Fancied an older car again earlier this year, so a hunt of gumtree and other sites started. Found this Citroen ZX with low miles at 82k, but short mot, tired paint, dented drivers door, and non working handbrake for the bargain price of £150.
Repairs started to get it roadworthy and through another mot. The car itself was very solid and rustfree except for a dodgy looking seam in the drivers footwell. Further poking and investigation revealed a hole, this had been caused by someone jacking it up in the wrong place denting the floor and cracking the sealant letting water in. Cut it all out with the grinder and welded a plate in.
A look at the rear brakes revealed a snapped handbrake cable, leaky wheel cylinders, worn brake shoes, so the whole lot was replaced. The front end needed a pair of cv gaiters and a leaky shock. New pads and discs were fitted and new stabiliser links, and bottom ball joints too mainly as they were looking a bit old and it was going to end up as my daily driver. Parts cost peanuts using ebay and discount codes for GSF and Eurocar parts. Think the total spend on parts came to less than a hundred quid so not much in the grand scheme of things.
It was put in for an mot and sailed through with good emmisions and no advisories. Trundling back and forwards to work stuck in traffic and she returns 45 mpg alot better than the modern Fiat Grande punto I also owned. Then one day whilst scouring ebay I found a genuine Citroen door skin for the damaged door. I also managed to purchase a complete door in the wrong colour around the same time. I decided I wanted to keep the car original and reskin the original door, a job I'd never done before. When the complete door arrived it turned out to have loads of small dents and a dodgy coat of paint so repairing the original door was a no brainer. Slung the replacement door on, an easy job as Citroen's of this era use a plug in door wiring loom meaning no wiring to strip out. Broke out the angle grinder and gently ground the edges off the door skin and peeled it off leaving a rot free frame.
Placed the new skin over the frame and spent a nerve racking couple of hours with a door skinning hammer and dolly bending all the flanges over. trying to turn the flange over around the window aperture was a nightmare as the was so little metal to hit but I was pretty pleased how it turned out in the end.
Got some paint mixed up, and dropped the door over to a mate that restores minis for a living and paid him to paint it for me. Whilst I was waiting for the door to be painted I managed to pick up a rough set of Saxo VTS/R alloys and gave them a quick clean up and fitted them. Then got the call the door was ready and went and collected it. Fitted the door and the paint match, as expected, wasn't perfect due to the badly faded paint.
Then made the decision that I much prefered driving this than the modern Punto so flogged the Punto, cleared the finance and with the few hundred quid left wisely invested it in a pug 206 estate with the roughest interior none to man! A quick change of interior and it made a great back up car incase the citroen had any fail to proceeds.
Went away for a weekend to Norfork, a picture to prove to my doomsayer friend s to prove it got there and a beautiful sunset near Hunstanton.
And the sunset that made the weekend worthwhile.
The weekend away got cut short due to my back giving out yet again. So a painful trip home, thank god for the comfy armchair seats in the ZX. A quick trip to A&E and on a waiting list to see the specialist with yet another spine problem.
So fed up to my hind teeth with doing nothing I decided to tackle the flat paintwork today. I'd already brought a polishing mop and had some G3 in the cupboard. A few hours later after a good mopping and polishing she looks like this. Just need to get the door rubbing strip refitted now. To say I'm pleased is an under statement.
Future jobs are to get the seats properly cleaned as they look a little grimy, and fix the drivers door strip back on properly. I have a set of 14" steels I'm painting white with Berlingo centre caps to go on when I can afford some new tyres. Then just keep driving it and enjoying it.
Repairs started to get it roadworthy and through another mot. The car itself was very solid and rustfree except for a dodgy looking seam in the drivers footwell. Further poking and investigation revealed a hole, this had been caused by someone jacking it up in the wrong place denting the floor and cracking the sealant letting water in. Cut it all out with the grinder and welded a plate in.
A look at the rear brakes revealed a snapped handbrake cable, leaky wheel cylinders, worn brake shoes, so the whole lot was replaced. The front end needed a pair of cv gaiters and a leaky shock. New pads and discs were fitted and new stabiliser links, and bottom ball joints too mainly as they were looking a bit old and it was going to end up as my daily driver. Parts cost peanuts using ebay and discount codes for GSF and Eurocar parts. Think the total spend on parts came to less than a hundred quid so not much in the grand scheme of things.
It was put in for an mot and sailed through with good emmisions and no advisories. Trundling back and forwards to work stuck in traffic and she returns 45 mpg alot better than the modern Fiat Grande punto I also owned. Then one day whilst scouring ebay I found a genuine Citroen door skin for the damaged door. I also managed to purchase a complete door in the wrong colour around the same time. I decided I wanted to keep the car original and reskin the original door, a job I'd never done before. When the complete door arrived it turned out to have loads of small dents and a dodgy coat of paint so repairing the original door was a no brainer. Slung the replacement door on, an easy job as Citroen's of this era use a plug in door wiring loom meaning no wiring to strip out. Broke out the angle grinder and gently ground the edges off the door skin and peeled it off leaving a rot free frame.
Placed the new skin over the frame and spent a nerve racking couple of hours with a door skinning hammer and dolly bending all the flanges over. trying to turn the flange over around the window aperture was a nightmare as the was so little metal to hit but I was pretty pleased how it turned out in the end.
Got some paint mixed up, and dropped the door over to a mate that restores minis for a living and paid him to paint it for me. Whilst I was waiting for the door to be painted I managed to pick up a rough set of Saxo VTS/R alloys and gave them a quick clean up and fitted them. Then got the call the door was ready and went and collected it. Fitted the door and the paint match, as expected, wasn't perfect due to the badly faded paint.
Then made the decision that I much prefered driving this than the modern Punto so flogged the Punto, cleared the finance and with the few hundred quid left wisely invested it in a pug 206 estate with the roughest interior none to man! A quick change of interior and it made a great back up car incase the citroen had any fail to proceeds.
Went away for a weekend to Norfork, a picture to prove to my doomsayer friend s to prove it got there and a beautiful sunset near Hunstanton.
And the sunset that made the weekend worthwhile.
The weekend away got cut short due to my back giving out yet again. So a painful trip home, thank god for the comfy armchair seats in the ZX. A quick trip to A&E and on a waiting list to see the specialist with yet another spine problem.
So fed up to my hind teeth with doing nothing I decided to tackle the flat paintwork today. I'd already brought a polishing mop and had some G3 in the cupboard. A few hours later after a good mopping and polishing she looks like this. Just need to get the door rubbing strip refitted now. To say I'm pleased is an under statement.
Future jobs are to get the seats properly cleaned as they look a little grimy, and fix the drivers door strip back on properly. I have a set of 14" steels I'm painting white with Berlingo centre caps to go on when I can afford some new tyres. Then just keep driving it and enjoying it.