1991 Citroen BX - 07/07 - End of the Road

[Deleted]

Previous life story: www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=11244


Since everything is all in line to get the car to me on Wednesday I thought maybe I should fill up a bit of time by starting a thread on it, even though I don't have it yet. Up until very recently I've had a Maestro as my daily and while it's been a reliable little donkey of a car, it's not kind to my back and it falls short of some of my needs in a car, such as load carrying, so I needed to replace it with something. I was planning to stick with BL and get a Maxi or an Allegro estate to keep my Princess company but then I noticed the advert for a stripey BX which I've had an eye on for a while and with the price it was offered at I thought it would be foolish not to.

I'm under no illusion that the the car is anything other than in need of some TLC, but the history available about it online reassures me that the work needed isn't beyond what I can do and afford and that the car is perfectly rescuable for what I need. I don't do huge mileage every year, but I do have a few long distance runs so I should have the luxury of time to work through the various issues with the car.

My primary concerns are getting the car's niggles resolved as quickly as I can, particularly as it might need to do a couple of quite long distance runs soon after me getting it. Then I'll turn my attention to the bodywork and get that rear corner sorted out, it's not severe enough to scare me off and it looks like a relatively straight forward repair.

Other than that, I'll be cleaning it to within an inch of its life, because that's what I do when I get any car. It will probably get some Saab three spokes and it may or may not get a bit of extra black on the back end, but mostly I plan to keep it as Citroen intended because the BX is a very good looking car to begin with. Something a bit like this.


This will be the first diesel car I've owned, but not the first I've driven. I think my expectations are realistic about comfort, handling and power and compared to a late 'Ledbury' Maestro (Google it) it should be positively refined. The important thing to note is that I've wanted a BX since the nineties but never thought I'd be in a position to own one. Okay, so I wanted a black hatchback with red trim and a white estate is about as far away from that as you can get while still being a BX, but that doesn't matter to me so much as I will, very soon, be the unfeasibly proud owner of a BX and will have realised a childhood dream.

[Battles]

Love those three spokes on it. Which is funny 'cause I never really liked them on Saabs.
They'll highlight the angles on the BX, great idea.

[qwerty]

BX estates are strangely good looking cars. Once you've removed the stripes it'll look a lot better! Looking forward to seeing this thread progress. I always enjoy your enthusiasm and willingness to get stuck in.

[Deleted]

childhood dream to own a bx.. haha Like your style

I had a strange hankering after a bright orange mk1 metro myself.. ;D

Love the photochop of how its going to look too . Hope you can pull it off.
Ill be watching

[gt]

i 've had a good few bx's and they are a great car providing the spheres and in good condition the ride is amazing, they don't call them a magic carpet ride for nothing
it's worth checked the condition of the LHM in the reservoir as this can damage the hydraulics if neglected, it just be a very bright green almost florescent, if not it will need flushing and changing.

[RobMorris]

I remember my mum having one as a kid - I called it the space ship! i thought it was super cool!
I slightly wet corner caught my mum out one day and without ABS it slid straight into a parked car at about 10mph.. It was a write off! (The other car didnt even have a scratch!?)

[VIP]

Citroens, particularly the BX because of the rear arch design, are very ET/width sensitive.

Do plenty of research before committing to the Saab 3-spokes, as they tend not to be cheap.

Rich would be your best man for advice here.

[VND]

they're lovely cars. Odd driving position though. My drivers seat had a combined "raise/lower/tilt" function. So it only adjusted diagonally. Didnt have it long, but it was full of character, punchy, comfortable and frugal. Think a TD version is on my list of cars to own.

Good luck with it, looks like nice wibblepoo under the juniorschool fingerpainting.

[BenzBoy]

Is this Ian / Dollywobbler's old BX? It must be - there can't be two green stripey Citroen BX's in the world! ;D

Nice quirky cars, these Citroens. I'd like a GTI one!

[Deleted]

gt: It may need an LHM flush, I'm not sure as I've not seen that bit yet. I've got to go over the whole system and check for any things that need refreshing and replacing to get it back into tip top mechanical order.

