Detailing World Forum banner

Citroën Saxo VTS Fast Road/Track Day Project

91K views 133 replies 25 participants last post by  Andyblue 
#1 · (Edited)
I made this. :) Citroën Saxo VTS Build

Hi,just wanted to share a list of all the work I've done so far,what you see has already been posted on the Saxo VTS forum of the country of my origin (Italy),though it's pretty quiet these days unfortunately due to the social medias,I've been slowly updating it over the past 2.5 years even though most of the main chassis work (see underside) has only seen substantial progress recently,it's a pretty straightforward progress thread for now,mainly de-rust,paint etc,but I hope it can be of interest in some way.

Obliviously I'm no professional in no way and I learn as I go and test things so please feel free to make any suggestion (main reason for the creation of this thread) good or bad,they're much appreciated.

Last picture before hibernation:



Rear Axle:


Just a note,I've pretty much used all products from Bilt Hamber for the treating the metal: Electrox,Deox-C,Deox-Gel,Hydrate-80,Dynax S-50 for the cavities and Dynax UB.

Out with the old one:







Needed to cut off one of the 4 mounting bolts as it was jammed due to corrosion,an impact would have worked too but didn't have access to that at the time,have one now.



Started disassembling it:



Mild steel washers off the 4 mounting bolts were badly corroded,had someone custom made them in stainless steel to same specs:











Same with the torsion bars offset washers:





These socket off Irwin came in very handy to remove corroded bolts,would recommend them:



Extractor made for the torsion bars:







Pin looks okay on this side,not so much on the other though,see below.





Even though I found the seal had perished badly,not much longer before it wouldn't do his job anymore:



Faulty side,no good:



Used axle from a 1.1,arb still greased nicely:



First and second pin,much better:





Started stripping and de rusting it for new paint,started on the middle the easiest part:







Started working on the trainling arms,made M12 holes for the ARB plate and 6mm grease nipples,3 each arm:





















Deox-C to the rescue:





ARB plate almost finished:





Painted the arms (sorry no pics on them bare out of the Deox):



ARB plate tested fitted:





Mid way trough the Deox process,this was in a bad state:









Splines all clean,look nice (covered in copper grease now):



One part done:



Before and after (again no pics following the Deox apologies,was in the rush to get them clean and painted):



Rubber grommets fitted to prevent dirt inside the trailing arm splines:



Fitted bronze bearings in place of the OEM ones,side to side:





New seals:





Got together a tool to help setting the height of the rear axle:



Cut the outer ring for part upgrade,more on this later:





Axle is ready:



Fitted some PowerFlex:



Painted the rear brake discs shield,electrox first:





Camber kit for the axle,-1.5° from slavesta on 106rallyeforum (this was what the cut ring was for):



Little bit of paint first for the area that will remain exposed:









Assembled:













New rear hubs,after some paint:













Used a nyloc nut instead,grade 10:



80mm studs:







Gaz gold for the rear axle:



Also for the lower gearbox mount and smaller bush from Kam Racing,gave the support a quick paint:







Underside start:







Primed the rear bumper panel for now,still not finished,more later:



Passenger side near where the fuel tank sits,before:







Other side:





Chassis rail driver side,start:



Used Deox-Gel:





Wheel carrier support after Deox,almost ready (no before pics,sorry):







Front mounting pont for the axle:



Driver side,some rust damage present but I wanted to get it cleaned and primed anyway:





Middle part:











Exhuast side,before:



Decided this had to go if I wanted to get everything clean:



Primed:





Rear bench underside,please excuse all the holes from the rear (unused) seat belt plates,mistakes were made,probably should have used a spot weld drill bit instead of normal ones:





Had a start on the front slamp panel for the Pro Comp,it already had (bad) cut holes in it so had to work around that,before:



Started to get it back to bare metal:



Primed:







Passenger side sideskirt,almost ready:











Primed:









Driver side,sadness incoming:



















Floor passenger side has seen some water in the past:









Primed,not finished yet:



Mattig side mirrors,had them painted in the color of the car:









Decided to have a go with carbon fiber wrap (I know):

Before:



After:









