Lhd to rhd

[Rog]

Well lads.
Has anyone ever converted a bx from lhd to rhd. I wander would it be a big job, steering rack, wiring loom etc.

[xantia_v6]

I am no BX expert, but I think that it is likely to be quite difficult, as the scuttle/firewall panel is probably specific to LHD or RHD pedal boxes, and will lack holes/brackets/stiffeners on the other side.

[Jaba]

Of course it could be done if you had a donor RHD car to swap from. I have heard of it having been considered but never completed, the killer for most would be the new position of the brake doseur entailing changing all the brake piping and the rear suspension supply pipes from the front end as well as the return piping from steering and brakes. Some of that piping is probably not available new any more.

Somebody skilled and determined could get it done as a long term project I am sure. It is much easier of course to just drive the LHD car on the wrong side of the road. I live in Europe for part of the year and do not have any trouble at all driving my RHD car.

Don't let me put you off when I say that I wouldn't consider this conversion and would prefer to buy a car with the steering wheel where you want it or drive my newly acquired LHD car on the wrong side of the road.

[Rog]

It's just that there are a lot of bx's for sale in France and rust free. I have a donor car and all.

[Kitch]

You'd probably run into issues regarding the registration, too. Any structural/significant changes made to a monocoque put you into the realms of IVA land, and that's not a place you want to be. And you wouldn't get away with not telling them, because firstly, it's pretty obvious you've modified the car, and secondly, you'd have to tell DVLA that it has switched drive on the registration document, whether it be the French one, or the subsequent V5.

It would be easier to weld up a rusty UK car.

[rutter123]

Or move to France

[David]

The hardest part of this would be welding in the extra metal to hold the steering column. The hole for the steering rack is already there, it just needs knocking out. The soundproofing for the firewall is made for ether side, the subframe is the same & most of the hydraulic pipes are the same, the main different ones are the ones that run across the top of the subframe.

You'd just need the welding doing for the steering column, a different dashboard, steering rack (& pipes if power steering was present), speedo, throttle & clutch cables, front carpet, a bit of messing with wiring behind the dash & the front wiper motor & then you'd be getting somewhere.