX GT and am slowly carrying out a rolling resto. The thread's on here somewhere.
irish boy said:
This one?
Most definitely. I owned it a while back! Bought it from a guy on the BX forum who owned a few of them. That's £1500 more than I paid, but then I had to trailer it back down here, get it through an MoT etc. I really liked it though. The engine genuinely was very sweet when I had it, and it just needed a bit of suspension tinkering (was riding a bit high and a bit too soft, possibly not on 16v spheres but that's all easy to sort). Clutch does need doing, but it shouldn't put anyone off the car and they're not too hard to change either.
Biggest thing it needs is a respray, but structurally it's pretty good. A-pillar was a bit frilly when I had it, but that's pretty normal. With new paint and some minor tweaks, it'd be a very nice car and certainly good value, seeing as another BX 16v sold for £3500 a couple of weeks ago, not to mention the £7k supercharged one that just sold. And this is a rare car - Meteor grey, ph1, sensible miles. Much rarer than my ph2, and there are only around 120 BX 16vs left in total, according to the usual websites.
I really liked it, didn't want to sell it really. The guy who bought it was the PH staff writer who had a white BX GTi 16v ph1, and that was a total lemon. It's been scrapped now. He bought 'DUG' to replace that car and once he'd actually owned a decent BX 16v, he moved it on as he'd finally ticked the box off!
Just over a year had passed since the last successful MoT test, so I decided to book the BX in yesterday and see if I could coax a another 'pass' out of it. I'm planning to take it to France in the Autumn, and it would be sensible to put some miles on it before then. You know, to give anything that's going to break a chance to break in the UK near my house?! Or, to accelerate the wear of any potentially EOL parts and bring the failure date further forward to coincide with a date that would have otherwise been after the trip overseas. Funny thing, logic.
The BX was last out and about at the end of April, for its TV 'feature' (on an as-yet-unbroadcast-so-I-can't-say-anything-as-I-signed-a-bit-of-paper-to-say-I-wasn't-going-to-say-anything-before-I-found-out-they-wanted-my-car-to-roast-rather-than-do-something-interesting-with-but-I'm-pretty-sure-it's-going-to-be-Ch5's Classic Car Show-levels-of-ste-programme). Since then I've been dipping my toes into AX GT, TVR, Hillman Imp and other BX-flavoured waters, so the 16v's basically just parked up and had the door shut on it.
Well, when I say shut on it, I mean opened on it. Yup, yesterday started fairly badly. I went out on Monday night and hooked up my last remaining battery charger, seeing as the battery wasn't exactly great before I parked it up in April (3rd hand, been on two other cars before, both of which also suffered long idle periods). It was yet another of those cheapo chargers you buy before you realise buying cheap means buying thrice. I went back in the house, watched about 90mins of The Car's The Star episodes on Youtube (remember those?) and went back out to the garage at about 11:30pm to check on proceedings. I opened the door to be greeted with the stench of hot plastic. I removed the charger, filed it in the bin and decided to go to work in the morning, grab some jumpleads and then come back for the BX. I left the bonnet open, as I'd been doing all this inside the garage.
Next morning, I drive to work in the AX, grab the leads, come back, open the garage door...SMACK! Garage door hits the open BX bonnet and gets jammed against it. I roll under the ajar garage door, manage to manipulate the bonnet into enough difference shapes to release the door (the beauty of plastic bonnets!) and wonder how the day will get worse.
The AX brings the BX back to life:
I drive the BX out of the garage, to be greeted with a flat nearside rear tyre. I pump it up from scratch, with a handpump. It was a hot morning.
I go back into the garage, and see this:
Petrol. Joy.
There's a drip-drip leak coming from the pump area all the while the car is running. Assuming either a perished hose, or a perished pump! I drive it in anyway. bks to it. If I dies, I dies.
The MoT is booked for 11am, but we've got a Frogeye Sprite also booked in for 2pm, so I switch the appointments around and pull the pump off the BX. Yup, suspicions confirmed:
Annoyingly, I gave away a good spare to a mate with an Alfa 75 who needed a new pump because (and you're going to like this bit)......his original one corroded through, and leaked while the engine was running.
Luckily I managed to find a replacement locally:
And before long it was fitted along with a new filter, and some new hose (on the bit I could actually get to):
MoT obtained that afternoon. First time pass, same advisories as normal. Bit of interaction on the OSR lamp (wiring, not just an earth) and a slightly blowy exhaust joint plus the rear tyres are just within the tread limit. To be fair, all the tyres are starting to crack a bit, and I know they're well past 7-8 years old now, so they really need replacing. They're rumbling pretty badly and it's lacking grip these days when you get your boot down, so I'll likely do those sometime in the next few weeks. Been really impressed with the Dunlops I put on the AX GT, so will probably do the same for the BX.
