Magic Carpet Ride

Anything about BXs
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mnde
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Post by mnde »

Thanks for all this praise for my car.... TBH, I think I was extremely lucky to pick up a BX for £100 with rear spheres that good. I had to change the fronts when I got it, and the struts are a little creaky - oh and I had to have the octopus changed when that gave up, and the accy sphere needs changing asap.... but apart from that - in certain conditions it rides better than my GSA. I still think the rears are under-damped though. It's impossible to bottom out the GSA over speedbumps, whereas it's quite easy to do so in the BX!

Mark.
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Post by ellevie »

I wonder if Mark's rear spheres are in fact "comfort" spheres which use less damping in order to provide a softer ride ? This would explain the "under-damped" sensation.
David

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Post by nstarmore »

where do you go about getting these magical sounding comfort spheres because they sound lovely and I want some.
Nic

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Post by ellevie »

I'm sure somebody said AEP supply them, but I can't see them on their website. I also seem to remember something about them being widely available in Belgium. Perhaps Westroen or Pleiades do them ?

Marty reports getting very good results by using estate spheres on his saloon. See
http://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3638 for details.

Here's a chart of sphere specifications. Notice that the estate 1.6 & 1.9 spheres are 500cc compared to 400cc for the saloon. Could Mark's rear spheres be 500cc ?
Image
David

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Post by BX Bandit »

I did some enquiries a while back with AEP and IFHS who are in Belgium and supply the Comfort spheres for both Xantia and BX. AEP don't stock them but you can request that they order them for you. However they order infrequently so you may have to wait a while (up to a couple of months).
I asked what the pressures/volume/central bore diameters were. I have the info somwhere and will try and find it to post up, but surprisingly and judging by the 3 specifications mentioned above they wouldn't be any different to standard spheres...UNLESS...there is something else within the sphere that may be different from standard ones to provide a more comfortable ride, but I don't know what or if there is!
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Post by BX Bandit »

Here we go: Front Volume = 400, pressure = 55, bore diameter = 1.8
rears volume = 400, pressure = 40, bore diam = 1.2
1990 BX 16V Platinum Grey
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Terry Brooks
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Post by Terry Brooks »

Hmmm :-k ........I've only just caught up with this thread .....fwiw,I dont think the ride on my '92 BXtzd is any better than the ride in my '88 2CV .......the BX was fitted with "reconditioned" spheres last year and the 2CV had four new "shockers" last year.
Tel
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Post by Terry Brooks »

Hmmm :-k ........I've only just caught up with this thread .....fwiw,I dont think the ride on my '92 BXtzd is any better than the ride in my '88 2CV .......the BX was fitted with four "reconditioned" spheres last year and the 2CV had four new "shockers" last year.
Tel
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Dont let the 2CV fool you,I'm not a hippy,I like violence
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Post by BX Bandit »

Well at least running will be quicker than taking the 2CV, you'll have time to put yer coat on too!! :lol:
1990 BX 16V Platinum Grey
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1960 Morris Minor Clarondon Grey
1971 Triumph 2000 Auto Valencia Blue
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Post by ellevie »

BX Bandit wrote:Here we go: Front Volume = 400, pressure = 55, bore diameter = 1.8
rears volume = 400, pressure = 40, bore diam = 1.2
Thanks for that.
It looks like the front is exactly the same as the BX14 and the rear is almost the same as the BX14 rears.
It's interesting that they are both 400cc. I was expecting that they might be 500cc in light of Marty's comments about the estate spheres.

The comfort spheres are available here:-
http://www.pourchier.com/catalogue-piec ... p?ref=comf
http://www.myparts.org (BXVACOMF)
Last edited by ellevie on Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
David

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Post by BX Bandit »

Well thats what I thought, seems a bit strange. My only other thought was that they differ internally to make the damping different. I don't know enough about spheres to elaborate but from what i've read on various cit forums this could well be the case. I chap from the FCF a while back said he put XM comfort spheres on his HYD II Xantia and said the drive was very lovely, a vast improvement over the standard Xantia set-up. Thats as far as I went with it all as the figures I mentioned abovemade me wonder what the point is. Maybe if anyone with more sphere knowledge can elaborate...?
1990 BX 16V Platinum Grey
1990 BX TGD White
1960 Morris Minor Clarondon Grey
1971 Triumph 2000 Auto Valencia Blue
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