Project BX17RD - the further adventures of PBO

[vulgalour]

I didn't see any benefit in running veg, I barely ever put fuel in the thing as it is, the economy on it is ridiculously good, far better than I really need.

[vulgalour]

Driveway expansion is going pretty well.  The advantage of using the slabs from the back garden is that they match the existing driveway perfectly, by the time we're done it won't look like we've done anything at all, which is perfect. Plenty of space for 2 cars when this front bit is finished and we'll be gaining a little more when we replace the muddy strips that pass for flower beds along the side of the garage and fence.  Another 9 slabs to lay at the front, and 17 for the back, with about 40 slabs on the back garden to make use of means we've got plenty of materials for this.  For the car port we're looking at extending the roof joists on the garage out for the roof frame since the end of the joists are visible from outside the garage due to the way the garage is built.  You can buy pre-made car port kits, but it looks to be cheaper to get the raw materials in higher quality and custom build so that's probably the way we'll go.

[Cheezey]

I like that the garage roof has been designed with a Princess in mind. 

[Fabergé Greggs]

Was just skimming your thread over on the BX forum, so apologies if you've covered this already, but you've tested the Glow plug relay and the and the plugs, but are you sure that the glow plug loom is good? 

[vulgalour]

I have tested those things, yes.  Annoyingly, the car is behaving perfectly fine now and the problem has gone away of its own accord.

[vulgalour]

I have been giving the BX a few doses of Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. The last few times it's rained I'd been having a look at what parts of the car were staying dry, rather than wet, in an effort to find the root cause of the water ingress.  This led me to the assumption the leak must be either the windscreen surround or the roof gutter seam on the driver's side.

Having found out the roof gutters are bonded on and something of a nightmare to remove, I wanted to avoid that job.  So, an application of CTCCC was duly applied and the roof gutter and a good portion of the driver's side of the windscreen seal slurped up a decent quantity.  Then I just had to wait for it to rain, which it did, and I was rewarded with a car that while not bone dry inside, had certainly allowed much less water in than previously.  usually, that black floor grommet is full of water, this time it had collected just in front of it in a much more managable quantity.

Since then, I've run some more CTCCC along the gutter which is no longer accepting any (probably means there was a leak there, now plugged) and then a couple of applications along the entire top edge of the windscreen surround.  What was interesting was watching the successive applications disappearing in less and less places, presumeably as it was filling up little tiny holes that have been letting water in.

Now I just have to wait for it to rain enough to see if the leak reappears.  I've tried using a hosepipe to simulate rain to show up the leak and for whatever reason this never actually works, the car seems to have to sit in the rain for several hours before it lets any water in so that must mean it's a fairly tiny leak, wherever it is.

In other news, BX has been on donkey duty today hauling furniture and Stuff to the new house when I spotted a skinny locker propped up against a garden wall.  After a couple of door knocks, I learned it was put out for scrap, so duly scooped it up as potential garage storage since it's a nice solid thing.  It was only after getting it home and showing pictures to a couple of friends that I learned it's a gun locker, which explains the weird bottom-hinged door.  I'm planning to use it to store metal bar stock and garden canes and other skinny bits of useful stuff.  I daresay I did alright for free on this one, it even still has the key.

Oh, and I should add, the BX has magically self-healed.  Whatever was causing the starting problem has gone away of its own accord and it's gone back to being completely ordinary about starting.  It's been so useful while setting up the new house, the massive amount of load space when you drop the rear seat means I haven't had to lean on the other half for use of his Fiat Doblo very often at all.  It's difficult to think of a better all-round car for what I want and need really.

[dozeydustman]

That’s quite a nice locker there. Looks like a gun cabinet.

[vulgalour]

One recurring issue with the BX is the plug for the low coolant sensor.  Every now and then, it throws the light on to tell you that you've run out of coolant and the big scary STOP light comes on.  I've learned to ignore it when it does this because usually, after a while the light goes out again.  Thing is, ignoring the STOP light is not a good habit to be in with a BX.