Made the garage a bit more comfy,before:

















Made a start at the driver side front arch,feels bad:





Day 1 of many (this is the most recent job and what currently working on,will update as I get more substantial progress done):







Brake System:

Painted the master cylinder as it was looking in poor state due to paint flaking and rust:



Made new brake lines for the front:





Had the sleeves for protection,will have to see if effective:





This is as close as it gets with the steering at full lock and with no load on the suspension,not really representative of any normal driving situation but it should be okay,will do more testing once everything is in place:











Used a rivnut tool to support the lines at the front:









Proportioning valve,trial fitment,6 positions 100% to 60%:





Rear washer custom made for the lines that go to the rear axle trainling arms:



Brake lines for the rear seat that splits and go to each of the rear arms:



Rear bench will get repainted.



Deatil of the flare with kunifer pipe:

 
See less See more
187
#37 · (Edited)
Primed the rear ARB,wiper arms and the blanking panels:









New SNR wheel bearings for the front struts:



Primed and top coated the steering arms:



Bought a quick release steering wheel:



Made up a panel to replace the radio with switches for the fuel cut-off,windows and USB charger lol,always handy to have,also has a voltmeter and rubber cover to keep dust out:





 
#38 · (Edited)
22mm torsion bars by Torsion Performance:





Fits very nicely and by hand,seems to be of good quality for an affordable price.
In the process of being painted,same as ARB.

Top coated the struts and pressed in the bearings (still have to fit the circlips):

Driver side:









Passenger side:











Love this tool,made the pressing effortless.
 
#43 · (Edited)
Quick update,took off the steering wheel and found out 4 of the 6 allen bolt had sezied and of course they all rounded off (even with an impact no luck),only put medium loctite on them so that's a lesson not to do that ever again,will only use copper grease:



Inevitably the paint got a little scratched up while drilling the bolts out so I coulnd't leave it like that so took it down to bare metal:





But then saw the suede leather was really worn out and faded so took that off as well and only left the soft padding and will get it professionaly retrimmed at some point,for now gave it 2 coat of the Electrox:



I needed one end plate for the ARB so went for the first time to a "pick a part" scrapyard and got one off a 106 and the whole ARB with end plates was just 4£,highly suggest to pay it a visit if never been there,before:





After the Deox-C:







2 coats of Electrox:





Painted up the rear anti roll bar in black metallic:





Pressed on one of the end plates with plenty of grease and applied some clear silicone to prevent dirt getting in:



So after a quick search found out that the company that makes a replacment blanking panel for the roof that I was interested in doesn't deserve any money due to the way they do business (or don't) so went ahead and made one on my own.
Orignally thought about using 3m tape to hold it in place which is designed for trims,spoilers,panels etc but this is heavier than I'm comfortable with for that option so 14 bolts will be used in conjuction,same locations as the standard sunroof.
The total weight of the panel I made is around 2,8 kg due to it being mild steel but still a lot even though it remains 6,5 kg lighter than the original sunroof assembly so I'm okay with that.



Blanking panels for the boot:









Started with the rear bench same as what I did with the boot,just a picture of the before for now:



Ground down some tabs,bumps and lots of studs that were triggering me:





Also removed the original rear windows catches as will be using polycarbonate and these cannot be used:





 
#44 · (Edited)
Finished up the other end plate:





Painted up the steering wheel in black metallic,pics don't show it very well but I like the color (still need to apply lacquer):





Bench and other section in bare metal,don't need to do the top as well as that will be covered by the sunroof:











Primed after 3 hours of brushing lol:









Painted up the steering rack as wasn't liking how it looked,not as much preparation as I would have liked but I can't bring myself to strip it for now so this will do:





Got rid of all the brackets of the sunroof,you can see where the corrosion had started doing damage:











Got all 14 rivnuts in,not a very fun job,took 2 hours and half though the quick clamp was a huge help keeping the tool steady:

 
#45 · (Edited)
Just a quick update,started appying the top coat on the interior,not finished it yet but couldn't resist taking a picture lol.





Also,it's time to get the driver arch primed up as it stood in bare metal for far too long,so started wire brushing and applying the gel from where I left it off.

