RE: Citroen BX GTI 16V: PH Fleet
Friday 13th September 2013
While the occasional excitement of spurious bits of the BX's trim falling off has undoubtedly provided some amusement over the past few months, I have been keen to get a more traditional form of in-car entertainment working. The BX came with an aftermarket stereo that emitted static and those annoying little pips that remind you the faceplate's still attached when you kill the engine. And little else.
The ICE is cutting edge, even if the car is getting onSo when car audio specialist Peter Huet got in touch with an offer to sort the system out, I decided to book her in. The journey down to Huets' base in Shoreham was uneventful, with the exception of a slightly frantic period of sitting in traffic on the M25, watching the temperature gauge climb (more on which presently).
As if it didn't look Gallic enough already!So, happily, I now have every kind of music I could wish for in the BX though it sounds as though it's coming out of a portable radio that's been thrown down a well. A return visit to Huets to talk speakers is on the horizon.
Joining the throng at the Luton Sunday ServiceOh, and there's been one more small tweak this month. A friend pointed out that you can now buy yellow headlamp bulb caps on eBay these days, of the sort that were mandatory in France until 1993. They are legal for use in the UK, so I ordered a couple and popped them in to see how they look. I rather like the effect and, eventually, I'd like to emulate the proper, French-spec headlamp setup by swapping the yellow fogs out for clear items with yellow bulbs, too. Why? No reason other than I think it looks pretty cool.
Citroen BX GTI 16V: PH Fleet
Feeling cool and sounding good - the Citroen that is
The ICE is cutting edge, even if the car is getting on
As I'd suspected, the culprit was the head unit itself, so Peter recommended an upgrade to one of the latest Kenwood units he had in stock. For the audio buffs among you, it's a KDC-BT73DAB, a string of numbers and letters which, translated into English, means it's has capacity for Bluetooth and DAB, as well as USB inputs front and rear, and if you pair it up to an iPhone 4 or later, it'll even allow you to use Siri. Plus, of course, it'll play CDs and pick up old-fashioned analogue radio too. The best part, though, is that you can tweak the colour of the display and buttons to match your car's instruments, a feature I particularly like as it means it looks far less like an aftermarket add-on than I'd feared.
As if it didn't look Gallic enough already!
While I was down on the South Coast, I decided to drop back in to Southways in Fareham, to get those radiator fans looked at. The diagnosis was pretty simple: a £10 switch - contrary to what I'd been told by a chap from a well-known breakdown provider. Still, that suited me better than a replacement of the entire fan, or possibly even the wiring, that I'd expected. No longer do I have to fear traffic jams or drive around with the heater fully on in the middle of summer. Excellent.
I'm also pleased to be able to report the BX has attended its first PistonHeads Sunday Service, naturally endowed with a smattering of PH stickers. Duly liveried I'm hoping this will be a more regular excursion.
Joining the throng at the Luton Sunday Service
FACT SHEET
Car: 1989 Citroen BX GTI 16V
Run by: Scrof
Bought: April 2013
Purchase price: £800
Last month at a glance: "If music be the food of love, play on..."
Previous reports:
Alex indulges a long-held dream ... yes, a white Citroen BX
BX gets a tidy up ahead of daily driver duties
'Character' traits aplenty with Alex's Citroen
The BX is back on the road ... sort of
Main images: PrimeExposures
Discussion
Fantastic cars! My folks went through 4...which possibly explains why there's none left!
First one from new to 200k, eventually it became uneconomical to repair (suspension and gearbox I think?). We went all over Europe in it several times. Lots of memories as a kid in that one! Then had a series of high-mileage rotters which lasted around 18 months each. That period also earned us a reputation with friends for being late, and denied membership of the AA for the number of breakdowns we'd had! Great fun - yes, reliable - not so much...
My outstanding memory was soon after i'd passed my test my parents had put me on the insurance but mum had always been apprehensive about actually letting me drive. One night dad said "don't tell mum, but come with me to get some milk" he chucked me the keys and we went for a late night drive around the ring road! I remember accelerating through 1st onto the dual carriageway and changing into 2nd around 3000rpm (as I normally did from learning). Dad laughed and said, don't change, keep your foot down, dont change! To me it sounded like the engine screamed it's way around to the redline, I was sure it was going to go bang! My first real experience of a power band and acceleration from a drivers seat. Cracking fun!
Enjoy the car!
