Project BX17RD - the further adventures of PBO

[vulgalour]

I got them here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Retro-White-Protective-Reflective-Door-Guard-for-Austin-Edge-Chip-Covers/174067392610?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648

There's modern versions available that are similar, but these seem to be originals that have just sat around unsold for a long time.

[vulgalour]

Finally manage to acquire some little bits of plastic for the BX that I've been trying to get for the last year and a bit of ownership.  You'd be amazed how difficult these things can be to acquire in any condition and at any price.  When I've given them a scrub I'll get them all fitted where necessary.  bumper 'ears' (rocking horse poop normally), wing-to-bumper infills, gearknob, parcel shelf brackets, a proper tailgate button, and a bunch of trim buttons.

[vulgalour]

Got the parts all scrubbed and set to fitting them to the car.  Gearknob is nice and easy, it simply unscrews, the old one had gone very shiny and recently little black flakes had started to come off on my hand.

New one has hardly any wear on it so should do the job nicely.  I really need to clean the inside of the car, haven't done that since moving in at the end of December and it's looking a bit grubby in there now.

Shortly after getting the car, one of the parcel shelf brackets committed suicide and exploded into a dozen pieces.  I'd been trying to track down a replacement ever since.  Happily, another easy item to remove since you just undo three bolts...

Remove the broken bracket, and then bolt on the new bracket, easy.

For the tailgate button it's a little bit more involved, but not much.  First, pop off the trim buttons holding the tailgate trim on and then you can get a look at the back of the lock.  The button itself is held in with a circlip and a fairly weak spring while the lock mechanism is held in with two bolts and a sturdy bracket.  The easiest way to change the button is simply to pop the circlip off, pull out the lock button and spring from the other side, and pop the new button in, pushing the circlip home to keep it all secure.

The black button is nicer to use than the lock that was in there, and it looks better to my eye since it now looks like a BX should in that area.

I chickened out doing the bumper infill pieces because it's so bloomin windy today and I suspect I have to either drop the bumper or pull out the lights to do it.  I've also not got any glue for holding the ears on and I really don't want to lose those given how difficult they can be to find, and how expensive they can be when you do find them.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

....

I chickened out doing the bumper infill pieces because it's so bloomin windy today and I suspect I have to either drop the bumper or pull out the lights to do it.  I've also not got any glue for holding the ears on and I really don't want to lose those given how difficult they can be to find, and how expensive they can be when you do find them.

I wonder if there's any mileage in using the infill parts as patterns for resin cast reproductions or 3D prints nowadays?

[MikeKnight]

Glad you found a bit of (relatively) dry weather to do those jobs in.

North East has been hammered by wind and rain for days now. So glad all the cars I need to do jobs on were put inside the workshop before xmas.

[vulgalour]

I blame you for the fact that it's now pissing down and has been for hours.

[MikeKnight]

[vulgalour]

Did a buy recently since even though the mystery starting problem has gone away enough people have said the fuel filter housing is an issue that it seemed sensible to grab a replacement.  Couldn't find one in the original style, only these aftermarket universal jobbies, and none had my engine listed for them.  I'm pretty certain the filter housing is the same on the 1.9 and the 1.7 and after comparing lots of photographs I took a gamble.  A bit of hunting secured this one for about £25 delivered, instead of the up to £85 +P&P some places were asking for an identical item.

Side by side with the original, it looks to be the same size where it needs to be.  I did learn that these housings are available in some applications as rhd and lhd versions while these aftermarket ones cater to both by making use of blanking plugs.  One thing that was immediately apparent on the new one is that there seems to be a healthier amount of resistance on the primer button, so perhaps the mystery air ingress that isn't always happening is down to the old housing just being worn.

I did forget to order a new fuel filter, because of course I did, so I'll be getting one of those before swapping the new housing on.  It looks like it'll be a straightforward enough job.

 

[MikeKnight]

Looks good and should do the job! Just might need more pipe if you have to route it around the other side, and you can just re-use the banjo bolts. Good stuff.

Wish I knew the proper procedure for bleeding these though. To be safe I'd leave the bolt off the top while you prime it until diesel comes out.

[spartacus]

Great thread this Vulg, I'm loving the attention to detail and perseverance, keep it up!

[stuboy]

so what is new one from?

 

dunno if applicable but that braided clear pipe you got, i  bought a mk2 cavalier cdi and bloke had used this on the injectors and return...they went brittle and i broke down

[vulgalour]

The housing is sold as being for a Talbot campervan.  To install, you use the blanking bolts on one side and connect the inlet and outlet to the other side, I should have enough pipe on the car for that so it should be a straightforward swap.  I understand these housings are self bleeding, there's also a bleed nipple on the outlet so I assume bleeding it can be done there too if there's excessive air in the system.  As for the braided clear hose, it was bought as being diesel safe and, so far, there's no discolouration or brittleness occuring so it's not an issue but I do keep an eye on it just in case, it gives me a really good quick air-bubble checkpoint.  That said, I had clear braided pipe installed on the Princess when fault finding and that pipe did not fare so well so I wouldn't recommend this stuff for a petrol powered car, diesel is somewhat more inert than petrol.