Wishbone support before:



After:



Smoothed out the bumps I would find:



After:



And the rest of the arch,still need to clean up (and cut out a small bit) some of the corners but the important is the big areas are protected:









Removed the last bit on the driver arch that's spot welded in so I can clean behind it before welding the new panel in:





Spot weld drill bit slipped and got my hand lol:



Some progress on the passenger arch,before:











Used a flap wheel to get rid of the surface rust and cut out the metal that was too far gone,left it with the Deox now:



After appying the Deox once:





After x2:









After x3:





After x4:



Got a rubber top and vice on the new workbench,comes in handy and the top is easy to clean up and protects the wood underneath:



Primed,altough did a poor job of it due to the weather (was raining quite a lot) and some of the seams were not fully dry and messed up the brush,will come back to it,still have to cut some of the metal where the rubber grommet usually is:







Started on the rear arch as well,picture below is before doing any work:





After x5:







After x6:





And after x7:



Testing up the sunroof panel fitment,looks half decent (just primed,finishing painting it up now):





Had to take off a small portion of the strut top as there was rust lurking behind it and it the only way to treat it so I can seam seal it once that's taken care of,before:



Infact the panel behind was corroded:



Will be applying the Deox for the corrosion left:



Quick update on the passenger top after a few applications:





Resumed the work on the driver underside rear,as I had left it:











Wire brushed off the underseal (they went a bit overkill with that in places) and left the rest with the gel:





Also,been thinking about this for a while so made the decision and some holes appeared in the rear bumper lol,the reason behind it is that once the spare wheel and cage is removed air might get 'trapped' against the lower part of the bumper creating resistance and this is intended to avoid that,probably unnecessary but wanted to give it a try nonetheless:



 
#47 · (Edited)
Hi,just a quick update.

Clear coated the steering wheel,was interested in retrimming it professionally but was quoted 150£ for that so I'll have to reconsider,I think I'll have a go myself following the video that ChirisFix (not sure if anybody follows him here) posted about it which explains it very well.





Done the torsion bars as well,along with the offeset washers that I had made in stainless steel to prevent corrosion:







Treated the axle mounting points with the Dynax,there's still one of them left which is currently being treated with the Deox as it has some rust:

Before:





After:



And blanked off:



Battery box:



Primer part of the rear driver arch which was clean of rust:





Paasenger before:



After:



Driver:



After:



Just out of curiosity weighed all the tar removed and a very small part of the dashboard floor deadening,minus the weight of the white box it weighs 2,3kg.



I wasn't completely happy with the rust removal at the underside rear with the tow hook still in place as it made access impossible to remove the rest of the corrosion and I would have just used the Dynax where I couldn't reach but I wanted a more "permanent way" option,so this had to happen (as you can see to the right the rail was already damaged by the rust so this will be an opportunity to fix that as well):

Before:





Ouch:









The "blackness" you see it's just the wax.





Used a mirror and the bottom of the rail doesn't look too bad,treating with the gel now:



 
#49 · (Edited)
Painting up the bonnet supports,took them down to bare metal (forgot to take picture as it was dark) and gave 2 coats of Electrox,before:







The rear axle mount on the bench passenger side was the worst one regarding corrosion,had no option but to cut some metal as the sill behind was damaged,very small space to do anything so couldn't be as precise as I would have wanted,this obviously will need welding but for now this should help avoid it getting worse over time.

Picture below was before doing any work,I'm guessing there was a leak somewhere in the rear windows that ended up making it so bad even tough the original blanking grommet was still in place:



This is as much as I was able to clean it up,then coated with 2 coats of Hydrate-80 and 2 of Dynax:











The rest of the mounts (other than the one I already posted in the prevoius post) luckily look okay,those got coated with the Dynax as well:





Well,resuming on the driver underside rear,spotted some corrosion inside the seam on the left lifting point,no point in cleaning and painting one side if rust will eat up the metal on the other.



From there,it escalated quite quickly,not happy about having to keep cut stuff off as feels like taking step backwards but had to do it to fix it properly:



The panel behind wasn't looking too good:





Will clean it up completely and paint it up soon.
The corrosion had only spread a centimeter or so from around the lifting point inside the panel so I will be able to clean that up and protect the inside with the Dynax.



