Citroen Zx16v

[bxzx16v]

I had some spare time this afternoon so I thought I would try to get some pics of under the rear of the Zx after a quick blast with the steam cleaner at the garage down the road , my aim is to do a section at a time starting at the back treating each section with some bilt hamber de-ox gel which strips any rust off and will not harm paint/plastics etc , I have seen this product at work and it really is very impressive as the product does the work and there is no grinding etc required , this will be useful as the areas are pretty tricky to access but hopefully when the rear bumper is removed it should be improved . Forgive the picture quality as there phone pics ,

Here's the spare wheel holder which was seized solid and took some persuading



This will be removed de-ox gel'd and repainted .

A shot of the rear silencer area , note the creamy/discoloured factory applied protection , this has been steamed and will be cleaned by hand at a later date and possibly painted green to match the car or some bilt hamber UC treatment applied , I'm not sure which at this stage yet .



Here's the worst bit of rust on the rear box hanger , the old underseal will be stripped off and treated



Here's a pic of the corners of the boot floor behind the rear wheels , very clean after being cleaned but minor rust on the seams to be sorted out







I'll post some more pics of the sill areas when I start those too . As I said earlier I'm not sure wether to try and get a match for the factory applied underseal and apply bilt hamber UC (clear) over the top or go straight for bilt hamber UB (brownish colour) and not bother with the factory cream colour .

Thanks , Mark

[Citroenmad]

That is looking very tidy under there Mark, a bit of rust proofing will no doubt preserve it.

Have you decided if its exhaust or bumpers yet?

[bxzx16v]

It will more than likely be a stainless exhaust as the current one has a crack/split on the pipe going into the backbox and has been patched up twice . I did want to have the catalyst removed but it could cause Mot issues in the future .

Mark

[CitroJim]

Mark, I'll be interested in what rust-proofing stuff you choose as I'll be looking to liberally spray some around the Prestige and the Xantias before winter bites. In my 205GTi days I always favoured Bilt-Hambler stuff...

[bxzx16v]

I'll let you know what I decide on Jim . Well Sunday and a little more spare time so what better than to repair the parcel shelf on the Zx as the fabric is peeling on the edges , so out with the spray glue and job done in no time , a quick clean up of any excess with some valet pro tar & glue remover and I'm very happy . I thought while I was out I would have a look at the sill trim clips I have just got , it turns out there are two types on the trim , the ones I have got which fasten onto the car with tiny screws and a second type which slide into a channel and then pop into holes on the sill of the car .Here's the lower ones





These will need the screws drilling out as you can imagine they are past there best , I shall replace them with some stainless ones .

And here's the clip which I now require ( possible 20 ) another trip to the dealer to see if these are still available .



I've got a sneaky feeling these are no longer available but fingers crossed .

Mark

[bxzx16v]

It's back to daily duties for a short time until I decide what route to go with the exhaust on the doblo as it is blowing from the front flexi and the joint to the DPF is very crusty , my options are front pipe replacement and hope for the best with the DPF or a front pipe and a remap to remove the DPF and replacement section for it . I've been told that there will be an increase in torque and bhp will be up by about 30bhp taking it up to 150bhp and I should also see an increase in fuel economy . The price for the Dpf removal and remap is a reaonable £180 . I've got to get a price for the front pipe/dpf section yet , I'll keep updated .

Mark

[bxzx16v]

Well the bilt hamber goodies have arrived and I will start removing the bodykit next week , pics to follow .

Mark

[CitroJim]

Excellent Mark, being the owner of an XM I want to preserve I'm most interested...

[Deanxm]

The key thing with the XM Jim is to box oil it, make sure you heat whatever your spraying in there by standing it in boiling water first and if you can heat the cavity with an old hair dryer or heat gun too even better.

D

[bxzx16v]

There's been a delay in starting to strip of the bodykit on the Zx due to rip off insurance and having to sort out a better price . I'll be starting tommorrow on the sill trims and concentrating on the jacking points first . I've also got to call and get some paint mixed and put into an aerosol . I'll get some pics taken tommorrow when i start .

Mark

[bxzx16v]

Well after a slight delay I started on removing some parts of the Zx's bodykit today , first job was to jack the car up to gain access to remove the torx screws holding the sill trims on to allow me better access to the jacking points.

Here's the sill trim before removal .



And here's one after removal .



And here's what was hiding underneath , this is the o/s/r jacking point . It's mainly just surface rust but I wanted to get it sorted before it goes too far .



Here's the o/s/f area .



Here's both the nearside jacking points which are surprisingly better than the offside





Here's the area above the spare wheel carrier which is in superb condition , it will get a good wash with some bilt hamber surfex Hd , the spare wheel carrier will be removed and shotblasted and then resprayed black .





And a very grubby looking spare wheel , I don't think this has ever been of the car in 17 years by the looks of it . This will be shotblasted and repainted black .



After a quick clean with some bilberry wheel cleaner .



Now the the front arch before removal , nice and shiny



And now after removing it to gain access to be able to treat the affected area . I wasn't expecting it to be this bad but the rust is mainly in the second skin on the arch lip .





Here's the worst area of the arch , there is a small seam which water has got into , this will be treated with some bilt hamber deox gel at the weekend .



Sorry about the quality of the pics they were took with my phone , I'll get some more up soon of the deox gel working it's magic on the rust .

Thanks , Mark

[citronut]

Mark
it looks like even the plastic bumper has a rusty hole in it

what no serious erosion behind the sill covers then

[bxzx16v]

The sills are in fantastic condition for the age , it's just surface rust around the jacking points which require minor attention , I will also be spraying cavity wax into the sills through the skirt trim locating holes .

Mark

[Xantianut]

Ay up!

She's in excellent condition for her age. Even better, the repairs are all to areas hidden by the bodykit, you lucky, lucky man.

I'm ever so jealous. My dents are very visible!

[bxzx16v]

I managed to get an hour or so this afternoon to crack on with the rust issues , here's the front arch area which is the worst area as the second skin on the 16v specific wing was harbouring some rust .





A couple of small holes after tidying up with the flap disc



And now with a coat of deox gel







Onto the sills now



Cleaned up with the drill & flap disc





Front jacking point above ^^^

Rear jacking point cleaned up



A small section on the rear lower arch area sanded



And finally a small area which required a little tickle with the flap wheel



Thanks for taking time to look , I'll get some more pics up when I rinse of the deox gel and see the results .

Mark