Citroen BX17TGD Getting put back together at last.

[dean36014]

Shortly of to view and hopefully purchase a shonky citroen bx tgd. Much excited,just waiting for my daughter to turn up to give me a lift there.

[dean36014]

Well a made it over to Leamington Spa courtesy of my daughter where I found no sign of the car and no owner in. a quick phonecall later revealed him to be at the petrol station putting some diesel in as it was low. ten minutes later and behold this arrived.

A quick look around it, £150 quid changed hands and a drive home revealed it still had plenty of poke when the turbo kicked in.

So what have I brought? A look around it revealed the front inner wings need a little tickle with the welder, but from first glances it appears solid elsewhere. No rot at the the bottom of any door pillars, just a couple of spots of surface rust on the drivers side. The rear valance seems solid as well so I'm hoping the welder only needs to be introduced to the front end. Its got damage to the nearside front wing and lower part of rear quarter, couple of small dents elsewhere and a rub mark on the drivers side, and a splt rear bumper. the headlight lenses are also detached and need bonding back on. No sign of any of the door hinges been welded and the all seem intact too. The interior is filthy but other than the drivers seat seems in good condition and should hopefully clean up with some g101. The rear arm bearings are knackered, there's a rub mark on the inside of one tyre and you can feel the back end wandering when over 50mph. Engine seems fine, cambelt changed 30k and 4 years ago. The biggest pile of invoices I've ever seen with an old car going right back to 1995. current owner had it 4 years and spent a few quid on it to at a french car specialist who have looked after it for about 12 years going through the receipts.

Plans are to sort the rear arm bearings, any welding needed, give it a service and put it in for an mot. None of this will happen to the weather gets a bit warmer though in spring. so its now residing in the garden and been Sorn.

Have a few pictures showing its general condition. 

 

 

[dean36014]

oh and the history file with the car.

 

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant! I feared the days of cheap BXs were long gone. That looks a cracking buy. Even if you factor in the £170 or so a specialist would want to change each arm bearing, it's still quids in. Be warned - quite often the rear brake pipes will fail during arm bearing replacement. Make sure you're doing the job somewhere that you don't mind leaving the car if it goes a bit haywire!

[dean36014]

Will do the bearings myself when the weather picks up a bit.

[Cavcraft]

Most comfortable car EVER, ace to drive and an absolute bargain. Well bought.

[bramz7]

I'm actually quite jealous. Mine cost a bit more but someone's already done the inner front wings and the spheres were all done.

They look good in white too. Maybe worth a BX meet up at some point.

[rantingYoof]

I freakin' love reams of paperwork like that with a car.

 

Even the bits from 1997 which have absolutely no relevance or impact on the suitability of the car today.

 

I doff my cap to anyone who keeps records like that. I want to buy cars from you.

[dean36014]

When i get it on the road a meet up sounds good. I'd forgotten how floaty a bx feels, mind you the rear arms aren't helping! And yes I nearly stuck myself through the windscreen first time I used the brakes. Clutch is really high, but doesn't slip. Looking through the invoices its never been changed. i might change it when i strip the front end out for welding. Its my first BX, my mate had a few and he's a little jealous now too. 

[barrett]

That looks much better than I thought it would be actually. Unusual spec these days, too.

 

I THINK I have a white wing in good nick somewhere, which is yours if you want it

[dean36014]

That would be great, even more so if its for the correct side!

[barrett]

I think I have a pair! Also pretty sure there is a boot lid too. I wouldn't mind disencumbering myself of my shed full of BX bits so you can have them all if you want. Whereabouts in the world are you?

[dean36014]

I'm in Coventry

[derskine]

Nice one. Looks as good as described!

[HillmanImp]

Very disappointed its not got gullwing doors. 1/10

[beko1987]

That's lovely, I want to own/Drive a bx one day!

 

I thought that plate was an M reg in the first pic, thought that was a bit late!

 

Knowing you that will be sorted by the end of spring...

[dean36014]

If it wasn't so cold and miserable I'd be out sorting it now! Going to start on a deep clean of the interior but mechanics will have to wait.cold and athritis don't go together.. If my plans go right I'll be shortly unveiling another quirky Citroen soon, fingers crossed.