What's causing it is a poor connection at the plug.  Most of the time the connection is fine, but because the plug hangs down underneath the sensor if it's anything less than a perfect tight fit it wiggles loose just enough to break contact.  Happily it never comes loose enough to fall out and bash into the fan on the alternator.  Having a look at the plug I'm not sure if it should have one of those hairpin/locking wire things like a lot of the other plugs do, and any attempt to tighten up the connection in the plug has met with failure thus far.  Cable-tying it in place is a solution, just not one I'm fond of, I consider that last resort on this one since like everything else on this car, I'd like to fix things properly if I can.

Here's the plug.

The black block that goes into the white plastic end tank of the radiator is the low coolant sensor.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

21 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

One recurring issue with the BX is the plug for the low coolant sensor.  Every now and then, it throws the light on to tell you that you've run out of coolant and the big scary STOP light comes on.  I've learned to ignore it when it does this because usually, after a while the light goes out again.  Thing is, ignoring the STOP light is not a good habit to be in with a BX.

What's causing it is a poor connection at the plug. ....

I can confirm that this happens in CXs as well. It will also happen if the pressure builds up and the coolant tank contents touch the screw cap.

The coolant sensor itself can get gummed up over time, triggering the "STOP (everything is broken)" light. Mine comes on at standstill and at low speed, but goes off when speed picks up. I will be Pela-pumping out the tank contents and attempting* to clean things up.

[vulgalour]

I opted for the logical (amazing, I know) approach of using a cable tie and we'll see how we get on with that. If it still throws the light on erroneously I guess another round of vigorous cleaning is in order followed by another attempt to squish the connector for a tighter fit.

In other news, after a couple of days of dry weather we had some rain.  Normally not a momentous thing in and of itself.

In this instance it is, because finally, after trying to track down where the water was getting in, it appears to not be any more.  The footwell was bone dry, not even a dribble from the little spot where it had been seen coming in before.  Looks like the final leak was somewhere on the windscreen surround and that the CTCCC stuff has done its work.  In celebration, I refitted the carpet.

That means the outstanding issues on the BX - reluctance to start, water leak, erroneous low coolant light - are all now resolved.  That doesn't mean there aren't things I want to sort out, there's a few spots of surface corrosion here and there I'd like to address and a few other cosmetic niggles.

The other thing I did today was measure the garage and the cars (approximate dimensions on the cars, since I don't have a helper to hold the other end of the tape).

Garage
Width (door opening, narrowest point) - 6'11" | 290.5cm
Length - 15' 4 1/2" | 468cm

Princess
Width (to door mirrors, widest part) - 6'1" | 185.5cm
Length - 14' 6" | 447cm

BX
Width (to door mirrors, widest part) - 6'5" |194.3cm
Length - 13'9" | 418cm

The problem with the garage isn't so much the length of it as it is the width.  You can get both cars in there but then it's almost impossible to actually get in or out of the car because there's no room to open the door.  I'm not a big guy and even I struggled to get out of the gap I could open the BX door into.  The Princess would be easier to get in and out of, the mirrors being tucked in make the car a bit narrower than the BX with it's big sticky-out mirrors.  Even without that as an issue, once you've got a car in the garage there is no storage space, let alone work space.  Seriously disappointed about the garage situation really as ideally I wanted the Princess in there out of the weather, it's just not practical if I want to use the car at all rather than storing it.

So that's why the garage is actually a glorified shed.  A much smaller car wouldn't pose so much of a problem, obviously, and it seems the garage was designed for just that.  We did learn the house was built in the 70s, one of our neighbours moved in 43 years ago when the houses were brand new, and ours was put up at the same time.  That still doesn't entirely account for the size of the garage, the Princess is pretty much contemporary (the overall design didn't really change much throughout production) to the house and is just the sort of car the people buying a bungalow like this would have had then and it won't sensibly fit.  I suppose it's no different to modern houses with a 'garage' that you can't even get the smallest contemporary car into, the garage is more of a selling point than an actual viable structure.

