TB2's BX TRD TURBO "Entreprise"

[TB2]

Got it at the end of last year, serviced it throughly since then and now did a trip through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany with it - and loving it so far! It seems like it is a 'sort of' unique version of the BX Entreprise, because - as a fellow BXer (Rémy) informed me - the Entreprise version was never available with sunroof, A/C and leather interiour. Mine got all of them plus some other extras.


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Some pictures I made yesterday on a nearby hill:

















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What's noteworthy about it?

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Removable electricity kill switch to cut all power:



Theft protection on the spare wheel (though I dont have the key to open it )



Commercial model constructor plate under the hood:



Low mileage (in kilometers)



Leather interiour:



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And of course, it has only two seats. I didn't like the way it was originally done, so I sawed off the front end panel and reattached it with a hinge and a small lock on each side to hold it in place. That way I can flap the panel to the front to have a full length bed or to the back when carrying long goods. Most of the time it's held in place by the locks in the upright position. Here are some in-work pictures:

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The original way:



Doing stuff:



I wondered what was under the main panel so I took a picture of the space beneath it:



Well that's enough space to add a hidden compartment! Marking...



...cutting wood...



...cutting metall...



...done!



Adding some support..



...and doing a nice coating!



Now there's some space for the most important tools and spares:



Reattached the panel with a hinge:



And this is how it looks now, panel flapped to the rear...



and to the front:



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But why all this work? It shall be a camper!

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Added a mattress and made it fit:



This is how it looks like with the panel in "driving" upright position:



And here we go with the full size comfy, pillowy bed including duvet and pillows...



...being able to look through the rear window up into the stars while falling asleep:



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So, here are some more pictures of it...

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In a town near Moulhouse in France:



In Villers-la-Ville somewhere in Belgium






At Rémys Place in Germany, where he gave me some parts I needed (Thanks again!)



On a track near my place:



And as already posted earlier:



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Next up, I will take care off the outside appearance. It has scratches and dents all over it, the bumpers are a bit tilted and the rubber trims on the sides are falling off. I also want to replace the LHM with hydroclean sometime soon and the sunroof frame is broken again. Also, it's leaking water again so the footwells are wet. And a problem I experienced with this "camper" is, that it gets really humid inside and in the mornings the whole interiour is dripping wet which sure doesn't influency longlivity in a positive way. I want to fit a auxiliary heating and maybe a second battery with a dividing relay to power it at night.

Anyways, this car really keeps me entertained

[M]

The "camper" version there is mad, but brilliant I think I would need an estate version though - how tall are you?

[mnde]

Camping conversion is definitely a winner! Good job! I like the idea of looking up at the stars... although maybe I'd add an electric retractable sunblind inside the rear glass for when you want to nod off... and not be rudely awoken by the sunlight in the morning. For interior humidity, perhaps you could try littering the interior with those little packets of dessicating silica gel? Or there's something you can get, built into a coathanger shape, that's meant for absorbing damp in wardrobes...

Cheers,

Mark.

[mat_fenwick]

I like it! Very neat. Are you thinking of adding curtains in the back?

So do the rear doors actually open, or are they permenantly shut?

[toddao]

That's great - completely unique! You've done good work on that. Good to see you're using ear defenders too! I've got to get some myself. I always neglect my hearing.
Remy said that he'd seen you - hopefully I'll be connecting up with him this weekend. Probably time that we all got together, us BXers from this 'central European' area ( I know Switzerland isn't Europe but how else to describe it?) and had a mini BX rally!

[stuart_hedges]

That is brilliant!

I've seriously considered just chucking a duvet in the back of the estate and sleeping in that, as it's rained so much this summer, but never got around to it because of the issue of curtains. I would seriously like to do it, but I don't want to modify the car too much - like making holes for curtain rails and the like - because I generally only camp about three times a year. Keep us informed of the car's progress!

[TB2]

With my 1.80m I fit exactly in the bed, it's just about perfect for me and my girlfriend. It's great to stay in the car. No building tents, no striking tents (best while it's raining), can stay anywhere, comfy mattress instead of hard camping mat or uncomfy air bed... Plain practical While I'm at it... This is how we travelled through Australia toghether:







Though I admit I didn't do that conversion myself. The previous owner even made it movable so that the bed could be slid back and the rear seats flapped up to be usable. Ingenious Design. We just added some curtains

I think I'll add some sort of retractable sun blinds to the BX, as curtains would look kinda ugly in my opinion, but I don't want to damage the car too much, either. I also thought of tinting the windows but I have to take a look at the regulations in Switzerland as I think the rear window can't be tinted too much. I'm not a big fan of tinted windows anyway.

