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'91 BX Estate - 06/07 - End of the Road


vulgalour

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We need to come up with some arrangement whereby I drive over in the BX, remove all the things I need including those much better rear quarters, load them into my BX and drive home after giving you cash. Until my pedal box is fixed I'm grounded, obviously, but it looks like there's some good stuff for me to snaffle there.

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Five and a half hours of cleaning and fettling today and I've still got a very long way to go. First job was to attempt removal of the pedal box.

 

Removed these two bolts.

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Then there's two more allen bolts that I don't know if I'm supposed to remove or not, I can't get my allen keys or screwdriver heads to get enough purchase to remove them so I'm hoping they can stay put. So... I'm a bit stuck on this one as I can't find instructions online and the Haynes manual is next to useless. I shall be asking on the BX forum too.

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Put the dashboard back together so I don't lose any bits and gave the driver's area a proper scrub, vacuum and clean. Still have to repair and shampoo the seat, but it's good enough.

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Turned my attention to the outside after that, starting with scrubbing the rear bumper with a stiff brush and some Cillit Bang that has listed 'wheel rims' as one of the cleaning uses. It's very good.

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Gave the front wing and door a claybar workover, being able to put the suspension to where I want it makes those lower areas much easier to work on.

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There's one or two dents appearing on the bodywork as I work through it as is to be expected, but they are difficult to photograph.

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Suspension down to do the roof, best gadget ever.

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The whole roof has black tree sap spots on it. This comes off with the claybar and G3 just like everything else. I need to get some tar remover for the stubborn bits lower down the bodywork. I did get a good portion of the roof done.

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I can't quite shift this bit of muck, I need to figure out how to do it.

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I'm also not sure what to do about this damage to the fibreglass, can it just be sanded back and touched in like you would on stonechips?

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Getting there, it's going to take a while to get everything tip-top but it will get there.

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You'll need to have those allen bolts out to get it off I reckon, Halfords do set that go on a 3/8 ratchet, that or buy the 150 piece kit that is on offer at the moment, best £100 that you can do on tools IMHO.

 

If you do want just the rail I can get them at trade price.

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It barely looks like the same car Angyl, good work as usual, fingers crossed it'll be mobile again shortly.

 

Ruff - I've actually got that 150 piece toolkit on reserve & collect in Lincoln, I should be picking it up tomorrow. It's £80 atm, and I've borrowed a mates trade card to try and get it cheaper ;)

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I'll have a proper rummage in Dad's expansive collection of tools, there's likely the bits I need to remove those bolts without spending cash, I just really hoped that I didn't have to as they're pretty bloody stubborn. What was wrong with using normal headed bolts?

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We need to come up with some arrangement whereby I drive over in the BX, remove all the things I need including those much better rear quarters, load them into my BX and drive home after giving you cash.

You could always just send Wat over, I'm sure* he wouldn't mind.

 

I plan to fit a long nose (no grille) bonnet instead as this one is broken.

Would this make any difference to the airflow? Only the 1.4 and 1.6 petrol ones had the grille-less bonnet, and I wonder if that was for a non-cosmetic reason.

 

 

Great reading as always!

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I'm also not sure what to do about this damage to the fibreglass, can it just be sanded back and touched in like you would on stonechips?

 

Fibreglass/GRP I know about being a boaty type of person. It depends whether the roof is painted or just white gelcoat. If its paint carry on as suggested but if it is white gelcoat get some International Gelcoat which comes in a tube and is white as that is the colour of the majority of yachts. Grind out the damaged area with a dremel back to sound fibreglass and fill following the instructions on the tube. You can overfill a little bit but not too much because it goes off rock hard. Once it has hardened you can cut it back with wet and dry (used wet) working through the grades.

Look on Utube there are probably lots of how to's if you search for boat repairs.

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Good luck with your BX! They are without a doubt fantastic cars. I have owned all engine variants with exception of 16v over the years, and I just cannot fall out with them. I don't use my BX as a daily any more. It has become a rolling resto which leads me to my point.

 

BX's like to rot BADLY!!!! I have just welded up the rear of mine (not me but a welding guy as my welding is a Ray Charles special)It's the underside at the rear that goes.keep an eye on the rear subframe mounts / box section. Difficult to keep this area clean & difficult to spot. When you can spot it, it is quite advanced. Subframe & fuel tank needs to be removed for proper inspection & repair. Rear panel & boot floor also go but easily repaired. Back box hanger also falls off, but again, easy fix.

 

Rear mount point rot. You would not really see this with subframe & tank in place.

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It looks grrrr8 with the stripes gone. Keep at it. We have a good few BX dudes on here now, so I suppose help should not be too far away :)

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Lovely to see. Clean bumper doesn't half make a difference! The black staining was because the fuel filler was leaking as the screws weren't holding it all together properly. New, slightly more aggresive screws have done the trick there. As for the sap on the roof, it had that when I bought it. Lacked the correct products to shift it so well done!

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+ eleventy, great to see such enthusiasm for a BX, they're brill cars.

Scrapyard seat base probably absent because they do like to shred themselves those seats. I honestly don't think you'll find a more comfortable car if the spheres are ok, despite the itchy look about them those seats are mega.

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After seeing it in person last weekend I can give it the highest amount of praise I ever give a new car; "It's not as bad as I thought it would be." :wink:

 

I sat in the seats and thought they were going to eat me, om nom nom nom sinking down into them over the space of an entire minute.