First one from new to 200k, eventually it became uneconomical to repair (suspension and gearbox I think?). We went all over Europe in it several times. Lots of memories as a kid in that one! Then had a series of high-mileage rotters which lasted around 18 months each. That period also earned us a reputation with friends for being late, and denied membership of the AA for the number of breakdowns we'd had! Great fun - yes, reliable - not so much...
My outstanding memory was soon after i'd passed my test my parents had put me on the insurance but mum had always been apprehensive about actually letting me drive. One night dad said "don't tell mum, but come with me to get some milk" he chucked me the keys and we went for a late night drive around the ring road! I remember accelerating through 1st onto the dual carriageway and changing into 2nd around 3000rpm (as I normally did from learning). Dad laughed and said, don't change, keep your foot down, dont change! To me it sounded like the engine screamed it's way around to the redline, I was sure it was going to go bang! My first real experience of a power band and acceleration from a drivers seat. Cracking fun!
Enjoy the car!
I may have a spare parcel shelf if you need one to cut for speakers - disconnecting the c pillar speakers and some decent shelf mount speakers make a massive difference. If you can find any quality speakers to fit the front doors you'll want to dynomat inside the door!
Does your new radio switch on and off with ignition and dim lights when you switch headlights on? If no to either there's a very simple wiring mod you can do with little effort
Glad it was only the switch - diesel one fitted I presume?
Does your new radio switch on and off with ignition and dim lights when you switch headlights on? If no to either there's a very simple wiring mod you can do with little effort
Glad it was only the switch - diesel one fitted I presume?
Adrian E said:
I may have a spare parcel shelf if you need one to cut for speakers - disconnecting the c pillar speakers and some decent shelf mount speakers make a massive difference. If you can find any quality speakers to fit the front doors you'll want to dynomat inside the door!
I'll second that, with French cars of this age even a little bit of dynamat is probably the best sound system upgrade available!I have a strange perversion for Citroens, being mainly a German car fan.
A car dealer friend had several BX GTI 16V's, what a cool car, really different, rapid, handled beautifully, lovely ride, a really nice laid back driving position in fact even though he access to more exotic machinery they were his thing. I think they are really cool, especially in black. Perhaps the last interesting quirky Citroen with hydraulic suspension, oh and it was designed by the guy the penned the Lamborghini Countach!
Sadly a rare rare beast these days.
A car dealer friend had several BX GTI 16V's, what a cool car, really different, rapid, handled beautifully, lovely ride, a really nice laid back driving position in fact even though he access to more exotic machinery they were his thing. I think they are really cool, especially in black. Perhaps the last interesting quirky Citroen with hydraulic suspension, oh and it was designed by the guy the penned the Lamborghini Countach!
Sadly a rare rare beast these days.
Neat place to mount parcel shelf speakers - parking anywhere dodgy just pull the rear blinds up and it covers them up! Being a plastic shelf with plenty of reinforcement built in they're actually pretty decent.
After I fitted these I decided to leave the front alone. These are only cheapies but they do the job
After I fitted these I decided to leave the front alone. These are only cheapies but they do the job
Let's just be clear about something here - no-one breaks into cars to steal speakers(*) anymore, it's 2013 FFS
That headunit is a BIT of a crime in that dashboard tho - I think I represent the 'put a period unit in there' Club when I say you've committed something of a crime.
If you want bostin tunes - you chose the wrong car surely?
(*) unless you're one of those 'people' who have a bootful of bass - in which case, well, I'm pleased to say people DO break into your car for that and - frankly - you deserve it because it's a stupid place to put £1000s of £s of gear innit?
That headunit is a BIT of a crime in that dashboard tho - I think I represent the 'put a period unit in there' Club when I say you've committed something of a crime.
If you want bostin tunes - you chose the wrong car surely?
(*) unless you're one of those 'people' who have a bootful of bass - in which case, well, I'm pleased to say people DO break into your car for that and - frankly - you deserve it because it's a stupid place to put £1000s of £s of gear innit?
405dogvan said:
Let's just be clear about something here - no-one breaks into cars to steal speakers(*) anymore, it's 2013 FFS
True, but they are ridiculously easy to steal cars without added security - why give them an added reason to bother?I've had someone break into my car to steal an old army ammunition box with some score cards in it that was behind the front seat. In parts of this country they'll break into anything if they think there's money in it.