Oh well, guess I'll have to build a new garage then won't I.  Oh dear.  What a pity.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

19 minutes ago, vulgalour said:

...., guess I'll have to build a new garage then won't I.  Oh dear.  What a pity.

Is it not possible to widen the existing structure, or is that more trouble than demolition and building anew?

[vulgalour]

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.

[MikeKnight]

Well at least you have more than enough room there to build a good size garage with a little room at the back for a workbench you can actually work at out of the weather.

Council could say no, of course, because planning permission. If they say yes they'll likely still demand it's up to current code (separate fuse box etc) but I'd suggest doing that anyway because no one wants a garage roof on their head.

[Angrydicky]

Austin Somersets are only 5ft 3ins wide and fit easily in a small single garage, with plenty of room to open the drivers door. Just saying

[vulgalour]

Okay, this was bugging me because maybe there is a better solution to the issue and I am imagining things. Let's find out.

First job, empty the garage. Well, nearly empty the garage, the few bits I left in make no difference to how the car goes in or not for the purposes of this. I can't really go in at an angle to gain any space because I find it difficult enough as it is threading the car through the door gap straight on, so those boxes on the left aren't eating up any space I can't use for the purposes of the experiment.

We'll worry about the stuff that won't fit around the car after it's in later, since the car isn't going in here permanently anyway, just for this test.

 

To gain a bit more right-side space to make it potentially easier to get in and out of the car, I folded the passenger door mirror in. First problem highlighted there is that when you do that, the mirror then has to be adjusted again when you fold it out, because it's not a modern car. The mirrors on the Princess don't fold in at all so this wouldn't even be an option for me. I can't get down the side of the car when it's in the doorway, so I have to be able to get in and out once I'm in the garage. With the mirror folded in, this is as far left as I could get the car.

On the driver's side, it's not much bigger.

Once you're actually in the garage, it becomes apparent just how tight the space really is. There's no way I could work on anything on the side of the car, the jack is longer than the width of those stacking crates even before I fit the handle on it.

On the driver's side, there's a bit more space. Only just enough for me to get out and it's incredibly uncomfortable. Bear in mind, I can't drive in at an angle to gain more space, the main reason is that supporting pillar is in exactly the wrong place.

So while technically a car will fit in the garage, that's about all that will. There's no open rafters to make use of inside the garage, and because the roof slopes down towards the back, there's not a great deal of storage space to be had above the car, certainly not for anything heavy.

There's no space at the back either, to get the door to shut the front of the car has to be almost touching the wall. This was as far forward as I dare drive since I couldn't get out and check how close I was and there's no parking sensors to help me.

It's too tight to use as a workshop and car storage, it can be one or the other.

On the plus side, I've ended up with a neat compact storage solution for my scrap metal which also combines as a painting stand. Take one old tea chest I saved from a cellar and repainted years ago and plonk it on the bottom shelf of a wibbly-wobbly wardrobe I got from Lidl a few years ago as a moving house stopgap thing et voila! You can also take the chest off and use it as a seat, or a step, since it's robust enough. The metal rails are height adjustable, rubbish for holding up clothes since the weight overpowers the friction, but ideal for small items like brackets that don't weigh a lot but can be all sorts of funny shapes.

[plasticvandan]

I used to do all my car spannering under a carport,suitiably enclosed up the sides it's almost as good as a garage but with more space,if I had your situation,I would have a shed out the back for all non workshop stuff,is garden,household,a carport alongside the garage for working on cars in,with perhaps a side door in garage to allow seamless entry and exit to the garage for working on parts etc.prob obvious but maybe having someone else's eyes on the situation might help. The rule of needing three car spaces to work on one is very obvious here.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

8 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

I used to do all my car spannering under a carport,suitiably enclosed up the sides it's almost as good as a garage but with more space....

I was told that a carport was better than a garage because it wasn't affected by damp to the same degree.....

[Angrydicky]

Is it any better if you reverse the car in?

