GT mediated Awesomeness

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
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saintjamesy89
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Good news regarding the inlet manifold, I dropped it off to my friends business to get some metal added onto the back of the head mounting flange and it should be ready next week hopefully, I didn't post the picture with the hole i'd made on the last post, so here it is.

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Good morning BX'ers, I finally have a non-blowing exhaust - although I may have gone a little far to achieve that! I've been talking with the guy who runs Titan Exhausts in Taunton, Somerset - apologies if recommending/name dropping isn't allowed but I am impressed with the product.

I wanted a stainless, quiet, twin exit system with rectangular tail pipes to match the boxyness of a BX. Unfortunately because I wanted a twin exit, this limited what could be achieved in the space available, the finished product looks great but is louder than I wanted, it is 3 decibels louder than the blowing standard exhaust that was on there before. I think it sounds really good though, inside the car you only really notice it on the overrun and when giving it the boot and the latter is when you do want a bit of noise :D Stuart wrapped the drivers tail pipe to reduce the heat the nearby-ish fuel filler has to endure and I plan top wrap the rest of the system at some point to reduce the heat coming into the cabin. He also kept the front portion of the downpipe, with the divider in the middle, if you have been watching our Rich's UpNDown youtube channel you'll know the importance of this :D

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Use headphones/earbuds for the video if you can, it sounded crap on my phone. In reality it is a bit bassy and has a lovely burble at idle. It looks like a nice, tidy job to me and bloody well should be too at the price! It comes with a lifetime warranty etc.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by panky »

Sounds rather nice 8)
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saintjamesy89
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Hello folks, I had a spare afternoon last week and having gotten my new inlet manifold back from my welding/fabrication buddies, it was time to put it on. They added some more aluminium to the area where the top of the inlet runner meets the gasket flange, this is where I went through when gasket matching the ports to the inlet, it was so thin there that even in the other three cylinders where there was no holes, it blew through when welding.

I was struggling to find new studs with the correct threaded and non-threaded areas so I transferred the carb studs over from the old manifold along with the rubber bush/bolt that secures the oil filler. The studs did have hex holes on the tops, but these were corroded so no chance of being able to unscrew them this way! I used the double nut method.

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I hadn't noticed how minging the coolant was either! It was changed in 2015 by Rich on here as part of that batch of work, it started off being red/pink! You can see from the coolant passages from the old inlet manifold how manky those dribbles are! SO as part of this I drained the coolant and put in some cheap halfords blue silicate ethylene glycol stuff. When the head comes off (hopefully over winter) I'll give it all a proper flush and might even go Evans waterless...

New manifold in, I re-used the newish gasket that was put on a few weeks ago - I'd ordered a decent elring gasket for this and a few sheets of DIY gasket paper for the carb for this very job today, but it took ages to arrive - bank holidays! Curiously the only carb-to-manifold gaskets I could find were part of a complete rebuild kit, at around £60! Stuff that, a few pounds for a few sheets of gasket paper - much better. Again, when the head comes off I'll make some new carb gaskets.
There are some new fuel pipes here too, just the pipes between the pump, carb and fuel economy device (this is used by the fuel computer in the GT models :D ) as they were beginning to perish, the pipes that run from the hard lines to the pump will also likely need doing but that is for another day.

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Whilst I had the manifold and carb out of the way, I fitted some ducting for the new loom I made a few weeks ago. I was worried about the naked wires and knew the mani would be off again, so some split trunking later...

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All back together again, the sharp eyed amongst you might notice that I moved the (new) fuel filter to a much more accessible location, it was quite close to the fuel pump before and tricky to get at with all the pipes in the way.

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I've not noticed any real difference with the new manifold, but then the fuelling hasn't been adjusted yet - the car is booked into a local-ish place that has a guy who specialises in tuning carburettor engines, they have a rolling road etc aswell so they can check the air/fuel ratio and jetting etc to correct any potential lean running, I imagine it is running at least a little lean with an exhaust that is more free flowing and perhaps a little more air coming in through the intake than before. It certainly will be interesting to see the power/torque figures!

