The Final Chapter of the Stripey Saga - RIP supermachine

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
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vulgalour
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My Cars: 1980 Austin Princess 1.7 HL
1987 Citroen BX 17RD
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

yeah... just noticed that. Can't renew the paid account atm, but I will when I can. Got to get some stuff on eBay but I'm suffering from a severe case of the cba.
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MULLEY
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My Cars: 1999 Xsara LX 2.0HDI (90) Hatch - Fern
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2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - SORN
1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired - SORN
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by MULLEY »

I've used a French car indie garage called Frontlines in Chesterfield, they appear to be able to deal with hydraulics which in my book is always a bonus, so if Tower doesn't work out you could try them instead.
2002 C5 2.0 HDI Estate - Jasmine - Now SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - My daily
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired.
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN

I'm not just a username, i'm also called Matthew.
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vulgalour
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1987 Citroen BX 17RD
x 105

Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

My Photobucket bandwidth seems to be back again, so it's time for an update. I've been doing more technical fixing things on the car now that the cleaning is good enough (though still not finished) so that I could make sure everything was tip top mechanically.

I gave the driver's side wheel a wiggle with the car jacked up to find out if there's any play there, a sure sign of ball joint failure, and found absolutely no play whatsoever. Seems like the issue of tyre wear is more likely down to tracking then, everything else seems in good order on this side. I checked the other side too for good measure and that is just as healthy.

With the wheel off, I could look for that LHM leak and I think I've found it. The perished pipe, indicated, was replaced only in May of last year and looks more than ready for replacement again. New LHM return pipe is £25-30 posted so not a bank breaker but something that'll have to wait a week or two at the moment.
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What's probably the cause of the quiet knocking noise and the occasional judder is this engine mount. I can still get a replacement for this, but I'm not expecting it to be an easy job.
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Looks like a wheel has been chafing this handbrake cable too, but it doesn't look recent. No harm done really, but I'll keep an eye on it anyway.
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In a bid to improve the cold starting issues - I've been having to manually prime - I fixed the cold air intake for the air box with some gaffer because the pipe has disintegrated and won't seat properly. This also helped me eliminate a jingle I was hearing when driving which turned out to be the jubilee clip bouncing around on the pipe and jingling merrily on anything metal it found.
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Finally, I turned my attention to the fuel filter. I still don't have a manual but tbh, thanks to the forums and the knowledge I've gained over the past couple of years I surprised myself by just wading in and getting on with disconnecting the filter to clean it out. Two bolts hold it in place and once these are undone you just disconnect the fuel lines (wedging them upright so fuel doesn't go everywhere), and when you've got the filter unit over a suitable recepticle (kitchen sink in my case) undo the allen bolt on the underside of the filter housing and cover everything with whatever's left in the whole thing because it's full of various fuel oils and diesel and just like me you forgot that's what happens.
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Speaking of veg oils, one of the previous owners ran the car on what looks like unfiltered used veg oil with some animal fats, it had made a proper mess in the filter housing. This filter is fairly new too, having been replaced not long before I bought the car.
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I did purchase a new filter, but didn't manage to collect it until too late in the day to do anything about it. Instead, I cleaned off the worst of the slime and greb from the old filter and reinstated it. I will put the new filter in that I have, but probably only after the old one has had chance to catch any more slime and crud that's still in the system.

Happily, I no longer have cold start issues, though the car is a bit lazy to fire up, this could be down to any number of things but I'm guessing lazy glow plugs, a partially blocked fuel filter and sludge still in the system are the main culprits. The fuel hoses I planned to replace actually don't look or feel as bad as they did since I've been using the car so they're untouched for now.

Pocket money now has to go towards fuel so I can get to Brooklands for the Austin Morris day and pick up some stuff for my Princess - sad I can't go in the Princess :( - and after that I can start spending properly to get the BX tip top for the MoT in a few months time.

