BX Mk1 estate - Mojo returns, alternator fails

[Pete-M]

Anyone got some pepper for my hat?

 

I suspect Brown sauce might make a difference.

 

Well in, Monsieur Wobbler.

[catsinthewelder]

Well done Ian, knew you'd get there in the end, just thought it would take you longer

 

Makes the minor BX resto on my to-do list look a lot easier

[504GL]

seriously impressed you got that heap of **** through an MoT - all joking apart, congrats, it's always a good feeling.

 

So was it £54 for the MoT and £300 bribe to the tester?

 

Bastard! French shite passes and our glorious Japanese shite fails on emissions!

 

I did tell the wife it needed a proper run after about 10 months of driving only a couple of miles a day but what do I know?

 

Congrats on the pass!

[dollywobbler]

BX now has a new downpipe and is a transformed machine! Now it just looks shit rather than also sounding shit. Timing belt kit and water pump have arrived so hopefully soon I'll find time to fit them.

 

Total expenditure on the BX project, including purchase and getting it home (but not the cost of buying/maintaining a Range Rover) is in the region of about £650 I reckon. Doesn't sound too bad, but then I know there is still a LOT to be spent getting it straight. It really is pleasant to drive now though - bar what I think are some borked wishbone bushes.

[barrett]

Good stuff. You're definitely going about this the right way I think. Having it up and running and road legal is great, concentrating on getting it running right is even better. Having it mechanically sorted will give you the incentive to start tidying the car up cosmetically much more than if it were a full-on project.

Keep up the good work, and all that!

[Cavcraft]

seriously impressed you got that heap of **** through an MoT - all joking apart, congrats, it's always a good feeling.

 

So was it £54 for the MoT and a new girlfriend for the tester?

E F A

 

 

OMG U RASIST.

[dollywobbler]

I've detailed the cambelt change on my blog. Rather than bore you all silly with the details here. In short, there was an enormous sense of achievement for getting it done! Still a very long way to go, but I've got someone interested in tackling the rusty bits.

 

This was taken about an hour ago, as I attempted to banish air from the cooling system. A bit of height seemed to work!

[scooters]

I think you should restore it and rust proof it but leave it ratty and as is..I think the utilitarian colour is designed for rural france and no polishing

[dollywobbler]

So, yesterday afternoon, I headed up to Anglesey to wave a hello at the new Royal Couple and to pick up some new BX bits. I'd clocked up about 80 miles in the BX since dragging it home and the last trip out on Monday resulted in it losing 1 litre of coolant in 25 miles. Worrying.

 

A quick chat on the BX forum (which really is excellent for tech info) saw me having another go at bleeding the cooling system. With this done, it was time to stock up on water and head North.

 

First stop was at my mate Mat's house in Snowdonia. He owns two BXs plus is looking after someone else's 16v at the moment, so a photoshoot was clearly necessary. This is also the only picture of the entire adventure. Apologies.

 

Mat has a sphere removal tool, and a spare accumulator, so we set about changing it. Well, he set about changing it while I tried to stop the fuel filler from leaking diesel everywhere. Turns out it wasn't very attached to the body... Nowt a couple of new bolts couldn't fix. Sadly, the sphere change did no good. The pump is still running almost continuously. There also seems to be smoke or steam coming from it. Conclusion? The pump is knackered. Sensible next step? Head to Anglesey in a different BX. What we did? Went in the knackered shitheap. I did check the coolant level. It had remained where it should be. Phew!

 

After a lengthy drive, in which occasionally horrific noises were heard but nothing seemed to actually go wrong, we reached Bangor and the first dual carriageway I've encountered in this car. Once wound up to 70mph, it seemed quite content, if noisy. See later.

 

One reason for the lack of photos is that it was bloody dark by the time we reached our destination. This turned out to be some ramshackle outbuildings that only seemed to do a half-arsed job of keeping the weather out. Fitting as the car was like that too, with wind howling in via knackered window seals and a huge hole in the boot floor. However, the chap had a tailgate (with some damage but only £10) and a second-hand hydraulic pump for another tenner. Bargain. We picked up some other bits for Mat and loaded up - always fun when the tailgate fitted to the car is trying to fall off and has no struts.

 

Loaded up, we headed back south. An occasional scraping sound caused alarm - caused I think by rust trapped in a rear caliper. I'd better do something about that. Then it started to rain. A lot. My co-driver announced that he seemed to be getting wet. The BX thus proves that it is more like a 2CV than you first suspect. I'm afraid I wasn't that sympathetic because I was grimacing with every swipe of the wiper. It turns out that the bush it runs in is very worn, with the result that the wiper wallops the bodywork at the bottom of the windscreen. Bloody irritating! I was also concerned about the suspension as I suspect the RH strut top mount is shagged. That gives some interesting handling effects, though I can't deny that the thing went where I pointed it. It just felt funny.