Current complaints:
-Alternator bearings are whining when they warm up
-Charging light is on dimly, but when I bled the coolant after this batch of work I did get coolant all over the battery/gearbox earth points, so I'll clean these up on Tuesday when I'm next off and hope that is the issue.
-Rattly valvetrain! It's ok at idle but quite rattly at 1500 rpm or so, only really noticeable when the choke is pulled at on fast idle.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

Mes voitures:
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saintjamesy89
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Small update today, I cleaned up the two earth's as above - which made no difference! But I did check fuse no.1, it had blown - love an easy fix. I remember now, when I was removing the carb spade connector as part of removing the inlet manifold, it sparked against a spot of coolant which was obviously enough to short it. I should have disconnected the battery... I'll put posh high octane petrol in next in the hope this helps, its booked in for a tune up in two weeks anyway. Fingers crossed for decent weather, I can have the roof down in the Saab rather than using the GT.

In other news, although the dashboard lights are again behaving normally the engine continues to run after the key is turned and removed. All lights and electrics go out, so I assume the ignition switch is OK. I wonder if it's dieseling due to running lean recently (new exhaust etc), I have done a few trips around town in it.

I also spent hours detailing it today, thorough clean followed by a polish and treating all the exterior plastics with Meguirs ultimate somethingorother. Man, those plastics were thirsty! I think they'll need another go over.
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Last edited by saintjamesy89 on Mon May 22, 2023 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

Mes voitures:
1985 Citroen BX19 GT
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Jaba
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Jaba »

Splendid looking Mk1 you have got there Tom. Its lucky to be benefitting from all your love and care.
The Joy of BX with just one Citroën BX to my name now. Will I sing Bye Bye to my GTI or will it be Till death us do part.
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Jugostran »

saintjamesy89 wrote: Tue May 16, 2023 8:49 pm Small update today, I cleaned up the two earth's as above - which made no difference! But I did check fuse no.1, it had blown - love an easy fix. I remember now, when I was removing the carb spade connector ss part of removing the inlet manifold, it sparked against a spot of coolant which was obviously enough to short it. Should have disconnected the battery... I'll put posh high octane petrol in next in thd hope this helps, its booked in for a tune up in two weeks. Fingers crossed for decent weather, I can have the roof down in the Saab rather than using the GT.

In other news, although the dashboard lights are again behaving normally the engine continues to run after thd key is turned and removed. All lights and electrics go out, so I assume the ignition switch is OK. I wonder if it's dieseling due to running lean recently (new exhaust etc), I have done a few trips around town in it.

I also spent hours detailing it today, thorough clean followed by a polish and treating all the exterior plastics with Meguirs ultimate somethingorother. Man, those plastics were thirsty! I think they'll need another go over.

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That looks really nice. The exhaust is fantastic.
Sad to see you lost one of the wheel trims :(
Proudly daily driving a 1989 BX 16 TRS since 2021

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saintjamesy89
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Thanks John and Jugostran for your kind words, I know it is the way with old cars, but fix one issue and three more need doing!

I have spent most of last week tinkering with the GT in preparation for the RetroRides weekender event at Goodwood circuit in Chichester, it was great fun! The drive down itself was a laugh, I went in convoy with one of my Volvo forum friends, he has a D24 (VW based 2.4 straight 6 turbo diesel, like Mat on here has in his LT35) manual estate 960, it has had the boost turned up and a straight pipe fitted - it sounded ridiculously good for a diesel! However, the GT outpaced it quite nicely even in its current questionable state of tune :D

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Further to the above electrical gremlins I realised a few things now I've done a bit more fiddling, when I first put the carb wire and alternator sensor wires back on the charging light was on solidly, so I swapped the two wires over and the charging light went out. BUT I got them the wrong way around! The alternator was only giving 12.8V over the battery terminals after all the contacts had been cleaned, it was more or less the same between each electrical connector/point and earth in that circuit, so I suspected a dodgy alternator - I found a NOS 70A version of the unit fitted on the GT, a Paris-Rhone brand that looked identical although the part numbers were quite different.

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NOS alternator fitted Thursday night at 9:15 PM, Friday I needed to pack the car etc in prep for leaving home Saturday morning before 6AM...! Lo and behold, 14.2V across the battery etc and the most noticeable improvement was the noise, what I had down to 'XU rattle' was for the most part noisy alternator bearings, especially at fast idle.
So with a new alternator and the carb/alternator wires the correct way around, the charging light was off and the engine switched off when the ignition was turned off - win/win.

I mentioned the fun and spirited drive down to the event, we got within 5 minutes of Goodwood and the BX started running roughly, it would idle but die as soon as the accelerator was pressed - only pulling the choke out fully would make it do anything other than splutter and die - mid throttle was the worst running wise, but WOT was fine after a little bit of lurching/sputtering, Once parked up, tightening the carb securing nuts helped, but didn't resolve this issue, at one point I didn't think I'd make it home, but I did - although not smoothly or comfortably. Luckily there were several mechanically minded buddies on hand and the consensus was too much air or not enough fuel.