Preparing the interior floor for painting so went ahead and removed all the unused studs:







Also thought rivnuts would look tidier (not fitted here yet) so cut off the ones for the gearstick too:



Since from what I can gather handbrake light isn't testable in the MOT and wasn't working anyway I've removed that:



 
#51 · (Edited)
Sunroof blank

Fitted the sunroof panel:



From inside:



Applied clear silicone all round to make sure no water gets in as that would be rather annoying:



Cavities treatment #

Started applying the Dynax in the interior panels as well,passenger side roof first:



Before:





After:







Took the dashboard out,will I ever remember how to get everything back in many months time? Probably not.



Just out of curiosity weighed the sound deadeniing removed at 5,5kg (will be putting some new one in though).



Dashboard brackets refurbishment

Dashboard brackets were looking pretty tired so put them in the Deox-C bath,before:









After:









Rust repairs #

Where the ariel is originally fitted there was some surface rust so took care of that and coated with the Electrox.

Before:







Windscreen wipers refurbishment

Top and clear coated the wiper arms:







Front caliper bolts refurbishment

While I was at it also freshened up the caliper bolts for the Brembos (the other two I was able to buy new OEM ones):

Before:











Axle refurbishment #

Wasn't liking the finish of the brushed Hammerite on the middle part of the rear axle (and also with time found better paints to use) so sanded that down and coated in antrachite:









Freed up some space in the engine bay,before:





The nut behind the servo was a pain to undo but got there in the end:



After:



Fender driver before:







Removed the canister bracket for ease of work,will be using two M5 rivnuts to re-install it:





The summer have killed the rest of the Electrox I had in tin form,very rubbery and a mess to apply,so sanded that down and painted with the spray instead:





After:









Primed:





Removed the bracket on the strut top passenger side as not needed and looks cleaner:





Rust repairs #

Missed some rust spots and pitted rust on the front driver arch so worked on that,before:









I've used the Hydrate 80 here prior to painting but forgot to take a picture.





Back on the rear arch I've used Hydrate-80 to treat pitted rust (was generous with the area of application) and coated with 2 coats of Electrox:









Engine removal

Moved the engine to free up some space so loaded it in the car,rear suspensions not too happy lol:





Before on the driver side engine bay:









After 1 application of the gel:









 
#54 · (Edited)
Thank you,appreciate the comments.
I'm doing as much as I can without going insane as the garage I'm currently renting is up for sale and I will need to leave at some point and try to find a new one.

Rust repairs and scuttle panel primer

Back to the car,another application of the gel and not much left:





Before,scuttle panel:



It's not 100% bare metal as didn't want to go insane as already took a lot of time due to the limited space I had to sand by hand mostly.







Electrox:







 
#56 ·
Probably more obsession than patience lol,blasting is a good idea though the engine bay can be done easily manually,I would hate to strip the underside with a drill lol,I will just be doing small areas where coating has failed and rust present and leave the rest as it is.

Will invest in a welder once the metal is treated,was looking at something like the Sealey MIGHTYMIG150 which seems decent for the price but haven't decided yet,supposed to be doing some welding with the course I'm attending (Motorsport level 3) so that will definetely help getting started.
 
#57 · (Edited)
Rust repairs #

Rear passenger arch before:







After a few hours (these 2 holes at the top were already present which is rather annoying):





Will use the Deox now.

Gave the rest of the arch a clean with the Surfex,it doens't look bad although would look better in black epoxy,not sure I can justify the effort tough as it will take quite some time to get all of the underseal off,might just give it a coat of the Dynax UC I don't know...







On the driver side instead decided to remove some more metal as could feel some rust behind it with my fingers:





Arch should be good now for the gel to remove the last rusty bits then I can prime it.

Top coated the bonnet brackets,will use this shade of grey for the engine bay and interior and not anthracite anymore (fake news,not final color):





Changes in shade with different lighting,for now,I like it a lot.



