Gagastan's downunder beige BX

[GagaStan]

11 minutes ago, hairnet said:

I’d be looking for about 50 of those, here or there…

And I think I should keep my mouth shut about the brits for a bit 😅

[dollywobbler]

HOLY MOLY! I have never seen such beige/brown wonder on a mk2 BX. Stunning.

[GagaStan]

1 minute ago, dollywobbler said:

 

HOLY MOLY!

 

That’s what I thought when I saw the thing in real life! Even the window tint is brown. It’s amazing to behold

And the pez auto adds a whole new level of creaminess to the equation, of course…

[ETCHY]

That BX is  bloody mega.

It's given me a boner, ( & at my age that's an event !)

[STUNO]

That makes me want a third BX , it's bloody lovely. 

[GagaStan]

11 minutes ago, STUNO said:

third BX

Funnily though this is my third too! The first was a bit of a basket case, the second marginally better - but this one seems to have been actually maintained. Thank goodness.

[GagaStan]

This afternoon’s job: tackling the manky washer bottles. How manky, you say?

so so mucky. The front washer tubing was completely clogged, and I don’t think the rear one had been used in quite some time. Will pick up some gravel to shake about in them tomorrow, they’ll need some mechanical agitation to get rid of all that crap.

We’ll see if I can get the original front tube unclogged for some saucy cleaning action soon…

[GagaStan]

Feel like I’m finally close to fixing my LHM leak… after replacing both the doseur return lines and about to fit my second end cap, fingers crossed the green blood will stay contained.

next up, cleaning the driveway and the carpet 

[GagaStan]

No more leaks! Hooray!!

Now for a bit of fettling on the fuel/ignition side of things. Vacuum advance is kaput so will be sent away for refurbishment.

Trying to find out where the auxiliary air valve (extra air for cold starting) is hiding in the engine bay, so I can try and test it!

[grogee]

This is ace, it's pure Autoshite heaven. Very jealous. Electric windows! It's like a visit from the car future.

What's parts availability like down under? I've seen colleagues on here struggle in the UK for bits and pieces occasionally, not sure how well catered for they are in Aus. Was the BX actually sold there officially?

[GagaStan]

9 hours ago, grogee said:

This is ace, it's pure Autoshite heaven. Very jealous. Electric windows! It's like a visit from the car future.

What's parts availability like down under? I've seen colleagues on here struggle in the UK for bits and pieces occasionally, not sure how well catered for they are in Aus. Was the BX actually sold there officially?

I’m actually in NZ, but parts availability seems to be okay for now - but I’ve not needed anything major. There’s a few old Cit specialists around that have stocks of consumables and seem very helpful. So if I need something obscure, I’ve got channels.

They were sold officially here, always a left field choice though. We had hefty protectionist import tariffs here until the late 90s, so a good few companies assembled cars CKD here (Toyota, Honda, ford/mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and of course all the British stuff further back). So if you wanted something European, you really had to pay for it! So you had to be a bit weird and a bit cashed up to want a BX.

consequence is that we get great spec in euro cars… I’ve even got AC that works! How’s that for futuristic 😎

[grogee]

16 minutes ago, GagaStan said:

I’m actually in NZ, but parts availability seems to be okay for now - but I’ve not needed anything major. There’s a few old Cit specialists around that have stocks of consumables and seem very helpful. So if I need something obscure, I’ve got channels.

They were sold officially here, always a left field choice though. We had hefty protectionist import tariffs here until the late 90s, so a good few companies assembled cars CKD here (Toyota, Honda, ford/mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and of course all the British stuff further back). So if you wanted something European, you really had to pay for it! So you had to be a bit weird and a bit cashed up to want a BX.

consequence is that we get great spec in euro cars… I’ve even got AC that works! How’s that for futuristic 😎

I would imagine you could count on one hand the number of BXs with working A/C!

[GagaStan]

22 minutes ago, grogee said:

I would imagine you could count on one hand the number of BXs with working A/C!

I’m astounded by it honestly!

[GagaStan]

 

laid up the other day, waiting for it’s second doseur end seal to arrive

[High Jetter]

Looks like an iron gate is about to land on it!

