BXProject

Flat tyres you'll get on any age car mate!

I have several spare diesel speedo heads aswell.

I've got quite a few flat tyres about if you want any more

Well... I had a long conversation with my dad the other night and the decision is for the BX to go.

For the first time in my life I actually have to depend on my car to get to work, and I just don't trust the BX any more. Although it's been reliable for most of the time I've had it, it is 20 years old with 170,000 miles under the wheels and apart from the problems I've had over the last month, it is starting to feel rather tired.

I'm going to present it for MoT and see what happens: if it can be made to pass cheaply I'll make an attempt to sell it, otherwise I hope someone on here will take it for free: there are plenty of useful parts on it, or someone might want to have it as a semi-retired "classic car" and run it at weekends rather than commuting 20 miles every day in the poor old thing.

Dad's going to lend me some money for something newish and reliable, so we're looking for something cheap to run and insure in the £1500-£3000 range. We're thinking Xsara, Focus, Fabia, Civic or Jazz and there seems to be plenty of choice in that price range.

I'll be sad to say goodbye to the blue box, but it's time to put my sensible head on for a change!

sad day..

Although, from the choice there I'd be tempted, as much as I hate to say it, by the Fukus.
Easy to work on (bar doing a clutch), cheapish bits and plentiful.
They also aint too bad to drive.

A shame, but if you don't get enjoyment from tinkering/mending, and the only realistic alternative is to pay garage rates then I can see your point entirely.
Makes me slightly worried that something major is going to go on mine - I'm doing 50 miles a day and although it seems in the best mechanical condition it's been since I bought it, I'm probably due a mechanical failure soon...

yeah, but then major failures happen on brand new cars aswell mate.

I had a ride in my mothers 58 plate Fraud feaces, and straight away I thought to myself how awefull the ride quality was...

smiffy wrote:I had a ride in my mothers 58 plate Fraud feaces, and straight away I thought to myself how awefull the ride quality was...

Whatever I end up with, the ride won't be as good as an old Cit. Such a shame they stopped using hydraulics on the mid-sized cars, if the Xsara had hydraulics there'd be no contest!

Tell you what I used to be impressed with the ride of: my dad's old MK1 Mondeo 2.0 GLX.

Mark.

Way2go wrote:opposing the field and eddy currents of the rotating magnets

What rotating magnets? A BX speedo head is all mechanical isn't it?

no mate, they use magnets to vreate eddy currents to move the needle, it's a magnet on a spring.

Hence the wild wobbles betimes.

docchevron132 wrote:no mate, they use magnets to vreate eddy currents to move the needle, it's a magnet on a spring.

That's interesting, I thought the faster the magnet, the more pull on a disc, the more the needle moves which is why the overread at low speeds but under read at high speeds! I thought eddy current ones were too modern for the BX!!!!

Talking of modern cars vs older cars the BX is awesome in the snow!!! All the german pices of crap were getting stuck, as were the fords (but not as bad). the vauxhalls seemed pretty good actually. This bloke was stuck as fuck in his Skoda (VW/AUDI) and tried for 20 mins to get out, trying to clear the snow, more wheel spin etc. With each wheel spin his car slid slightly towards mine, so I thought fuck this, I'm off. The BX got out no wheel spin, no problem

Couldn't be arsed to help him!

Bx Bandit wrote:Talking of modern cars vs older cars the BX is awesome in the snow!!!

Couldn't agree more, the Fukus is hopeless, manageble but not a touch on the BX, and there isn't much in the tyre width.

Bx Bandit wrote:

docchevron132 wrote:no mate, they use magnets to vreate eddy currents to move the needle, it's a magnet on a spring.

That's interesting, I thought the faster the magnet, the more pull on a disc, the more the needle moves which is why the overread at low speeds but under read at high speeds! I thought eddy current ones were too modern for the BX!!!!

No, it's the Eddy Currents that do the work and the BX speedo is not much changed since your moggy minor unit. If you think about it, if the disc was directly magnetic then as you move off at crawling pace the magnetic coupling would cause the needle to oscilate from 0 to top until you picked up enough speed for the coupling to slip.

An eddy-current tachometer (Figure 1) uses the interaction of the magnetic fields generated by a permanent magnet and a rotor, whose speed of rotation is proportional to the eddy currents generated. The currents tend to deflect a disk, which is mounted on the shaft and restrained by a spring, through a certain angle. The deflection of the disk, which is rigidly connected to a pointer, is indicated on a dial.



Figure 1. Eddy-current tachometer: (1) permanent magnet, (2) rotor, (3) shaft with pointer, (4) spring

On a BX the magnet is less chunky and the disc has cupped edges but the principle is still the same.

/\ Well I'll be! So why the fuck does it wobble like the jowels of Vanessa Feltz!

Couldn't agree more, the Fukus is hopeless, manageble but not a touch on the BX, and there isn't much in the tyre width.

But why then, weight? I'd thought these VAG cars would be heavier than the BX 'per axle' As would most modern motors I'd of thought

I spent today punting about in an '05 Fiesta, which has put me right off any sort of Ford. Dreadful little car.

However... driving something in decent condition really did bring it home how tired my BX has become! No weird noises or rattles, it went in a straight line under acceleration and braking, all the knobs and levers did what they were supposed to do... Very reassuring, and I am looking forward to getting something younger.

I'm thinking Xsara... such a shame they ruined the looks on the facelift model.

Bx Bandit wrote:/\ Well I'll be! So why the fuck does it wobble like the jowels of Vanessa Feltz!

The wobble seems to be due to wear and dryness on the input bearing, gearing and pawls connected to the odometer and trip. A bit of sparing lubrication here was what stopped mine from making a noise and returned the needle to smooth indication.

Those of you on Facebook will know this already, I'm a bit behind on here because I'm not at home much at the moment but I can access FB from my phone!

The BX is provisionally sold to someone from work, who's coming to pick it up tomorrow. He wants a fixer-upper so hopefully it will live!

I was planning to advertise it here and BXC too but I just happened to place the ad at work first. It makes sense to sell it locally anyway, you guys are all a bit further away and would have had to get it transported which is not cheap.

In its place I've bought a 52 plate Xsara 1.6 16v with a mere 60,000 miles on it. It's a really good spec, automatic everything, air con, the works.

Only minor problem is (and you'll laugh at this): the blower doesn't work properly...

Shame to see you not in a proper citroen anymore stu, do you still have the old rover secreted away? Will you not enjoy working on that eventually?

I have to say that ive been in a similar situation recently where ALL my cars have gone wrong. The BX was dicking me about all mightily until i found it had the wrong HP pump fitted, then i just had to get the right parts then fit them in -5 snowy conditions, but its sorted now. Its as you say a 20 year old car, id rather get some enjoyment from what i drive and new cars dont give you that, but we all face different economic and realities

One thing im worried about, did you get the proviso from the guy at your work thats having it he will offer it you or here maybe if he should come to sell it? The more and more i see it recently ive got a fervent dislike of cars being sold outside their 'scene' as it were, as unfortunatly it seems thats how cars dissapear forever. fingers crossed yours wont.