Scruffy Frenchie now collected - another bank holiday delivery/collection

[JohnK]

Aye we are still alive.

 

I called it a day at 11.30 simply because I had beer in the boot that needed drinking and I was fucked to be fair. £41 Premier Inn saved the day.

 

In hindsight if I had got the train from London to Yeovil I would have done it in one go I reckon. It worked out I had more sleep staying over and leaving early than getting home late then still being up for work and I've had a full day of graft today.

 

Started again at 5.30 with an Earl Grey from Costa and a Greggs sausage bun. Here she is outside work at a very respectable 8.20...

 

[JohnK]

So, the BX.

I insured her up today and then declared her SORN. The plan is to work on the couple of bits needed during May, then I will take the 530i off the road on 31st and get the BX on the road for June and see how things go with her.

First impressions are good. I do like the car and the way it drives, but the big test will be using her during June to see what she is like to live with and that will determine whether she is a keeper or not. I've always liked the BX and wanted one, but the AS bike BX I owned briefly didn't leave me filled with joy to be fair (no offence to anybody as it's not a bad car), but definitely not something I would have wanted to keep hold of. This one feels much different.

She isn't perfect but nothing that can't be sorted with a couple of evenings work

- When cold it runs like a bag of shit - it's lumpy, and it won't hold a steady idle, but is fine once it is warmed up

- Sometimes a crunch when going into reverse or first, but only rarely. It feels like a linkage/selector issue, yesterday I was using her to bump start the 730i, she had already crunched earlier in the day so I tried to put her into reverse before starting the engine but she refused, before eventually engaging

- Interior is a bit tatty. The drivers seat is a different pattern of fabric and is just generally saggy. The glovebox is missing (spare in the boot) so that needs sorting. I've replaced the speedo cable as it didn't work when I collected it, the binnacle was not secured at all, obviously where the previous owner has tried a repair in the past. She rattles less now it has been secured, alongside the coin tray around the clock which was also loose

- Heater is stuck on hot - absolutely great in comparison to the Cortina which has no heat and froze me to death on the trip back from Scotland, not so good when I was belting the BX down the M6 in hot sun!

- Rear bumper looks tatty and has started to delaminate - stripping it back and spraying it black will easily tidy that up.

- N/S rear door doesn't operate with the central locking


There are probably more things but to be fair they are all rather minor. Once she is running and up to temp she drives great, she handles well (I was really pushing on around some twisty roads on Saturday), the suspension works fine *touch wood* with recent spheres. There are some more in the boot full of parts as well.


I've got some pictures of the areas that need attention but haven't had chance to upload them yet. In the meantime, have a picture of the BX yesterday being more reliable than the German next to it: