My BX14 RE- Sold.

[Fumbler]

What on earth has happened to those suspension pipes?!

They've been coated to within an inch of their lives with grease, as they have done since new by the looks of things. Every single pipe from the front subframe backwards has a layer of grease on it.

Yeah but they look like spaghetti!

This, this is true. No clue why they're like that apart from when someone rustproofed it years ago.

[white exec]

They're really tangled and messed about. Should be in straight lines!
Maybe someone replaced them some time ago, and made a bit of a hash of it...

Sprayed-on wax is the usual rust-proofer for the underside, and a lot less messy. The good ones also 'creep' and penetrate, so getting into hidden nooks and crannies. You can't beat a well-waxed crannie!

[Fumbler]

They're really tangled and messed about. Should be in straight lines!
Maybe someone replaced then some time ago, and made a bit of a hash of it...

Sprayed-on wax is the usual rust-proofer for the underside, and a lot less messy. The good ones also 'creep' and penetrate, so getting into hidden nooks and crannies. You can't beat a well-waxed crannie!

Oh well, they're not leaking and are absolutely rust-free. That's a win in my book! Perhaps they have been replaced, but the only history I have are tax discs from 1994-2002, so I have no way of checking.

It's been undercoated and cavity waxed before. There's also grease absolutely everywhere- old grease too, so someone's done a old-timer's trick in preserving the vehicle. I'll continue that and spray thick oil everywhere underneath and using cavity wax for... the cavities. I've undercoated the Micra a year or so ago so I have all the tools to get it done.

[Fumbler]

The going is good on this car. Brake issues on the Micra has meant it's been pressed into service while the weather is still mild. I've changed the carb over for one from a ZX 1.4 and it's excellent.

What's not so excellent is the fact that the white smoke that I've experienced for months still hasn't disappeared. It's not headgasket failure as the oil hasn't emulsified and the water level never changes. Changing the fuel mixture does nowt. I'm suspicious of the valve stem seals as the cylinder head is original to the car, unlike the rotating assembly below.

[Fumbler]

Charge light is flickering on and off at idle (850RPM) and won't go out unless I keep the engine at 1250. I was wonderig why the headlamps were cycling between dim and bright too... It never used to do that.

[Kitch]

Alternator dying then, or the wiring to it!

[Fumbler]

Alternator dying then, or the wiring to it!

Wiring looks good so I'm expecting alternator borkage. The noise from the brushes/bearings is quite something, too.

[Kitch]

FYI you've been 'spotted' on the Facebook group. Another BXer passed your car and grabbed a pic.

[Fumbler]

FYI you've been 'spotted' on the Facebook group. Another BXer passed your car and grabbed a pic.

FAEM

I seem to remember the PO is on the Facebook group which is where he got the engine rebuild pictures from when he sold it to me- he might get a kick out of seeing it again.

[Kitch]

FAEM? Googled it but all I can find is a band!

[Fumbler]

FAEM? Googled it but all I can find is a band!

Haha.. just a meme-ish was of writing 'fame'

For some odd reason that I don't quite understand, the rear end is holding pressure a lot better than it used to- the picture on FB should show it. It could be the (mostly) new LHM that was put in it. It could also be indicitive of the spheres showing their age as it's a lot stiffer back there than it used to be.

[Fumbler]

At Chevronics so they can have a stab at fixing the height control issue, engine oil consumption and leak and a myriad of other stuff wrong with it. Things they spotted out of the box included the gearbox separating from the engine..........
I'll try and forget that point.

PXL_20211203_134109567.jpg

PXL_20211203_123806838.jpg

Also parked next to another 32 year old, 1.4, PROPER BASE BX. It's seriously minty fresh with only 26000 miles on the clock.

[Kitch]

At Chevronics so they can have a stab at fixing the height control issue, engine oil consumption and leak and a myriad of other stuff wrong with it. Things they spotted out of the box included the gearbox separating from the engine..........
I'll try and forget that point.




Also parked next to another 32 year old, 1.4, PROPER BASE BX. It's seriously minty fresh with only 26000 miles on the clock.

The gearbox splitting from the engine might be because a previous mechanic hasn't refitted the locating dowels. If so, it will just keep coming undone.

[Fumbler]

At Chevronics so they can have a stab at fixing the height control issue, engine oil consumption and leak and a myriad of other stuff wrong with it. Things they spotted out of the box included the gearbox separating from the engine..........
I'll try and forget that point.




Also parked next to another 32 year old, 1.4, PROPER BASE BX. It's seriously minty fresh with only 26000 miles on the clock.

The gearbox splitting from the engine might be because a previous mechanic hasn't refitted the locating dowels. If so, it will just keep coming undone.

...and considering how low the clutch feels, that's very much a possibility.

[Fumbler]

Chevronics are awaiting a distributor oil seal from Citroen which is proving slow to appear at their door. I'll get a better status update on Monday.