Kiwis BX is Terminally Sick

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Thu May 08, 2008 9:52 am

well labour charge works out as $55 per hour plus gst (12.5%). Kind of limited to my options on that front.

Yea I was thinking of getting parts shipped by contacting my mate John down at Euroservice in Plymouth. Got to say I did have a semi heart attack when I saw those prices but considering how good the rest of the car is well biting the bullet to get this done.

As for cost of living erm well lets put it this way officially its up 28% this year! Unlike wages which aint moved! Petrol has rocketed by 25% in the year but still cheaper than the UK by about 32p, thats before we get stung another $50 for Car Tax in July. Add to that I get robbed every year $100 to maintain the Endorsement that allows me to drive Passengers on buses.

Oh and forgot to mention I am unemployed again! Not heard anything from the mountain for work but got some feelers out elsewhere althouh it better be good wage.

Somehow me can see the BX only coming out for special occassins eg when I want a good blast

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:07 am

Its Tuesday and the Head is with the Auto Mechanic being skimmed and pressure tested.

I miss the BX

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:36 am

another week has passed! And at least now the car is up on a hoist awaiting parts back

Would have been quicker to order the parts in the UK and get them shipped I am sure of it.

To add insult to injury the Insurance renewal notice came through today and yipee the price went down! Well I was exicited until I saw the Agreed value had dropped to $1900 from the $2500 of last year! Phoned the insurance company and got told get a valuation to which I did. Not exactly happy with what three dealers told me, they said be lucky to get $1000

What do they know as far as I am concerned the BX is priceless well after this repair it will be

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Mon May 19, 2008 12:02 pm

DLM wrote:I'll dig out the old Car mechanics article I have on overhauling, modding and weaking the petrol XU, and check whether a 1580 head is OK on a 1905 block.

Hi DLM, I'd be interested in having a pdf copy of that article if you could root it out!

Good luck kiwi with your BX!

Mark.

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Tue May 20, 2008 9:33 am

Well a positive note is

The petrol tank was only 100km from full and has a 20ltr can in the garage. Since I filled up on April 7th the price of Fuel has gone up 30c on what I paid

Thats 12p. which means if it was empty when it broke down I could have been out of pocket nearly ten quid. Somehow I can see some happy logic there

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Fri May 23, 2008 6:51 am

MY baby is back

Fantastic and guess what I forgot how to drive her after 6 weeks of driving an automatic

Anyways took me all of 1 minute to get my bearings and into 5th gear before I realised the bloody Speedo dont work

A weekend of fiddling with the cable to find the fault.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » Fri May 23, 2008 5:19 pm

Do you STILL consider yourself un-employed ...

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:18 am

Quicky update!

Well been just over a month and taken the BX on a couple long runs and well jury still out on this but I swear the Fuel Efficancy has improved by 20%, Ok so only had one long drive and top up since the rebuild and a few speedo problems (all I kept tabs with on GPS) but this 2nd Tank loads is not going down very fast either.

One annoyance factor, is the Car still hates cold starts. Think theres a issue with the auto choke but then these damn solex carbs I never liked them. Runs like a dream now and those better GTI style seats have made a differance to comfort.

I would say money well spent!