front height corrector - removal tips please!
-
maxgreenwood
- BXpert
- Posts: 830
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:44 pm
- Location: Dublin, Ireland
must be the octopi harvest. Mine's in the garage tomorrow for same.
'92 16TXS (m), Dark metallic green, 74k
'90 16TZS (m), White, 86k
'89 19TRS auto, Olympic Blue, 133k
'88 Saab 900 8v Turbo (auto) 107k Red with Tan leather, lovely drive and well maintained.
'07 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRDi 85k (m). Practical family wagon
'90 16TZS (m), White, 86k
'89 19TRS auto, Olympic Blue, 133k
'88 Saab 900 8v Turbo (auto) 107k Red with Tan leather, lovely drive and well maintained.
'07 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRDi 85k (m). Practical family wagon
Octopus do not be afraid!
I posted this probably 4 years ago, but search did not seem to find it.
I hope that somebody finds it useful and that my new aquisition does not provide me with a similar challenge.
The Octopus! Some tips to be read in conjunction with Anders guide.
I was going to scrap my BX Turbo as it had suddenly developed a thirst for LHM and the leak was obviously from the Octopus area, but I could not readily identify the exact source of the leak. So in the end for the sake of £30 I took the plunge, bought an Octopus from GSF and decided to have a go. I do have the advantage of a pit, but in my younger days could probably done it with the car lifted on ramps under the front of the body.
Before staring clean off the underside as much as possible with a degreasant and a good pressure wash, it makes working so much easier. First get several copies of the colored pictures from Anders guide and put them in plastic sleeves so they can be used under the car. Read and understand exactly what he says, it is invaluable.
Removal of the rhs drive shaft is a MUST, and also the rear engine mount bracket. How anybody can the job without doing this I will never know. Measure how much gearbox oil comes out so that you can top up without overfilling.
Before getting the old octopus out it was obvious that I had a small leak from where the front HC stud fitted to the octopus rubber pipe, but there was also another well hidden leak. Once the octopus was out it was an obvious split of the rubber at the “root” of the pipe on the octopus feeding the lhs 4mm plastic pipe. (Not the normal place, (which is the root for bent pipe for the front hc). How you could identify this as the source of the leak without removing it I do not know!
All the pipes under the car are obvious as to where they route so it is not worth labelling them as suggested. However label the pipes that run back to the reservoir so that they can go back to correct points if only to make life easier for the next owner to diagnose problems. DO NOT do as I did , use masking tape with ball point pen! LHM dissolves the writing!!
Now for how I cheated and made the job easier. If you are a purist and wish your car to be original stop reading NOW.
The 2 plastic pipes (4mm and 5mm) that run to the rear of the car are almost impossible to refit into the octopus with any degree of certainty. Cut these rigid pipes (Staggered by 5cm) about 30cm back from the front cross member, fit the short pieces to the octopus off the car, and rejoin using joiners as below.
The long rubber pipe to the front lhs can similarly be cut and joined to make fitting easier.
I did not use Anders technique for the both the HC connections (octopus and operational flow return) as the life of the car will be limited any way, but if you are planning on keeping the car for some time it is undoubtably worth doing while you have it in pieces.
I used an alternative route back to the reservoir, running vertically up in the rear rh corner of the engine bay, and extending the octopus returns to join the existing pipes.
Remember the octopus is only a very low pressure return system so push fit joins are satisfactory, use ties or fuel clips on joiners if you are in any doubt about the fit.
Joiners, have to hand some 1/8 inch or 3mm ID fuel pipe for joining 4mm plastic pipes, some 4.5mm ID fuel pipe for joining 5mm plastic pipes and use citroen 3.5mm steel pipe as an internal joiner for the rubber octopus pipes. Ensure a good length of insertion to create a good seal. Using pipes with a ready made pip is useful if you can get some from a scrap car.
In reality I found the job much easier than I expected, although somebody who claims to do it in 2.5 hrs must have done it a few time before!
If I was doing it as a long term project I think I would go down the route of making up all copper pipe with soldered joins and creating a routing thro the available space where the windsreen wiper etc fits, and then piping out to the reservoir.
I hope somebody finds this useful and it encourages them to keep another BX on the road. Moderators feel to modify this as you think fir if you wish to post it as how to guide.
One final question, WHY does the octopus not get made as 2 separate pieces, my understanding is that there is no cross linking, so why not cut it into 2???
I hope that somebody finds it useful and that my new aquisition does not provide me with a similar challenge.