[vulgalour]

I just realised Talbot Campervan sounds like another name for that actor with the funny name.

[stuboy]

CARRY ON CAMPING starring Talbot Campervan.

[vulgalour]

In an attempt to eliminate the random bad starting issue and to try and find out where the air was getting into the system, I ordered myself a new pump housing top, as previously mentioned, I was holding off fitting it until the new filter arrived, which it did today.  First job was to remove the old filter housing and filter.  The diesel that came out had a lot of detritus in it.

That wouldn't be helping, the bottom of the fuel filter housing was gunged up with lardy chunks and burnt crispy bits so I'd hazard a guess that someone has run this car on chip fat and not taken care to do the filters regularly enough.  That would also explain the very occasional whiff of chips early in my ownership and perhaps was contributing to the poor starting.

It all cleaned out easily enough.  The new filter top came with new washers and o-rings so I fitted all of those as recommended in the scant instructions (there's no instructions for which inlet and outlet is which).  The old copper washers and rubber o-rings were quite worn, the rubber components particularly weren't very flexible.  Obviously I dropped one of the copper washers, only to find it after finishing the job.

The inlet and outlet on the new filter top is designed so that you use one side or the other, depending on the layout of your engine bay and where the filter is located.  I had expected the inlet at the top and the outlet at the bottom, which when I actually thought about it didn't really make sense since you want the filter to fill up and then 'overflow' into the pump, so the first time I set it up I got it wrong and was a bit confused.  Below is the correct way of setting it up.  The banjo bolts are a direct fit to the new housing and the washers supplied aren't too thick, the overall quality of the piece seems pretty reasonable, in all honesty.  You do have to use the coach bolts from your old housing, and the through bolt that holds the bottom of the housing to the top, sandwiching the filter in between.  The new filter came with two new o-rings which is good because the old ones were quite hard.

Made sure to update my comprehensive service history.

Then started the car up.  It ran for a little bit then stalled at first, a manual prime via the new button - which works much better than the one on the original housing - and it restarted no bother and idled nicely, if a little lower than expected.  I'm not sure why the idle speed seemed to have dropped since I didn't adjust any of that.  After a while I was confident it wasn't leaking or misbehaving and took it for a test run around the block, at which point it stalled at the first two junctions I stopped at and then tried to stall at every other junction I stopped at but I'd learned how to feather the throttle just so to stop it.  It did feel a bit peppier than before, comparatively speaking, not quite as sluggish setting off from a standstill, so perhaps the old filter was a bit clogged and restricting fuel delivery somewhat?  I don't know, I'm just guessing.  I might even be imagining it, placebo effect from working on the car.  Once back home I had another look and sure enough, it was sucking air in from somewhere again, quite a bit more air than before in fact.

The primer on the new housing was doing its job and I didn't want to write off a new part just yet, it certainly primed the system quicker than the old housing.  A second pair of eyes appeared in the form of my other half and he asked if it was supposed to have bubbles coming from that clamp.  Well, no, it wasn't.  Closer inspection revealed that it was indeed pulling air in not from the housing but from the hose under the clamp on the outlet of the filter housing.  On attempting to undo the clamp the screw came out but the clamp didn't unfasten.  Well, that'll be an issue then.  The clear hose wasn't split or damaged in any way, still nice and flexible without being too brittle or too soft, but the clamp just wasn't providing sufficient force to seal.

I pulled the old rubber hose out of the boot where I'd chucked it 'just in case' and reinstalled it after fighting with both clamps which both didn't want to undo properly and that reduced the air ingress judging by the more even idle and how much harder it was to stall the car.

That now done I could at least drive the car without it stalling on me and it does start much quicker now (at least it has today, but we know what it's like about starting predictably) so I do think I'm on the right track here.  One thing I did find odd is that the idle had dropped significantly without me touching any of that side of the adjustments, all I did was replace the fuel filter head and the fuel filter, I'm not sure why that would cause the idle to drop.  I also had to readjust the throttle cable since that was incredibly slack after this job too, you can see where the nut used to be with the brighter goldish circle and where I've had to move it to.  The idle did level out back to something nearer where it was before since fitting the black rubber hose back on so I can only assume that's being affected by the amount of air getting in.

Once the replacement fuel hose and better quality clamps arrive I'll get those fitted and, hopefully, will have cured the random starting issue.  My suspicion is that I've had air leaks on the old fuel filter housing due to worn out rubber seals, and another intermittent leak on the fuel hose because of that dodgy clamp.  The only other job for me to do after this that I'm aware of is to fit the replacement rear suspension boots which should also cure that intermittent LHM leak on the driver's side which seems directly related to a low pressure return hose.

[Skizzer]

Definite progress here, good stuff.

I’ve got a batch of that clear braided fuel hose too and had a similar issue - hose clips don’t seem so be able to clamp it tightly enough to get a proper seal.  Replaced it with allegedly ethanol-friendly rubber hose in the end.

