Paul's polishin' blog

[Tim Leech]

Ive had over 30 BX's, currently own 5, which I cossett, polish and treat like a car worth 20 times as much, why because I'm a BX enthusiast.

Next week I will spend twice the purchase price of the 19TZD on a new clutch, cambelt and tyres (and then sell it for less than that).... why? because im off to france next month with a group of like minded friends and I cannot wait to do nearly 2000 miles in my favourite type of car.

Would I do it in a modern car? no doubt it would be cheaper fuel wise, quieter etc but would I enjoy it? I doubt it.

Can I ever see me being BX'less? no! why do I love this them so much? No idea, do I care, do I f*ck Brian your missing the point, Paul and myself and a fair few others does it for love, leaks, rust and all.

Things like these are all part of owning an old car, its not for everyone and not for ever (seems Ken has hung up his BX overalls once and for all), but come next weekend at the X Rally you will see myself and a fair few other smiling like a cheshire cat!

Viva la BX!

[Philip Chidlow]

[mat_fenwick]

I'll move this if you want Paul, but think you've really nailed my opinions there very well. The hydraulics could be argued as an extra potential failure point, but in my opinion and experience the extra risk is so small I deem it acceptable. Others may have a different threshold of risk, and different experiences of leaks to influence their opinion...

I can't see how a properly supported HP hydraulic pipe is going to fail apart from through corrosion, which makes it reasonably easy to mitigate against breakdowns. Sure, it's extra inspection time over and above a conventional car, but you can't predict when a steel spring is going to fail through fatigue.

The time may come when I tire of the work needed to use a BX as an everyday car, but I can't see myself being without one.

Oh, and @ Fungus the Bogeyman!

[Paul296]

I'm happy for it to stay where it is Mat - it's all grist to the mill innit!?

[bx petrol auto saloon]

Dear All.
My veiws, for what it is worth. Is that the reason I buy the Citroen
is that when I was working for a Vauxhall dealer for 10 years, If I had
a tenner for every spring I had to renew on the all of the Vauxhalls, I
would be a millionaire by now. And Fords break more springs than the
Vauxhalls The only car that doesn,t break springs, is my SAAB
900i neither does it need brake pipes or fuel pipes ever need
doing as they are all inside the car, underneath the carpets.
I would beyond any doubt whatsoever much sooner replace a
sphere once every 5 years, than any road spring Having to lift a
front strut out complete with the spring and the compressing tools, is
damn heavy, and hard work.
On the subject of renewing suspension pipes, I have one of these
mechanics crawler on wheels that make changing the pipes, so much
more easier, because you have to get the car higher on it axle stands,
to alllow room for the crawler, and this makes doing that much much
easier. But this is not a job that can be done in a single garage, with
no daylight. I have changed metal pipes on the CX like this on my
driveway, with a good non blinding lead light, and on the BX aswell.
Renewing brake and suspension pipes is a lovely job, and one that
you can take pride form doing a really good job of it and taking your
time to do the job properly, and once it is done, it done and won,t
need doing again, just grease them afterwards to prevent further
problems
The most important thing with any car, is never give up
I hope this helps.
Vince.

[Paul296]

That's that sorted out then; BXs = good. New 'sensible' cars = bad. There's probably a bit more to it than that, but it'll do for now.
Anyway, moving swiftly on. . .

I managed to get the TGD sorted out today, many thanks to Shaun. There was just one tiny hole around the plastic bracket that keeps the pipes in place (obviously a moisture trap). The rest of the pipework all looked in pretty good order as it had been carefully greased by the previous owner. We thought we'ed have a look though, just in case I did happen to be sitting on a ticking time bomb of nuclear proportions (you never know!). I'm not though.



There is another length just behind the repair that's looking a bit crispy in a couple of places (it hadn't been greased for some reason) so I've arranged to get that replaced over the summer.



