Pigeon Restoration

Tell us about life with your BX, or indeed life in general!
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BX Bandit
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by BX Bandit »

Des Smith wrote:I reckon it would look even better with white sills!
Have you got a full on pic of yours with the sills White Des?
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JayW
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by JayW »

I reckons your hand's wonky :wink:

Good luck mate, i really hope she passes!
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by Tinkley »

The droplinks from Euro (not listed but they can get them) and AEP are the shortish FirstLine brand ones. Definitely 7mm or so shorter than the unmatched pair I had on my car.
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

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:mrgreen: thanks Jay, me too. There's probably something silly I've left off or the usual 'thing' that works when you test it at home but makes you look like a lemon at the test, horn and windscreen washer springs to mind! The biggy will be emissions which I expect will be this dreaded head or old fuel. We shall see.

Tinkley, 7mm, hmm, my errrr droop looks slightly bigger. I'll have to crawl under and have a proper look, clearly though, the ride height is affected. The only other thing I can think of is that I didn't let the strut bottom out in the hub carrier but I'm usually keen to watch for it.

We shall see, muchos rainos here today till about 4pm so I may get a chance to look then, unless of course I'm having to strip the head from my scrapper :(
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

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She passed, she bloody passed! No advisories! Yippee! I put a full tank of diesel in her and drove to the mot station, keeping her at full revs for a little bit and the smoke seemed to reduce on the last 'rev' test. I also left her running for 30 mins before the mot. Basically it sailed the emissions test on the first run and I revved it at my mates place he said he couldn't see any smoke at all coming out! So it was either some air finally passed through or it was the old fuel causing the problem!

Driving it was very odd, firstly as I'd been driving the audi since June and of course they are like chalk and cheese but I actually thought that something was wrong, something not quite right here. I then realised that it was very unlike my tzd, in that Pigeon feels really tight, but in a good way, she feels like how I imagine a new bx would be. She also doesn't rattle, at all, which my previous two most certainly did. Those last two are nothing to do with what I've done to her and so must be down to low mileage and good maintenance. I'm genuinely surprised and smitten already!

Two minor issues have come to light though, there is a squeal on full chat from 3000 rpm onwards. It's either an air leak in the turbo ducting although I'm more inclined to say it's the turbo itself. I'll just drive it gently till the spring and maybe swap turbos if the issue isn't resolved.

The other is that the clutch is slipping, although the biting point is good, not at all high lie it is in my valver, which can now barely move. It could possibly be substances on the clutch plate, I know I spilt water and coolant down there. Again, it only slips on full chatter though, so it should last me till spring at least. Not bothered by them though. Hurrah!
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by BX Bandit »

Picture just after mot.

Image
IMAG0736 by Neil Pye, on Flickr

Took her for a longer run this afternoon, the turbo squeal,has stopped but it feels a bit gutless now, so I think the turbo whistle may of been a loose pipe and now it's blown off. Grrrrrrr
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mat_fenwick
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by mat_fenwick »

Nice one :D I shall raise a glass tonight in celebration!

I've had clutch slippage a couple of times after spilling something over the engine, and both times it cleared within a few days. Rather a turbo pipe than the turbo though - hopefully just the one to the intercooler (again, I've done that before :oops: )
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by BX Bandit »

Thanks mate, me too, Just having a Brains SA which I don't actually like but when in Rome etc!
Tis def a pipe as I have hardly any turbo action at all and the pipe from the intercooler to the turbo doesn't get firmer as you'd expect with the boost coming on. In fact, I have vague memories of needing to remind myself to tighten the exact jubilee clip I'm thinking of, so perhaps I forgot. No bother, I need to get underneath again anyway as I have a coolant leak somewhere, in the 25 miles I've done today she's used the header tank. I did see a tell tale drip when I was doing the pinion valve but wiped it off and it's not reappeared. The drip was hanging off the bottom of the o/s driveshaft intermediate bearing.