The Octopus! Some tips to be read in conjunction with Anders guide.
I was going to scrap my BX Turbo as it had suddenly developed a thirst for LHM and the leak was obviously from the Octopus area, but I could not readily identify the exact source of the leak. So in the end for the sake of £30 I took the plunge, bought an Octopus from GSF and decided to have a go. I do have the advantage of a pit, but in my younger days could probably done it with the car lifted on ramps under the front of the body.
Before staring clean off the underside as much as possible with a degreasant and a good pressure wash, it makes working so much easier. First get several copies of the colored pictures from Anders guide and put them in plastic sleeves so they can be used under the car. Read and understand exactly what he says, it is invaluable.
Removal of the rhs drive shaft is a MUST, and also the rear engine mount bracket. How anybody can the job without doing this I will never know. Measure how much gearbox oil comes out so that you can top up without overfilling.
Before getting the old octopus out it was obvious that I had a small leak from where the front HC stud fitted to the octopus rubber pipe, but there was also another well hidden leak. Once the octopus was out it was an obvious split of the rubber at the “root” of the pipe on the octopus feeding the lhs 4mm plastic pipe. (Not the normal place, (which is the root for bent pipe for the front hc). How you could identify this as the source of the leak without removing it I do not know!
All the pipes under the car are obvious as to where they route so it is not worth labelling them as suggested. However label the pipes that run back to the reservoir so that they can go back to correct points if only to make life easier for the next owner to diagnose problems. DO NOT do as I did , use masking tape with ball point pen! LHM dissolves the writing!!
Now for how I cheated and made the job easier. If you are a purist and wish your car to be original stop reading NOW.
The 2 plastic pipes (4mm and 5mm) that run to the rear of the car are almost impossible to refit into the octopus with any degree of certainty. Cut these rigid pipes (Staggered by 5cm) about 30cm back from the front cross member, fit the short pieces to the octopus off the car, and rejoin using joiners as below.
The long rubber pipe to the front lhs can similarly be cut and joined to make fitting easier.
I did not use Anders technique for the both the HC connections (octopus and operational flow return) as the life of the car will be limited any way, but if you are planning on keeping the car for some time it is undoubtably worth doing while you have it in pieces.
I used an alternative route back to the reservoir, running vertically up in the rear rh corner of the engine bay, and extending the octopus returns to join the existing pipes.
Remember the octopus is only a very low pressure return system so push fit joins are satisfactory, use ties or fuel clips on joiners if you are in any doubt about the fit.
Joiners, have to hand some 1/8 inch or 3mm ID fuel pipe for joining 4mm plastic pipes, some 4.5mm ID fuel pipe for joining 5mm plastic pipes and use citroen 3.5mm steel pipe as an internal joiner for the rubber octopus pipes. Ensure a good length of insertion to create a good seal. Using pipes with a ready made pip is useful if you can get some from a scrap car.
In reality I found the job much easier than I expected, although somebody who claims to do it in 2.5 hrs must have done it a few time before!
If I was doing it as a long term project I think I would go down the route of making up all copper pipe with soldered joins and creating a routing thro the available space where the windsreen wiper etc fits, and then piping out to the reservoir.
I hope somebody finds this useful and it encourages them to keep another BX on the road. Moderators feel to modify this as you think fir if you wish to post it as how to guide.
One final question, WHY does the octopus not get made as 2 separate pieces, my understanding is that there is no cross linking, so why not cut it into 2???
i do this job in about 2 hours and yes i have done quite a few over the years,
and i use two pairs of long nose pliers one to hold each of the front to rear plastic pipes, and the other to hold its corasponding spout of the pussy,
and i have never removed the driveshaft or intermediate bearing houseing,
also it is possible to see the leak were the pipe splits as it leaves the H/C,
regards malcolm
and i use two pairs of long nose pliers one to hold each of the front to rear plastic pipes, and the other to hold its corasponding spout of the pussy,
and i have never removed the driveshaft or intermediate bearing houseing,
also it is possible to see the leak were the pipe splits as it leaves the H/C,
regards malcolm
curent ride
K reg BX 17TD TZD est
also own
K reg D special
no longer have
H reg CX saffari 2.5 TRI (now gone to Malaysia)
R reg xantia 1.9TD est (gone to meet its maker)
K reg BX 17TD TZD est
also own
K reg D special
no longer have
H reg CX saffari 2.5 TRI (now gone to Malaysia)
R reg xantia 1.9TD est (gone to meet its maker)