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BX 16v chassis advice sought please!!!!

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:43 pm
by rob3n
Hello All,
Looking for some advice please. I have owned a black BX 16v for about 7 or 8 years now, almost all of which time it has been off the road, some of it dry stored, some not. I bought the car to steal the engine, loom etc for my 205 rally car, but I hung onto the BX as I couldn't bring myself to scrap it! Now I'd like to get it up and running again with its original engine reinstalled, but sadly (which I'm sure will come as nothing of a surprise to most of you!), there's a fair amount of rot underneath. Boot floor is the worst, also bottoms of the rear doors/arches obviously another common place and inner wings too. The question is can I get the chassis repaired to a decent standard to allow me to rebuild it? I'm Newbury, Berkshire based but although my mechanical skill is reasonable I don't weld so I need someone to do the chassis work. Alternatively I can flog it as a complete project but frankly I'd like to see the old girl back up and running and potentially keep it myself. So any thoughts would be much appreciated! Many thanks, Robin

Re: BX 16v chassis advice sought please!!!!

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:06 pm
by Toddman
Hi Robin

Generally it is a case of getting stuck in and cutting out the rot and grafting in fresh steel.
Inner wings, door pillars, rear door shuts an dboot floors and windscreen are all common areas.

The pain part is the body kit, you really need to remove it to do the rear door shuts properly but time and a heat gun will see yu through that part.

Plenty of BX/Citroen specialists around who can do a good job o fthe welding for you and if you strip the car down first it will ease the costs.

Would be nice to see anther car saved.

Good luck :D

Re: BX 16v chassis advice sought please!!!!

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 5:52 pm
by Vanny
rob3n wrote: The question is can I get the chassis repaired to a decent standard to allow me to rebuild it?
Yes, to put it simply.

Between the members here there are still a fair few panels and chunks of good body work knocking about. Chevronics (in Hitchin) have been working some masterpieces out of some old BXs in various states. At the end of the day, the body is only metal!

You'll want someone professional who does the sort of work all the time, a back street garage with a stick welder probably isn't going to cut it. You'll also want someone who is sympathetic to classics, a 'fix it quick for the lease company' body centre are likely to tear into it before realising the trim and clips and screws and seals etc arent available

So you'll need a small lump of cash (size dependant on the overall condition) and a load of time.

After that, its as Luke says, just get stuck in.

It can help to at least pull the carpets and seats off to asses the cabin, J603 LLP looked to be in cosmetically good condition, until i lifted the carpets to find the chassis rails and body weren't really getting along well and a void had grown between them.