Mat's BX Blog

[Defender110]

Well the black paint looks ace, just need to get rid of all that red now

[BX Bandit]

What paint did you use mate? Oh, and you pull the seals out in the end?

[mat_fenwick]

It was RAL7021 satin from this bunch:
http://www.cjaerosols.com/ral-colour-cu ... -can-400ml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Possibly ever so slightly less shiny than the original, but indistinguishable colour wise. I pulled the top part of the seal out, but left the bottom bit in the door and just let it dangle inside.

I had this box arrive today Comfort spheres from AEP, manufacture date 13/09/13. Couldn't get much fresher!



I fitted them in under 20 minutes, and it doing so found out part of the reason why I'm not 100% happy with the ride - one of the rears had ruptured! That thought hadn't even crossed my mind, partly because they were only a year old, and secondly because the ride wasn't anything like as bad as I've previously seen with a flat sphere. It was a NOS genuine Citroen sphere; whether sitting on the shelf for years had a bearing on the failure I don't know. It would be interesting to check the pressure of the 'good' one...

I've never had such a drenching from changing one though - normally when it feels tight all the way to the end I just move aside at the last minute to avoid getting a faceful of LHM. This time I did so and still got completely soaked; the sphere came flying off with considerable force too, the seal never to be seen again!

Anyway, the ride was (unsurprisingly) much improved. I'd really like a back to back trip in a BX with good standard spheres to compare them properly, but I don't recall a more compliant ride

[Tinkley]

Those spheres should be good if they are that fresh, me thinks. Having definitely lost almost all the pressure in my front o/s one thanks to subframe bending I think I'll be ordering new ones... AEP will be pleased, and a couple of fr suspension returns for when the GSF ones (one fitted for MOT in July) fail. I was not very happy with the rear Amteks but I think they were old and one did not have a new seal (old one had to be used), hard after 20k. Fronts and accumulator were Ok but time to replace, after 40k, and a hissing leak Might have to fit the 9 yr old ones, in the short term just to run round locally.

Look forward to a bit of feedback from you Mat, over the next week as your BX settles down on its new green pressure vessels....

[BX Bandit]

Thanks for that Matt, I shall buy a can as I have one door to do.
The thing I don't get about comfort spheres is that they are 400cc all round aren't they? Without a particularly large aperture?

[mat_fenwick]

I'm not sure I fully understand the logic behind the sphere size either (they are 400 cc) but my understanding is that a smaller spring volume gives a more steeply rising spring rate, allowing the initial resistance to suspension movement to be less? I don't know about the aperture size as I didn't poke anything into them (I was actually trying to do the job against the clock, as I wanted to know how long it would take!)

Driven 25 miles this morning, and still happy with them although there is slightly more wallowing over long fast undulations in succession. I can't understand why it wasn't blindingly obvious that a sphere had gone - even other people didn't comment on the ride after getting straight out of a different BX.

[MULLEY]

Probably all those g's that you're pulling when you are blasting round those corners The last thought when being scared was, my goodness, the rear seems rather less composed than my car, haha

[mat_fenwick]

Back to the usual rain (woken up by it at 5 this morning) at the moment, although the sun came out Monday evening and I took a few photos on the way home. You can almost forgive the weather when you have views (and roads) like these!







Window down, turn the stereo up and it feels really good to be alive

[BX Bandit]

Smug git.......

[Tinkley]

I've got the Devil's Punchbowl less than 3 miles away..... all of just over 200 metres high!.

[Thread Bear]

Uffington White Horse? Well its second highest round here after Liddington, which I can see too, and you can see Wales on a clear day the say. Find that a bit unlikely. Possibly Great Malvern and Forest of Dean which is nearly Wales. Great roads on the downs but not as elemental as proper mountains. The middle class beer gut of middle England.

[BX Bandit]

Matt, was that paint in cellulose?

[mat_fenwick]

It was acrylic, but if you're ordering a can for yours you might need a different colour. I don't have the definitive answer but I've been told the hatchbacks have a more blackish shade than the estate, and certainly the two donor doors on mine from a hatch seemed to bear this out. I reckon RAL9011 is the closest to the unfaded areas, but the perfect match will depend on how much your other doors have faded...

[Paul296]

Why Cinderella - you SHALL go to the ball!

[Des Smith]

Why Cinderella - you SHALL go to the ball!

...but can you find a two pairs of glass slippers to fit the speedlines?