Seam sealed and overcoated the scuttle panel:

















And on the driver fender,kinda unecessary this one but I don't care,where I see a seam I put sealer on it,also left some drain on the right should water get in it can go out.



 
#59 · (Edited)
Nice paint finish Citroen.




A moment of silence for my drill that died yesterday after 1 year and 3 months of service.


Luckily still in warrant and Screwfix replaced it quickly otherwise it would have been game over for me lol.



Some progress on driver arch,start:



So far:







Treating the interior with S-50 as well,some pictures of the before.

Rear quarter driver:



Side:





Top:







Wax coming out on the other side of the seam nicely.




Rear quarter passenger:







Top:





Found some corrosion on the bottom,ground that down with 60 grit and will get treated with Hydrate-80 and then the wax:



 
#60 · (Edited)
Bodywork hole fillings,rear arches and boot floor

Wasn't happy with all the holes in the boot area and the brush finish (kinda knew this but wanted to try anyway) so I set to rectify that,you can see below when I primed it how many holes were present:



Battery box area:







I used Isopon P40 and P38 taking care not to apply the body filler over any bare metal as wanted to avoid any surprises due to water/moisture contact,it went either on top of the fibreglass or primer,the 2 holes on the bench are for the brake pipes.

During:



After:

Just a note,this part belows still needs work as the steel isn't flat and it is more difficult to make the surface smooth,granted this area will be hidden by the battery box so uncertain if I will address it in the future (probably will) but for now I went ahead and primed it.















Did the same process with the passenger rear arch,before:





Rear bench before:





During:



After:







Removed the spare wheel bracket as was unused and wanted to make sure no rust was lurking behind it:





B pillars before:





Rear quarter windows before:







Smoothed out the passenger strut as went a bit too far with the spot weld bit lol:





Did the same with the rear arches holes:











I made a template for the rear boot vents so they can be blanked off and no dirt gets inside:





Finishing painting these now.

Rust repairs #

So initially inspected the rear driver arch to see if I should take all of the underseal off and repaint it,looking for rust I would only find this spot:



Obliviously that escalated quickly for the sake of doing a torough job,so:









Removed the corrosion:







Why do I have Peugeot panels lol



The edge of the arch required some attention too (this part is hidden behind the VTS kit so I don't have to worry too much about color match):





Corrosion was only on the surface for the most part so didn't take much time to remove,after that it got primed:















That has been seam sealed as well but no pics for this side.

Did the same on the passenger side:













Seam sealed before being overcoated as it's more visible in pictures:















Were the metal support is installed for the sunroof sealant was used and behind it I noticed rust was developing on the bare metal,I wanted to treat it but cut the remove the sealant and some of the metal the roof bar brackets (which in the sunroof version is not installed) had to be removed:





This is how it is originally:



As you can see on the initial part I removed there is some surface corrosion present,still working on it,going to take some more time to finish all around.



Cavities treatment #

Treated the roof interior with the S-50 on the driver side that I was missing,before:









Treated both the rear boot sections where the air vents originally are (now removed) with the S-50:



Rear:





Gave a small trim down to the bumper support so I can get to the metal in the corners and treat it.



Back on the bulkhead I primed the area that was clean and seam sealed one of the steering rack support and sprayed the S-50 inside:







Finshed painting the dashboard brackets:



Wishbones refurbishment #

Decided to go with the standard purple compound for road use.









Harnesses bar

Bought a rear harnesses bar and test fitted it,not too sure about this but it has decent dimensions,42mm round bar,2mm thickness,about the same as some of the proper roll cages I've seen and this attaches to the rear seat mounts which are about 5mm thick:









Please don't mind the mess I was still working on it lol.



Quick fix on the exhaust middle section as it was all rusty and didn't want to come apart,removed all the corrosion and applied lots of copper grease to prevent that from happening again:











Axle refurbishment #2

Well,had to go back to the axle trailing arms as I would never treat some of the rust properly and it was coming back and paint chipping off (was cheap hammerite paint which didn't use again) so I sanded down all the flaky rust with a dremel and treated the part with Hydrate-80,zinc phospate primer and solvent based enamel which is nice and tough.

Before:















Hydrate-80:











 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top