Flynn
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 143 
Club RR Member Number: 166
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Aug 18, 2019 16:21:25 GMT
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Good day,
My old terribly brown Jaguar XJ6 series 2 is sold and gone - leaving some good memories and a large hole in my personal finances. I am having a bit of a rethink on car strategy as I get older (and wiser... Maybe?!) - I am heading towards cutting back to three cars in the longer term, which will be split something like this:
- Something TAX and MOT exempt to prod about with and enjoy as a total hobby car - I like the idea of a Riley RM or something similar. Currently this role is fulfilled with my MG BGT, which I really like and am in no hurry to move on but yeah, I fancy something a bit older.
- A reasonably modern 4x4 - I live out in the sticks and so every once in a while a four wheel drive is very handy and with the seats down, they are big estate car sized and still allowed in the local council rubbish tip. Role currently filled by a 10 year old TDV8 Range Rover which is lovely but a right pig to work on.
- An interesting, comfortable, reasonably economic daily driver - This is where the Citroen slots in.
So a bit of back story - I've got a thing for wafty, comfortable cars. My mum had a Citroen Xantia for most of my formative years and before that a Peugeot 405, so I grew up in French cars and have a real soft spot for them. I had been thinking of selling my Jag on and getting something a bit newer and French for a while, I had a list in my mind of what I wanted and every so often would search eBay and the likes to see if anything looked promising. I would flip between Peugeot 405/505/605/309 and Citroen XM/Xantia/BX/ZX but all of these are surprisingly sparse these days.
It was a few days after I had sold the Jag and with garage space and cash in hand, my search really heated up. I found a BX that looked ideal, a TZD which was a decent trim level in its day, as far as I know. It was black, had what looked like Peugeot Rallye steel wheels, no MOT and was cheap - perfect I thought! I got talking to the guy selling and we agreed a price, 2 days later it was paid for and being delivered to my house. Here it is 5 minutes after being dropped off:
First impressions are very good, it is remarkably solid and the bodywork isn't too shabby for it's age and what I paid for it. It runs fine (yet to drive it anywhere other than up the drive though!), the hydropneumatic system appears to work and doesn't leak all over the place (I currently know very little about the inner workings of this and I am looking forward to getting stuck in and learning it).The chap selling it said he'd bought it to relive his glory days when he had a BX GTi however, he took on other projects and this BX had just sat in his garden for about a year. It looks like an enthusiast has owned it at some point and has fitted some curious extras:
A coolant out temp gauge - a nice idea but execution somewhat flawed, in fairness it does actually work.
A whole test lamp used as a pipe block.
Interesting third brake light.
And some pretty standard tow bar electrics - I've seen worse that were 'professionally' installed.
Speaking of the tow bar, it had to go unfortunately, I had planned to keep it on there as a form of rudimentary park distance control but it completely obstructed the spare wheel carrier and seeing as I intend on keeping the Range Rover, another tow car isn't required. If anyone needs a tow bar for a BX, I've got one that is free to a good home!
I've spent some time today giving it a clean up to see what I've got and the interior has come up pretty well!
List of work to do at the moment is
- new tyres (ever heard of the tyre brand Mohawk?) because they are all from 2010 and I think all different too. I think I'll take the opportunity to have the wheels powder coated - sticking with the gunmetal colour though.
- New windscreen - current one has a full width crack.
- A thorough engine service.
- Stick it in for MOT and see what they say!
So that's it so far, I have owned it since Friday and am really looking forward to pressing it in to service over the next couple of weeks.
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Last Edit: Aug 18, 2019 16:27:16 GMT by Flynn
1971 MGB GT
1983 Daimler Sovereign 4.2
1999 Jaguar XJR
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Aug 18, 2019 19:32:41 GMT
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I don’t post on here often but that car is worth making the effort!
I love it!
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slacky
Part of things
Posts: 479
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Aug 18, 2019 19:43:20 GMT
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As said above , nice car , with great MPG I imagine;
watching for further updates 👍
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Audi 90q - Cab - UrS6 - 80 Sport
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Aug 18, 2019 19:52:18 GMT
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A BX is always a welcome sight! And yours does look very solid indeed.
Your grab handles caught my attention! I've only ever had static fixed ones in my BX's, didn't even know they used this fancy type in them!
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Aug 18, 2019 22:14:55 GMT
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Nice Bx!, I've had a few and still have a tgd, and an xm estate. I'm interested in the towbar, where abouts are you please?