We had a bit of laugh about the 'chisel near the gearbox' saga; 'what kind of an idiot would leave their tools in the engine bay again?' etc. etc. Anyway, after Shaun had gone I decided to check the oil level ready for the X rally tomorrow . . . he's also missing a junior hacksaw now as well as a chisel!!

That's both cars sorted for the X-rally anyway. My Dad was a bit crest fallen last week when I told him the TGD had spilt its tatty watter all over the drive - he was hoping to drive it to the rally. So that's cheered him up. Although he did have a moan because now he's going to miss the bloody Chinese Grand Prix! Parents; can't live with 'em, can't . . . kill 'em

[Paul296]

I've just about finished refurbing a couple of speedlines for my Hurricane (a couple were a bit blistery and 'dinked') and thought I'd post up how I went about it in case anyone else wants to have a bash.

It's a fairly lengthy process and probably not for the faint hearted but it's cost me about 50 quid in materials to refurb two, with enough 'stuff' left over to refurb two more. I imagine a bodyshop would charge 300 - 400 quid or thereabouts for a full refurb so it does save a few bob (well, it didn't save me any - I didn't have it in the first place!). There's also the added pleasure of saying 'I did that', just like in that crappy B&Q advert.

The first pic is the original wheel (except it isn't - I forgot to photograph the one I refurbed. That's a 6J I just gave to Mulley for his TXD that I bought by mistake before I realised speedlines come in different sizes [whoops ]. I posted it for the sake of 'completeness'; the one I refurbed was a bit more knackered than that).

The first job (pic.2) was to strip the old paint off. I did this with Nitromors, which should more correctly be called the Devils bile, as it's filthy stuff. It took me about an evening to strip the paint, taking a bit more off with each application until I was back to bare alloy.

The kerb dinks were taken off with a diamond tipped file then sanded - any other dinks and pits that couldn't be filed away were filled with Isopon 'new metal'. The whole thing was then finished and polished with wire wool to give a good priming surface (pic.3)

The whole upper surface was then primed (I masked off a couple of inches below the rim) with an etch primer (pic.4). If you use an ordinary primer it will just slide off alloy - not good! I applied about 6 or 7 light coats then prepped the surface for painting with 1200 grit wet and dry (being very careful not to expose any metal on the leading edges). I allowed 24hrs at least for the primer to dry before painting.

Next came the base/paint coat. I used Lechler 2K base coat; 'silver 61092' which is a perfect match for the silver paint used on Citroen alloys. Again, this was applied in 6 or 7 light coats drying off with a hair dryer and allowing 15 minutes or so between coats (infact it's a good idea to keep the whole paint surface warm and warm the paint in hot [ish] water as it flows far better I've found).

When the base coat was complete and allowed to dry for 48hrs it was matted back with 800 then 1200 wet & dry. This was easy enough on the flat surfaces but I left some of the nooks and crannies as I couldn't afford to risk taking it back to primer or metal; any residual 'roughness' can be polished out anyway.

For the lacquer coat I used Halfords 'PU' polyurethane lacquer for alloy wheels, which is much harder than a normal acrylic lacquer. I did buy some 2pack lacquer which is perhaps better, but once its activated it goes off in the tin in 7 hours; that would have meant wasting nearly 15 quids worth of good lacquer so that's saved for the 'factory' alloys I'm refurbing for the TGD.

The lacquer was applied with a light 'flash coat' then 2 full coats (with a couple of hours between each coat as PU dries much more slowly than acrylic). The whole thng just needs polishing now (for that, babys bum/freshly buttered banister/ just left the factory/ silky smoothness!! yum! (pics of wheel on car to follow when it stops bloody raining!)

I also managed to buy a brand new centre cap off Robert 'XM' Smart which saved me the job of refurbing the old one.

Like I said, it is a bit what you might call 'labour intensive' (!), but VERY satisfying once they're finished.