A few jobs to do over the next few weeks, like sticking some new non-OE front spot lamps in (want to preserve the originals as they're getting stupid expensive now) and a couple of coolant leaks to attend to, one of which involves taking the dashboard out. At that point, do I start bolting all in the A/C gear in? Decisions....
The BX was last out and about at the end of April, for its TV 'feature' (on an as-yet-unbroadcast-so-I-can't-say-anything-as-I-signed-a-bit-of-paper-to-say-I-wasn't-going-to-say-anything-before-I-found-out-they-wanted-my-car-to-roast-rather-than-do-something-interesting-with-but-I'm-pretty-sure-it's-going-to-be-Ch5's Classic Car Show-levels-of-s
te-programme). Since then I've been dipping my toes into AX GT, TVR, Hillman Imp and other BX-flavoured waters, so the 16v's basically just parked up and had the door shut on it.Well, when I say shut on it, I mean opened on it. Yup, yesterday started fairly badly. I went out on Monday night and hooked up my last remaining battery charger, seeing as the battery wasn't exactly great before I parked it up in April (3rd hand, been on two other cars before, both of which also suffered long idle periods). It was yet another of those cheapo chargers you buy before you realise buying cheap means buying thrice. I went back in the house, watched about 90mins of The Car's The Star episodes on Youtube (remember those?) and went back out to the garage at about 11:30pm to check on proceedings. I opened the door to be greeted with the stench of hot plastic. I removed the charger, filed it in the bin and decided to go to work in the morning, grab some jumpleads and then come back for the BX. I left the bonnet open, as I'd been doing all this inside the garage.
Next morning, I drive to work in the AX, grab the leads, come back, open the garage door...SMACK! Garage door hits the open BX bonnet and gets jammed against it. I roll under the ajar garage door, manage to manipulate the bonnet into enough difference shapes to release the door (the beauty of plastic bonnets!) and wonder how the day will get worse.
The AX brings the BX back to life:
I drive the BX out of the garage, to be greeted with a flat nearside rear tyre. I pump it up from scratch, with a handpump. It was a hot morning.
I go back into the garage, and see this:
Petrol. Joy.
There's a drip-drip leak coming from the pump area all the while the car is running. Assuming either a perished hose, or a perished pump! I drive it in anyway. b
ks to it. If I dies, I dies.The MoT is booked for 11am, but we've got a Frogeye Sprite also booked in for 2pm, so I switch the appointments around and pull the pump off the BX. Yup, suspicions confirmed:
Annoyingly, I gave away a good spare to a mate with an Alfa 75 who needed a new pump because (and you're going to like this bit)......his original one corroded through, and leaked while the engine was running.
Luckily I managed to find a replacement locally:
And before long it was fitted along with a new filter, and some new hose (on the bit I could actually get to):
MoT obtained that afternoon. First time pass, same advisories as normal. Bit of interaction on the OSR lamp (wiring, not just an earth) and a slightly blowy exhaust joint plus the rear tyres are just within the tread limit. To be fair, all the tyres are starting to crack a bit, and I know they're well past 7-8 years old now, so they really need replacing. They're rumbling pretty badly and it's lacking grip these days when you get your boot down, so I'll likely do those sometime in the next few weeks. Been really impressed with the Dunlops I put on the AX GT, so will probably do the same for the BX.
A few jobs to do over the next few weeks, like sticking some new non-OE front spot lamps in (want to preserve the originals as they're getting stupid expensive now) and a couple of coolant leaks to attend to, one of which involves taking the dashboard out. At that point, do I start bolting all in the A/C gear in? Decisions....
Shadow R1 said:
That's in the abandoned cars thread, claims to be a 16v 4x4.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I'd love to say that Storer is the minority, but on the whole he's not. He's a pretty extreme example, as at most classic car shows the usual crowd would w
k themselves frothy over a mk1 Escort, but as far as the BX goes it's just a banger to most people. We give PH a bit of a bashing, but really it's brilliant. The range of cars in Readers Cars is great, and it's the only place I've ever met someone who owned a Nissan Cherry Turbo! Cars that normally don't get given the time of day because they weren't cool when they were new, or they're not cool now, regardless of how good a car they actually were. Or because they're British, regardless of how s
te a car they actually were. To most, the BX is s
te. Banger, French, ugly, unreliable, whatever. To a smaller collective, it's interesting and they like reading about interesting cars. To an even smaller group, it was actually a very good car back in the day. I think the likes of Practical Classics are sailing quite close to the shore with their definition of what a classic is. I wouldn't call an MG TF a classic, the oldest one is only 15 years old! But there's room for the concept of a 'modern classic', and the BX would fit comfortably into that group, in my opinion.
Doesn't bother me, it's my car and I like it
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