[MantaGTE85]

Nice minty super-fit BX. The wheels look amazing, very well played. They always had well-kitted-out interiors compared with many much bigger cars of the same era. Quick question: did any BX's ever come with keep-fit front windows and locking?

[GagaStan]

37 minutes ago, MantaGTE85 said:

Nice minty super-fit BX. The wheels look amazing, very well played. They always had well-kitted-out interiors compared with many much bigger cars of the same era. Quick question: did any BX's ever come with keep-fit front windows and locking?

Thank you!! I think some of the early, small engine ones must have - but from my reckoning, from the facelift on it would’ve been very rare to have keep fit items.

amazingly, the plip is still operating on mine!

[GagaStan]

Spent the afternoon trying to sop up the LHM that had soaked into the drivers carpet, from the leaking doseur.

The underlay was the worst - it was completely saturated, and the LHM had done a good job dissolving some of the tarry black adhesive. Resulting in a delightful brown oil to try and remove. YUM
 

 

With a combination of a wet vac, sugar soap solution, and a handful of old bath towels, I managed to get most of it out - or at least enough that my shoes won’t get stained driving it anymore.

 

[GagaStan]

Carpet is by no means pristine, but it’s somewhat presentable now. It looks like some pink coolant might’ve leaked from the heater tap in the past…

Think I’ll be ordering some custom floor mats soon.

at least the outside is still quite pretty!

[Essex V6]

Welcome to the Citroen Club NZ Chapter! 

[GagaStan]

8 hours ago, Essex V6 said:

Welcome to the Citroen Club NZ Chapter! 

It’s great to be here!! Trying to think on some of the great NZ/French crossovers… rainbow warrior maybe? 🫣

also that saxo looks like it’d be a right hoot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the flesh! Which part of this great land are you in?

[Essex V6]

I am in Auckland although had to travel to just outside Christchurch to find my VTS!

[GagaStan]

Great winnage with the BX today.

I had noticed a warm breeze pretty constantly at my feet, even with the heater on cold and pointed at your face. It got worse with the window down too.

so I had a wee look around in the drivers footwell and found that the steering column grommet had been pushed all the way through past the firewall - surely this was the source of my overwarm tootsies, dear reader! 

I managed quite easily to pull the thing back through and get it properly seated on the firewall, held in place properly by the groove in the rubber.

and we have a result! No more undesirable warm breeze on my be-sandalled toes, a boon in the summer weather down here.

but best of all - an unexpected but perhaps but unsurprising difference - the cabin is now significantly and noticeably quieter, with the engine bay now fully separated from the cabin! Very pleased with that, and for the grand price of zero dollars. Now for a beer.

[PicantoJon]

That is one fine motor. Easy* to fix by the sounds of it too... 😂

[GagaStan]

7 hours ago, PicantoJon said:

That is one fine motor. Easy* to fix by the sounds of it too... 😂

Everything that’s needed doing has been simple enough so far, that’s not to say I haven’t buggered up a couple of things along the way… I’m sure something completely mean and nasty is in store for me now 😉

[GagaStan]

The BX has been running absolutely beautifully, apart from some very light clonkage from a drip link (I think??) - she even returned a best ever 36mpg on a run. Nice to know that's possible, given I've only been getting about 25mpg around town 😩 

But today, I decided to tackle something that's been annoying me - a consistent chirping from the passenger side blower fan. I had been managing* this by simply unplugging the electrical connector, but this caused the remaining operational blower to blow only half its air into the cabin, and the other half back outside through the other, stationary fan... Less than ideal for demisting purposes.

SO, the time came to start disassembly in the bulkhead area.

(^spot the terrible job someone did gluing the headlight back together...)

With the offending fan out, and the plastic clamshell unclipped, I sprayed plenty of PTFE lube and hey presto, the squeak is gone!

With the bulkhead clear, I decided to vacuum out all the built up leaves and detritus. Paging @beko1987 for some hot Kirby action...

But what I didn't do, was remember to retrieve a clip that had fallen while I was removing everything. So, with an almighty CRACK it was sucked up, somehow made it through the fan, and up into the vacuum bag. Amazingly, neither the clip nor the  vacuum fan were broken in the process! 

It was easily retrieved from the bag, so all is now ready to be put back together tomorrow. Another tinkering win - now to get someone in to see just how knackered/leaky the A/C is...