The list, as it stands:
> Welding, obviously £I-dread-to-think/FREE
> 1 LHM return pipe £30ish
> Timing belt & waterpump (doesn't show problems, but ought to be done and I have the parts to do this) FREE!
> 1 engine mount £10ish
> Tracking £15ish
> PAS fluid flush £?
> Glow plugs £20-40 for full set

Niggles:
> Acquire missing interior trim
> Acquire passenger door mirror
> Interior lights (works on passenger door switch, not on driver's)
> Central Locking (works after a fashion)
> Driver's side rear light cluster/lens
> Rear washer jet
> Tidier front washer jet/reinstate spray bar
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MULLEY
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Location: Derbyshire
My Cars: 1999 Xsara LX 2.0HDI (90) Hatch - Fern
2002 C5 2.0 HDI (110) Estate - Jasmine - SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - SORN
1992 TZD Turbo Estate - SORN
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired - SORN
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN
x 8

Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by MULLEY »

An lhm return pipe shouldn't be anywhere near as expensive as you've quoted, i think a genuine citroen one is around £15 these days? That fuel filter looks minging, it would be worth checking out the fuel tank filter to see if that is also gunged up & while you're at it, possibly drain the bottom of the tank out to clear any sludge that might be in there. Its located underneath the rear seat, it'll probably be under some sound deadening material, there should be a plastic disc that you can prize off & then you'll see both rubber fuel lines, remove those & watch out for spilt diesel. The cap is screwed in, so i just use a large flat blade screwdriver with a hammer to start turning it as its probably on quite tight. Once out of the way, the fuel filter can be gotten at & cleaned up as well as inspecting the inside of the tank for crud etc....
2002 C5 2.0 HDI Estate - Jasmine - Now SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - My daily
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired.
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN

I'm not just a username, i'm also called Matthew.
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vulgalour
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My Cars: 1980 Austin Princess 1.7 HL
1987 Citroen BX 17RD
x 105

Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

Rather than tinkering with mechanical stuffs, I've gone back to some bodywork on Stripey. Finally got the rest of the stripes off the tailgate, this was made much easier by letting the sun warm the tailgate while I worked on the rear wing.
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Speaking of that rear wing, I attacked it with the flap wheel to eliminate as much rust as possible. I'd noticed that the flakes of paint were revealing more rust and although I didn't have perfectly matching paint (satin white, not ideal) I thought it best to arrest as much rust progress as possible. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, I was genuinely surprised at how honest the paint had been about the rust beneath.
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Some bits did fall off, but I was expecting this too. That's the top half that sits behind the bumper, the bottom half is still on the car, and the bracket that attaches the inner wing to the outer wing.
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That bracket was in a bad way. Looks like someone has bodged it to the car with fibreglass in the past, if it had been dealt with properly the rust probably wouldn't be so bad now.
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At least I don't have to go under the car to inspect what's what. Looks like I might need a little patch to the inner wing where the bracket sat.
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It also looks like there's a mud trap up in here that I missed cleaning out, so that needs dealing with sooner rather than later. I can get the hosepipe in a bit easier now at least.
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I gave the whole lot a coat of Kurust, and for the most part judging by the reaction colours, the metal is quite healthy except where the rust is obvious. It's a big repair, I have no illusion on that score, but it's not an impossible repair. After the Kurust had done it's stuff I roughly masked off what needed to be masked off and set to work with the paint. This is not my usual standard as it's only a preventative measure rather than a proper cure.
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Yes, it does bug me that the paint is a different colour and a different finish and it bugs me that I haven't tackled the inside of the arch, cut out the rot and welded in fresh metal... but I've done what I can and it at least looks marginally more presentable and less inclined to scatter bits of rust everywhere. It's a bodge at best, I make no excuse about it, but it should at least slow the rust down a bit while I save for the welder and serve as a marker for the likely areas to get welded up.
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Paul296
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by Paul296 »

=D> Good stuff. I don't think it matters that it's not what you might call 'factory fresh' at the minute. All cars are hell bent on returning themselves to dust and the important thing is to slow that process down. Have you used a rust inhibitor like 'Kurust' or something? Very useful stuff.
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vulgalour
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

