Iain's Barn Finds

Stickyfinger · Unread post by **Stickyfinger** » 19 Feb 2018, 11:23

CitroJim wrote: 19 Feb 2018, 09:00 Iain, really enjoying these latest updates Keep 'em coming

me too

Unread post by **wurlycorner** » 19 Feb 2018, 18:34

Thanks guys

I haven't mentioned the strangest find while I was over there yesterday...

The former owners grave!

(no, I'm NOT joking!)

furriegurrie · Unread post by **furriegurrie** » 19 Feb 2018, 18:58

In the trunk????

Unread post by **wurlycorner** » 19 Feb 2018, 19:09

Nope
Although I haven't yet looked in any of those, so....
Who knows what more I might find when I do!

Deanxm · Unread post by **Deanxm** » 19 Feb 2018, 22:15

Looks like someone is enjoying themselves

D

Bilkob · Unread post by **Bilkob** » 20 Feb 2018, 08:59

Yes, keep up the threads and the good work. The mention of blocked fuel breather has got me interested, I thought for quite a while that may be the cause of my car's cutting out, still not fully investigated it!
btw, did this car in the above pic reside in Chiswick at some point in a former life???

Unread post by **wurlycorner** » 20 Feb 2018, 13:04

Bilkob wrote: 20 Feb 2018, 08:59 The mention of blocked fuel breather has got me interested, I thought for quite a while that may be the cause of my car's cutting out, still not fully investigated it!

Have had that diagnosed as being a problem on 2 previous EFI CX's, although I was never particularly convinced. That said, if it's causing the tank to collapse, then it definitely isn't right!

btw, did this car in the above pic reside in Chiswick at some point in a former life???

The green one, or the blue one?

Bilkob · Unread post by **Bilkob** » 20 Feb 2018, 15:35

The green/grey one. Espadon(??) Grey.....?

ekjdm14 · Unread post by **ekjdm14** » 27 Feb 2018, 10:51

Any more on this? Just looked back in and was getting into it, all this talk of quick fixes on stuck injectors & bursting the easiest pipe on the car, and finding more storage in better conditions too. You must be doing something right to have all this run of good luck, not sure about finding a grave on site though

demag · Unread post by **demag** » 27 Feb 2018, 16:51

The car in the pic grey/green looks in really nice condition under the dust. I bet a wash and polish would have it sparkling.

Unread post by **wurlycorner** » 27 Feb 2018, 19:51

The green one looks pretty smart from a few yards (I love the colour - same as a 2400ie Pallas my dad had when I was young and that's why I bought it!) and it is in good solid working nick generally - it came with a load of mechanical and suspension problems that I sorted before parking it up.
It still had a few electrical gremlins that I didn't fix (and had forgotten about but have now rediscovered) i.e. the cooling fans only work in high speed (they are a two speed setup on these) and only intermittently. It's a relay or earth fault I think (fan switch is fine).
The paint isn't great (lacquer suffered) it has rust on the top of the drivers side rear quarter (common on Safari's but very unusual on saloons) a small amount on the bootlid and bonnet (very common on both counts) and it's a sunroof car - so to those who know CX's I need say no more as to what that means...
However I have discovered it is in amazingly good condition in some areas where they usually rust, i.e. the front inner wings. I'm actually thinking I might put it in for an MOT if I sort out the airbox, fix the cooling fans and fuel tank breather and (of course - it's a CX!) adjust the handbrake. But we'll see...

Anyway, yes, there is some more news. An EXTREMELY frustrating weekend was had.

I went over on Saturday afternoon (after recovering from heavy night out/feeling very delicate, so no early start!

) and refitted the starter motor to the grey CX (which btw is the one that cleans up the best, since it had a very very expensive respray job about 20 years ago).

Offending starter motor;

The red terminal was the cause of the fault - nothing more than slight build up of corrosion cured simply by unplugging and plugging it back in!

For those not familiar with CX's, this is where the starter lives;

On the front of the block, behind the manifold and under the alternator (visible through the tiny gap between the wastegate and the alternator)
Closer up pic taken with the camera down at the alternator;

The only way in/out for it is out the bottom of the car. And when you can't start a CX, this is how much room you have to do it

It looks like there's loads when it's up near the sump, but it only just clears under the cross-member on the way in.

Working from underneath, you then have to angle it upwards to get it over the downpipe and in the space between the manifold and block;

View from above (camera poked down level with the alternator)

You then have to pull the alternator level again, which is not easy because you can't get on the back of it to lift, only the front to pull (with limited space to fit your hand).

Then it's a matter of trying to get it into position in the bellhousing. A simple job made a nightmare through lack of being able to teleport hands into place;

You can just see in the pic one of the three bolts that then has to be lined up (blind) and screwed in from the gearbox side of the bellhousing;

All bolted back up and tested fine. Hurrah! On to trying to start the car...

Fuel pump won't run off the ignition. Pump runs fine when I hot wired it and I know the 'big blue' relay is good (I swap it between the three cars) so it's something else. Had forgotten my multimeter

so that was as far as I could go on Saturday on that car unfortunately.

Set about cleaning out the blue one, which had been used (all over, every seat, every footwell and the rear parcel shelf) as a toilet by rats at some point...

Easily one of the most disgusting jobs I have ever had to do on a car

(the pics don't actually do justice to just how much s**t there was everywhere). Fortunately no permanent damage done and it was so long ago, no smell either.
Little bastards have been through the heating ducts carrying nest material by the looks;

It took ages, at least it's now safe to get in the thing (and I seem to have avoided coming down with anything nasty afterwards!)

And that about did it for Saturday.
Which meant Sunday was all on track for fitting the hydraulic pipe, running up the grey one (to see what that threw up) and moving the blue and green one to their new home.

But then this happened;
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=50653&p=567830#p567830

Unread post by **wurlycorner** » 27 Feb 2018, 20:09

Bilkob wrote: 20 Feb 2018, 15:35 The green/grey one. Espadon(??) Grey.....?

That car did come from the Chiswick/Gunnersbury/Bedford Park area, yes.
How do you know it?

Btw, I mentioned finding the owners grave...
Just in case that seemed a bit far fethced;

ekjdm14 · Unread post by **ekjdm14** » 01 Mar 2018, 23:32

Wow that's a strange one, so there's a possibility the CXs were living on consecrated ground?

Unread post by **wurlycorner** » 02 Mar 2018, 12:14

no - none at all...

Let's just the say that the former owner was very 'eccentric' and didn't win too many fans in the area... It was probably his wish to be buried on his land and... Well I can envisage it's possible either no undertaker was involved, or he was a bit 'moody'

Bilkob · Unread post by **Bilkob** » 10 Mar 2018, 11:29

Iain,
I remember going to see an Espadon Grey mk1 GTI TURBO in Chiswick say 15-20 years ago! Being sold by a lovely guy by the name of Jim.....

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