1991 Citroën BX TZD - Potentially my perfect commuter car

[rickygolf83]

Lovely looking car!

I didnt really pay much attention to the bx back in the day, but the more I read about them, the more I am keeping an eye on the classifieds for them now!

Not a lot about though!

[matfenwick]

Sept 27, 2019 23:19:51 GMT Flynn said:

If anyone reading this has taken the complete rear axle assembly off a BX and can share some tips, do let me know!

Yes, it makes life easier if you jack the rear end up and support it under the towbar...oh, wait :-(

Failing that you can put a scaffold pole through the metal pressings which hang down vertically under the rear, and axle stands under that. Well worth checking and/or replacing the 4 front to rear hydraulic pipes if there's any doubt over their condition, as they run over the top of the rear axle assembly and dropping that to replace them is the biggest part of the job. If they still have the original black plastic coated pipes they are probably on borrowed time (they hide their condition well) but may well have been done already.

[Flynn]

Evening all,

So, I have been chipping away at this for a while now. I got the rear axle assembly removed from the car. Doing this wasn't anywhere near as horrible as I thought it was going to be, for a start I have the luxury of a 4 post lift in my garage. It was just exhaust removal, 4 pipe unions, the ABS sensor leads, 6 nuts and it is out:




Whilst this was out, I changed the arm bearing on the other side, so both sides are now new, I also replaced the mounts at the front end of the axle because the old ones looked like this:




Aside from the sheared off stud, the rubber bushes were shot.

Back underneath, I set to with a wire wheel and uncovered a car that was a bit crusty, rather than completely rotten as I had feared:



I cut out the worst of the rust and welded in some repair patches:





I had to do both sides in pretty much the same place. Once completed, I decided to hide it all under a product I hadn't used before, Dinitrol - so after a thoroughly unpleasant time spent cleaning all the surfaces I could get at underneath the car, I used their rust converter primer first, left that for 24 hours or so and then sprayed on their rust inhibitor stuff, called 4941. I had heard and read a lot of good things about Dinitrol so I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. I only have waxoyl to compare it to but the Dinitrol seemed to go on better and easier than Waxoyl. Dinitrol doesn't dry exactly, but it hardens off much quicker than Waxoyl, leaving a wax film behind that doesn't rub off on contact. I'd say the Dinitrol is like a better version of Waxoyl, does the same job but is better at it - which it should be given the price of the stuff!

Anyway. here is what I was left with:





Concerned about the scabby hole in the sill end on one side and the lack of a hole on the other side? Yeah, I got carried away with the rust proofing and forgot to do what I was planning to do with them, which is make them big enough for a large rubber grommet, I'll be doing that soon!

So last night I got the rear axle reinstalled, it doesn't feel quite right refitting it looking so scabby and horrible but I am trying to keep this project in perspective, ultimately this is supposed to be my cheap car, which I intend to use every day, as long as it functions correctly and is solid, looks aren't so important.



The next step was the one I was a little unsure about, bleeding through the suspension and the brakes. To those who are not aware, the suspension and brakes on a Citroen BX (and many other Citroens of the era) are part of the same system, sharing a common hydraulic fluid. It sounds mad when you read in to it but at the same time makes a lot of sense. Bleeding the brakes seemed to go very well, I had already freed off and cleaned the brake bleed nipples prior to reinstalling the rear axle, so I knew they weren't blocked up or seized in (to be fair, they needed a fair bit of heat to get them moving so I'm very glad I did this before having everything built back up!). I ran the engine, stuck the suspension on the highest setting and opened the bleed nipples, with a press of the brake pedal, fluid is pumped at pressure out of the nipples and I just let it run until I saw no more air and closed the nipples off again. I used the word 'nipples' a lot just there.

So, the car now rolls and stops again and I think is ready to have a stab at an MOT test. Wish me luck!





Various other jobs to sort:
- Refit A pillar interior trims.
- Make the stereo work (the ignition fed live came from the dash light supply, so when the dash lights are dimmed the stereo turns off!).
- Install a high level brake light (seemed like a good idea on my MGB and wouldn't hurt having one on this).
- Fix the intermittent drivers window switch (it is a fancy one with a 'one touch' function!).
- Replace the rear sections of exhaust because they are basically made of rust.

[thechadzone]

I'm oddly attracted to these, but I've never actually looked at one. They never existed here in the States, where there were no Citroens past the early 70's. The BX design is just so 80's Euro as to be super cool to look at. I'm told they're great to drive, but I'll likely never know. I've finally warmed to the French cars after years of just not getting it.

[darrenh]

metaphorically and literally solid work !

