How much money can you throw at a BX?

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crooser
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Post by crooser »

i once had a bx and then i learnt the error of my ways
crooser
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Post by crooser »

i then bought some xm's and the bank showed me the error of my ways.
ohms69
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Post by ohms69 »

I think I'm just going to have to learn to love red.[:D]
Mechanically we're almost there, so the commencement of cosmetic detailing can begin. I'm sure I'll be much happier after a day spent polishing and waxing. The car has ZX volcane alloys, So I think I may save some cash and settle for respraying these a gunmetal grey. I think this will contrast nicely with the grey finish around the windows and roof bars.
I like red...Keep saying it...I like red...keep thinking it![:p][:D][;)]
Jon

Post by Jon »

In reply to the original topic, the answer is.............LOTS!
I once had the pleasure to own a K reg BX TD which was sold to me by a trader friend as being a "good un". That was in fact a lie.
After I had replaced all 5 spheres, the rear arm bearings, both driveshafts, fitted a complete new cylinder head plus gasket bolts etc, a new radiator. The alternator, front and rear brakes; fixed the ABS (warning light bulb had been removed), tidied it up and valeted it; I was driving down the M4 one night when the mileometer clicked from 92,000 to 192,000 in one swift click. After replacing the leaking flow valve and the rattly drop links I sold the thing for £500 more than I bought it for but I was still £500 down. I then got a marker pen and wrote "I will never again buy a BX" across my forehead to remind myself everytime I looked in a mirror, and moved on to ZX's.
I still love BX's though, although they have to be TD's or 16V's. I also had 1.9 GTi 8v that never ran right and always "hesitated" despite the big bills from the Cit dealer that the previous owner gave me, that included a new ECU and airflow meter, ouch. Turned out the the Dizzy was had it. That was when I bought my first ZX TD Volcane, 8 years ago!! Blah, blah.[;)]
DoubleChevron
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Post by DoubleChevron »

Hey Jon,
stop that.... It's my job to bad mouth BX's ... [:D]
Seriously I have no idea why you experianced those problems (though it does sound like you bought the BX with all them as pre-existing problems, so obviously you were going to have to fix them ...).
I have what's basically an BX 1.9litre 8valve GTi. It costs bugger all to run, we all thrash the sh!t out of it. In the last 90,000km's it's had numerous oil changes, a cam belt, a drive shaft and a starter motor. The interior of the car is utterly stuffed, but mechanically it just keeps going and going and going .... Infact I wish it would stop as that would give me an excuse to get rid of it !!!
Don't knock BX reliability, I'll listen to people pick sh!t at the quality of it's interior and plastic (and maybe the ****ty hydraulics on it ie: brake valves, front struts) but not the mechanical reliability of it [8D]
seeya,
Shane L.
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Post by James.UK »

I once "prepared" a car for painting, my boss's bro was a good sprayer, he was also a personal friend, the deal was I had to rub it down with wet n dry, he would come in one night and spray it for me.. The car was an "S" Type auto Jag 1995 B reg in 'golden sand' looked ****e brown to me though.. [:(]
So I took off all removeable items and covered the rest in masking tape, sounds simple but in practice it took me 5 long eves and well into the night just doing that bit, headlamps, fog lamps, side lights, indicators, chrome strips, badges, wipers, bumpers, etc etc removing the broken clips and rivets that broke during removel, and cleaning the marks they left off.. Then I started rubbing it down.. The body was in good nick so I thought it would be a quick job, [:I] But every day when I got back to the workshop my mate had given it a light dusting of BLUE paint, and left a note asking me to rub it down again! [:(!] would you believe it took nearly 3 WEEKS before my mate said it was ready for painting!! [:(!]
Then I made my final mistake, I forgot how colour blind I am [:I] I took a red ford from the showroon that I thought was the same colour as red Jags and got the guy at the paint shop to make me up about a gall of the stuff..
My mate spent nearly all night spraying the car, he dressed in an allover overal with hood and goggles and mouth mask, what with that and all the huge heater-lamps everywhere it was like a scene from 'Star trek' lol. The car looked superb next morning [:D] but my mate threw a fit!! apparently I had bought 'signal red' and Jags were 'Carmen red' in those days!! [:0] [8)] [:I] I refused to do any more work on it! So Signal red it remained. lol. That wasn't the end of the job tho, cleaning all the bits I took off and polishing up the chrome window surrounds etc took several evening, and as a final touch I bought some 2nd hand 'knock on knock off' Chromes wires for it. [:D] It really looked a beautifull car then.. [^]
Would I do it again? NO bloody way!!! lmho.. If I had known how much work was involved it would have stayed ****e brown! oops I mean Golden sand..
My ZX is bog standard grey (Silver on a forecourt [:o)]) and I like it that way. Its invisable to passers by, thieves, and vandels, Stays cool in the sun, and never looks dirty.. [:D]
You still want to spray your car? lmho... [:o)] [:D]
.
Jon

Post by Jon »

Shane, it was a true story, but my tongue was firmly in cheek. It was my fault for buying a car over the phone. That was my 5th BX by the way, I am actually quite keen on them!!!
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

IMHO the best colour to paint a BX would be Ford Signal Amber. I once had a Scirocco Mk 1 painted in this colour and it looked terrific.
ohms69
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Post by ohms69 »

I still think Black looks the best. There's a 16v on the Autotrader with a genuine 60K in black and that looks stunning!
I've never owned a black car, so would like one at some point.[:)]
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