Going forward, above I re-used one one of the old carb base gaskets as I only had one new one to hand - I have bought some gasket paper since and will make up new gaskets from this for the carb, I should be able to do this Thursday and I will double up the gaskets too in case of carb base warp. Otherwise, it is going in for a jetting/fuelling check/tune-up on the 1st June with a guys who knows his carbs, so worst case scenario he can check out the carb for me.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

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saintjamesy89
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

New base gaskets made with 0.5mm quality gasket paper - no change. The carb guy has pushed it's booking back to 6th June as they are having a new roof on their workshop. As per my facebook post, he said to be prepared for the carb to not be repairable.

As I am me and can't leave well enough alone, I've naturally started planning what to do should the carb need replacing. The obvious choice is a 'new' direct replacement at £480, I think these are the Chinese copies. BUT if I am spending that much, Weber do a Throttle body EFI kit that may well bolt straight onto the BX carb inlet manifold... It even has a TPS, FPR and Air temp sensor within the unit, so all you need is an ECU, EFI fuel pump and engine position sensor (crank, or distributor hall effect). The throttle body is pretty much the same price as a new carb...
Retroject TB.jpg
Obviously I'll know more on the 6th, I didn't want to go EFI as this takes away from the GT-ness of the car, and would make it just a GTI in a MK1 body, but if the EFI looks like a carb then the starting/economy/drivability/power benefits could make it more unique and perhaps even futureproof the car a little.

https://www.webcon.co.uk/products/15299 ... ttle-body/
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Jugostran »

saintjamesy89 wrote: Tue May 23, 2023 10:40 pm Thanks John and Jugostran for your kind words, I know it is the way with old cars, but fix one issue and three more need doing!

I have spent most of last week tinkering with the GT in preparation for the RetroRides weekender event at Goodwood circuit in Chichester, it was great fun! The drive down itself was a laugh, I went in convoy with one of my Volvo forum friends, he has a D24 (VW based 2.4 straight 6 turbo diesel, like Mat on here has in his LT35) manual estate 960, it has had the boost turned up and a straight pipe fitted - it sounded ridiculously good for a diesel! However, the GT outpaced it quite nicely even in its current questionable state of tune :D

Image

Image

Further to the above electrical gremlins I realised a few things now I've done a bit more fiddling, when I first put the carb wire and alternator sensor wires back on the charging light was on solidly, so I swapped the two wires over and the charging light went out. BUT I got them the wrong way around! The alternator was only giving 12.8V over the battery terminals after all the contacts had been cleaned, it was more or less the same between each electrical connector/point and earth in that circuit, so I suspected a dodgy alternator - I found a NOS 70A version of the unit fitted on the GT, a Paris-Rhone brand that looked identical although the part numbers were quite different.

Image

NOS alternator fitted Thursday night at 9:15 PM, Friday I needed to pack the car etc in prep for leaving home Saturday morning before 6AM...! Lo and behold, 14.2V across the battery etc and the most noticeable improvement was the noise, what I had down to 'XU rattle' was for the most part noisy alternator bearings, especially at fast idle.
So with a new alternator and the carb/alternator wires the correct way around, the charging light was off and the engine switched off when the ignition was turned off - win/win.

I mentioned the fun and spirited drive down to the event, we got within 5 minutes of Goodwood and the BX started running roughly, it would idle but die as soon as the accelerator was pressed - only pulling the choke out fully would make it do anything other than splutter and die - mid throttle was the worst running wise, but WOT was fine after a little bit of lurching/sputtering, Once parked up, tightening the carb securing nuts helped, but didn't resolve this issue, at one point I didn't think I'd make it home, but I did - although not smoothly or comfortably. Luckily there were several mechanically minded buddies on hand and the consensus was too much air or not enough fuel.

