BX GT Digit collected today - Now with 'Photos

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fastandfurryous
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BX GT Digit collected today - Now with 'Photos

Post by fastandfurryous »

Gotit. After the last waste of time, when I went to go and get a BX DTR which left me stranded for a day, this collection went much better!
I'm going to put up a web page about this car in the near future, but for the moment:
What a funky car! From the looks of the car, it wasn't actually marketed as a "BX DIGIT", as the one on "eric's citroworld" obviously is, but as a 1985 BX GT with a DIGIT dashboard. It's badged BX GT (shame, no digit badge) but appears to have all the digit stuff present.
The main dash works, but the smaller display underneath, linked to the fuel computer doesn't. A couple of the legoland PRN buttons are a bit dodgey (mainly headlamp flash and horn) but most of it appears to be fine. The digit dash doesn't appear to dim with the headlamps, or have any backlighting, so I'm guessing that there may be a fault there, but I'm not sure.
Other problems with the car: Front suspension is rather creaky, and obviously rather stiff. I think the cylinders are past their best. Gearbag linkage is loose as you like... it's vague to say the least, and it's a BE1/5 box, which have slightly different linkages to the BE3/5. Thankfully I have a spare from a very early 405.
Front wiper motor is loose. Rear doesn't work. Aux drivebelt squeals like pigs on honeymoon, so I think that's a little loose! The pressure regulator re-cycles about every 20-30 seconds, so accumulator a bit low maybe? There's a fair bit of minor damage to the bodywork here and there, including one of the rear pillarlights coming un-bonded.
Good bits though: Interior is in good shape. Engine runs well. Suspension goes up and down, and does take several hours to drop, so it can't be all bad. Rear is very smooth in it's operation.
All in all it's not bad for 20 years old. I shall have to see if there's anything that can be done to get the whole of the DIGIT dash working, as it's fantastic, in a mid-80's vacuum-flourescent kind of way!
I'm now on the prowl for any information about the dashboard and fuel computer, as althouth the car came with a book of service history about an inch thick, it doesn't have the owners handbook with it, so I don't know what it's supposed to do!
Pictures to follow... when it's daytime and I can take some
David.
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

Good luck. There are several firms pottering about which can do things with those sorts of displays, one I am thinking of is a firm called Fylde Electronics who remanufactured some Rockwell Aim 65 displays when I was at college - these were similar but in red.
Dave Bamber
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Post by Dave Bamber »

Big respect for saving it, pictures are eagerly anticipated!
goldfinche
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Post by goldfinche »

Well done so glad it's saved.Would have loved to have got it but had no where to put it mores the pity.
Good luck and best wishes.
Geoff.
Jon

Post by Jon »

I must give you, this months "GWF" Award for this.
GOOD WORK FELLA!
mbunting
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Post by mbunting »

Do I detect another mad BX weekend being planned ?
I was going to do an ax wheelbearing, but being on a main road, and the weather not guaranteed, I've put it off !
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Post by Stinkwheel »

I know of another BX GT with Digit features. Its located with a guy in Northants that has a collection of older citroens, all in very very good condition. The car is definitly not for sale though. Will see if i can get some pictures of it.
BX-Basis
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Post by BX-Basis »

If you need electric schematics or anythoing else about the DIGIT, feel free to e-mail me. I've got a 30-page technical documentation about the DIGIT special features. I also have a nearly complete DIGIT dash for sale.
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Post by BX-Basis »

One more thing: you can easily see whether it is a modified GT or a "real" DIGIT. The DIGIT has special interior materials (seats, door panels) and no "protectors" on the bumpers.
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fastandfurryous
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Post by fastandfurryous »

I don't know if there was such a thing as a "Real" Digit in the UK. From what I can tell from a fair bit of web research is that LHD markets had a special edition "Digit", but RHD markets had a standard GT model, with "Digit" equipement. The vehicle is badged as "GT" and listed on the registration document as a "GT", but clearly has had it's digit equipement from the factory.
Did any other models have the fuel computer fitted? The flowmeter looks very similar to the one I had on a 1979 Talbot Horizon SX.
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Post by nick »

