Mat's BX Blog

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
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mat_fenwick
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

I agree entirely, but it was difficult to argue that the repair was appropriate given that it was leaking! I suspect that with a flare on the pipe, it would have given the hose clips something to clamp to so may have lasted longer. He did say that had it not been leaking he would have turned a blind eye, as he must have done last year (or maybe didn't notice?) I knew there was a small loss from the system as I've had to top up once this year, but as I rarely park it on any hard surface, there have been no tell-tale puddles to say where it's leaking from.

Anyway, a set of 4 front to rear pipes is on order so I should be able to tackle that this weekend. Whether I do all of them or just the leaking one will depend on the weather and how much time I have!
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by Vanny »

Do them all or I can guarantee you'll never bother going back. I replaced one of mine 7 years ago with the intention of doing them all. Still got a box roll of pipe on the shelf.
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

:oops: I only did the leaking one...

In my defence though, with rain looking imminent I wanted to get the job done quickly, and cleaning the removed pipe with white spirit (to remove the underbody wax) showed that the coating was intact along the rest of the length, including where the pipe clips were. So I'm reasonably confident the remaining pipes will last until I'm bored and fancy changing them.

The job was nowhere near as bad as I'd worried, but if I was doing all four I'd probably drop the subframe as it was a little fiddly making sure the replacement pipe was properly seated in the clips. The only PITA was the height corrector union, which a flare nut spanner just rounded off, and a 6 sided socket did no better. I tried tightening up a nut splitter on the union and hammering that round, but all that did was 'peel' away the metal of the fitting from the pipe. So I welded a half nut to it, and managed to work it undone.

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The pipework unions were pretty good until the winter of 2010/11 which saw really heavy snow and gritting - the following spring they looked like they'd been sat at the bottom of the sea!

Been busy on the Stellar project as of late, which is coming along nicely :)

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1993 1.9 TZD Turbo Estate
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mat_fenwick
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

BX has a nice new MOT, with no advisories :) And also a puncture :(
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JayW
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by JayW »

mat_fenwick wrote:So I welded a half nut to it, and managed to work it undone.
Do you not own "Parrot-Nose" pliers? If not, you NEED to get a good set, life without them is a barren hellish wasteland! :lol:
I have zero patience for your tedium.
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

Yup, tried them, plus mole grips, plus one of these

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once the hex socket had rounded it off. Believe me, welding was the last resort!
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by JayW »

What, these?
pnp.jpg
I swear by them and haven't yet failed to undo the nastiest buggers with them (bar access issues). I love them and they're my most prized tool (except the obvious...) :lol:

Off to get a room... =P~
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by demag »

I take it you're talking about your sphere tool Jay. :wink:
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by JayW »

No good for spheres, too small. For that i use a drill bit & prybar ;)
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

JayW wrote:What, these?
Similar, but I reckon my smallest was a touch too big so not able to grip properly. Much better than mole grips though.
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mds141 »

Congrats on the MoT pass Mat. :D =D>
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by Thread Bear »

Mole grips, great, if you can source ones made of metal better than case hardened Camembert. However the larger the fastener the less effective the Mole is as it does not self tighten. The mini Mole is really handy, but I get through one a year as they are not very well made.
Various self tightening clamps have been made and Freddie Parrot-Faced Pliers seem popular, though I do not own one. I have a few hard chrome steel offset socket type spanners where the lever intrudes into the centre of the socket to lock the fastener. These are very strong but you can find sizes of things to remove that are in between the selection of three's gripping tolerances.
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

I'm surprised no-one's noticed it yet (or maybe they have, and just haven't commented) but there's been a new addition to the fleet! A Mk1 Renault Kangoo. My workplace has now moved, and I don't really want to be putting 700 miles a week onto the BX - although it would mean I reach 300k miles rather faster than expected!

Had it a few weeks now although I've not done the commute in it yet, and it seems to suit my needs/wants quite nicely. A while ago I thought about a C15 but I'm sick of welding, so this seemed like a more modern equivalent. Lana agreed to loan me some cash at a very good rate of interest ;) so it meant I could go for something incredibly modern by my standards.

I started thinking what do I actually want from a daily driver car - needs space to get dog AND bikes into, rust resistance, economical, reasonable ground clearance and not too expensive in the first place (which tends to rule out things that other people actually want to buy!) Oh, and I care not one bit about image but would prefer something non-mainstream. Late Mk1 Freelander and Subaru Forrester on LPG were on the shortlist but I'm going to be going through tyres and fuel fairly quickly so I started thinking smaller.

A guy where I used to work had a Kangoo and it seemed to put up with no end of abuse, plus it's comfy and not too bad to drive. Importantly for me (and seemingly getting rarer) it has no electronic touch buttons, but proper mechanical switches you can feel without looking at them. Nice and tall to get bikes into without faffing around removing wheels etc, but still small and cheap on tax, only £125 a year. And have you ever seen a rusty one?

Hence I got rid of the Focus while everything was working OK (but I had the feeling that it was only a matter of time...) and got one. Time will tell whether I regret going for a modern diesel but even I managed 56 mpg driving normally and 49 when in a rush.

Wot, no oily bits?
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mds141 »

Are those A/C pipes I see? Good choice on the Kangoo. Almost a modern day reincarnation of the R4.
Mark Smith

Is it just me or is everything shit?

1989 BX GTi 16 valve. Blanc Alpine. Completed the Citroen Classic Challenge Ecosse and 1337 miles without a hitch.
2000 XM VSX 2.1 td Auto. Rouge Magenta.
TGD saloon many years ago.

1990 Swift 'Corniche' 12/2 aka BXClub HQ.
Honda Firestorm. Gone, but not forgotten.
2015 Triumph Tiger Explorer XC.
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Re: Mat's BX Blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

mds141 wrote:Almost a modern day reincarnation of the R4.
Funnily enough, that's exactly what I thought! Plenty of painted metal inside anyway, to at least make you feel like you're in the 70s.

Yes, well spotted on the AC. I wasn't bothered by electric windows, as it's never bugged me having to do it manually; and given Renault electrics I'm probably glad I don't have them! But it really needed to have AC, not just for me but mainly for the dog, she gets rather hot in cars and something with lots of glass would be obviously worse. Fortunately with the AC option you get a heat reflective windscreen too, apparently...
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1993 1.9 TZD Turbo Estate
1996 3.9 V8 Discovery
1993 VW LT35 campervan
1985 Hyundai Stellar V8
2016 Hyundai iLoad
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