[Paul296]

I got my 'factory' alloys back from the sand blasting man today (I'm not quite sure why they're called factory alloys; they were made in a factory, so it's reasonable enough I suppose). They originally came from the blue TZD that Patrick Rugg was selling a while back and to be honest they were in a bit of a state (as Tim will testify). Anyway, I couldn't face interminable evenings and God knows how many family size tins of Nitromors, so managed to negotiate a cheap sand blasting deal with a mate of mine. They've come up really well. One has a big kerb mark across it (first pic), but this can easily be filed out or filled, while the other three are really tidy. I'm not sure that they can be polished back to their original condition, but should look good with a nice paint/ lacquer job.



They did look like this . . .



And the plan is to get them looking like this . . .



Awright!

[saintjamesy89]

Are these going on the TGD? Would look very smart on there, all that shiny silver-ness! Speedlines looking very smart too.

[Paul296]

They are Tom. I thought speedlines wouldn't look quite right as speedlines sort of say 'speed' ( if you know what I mean - the clues in the title really). Anyway, an n/a 17 TGD doesn't really do 'speed' as such, so I went for 'restrained elegance' instead ( or slow, if you like! )

[Caffiend]

Just sufficient artistic empathy (unmatched by any existence of actual practical talent) to recognise that those are all QUALITY and be in awe of the work that goes into getting 'em looking that good.

Prefer the style of speedlines to the factory alloys TBH, but agree that the latter will suit the TGD better.

[Paul296]

I had a good session on the factory alloys last night (Miles Davis, cup o' tea and the heady tang of cellulose - luvly!). Once I got all the sand blasting gunk ground back it revealed just how badly pitted they are. Consequently, quite a bit of remedial filling needed doing.



I managed to get a 'revealer' coat of etch primer on so I could see where there were still a few faults. There's still one or two but nothing that can't be sorted. I'm going to be SO all 'wheeled out' by the time this lot is finished!

You don't actually need any talent - unless you count, bloody mindedness and a stubborn refusal to accept imperfection as 'a talent'. !

[Defender110]

Nice job Paul

The term factory alloys refers to alloy whells fitted by the manufacturer on build at the factory and not an aftermarket fitment so speedlines too are a factory alloy.

Just one quick question about etch primer? I note you allowed 24hrs at least for the primer to dry before painting, I was once told that for etch to do its job properly it was best to apply the top coat before the etch had fully dried, is there any bant in this theory?


EDIT: just found this: It always used to be the case that self etch should be oversprayed with primer as soon as it's dry. If the paint is left overnight it can absorb moisture which weakens the bond to the steel panel. I believe this is the case with chromate based self etch but not phosphate based

[Paul296]

Just one quick question about etch primer? I note you allowed 24hrs at least for the primer to dry before painting, I was once told that for etch to do its job properly it was best to apply the top coat before the etch had fully dried, is there any bant in this theory?


EDIT: just found this: It always used to be the case that self etch should be oversprayed with primer as soon as it's dry. If the paint is left overnight it can absorb moisture which weakens the bond to the steel panel. I believe this is the case with chromate based self etch but not phosphate based

I honestly don't know Kevan. I just did what it said on the tin and any stuff I could find in 'paint your car' type blogs and books. I put an initial coat of primer on - which I allow to dry for 24hrs - then sand back removing any faults, before the final coat that recieves the paint. It always seems to have very good adhesion. I had a look on the tin but there didn't seem to be any mention of whether it was phosphate or chromate based - I assume that most commercially available products are made as user - or idiot! - friendly as possible; which suits me fine!

[bx petrol auto saloon]

Dear Paul
What an absolutely fantastic thread Paul, congratulations and very
very well done
What with me also reading Kitchs thread on the hole in his door
from behind the waist moulding all I can say is there is some
pretty darn good can shaking bodywork going on
Your house must have looked like a T.V " set " paint/click
paint/click paint/click
All The Best Paul
Vince.