New BX

[adamskibx]

Hi all. Its a long time since I regularly posted here. Thats because I have not been driving for quite a while.

I picked up a BX14 TGE last weekend (Cheryl's one), and its good, but does need some serious work, namely a new gearbox, welding to front inner wings in the usual place, spheres, arm bearings, anti-roll-bar drop links or bushes, coolant fan, rear fuel filler neck top/locking ring. The MOT is up end of June, so my plan is to get it welded, and do everything except the gearbox and rear arm bearings for the MOT. I feel that I can recognise rear arm bearing failure more easily than an MOT station due to the anti-roll bar pressure stopping them from feeling the play. Then, once its MOT'd, I plan to conduct an ongoing retoration. The annoying thing is its absolutely crippled me financially for this month and theres a lovely 14 gearbox on Ebay for £90 I am not sure I can justify it, but then, if they are unique to the 14, I might have to. Does anybody know?

Apart from that, the drive back from Torquay was worth the price of the car to me, as I love driving and have missed it since I was unemployed for a year. Now, I am working on a novel security device as I live in London and have to park on a (nice) street half a mile away, but it is London and I do worry. I was thinking of having a switch activated by the security light that sets off a large number of internal and external car horns bought cheaply off Ebay, with a switch on the outside of the car to deactivate it for when I get in the car. In addition, I will remove the dizzy cap and cut off fuel supply when leaving the car. Anyone got any other ideas? Another idea was to have a pay as you go phone pre-programmed to call me when someone opens the car, with a way that I could then talk to the prospective theif...but then I may have to board a tube from work and lose phone signal, which would be so frustrating and ultimately would allow them to get away.

As for BX's, I forgot how good they are to drive, and I also forgot how sensitive the BX14 accelerator is round town. At first, you would have thought I had stolen the car!

Its good to see there are most of the old gang on here still, and even better to see loads of new ones too.

Adam

[Dollywobbler]

Welcome back! Good luck with getting that all sorted. Great that it's found an enthusiastic new owner.

Anti-theft. A hidden ignition cut-off saves you having to disable the ignition. A switch anywhere you like can cut the power. Obviously don't post up on a forum where you eventually put it...

I'd always vote for a steering lock too. A BX is more at risk from opportunists than organised crime. At the end of the day though, if someone REALLY wants a car, they'll have it. It's the opportunists you need to thwart as there are enough of those about.

[Willy]

^^ Likewise I'd go for steering/shift lock. If a prospective thief sees them he'll think too much effort and wander off, if you've pulled out the HT leads and fitted an immobiliser your car has already been crowbarred/bricked before the thief realises the car isn't going anywhere.

Both are preventative, but the lock is additionally a deterrent.

[adamskibx]

Thanks Ian / Willy; good advice about the steering lock being an obvious difficulty/deterant. And so much easier.

[mat_fenwick]

Hello again!

Another idea was to have a pay as you go phone pre-programmed to call me when someone opens the car, with a way that I could then talk to the prospective theif...

Another idea would be to use the PAYG phone to trace the location of the car if stolen - there are several companies offering this service, mainly to keep track of your kids. You'd need to put it on silent and permanently wire in a charger, but not difficult to do.

[Kitch]

Any 14 TU gearbox will fit, and an alloy-blocked non-injected model car (such as ZX 1.4, AX 1.4 (inc GT) 205 1.4 etc) will be a straight fit. There are lots of different gear ratios available in them so, so do your research. They're all cheap though - they're made of chocolate so exchange hands fairly often.

In terms of your security:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400284128455? ... 1439.l2649

Just fitted one to a Westfield and will possibly do the same to the BX soon. Means I can keep the original remote locking working, but no good if it gets lifted by pikeys!

Congrats on purchase. The BX 14 is a lot of fun. I've always said I think they're better than the 16, all things considered.

[adamskibx]

Hi Matt

Your a genius. Thank-you!

[adamskibx]

Hi Kitch, I think I may have miss timed my last response! Thanks for the link to that alarm. Looks good. I think a combination of that and Matts idea, plus a steering lock are the way forward. I recently had a bike stolen, and came to the conclusion that there is a critical ratio of bike expense to lock expense that will result in your bike being safe, or not. If its the same for cars, I shouldnty have to spend too much, but I have a feeling it isnt. Organised crime is likely to be doing it for money, so they will attack expensive cars, but the common theif or joy rider cant take modern cars due to computerised imobilisers, so they target old cars, and I think any old car will do.

[Tim Leech]

Welcome Back Adam!

[B-Hive]

As I now have three BX's and needing somewhere to rest them.. the simplest security measure I found is to remove the rotor arm... who in gods name will have one of those in their pocket? also pop the lead into the coil ever so slightly so it looks connected but its not

[adamskibx]

Thanks 2BXORNOT2BX

The rotor arm is the classic I guess, and thats what I had planned, but the lid is bolt-on on my engine, not clip-on.

So, I did something different and confusing, and bought a disklock steering lock, which appears bomb proof.