Bx Height Control Lever

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Stewart (oily!)
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Post by Stewart (oily!) »

Its okay to move the lever between normal and the higher position on the move, the car is not supposed to be driven at the highest position as there is no springing and I think the driveshasfts are probably working through extreme angles, I have not tried Vannys trick of letting the lever out of its detent position, I have a feeling mine would just drop :)
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Vanny
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Post by Vanny »

i do move it around on the go, but wouldnt recomend it! The book says you have to be doing UNDER 10 mph to go from normal to intermediate and stopped to go to high or low. Personally i can see serious problems arrising if your not really at one with the car. For me the front is always lower than the rear, and it doesn't take a lot of lowering for me to take most of the hegiht and suspension from the front, if you lower it to that level ad hit a bump (and even as much as a rubbing strip could do it) you might find the strut coming up through the bonnet! Remember that at the end of the day the strut is only held to the car through a piece of rubber so a big enough shunt on our old cars WILL kill the strut!

However i DO change from normal to just a little lower quite often and at speed 60+ and you can physically feel wehn it stiffens and when you've gone too far! I tend to use it on the M6 M5 interchange and that section of the M53 into liverpool tunnel!
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Way2go
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Post by Way2go »

I have taken to setting mine on intermediate to leave the driveway as it rises faster and then I readjust to Normal when I am driving.

My Cit Handbook says nothing about this 10mph or static changes and leaves you to believe that you can make changes as you need with only 2 restrictions:
1) Minimum Height is NOT to be used for driving
2) Maximum Height CAN be used for clearing very difficult obstacles but recommends that you proceed carefully.

The intermediate height it says is for rough roads. (In fact besides being higher, the springing is harder in this position which is what reminds me to put it back to normal when I forget)
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

OK, loads of different information, but I've yet to see anyone make a convincing case for lowering the car on the M-way.

Can anyone enlighten me? Or are we drifitng dangerously close to Barrydom?

Think I might put aluminium mesh behind the bumper this weekend. And get some evil - eye headlights....
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DavidRutherford
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Post by DavidRutherford »

There are 2 reasons why putting the car lower on the motorway *might* be of benefit.

1) C of G is lower, hence car is (very slightly) more stable.

2) if the car is fitted with a front airdam/splitter that is lower than the floorpan of the car, then the ratio of height of air going under the car to the height of the floorpan will be reduced, and hence generate a very slight low pressure under the floor of the car.

What you risk of course is hitting the bump stops on big undulations, and you look smaller to all the other traffic, so they might take even less notice of you.

Personally, I would just leave the car in normal height.

Or, maybe set "normal" height to be ever-so-slightly lower than usual (with the anti-roll-bar clamps), and be more inclined to select "intermediate" height for things like kerbs, dips, rises and speed-bumps.
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Post by Toddman »

This topic has caused many arguments over at BX 16v LOL!
I agree with what David says above.
My particular car is lowered via the roll bar clamps but I have also changed all 4 spheres to suit fast road/track use - The ride compared to a std BX is rubbish comfort wise but that is not an issue for me.
I beleive there is quite a range of "std" tolerance for the height but once you lower outsid eof this it all goes pear shaped with std spheres.
I definitely think the factory range is the best for comfort.

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Way2go
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Post by Way2go »

Oscar wrote:OK, loads of different information, but I've yet to see anyone make a convincing case for lowering the car on the M-way.
In a word in the case of the GTi .....no! Because you will catch the lowest point on the car which is the exhaust centre clamp on either the road surface or the slightest debris that you drive over. :cry:
Oscar wrote: Can anyone enlighten me? Or are we drifitng dangerously close to Barrydom?
:?: What the **** is Barrydom? Has it got something to do with the land of the Goat?
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

THIS is barrydom

http://www.barryboys.co.uk/mx/

Be afraid.

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Post by Way2go »

Oscar wrote:THIS is barrydom

http://www.barryboys.co.uk/mx/

Be afraid.

What is the land of the goat?
Thanks, so this would be like injecting Nitrous into the BX?

Dunno about the Goat - crops up on the postings of others from time to time! Seems something to be more afraid of than the barryboys!
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

so this would be like injecting Nitrous into the BX?


No, this would be like putting a dummy gas bottle on the dash and fitting a solenoid to imitate a dump valve whistle so that people think you are injecting nitrous. Have a scout around for Barry cars, chavs etc on google and you'll get the idea.
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Vanny
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Post by Vanny »

Oscar wrote: but I've yet to see anyone make a convincing case for lowering the car on the M-way.
..

Let me rephrase, holding the suspension in a lower height makes the suspension stiffer. Ever been in a BX with shot spheres, it wallows all over the place (actually i know people who find the bx nauseating for that reason), lower the suspension and reduce the 'spring' thus stiffening the ride.

The BX is VERY light (especially for a car that will happily bumble upto 120+) and unless i live in an excessively windy neck of the woods i often find that the car will get thrown about, solution, stiffen the suspension, reduce the body roll and stop the tendancy to get thrown about (wait, isn't that the basic principle behind ACTIVA).

So while it reduces the comfort of the car, on windy sections of road, or situations where stiffened suspension is beneficial, lowering the car IS usefull.


Oscar, if you havent used the suspension to take the piss out of barry boys then you really should! Its so satisfying to watch the slack jaw faces drop open and watch the cogs wondering how they can fit HP suspension to there sAXo, Nova,fiesta, chav wagon!
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DavidRutherford
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Post by DavidRutherford »

Vanny wrote:holding the suspension in a lower height makes the suspension stiffer
How is this possible? Surely you're either springing on the sphere's, or on the bump-stops.

The spring rate should surely be the same regardless of ride height. The only difference I can think of is that if you're at a lower height, then the front wishbone rubber bushes will be slightly more stressed, thus making the suspension feel a little stiffer (obviously this doesn't affect the rear suspension).

Which may be a good reason for not running at anything other than standard height... you may wear the front suspension bushes out faster.
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Way2go
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Post by Way2go »

Vanny wrote:
Oscar wrote: Let me rephrase, holding the suspension in a lower height makes the suspension stiffer. Ever been in a BX with shot spheres, it wallows all over the place (actually i know people who find the bx nauseating for that reason), lower the suspension and reduce the 'spring' thus stiffening the ride.
My front spheres went completely shot & full of LHM and this results in zero suspension with an interesting bouncing light effect from the headlights at night especially on the motorway junction signs! :?
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Post by jeremy »

I entirely agree david - unlike things like Range Rovers with air suspension where the ride height is achieved by varying the pressure in the air bags, the pressures in the Citroen suspension should remain much the same until the car reaches maximum height when the suspension is stretched to its limit and is truning to break something.

The height is varied by simply pumping more LHM into the struts - and as its incompressible can be considered as simply inserting a length of steel into the strut.

If the ride is different this could be due to the piston, seals etc running on an unpolished section of the strut - or indeed bumping over a very small ridge.

Some Xantias and C5 and XM drop when running on fast straight roads and air suspended Range Rovers do the same which presumably makes them less unstable.

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Post by DavidRutherford »

jeremy wrote:The height is varied by simply pumping more LHM into the struts - and as its incompressible can be considered as simply inserting a length of steel into the strut.
That was precisely my thoughts...
jeremy wrote:air suspended Range Rovers do the same which presumably makes them less unstable.
Haaahahahaaa! The crucial difference between "more stable" and "less unstable" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Having owned Range Rover's with rather questionable suspension condition, you get surprisingly "acclimatised" to driving something that has all the straight-line stability of a unicycle.
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