HubNut Blog

What’s on my mind?

The first long journey

Well, after just under two months of ownership, a lot of hard graft had the BX prepared for its first long journey. It now had MOT, replacement second-hand tyres, a new battery, radiator, water pump, cambelt, oil and filter. Test drives and local journeys had allowed me to clock up about 80 miles since returning it to the road. I was now going to undertake a 250 mile road-trip to Anglesey and back in a bid to locate some much-needed parts.

A drive the day before revealed a sudden drop in coolant level, but this seems largely to have been down to trapped air in the system. I carefully bled the system again, raising the front of the car by driving it onto ramps. Time was running out though, so I could do little else than keep my fingers crossed!

Ian's BX meets a few friends on its first long drive in years

After about 30 miles, I was really settling into the groove. I had some concerns about a slight looseness in the steering. I suspect a tired strut top and wishbone bushes. There was an occasional scraping from the rear too, which I suspect is flakes of rust resting on the brake disc. I’ll get that checked out. Being a normally aspirated diesel, and the earlier 65bhp incarnation of this engine (later BXs had 71bhp), she was struggling on the hills a bit, and perhaps more than I remember from my last BX. There was no doubt that she was barreling along quite merrily though, especially on the flatter sections. The engine settles down to a gentle hum on the move.

A quick stop at my mate’s house to fit a new accumulator sphere didn’t hold us up for long before we headed out onto the road once more, discovering just how bad the wind noise is. There are many broken window seals, and a massive hole in the boot floor! The tailgate still doesn’t fit very well either.

With parts collected – including a new tailgate – we could return home, with only the rhythmic THUMP of the windscreen wiper detracting from an otherwise easy first trip. I guess that needs some work as well as it’s going off the bottom of the windscreen…

So, still lots to do, but at least the BX seems happy to be used while the work continues. Now it’s just a case of finding the time…

Forget gym membership. Buy an old car!

I’m quite embarrassed. It seems I’ve become quite soft in my old (33) age. Having sold my comfortable cruiser, in the form of the Saab, I’ve had to put a lot of miles on the 2CV – about 500 this week. That in itself is fine. The weather has been sublime so the roof has been back all the way. Hoorah and indeed, wa-hey.

Problem is, after clocking up about 250 miles this weekend, I’m absolutely shattered! I’ve got aches across my back and in my arms because rather than twirling a seemingly disconnected wheel, I’ve actually had to steer a car. I live in Wales, so any long distance drive involves a LOT of bends. 250 miles in a weekend doesn’t seem much, but only about 5 miles was done on motorway, with about 10 miles of dual carriageway at most. Otherwise, it’s been A roads and B roads and one tight-and-twisty mountain section. There’s also the need to combat the 2CV’s lean on bends. I find myself leaning into the bends like an eager motorcyclist!

So, the downside of communicative steering that actually lets you know what’s going on is that driving quickly becomes rather a workout. That’s a good thing I reckon, though it’s clear I need to put more miles in to get myself back into shape.

But then working on a car is good exercise too. It’s amazing how much of a workout undoing some bolts can be, and you always find yourself lifting something or clambering over a wing looking for all the world like a snooker player trying to make love to the table. I’ve noticed they do this quite a lot – is it why women watch snooker?

Apologies for the lack of photos with this blog. My laptop died last week and accessing my photo library has become something of a pain. Normal service, whatever that is, shall resume at some point yet to be disclosed. Adventures to look forward to in the near future include the Range Rover narrowly avoiding being booted off the fleet and a road trip in the sheddy BX estate…

I don’t want to like it, but I do

The Land Rover Freelander is a car I really don’t want to like, but must admit that I do.

The whole idea of soft-roaders is fairly disagreeable after all. If you want an off-roader, buy an off-roader. If you want a chariot to take the kids to school, buy an MPV. Your kids will probably be safer in it for a start. The whole idea of buying a 4×4 to use for anything other than heavy towing or off-roading does seem peculiar. It’d be like picking a stilleto as the ideal shoe for running a marathon.

Freelander. A bit rubbish really. Looks nice though...

So, the type of vehicle it is certainly grates. What else? Ah yes. The fact that it’s quite rubbish. Engines consist of head-gasket blowing petrols (1.8 K-Series or KV6 if you’re really brave), and really quite good diesels. Don’t get carried away though, as the transmissions seem to have all the robustness of a Citroen BX 4×4, and there’s no low-range option. You do get hill descent, but that’s a bit like making friends with your computer rather than actual people. And it’s so dangerous on ice and very slippy surfaces that the handbook tells you not to use it. “Just stay in with a cup of tea and a nice book,” it says. Possibly.