[mat_the_cat]

6 hours ago, vulgalour said:

This was as far forward as I dare drive since I couldn't get out and check how close I was and there's no parking sensors to help me.

A shiter parking sensor would be to strap a dog's squeaky toy to the wall at bumper height, You then get an audible warning when you are close to the wall...

[loserone]

Or a self inflating whoopee cushion

[captain_70s]

Man, that garage is pathetic. It makes my old 1960s lock-up look vast (although the Dolomite is probably narrower than the BX)...

[SiC]

Looks similar dimensions to my garage, built with the house in 1985. My MGB would fit but working on it would be neigh on impossible.

I put a stud wall up in the middle so I could work in the back a bit warmer. The front is used for housing the welder/jack/etc that I drag out everytime I work on the car. 

[SiC]

If it was me, short term I'd put a wooden car port on the left. Then put a door through the side of the garage to give access. Garage becomes a secure workshop and the car port as the maintenance area. 

[richardmorris]

22 minutes ago, loserone said:

Or a self inflating whoopee cushion

I have a tennis ball on string - when it hits the windscreen of the fiat STOP!

[stuboy]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

If it was me, short term I'd put a wooden car port on the left. Then put a door through the side of the garage to give access. Garage becomes a secure workshop and the car port as the maintenance area. 

good idea

[vulgalour]

@Angrydicky I've tried reversing in, my door mirrors are at risk when I do and it's much harder to know when to stop.  It's also harder to get out of the car, mainly because of that brick pillar being in the wrong place.

Short term plan is to get a nice concrete pad done on each side of the garage with a carport over the one on the left, then get power run into the garage and kit it out with shelves and cupboards so it's usable as a workshop.  Long term is to demolish this garage and build a bigger one, as planning permissions allow, so there's at least enough space to have one car in the garage and be worked on, or two cars stored if no work needs to be done.  We'll also be building a decent size shed in the garden for all the non-garage stuff eventually.  This stuff just all takes time to both build and save up for.

Both of my cars have lived outside for a massive chunk of their lives so far, another year or two outside isn't going to really do them any harm since they're regularly cleaned and aired out and I do keep on top of rust etc. out of necessity.  It's just a little frustrating in the meantime really.

[vulgalour]

It's Dad accessory time!

There is a good reason for these, I've found a few places I park have low walls and I've been dinking the edge of the doors because the wall doesn't line up with the paltry bump protector on the door.  Now, I'm aware that I could get a modern 'invisible' edge protector but why would I when I can get period ones?  Chopped them in half so one pair does all four doors and so they actually fit the door, which is totally okay since this was also a period thing to do.

 

I can now fling my doors open with gay abandon!

[Dan302]

Absolutely period correct accessory I think they look good! That reminds me do people still get the anti static strip things to hang off the rear and spoilers for wipers? 

[Zelandeth]

4 minutes ago, Dan302 said:

Absolutely period correct accessory I think they look good! That reminds me do people still get the anti static strip things to hang off the rear and spoilers for wipers? 

I kept meaning to look for one of those for the Lada as the thing took great pleasure in belting me when I went to close the door after a run on a dry day.

Regarding the garage dimensions, I feel your pain.  Ours is a really decent length but similarly narrow.  The reason?  In our case at least, the feeling when the house was designed in 1980 was that cars will be smaller in the future.

They got a lot of the guesses right when they built this place, that one...not so much!

That's why the Invacar lives in there.  It's the only thing which lets me usefully use the space.  The Lada was the next narrowest car I had, but once that was in there it was just about possible to squeeze out of the door but that was it.  Which given we have a chest freezer at the back I need to be able to get at was never going to work.

Sadly enlarging ours is absolutely a non-starter as it's an integral part of the house.  No useful car ports here either due to psychotic planning restrictions.

Still irks me that the garage is so much less useful than it initially seemed when we were buying the place!

 

[MorrisItalSLX]

1 hour ago, Dan302 said:

That reminds me do people still get the anti static strip things to hang off the rear and spoilers for wipers? 

Yes.

This reminds me, I must get some door protectors.