Leaky (see the drip and the damp banjo):

Dry:

Edited March 14, 2020 by Skizzer
I want there to be a Neil Innes style folk band called Drip and the Damp Banjo.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 2/8/2020 at 12:32 PM, vulgalour said:

No, I have to build a new garage.  Have to.  No other option whatsoever.  Absolutely none.  A brand new shiny custom garage is literally the only solution to this problem.

what you need is a side door in the garage the just so happens to be the same place as a princess door!

[Zelandeth]

Jubilee clips really aren't up to this sort of job on small lines as they don't grip in a uniform way all the way around the hose.  A rubber line will compensate for that a bit better than the nylon one as it's more pliable.

Given you've been chasing air ingress issue I'd suggest investing in some proper fuel hose clamps.

[Noel Tidybeard]

i've said it before on this forum and i'll say it again here:-

JUBILEE CLIPS ARE NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE ON A DISEASEL!

you need the correct ones in Skizzers pics

[vulgalour]

Correct clamps and hose already ordered and on their way.

[Noel Tidybeard]

13 hours ago, vulgalour said:

Correct clamps and hose already ordered and on their way.

jolly good sir

[vulgalour]

I gave myself another challenge.  I've been wanting a high level brake light for the BX, just for peace of mind.  I'm told it's a very visible car from behind and the brake lights are nice and big but still, I'd feel happier with an eye line brake light.   There was an OEM option available when the car was new, unfortunately finding one has proven incredibly difficult, so instead I looked at other options.

New LED units are available and given my experience with the variable quality of said items I decided to give that a big old pass.  Instead, I opted for a high level brake light from another 80s car so it had the right look, this time a Volvo 240.  It takes a single ordinary incandescent brake light bulb and has nice simple wiring that even I should be able to connect up and make work.  The only problem is that I can't fit it in the same way as it is on the Volvo.  Actually, that's not the only problem, the other problem is that I need to mount it to the body rather than the tailgate and I don't want to chop or drill into my trims.  I do like making work for myself.

Offered the light up in various places and found the best for outside visibility and minimal interruption of interior visibility was right at the top of the hatch opening in the middle.  It can be mounted upside down or right way up, for the purposes of mock-up I mounted it upside down since the bottom has a built-in plastic tang that held the unit where I wanted it.

I'm planning to make a little bracket that clips onto the rail the rubber seal slots onto and holds the light unit.  I can then, in theory, run the wiring under the trim surrounds and straight down to one of the rear light clusters where I can piggy back off the wiring for the brake light and make use of an earth point. The wire should run under the headlining trim, down the inside of the C pillar trim and emerge just behind the rear trim in the boot where the wiring for the light cluster is, thus hiding the wiring almost entirely.

If I mount the brake the correct way up, I can probably even use the original Volvo cover with some minor trimming to fit the contour of the headlining and it should then look entirely factory... once I've carefully shaved the Volvo logo off the back of the housing of course.

[mat_the_cat]

On 3/14/2020 at 3:35 PM, vulgalour said:

I also had to readjust the throttle cable since that was incredibly slack after this job too, you can see where the nut used to be with the brighter goldish circle and where I've had to move it to.  The idle did level out back to something nearer where it was before since fitting the black rubber hose back on so I can only assume that's being affected by the amount of air getting in.

This will have the main effect of changing the leverage on the pump 'throttle' spindle, so that a given pedal movement will now have less effect. If you can still get full throttle then no real problems, although it may feel less sharp to drive (if a BX non-turbo diesel can ever be considered sharp!)

The way I've always adjusted the cable free play is by adjusting the outer, i.e. changing the slot which the spring clip fits into on the right of your picture.

[stuboy]

so the system is now air tight?

[Cheezey]

If you are putting a Volvo light in this you need to go the whole hog now  - pop up headlight conversion and some Tundra badges. 

[vulgalour]

@mat_the_cat it wouldn't quite reach the second slot without bringing the revs up a bit higher than I liked.  What's odd is that there was no slack in the cable until after I'd replaced the filter and housing, or perhaps not odd if a clogged up filter could cause things to go out of adjustment.  The car certainly feels better for the adjustment at any rate, no speed demon obviously, just more responsive from a stand still.

@stuboy almost.  When I fit the new hose and clamps (should be here in a day or three) it should be and then, hopefully, I've sorted the air leaks out.

@Cheezey get some SAAB hub caps on there, a nice Packard hood ornament, perhaps a Sierra whale tail on the back.  You know, do the job right.

[MorrisItalSLX]

9 hours ago, vulgalour said:

get some SAAB hub caps on there

The stainless steel “phone dial” hub caps from a 900 would look quite nice.

[maxxo]

theres not a thing in this thread i don't love!

you're doing an absolutely fantastic job! I love how you're keeping it period correct with the accessories too

well done! i love the effort you've gone to for trying to sort the cold start issue

[chodweaver]

That high level brake light has the look of something factory - with the sort of weirdness that the Frenchies like(d) to go for - rear view mirrors mounted on the dash - that sort of thing.

Great work!

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk

[Noel Tidybeard]

would the high level brake light off a 440/s40, vectra, laguna, mondingo etc have the right angle of dangle to stick to window properly