Mat's BX Blog

[BX Bandit]

Happy birthday for Friday matey. Didn't realise your BX was off the road dude, why so?

[mat_fenwick]

Cheers Neil!

I've basically taken it off the road for a few months as I've bought a cheap Focus as a winter hack (at 175k miles it's the lowest mileage vehicle I own!) The reason for getting another car is that there were a few area of rust on the BX I needed to sort out (C pillars mainly), and trying to do that whilst still using it every day is not going to give me enough time to do a proper job. Plus, it keeps the salt off it for a while.

Annoyingly, Lana prefers the Focus to the BX - does she have no taste? Hmmm, she married me, so maybe that answers the question...

[Tim Leech]

Its probably got a heated screen though! Wait until it breaks...then she may not!

[mds141]

Mat's already endured that particular pain!

[BX Bandit]

Hmmm, she married me, so maybe that answers the question...

Don't be so hard on yourself, that's what us lot are for

Bad news that salt. That's why I want to give the TGD a sound de-rusting and fill to the brim every cavity with waxoyl......actually, hermetically sealing every cavity and then evacuating the oxygen may be cheaper!

Roll on dude, fix her up, fix her good!

[mat_fenwick]

That's the plan The more I can protect from the salt, the longer I'll be able to keep it in daily use without jobs needing doing faster than I can finish them!

[mat_fenwick]

Had a quick look at the floorpan on the other side tonight and sure enough, it was going the same way.



Much the same as the passenger side, I butt welded a new piece in but for some reason the job took a lot less time, about an hour start to finish. I do like it when a job goes smoothly

[mat_fenwick]

Last night I sealed all the welded repairs to the floorpan, and for a change from bodywork turned my attention to the engine. The breather hose to the cam cover had been split for a while so was on my to-do list, along with the waxstat, courtesy of Mr. Vanny almost a year ago It's been non functional since I did the engine swap nearly 5 years ago



Definitely seen better days!



Access to the lower hose clip was the usual fun and games, although helped by removing the waxstat which meant I could get a saw blade in there and cut off the clip. New hose now on, but I still need to clean up the mountain of silicone (not from me!) on the thermostat housing before I can fit more shiny new parts.

[Defender110]

A bit of torch porn for you Mat; http://www.supertorch.eu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mat_fenwick]

Looks pretty impressive! But in terms of value for money, you just can't beat going direct to the Chinese - where 95% of them are actually made anyway - rather than the UK or European middleman.

Like this:
http://www.intl-outdoor.com/cyclone-c88 ... p-349.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At the risk of sounding like a geek , the statement of "Cree Q5 LED" in the Supertorch advert is fairly vauge. A bit like someone saying they have a Ford LX! Cree is the manufacturer, and Q5 is the grade of LED, but they haven't said what model of LED (XP-E, XP-G, XR-E, etc)! But in general, the lower the letter or the higher the number, the brighter the LED for the same current.

[Defender110]

But in terms of value for money, you just can't beat going direct to the Chinese - Like this:
http://www.intl-outdoor.com/cyclone-c88 ... p-349.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yep definitley money saving link Mat.....SOLD OUT!

[mat_fenwick]

Maybe me linking to it has given them a sudden rush of sales? You can have mine for £25 though

[mat_fenwick]

I've been busy with various house projects this last week (I'll get some pictures up at the weekend) so car stuff has been put on the back burner a little. But the waxstat is now on and working correctly, and intercooler back on. I notice the cam seal is leaking at the gearbox end - 60k miles doesn't seem like a good life. I'll probably change it next time I do the belt, as it's only a trace on the underside of the intercooler.

[mat_fenwick]

This is what I've been busy with this week, I tried to dig one hole each evening but some of them took quite a few hours. You hit rock about a foot down, and some of it is quite difficult to chip away at.

And here is a preview to what I'll be tackling on the BX - not looking forwards to seeing what lurks beneath!

[Defender110]

Why waste your money on fence spikes if you have to dig a hole because it's rocky, sort of defeats the object of the spikes? Will look a really nice entrance when you've done though.