Rich's BX 19TRS

[Rich]

..not sure about "Rover V8 powered HY" though

I drove this around the Castle Donington circuit at the weekend.... Oh so much fun

Anyway! Back to the BX...

It was trailered over to my workshop the other weekend...



... where I removed the Carb ready to send it away to be refurbed. The spindle has worn the carb body to such an extent that petrol drips out when the engine is switched off and air is being sucked in when running. Once this is returned I hope to finally get to the bottom of the flooding/misfiring problem.

It's currently enjoying a nice (forced) rest next to my 007...



More news when I have it.

[Tim Leech]

Nice lock up! wont do the old girl any harm to have a siesta.

[Rich]

Right... It's been a while (the best part of 4 months ) and my BX is still erm... "resting" in my workshop and is alot dustier than when I parked it in there.

Anyway! The good news is that the carb is now rebuilt and ready to fit which will happen in the next week. I just hope it cures the flooding problem

Whatch this space!

[Dollywobbler]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Rich. It's a bloomin' lovely car so I hope this cures it!

[Mickey taker]

Hi Rich, sorry I've been so long in replying,yes I am in MK, when you get the refurbed carb on you should pop over for a shakedown run and a cuppa, very interested in the outcome regarding the carb as mine was feeding fuel when switched off. Can you let me know who did the refurb and an idea of cost please ( by p.m. if you prefer )

[Tim Leech]

Hi Rich, sorry I've been so long in replying,yes I am in MK, when you get the refurbed carb on you should pop over for a shakedown run and a cuppa, very interested in the outcome regarding the carb as mine was feeding fuel when switched off. Can you let me know who did the refurb and an idea of cost please ( by p.m. if you prefer )

i too would be interested chaps!

[Mickey taker]

Rich do you have a round thingy on the trs next to the oilfiller cap that has three pipes one from pump one to carb and one to the return to the tank ? The reason I ask is this has deffinately helped with the running of my car ( stops vapour lock when the engines hot)

[Rich]

It's been so long since I looked under the bonnet I can't remember... Next time I am over my workshop I'll have a look.

PS... May take you up on that cuppa

[Rich]

Operation "Get the f**king BX sorted" is underway:

This morning my mate and 2cv guru Michael Knighton and I put the refurbed carb back on the BX. All the seals and gaskets have been renewed along with the accelerator pump and the leaking throttle spindle has been successfully sleeved. The solenoids that shut off the air to prevent run-on have been checked and are operating as they should but some of the levers that operate the choke were mis- aligned and therefore not opening or shutting properly:



After plumbing everything up it refused to fire (modern fuel doesn't last long does it) so with the tank bypassed with a can full of fresh unleaded, it fired an floated up without fuss after being dormant for the best part of 5 months:



Now for the bad news... After a few minutes it started the all too familar chugging. On peering down the carb throat with the engine running we saw that fuel was pouring into the second choke so we are pretty sure that as the can was higher than the engine, the needle valve is not shutting off. This was confirmed when the engine was turned off, fuel continued to pour in. So latter in the week the top of the carb will be taken off and the needle valve pulled out for a look. Whatch this space!

As well as all this fun, I have been sorting out a bit of surface rust that has crept under the paint in a few corners before it took hold:

[Tim Leech]

Buggeration! Good luck Rich.

[Rich]

... Just too late to do anything about it today . Let me explain:

I was over at my workshop at 8:20 this morning to meet my mate Michael and have another go at the BX. We put the replacement needle valve in but still the same old flooding. The next idea we had was that the fuel return pipe to the tank was blocked or restricted in some way. So out came the back seat, up came the sound deadening and off with the fuel sender bung. We blew the return pipe through with an air line and all seemed fine. All the fuel filters were checked and I changed the inline filter just because it looked like the original.

By now it was 12:30 and Michael had to leave to do some 2cv stuff but would return latter in the afternoon. I washed my Focus to clear the mind (and get in Melanie's good books). Fast forward to 3:30 and Michael returned with the opinion that the problem must be the float. So out it came (again) and we tested it (again) to make sure it (still) floated... Yep no change there so we dropped it back in without the top on the carb and stood back and stared at it. It was then that Michael noticed that the left hand float was a tiny bit wonky. Out came the tape measure so we had the float in the right place and we noticed that the float was dangerously close to the carb body but still clear

Wait for it... nearly there...

The float was lifted out and Michael tugged on the right hand float... no movement, rock solid. The left hand float? It moved freely back and forth by about 2mm which was just enough for it to catch the carb body then fell off. Hence the intermitant flooding problem. Sometimes the float clears the body, sometimes the float moves out by 2mm and jams up... Or so we think cos by now both Michael and I had to be else where

So Michael has taken the float home to bond the float back on its arm and I've got back ache.

Till next Saturday... The saga continues....

[citsncycles]

Well done on tracking this down - hopefully that'll sort it.

[Mickey taker]

So when would you and Michael like me to bring the TGS over for comparison, I have a new unused carb adjusting tool don't ya know

[Rich]

So when would you and Michael like me to bring the TGS over for comparison, I have a new unused carb adjusting tool don't ya know

... as soon as we get the f***king thing going

[Rich]

Shhhh.... Gather round... I'll say this really quietly so as not to temp fate....

I think it's fixed!

The float has been bonded back on and slipped into the float chamber smoothly. Every thing went back together nicely and it started on the button. We left it Idling for the best part of 10 minutes while fiddling with the idle settings at it behaved Impeccably.

I took it for a 30 mile blast and it went like a rocket.... 80mph no problem. It did kick out a load of soot from the exhaust when i booted it so it must have been pretty bunged up.

The carb back together:



To Celebrate I treated the old boy to a bit of a wash and polish to get rid of 5 months of dust:





Fingers (and everything else) are crossed.