Mat's BX Blog

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:22 pm

How were the tyres?

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:53 am

I was impressed by the tyres to be honest - they cleared the water well and seem to have good grip. I've not had the chance to find out where the limits are but they certainly grip well on my usual route to and from work. Cheers for the recommendation! Just got to buy two more now...

Oh, and I've just uploaded a YouTube video of what else we did on holiday.

toddao · Post by **toddao** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:40 pm

Looks like a good trip there Mat! Plenty of the white stuff and glad that the BX performed its task well!

cacaolat · Post by **cacaolat** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:45 pm

nice photos...I always wanted to get away from the alps (where I am from) but only now I realise how beautiful it is there...

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:27 am

Glad the tyres impressed, they are excellent in the wet & should be pretty good in the dry as well, thats why i went for them.

Whereabouts in Switzerland were you?

And in a couple of weeks time i'll be skiing in France, yippe, 1st time in absolutly years, i cant wait

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:13 pm

MULLEY wrote:And in a couple of weeks time i'll be skiing in France

I was in Siviez, near Sion. About 100 miles east of Geneva. Where are you off to? Are you driving or flying? I prefer the French Alps to be honest, but I can't put my finger on why...maybe it's just memories of the holidays there?

Gregor, which part of the Alps are you from? By the way, your starter is ready to be collected tomorrow, thanks again for the BXagon donation!

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:51 am

Bugger.

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:16 am

That's a lot of green.

What's the prognosis?

DavidRutherford · Post by **DavidRutherford** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:33 am

You can haz cupronickel pipes niaow?

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:20 pm

It's actually (although the pictures don't show it well) a lot of black. Engine oil from a hole in the sump...

I will explain exactly how later.

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:14 pm

Indicator stalks are no longer something to worry about!

What happened is that I was setting off for work, and I bashed the sump on a rock on the track leading to the road. Obviously something I've done thousands of times with no problems, so I reckon the front hadn't fully risen. With a steel sump I think I would have got away with a dent, but not on an ally sump.

The one good bit of news is that the 205 has an ally sump with A/C compressor mountings, and is finned so will help slightly with heat dissipation. The 205 doesn't have A/C (but the engine donor did) so I can replace that with a standard steel sump. Bit of a pain though, as I need to go to Birmingham on Sunday, and rain is forecast tomorrow. Looks like I'll be lying in the mud then...

Post by **mat_fenwick** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:40 pm

How can it take all day to change a sump? What a nightmare of a job!

From this...

...to this

(No, it's not leaking - I spilt some oil while filling up!)

No problems getting the 16v sump off the 205, that was done and a replacement steel sump fitted within an hour. The problems started when I offered the 16v sump and spacer up to the TD engine - first of all it fouled on the oil pump and dipstick tube. Not to worry I thought, a couple of minutes with a hacksaw and file will sort that out. Half an hour later, with the world's bluntest hacksaw blade (and no spares), it was modified, only to find that the sump and space fouled the flywheel. Easily fixed with the angle grinder.
Time to put a smear of silicone (no gasket on the ally sumps) on the sump and spacer, only my tube had dried up, so off to the nearest motor factors which took an hour and a half because of annoying slow drivers. One even attempted to select reverse (briefly!) as we were doing 40mph...some people shouldn't be allowed out...
So the new sump was fitted (had to shift the accumulator sphere to gain access to one bolt), and then the fun really started! Bear in mind that I had been working (mainly on my back) in the rain for several hours, and my mood was not a happy one. The alternator/compressor belt tensioner fits to 3 mounts on the sump, and I had previously welded an extension onto mine to fasten to the block using an M7 tapped hole already present (for rigidity). This no longer lined up, but I was not too worried as I can sort that later. However the 3 holes on the sump only lined up with 2 holes on the tensioner, but it seemed rigid enough so 2 will do for now until I can modify the tensioner (welding in the rain seemed even less fun).
Then came the A/C compressor - it fits to the sump using mushroom shaped rubber bushes in large diameter holes. But the holes on the new sump were about 3mm smaller, so had to adapt the bushes to suit. And then because the new sump was a few mm lower, I could no longer tilt the compressor enough to gain access to the top mounting bolts. However, I was just able to squeeze in a modified spanner between sump and compressor and tighten. Lastly I had to cut a section out of the flywheel cover plate to clear the sump, but I took the opportunity to slot the hole that sits behind the accumulator sphere so next time all I have to do is slacken that bolt, not remove it fully.

The good news is that the oil temperature sits a good 10°C lower than it used to, and takes longer to reach temperature than previously, so the fins must be doing their job. Should lessen the load on the cooling system.

stuart_hedges · Post by **stuart_hedges** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:23 am

What a pain

I did something similar with a GS a few years ago - removed the wooden stopper on my mum's driveway gates - but was fortunate enough to hit an area of flat floor rather than anything mechanical so all I had to do was replace the underseal.

I felt like a right nob though...

Philip Chidlow · Post by **Philip Chidlow** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:14 am

Have you considered designing and fabricating some sort of sump guard (which would also protect vulnerable pipework)?

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:53 pm

Mat, i was in Tignes, next resort along is val disere which you can ski across to.