In about 1985 Citroen UK ran a competition to win a BX. The idea was that previous customers were sent a sort of lottery number on a postcard. To find out if you'd won or not you had to take this number to a Citroen dealer where they had a BX with the Digit dashboard in the showroom. You typed the number into a keypad where the trip computer would normally have been (very like the immobiliser keypad on later Citroens) and if I remember rightly if the headlights lit up and the horn sounded it meant you'd won a new BX!
It sticks in my mind because my mum got one of these cards, and I (aged about 12) was sent to our local dealer with the number to see if we'd won. Needless to say we hadn't, but I'm fairly sure the BX I had to type the number in was a metallic grey 19 GT, but with the electronic dash. I think this was a UK wide competition so presumably every dealer in Britain would have been sent one of these BXs, and this maybe explains where these rhd UK spec BX Digits came from. Probably sold off by Citroen when the competition had ended.
dillosk8ter
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Post by dillosk8ter »

Renault did something similar when they launched the 19, they sent out keys and you had to go to the nearest dealer and see if the key fitted/started the car...as we had a Renault 18 TD esate at the time we were sent a key....which didn't work.
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Post by nick »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by dillosk8ter</i>

Renault did something similar when they launched the 19, they sent out keys and you had to go to the nearest dealer and see if the key fitted/started the car
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yep we got one of those too, didn't win a car either !
I wonder if anyone does actually win in these competitions.....
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fastandfurryous
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Post by fastandfurryous »

Well, after a bit of a delay, caused by the combination of learning about how to use WinSCP, and fixing a Merc, I now have a load of photo's of the DIGIT. Some of them are a tad rough, but then my Nokia phone camera lens is rather full of crap!
The BX, on the trailer it came back on. This is quite possibly the worst trailer I have every towed in my life. I still can't believe that I actually paid money to hire it: I had to fix the brakes before they would work!!
Image
You may have noticed that the drivers door won't open past the wheelarch of the trailer. I was about to squeeze myself in through the window, when it dawned on me that I was being dim, and there was a much easier way of getting in:
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Now parked up on the driveway. It looks reasonably good from a distance, well, aside from the mess on the bonnet. I think the previous owner had tried to "touch up" the paintwork, but insted made it several times worse:
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The first thing you notice when you get into the car is this:
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And when combined with the funky PRN dashboard controls, it makes a very odd driving experience indeed:
Image
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Anyone who is used to a PRN-dash BX might well be asking what the additional lego-chunk just behind the horn button is. Well, it's linked to the fuel computer keypad:
Image
and when pressed, the fuel computer beeps. I don't know what it's supposed to do, as the lower display on the dashboard appears to be dead.
Back outside the car, The plastic "window" on the C-pillar of the car was a rare thing on a MK1, only being fitted to the top-end models:
Image
Which is nice, but also a pain, as the MK1's were known to have inferior bonding goop holding them on, and this one is no exception: they are coming off quite badly:
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There is some damage to the nearside rear of the car, where aparently someone in a car park managed to squash the rear wheelarch:
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And there's been a bump on the front nearside corner too, which has done both the wing and the bumper:
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I hadn't noticed the factory fitted sunblinds in the parcel shelf until well after I'd got the car. They're fantastically 80's:
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Shame it's not badged the same as the French/Dutch/Italian Special edition "BX DIGIT". I wonder if I can get a badge from somewhere. Still, the GT badge is quite unique:
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Sorry if I'm waffling on about the car, but the combination of being a MK1, a high spec GT, and having the DIGIT dash makes this a very odd car indeed. I've only driven it a few miles up and down my lane so far, as it has no rent or ticket. It does go amazingly well though, no doubt aided by its light weight. I love the brakes too. It's been a long time since I drove a hydraulic citroen, but it's second nature again now.
It's survived the last 20 years reasonably well: The interior is not bad at all, but if I'm going to keep this car, I think I may have to change the colour of it, as the silver is fairly horrible. I was thinking of a nice deep blue....
This dashboard is a true classic:
Image
David.
Last edited by fastandfurryous on 21 Oct 2005, 21:24, edited 1 time in total.
dillosk8ter
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Post by dillosk8ter »

Those are the best shots of a PRN dash I've ever seen, finally understand how it works, got to be one of the quirkiest/most unconventional interiors Citroen's produced, looks a bit Sci Fi/Star Wars shame they didn't carry on with the concept. Whats the ride like?
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