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I could tell you all the story of how this came to be parked outside my house. But it is quite late and my brain has stopped working. Instead, here are three photographs taken at 2am in the rain-sleet of a car well known in certain circles. After the sun has risen I shall provide you with more information, but for now this shall have to suffice.
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Feb 14, 2013 10:09:38 GMT
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Amazing, amazing, amazing...!!! I just cannot wait to see the legendary Volksangyl 'Deep Clean' all the rest is just a pleasant bonus... Good luck with the Citroen sir, this is going to be great...
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Feb 14, 2013 10:40:56 GMT
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Nice work, glad you got it back!BX's are definatly a cool car.Good luck with it!
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Feb 14, 2013 10:46:39 GMT
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turd in the post for ian ;D
brackets holding cables - not too scary - tell wat hes insane too
whatya mean hes never done the bicycle cable on the throttle thru the window trick ;D
least it made it
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2001 HONDA CT110 (NOT RCV)
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Feb 14, 2013 11:30:51 GMT
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Excellent stuff, I think the Saab three spokes are an inspired idea and as long as you don't want dished ones they are cheap as chips! Although be careful when buying them. Ensure they are from a 4 stud 9000 or a (iirc) post 87 4 stud 900. Early 900's are 4x114.3 I made this mistake when buying some Saab three spokes for a previous Sierra I was told they were 9000 alloys and they turned out to be early 900 ones. FAIL!
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Sierra - here we go again! He has an illness, it's not his fault.
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Feb 14, 2013 13:45:03 GMT
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If I accidentally by 4x114.3 Saab alloys I'll just put them on the Princess Found the problem on the BX - I'm currently on a short coffee break from the deep cleaning action - which turns out to be a broken pedal box. It's one of those uncommon things that is a known problem but would normally have happened well before now if it was going to happen at all. Getting it rewelded should be possible, if not I'll be looking for a replacement. Other than that, I'm actually quite happy with what I've bought, it's a nice place to be (or will be, when it's free of wood store muck).
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Feb 14, 2013 14:40:48 GMT
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I sure do hope you have your camera to hand...?!?!?!?!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Feb 14, 2013 15:51:48 GMT
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Most excellent.. Amazing isnt it , that this thread got to three pages before you even got the car !! haha...
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Feb 14, 2013 16:37:56 GMT
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wow changes in the fleet, i have managed to drag my lazy ass of twitter and catch up at last
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Feb 14, 2013 18:59:04 GMT
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I too am amazed it's got to three pages with NOTHING happening ;D Daylight beckoned, I ignored it for a while because my bed was more comfortable, but I did finally haul myself out of my cave to get to work on the BX. I wasn't exactly nervous about looking at the car in daylight and I was sure I'd like it but there was a little bit of doubt as to whether or not I'd done the right thing in replacing the trusty old uncomfortable Maestro for this tatty Citroen. As it happens, I think I have made the right choice. The car is far bigger than I remember BXs being, but no less comfortable. It's all thanks to those superb tweed covered seats really. The driver's seat, as is normal, has seen better days. It's still comfortable and works, but the plastic trim and head restraint are broken, I need to look into how to fix them. This is just how the car was before I got cleaning and really, apart from storage mould and a bit of tree scaff, it's not that bad and should clean up very easily. This is the only bit of extra rust I've found on the car and it looks far worse than it is thanks to it being wet and on white paint. The luggage area is vast, and full of bits of tree... ... or it was, at any rate. Took only a few minutes to vacuum it out. I removed the improvised covers from the sides too, it all looks very tidy and should just need a quick scrub to freshen up. After I'd had a bit of a poke about I got on with destriping. The stripes are making a reappearance in the future, but I'm keeping just how I'm doing that under my hat for now. I moved the extended life sticker from the window to the rear pillar, looked tidier and I like it as a sticker. Completely decluttered the rear window too. Made a start cleaning up the rear end too, mostly just a declutter of the glass. I've kept one or two stickers like the witch on a broom and the Vehicle Watch sticker, but the rest will go. I was, of course, putting off the inevitable which is to investigate that rear corner, the worst spot on the car. Not as bad as feared, actually, there's still enough metal for the bumper to hang on. It also looks far worse because of the colour and the vinyl. The rest of the spat is fairly solid too, just needs a tickle with a flapwheel and some fresh paint. It's hard work removing the stripes, mainly because they were put on quite well, so I haven't removed everything. I did get enough stripes off to get on with tidying up that crusty rear arch. After a clean, I tried just using a clay bar to get the paint uniform and remove the shiny-matt finish from the stripes being on for so long. Instead, I got the Farecla G3 cutting compound out and tackled the panel with that. Much of the rust staining disappeared, as did the ghost of the stripes. Another attack with the clay bar after this gave me much better results. A final go over with the Farecla G3 to bring up a bit of shine revealed a panel that isn't anywhere near as bad as it initially looked. I'm optimistic about how this is going to turn out. There's some tar spots and some localised surface rust but nothing really serious save that back corner which isn't as bad as it first appeared. The only serious problems to resolve at the moment are the broken pedal box and trying to stop my electricity escaping.
