Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 10]

[mondayo]

There was some unfortunate posting on the last page...looked like someone managed to post an ex police vectra just before Derin complemented Oa's 190.
For a moment I thought Derin was looking for a change in direction!

I remember reading the Evo article on the VXR. Not sure it's a car with much love on here but seemingly very quick and capable

[Lowtimer]

0a, that is sooo shiny. You can come round and do my cars any time. The Porsche, which is currently my only non-dismantled car, looks like it's recently been rediscovered after having been buried in a compost heap for 20 years.

r129sl said:

Why on earth is it that the diameter of car wheels is almost always measured in inches?

I expect that one is down to the dominance of the British Empire and its American colonial offshoot at the time the standards bodies wrote the books on cars. However if you start to ask metaphysical questions it is possible to be drawn down deep dark rabbit-holes..

So: who would like to have a stab at why the width of a normal post-war car wheel is Imperial, whereas the width of the tyre that goes on it is metric?

Edited by Lowtimer on Sunday 30th October 09:02

[anonymous-user]

Lowtimer said:

So: who would like to have a stab at why the width of a normal post-war car wheel is Imperial, whereas the width of the tyre that goes on it is metric?

Edited by Lowtimer on Sunday 30th October 09:02

And the width of the wheel also in inches!

[bob-lad]

dme123 said:

Lowtimer said:

So: who would like to have a stab at why the width of a normal post-war car wheel is Imperial, whereas the width of the tyre that goes on it is metric?

Edited by Lowtimer on Sunday 30th October 09:02

And the width of the wheel also in inches!

Keep up at the back.

[Caruso]

r129sl said:

Comedy gold: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232123949137?ssPageName=...

Don't know which bit is worse... the chrome arches, the white dials or the silver mats.

[Stegel]

bob-lad said:

dme123 said:

Lowtimer said:

So: who would like to have a stab at why the width of a normal post-war car wheel is Imperial, whereas the width of the tyre that goes on it is metric?

Edited by Lowtimer on Sunday 30th October 09:02

And the width of the wheel also in inches!

Keep up at the back.

I wonder if it's the switch to aspect ratio percentages for tyres which would mean tyre sizes expressed in fractions of inches - although I grew up pre-metrication, I find working in fractions very laborious.

[SuperHangOn]

Stegel said:

SuperHangOn said:

In other news, the boot lock has decided to break on the S211 - IIRC another threadist was inflicted with this a short while ago? Interested to know how it was fixed!

Edited by SuperHangOn on Sunday 23 October 20:13

It required a new latch mechanism - a different part number suggested "improved" design. The motor could be heard running but it would not release - research suggests a gear strips, and there is talk of a fix using a replacement cog sourced from China, but I needed it fixed ASAP so £250 for the new unit from the local dealer. It took longer to unclip all the trim than change the unit which is secured by three Torx screws, one electrical connector and a Bowden cable.

Done. An annoying faff of a job. Darn those nasty plastic pop rivets on the tailgate trim.

I bought a rebuilt lock on eBay from Germany for half the new price. Alle ist gut. I'm keeping the suspicious looking rope in the boot just in case though.

[derin100]

In a continued quest for improving the headlamps on the E39 Touring and suspecting something may be awry in the form of perhaps a broken adjuster on one side, I decide to order a set of four and set about opening them up.

Just as well that I did. Here's a what I found. All FOUR where broken!



Not only does that mean that neither side could be adjusted in terms of the vertical or horizontal directions, it also means that they'll tend to aim too long thus foreshortening the throw/range of the beams.

I actually found it quite a difficult and tricky job to replace them. All the YouTube videos I could find on how to do it ranged from "really not very good" to "utterly unhelpful". The first side took me 3 hours to open, dismantle, install the new adjusters and then reassemble the headlights. The second side with the benefit of a little better understanding took me 1.5 hours.



I'll take the car up to my mechanic's next to get them properly aligned.

I know quite a few other Threadists have E39s so it might well be worth checking yours to see if any are broken because it seems very common indeed. The company I bought them from have an Ebay shop and have sold over 2000 of these on Ebay alone...and that's just for the Angel Eyes type variant! The adjusters themselves only cost £2.75 a side:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291250784635?_trksid=p20...





If any Threadist is doing it and runs into difficulty PM me. I can talk you through some of the steps or procedures that the YouTube videos don't make clear, omit and that really held me up or ways that I found easier.

[Krikkit]

Interestingly the lights on my Clio have identical adjusters, which I managed to break by dropping the headlight from a 4" height! Very poor design and renound for snapping.

[derin100]

Yes...stupidly brittle plastic on the original ones. They might as well have made them out of glass?

I think (and hope) that these replacement ones that I bought are more robust.

[Max M4X WW]

derin100 said:

In a continued quest for improving the headlamps on the E39 Touring and suspecting something may be awry in the form of perhaps a broken adjuster on one side, I decide to order a set of four and set about opening them up.

Just as well that I did. Here's a what I found. All FOUR where broken!



Not only does that mean that neither side could be adjusted in terms of the vertical or horizontal directions, it also means that they'll tend to aim too long thus foreshortening the throw/range of the beams.

I actually found it quite a difficult and tricky job to replace them. All the YouTube videos I could find on how to do it ranged from "really not very good" to "utterly unhelpful". The first side took me 3 hours to open, dismantle, install the new adjusters and then reassemble the headlights. The second side with the benefit of a little better understanding took me 1.5 hours.



