Bonnets

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Doz
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Bonnets

Post by Doz »

Hello All,

Just after a little bit of history ... both my early BX's and my F-reg 16 Valve had plastic bonnets... the "new" TXS has a steel one...

Why and when did Citroen choose to go down this retrograde path?

Happy BXing...
Doz

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

The steel bonnets appear to come and go, my 1985 mk 1 RD diesel had a steel bonnet, my later cars did not.
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Way2go
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Post by Way2go »

I agree it is difficult to understand why the steel bonnets exist at all when one of Citroens selling points was the weight saving achieved on the BX. Possibly there was a temporary supply problem with the plastic bonnet and they had to supplement with steel to keep production moving.
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Doz
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Post by Doz »

That would be logical... pity though ... I'd better watch out for the metal mildew then, doesn't seem constructed with anti-corrosion in mind :(
Doz

2007 Citroen C1 (it's not a real Citroen)(With a complete set of wheel trims)
2006 C4 1.6VTR+ (Alloys no wheel trims)
1982 Mini HL (No wheel trims, no wheels)
1993 Kawasaki GPZ500
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

I understood that the steel ones were supplied as spare parts and used right at the end on production cars.

This theory would account for them cropping up on cars of any age.
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Post by Vanny »

Steel bonnets where originally made for the early diesels (Mk1 rd's) in order to deaden sound (it was a huge step for any manufacturer to release a dirty noisey poluting diesel model), i guess they later either decided that they could just stick the lagging under the bonnet or simply not bother so the metal bonnets became redundant.

I've heard that when ordering a replacement bonnet from Citroen you could request metal or fibre and both where the same price. The thought of spraying a fibre bonnet must have put quite a few spray shops off in the era so they went for metal bonnets as they knew what they where doing?

The metal bonnets where then used in production lines at the end of the runs of all cars (K-plate and onwards), i guess they just had loads of them left so bolted them on to save ordering more fibre bonnets?

I guess fibre bonnets once setup still take a lot of man hours to lay up, while steel bonnets could just be stamped out and welded up in a matter of hours if the die's where already there?
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Post by Way2go »

jeremy wrote:I understood that the steel ones were supplied as spare parts and used right at the end on production cars.

This theory would account for them cropping up on cars of any age.
But surely the substantial cost of tooling and alternative production would not support this theory when all they had to do was increase the quantity ordered of the standard bonnet which would have the effect of reducing the unit cost of this?
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Bonnets

Post by Citroen Guru »

You used to be able to get patern bonnets from motor factors when BXs were in their heyday. I repaired quite a few accident damaged Bxs. Also front wings and all lights.
Much cheaper than Citroen parts. My 2 94s have steel ones and they havn,t been crashed so presumably factory items. I once put a series 2 front on a crashed 85 BX and sold it as a change over model. Old dodgy car dealer days coming back to haunt me!
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Post by DLM »

Any TX seems to have a steel bonnet - I'd subscribe to the "use up the parts at the end of the run " or "we won't place any more orders for block moulding components anymore" theories.
Back on two wheels and pedal power for the moment.
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Post by tim leech »

My tx had a metal bonnet also.
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