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Feb 14, 2013 22:35:25 GMT
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Good work, just straight in there and tackle the worst bits first! I love a good compounding How are the fluidy floaty bits?
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Feb 14, 2013 22:41:38 GMT
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fluidy floaty bits are generally in good order, the back end is a bit lazy but other than that all seems quite well. Not seen any green goo on the floor, so it's certainly not too far out of shape.
Tomorrow is more of the same but also a routine check of fuses and the like before I properly condemn the battery and/or alternator which are going to be bigger spends than I wanted to make just yet.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,237
Club RR Member Number: 160
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I'd take the bumper off fully and investigate under the corners. I had no sign there was anything wrong under mine bar the bumper being wonky, but it turned out the bumper mount holes had disappeared. Also make sure all the metalwork around the final exhaust hanger is solid, the mount likes to fall off.. Good work so far.
Out of interest, do you want the retro future (fake vauxhall) wheel trims I ran on mine for a bit? I'll try to find a picture if you want? They are just cluttering up a shelf at work..
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Feb 15, 2013 18:25:56 GMT
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I daren't take the bumper off just yet in case there's not enough metal to put it back on. I can see that there's holes in one side, but metal where the bumper mounts. There's holes at the bottom corner near the tailgate seal where bumper and lights meet and the panel that ties the bottom of the wings to the boot floor has also gone. The exhaust hanger seems to still be in place, strangely, though I have to admit I've not had a proper look, just a cursory glance. I don't know the wheel trims you refer to, can you show me a picture? I may be interested. Currently planning to paint the steels green with black Berlingo centre caps as my all-weather wheels, but I am open to other options. ____________ Right, I've been having trouble with the electrics which, for some reason, seemed content to run away. First thing to do was get to the scrap yard and find a car with the same bulbs, taking a multimeter to ensure they were useful. Found a Peugeot 205 GTi that looked like it was probably a very nice car before the driver's seat caught fire somehow and wrecked it, the car even had an exterior sliding glass roof and what looked like factory red carpets, I was impressed. One whole pound got me a fistful of useful light bulbs. Then it was simply a case of removing the binnacle and changing the bulb, yes? Well no. I'd already had this apart before going to the scrapyard and tested the bulbs to find that the battery telltale bulb had blown so was likely going to need replacing. As it happens, the replacement good bulb - I've swapped with other good bulbs too, for good measure - doesn't illuminate either so I don't know what's going off here. Anyway, this is how you change a dash light on a BX, hope you never have to do it. First, remove the two tiny torx screws holding the trim at the bottom of the binnacle which hides the two larger torx screws holding the binnacle down. Then, remove the two torx screws from the clock dash tray so you can remove that. This allows you to get your hand in to find the plastic wingnut that you can't see to release one side of the binnacle. Then, you have to pop this trim/switch plate off to get your hand up into the dashboard and undo the other wingnut that my hands are just a tiny bit too large to reach. That allows you to move the binnacle forwards a bit so you can get behind and release the lightbulbs, but you can't see what you're doing without disconnecting everything (not about to do that!). I'm not looking forward to the refitting of all this after that. I think it's probably the worst, most convoluted job I've ever had to do on a car. After all that, replacing the bulb made not a jot of difference either! That's because the problem, as it turns out, was with the earth. The earth plug (on the green wire) was not connected to the alternator and now that it is, the car charges and starts perfectly normally. Tick time is vastly improved too, up at around 15-20 seconds rather than the 8-11 when the car got here. Finally managed to get a picture of how the pedal box is broken. Looks like it's split both above and below the pedal which is now impossible to operate with your foot and the car has to be driven very slowly on the clutch only. I am pleased we reinstated the interior