[biturbo228]

Man that's looking smart on the new wheels was going to chime in and say that I've dropped the whole rear on mine and it wasn't too tricky. Made myself a 4x2 frame to support the rear on a single jack and lowered it down for some welding.

Oh, if you have any welding to do on the boot floor or things like that then just watch the thickness of the metal. It's paper-thin compared to the Brit stuff I'm used to welding so blows through quite quickly. Clever as you don't need thick sheet in those places and it keeps the weight down, but something to consider when doing repairs

[Flynn]

matfenwick

Thanks for the tips - I took a close look at those 4 hydraulic pipes, I reckon they've been done before because they looked great, I decided I'm going to leave well alone for now. Is there anywhere you can buy those pipes as new assemblies or do you just make up what you need with appropriate pipe and new fittings?


biturbo228

The rear axle lifting frame sounds like a good idea, I was thinking of cobbling together something similar if I have to take the axle down again. I managed ok with the jacking beam and a transmission jack and some trusty bits of workshop wood but a frame that picked up on the outer extremities of the axle would've certainly made things easier for myself! Thanks for the tip about metal thickness, thankfully the only bit of serious rot I have found was those rear chassis legs, everything else seems really solid.

--

For various reasons I wasn't able to complete a proper test drive until this evening - I have just covered my first 10 miles in the car and I am really pleased with it, the ride is just what I was hoping for and is at least as comfortable as the L322 Range Rover I've been working on recently, if not a little bit more supple in fact, it is going to be just the ticket for my commute.

Adding to my list of little jobs, there is a really annoying squeak from the top of the dash on tick over, it is over and above what I deem acceptable, even of an early 90's french car so I will hope to rectify that. Also I think there is a tired bush or two somewhere on the front suspension, I couldn't see any MOT fails in there when I had a poke about but it will still need a freshen up when time and funds allow.

[vulgalour]

Dash squeaks like that tend to be the centre console. Sometimes it's as simple as the oddment tray on the top of the dash being screwed in too tight, or not tight enough.

[tonycocacola]

That is ace, not as cool as the Jag, but getting there.
There used to be loads of these kicking around, now there's hardly any.
I can only think of 3 off the top of my head. Yours, vulgalour 's and a white GTI that's local to me that pops up at shows now and again.

[Flynn]

Good day all,

tonycocacola

Will anything I own again ever be as cool as the Jag? Probably not... The new owner got in touch with me a little while ago, says it is soon going to get a full going over, paint and interior wise. Definitely went to the right home.

Anyway,

Here we are on a particularly wet and horrible Saturday afternoon, I have had an absolute nightmare with car related ballsache almost daily this week. Not that anyone is interested but I'll tell you about it all the same.

Wife's Renault Modus - discovered the evening before she was due to do 150 motorway miles the next day that it needed 2 new tyres (1 I knew about so planned to swap to the good spare and then get tyres at my leisure from tyresonthedrive, the other 1 was a nice surprise with a big slice across the sidewall) - I received a full 10 minute ear bashing from her about how lacklustre my planning and eye for detail was, it is like being married to a performance management consultant.

L322 Range Rover, as part of a large program of front suspension and driveline repairs, I had fitted a non-genuine new driveshaft which I have now discovered was 35mm too short. I found that out after it popped out of the diff on test drive, leaving me to crawl back home at 10mph. I was removing the short driveshaft back out and the front suspension air bag, for reasons known only to itself, failed and pretty much exploded in my face. I just stopped what I was doing and went inside for a cup of tea after that.

Range Rover P38 - this has been performing daily driver duties for several weeks now but on Thursday decided to start making a quite unnerving noise on idle, the engine is very tired anyway and was planned for removal and overhaul this winter but it looks like that is now going to be a necessity, still love that car though.

So now we're on to the Citroen! Which has turned all of the above trouble around for me this morning by passing the MOT test! Hooray!

I took your advice vulgalour and went to straight to the oddment tray on top of the dash, sure enough one screw was missing and the other side has been damaged so the screw wasn't holding it in place at all, with that fixed I have a nice quiet(ish) interior with the engine running.

I also adjusted the wiring for the stereo so that the ignition live was taken from somewhere sensible and not, as it was when I got to it, taken from the dash lights, which when dimmed would turn the head unit off. That aftermarket coolant temperature gauge is also now gone.

I am pretty sure the clutch slipped a little when I was going up a hill with some decent boost pressure going on but I can forgive it that for now, I'll get a few more front end jobs planned and then do it all in one weekend.

So there we are, the Citroen is on the road! So far I am in to it for a bit over £1700 which includes absolutely everything apart from insurance and fuel, not bad!