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Today's challenge was to remove the pedal box so that I can get it repaired. Doing the repair in situ was not going to be possible, access is severely limited and there are too many meltable things that could melt too near the pedal box. Last night I hit the allen bolts a couple of times with a hammer and doused them in WD40 so that they might soak overnight. This is a method I've used on other stubborn bolts to good effect.

 

The two bolts that wouldn't budge yesterday put up no fight at all today and were a doddle to remove.

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I couldn't find any definitive information on how to proceed from this point. The pedal box was now loose, but wouldn't come out and I couldn't see what was still attached. Dad disconnected the clutch cable (I didn't see exactly how he did this) in the engine bay which gave me a bit more play and then I just wiggled the box carefully until it eventually came free. The plastic 'arrow' clip on the throttle cable came out very easily and cleanly, but then pinged one of the tines off without me touching anything so I'm going to have to fix or replace that now.

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This little metal bracket was squished into the soundproofing under the accelerator pedal and I don't know where it should live. Any ideas?

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One liberated pedal box, finally! I'd like a rubber tread for the accelerator pedal too, always feels nicer than plain metal.

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It's quite badly damaged, there's no wonder you couldn't get any pedal travel on it. I've got some suitable bracing material after having seen someone else repair a pedal box this way and thinking that was a very good idea.

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I had the car up on the highest setting with the trolley jack under the factory sill jacking point to gain a bit more access. The trolley jack is a bit poorly so I couldn't get things high enough to put an axle stand underneath so I was very careful about what I did and didn't do as I don't fancy getting squished. I made a bit of a booboo when I tried to use the trolley jack on one of the chassis rails which, though solid and not rusty, is apparently made of Emmental. On both sides I found a wire with nothing on the end, the passenger side one tucked away neatly and the driver's side sticking out, any idea what it's for? Dad suggested it might be a brake warning wire with the sensor removed.

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I wanted to have a look at the inner arches too, they're bubbling in the engine bay in the usual place. Some loose underseal had flaked off to reveal a couple of small holes, one each side, in a different place to the bubbling up top. I anticipated this so it's no great surprise, but the holes don't look as big as I was worried they might. In the meantime, they'll get cleaned up and Kurusted until I can get the welding paid for in a few weeks.

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The only other bit of damage of note is to the leading edge of the passenger sill. Looks like it's had a bump here but isn't particularly rusty or soft so it'll probably just be a repair job. Another bit to add to the list. Many of these areas will be dealt with when I can afford the welding to be done and have some paint to cover up the repairs, I'm in no huge rush providing it gets done before the MoT is due in June.

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After all that, it was cleaning time. On making a start with the bonnet I found that some of the tiger stripes were loose around the edges so I removed them. Tiger face, 'Team Green Tiger' and the BXagon charity sticker are all pretty firmly attached, particularly the latter, so I'm working around them. You can very clearly see where I have and haven't scrubbed that front bumper too. I wonder, should there be trims under the headlights?

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I was quite surprised at how well the bonnet came up. I only managed about a third of it, there's only so much you can do in one sitting, but it's looking rather respectable.

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Rear driver's side door shut likewise cleaned up very easily needing little more than a quick wipe over with a soapy cloth.

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Here are some pictures of one (almost) finished side of the car. There is a lot more cleaning to do, but the stripes are gone and the true length of the car is much more apparent. The window surrounds (I'll be repainting those) and the wheels let things down a bit now.

 

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Finally, tried out the Skoda wind deflectors to find that while they are indeed an extremely similar profile to the BX window, they're far too small. These are up for grabs now if anyone is interested.

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The wires that go nowhere are probably the brake pad warning wires, they all break off like that because they're shit.

 

You can get a complete accelerator cable kit from citroen, but you'd get away with just putting the inner cable through the old sheath and cutting it to length ;)

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I have never yet seen or owned a BX with the brake pad wear indicator intact - if they dont chafe through they get binned off the moment aftermarket pads are fitted....

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Just paint yours man, they won't take a lot of doing! Wire wheeling steel wheels in the rain is character building! Don't do them in dishwasher white though, like that bloke did to KruJoes auld one.

 

I'll be round for the pedal box about 4:20 tomorrow, I stuck the name of your estate into google maps and ended up recognising the Polo parked on your drive from the satellite picture, so I've pretty much worked out where to go

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@cobblers: I'll be sure to put the kettle on for you. Look for the gigantic conifer, it's the only one on the street.

 

@ruffgeezer: I'd be interested to see, it's been a few years since I did wheels properly and I'm sure there's a better way to do it.

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For most of the time I ran the BX14 as my daily, I had the plain steels with little black centre caps off a 205XT. I thought it worked really well, and suited the Preview's no frills spec. I shouldn't have let them go with the car but I did - soz! I'd have let you have them otherwise.

 

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Sorry these are the best pics I have! :oops:

 

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I think similar ones are available with Citroen chevrons on, maybe from a Blingo van or summert.

While we're on about wheels, I'll just leave this here:

 

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Those are 'R' Will's wheels, I put them on because they had four (different brands of) good tyres for the MOT. They looked boss on the car if I say so myself (but they look ace on anything, one of my favourite rim designs). He'll sell them for £60 with tyres, bolts and a spare rim if you're interested. They want painting ideally.

 

Oh, another thing, what I hated most about working on the BX was jacking it up to work underneath. The underbelly is so bloody soft and delicate! If you can reach under far enough, I recommend a trolley jack under the rear mounts of the front sub-frame. The back end is even more tricky - I usually went for a jack under the middle of the tubular beam axle sub-frame thing. I wonder if other BXers would agree..?

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