Build quality is also what you’d expect from Solihull. Rubbish. Bits will fall off and electrical components will impress with the way that they fail. On the plus side, all these problems mean that there are lots of forums where owners share their latest disasters and look for a shoulder to cry on.

Yet I really like them. That must come down purely to the looks. They got this one about spot on really. It looks like someone took the Vauxhall Frontera Sport – another 4×4 I’m sadly quite fond of – and gave it a smart makeover. The front end is chunky and menacing without being threatening, the 3-door looks solid and purposeful and the rear end, despite what should be complete and utter tail-lamp carnage, looks really quite pleasant. The gimmicky drop-down rear door glass is the sort of gimmick I hate myself for liking.

I’d really quite like to own one, even though I have driven one and found it remarkably dull. Thus, the fact that blokes judge looks before ability is proved. I’m pleased to say that I don’t always make that mistake…

Reliant cherry popped

Yesterday was a very important day for me. I popped my Reliant three-wheeler cherry! And how.

Thanks to Joe Mason at Reliant Spares, I finally experienced the slightly-unbalanced world of plastic Staffordshire motor cars. I enjoyed the experience very much indeed.

Perhaps Del Boy chose well...

We began with a Reliant Regal. Makes sense. This car was an enormous leap forward for Reliant, with pretty Ogle-designed plastic bodywork and Reliant’s own four-cylinder, all-alloy engine. The engine was necessary so that Reliant could finally move on from using licence-built Austin Seven side-valve units. Knowing that low weight was essential, the company bravely decided to opt for an all-alloy construction – very brave at a time when most other British car manufacturers were nervous about using even just an aluminium cylinder head.

What struck me about the Regal was how iffy the build quality was – the doors banged on every bump – but also how perky and stable it was. With such light weight, power just isn’t necessary. It was also very noisy – the result of the engine effectively sitting in the cabin. The rear-ward mounting of the engine is one thing that helps keep the car stable.

We then moved up to a Robin, which felt very different indeed. Quality was definitely improved and the tiny steering wheel made it feel somewhat like a dodgem. It was much quicker too and thankfully also quieter. I was entirely charmed. Within a mile, you forget that you’re in a ‘different’ car, well apart from the expressions on the faces of people coming the other way. You don’t have to constantly worry that the car might fall over though. They really are stable and capable of cornering much more quickly than you expect.

The only problem seems to be that Reliants aren’t cheap anymore. I should have bought one years ago!

Goodbye to sensible motoring

Today, I have waved goodbye to the most sensible car I’ve ever bought.

My Saab 9000i 16v was bought to do a job, and it did it admirably. On one crazy weekend, we clocked up 700 miles driving to various family functions in the UK, including driving from home in West Wales to the curious landscape of Norfolk. For that journey, the car made perfect sense. Rarely for one of my motors, it was supremely quiet, quick and entirely reliable.

Bye Bye Saab. Thanks for all of the efficiency

It then ended up on another 500 mile weekend trip to Devon and back, before proving to be the ideal vehicle for a wedding in Wiltshire. The enormous boot was useful as we were helping to organise the event while the rear seat offers luxurious comfort to those asked to sit there.

Then there was all the ‘convenience’ features. Heated seats, heated mirrors and electric everything. The economy wasn’t bad either – averaging 32-34mpg. Not bad for a 150bhp 2.3 four-pot. It started every time it was asked to and ran like clockwork. Everything worked all of the time – from the headlamp wipers to the seatbelt buckles that light up in the dark.

The price for all this efficiency was a complete and total lack of character. It wasn’t a car to excite. In fact, when it came to dealing with Welsh roads, it was a car that failed to satisfy at all. Typical of multi-valve engines, there’s no grunt unless you extend the revs and the steering was about as accurate as a monthly weather forecast. Mix in a frustratingly jiggly ride and a clunky gearchange and it was obvious that with its job done, the Saab would have to go.

As often said at the end of a doomed relationship though, the problem wasn’t with anything she had done, it was with me. The grumblings in no way got close to matching the number of plus points and the Saab is certainly no worse than many other modern cars in those regards. Romance just didn’t blossom.