Also after today's running about, she's still a finger or so higher on the drivers side higher. There's always these teething problems!
1990 BX 16V Platinum Grey
1990 BX TGD White
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1971 Triumph 2000 Auto Valencia Blue
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JayW
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by JayW »

Yey! drunk

Re the clutch, id certainly go for contaminents, it certainly never slipped before except when we towed the caravan but that was just due to heat and cleared when it cooled down.

Other than that, well done that chap, i'm so glad to see her living again! =D>

(oh and if you ever sell her i'm first in line!)
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Des Smith
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by Des Smith »

Very many congratulations on the MOT! Excuse for a beer here too (not that I need one)!
BX Bandit wrote:Have you got a full on pic of yours with the sills White Des?
You may not have seen it, but I posted this on my blog. My sills have been white since June 1990! I think the lighter paint shades look better if the sill is the same colour as the body, and it does make the car look lower.

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Edit - and here's another outside Bowood House in ground-hugging mode

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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by BX Bandit »

Image
IMAG0736 by Neil Pye, on Flickr

Have put above photo in again to provide a more viewable comparison between my black sills and Des' white sills.

Thanks Des, I quite like it on yours but I'm not sure I would on mine. Hmmmmm :-k

Anyway, I have found the coolant leak culprit, a leaky pipe from heater matrix to back of block. Bloody annoying as I did inspect them but clearly got that one wrong.
There is indeed a difference in length between he anti roll bar links, the o/s being longer than the n/s, so I h,open to find the short versions on my scrapper but I suspect they are the long type, a matching pair is most important I know but it does look too high on that side, and my scrapper always looked a tad high on both sides.

As regards the turbo squeal, that remains a mystery. Both jubilee clips are tightened, although I'll nip them up. The seal under the intercooler was intact without signs of a leak.

Perhaps that fuel boost diagram is leaking, is there an easy way to tell? Never had one off, is it easy? There is no real sign of fuel on it.

As predicted the kkk turbo was rather dull, so I might just put my scrapper garrett and Bosch pump on. Not sure.

Anyone got further ideas on what this noise and lack of boost could be down to?
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by Tinkley »

After changing the drop links on mine to the FirstLine ones (ie 7mm shorter) I can get 4 fingers over the tyre but it is still a bit 'stiff'. New (09/13 date) front spheres so they are OK and massively improved ride quality. I'm going to alter the ride height a smidgen to compensate for the short drop links. Just need an extra 5mm or so height to stop it bottoming, and I mean absolutely crunching through the body in the local potholes which are par for the course on the A287...let alone the backroads. :evil:

As the ride height is set off the anti roll bar, changing drop link length does affect it.
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by BX Bandit »

So do you rekon the ride height is correct with the shorter or the longer droplinks? Ive never bothered to actually measure the height but I shall check it on pidge once I have a pair of matching drop links.

Ive never noticed different length onbes before but one thing I have noticed is that OE ones have more 'range' on the wishbone ball joint. I'm not sure it needs much range actually although i did wonder if the reduced range on after market droplinks caused their premature failure.
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by mat_fenwick »

Depends how the ride height has been set in the past - if it has never been touched from the factory then whichever length is closest to the genuine Citroen drop links. Have you noticed any effects on handling with a mismatched pair? The ARB will be under permanent torsion so will roll more in bends in one direction than the other...

Whether this is a noticeable different and we are over-thinking it completely, I don't know!
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Re: Pigeon Restoration

Post by BX Bandit »

I've not driven it enough yet mate. Nothing drastically noticeable, but I've yet to try the 'which side dips/leans more' trick. She's up on ramps while I pull the pipe off my scrapper and fit it to Pidge. Today was written off as I got carried away at my local on band night. There was a superb Sea Sick Steve copy band, really fucking great. The worrying part was that I could not for the life of me determine the sex of the harmonica player, really odd looking. Anyway, the downside is that I've had rather a marvellous hangover today, hair of the dog be my friend
1990 BX 16V Platinum Grey
1990 BX TGD White
1960 Morris Minor Clarondon Grey
1971 Triumph 2000 Auto Valencia Blue