Sunny Jim

Just spotted in my village - what a beauty.

Last Saturday I went over the mountain to @mat_the_cat who kindly had a look at the BX's suspension. The car had had an advisory for a fluid leak from the NSR at the last MOT but after removing the gaiter and cleaning it mat could find no trace of it so I'll put that down as solved. Mat also showed me how to lubricate the front struts. All in all a productive visit, I'm much indebted to mat for generously sharing his knowledge. The rest of the week has been spent trying to track down a carburettor. After chasing up possible leads in France and the Netherlands one turned up in Leeds so on the hottest day of the year I did a six hour round trip to go and get it. Getting the old one out was relatively straightforward but it was only when I had them side by side that I started to notice a few differences in spite of them having the same model number. The bracket for the throttle cable was bent on the new one and not having a decent vice to hand I decided to just transfer the one from the old carb to the new. Included with the new carb was a little bag containing the all important wax stat and associated bits for the automatic choke which is what was FUBARed on the old one. I admit to spending too long trying to figure out where the extra threaded pipe was supposed to go. After awhile (and feeling rather foolish) I finally twigged that it was nothing to do with the auto choke but in fact was an alternative smaller diameter fitting for the fuel inlet pipe! Some models had larger diameter fuel pipes I recall reading somewhere. This left me with one more problem to solve. My old carb had no fuel return but the new one did. HBOL and google weren't providing any answers, just some pictures of carbs with and without fuel returns but no mention of how the fuel return should be plumbed in. I decided the best thing to do was see if the car had a return fuel pipe and where it ran. After tracing it under the car and into the engine bay I discovered that for some reason the fuel return on my car was plumbed into a T-piece on the fuel inlet to the carb. That piece of pipe looked past its best in any case so I replaced it with a new run straight onto the carb. Fortunately the return was long enough to reach onto the carb so I treated it to a proper clip dispensing with the old jubilee clip. I'm just assuming I've done the right thing here - all this is new to me - so please feel free to put me right if I've made a mistake. I was much relieved when it started first time with no throttle! NewCarbStart.mp4 I think it's idling too fast, tomorrow I'm going to check I haven't got too much tension in throttle cable holding it open a little. If that's not the case I'll let it warm up fully and try tweaking the idle speed screw to see what I can achieve. All in all a satisfactory afternoon's work. I heard back from North Wales Police this week with the offer of an online speed awareness course. £88 for a Zoom meeting! Therefore next on the list is the speedo cable.

Succinct health and safety advice on my mate's CNC plasma cutter.

Extensive googling and use of my schoolboy French has led me to track down a NOS Solex on a French website at a price I'm willing* to pay. If the vendor will accept PayPal will I get some sort of protection? He appears to be straight down the line but it's hard to tell in another language. Hopefully I'm negotiating to buy a carburettor and not one of these!

Yes please. I'd be up for this.

Not a very successful day. Further investigation has revealed that the moving parts of the auto choke are seized and I'm not sure they're repairable. I'm therefore now hunting for new parts to repair the auto choke or a kit to properly convert it to a manual choke - I'm not sure that the cable that's been routed from the cabin was ever connected to the choke. So far I'm drawing blanks on either option so I might have to go down the route of sourcing a new carb. Ah, bugger.

After using it for my daily 20 mile commute this past week I'm starting to compile a list of what requires attention. 1) Choke - the car has a manual choke but the cable has been disconnected from the carb. Today was my first chance to look at it so of course it's pissed it down nearly all day. When it finally stopped I took the plastic cover off the side of the carb and discovered that at some stage someone has taken it upon themselves to jam the choke flap in the pull down position by means of an artfully placed M13 nylock nut! Not sure why this has been done or how I'm going to reconnect the cable - perhaps some of these bits that I found on top of the battery might help? By this stage I was getting hungry and I learnt a long time ago not to work on vehicles when I'm hungry. I'll come back to this tomorrow. 2) Speedometer not working. A conversation with a previous owner revealed the plastic fitting on the end of the cable where it fits into the speedo is broken. I've read an account on the BX forum of someone successfully repairing one with superglue and araldite but have bitten the bullet and ordered a new cable from Chevronics. This became more of a priority when I received my first ever NIP in the post today - I was caught doing 35mph in a 30 on the A5 in Llangollen on my way home from Norfolk last weekend - hopefully I'll just get a Speed Awareness Course. 3) Heater control stuck on hot. I'm hoping this is just a case of a cable having come adrift, I'll dismantle the centre console and have a look. 4) There was an advisory on the last MOT for a fluid leak from the NSR. On the advice of @dollywobbler I've been in touch with @mat_the_cat and will be making arrangements for him to take a look. This is my first hydropneumatic and I'm going to have to get my head round it but for now I want someone who knows what they're doing to have a look. 5) While not filthy the oil looks like it could do with a change so a new filter is also on order. In any case unless it's obviously just been done I like to service a car I've just bought. 6) There doesn't seem to be much in the way of antifreeze in the coolant so a flush and replenish is also on the cards. 7) While it appears generally solid there is some surface rust which will need attention before it gets worse. At some stage the car has been stored under an ill-fitting cover. On the plus side the usual places BXs go such as the inner wings and the bulkhead behind the washer bottles are all sound but unfortunately it's rubbed through the paint on the wheel arches and the window surrounds. @BertiePuntoCabrio was very upfront about this before I bought the car so I knew what I was getting into. The MOT is next month so hopefully it won't throw up too many surprises. For now I hope we have some good weather for the next few weekends while I work my way through this lot.

The owner caught me snapping this and we got chatting. One giffer owner before her, 75k FSH. She's taken my number and will call if she ever decides to sell.

Epic car, epic scenery, epic day! @barrett & @Fabergé GreggsYup, good designs look best in white - but sorry, no plans to swap any time soon.

I did beat the sun to the West.

Home now. 270 smoooooth miles. Good to be back in the mountains.

@BertiePuntoCabrio is a very nice man. On my way home now. First 20 miles done and all good. It's a race against the sun now, will I make it back West before it gets dark?

It's looking very flat out the train window, must be nearly there.

Hurrah, a stroke of luck. I was expecting the best part of an hour's wait at Crewe but a quick sprint between platforms got me on an earlier train to London. I've even got the quiet carriage to myself.

I'm sitting in the railway station Got a ticket to my destination On a train to Engerland Got a mask and sanitiser for my hands Hope I make my connection as planned For a poet and a one-man band Chod-ward bound I'm gonna be Chod-ward bound