lights in the car, they're one of my favourite features. In other, less frustrating news, I managed to completely desticker the flanks of the car. It's looking very clean and tidy with just a few small areas to address. The bonnet is going to be cleaned, but I'm leaving it as it is. I plan to fit a long nose (no grille) bonnet instead as this one is broken. The tailgate was the only other thing that didn't get destickered as the feel of finger nails on painted plastic was too much for me to carry on, horrible sensation! Removed the rubber bump strips from the bumpers, they were very tatty and held on with an assortment of screws. Gave the bumpers a clean before hand but I need a different cleaner (got some notions) to really get the ingrained dirt and diesel out of the plastic. That's why there's a bit of a tidemark on them. The recess that the bump strips were in will likely get red reflective tape on the back and white on the front for that proper old man spec look. Got the front driver's side wing and the top half of the front door on the same side G3'd but not claybarred. It came up pretty good, the more I do on this car the more confident I feel that it'll tidy up very nicely.
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Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,237
Club RR Member Number: 160
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Feb 15, 2013 18:40:34 GMT
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Good work on cleaning it up so far! I'd be dubious of the lack of charge warning light, mine did that when my alternator died. On my way to Brighton. yay! Anyway. wheeltrims: Kinda threespokey
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Feb 15, 2013 18:46:03 GMT
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They would tidy things up until I can get the wheels refurbed. PM me with details of how much you'd like for them and what the postage would be (getting to Bristol is a no go for me at the moment) and I'm sure we can come to an agreement
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Feb 15, 2013 21:09:45 GMT
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Christ I really want a BX now. Thanks a lot! ;D
Nice work on the fettling.
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Feb 15, 2013 21:21:26 GMT
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You're welcome
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Neil
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,485
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Feb 15, 2013 21:37:43 GMT
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Christ I really want a BX now. Same! Keep up the good work, VA. I love how you document your progress. Inspiring stuff!
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Last Edit: Feb 15, 2013 21:40:38 GMT by Neil
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Feb 16, 2013 17:05:31 GMT
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Five and a half hours of cleaning and fettling today and I've still got a very long way to go. First job was to attempt removal of the pedal box. Removed these two bolts. Then there's two more allen bolts that I don't know if I'm supposed to remove or not, I can't get my allen keys or screwdriver heads to get enough purchase to remove them so I'm hoping they can stay put. So... I'm a bit stuck on this one as I can't find instructions online and the Haynes manual is next to useless. I shall be asking on the BX forum too. Put the dashboard back together so I don't lose any bits and gave the driver's area a proper scrub, vacuum and clean. Still have to repair and shampoo the seat, but it's good enough. Turned my attention to the outside after that, starting with scrubbing the rear bumper with a stiff brush and some Cillit Bang that has listed 'wheel rims' as one of the cleaning uses. It's very good. Gave the front wing and door a claybar workover, being able to put the suspension to where I want it makes those lower areas much easier to work on. There's one or two dents appearing on the bodywork as I work through it as is to be expected, but they are difficult to photograph. Suspension down to do the roof, best gadget ever. The whole roof has black tree sap spots on it. This comes off with the claybar and G3 just like everything else. I need to get some tar remover for the stubborn bits lower down the bodywork. I did get a good portion of the roof done. I can't quite shift this bit of muck, I need to figure out how to do it. I'm also not sure what to do about this damage to the fibreglass, can it just be sanded back and touched in like you would on stonechips? Getting there, it's going to take a while to get everything tip-top but it will get there.
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