I really am the problem. The Saab has gone, yet I still own a semi-functioning Range Rover, which I’m starting to like a great deal. Why on earth do I rate a ropey, battered off-roader ahead of a super-efficient Swedish luxo-barge? The list of non-working toys on the Range Rover is almost as long as the list of cars I have owned. Ever. The clutch feels funny. The steering is all wobbly. The heater blower doesn’t work at all – handy for Winter – and the interior is built with the sort of plastics you’d complain about if you found them as part of a toy in a Christmas cracker. Kinder surpise is aeons ahead.

Thing is, for all its faults – and there are many – the Range Rover puts a smile on my face. It’s hard to argue with that basic fact.

Goodwood Revival. But not the recent one.

A picture heavy blog to commemorate the Goodwood Revival. I couldn’t make it this year, so here are some pics from 2008. These are all my own pics.

Grid girl with a Standard Ten

Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jack Brabham aboard an Aston Martin DBR1

It's not just about the cars. Period dress and activities add to the atmosphere!

Different strokes for different folks!

Marilyn Monroe ponders how she still exists in 2008

A great vantage point for the WW2 aeroplanes

BX – assessing the cost

A quick trip to my ‘local’ garage saw the somewhat iffy exhaust downpipe replaced on the BX. How pleasant it is to have car which sounds so very different! £78 well spent, especially as replacing it was a fiddly pain in the backside – how nice it was to pay for someone else to struggle with it! In fact, I was very glad I hadn’t had a go at the job myself – if it was this much of a struggle for two people with it on a ramp, I wouldn’t have fancied my chances with it sitting on axle stands and me lying on my back underneath. A good decision!

New BX project causes some sacrifice on the fleet

A restoration can be a costly business and indeed, I reckon the total expenditure on the BX (including taxing it and collecting it from Bristol) is somewhere around £700. This is why I’m so glad to have sold the Saab – this project needs funding! The Saab isn’t the only casualty on the fleet though – the Range Rover is also going to have to depart. At least I got in while values are still low. Give it another few years and I doubt there will be such thing as a cheap Range Rover Classic…

To get the BX back to nice condition is going to cost a lot more though, which makes for some tricky decisions. This is one of the rarest cars in the UK, yet I don’t expect that putting it on the market would result in a flurry of interest from people with lots of cash. I reckon that just getting it straight and rust free could take my expenditure up to £1500, but it’ll really need a complete stripdown and rebuild to look anyway decent. That could get very expensive indeed, especially when you consider that a BX topping a grand is rare indeed.

There’s also the small matter of not having endless stocks of cash. My wife and I have chosen a low-income lifestyle and cars do seem a very expensive hobby! It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

The BX hits the road

With the BX home, I could crack on with the most important jobs. The new radiator was fitted and I managed to free off the reluctant rear seat belts. Other than that, I thought she stood a pretty good chance of passing an MOT, though not being a tester myself, you never know what might be discovered…

As she sat on the ramp and I got my first proper look at the underside, it was pleasing to see how solid she was. There was a touch of softness in the sill – not near anything critical thankfully – but it’s the nearside sill, which has a ruddy great dent in it anyway. It will be replaced at some point. However, the tester spotted what looks like a serious leak from the water pump. I’d spotted this myself at home and had hoped it was something else.

It may be battered and bruised, but the BX is now road legal!

That’s not a real biggy – if you’re changing the timing belt, it’s sensible to fit a new water pump at the same time anyway. If the pump seizes, the belt will rip and the valves of the engine will meet the pistons. Bad news indeed. Parts are on order so look forward to a report on how the change went.

Amazingly though, I got my MOT pass! Or rather the car did. Yes, she looks dreadful but as I thought, she’s actually a good, solid car beneath all the dents. As she’d been in regular use before being stored (and stored pretty well) she feels ready to go.

I’m under no illusion that this project is a long way from over. There is considerable expenditure on bodywork to occur at some point, and the to do list remains sizeable. The priority, as ever, is to get her in regular use and hopefully tackle some of the major bodywork projects next year.

Trying to please everyone – don’t bother!

Consumerism can be a right pain in the backside. I hold it directly responsible not just for making undesirable fat cats very wealthy, but also ruining just about everything.

Consider cars. Even just a few decades ago, you could identify quite a few cars just by listening to then. A Citroen 2CV sounds very different to a Ford Escort or a Renault 5. The differences were often much larger. In Eighties, you could still buy cars with rear-mounted engines (ok, mainly just Skoda) while the family saloon battle was between the blobby, rear-wheel drive Ford Sierra and the boxy, front-wheel drive Vauxhall Cavalier. Two intense rivals yet so very, very different.