Those silica bags aren't a bad idea! Maybe I can combine some of the methods. Nevertheless I want to have auxiliary heating This time, we've just let the windows a wee bit open but it got kinda cold at night. I though of letting the ventilation running, but I feared that it would drain the battery until the morning or do damage to the electrics because it would be "on" all the time. Would that be bad? I mean, letting the ignition in the on-position (just before pre-glow with the dash lights all beeing lit)? Anyways, the dual battery system is on its way

The rear doors are permanently shut. If I ever find a silver BX on a scrap yard, I will definetly replace those on my BX. Even better, I thought of only replacing one rear door which then can be opened while welding the other one to have one plain surface from the front door to the back. That would look neat...

Yeah Todd, I hope we'll be going to the scrap yards sometime. Drop me a message when you plan to go next time!

-
Carl

[toddao]

Carl,

well there's a coincidence! Here's some badly reproduced photos from paper photos ( yes, I still use a proper camera) of our Land Cruiser in Tasmania last summer with a similar idea.
The Cruiser belongs to a friend who uses it for general farm duties so we had to clean it out and fit the bed platform and furnish it from the rubbish tip ( there's a charity shop attached to the tip!). And when we left, strip it all out and deposit everything back down the tip.
Your vehicle looks it better condition. His is an '82 model and in Tasmania if you keep your vehicle continuously registered there's no MOT test necessary!

[TB2]

Nice

I bought the land cruiser in Perth and sold it in Sydney at the "Kings Cross car market" - Kings Cross being the red light district and the car market being the fifth underground floor of an underground parking being filled with used campervans and their frustrated owners. Basically, you go there with your car and stay in that gloomy place from 9 to 5, waiting for someone to show up and free you off your pain. All of the walls and the ceiling are full of writings of the people who went there to sell their cars and went partially mad of the darkness.

It's worth an experience

I loved that car - even thought about taking it with me but it would have been to complicated and expensive to ship to Europe. It was in really good condition, even as it had a boasting 493'000 kilometers on the clock when we sold it. 4.0l N/A diesel: just keeps running!

By the way it's same in Western Australia regarding MOT. Once you've registered the car you can pay your taxes once a year (even by phone or internet) and never pass a test again

[TB2]

I just finished work on the Swift2 rims I bought of eBay. This is how they looked like when I bought them:



They had severe stains all over, with the clearcoat coming off and puddles of white rust all over.

So, here's the back-braking process, all clickable pictures:

Grinded off the surfaces:

Where necessary, removed the black paint and cleaned the surface

Taping the blank parts. This took me ages by the way...

Sprayed the black parts black, 3 layers:

Smooth:

Also grinded off the center caps. They didn't turn out perfect, but that's the best I was able to do. Before:

After. Clearcoated as well

And another 3 layers of clear coat over everything. Here's the final product:




Tomorrow I'll go put tyres on (Michelin Energy Saver probably). Overall, I'm satisfied with my work, I hope the paint will stick for a while. Although I really would have preferred to have a sand gun! I'll probably build a sanding chamber soon and buy a sand gun for my compressor. Grinding this stuff away with a hand-grinder and a drill really takes too long. Painting rims in only one colour is also much simpler: Taping off the blank parts took me roughly one hour per rim...

I'll post some pictures of the BX with the rims on as soon as I get the tyres...

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Carl

[Tim Leech]

Looking good mate, I know how long it took me to do the Mk1 alloys, frustrating but worth it in the end!

[toddao]

Good work Carl. Look forward to seeing the fitted results

[TB2]

Here's a picture from before I swapped the rear wheels back to the speedlines.

I still find them quite charming without the caps on.

Same with caps. The noticeable difference in colour at the front is due to the way I treated the surface. I grinded the rims in a circular fashion, while it was easier to grind the caps facing the same direction all the time. It really depends on how the light is falling in. In action it doesn't look like much a difference.

[TB2]

Before the big trip, we made a small detour over Denmark, visited an island where there is quite a lot of sand. And it's firm, you can drive around on it without any roads. It was fun, I took a few pictures:






I also received the rear arm bearing repair kits, going to do the job in a few days.

[toddao]

Carl, that looks great. What's going on with the Swifts on the front and the BX alloys on the back? Going for a hot-rod look?