VIP: The offsets between Saab and Citroen are different, but not by a huge margin. I shan't make any definite decisions on wheels until I've measured the clearances properly. The Polo had similar issues with the rear arch clearances due to the flat top shape.

BenzBoy: It is indeed. It being his car is one of the big reasons I was convinced it's worth a punt as he's been honest about pretty much all the problems the car has. I'm sure to find more problems, it is an old French car after all.

[rebel2cv]

i knew of this with its previous owner (as you sometimes do with fellow 2cvers) i did keep up to date when he had it, be nice to see how it develops! Keeping the stripes i hope?

[macp]

Looking forward to how this thread develops

[Deleted]

Rebel: I'm probably getting rid of the stripes, some of it out of necessity so that I can repair that rear quarter. I shan't totally eliminate the green tiger aspect, it will live on in some form, I've just not decided exactly how yet.

[mirafioriman]

Great buy! They are superb cars. Comfortable, great to drive, economical and they have a superb load carrying ability (helped by the self levelling).

Sooo much better than a Maestro!

[kf576]

Looks sick original

[trigger]

A zillion times better then the Maestro, now you've got rid of it I don't feel so bad for saying it!.

[Deleted]

I only really ended up with the Maestro as a car to do a job, it was the right price and the right car at the time I got it. My situation changed, and so did my needs but boy, was I ever glad to see the back of it! After the last long trip to Lincolnshire and back I just didn't want to get back in the car again and drive it, I completely fell out of love with it (not that I was ever in love with it) and really, desperately needed something better suited. Funny how things work out.

[Rich]

Feb 10, 2013 14:33:15 GMT @volksangyl said:

gt: It may need an LHM flush, I'm not sure as I've not seen that bit yet. I've got to go over the whole system and check for any things that need refreshing and replacing to get it back into tip top mechanical order.

VIP: The offsets between Saab and Citroen are different, but not by a huge margin. I shan't make any definite decisions on wheels until I've measured the clearances properly. The Polo had similar issues with the rear arch clearances due to the flat top shape.

BenzBoy: It is indeed. It being his car is one of the big reasons I was convinced it's worth a punt as he's been honest about pretty much all the problems the car has. I'm sure to find more problems, it is an old French car after all.

On the 'replace parts' front, I'd fix what's broken, get RAC cover and drive it. Although a lot of parts are available from the dealers, they don't come in cheap enough to warrant going 'errmahgaad all the LHM hoses plzkaithanxbai' also some parts are NFP on the citroen system like the return octopus, stuff like that. Spheres, pumps and strut return pipes are all available cheap from AEP Direct, so worth a google on that front (on my phone otherwise I'd link)
Chances are you'll have a vacuum return hose fall off from time so keep some LHM in a bottle in the scuttle recess and some nylon pipe and t and straight joiner pieces in the boot along with small cable ties. Got me out of trouble a few times.

Your best bet wheel wise is something from the PSA group. They won't take more than 6.5" wheels on the rear, less if the arm bearings are on their last. My c5 alloys have spacers on now so they don't touch the inner arch because of the dreaded arm camber.

I saw you wanted to run it on veg, make sure it doesn't have a Lucas pump. I'm sure you are aware of that but just checking

Finally, what problems?! (Aside from anything LHM related, the glovebox hinges breaking and the speedo stopping working ) everything on mine works as it should. Everything*. Sunroof doesn't even leak

*rear arm bearings not included ;D

[grifterkid]

an interesting car for a truly interesting person... This thread is going to be a corker...!!!

I have always liked the BX's and the rarity of them nowadays means that keeping one going is heroic.

I look forward to seeing what wheel choice you make Volks, BX's look the nuts on the right set of rims...

Let battle commence

[Baby Cheeses]

I once bought a Maxi as I needed to move things, great car for getting things in but a bad car for moving specially when there was a hint of dampness in the air. BX Ive never owned but i never heard anyone say anything bad about them and they look good