 

We stopped for food in Bethesda, where some local girls laughed at us. We presume this was because of the state of the car, or maybe they'd noticed that to unlock the car, I have to open the passenger side and then get the passenger to unlock the driver's door. Ah, French electrics.

 

I dropped Mat back home, many hours after we had left his. He took his parts out and I loaded up some new wishbones that Mat sold me, plus some bits given to me by a BXClub member in exchange for a donation to his choice of charity. This includes an entire dashboard, wheel trims and a LH front wing. I then headed home, enjoying the comfortable ride and being very glad when the rain stopped. I got back home nine hours after I had left, after covering 250 miles in a car that was languishing in a lock-up garage two months ago. There's something very nice about that.

[scooters]

Well done mate...I think that long distance road trips ate an ideal way to test a car out and to refine the tidings list.

 

Wiper thump is common on the E34 I had...annoying but the fix was a hassel so I lived with it. Worn bush causes it. I suppose with the single wiper set up it will need to.be sorted

[HillmanImp]

I got back home nine hours after I had left, after covering 250 miles in a car that was languishing in a lock-up garage two months ago. There's something very nice about that.

 

It is impressive. When I saw it I never thought it would see the road in good time. To look at it now you might be forgiven if you think that still

 

Driving french cars I am sure you are used to the strange noises eminating from everywhere. Being an 80's french car though its impressive if you can here it above the invevitable squeaking of all the plastic in the cabin or are you lucky in that respect?

 

I was also concerned about the suspension as I suspect the RH strut top mount is shagged. That gives some interesting handling effects, though I can't deny that the thing went where I pointed it. It just felt funny..

 

I see you are happy with the 'fix it later' philosophy too. Just clench your buttocks a bit if you need to make any sudden manouveres.

 

Glad to see its going well though. Its pretty cool.

[dollywobbler]

Plasticky rattles seem quite few surprisingly. Better than my last BX. I'm going to fit an entire new dashboard though, so that has scope to introduce some annoying squeaks.

 

The suspension is a concern and to be honest, I'm not going to drive it much if at all until that's remedied. Don't want a strut suddenly appearing through the bonnet...

 

At the moment, the BX is mainly being used to jump start the Range Rover, which is being a right pain in the arse. Maybe it's jealous that the BX has had a service...

[scooters]

Would you say that the MK 1 has less plasticy caramac strength trim than the MK2...I've not seen a mark 1 for 20 years....

 

How I envy your dash...I want a PRL...romulans have them on their spaceships...much better than this stalk nonsense!

[Father Ted]

I was grimacing with every swipe of the wiper. It turns out that the bush it runs in is very worn, with the result that the wiper wallops the bodywork at the bottom of the windscreen.

 

They all do that (eventually) sir. Speak to Sir Doc of Bristol as he has a complete wiper motor assy and by far the easiest way to fixorate the worn wiper.

Did you look at the Racing BX?

[dollywobbler]

Thanks. Might have a go at fixing it myself. That strategy seems to have mainly worked so far...

 

Did look at a racing BX but not very much. Weather was grim and I'm not at all interested in fast cars!

[mnde]

The only thing that stumped me when attempting to change my BX wiper motor was how to release the circlip so I could disengage the motor from the linkage, not owning such a thing as circlip pliers... Seeing as it's a right pain to get at in the first place, this was a tad annoying...

 

Mark.

[dollywobbler]

So, I've got the BX back, reminding just how shonky it is. Now a bit less shonky, but only a bit!

New tailgate (£10) is a bit rough around the edges, but is now sitting nice and square, and can be opened AND closed. This is a considerable improvement. It's also now a 19TRS until I swap the badges.

 

Compare this to earlier shots. Not perfect, but an awful lot better! I wasn't actually expecting any work to be done on this area, so am well pleased that it's considerably less dented. Now after a bumper clip to finish the job.

 

I'll try and get some internal shots taken tomorrow. Has been a bit of a rush today after the fuel filter housing sprung a leak. Urgent to do items on the car are a track rod end that has a bit of play in it (do not like) and the wiper assembly needs replacing. Then I'm hoping to get some better doors for it, change the steering wheel and possibly the entire dashboard. I still need to find out why it's filling up with water when it rains too. Perhaps new door seals will cure this.

