My BMW 2000 E38 735i SE Individual waft bus

Haha, thanks Dan. I expect nothing less from you with all the work you have done on your F31. It is looking great!


Thanks Ross. Loved reading your topic on the E90 M3. I had one myself a few years ago, 1 of just 24 in Melbourne Red. I still do miss it.



Time for a further update!

First up was to fit the missing red positive battery terminal cover (its the little things and all that).





With my new found confidence in being able to fit things myself, I decided it was time to replace the bonnet badge as the old one was in very poor condition.





The car then went on a trip where it was received 24 years ago at BMW Thorne for a tour around the facility (for BMW Car Club GB Members).





On the way back, the car reached a mileage milestone of 120,000 miles.



Next on the to do list was to replace the boot gas strut and I decided to get a genuine was since they were not that expensive. Unfortunately, as my boot has the hydraulic boot function, the ram (for the other side) is no longer available otherwise I would have replaced that too as part of preventative maintenance.





I've always wanted to freshen up the headlights. On my E39, I had the lights machine polished professionally and whilst they did look fantastic, it did not last very long. On the E38 however, one option was to replace the lenses themselves. So this was the option I went down but tracking down the lenses was very difficult as I did not want a set of cheap aftermarket lenses. BMW wanted an extortionate amount (and that's if they could get hold of them). There were some sellers in Europe that were selling them but again, for several hundred pounds. Instead, I went down the OEM route and found a fantastic supplier in the USA that was selling both lenses by Magneti Marelli (Bosch Lighting), now known as Automotive Lighting, AL for less than $200 USD including delivery to the UK. Luckily, they had some sort of sale on hence the really good price.

So with them ordered, I obviously wanted to replace all of the gaskets, clips and seals which also proved to be quite difficult as I wanted genuine BMW parts. Eventually, I managed to get everything from a combination of BMW dealers in the UK and sellers in Europe. I also ordered a set of new Osram xenon bulbs.

Existing condition of lenses, clips and seals:






New lenses:






New clips, seals and gaskets:








New bulbs:


All loaded up for fitting by my specialist:


New items fitted:




Difficult to see the new lenses on here but please do trust me, they look incredible!




The next update will be soon!

Amazing attention to detail. I imagine it’s a rabbit hole though! Stunning car.

Great stuff chap, a nice e38 is just a handsome thing.