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1992 Citroen zx
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gryphon
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 330
Club RR Member Number: 157
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Aug 18, 2019 22:45:54 GMT
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I love these. My Dad had two when I was around 10. He hated them  His ones did like springing leaks though... I have fond memories of digging holes under the car to get a jack underneath it - when the fluid finds its way out a BX will happily out-low any slammed MX5 scene-boi.  Possibly worth investing in one of those inflatable car jacks you connect to the exhaust pipe? Looking forward to this one, good luck with it.
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Last Edit: Aug 18, 2019 22:46:50 GMT by gryphon
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Flynn
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 143
Club RR Member Number: 166
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Aug 26, 2019 16:34:37 GMT
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Evening all, Thanks for the comments. My progress has been annoyingly slow so far - I have a couple of good excuses for this, primarily because I have been rather ill with a chest infection so any work on cars stopped for about a week whilst I lay in bed feeling DEAD. Just about got over that and then the clutch on my MG shat the bed and so I've been fixing that, realising I need parts which I don't have, so then turning my attention to my Range Rover so that I have a car to get me to work and back ok for the next few days whilst the parts turn up for the MG. In the mean time I have transferred my insurance policy on to the BX which you would think would be either pretty much instant online, or 2 minutes over the phone. Well no, apparently Flux Direct has been sold off recently, in the move my policy details got lost so it made everything take a while longer and it still appears to be broken because the windscreen claim I have put in, to replace the cracked windscreen, is taking ages because the windscreen people can't verify my policy. Eurgh, turns out you get what you pay for. I think I'll try Lancaster Insurance next time, I have my MG insured with them and everything has been much easier. Anyway, I have done a few quick jobs on the BX, namely number plates (the front was damaged enough to be an MOT fail), and for no extra charge I was able to choose a silly slogan to have written at the bottom, I went for a Citroen centenary celebration!  ![]() Also, I had a brief test drive and discovered pretty quickly that the rear lower engine mount, which controls the twisting motion of the engine, was shot to bits, felt like the engine was going to flip over and fall out. To replace it for a new OEM bush is a driveshaft out job which I didn't really fancy right now so, I measured up and found that the dimensions were the same as most Peugeot/Citroen cars of this era and so bought a two piece polyurethane replacement for a Peugeot 306. After hacking the old knackered bush to bits and pounding it out of the housing, the new poly bush fits nice and snug and is red, so obviously the car must be faster now.  Yeah that about covers it so far, the next update in a couple of weeks should include a new windscreen, new tyres and an MOT certificate! I notice that so far I haven't included a shot of the front end, which is a shame as this car is a handsome old thing, so here it is:  Good day. |
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1971 MGB GT
1983 Daimler Sovereign 4.2
1999 Jaguar XJR
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Aug 26, 2019 17:19:46 GMT
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That looks great, I really do like these and XM's. The wheels really suit it too.
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village
Part of things
Always carries a toolbox. Because Volkswagen.......
Posts: 567
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Aug 27, 2019 17:08:17 GMT
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Bookmarked because BX!
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"The White Van is strong with this one...."
Chris "Chesney" Allen 1976-2005 RIP
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Aug 28, 2019 15:36:39 GMT
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Ooh nice  NA diesel? If so, mine's taken me around 7000 miles at less than £2 per mile, including fuel, parts and the initial purchase price! Better ride than my Jag too (although the red paint is definitely pink by now...). |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
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Aug 28, 2019 17:31:34 GMT
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Ooh nice NA diesel? I think the ‘T’ in TZD means turbo. |
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Aug 28, 2019 18:01:56 GMT
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Bookmarked for the BX love. Nearly bought one as a more interesting diesel to replace my 9-5 but I was too cowardly to trust it with 20k miles a year.
This looks a cracker. Bodywork seems very straight.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Aug 28, 2019 19:05:23 GMT
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I drove a bx with 315k on once. My own bx had done 80 k in one year according to the service history. Those xud diesels are really strong.
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Aug 28, 2019 21:23:24 GMT
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that is a rather natty shade of polybush, i think you are right that red is the fastest bush colour
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Aug 29, 2019 22:55:36 GMT
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Ooh nice NA diesel? I think the ‘T’ in TZD means turbo. I thought so too, but mine's a TZD and it's painfully NA (not too bad really, but not exactly a rocketship) |
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Flynn
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 143
Club RR Member Number: 166
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Sept 27, 2019 23:19:51 GMT
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Evening all, Yes to confirm, this is the almighty turbo charged variant. So a few more weeks have passed and I am afraid that I have precious little to report other than a few minor jobs completed and a bit of bad news. I finally got the windscreen replaced and it is nothing short of a revelation, having a new windscreen makes it feel like you're peering out of a brand new car. The chap who came to do the job was reassuringly old and experienced and during the course of the replacement introduced me to the phrase 'my teeth are floating' when referring to a level of desperation when needing a wee. Engine service completed but I am holding off from the horror of a cambelt change just yet, I have already completed my annual quota for transverse engine cambelt changes in that I changed the belt and water pump on my wife's Renault Modus in July, which is great for peace of mind, not so good for the skin on my knuckles though. When I get halfway through grotty jobs like that I always toy with the idea of just taking the engine out of the car, which would give me chance to spruce the engine bay up whilst its empty and would give me the luxury of all the room I want to do a lovely job of a cam belt change. Maybe one day. Not today though. Yes, with the engine service completed, I took the wheels off the car and sent them away to have the tyres removed and binned and the rims shot blasted and powder coated. I went for essentially the same colour as they were before as I think it really suited the car. The finish on them now is brilliant, there is nothing like a fresh bit of paint to cheer up a set of wheels.  I think this car is probably going to be a keeper for a little while atleast so I've treated it to some decent tyres. Oh, and a new set of Citroen van centre caps.  I could see from the old tyres that the nearside rear wheel had some pretty extreme negative camber going on. I did a bit of research and reading and it seems that the rear arm bearings are a common failure item, I ordered up a full axle set of bearing replacement parts and had a look at a few guides online from people who had tackled the job before. My only experience with French rear suspension prior to this was doing a similar job on the rear axle of a Peugeot 206 and it was a total nightmare to get it all apart. Given that this car is getting on for 30 years old now and with the added complication of the hydro-pneumatic system I was a little nervous about how the rear arm bearing replacement might go on the BX but I needn't have worried, it was a nice easy job and clearly needed doing! Here is what was left of one of the bearings:  It had been left for so long that the bearing housing in the arm had started to be worn away but thankfully, there was still enough material there that I could dress it back with a small file and still make a good fit for the outer seal. The picture below is the other end but you get the idea.  The rear arm job took me a couple of hours, music on, enjoying myself, looking forward to booking an MOT, passing MOT and then starting to use the car as my daily transport. HOWEVER! Whilst I was under there I got busy with a screwdriver pokey stick and found some bits of rust that I assume an MOT tester would be interested in...  Yeah ok fine, kind of expected it and pretty straightforward to deal with.  Well that is less than ideal. This brings us up to date and this is my latest excuse in the delays to getting this car back on the road, to do a proper job here I will have to get the rear axle off the car, which in itself is not a problem but for the last few weeks, I have been slowly tackling a number of truly horrible jobs on our most modern car to get it MOT ready, doing that has been hogging precious ramp time but that work is now at an end, so at some point this weekend I intend to make a start on the BX rust repairs. If anyone reading this has taken the complete rear axle assembly off a BX and can share some tips, do let me know! Hopefully on the next update, it'll have an MOT and be in use as my daily transport, give me a few weeks and we'll see! |
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1971 MGB GT
1983 Daimler Sovereign 4.2
1999 Jaguar XJR
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Flynn
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 143
Club RR Member Number: 166
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Sept 27, 2019 23:22:24 GMT
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Oh and one more picture, newly painted wheels with new tyres on a now very dusty car!  |
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1971 MGB GT
1983 Daimler Sovereign 4.2
1999 Jaguar XJR
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,284
Club RR Member Number: 146
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Sept 28, 2019 0:26:57 GMT
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Hooray, more BXs! I trust you've already checked the front inner arches and found them good. Looks a lovely thing all over and those freshly spruced up wheels really do suit it, give it a very different look to the usual trims or alloys, in a good way.
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Sept 28, 2019 9:11:28 GMT
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that looks quite smart on 106 rallye steels, would highly recommend binning that poly lower mount for a standard one, they're horrible and have a tendency to fall to bits.
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Flynn
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 143
Club RR Member Number: 166
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Sept 28, 2019 14:54:35 GMT
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Hello again,
Vulgalour - Yes, after finding that corrosion I had a good poke around elsewhere but what is pictured above seems to be the worst of it, the only other corrosion to note is the drivers door which is pretty scabby but that looks like it has been subject to a poor standard repaint in the past which hasn't helped it.
Welshpug - Thanks for the tip, I haven't driven the car more than a couple of miles so far, so in a way, I look forward to finding out! I take it that your advice is from bitter experience?
Well in other news, the Range Rover that was hogging the ramp passed an MOT this morning and only needs a few more fettling jobs until I call it finished for now, so I'll be making a start on the BX rust repairs tomorrow.
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1971 MGB GT
1983 Daimler Sovereign 4.2
1999 Jaguar XJR
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Possibly worth investing in one of those inflatable car jacks you connect to the exhaust pipe?
NA diesel?
