der Mumienwagen; E91 330i Touring

Whilst sat at New Street train station with time to kill after my second train was cancelled, I thought I’d start a thread for the car that I’m on the way to pick up!

A 335o coupe and 125i cabriolet was unsurprisingly not a massive useful combo of cars especially for family life! Family bike trips were a pain in the arse, holidays required careful planning and packing. Given that I’ve spent too much on my 335i this year that was given a stay of execution so the axe fell on the 125i which is due to be collected in the next few days.

An estate of sort seemed like the sensible choice but options are limited given it needed to be petrol and with at least six cylinders. As a serial BMW buyer an E91 ticked the boxes and a chap on a midlands car WhatsApp group mentioned he had one that would be up for sale soon.

The car has done a fair few miles, but petrol tourings are rare al it was a case of beggars can’t be choosers! Same comes to being hung up on spec. It’s pretty much billy basic like my last 330i other than front parking sensors and the storage pack. It is however a manual which adds to the rarity even more since most buyers opted for the auto. You

It’s covered 159k but has a good service history. The previous owner has done a few bits including fitting a new rear subframe and replacing the MV3 alloys with a set of 216’s (one of my favourite wheel designs). It’s had the water pump done at some point plus things like a new clutch under extended warranty. It’s also in my favourite colour combo (like my old 330) of Le Mans Blue with Dakota Lemon leather.

Here are a few pics from the seller.







Condition wise it’s Ok. There is some lacquer peel on the front bumper and what looks like some solvent damage on the rear spoiler. It needs a good polish but I’m sure it’ll look grand with some elbow grease and effort.

I’ve been trying to source a replacement spoiler which has been harder than it sounds because they’ve all been Montague or Mystic Blue. A breaker in Birmingham has one but doesn’t know what colour it is so I’ll pop over to have a look tomorrow. If not it’s time to break the rattle cans out!

The car is being supplied with a set of style 338 alloys with winter tyres and a pair of LCI lights. They’re still stty halogen but will at least have angel eyes and are a more modern design.

At home I’ve already got a set of new velour floor mats and some alcantara bits, including the wheel trim to replace the worn one.

I’ll post some more pics up once I make it to Telford.

I’ll just do it and worry about the fall out afterwards! It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is permission after.

So, picked the car up today. In bright sunlight it’s very much a 12 footer! But I’m confident that I can get it looking much smarter after a few hours (many hours in fact) cleaning it.

I didn’t get the petrol station picture because it was really busy and I’d look like an absolute mentalist.

I did stop on the way home to take a few pics.











Winter wheels. They’re a bit tatty and need a refurb but have a decent enough set of Falken winter tyres. I was going to sell them but I might get them refurbed.



N52 number four. It’s been remapped to a supposed 275bhp. It’s not quick compared to my 335i but it’s brisk enough and doesn’t appear to be pissing oil out.



So, after the 50 mile drive how is it? It’s good and I think it’ll be grand with a bit of effort.

What’s good?

• Drives well and feels solid
• Naff all interior rattles
• Seems to be good mechanically
• Decent enough interior room for us
• Has style 216 alloys
• Got a get of LCI headlights to modernise the front
• Recent Good Year Asymmetric’s on the front

What’s not so too?

• The paint; it’s a bit scratched / covered in swirls. LMB isn’t a forgiving colour but I can make it better
• Needs a bit of paint (see later pics)
• A/C is weak. Really weak. I’ll try and get it regassed this week and see if that does anything
• Few bits of trim need replacing; steering wheel trim and a few bits in the boot
• Rear tyres are a st brand so will get changed
• Pixels on the stereo don’t like the heat

Lacquer peel on the front bumper

[url|https://thumbsnap.com/AcgLBJhM[/url]

Lacquer peel / solvent damage on yet spoiler



So what are the initial plans?

I have a set of new velour floor mats to go in, new rear boot badge, BMW Performance steering wheel trim and gear gaiter to be fitted tomorrow.

I’m off for the next two days so will tear into cleaning it. There is a breakers in Brum who has a potential spoiler so I’ll pop there to see if it’s a colour match.

I want to get the seats out to give it a real good clean and recolour the front ones as I still have the stain left over from the 130i. The exterior needs a massive polish.

I’ll enquire about the A/C rehash too.

Have the interior a quick wipe over tonight. I replaced the rubber mats with the velour ones. I hate the rubber ones but will hang onto them given what my other is like in the winter!



I also did the first mod; fitted the BMW Performance gear gaiter.



The genuine ZHP gear knob is staying.

So, todays plans are:

Just ordered a few just from Sytner; a set of dark lines because the pre-LCI lights look particularly rubbish on a dark car, the front cubby to replace the ashtray, the boot latch trim
I broke last night and some new lock covers. Someone has fitted some particularly vile carbon ///M ones that need killing with fire.

