Insert witty title here ...

[Caffiend]

- thank you!

I have new headlights and proper genyouwine front indicator units as well thanks to Tim & Mulley, will probably wait until the bumpers are done to fit new fog lights, but it'll be transformed

[Caffiend]

Paul's posted the pix on his blog here (scroll down past the ugly duckling to the BX that's still looking more Fungus the Bogeyman than Green Goddess).

MOT next week, and I sincerely hope the little darling* will not be too expensive so I can hand over the bumpers (currently appropriately sat in my spare room) to Paul for spraying AND pay him *at the same time.*. Multitasking FTW.

Once the bumpers are done, it'll be time to think about the wheels and the minor repairs ...

In other news: NHS 1, Sandre 0. Signed off, probably for the next couple of weeks. Best therapy: doing all the stuff that I haven't been doing because of being so wiped out by doing 3 people's jobs. AKA do exactly as I damn well please while I recover from burnout and feeling like complete and utter fail

[Caffiend]

Well, that's a big fat "oops"

I was SO SURE that the MOT was due on 24 September. It actually ran out on 6th . Now booked in for next Tuesday! I know that I am in for:

brake flexi-hoses
handbrake cable (n/s) - hopefully just the one
one of the rear suspension gaiters is split (o/s I think)
probably at least one of the headlights and rear light clusters, all of which I have replacements for thanks to various people (how can Every. Single. One of the light units be chipped or holed? :rolleyes:)

and hopefully that will be it, because I love Chevronics very much indeedy but they've had enough cash out of me in the last 6 months

In other news, thanks to artic steel for a couple of speedlines so I can start on a rolling refurb on those. I've washed the tyreless one and now need to wash the bath ... The centre cap is missing, but it's otherwise actually in better nick than any of the ones on the car. Leaving no cliché unturned - the cheque is in the post

[mat_fenwick]

I'm going for an MOT for next Tuesday too, so hopefully be a double celebration...

[citsncycles]

Good luck to both of you on the MOT's

[Caffiend]

So, I just had a call from Rob - the second of the day - my car has PASSED its MOT

The bad news is that the high pressure return pipe has decided to spring a leak - Rob did a temp fix to get it through the MOT, but it'll need replacing. Ah well, these things happen. O/S ball joint - as I suspected - is also on the way out, but will wait a few months (phew!).

[citsncycles]

Congrats! I have a ball joint to change too at some point, so maybe we can have a ball joint party some time!

[mat_fenwick]

Re: ball joints - I've been thinking about them recently, perhaps because I've changed 5 in the last 10 months! Or perhaps because I'm an anorak? The ones on my silver BX were loudly knocking after only 12k miles, and the advisory BJ on Timex hasn't lasted very well either. Yet I fitted the same make to mine earlier this year, and have now done 13k miles on them with no detectable play. I was a little worried about the lifespan of mine after hearing about Mike's!

When I was at the garage getting them to remove the BJs from the hub (I gave up after ripping the large vice from the workbench at work They had been on for over 200k miles though.) the mechanic mentioned the disc heat shields on the hubs for my red one. He commented that most people chuck them away when fitting new BJs. The silver BX certainly didn't have them, and neither I think did Timex. It's just a speculation but I wonder if heat from the disc could be causing premature failure? Of course, it could just be down to lower quality parts but I used Lemforder ones, who are supposedly the OE supplier.

[citsncycles]

So should there be shields like on the rear?

All Timex has is some sort of scoop arrangement to direct air to the calipers. I suppose that excess heat could melt the grease in the ball joint.

[Caffiend]

I'd prefer that we call it a ball joint party than a BJ one, then I'm in.

[citsncycles]

Would make for some interesting posts though

[mat_fenwick]

Not like the rear shields - they are much smaller and only protect the BJ. They are pressed steel with a ring fitting over the castellations, then folded in a simple right angle shape, possibly slightly curved around the BJ boot. Will try and get a picture!

[mat_fenwick]

Just for you Mike, here's a picture of my BALL JOINT protector:



It's kind of a good job I did take a look, as I noticed a small split in the CV boot which was new on this year

[citsncycles]

Ah - looks easy enough to fabricate, although I can see how they get discarded - I bet it's much easier to fit the balljoint without it

[Wooscary]

Ooo check you out. They're very fancy, next must have instead of wind deflectors and tailblazers?

I'm going to go and check mine now.