Other family cars were equally different. The Datsun/Nissan Stanza would try and kill you if you made the mistake of trying to drive it quickly in the wet. Peugeot’s 405 brought style, ride and handling mixed with a delicious blend of cheap plastics inside.

Blimey. Information overload! Tests aren't like this anymore

Journalism was so different as well. Car adverts would contain actual information, and motoring magazines had features that were almost Encyclopedic. Here’s an example borrowed from Autocar. There’s all the information you could reasonably want, as well as (on other pages) honest appraisal by a team of testers.

When you wanted to make an informed decision about which car to buy, this information was very useful.

Yet, it turned out that you could sell more magazines if you just featured high performance cars and used words like ‘lairy’ and ‘tail-happy,’ even when describing a Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet – not exactly a sports car.

Journalism became more like a chat with your mates and less about providing useful information. The problem is you see, while us car enthusiasts and those who like to know what they buy appreciated these earlier efforts, you can sell a lot more magazines to the wider public if you cut out the techno-babble and just talk sheer emotion. Emotion is, after all, the biggest driver for most people when it comes to buying a car. They don’t care if the rear seat is cramped, or if the over-the-shoulder vision is appalling – they only care about how the car makes them feel. You could build technically the best car in the world, but even if you market it at £10,000, people won’t buy it if it gives the wrong impression, and nor will today’s magazines want to write about it unless it provides ‘lairy’ handling on a race track.

I despair of a world where information is treated less importantly than marketing babble. As someone on the Autoshite forum said recently – if you compare the Mini against the MINI, one is a triumph of engineering while the other is a triumph of marketing. Sadly, we know which one the capitalists prefer…

Saving the unloved – Citroen BX Mk1

I have always found great joy in the cars that the wider public consider rubbish. I’ve been into Citroen 2CVs since long before they were accepted into the classic car world, and ‘desirable’ is a label that rarely attaches itself to one of my fleet. The reasons are simple – if people don’t like it, then it’ll be cheap. Best of all, a bit of bravery often leads you to discover that these ‘shite’ cars are often far better than anyone ever gives them credit for!

This is how I tried to justify my latest project – a Citroen BX Mk1 estate, with 65bhp of throbbing diesel power. The cream on the cake of shiteness was the condition. There’s barely a straight panel on it and it had been languishing in a Bristol basement garage for over three years.

You see a pile of scrap, Ian sees potential

First glance was certainly not promising. The paint is shambolic, the tyres were flat and cobwebs and dust abounded. However, it seemed solid in all the right places – if not all over – and had been in regular use prior to being parked up. That can make all the difference. Three years wasn’t too long to leave it.

A plan was hatched to collect it, using my Range Rover as a tow vehicle and a hired trailer. My biggest concern was about whether the BX would be prepared to start. Thankfully, the owner had stored the car on blocks – which meant we could get a jack under it if it refused to start. Trying to move a hydraulic Citroen with a dead engine can be a real challenge!

The owner’s Citroen Xantia was used to coax some electricity into the BX, and miraculously, it actually started! It took a few attempts, and it ran on three cylinders for quite a while, but nonetheless, the ran and the suspension began to pump up.

Getting the BX out of the garage proved a tight squeeze and once it was on the trailer, life didn’t get much easier. It really was a tight little street!

Bristol proves a tight squeeze

Somehow we escaped, and the three hour journey home proved undramatic. The Range Rover proved itself an ideal tow vehicle – it’s Italian diesel engine slogging away quite happily without having to be revved hard. Agricultural but torquey!

Getting the BX off the trailer proved a surprisingly entertaining side show for the villagers where I live. The LHM level was a bit low, and the back end of the BX was failing to rise adequately. We overcame this by unhitching the trailer and raising the nose on the jockey wheel. Off she came! I then got to drive my new purchase for the first time, if only down the driveway.

The exhaust was blowing very badly – that much was obvious – but it seemed to go well enough. The brakes even worked – not bad after so long in storage! With the car in the garage, I was able to get the wheels off and check the brakes. Yup, a little rusty but working fine. I cleaned them up a bit and left it at that.

The radiator was clearly a right mess though, so a new one was ordered and fitted. I still think the fan switch also needs replacing, and the water pump has now also proved itself leaky. New items are on order, along with a timing belt kit.

With the new rad fitted though, I could focus on getting the BX road ready. I reckoned it was close to passing an MOT, so with a replacement driver’s door mirror fitted – thanks to Tim Leech of the BX Club, and a few replacement light bulbs, it was time to take her in. Would she pass?!

To be continued…

The BX lives!

HubNut – celebrating the average!