[carpartsgopher]

I don’t comment often but read a lot of threads on here, this comment really made me chuckle,’it is like being married to a performance management consultant’ I’m still laughing while type this reply😂
Lovely car by the way, like it was mentioned earlier I to didn’t used to pay much attention to these in their day but now I appreciate what a handsome thing they are.

[OAY842F]

Lovely example! I loved my BX (non turbo) - bought with 90000 on the clock, sold with about 286000 on - someone bought it for the engine... don't be afraid of the timing belt, straightforward job using appropriate size drill bits and bolts to lock all the pulleys. Just remember to take them out before turning it over... Common fault was the clutch arm - I started to do the clutch on mine - but noticed a bent arm, and once replaced the clutch was fine - same clutch all the time I owned it. The arm I got in the scrappies to replace it had already had steel rod brazed along it's length to strengthen it so it must have been a weak point.

[vulgalour]

Nice result on the MoT pass, and happy you found at least one trim rattle. Mine has started generating a dashboard rattle at precisely 62mph, but finding it is proving... tricky.

[Flynn]

Evening.

Miles covered since last entry - 150 ish.

Issues to report: Dodgy brakes.

So following the MOT success, I pressed the BX in to service almost straight away, driving about 30 miles round trip to see a family member, all was well until the first application of the brakes on the return leg of the journey - grinding metal to metal type noise.

I never had actually properly looked at the front brakes prior to this - I had given the rear brakes a good once over whilst I had the rear axle out but the front brakes seemed to work fine and after a quick glance over the suspension joints at the front end, I didn't really take another look up there. I did remember wondering why there was one front brake disc and one pair of front pads in the boot when this car arrived though...

Turns out...



Whilst over on the drivers side...



I took it all to bits expecting there to be some sinister reason why the nearside hadn't been changed but I couldn't find one, I assume the previous owner either forgot or couldn't be bothered.



Anyway, new discs and pads arrived yesterday so I got them fitted this morning and the brakes are much happier now.



Brake pad wear sensor harness on both sides I think have been rubbing away on the tyre for an extended period at some point as they are both nearly worn through - and both non-functional. I have added this to my list of repairs to do soon (you can read that as 'the list of stuff that will probably never happen').

I can't tell you just how good the ride in this car is, you need to experience it to believe it.

I'm going to have a proper look at this clutch arm this weekend following what you said OAY842F so thank you for mentioning it.

Central locking and drivers window switch are temperamental and I reckon a CV joint on the passenger side might be iffy so I'll look in to that next.

Ta ta.

[gryphon]

This is looking very nice! Unexpectedly saw it in the car park this morning and had a look around. It looks really good on those wheels. Is yours the blue MGB that's there occasionally too?

[Flynn]

Thanks gryphon yes that was also me in the MGB, the clutch failed on the way in to work several weeks ago (I had to drive 10 miles home in 2nd gear - deep joy) and it has been languishing in the garage ever since, it won't be back on the road until the spring now. I'm a creature of habit so invariably I park over in that corner, most often in my P38. If you see me climbing out of the BX or any of the below vehicles, come and say hello!

[gryphon]

I recognise both of those too! Nice collection.

I normally park in the new anpr car park now though, saves printing out a new pass for each car regularly... Also more safe 'corners' to park in.

I actually saw you as I was leaving (light blue Elise S2), would have said hi but afraid I was already running late :/

[matfenwick]

Oct 22, 2019 20:37:44 GMT Flynn said:

matfenwick

Thanks for the tips - I took a close look at those 4 hydraulic pipes, I reckon they've been done before because they looked great, I decided I'm going to leave well alone for now. Is there anywhere you can buy those pipes as new assemblies or do you just make up what you need with appropriate pipe and new fittings?

Pleiades will make up the pipes for you to the right length, as the flares are unlike any other car (because Citroen). You can get the flaring tool but it's pricy so not worth it unless you work on many - once you replaced the pipes with cupro-nickel then they should last indefinitely.
www.facebook.com/pages/category/Automotive-Repair-Shop/Pleiades-Car-Services-154368294714268/

Chevronics may do the pipes, but also useful for hard to get parts:
www.chevronics.co.uk/product-category/citroen-bx-parts/

[biturbo228]

Great to see it being used properly you're absolutely right about the ride on these things. How they get a 1000kg car to ride better than my 1800kg Jag is nothing short of witchcraft

[Spudgun]

Cracking BX you have mate.
Nice to see one more on here as they seemed to just disappear from the roads.
I have owned 6 or 7 in the last few years.
Best colour too IMHO.