DKK

[saintjamesy89]

I went ahead with LED bulbs in my GT - but it is important what year the car was registered in, it needs to be before 01/04/86. My 02/85 was just on the legal side for retrofitting LED headlights here which is nice!

The bulbs I installed apparently take 1.2A compared to their generic stated halogen 5A, so that should help out the old wiring. They have affected the radio reception though, apparently I need to check some earths.

[panky]

DKK is officially out of hibernation and ready for summer - hopefully. A quick trip to the (long way round) tip shows he's in good health

[panky]

Borrowed a Vax Spot Cleaner and gave the seats a good going over. Made quite a difference, years of dirt sucked away. The seats are almost the same colour as the door card now, they'll need another session but didn't want to get the seats too wet.

[saintjamesy89]

Borrowed a Vax Spot Cleaner and gave the seats a good going over. Made quite a difference, years of dirt sucked away. The seats are almost the same colour as the door card now, they'll need another session but didn't want to get the seats too wet.

Yeah, the grey tweed does absorb the grot and grime! Mine are desperate for another steam clean, especially the drivers seat.

[panky]

I can recommend the Vax device, the muck being sucked out is quite dramatic

[saintjamesy89]

I can recommend the Vax device, the muck being sucked out is quite dramatic

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[panky]

Looks like I might need the Vax again - soggy drivers seat I was waiting for the wife outside the doctors surgery when I noticed a damp sensation coming through the seat, just then the heavens opened and I got a soggy thigh as water started dripping from the roof liner edge. Once home I peeled the roof liner back and noticed the drain pipe had broken away, as luck would have it I had a barbed plastic 'T' piece one section of which, smeared in screen seal, fitted nicely into the hole. The plastic pipe was a nice snug fit over the end and resulted in a leak-free repair. I guess I'm going to have steamy windows for a couple of days while things dry out

[panky]

Well that was annoying, went to start the car this morning and the accelerator went to the floor. The cable had come loose from the pedal and, with a few contortions, it was clipped back in place. My question is - is the end of the cable just just held to the pedal by simple pushing the plastic fitting through the hole or is there some sort of clip that prevents it coming back out. Just checking before I pull the carpet back to search for a non-existent piece of metal.

[Jaba]

It depends on your particular cable but usually its a self locking flimsy thing really with two small tabs that compress in when fitting and then pop out to keep it in position. If yours has come out then one of the tabs could be broken. A new cable might be the easiest way to fix it.

[panky]

Thanks Jaba. The cable did click into place so hopefully I was a little to enthusiastic pumping the pedal to set the auto choke. I will look for a new cable but for now I'll carry an emergency cable tie just in case.

[panky]

The dash on DKK had started to creak, a lot, and it turned out that the mounting bolt on the passenger side was missing along with a chunk of plastic the mounting lug was attached to. After a failed attempt to take the glove box out, through fear of damaging the trim, I managed to get very awkward access through the speaker hole to see what was what. There's a strengthening rib adjacent to where the mounting lug was and I managed to cut a slot in it with a very long and sharp wood chisel, just enough to locate a hooked threaded rod and poked it out of the original hole in the bulkhead. After a lot of faffing I managed to get a rubber washer, nut and washer onto the thread and tightened up just waiting for the cracking of plastic that never came. Before there was movement as you pushed the dash but now it feels good and solid so hopefully the creaking dash is no more. It's a bodge for now and will do a proper job when I feel brave enough to pull the dash.
Next job is to find out why the drivers side carpet is sodden after the rain, it's not the sunroof drain as I've just checked that so more investigation needed.

[saintjamesy89]

Glad you've sorted the dash creak! A shame about the water ingress. Door seals perhaps?

[panky]

I think so. I had the seal off and cleaned behind it then gave it a smear of silicon grease to repel the rain, and it seems to have worked. The floor is dry this morning after much rain last night but the carpet is still a bit wet so it's propped up to get some air flow around it with a moisture trap in there as well.

[panky]

The old under carpet insulation was taking forever to dry out and as it was pretty much falling to bits so I ripped it out. It was replaced with a sheet of 10mm closed cell foam which, if it gets wet I can remove and dry it out or just replace as I have a couple of rolls spare after doing the cab on my Commer.

[panky]

For anyone, like me, whose bonnet stay grommet has fallen apart fear not. After a search the only one specific for a BX that I could find was from a supplier in Europe and at just over a Euro I thought I get a couple, but the postage costs of over £50 put me off a little Then one day I was under the bonnet of Ted the Morris traveller and my gaze drifted over the wiper motor and the mounting rubber looked very familiar.

Also used on early Minis, the studs just push out.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283331804405

A little expensive for a grommet but I'll find use for the rest at some point - and they fit. Helped with a little red grease the grommet was persuaded into the hole and the bonnet stay pushed in. Now the end of the stay doesn't disappear down into the front panel.
If anyone knows of a genuine replacement or has also found an alternative I'd be happy to know.