[dean36014]

Reading through the history folder it had a head gasket replacement at 56k with a rebuilt head. Lots of minor hydraulic leaks fixed, but never had a clutch in its life. Cambelt was changed 4 years and 30k miles ago.

[barrett]

Right, here are the wings. Not quite as nice as I remembered, one of them has a couple of scratches that has gone through the paint, they need a good clean and polish but otherwise look all right

[dean36014]

Superb i'll claim those please, really appreciated. Where would collection be from? Could only do a weekend unfortunately though.

[dean36014]

Well today the car cover has come off ready for a good inspection underneath. Don't want to start on the rear arm bearings if the things rotten. The good news is apart from the front inner wings its perfectly solid under there. Rear suspension mounts all good, rear valance like new, as is the sills and floors. So guess this means I'd better get one with doing the rear arms then! I've acquired a drivers seat base in completely the wrong colour so at least I can sit comfortably in it now as the old one had collapsed. It will get hidden under a seat cover anyway until I can find a non ripped seat in the right trim which might take a while. with a decent battery on it she fired up straight away after sitting over winter.

[dean36014]

Got the rear arms stripped out of this last weekend. Everything came undone easily thankfully. It needs new rear discs but these have been sorted cheaply on ebay as gsf and euro car parts no longer stock them. Drvers side one was completely shot, the bearings fell out as i was removing it! Unfortunately its also worn the casing away so another arm is the easiest solution. The passenger side was all good, so it got stripped, cleaned up and new bearings fitted. Then a coat of rust treatment and some shiny black chassis paint. then got the passenger front wing off to have a look at the welding required, thankfully it all looks easy to sort out. As i have a replacement wing I decided to get the hammers out and have a go at removing the dent, more practice is definitely required.

Scrap arm.

rebuilt one

Poor panel beating skills

[dean36014]

Well managed to find another rear suspension arm, and that has been stripped, new bearings fitted and painted up ready for fitting.

Made a start on the welding today, started on the worst side and cut all the rot out the inner wing. Bit of cardboard aided design, and an old zx bonnet and some repair panels were made up. Fixed the welder with a new swan neck, and snotted it all back together. Can't wait to get my garage built, the breeze was blowing the shielding gas away. 

Went to Oxford tonight to pick up some bargain alloys with good tyres I won on ebay. I'm hoping I can get them to fit the BX but the are a bit wider than a standard wheel. Trialed fitted one up in the wheel arch, but as there is no suspension fitted its a waiting game to see if they will fit. If not I might fit them to the ZX and use the ZX wheels on the bx as that needs new tyres.

 

[dean36014]

A little update, in between dodging showers I've managed to get some work done on this today. The back end is now all reassembled. New rear arm bearings, new discs and pads fitted, and the replacement rear bumper all fitted on. I've ordered a new LHM filter from chevonics as i managed to wreck the original while welding the inner wing. All the welding repairs have been painted, and all loose rust scraped off and rust treated. All affected bits have had a few coats of Shultz sprayed on so should last a few years more yet hopefully. New handbrake cables fitted today as well as the originals were all split open and rusted cables within. Don't think I can adjust them up properly until I've got the engine running again as i need to pump up the foot brakes. With a bit of luck the lhm filter will turn up shortly and the engine bay can be reassembled. New rear silencer ordered as it was rotted through on the inlet pipe, might have been able to bodge it up with the welder but for £30 its not worth it.  Then its front wings and bumper back on and headlights back in and off for a MOT before my MOT tester retires at the end of the month. End of an era as he's been Mot'ing my cars for 30 years. I've also found a company that makes rear wing repair panels, so if i take some brave pills I could repair the damaged nearside rear wing. Wonder if I could bond it along the body line with stikaflex and just weld the edges? Terrified of warping the quarter beyond repair with the mig.

[dean36014]

Starting to look like a complete car again. Definitely going to be a slightly down at heel bx! Bumpers and lights next then stuck waiting for parts to turn up.