Project Trevor the Shed. A scruffy 1.6 BX

[Meter rat]

I really am starting to like this car. So far, no issues in 2500miles. It is just getting on with an car. Today was fetching a new dishwasher. Last week, caravan duties and next week six new interior doors, a side board, and a stereo system with another 400miles to do. Have to self isolate, as the wife has another operation, so what better place to isolate than further house renovations.
It’s actually really, really dull. No tails of epic repairs, no FTP, so far, even the Rev counter has  started to work intermittently. 

[Meter rat]

Dunoon has been achieved. Had to call in at Glasgow IKEA, and Port Glasgow B&Q. Back to Derbyshire tomorrow. Builders in doing the drive, and base for garage. 

[Stinkwheel]

Somehow totally missed this thread, I’m liking it a lot. As a fellow owner of a 19 n/a diesel estate, I salute you sir

[Meter rat]

Some digger shite, and a shite BX

[Asimo]

BX 19 RD Estate: peak Citroen.

[Meter rat]

MOT Passed.

[Meter rat]

Well, the black BX moved on, way back in November. Only to reappear in an advert,  two days later, at an inflated price, and the buyer complaining that it was not as advertised. Also got me a ban on EBay. The white estate needed new pads and disks all round for the MOT, and has been tucked up, while the worst of the salt is on the road.

 

[Meter rat]

Not much has happened, with regards vehicles. The white BX has sprung an LHM leak, and is on light duties, as we have completed the move to Dunoon, and to be honest, we do not need a car much. 
However, my van was dragged into out of the garage and moved north. 
 

The trials and tribulations of getting our van ATO796Y (affectionately known as Nu Nu, named by the now, grown up kids across the road, as they said it looked like the vacuum in Teletubbies) MOT’d and moved to Scotland. 

Or, probably not how to recommission a vehicle.

I have owned this van for 20 years now, and on Saturday 3rd of September 2022, it was dragged out of the garage after being laid up for 4 years. It was only going to be for three months. A charged battery was installed and the engine cranked over with the spark plugs disconnected and removed, to build up oil pressure. As the engine had been rebuilt by Pete Sparrow, and a new carburettor fitted it fired almost immediately and soon settled into a steady tick over. Then we noticed a pool forming under the van.




First problem was a degraded fuel line. This appears to have happened where the fuel has sat in contact with the pipe.



A pleasant time was spent under the car sorting this. So we had now got a leak free fuel system. 

The van  was checked over. I already knew it needed new tyres, so they had been ordered. All the lights were checked, which worked, and the hole in the floor, which had previously passed a couple of MOTs, was noted had not got any worse. Confidence was high for a pass.
It failed! But it was wearing nice new Michelin boots, from Roy at ECAS.
The hole in the floor, which strangely had got bigger, was put down as a major fail, of the do not drive, kind.
It also failed on, the fog light not working? Hand brake, and head light adjustment. When I tried the fog light following the test, it worked. I think the tester could not find the switch. 
A few advisories were noted as well. No photographs were taken of the of the affected areas, so no before and after. 

A call was made to Jonathon Holmes, of Peak 2CV in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. As I have lost the will to spend time lying under cars, and my welding is rubbish anyway. The van was dropped off the same afternoon, and by the time I had, had catch up and a cup of tea with Jono, Chris, the welder, had already removed the seats and was setting about the floor with an angle grinder. Later the same day I received a call from Jono to say the work had been completed and the van would be ready for collection the next day, after rust proofing. He also advised of a rumbling front wheel bearing and corrosion on the brake pipes, so it was left on the lift, so he could show me. On arrival I spent a bit of time talking with Chris and then decided to have a look at the brake pipes and which bearing had gone. I had a look at the brake pipe to the load sensor/regulator and promptly felt wet fingers, and another puddle of fluid appeared, this time on the workshop floor. Yes, the pipe had split. I made a few swear words under my breath, as Jono had other customers in. I then praised the gods I could think of, that it did not happen whilst I was driving it. It was now stuck on the lift, though cutting the pipe and bending it over should a least make it movable. 
So as of the 7th September, it looked like I will miss the opportunity for a free retest, and the driving it to Scotland on the 10th September. Both Jono and myself were surprised this and the wheel bearing were not picked up by the MOT tester. It is, as if he found the hole in the floor, went no further and just wrote up some plausible reasons to further fail the van, and not look at anything else, important, like the brake pipes, and wheels. From now on I will be using a different centre. It has now been shoved, as of 8th September, into a corner of the yard, where it can reflect on its behaviour. 

Part 2

Whilst at Peak 2CV, it transpired that brake pipes are not available “off the shelf” for a van. So Andy Morris stepped in and made new pipes from the front to the brake compensator and to the back brakes. The compensator was also freed off, and new fuel lines fitted, along with the emissions corrected. The degradation of the rubber pipes over four years has been an eye opening experience. And this was using E5 petrol.
Neat welded in patch, and new brake pipes.




Jono and his team worked like Trojans and managed to pull in the work, but due to the van being in Derbyshire and myself being in Argyll and Bute, the free retest could not be used, but a slot became available local, and a pass was obtained, with some advisory’s. Again, courtesy of Jono. With tax and test we were now legal to move the van north. 
Arrangements were made to collect the van on the 24th September. With the long drive down made after work, the night before. The van came back to the house in Derbyshire and was loaded with stuff to take north. The neighbour was taking particular interest in the front of the van, taking lots of photographs for some unknown reason. Probably wanted to know about the additional lighting and what the orange things were so he could fit them to his BMW. Or more likely due to how close I had been forced to park to his partners car, as they seem to think that parking across the front of three houses is acceptable. Because pricks.



A night was spent in Derbyshire, catching up with friends, over a pint or two. This actually worked out good as there is a public holiday on the 26th September in Scotland. Giving me a day off to recover. So on the 25th the van was fuelled up and following the wife out in the Skoda we both headed back north. Somehow, the wife ended up behind me and passed me on the M18. I settled on 110kph and plodded north, until I felt the van was not right, and looking at the volt meter, it told me it was not charging. A stop was made at Scotch Corner for a pie and comfort brake. Sure enough on opening the bonnet, the alternator belt was loose, so out with the tools and twenty five minutes later we were on our way.


Fuel and another comfort brake at Penrith, then settle back down for the next portion of the run, with an intended stop at Hamilton Services. 

Then the boarder was crossed. 

Due to road works I missed the turning for Hamilton Services, so decided to carry on as it is only forty miles to the ferry. More road works were encountered in Greenock, but following a taxi driver and the satnav through the back streets these were bypassed, and the road opened, and I was in front of all the cars that had passed me earlier. It’s not what you have, it’s how you drive it. Fifteen minutes later the ferry to Dunoon had been achieved. Last vehicle on the boat for that crossing. Or it would have been another thirty minute wait. 


We arrived home, about an hour after the wife. Seven and a quarter hours, door to door, with one fuel stop, one loose alternator belt, and a big smile. It now joins the BX, and is earning its keep, carrying tools and fetching wood for the fire from where I work. The modern car has been relegated to the back of the drive for the time being, as driving the van about is ideal for the small streets and distances in Dunoon.

And finally, the pair of them together at Lazaretto Point War Memorial on The Holy Loch.