For those who are upset by a non-OE look you can also pull the blinds up to prevent offending anyone, as well as dropping the factory supplied cover over the radio itself
A small amp powering front components and another powering a small sub in the boot will bring all the music pleasure you need. High pass the fronts so they are not trying to provide the bass you're getting from the back anyway - let them concentrate on their own jobs. Dynamat is also good - mounting the speakers as well sealed as possible and flattening as much flex/vibe in the panels they are in as yuo can will go a lot further towards quality than more expensive kit or more power. ("Power is nothing without control")
(Unless you're an SPL nut, in which case a car full of big amps, speakers, batteries etc etc will be required ).
NEVER ruin staging with rear shelf speakers, please.
They are hateful things pretty much incapable of delivering either enough bass or clear mids/highs; yet they are certain to muddy the sound at your ear.
(Unless you're an SPL nut, in which case a car full of big amps, speakers, batteries etc etc will be required
).NEVER ruin staging with rear shelf speakers, please.
They are hateful things pretty much incapable of delivering either enough bass or clear mids/highs; yet they are certain to muddy the sound at your ear.
I've come up with an audio solution in my BX (haven't put it in yet though).
OE tape deck fitted. Has power going to it, but no speaker connections. Turn head unit on - this trips a relay which powers up an amp hidden under the passenger seat. This is connected to the speakers in the doors, and has a lead for iPod, smartphone, tablet etc.....
No speakers in the parcel shelf though! I just disconnected the rear end entirely TBH. If the front's don't provide enough oomph I'll hide a small sub in it somewhere, but the likelyhood is I won't care!
OE tape deck fitted. Has power going to it, but no speaker connections. Turn head unit on - this trips a relay which powers up an amp hidden under the passenger seat. This is connected to the speakers in the doors, and has a lead for iPod, smartphone, tablet etc.....
No speakers in the parcel shelf though! I just disconnected the rear end entirely TBH. If the front's don't provide enough oomph I'll hide a small sub in it somewhere, but the likelyhood is I won't care!
defblade said:
NEVER ruin staging with rear shelf speakers, please.
They are hateful things pretty much incapable of delivering either enough bass or clear mids/highs; yet they are certain to muddy the sound at your ear.
All true from an audiophile persective - have you seen the size of the speaker housings in the doors on these things? They are absolutely tiny! From memory the speaker layout is a pair of front door speakers with very limited depth (under 5" from memory), nothing in the rear doors, pair of tweeters on the dash and a pair of really silly and utterly pointless ones in the C pillar which you can't buy anything to fit due to the shape of the housing.They are hateful things pretty much incapable of delivering either enough bass or clear mids/highs; yet they are certain to muddy the sound at your ear.
Biggest issue with any French car of this era is the amount of noise inside the car anyway....
I had totally forgotten about the awesome security system for the head unit, the drop down plastic cover, lol. Saying that, I suppose most toe rags would assume there would be something fairly crappy in there rather than what you have. I thought my Mum's 16RS and Dad's 8v GTI, Turbo diesel estate and 4x4 estate (all now sadly cubed) were not to bad for sound quality. I think there may be a rose tinted hearing aid at work here though, it was quite a few years back.
I can't believe you ended up at Huets! They are literally 5 minutes away from my work. If you look around some of the Hove side streets (just off Portland Road I believe) there is/was a late 16v with the tea tray rear spoiler. Randomly I also got picked up by a different one when I broke down a few years back. He was looking to make a track day car out of it which could have been interesting....
I can't believe you ended up at Huets! They are literally 5 minutes away from my work. If you look around some of the Hove side streets (just off Portland Road I believe) there is/was a late 16v with the tea tray rear spoiler. Randomly I also got picked up by a different one when I broke down a few years back. He was looking to make a track day car out of it which could have been interesting....
Great to hear the guys at Huets and specifically Peter being mentioned here. I've been using them for over 10 years for all my car audio and I wouldn't let anyone else touch my car. They did a great job with my current car doing a complete stealth install and integrating a double DIN headunit with all Bluetooth, iPod, CD etc all built in.
Sad to hear the usual car audio haters coming out with the usual drivel - there's only one opportunity I get to listen to my own music at highish volumes and that's in my car when I'm on my own, it's part of the enjoyment I derive from driving. There's nothing wrong with spending a bit on your car's system. It's no different to spending thousands on a premium Cyrus or Naim home system.
Sad to hear the usual car audio haters coming out with the usual drivel - there's only one opportunity I get to listen to my own music at highish volumes and that's in my car when I'm on my own, it's part of the enjoyment I derive from driving. There's nothing wrong with spending a bit on your car's system. It's no different to spending thousands on a premium Cyrus or Naim home system.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff