[NOW ON EBAY] 1997 Citroen AX 1.0 - VTS swap

Been a while since I uploaded but I have some progress to report. Its not running yet but I'm not far off.

Firstly I have stripped down the front end and cut the slam panel to fit the much larger VTS radiator. I painted it all while the bumper was off too. All thats needed to finish the water side of things is a larger bottom hose, which is in the post.





As you can see I've also added the induction kit and an OMP strut brace. I have fitted a heatwrapped 421 mani as well but I forgot to take a picture.

Yesterday I fitted the uprated fuel pump into the AX housing. You can't just use a whole VTS pump as the housings are different



I picked up some cheap bucket seats for now, they arent particularly pretty but they will do to get it on the road



I fitted the smaller alternator off the 8v model, as the 16v would pretty much be resting on the rad. I had to use the 8v bottom pulley as the belt is much narrower



And that is pretty much it at the moment. The only major thing to do before getting this started is converting the engine loom, and given that we are now in lockdown it seems the perfect time to get into that.

Stay safe everyone 👍

Will any of Colin Satchells kit fit? For instance a Satch shift kit?

www.satchellengineering.co.uk/gear-linkages/106-saxo-satchshift.html

Another thought, if you go for stiffer springs (it'll look baller a few inches lower too) I'd thoroughly recommend spring coil for custom springs.

If you get a cage in it then the first thing I'd be doing after that would be cutting all the strengthening out of the doors and boot to lighten those right up... so much potential here!

And then.... www.plastics4performance.com/window-kits-windscreens/citroen-ax-lexan-full-window-kit.html

Great project and a clean, honest looking AX.
That will be great fun when finished, I agree with the steels, they look better.

And as for lowering it more, I'm going to have to get coilovers to fill the maxi kit properly. These are all non essential things for me atm though. Getting it running has my full focus first.

The word 'custom' scares the curse word out of my wallet, but I'll definitely look into it 😂 I'm not particularly interested in formal competition so I'll find a balance between cost and necessity. And I'm based in South Wales.

Someone sent me a link to your 2CV a week or so ago, it was featured on the Hillclimb Monsters page on facebook, its funny that you should comment on my thread.

Small update today. Fitted the oil catch can and breather hoses. Also got a nice looking ECU cover.

Just received a heat gun and some wrap in the post so will be making a start on the engine loom asap

A great project indeed!

It's always been a conversion I've wanted to be seen to be done. A base spec AX taken up to a VTS/GTi spec.

I had my 106 GTi back in the day and I did love that car! It was a shonky example but it went very well! It was not what you'd call a quiet with a decatted Janspeed exhaust!

Anyway,

Loving the white wheels and the engine ; that looks to have a JP4 head on it, over the earlier J4RS heads used on the VTS and 106 GTi.

A few things however, and hopefully they won't be taken the wrong way .

-I'd revisit putting on the VTS or a Rallye rear beam. The torsion bars at the back will be very soft on the stock beam (and missing an ARB) to the VTS springs you have up front, which I can personally say from experience can lead to understeer (I did the same thing on my 205 GTI ; It had much stiffer springs up front; it's a trap many fall into). How you change the spring rates up front will affect the torsion bars at the rear ; the torsion bar is basically a flat spring anyway if you think about it. I don't think your stock beam will have an ARB fitted in it either, which a VTR and VTS beam will have. From memory, the VTS beam had the stiffest torsion bars, with the Rallyes having the stiffest ARBs. ; It's a while since I saw this information however.

-it would be worth checking the top mounts and possibly investigating whether you can drill the strut mounting tops to accept a VTS top mount. I say that as on the Saxo/106s, there are 4 holes there for a reason. 3 of the top mount studs go into a certain position for the PAS models and then they go into another position for the non-PAS models ; the Haynes manual shows this very clearly. This basically changes the caster and thus the overall feel of the car. If you are going on trackdays, caster will become your friend, both in terms of the self-centreing effect of the steering wheel, but also high speed stability, where the steering will be way less nervous due to increased caster. Obviously the steering weight will go up due to increased castor, but a PAS conversion can be investigated later to see if the steering weight is manageable as it is ; I suspect it will be.

The caster may be OK now as it is, but again, that needs investigating, which IME quite a few people who write the guides up rarely do, as I've found out myself in the past.

Great project and it will be good to see this finished .

Aa used to have a ax tzx 1.4 loved it blew the box up on it and only one a could find was a 1lt was very nippy but flat out very quickly ad love a vts powered one may be after abe done this.merc haha well done keep the good work up looks awesome