Yup, Kurust is one of my preferred weapons in the fight against the Tin Worm. Push comes to shove, a lot of the metal that's gone could be rebuilt with fibreglass - properly, being sure to cut out all the rust first - but I'm hoping I can weld metal bits in instead. It's all a bit frustrating at the moment due to a lack of tools, but I should have this all sorted in plenty of time for the next MoT.
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by Dollywobbler »

You obviously skim-read it Paul. Kurust is mentioned. ;)

This thread makes me very happy, though I had no idea it had glassfibre bodgery stashed away in it. I'm trying to work out when that would have happened.
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by Paul296 »

Dollywobbler wrote:You obviously skim-read it Paul. Kurust is mentioned. ;)
Doh! #-o
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vulgalour
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

I reckon that fibreglass fix has been there for a very, very long time, presumably to keep the wing tie in place as that's what it was holding. Probably caused more problems than it solved too.

Just a tiny update today. A few moments ago a whole bunch of stuff arrived! It was like Wintereenmastide come early because every parcel revealed more BX goodies sent my way from the good folk of the internet. Thank you to all that sent me stuff at bargain prices, it is all useful. Set of (non BX) wheel trims, a fuel filter, big socket, ball joint removal tool, diesel engine HBOL, BX HBOL and a super special surprise gift that was hiding in the wheel trim box.
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That special suprise gift, amaze indeed. Handy too because it looks like one of my old clear bulbs (pictured below) was about to blow so I'd've needed to replace the sidelights soon anyway. Timely.
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Maybe wait till it's a bit darker to show them off better, they really are very yellow indeed...
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MUCH better now, so happy to not be looking at rusty steels anymore on this car. One step closer to three spoke alloys too.
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Tim Leech
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by Tim Leech »

Shes looking much better! just need some bumper inserts....
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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vulgalour
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

I think I'd rather put the effort into making a Mk1-alike, I prefer the look of the bumpers without the rubber inserts, and the Mk1 wings, and the longnose bonnet... very, very low on my list of priorities though.

Since it got a bit darker I went out and took some photographs. It's a night much like the one Stripey first arrived. Only on sidelights, but they're delightfully yellow nonetheless! Just need to get myself on eBay.de for some proper yellow headlight bulbs too... priorities, this is a low one.
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The car really *has* come a long way.
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rd27
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by rd27 »

My yellow headlight bulbs, which you would have seen at the Retro Rides meet are Luminics JDM yellow. I got them through eBay but they were from a seller in the USA, they cost around £20 all in and i've had the same pair of bulbs for years in a couple of cars and they're still going. I also have another set in my Lexus IS fog lamps, which i've had for a couple of years, but these are obviously seldom used. I would definately reccommend these.
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vulgalour
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by vulgalour »

Not a big deal of a thing to update you all with, but just thought I'd voice my continued delight with Stripey. Took the day out yesterday to go to Brooklands for the Austin Morris Day (my other car is a Princess, after all, but she's off the road atm) to see some stuff, some people and get some stuff. Stripey performed wonderfully for the entire nearly 400 mile trip, a distance I normally don't achieve in a fortnight let alone a single day! Excellent fuel economy which I'm yet to work out accurately but I suspect is in the mid-50s at least and a comfort matched only by my stalwart wedge. Modern speed and acceleration was a novelty and lane-changing bodyroll quite an amusing way to make Audis back off. The extra torque and superb brakes lent me the confidence to really get into motorway driving and it felt like much less of a slog than I'm used to.

Only gripes were the power steering completely vanishing as we met with the signs for the Brooklands Museum and my washer jet failing on the way home, probably because the motor has become unseated. I haven't checked the latter because I haven't had the time and I've really only had the past couple of hours to sit on the internet to do any updating, and the former started working as soon as we set off home from Brooklands anyway.

Today has more than made up my mind that throwing money at this car is the right thing to do, not that I was particularly wavering about it up until this point, it just does everything with such aplomb and peculiar grace I doubt I could ever replace it with anything other than another BX. Expectations have not only been lived up to, but exceeded, in spades.
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Re: The Stripey Saga Continues

Post by Caffiend »

Big like :) - loving seeing this car's new life and your enthusiasm for your first BX (welcome to the dark side, have a cookie ;P)
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