A/C regas. Just waiting for that no wax so I’m hoping it works and solves the issue. If not, there is a local A/C specialist who I’ll get to look at it and will have to pop the bumper paint on hold.

Next up, off to the badlands of Birmingham to see if this spoiler is the right colour.

I want to do a bit of coding too; digital speedo, gear change indicator (reminds my wife to actually change gear), turn the headlight washers off and to code in auto locking at 10mph.

Then the cleaning starts! I think I’ll start with the interior today and maybe start the chemical decontamination if I have time.

Cheers mate; it’s a bit rough around the edges but it’ll look ok soon enough. Drives well though.

Yesterday was the first of two busy days sorting out the 330.

First up was running a few errands, starting with a quick trip to Sytner to pick up new steering wheel trim and ordering a few more odds and sods. The dark line rear lights won’t be here until mid-June which is annoying. It was then off to get the A/C regassed which appears to have done the trick - it’s gone from being pathetic to bloody cold.

I then went to the breaker who had a spoiler, which luckily turned out to be LMB. It’s a bit more scratched than it looked in the pictures so needs attacking with the DA. It’ll look better than the current one.

Once I was home, it was time to start on the interior. First up was disconnecting the battery so I could remove the airbag and do the steering wheel trim. The trim on the car was pretty manky and looked like this:



And now looks like this:



The seats came out next and I soon discovered why it smelt like an old, dirty car…..











Basically under the seats was fking disgusting; the chewed chewing gum was delightful. It looks like a drink was spilled on the drivers side and not really cleaned up. I am however 70p up in loose change. After a lot of vacuuming, a st load of APC and lots of scrubbing the carpets looked much better.





Then I moved onto the seats. These were pretty grubby once I started cleaning them, with black grime running down them.



I used what little seat stain / paint I had left over from the 130i to go over the worst of the drivers seat wear. I’ll get sone more ordered and do it and the other areas of wear properly. It was looking much better though.



The rear bench was pretty grim in the nooks and crannies. The isofix covers were popped out….yummy.





After many hours of cleaning, scrubbing, wiping and vacuuming, the seats when back in.









The boot was up next. At first glance, it didn’t look bad but it was covered in a thick layer of grey dust which probably wasn’t helping it to smell nice.







After even more APC, scrubbing and vacuuming it was starting to look loads better.







It’ll take a few more cleans to get the boot carpet really clean because the carpets are really thick, deep pile compared to my E92 so any dirt is a sod to remove. A boot liner is definitely on the cards.

The door shuts were next,especially the boot which was grim. Unfortunately I found some corrosion around the glass on an inner edge on one side. Looks like an LCI conversion is on the cards at some point!

Dirty dirty shut.





And clean



I gave the car its first wash. I thought I’d bought Garage Therapy’s deep clean shampoo / foam but I’d bought fall out remover. Whoops. Had to use my usual snowfoam instead.





Up close it’s pretty scratched and swirled up but it’s 17 years old and has done 159k. Drying an up waxed car is horrible. Today, once I’ve cleaned the 125i ready for the new owner I’ll tackle the paint; chemical decontamination, wash and dry, clay bar, two stage polish then wax.

I also managed to do a bit of coding:

• digital speedo activated
• shift indicator activated
• headlight washers turned off
• comfort key eject on
• autolock at 8mph

The interior is looking loads better but I did have a bit of a wobble part way through and started to wonder what the hell I’d done. This was easily the worst of my recent BMW’s to rescue.

It was always going to happen wasn’t it! I think I was also conscious that my wife was going from a very tidy 125i to this. I didn’t want it to feel like a step done but luckily she really likes it.

No worries.

The shift indicator is just there to remind you to change gear; my other half seems allergic to sixth!

The comfort eject means that when you turn the engine off, you push the start / stop button for a few seconds longer and it’ll spit the key out in one. Rather than turning the car off and then pushing the key to eject.

I’m a detailing nerd to I hate the streaks from dried washer fluid that I ends up all of the bonnet when the lights are cleaned.

I’ve seen the wireless charging pads; I’m just too tight. The cubby is more useful so I’m happy with that. I think they’re £13 from BMW (at least my last one once).

These are the bulbs that I fitted:

https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/philips-ultinon...

You need an canbus adapter too. They’re not the easiest to fit because of the heat sink; it’s easier to take the bumper off and removed the headlights for better access to the clips that hold the bulbs in.

They do look better, I’m just guessing that it’s a bit of a ball ache to do. In the short term, I’ll try treating the corrosion with some rust converter and go from there.