[Skizzer]

Blimey DW, that's almost starting to begin to look like it could possibly become a viable proposition!

 

Top saving!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Great work DW!!!!

 

I was looking through a 1989 'WHAT CAR' yesterday and there was a 2-page advert for the BX TRi Estate, with the injected 1.9 engine. Basically a Bx GTi, Estate. It sounded like such a class motor! I would love one. Has anyone in BX circles encountered one of these awesome weapons? I will scan the ad in later if theres any interest.

[dollywobbler]

I reckon the TRi estate is a bit rare. Not sure I've ever seen one. My mate has a TZi auto hatch, which is long-legged and very refined. They fitted a proper varied range of engines to these things, from 60bhp 1.7-litre diesel to 160bhp mentalist 16v petrol.

[MK5 Escort]

Full credit to you, Dolly. I've really enjoyed your progress reports on this. I must admit the first time I saw it I thought it may be too far gone and was worried it may cause many hours of pounds of ruin for it to be simply 'roadworthy'.

 

You've not only got it roadworthy, you've also made damn good progress with the bodywork. Nah, it's not perfect yet and I don't think anyone would expect it will ever be as good as it was when it left the showroom but I have full faith that you'll have it looking even smarter without too much more effort.

 

You're saving/papering skills deserve full credit, sir!

[dollywobbler]

Thanks. I may tackle tidying of the bodywork myself at some stage, but I've got to get the main bits sorted first - ie the weldy bits. Total project expenditure is probably in the £700-800 region now at a very, very rough guess, and there's still a lot to do.

[Lankytim]

This thread makes an inspiring read, this car really should have met its maker by now but is being brought back to life. I WANT MOAR!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. Nice find Mr Bol! I won't show the wife in case she fancies getting a rockery...

 

Funnily enough, one of the chaps on BX Club has just posted up a TRI that he spotted recently. They do exist!

[mat_the_cat]

Blimey. That rock looks a little heavy. Here's my unwitting attempt at recreating that publicity shot...

 

 

I've had a thought about the running/starting problems - have you tried manually pumping the priming button to see if it starts more easily or smokes less. If that does help, it would point strongly to an air leak in a fuel line. Unfortunately I never think of these things at the right time!

 

The other thing that crossed my mind was air in the hydarulics - I've never had to do this myself but Malcolm from BXC suggested holding the engine at 2500rpm when loosening the bleed screw for someone having problems with rising (fnarrr fnarrr). Might be worth a try before anything else?

[dollywobbler]

Prime button feels firm at all times. I might try again though. While there might well be air in the system, would it cause the PAS issue? Can't really see the point in curing one issue if another still remains. Of course, it's bloomin' raining again now so all work has ground to a halt again.

[dollywobbler]

New seats. Much better than the old ones! These give actual support and aren't absolutely minging.

 

This thread is well overdue an update so here she is in current form.

 

My mate seems to enjoy working in the dark and cold...

 

This year, work has included getting the rear bodywork welded and painting the boot floor in lovely Rustoleum, changing the accumulator (failed to fix the short pump run time fault), resetting the pressure regulator ball bearing (likewise - see the shot above taken at night), replacing the wiper motor so the wiper no longer thwacks the body, draining and refilling the LHM and also cleaning the filters, changing the thermostat, fitting two new rear tyres and now fitting a better interior.

 

The To Do list is still horrific. The engine still leaks rather more oil than it should. The engine still lacks power (still hunting that air leak - further work is planned). The rad fan switch needs replacing (have it, just haven't done it), the heater matrix needs replacing (this will rear its head next winter when I've failed to do anything about it). A track rod end needs replacing, as do the steering rack gaiters. The tailgate still needs the HRW and wiper wiring up. The doors need replacing, and possibly the handle mechanisms. The doors also need the correct door cards (still need to find some) and new window seals. The suspension spheres all need replacing as the ride is getting a bit iffy (by BX standards). While I think I've cured one water leak into the cabin, I suspect there are others. The nearside sill needs replacing.

 

Plenty to keep me busy then!

[Louise2cv]

Noice work!

 

the heater matrix needs replacing (this will rear its head next winter when I've failed to do anything about it).

 

If it's anything like doing the one on a ZX then I might be tempted to come and join in*. Loads of pingfukits, cracked plastic and ripped hardboardy type stuff, shed loads of vile brown muck and frankly, hours of fun. I really enjoyed that day. Also that feeling when you've put it all back together and have a handful of "leftover" screws and clips. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

 

 

*probable lies.

[Angrydicky]

 

This thread is well overdue an update so here she is in current form.

 

 

That looks absolutely horrible. Nice work