Show me/educate me... Citroen AX

[MiniDan]

Hi guys,

After a few refreshments last night I've found myself the, soon to be, owner of a 1.1 Citroen AX. It was a last minute bid with the idea whilst chuckling at having a VTS engine in it. I really wasn't expecting to win the auction as there was a few previous bids and assumed someone had put a higher figure in Nether-the-less, I'm buying it unseen and having it delivered straight to me. What could go wrong?!

A mate of mine had an AX GT as his first car and I remember it to be a right laugh and was pretty rapid until about 60ish. Other than that, and that a VTS engine will go in with barely any hassle, I know nothing about them.

The plan will be to stick the VTS in, change from a three stud to four stud for braking and wheels and add a GT bodykit if I can find one along with some nice wheels

[pistonpopper]

Here's my one...



Click the pic if you want to know more about it!

Good luck with your new wheels!

[nomad]

Hope it woriks out well for you, I found our 1.5D great as a super-cheap daily (once I'd fixed the various faults)  

Follow the links in the old sales ad for build thread & roadtrips
retrorides.proboards.com/thread/153368/reg-tax-long-sunderland-sold

[flatapex]

my first car was a 93 debut 5 door, red.

petrol gage moved up and down while driving lol

[southside]

A lad near me had a 1.1 full GT replica when I was a young teenager in the early 00's. It was red, lowered on white compomotive alloys, centre exit letterbox exhaust and twin morette headlights. Always loved that car, I even asked my dad if I could buy it when he blew the engine and put a for sale sign in it for £250, but only being about 15 he said no.

[georgexs]

Here's my old one:





I really miss it, great fun on twisty b roads, not so fun on the motorway, they do feel quite flimsy.

Upgrading to 4 stud hubs is good shout, opens up a whole host of options for upgrading brakes, wheels etc.

[astranaut]

This was mine, affectionately named Toilet owing to its plate, was the most fun little car ever. Ate 2 gearboxes though and was a 5 speed, quite hard to find at the time. Thenone on the drive I picked up for £25 after finding it on a back road on it's roof and leaving a note, had a mint interior and engine having only done 27k, pushed it onto its wheels and drove it home. Gave it to my brother but the discovery of a lot of hidden rot sealed it's fate. Bought another 1.0 Dimension from the scrappy for £80, had it nearly 2 years but hydrolocked it after driving what I imagined was a puddle that turned out to be nearly 5 foot deep weighed it in for £90. Would love another one day.

[mgbizzle]

Saxo VTS's and 106 GTi's are getting thin on the ground now so it might be harder to pick up one for the conversion, but still possible if your prepared to wait or have the £££ to spend. An alternative would be to get a Saxo VTR and swap all the bits over from that.

Check for rust on the inner wings and boot floor.

Personally I wouldn't bother fitting a bodykit on it, much prefer the base spec sleeper look!

Here's my old GTi I sold last year:

[frankie78]

I had a red 1.1 Forte, they came with the GT bodykit and for a 1.1 felt pretty nippy.
It had a blacked out windows,K&N filter,nice exhaust and believe a bit of other work. I still have the original wider steels it came with as I fitted AX gt alloys.
The registration was M4 XGT or M4X GT/M AX GT if I was feeling daring.

[disastra98]

Learnt to drive in a poverty spec AX. Had a squeaky clutch pedal and every lesson my instructor would comment on how it
needed a deb of oil, never got it done though.

[79cord]

Seeing pictures with black GTi kits just made me want to see them painted




But I love the original Citroen rear arch on this with the hi-light 'stripe' to show it off






forgot about this roadster showcar

[frankie78]

I believe those AX Sports were a 1300 with twin carbs and lower ratios.

[jamesv]

Jan 12, 2017 14:21:26 GMT frankie78 said:

I believe those AX Sports were a 1300 with twin carbs and lower ratios.

Pretty Much Spot on, my Stepfather has one which he purchased new in Spain in 1991, he still has it now, basically a no frills AX GT (no alloys, basic interior, though same seats, no elec windows, central locking etc). The poor thing has about 240,000km on it now (he used to live in Spain and teach int he UK for 6 months of the year, so it did mega miles) and lives in the barn in their place in France now, he'll never sell it!

I used it for a few months back in the late 90's when my head gasket blew on my Mk2 GTI, quite a fun little car, and suprisingly quick.

[deanflowers]

I love this story about the diesel AX and its crazy french owner who wanted to do a sub 10 minute run on the nurbergring:

www.autoblog.com/2014/01/30/diesel-citroen-nurburgring-lap-amazing/

there are a number of different write ups about it online

[skinnylew]

I'll wade in here and throw a few bits in the mixing pot. Currently I own 4 Ax's. My GTi turbo, a mk1 GT track car, a mk1 GT5, and a 1.4 Forte. They are super fun as standard and even more so with 4 stud and Saxo running gear.
The axownersclub went to Holland and the Nordschliefe last summer and had a blast. I went round in sub 10 minutes in a vts engined throttle bodied beast, and the vts turbo ax got banned after one lap for registering 140db! That thing flies like you wouldn't believe, 170+mph on the Autobahn with the bodied vts hitting 150ish and mine was lagging behind clocking 135ish.

Sky is the limit with mods, I'm £0000's into mine and around 175bhp when working well, Tb'd vts is 178bhp but so useable and the turbo vts is 250-300bhp and being built to 350-400

I will post some pics when I switch to my laptop in a bit

[skinnylew]

My virgin lap of the Nurburgring, Martin owner of the turbo Ax driving the throttle bodied VTS.

[ettorebugatti]

Another 16V AX on the ring

[MiniDan]

Cheers for the input guys.

Not long now Deleivery is all set for Monday.

I've read conflicting information regarding the differences between the VTR ans VTS engines. I know there's approx (depending on year) 20bhp difference to them, but is it really that different being in an AX?

Also, I'm led to believe the 1.1 gearbox I'll have on the car will bolt onto the VTR/VTS engine. Is this the case? I'm not to fussed about top end speed, I have my Saab for that, I want traffic light Grand Prix hilarity

Skinnylew: I think I'll be subscribing to the AXOC 👍🏻

[astranaut]

I smashed 2 1.1 gearboxes with a standard 1.1 engine, I don't think they are too strong

[ruffgeezer]

I never broke a gearbox on an ax and I had around about 30 of them!

I currently have a red forte vts and the remains of a 5dr vtr the build thread for which is in my signature.