I'll take the car up to my mechanic's next to get them properly aligned.

I know quite a few other Threadists have E39s so it might well be worth checking yours to see if any are broken because it seems very common indeed. The company I bought them from have an Ebay shop and have sold over 2000 of these on Ebay alone...and that's just for the Angel Eyes type variant! The adjusters themselves only cost £2.75 a side:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291250784635?_trksid=p20...

If any Threadist is doing it and runs into difficulty PM me. I can talk you through some of the steps or procedures that the YouTube videos don't make clear, omit and that really held me up or ways that I found easier.

Did you clean the projector lenses and insides of the front lens also? From experience I have found them to be dirty.

[anonymous-user]

E34 BMW 520i

1 owner from new

67,000 miles

£1,800

MOT history is very good also

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

[anonymous-user]

Looks like a typical scam

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

[anonymous-user]

Interestingly i saw an S3 using exact same description up for £10,000. It was a 2013....

[SuperHangOn]

Max M4X WW said:

derin100 said:

In a continued quest for improving the headlamps on the E39 Touring and suspecting something may be awry in the form of perhaps a broken adjuster on one side, I decide to order a set of four and set about opening them up.

Just as well that I did. Here's a what I found. All FOUR where broken!



Not only does that mean that neither side could be adjusted in terms of the vertical or horizontal directions, it also means that they'll tend to aim too long thus foreshortening the throw/range of the beams.

I actually found it quite a difficult and tricky job to replace them. All the YouTube videos I could find on how to do it ranged from "really not very good" to "utterly unhelpful". The first side took me 3 hours to open, dismantle, install the new adjusters and then reassemble the headlights. The second side with the benefit of a little better understanding took me 1.5 hours.



I'll take the car up to my mechanic's next to get them properly aligned.

I know quite a few other Threadists have E39s so it might well be worth checking yours to see if any are broken because it seems very common indeed. The company I bought them from have an Ebay shop and have sold over 2000 of these on Ebay alone...and that's just for the Angel Eyes type variant! The adjusters themselves only cost £2.75 a side:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291250784635?_trksid=p20...

If any Threadist is doing it and runs into difficulty PM me. I can talk you through some of the steps or procedures that the YouTube videos don't make clear, omit and that really held me up or ways that I found easier.

Did you clean the projector lenses and insides of the front lens also? From experience I have found them to be dirty.

I fear this operation may be futile. The PO of my E39 fitted HID's to the original headlights and even then they were like candles.

[cat220]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

E34 BMW 520i

1 owner from new

67,000 miles

£1,800

MOT history is very good also

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

That looks great!

[derin100]

SuperHangOn said:

Max M4X WW said:

derin100 said:

In a continued quest for improving the headlamps on the E39 Touring and suspecting something may be awry in the form of perhaps a broken adjuster on one side, I decide to order a set of four and set about opening them up.

Just as well that I did. Here's a what I found. All FOUR where broken!



Not only does that mean that neither side could be adjusted in terms of the vertical or horizontal directions, it also means that they'll tend to aim too long thus foreshortening the throw/range of the beams.

I actually found it quite a difficult and tricky job to replace them. All the YouTube videos I could find on how to do it ranged from "really not very good" to "utterly unhelpful". The first side took me 3 hours to open, dismantle, install the new adjusters and then reassemble the headlights. The second side with the benefit of a little better understanding took me 1.5 hours.



I'll take the car up to my mechanic's next to get them properly aligned.

I know quite a few other Threadists have E39s so it might well be worth checking yours to see if any are broken because it seems very common indeed. The company I bought them from have an Ebay shop and have sold over 2000 of these on Ebay alone...and that's just for the Angel Eyes type variant! The adjusters themselves only cost £2.75 a side:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291250784635?_trksid=p20...

If any Threadist is doing it and runs into difficulty PM me. I can talk you through some of the steps or procedures that the YouTube videos don't make clear, omit and that really held me up or ways that I found easier.

Did you clean the projector lenses and insides of the front lens also? From experience I have found them to be dirty.

I fear this operation may be futile. The PO of my E39 fitted HID's to the original headlights and even then they were like candles.

Yes, I did clean the internal reflectors and the insides of the lenses too. In actual fact they were actually pretty clean inside.

I don't think it will all have been entirely futile. If they end up functioning like the ones on my wife's similarly Angel Eye-version equipped 525i Saloon I'll be satisfied because they're "ok-ish". The way they were when we drove all the way back from SW France was truly atrocious believe me! Dangerous.

I'm not expecting them to be as good as the Xenon equipped ones we've had before. But having sanded and polished the lenses exteriors there was already a really noticeable big improvement. I hope that now, once they can at least be aimed properly again rather than pointing too low at the road, plus when I put in the better bulbs it will at least make night driving less worrying as it looks we might have another trip coming up soon to take stuff over.

If they were the way they were, I seriously just wouldn't do the trip in that car again at all because it would be impossible to avoid any night driving over that distance now that this time of year is upon us.

[josh00mac]

even with a g/box problem this looks good value

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C805344

[golfer19]

Doesn't the gearbox always go on these.
How much to fix the gearbox.
Could be a good candidate for a lpg conversion.

[Krikkit]

A haggle and a bit of a tidy up, this LPG'd one seems good value.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...