Going forward, above I re-used one one of the old carb base gaskets as I only had one new one to hand - I have bought some gasket paper since and will make up new gaskets from this for the carb, I should be able to do this Thursday and I will double up the gaskets too in case of carb base warp. Otherwise, it is going in for a jetting/fuelling check/tune-up on the 1st June with a guys who knows his carbs, so worst case scenario he can check out the carb for me.
Nice work!
I also have to replace my alternator as it's a bit weak. However since 'redneck engineering' is part of the Balkan daily driver classic ethos, I just put a bigger battery in it. Now it's working better.
And don't get me started on carb issues. My Solex is still going through a wide range of states, usually between slightly broken and very broken. At the moment I get no pull above 3k RPM and it's leaking fuel somewhere.
Either way, enjoy your BX!
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saintjamesy89
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Normal GT service has resumed, its a reasonably significant spend I don't need right now but at least I can trust it. Having gotten used to seeing the old, early style mostly metal solex, this new one looks a bit odd with its big plastic bits under there. I'm sure I'll get used to it!
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Having a property functioning autochoke is great and I noticed the torque during normal driving I didn't know I was missing has returned, however it feels much slower overall.
The chap said it needs a few hundred miles of bedding in, then adjusting and he'll check the jetting/fuelling on the rolling road then too - so hopefully that will solve the lack of top end.
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Jugostran »

saintjamesy89 wrote: Tue Jun 13, 2023 10:12 pm Normal GT service has resumed, its a reasonably significant spend I don't need right now but at least I can trust it. Having gotten used to seeing the old, early style mostly metal solex, this new one looks a bit odd with its big plastic bits under there. I'm sure I'll get used to it!

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Having a property functioning autochoke is great and I noticed the torque during normal driving I didn't know I was missing has returned, however it feels much slower overall.
The chap said it needs a few hundred miles of bedding in, then adjusting and he'll check the jetting/fuelling on the rolling road then too - so hopefully that will solve the lack of top end.
That carb looks familiar, hah.
My BX has the exact same one, albeit mine is pretty minging. Do they still sell the autochoke modules for them, I think mine's acting up a bit.
Also, mine doesn't function correctly at all, so the picture of yours is giving me slight PTSD. However, yours looks really nice and sounds like it is performing correctly. I bet it'll get better with time.
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Tim Leech »

Looks the same carb as mine, glad all sorted Tom, is the second choke working ok, and is the throttle cable adjusted
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Jugostran »

Tim Leech wrote: Thu Jun 15, 2023 3:26 pm Looks the same carb as mine, glad all sorted Tom, is the second choke working ok, and is the throttle cable adjusted
Hey there, sorry to barge into this conversation like this, but these have two chokes and require throttle cable adjustment? I am asking because mine is really down on power at higher RPMs (the second chamber flap does open when the throttle is pushed open more). Also, what does adjusting the throttle cable do? I am a bit of a carb newbie.
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by saintjamesy89 »

No problem Jugostran, I would guess that you should only need to adjust your cable if it has been fiddled with (pedal box end or carb end). Sounds to me like your autochoke might be interfering with hot running when it shouldn't!

I had wondered if I was getting full throttle to be honest, I didn't fit the carb - the chap who knows his carburettor-onions did, so I'm not sure. After a few hundred miles it needs adjustment anyway, so I will ask then about the cable. I wondered if the throttle cable might be different, the throttle wheel/plastic thing looks quite different on this carb to my previous.

The coolant hoses for the autochoke are the wrong way around too, so I'll re-route those. I understand that if the autochoke is on to any degree, the second venturi won't open so you get significantly less power at the top end - this is one of the reasons I installed the manual choke before. As the autochoke relies upon operating temperature coolant to disengage, I wonder if routing the coolant hoses correctly fixes this for me?

It starts after 1 rotation of the starter though with this new carb, bliss!
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Re: GT mediated Awesomeness

Post by Jugostran »

saintjamesy89 wrote: Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:43 am No problem Jugostran, I would guess that you should only need to adjust your cable if it has been fiddled with (pedal box end or carb end). Sounds to me like your autochoke might be interfering with hot running when it shouldn't!

I had wondered if I was getting full throttle to be honest, I didn't fit the carb - the chap who knows his carburettor-onions did, so I'm not sure. After a few hundred miles it needs adjustment anyway, so I will ask then about the cable. I wondered if the throttle cable might be different, the throttle wheel/plastic thing looks quite different on this carb to my previous.

The coolant hoses for the autochoke are the wrong way around too, so I'll re-route those. I understand that if the autochoke is on to any degree, the second venturi won't open so you get significantly less power at the top end - this is one of the reasons I installed the manual choke before. As the autochoke relies upon operating temperature coolant to disengage, I wonder if routing the coolant hoses correctly fixes this for me?

It starts after 1 rotation of the starter though with this new carb, bliss!
Thanks for the really detailed explanation. It might be that mine is engaging when it shouldn't, preventing the second venturi from opening, as you said. It would explain the loss of top end pull. I also have issues starting. I have to try at least two times usually before it starts. I think my carb definitely needs looking at. Good luck with yours, seems very promising!
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