Unseen £200 e38

[Synchromesh]

Slow said:

...not sure what this clear/white button is.

Central locking isn't it?

Soov535 said:

1. Purchase 4 new budget tyres
2. Check levels
3. Take to local Eastern European car cleaners for £100 full valet and wax
4. Enjoy or sell for £1500

Not with that rust. More like £500 on a good day.

[shakotan]

That 'Irish' plate is worth literally nothing, there's hundreds for sale on eBay for £30.

[_dobbo_]

shakotan said:

That 'Irish' plate is worth literally nothing, there's hundreds for sale on eBay for £30.

Doesn't this mean it's worth literally £30?

[TooMany2cvs]

_dobbo_ said:

shakotan said:

That 'Irish' plate is worth literally nothing, there's hundreds for sale on eBay for £30.

Doesn't this mean it's worth literally £30?

Not if nobody's buying the £30 ones...

[Six Fiend]

Is the front wing just a bolt on jobbie like the E39? Just replaced mine with a colour matched one second hand for £45 delivered

And yes as previously said the missing switch cover is central locking

[Slow]

Found out today its central locking when I was cleaning the car... Its now stuck down due to crap round it :L Cheers for the help non the less.

Upon starting and moving it today there is a noticable power steering pump whine, checked the fluid and its low. Couldnt see oil on the floor so not sure if it leaked overnight or I just wasnt listening yesterday. Either way, it states that it requires ATF on the cap, what sort of ATF do I require. Hopefully a top up will see it working, if not it will find the leak for me at least.

However after a little googling found out it could have some special rear shockers which are part of the whole power steering system, the rear end is bouncy if I press down on the boot. Not sure if this is worn normal shocks, empty special self leveling bds or fked springs.

Random bulbs blown all over the outside, going to remove headlights to clean up anyway.

Washer jet for one of the headlights is missing, assume it needs it for the MOT.

Found another spare where it should be so have 2 now.


Started to clean with a wetvac type thing, didnt have a good carpet shampoo so results arent brilliant. Will be going back to it tomorrow with some better stuff hoping to get it clean.

Also ordered a front wing up for £37 inc shipping, its red. Repainting the whole car anyway so figured no point trying to source the correct colour. Think it bolts straight it, will need a little welding of the base however.

[TooMany2cvs]

Slow said:

Washer jet for one of the headlights is missing, assume it needs it for the MOT.

Not unless it's got HIDs.

[80sMatchbox]

LittleEnus said:

Having owned a long-term E38, I can safely say this won't be worth the time and money to sort out. It's a mess.

You've not seen the OP's 323i have you? This looks in fine fettle!

[Super Slo Mo]

shakotan said:

That 'Irish' plate is worth literally nothing, there's hundreds for sale on eBay for £30.

That surprises me actually, I'd sooner have an Irish dateless plate than one of the age related 'personal' plates which I think are iredeemably naff.
I'm not a massive fan of private plates anyway mind you.

[Slow]

80sMatchbox said:

LittleEnus said:

Having owned a long-term E38, I can safely say this won't be worth the time and money to sort out. It's a mess.

You've not seen the OP's 323i have you? This looks in fine fettle!

Ive never owned a car that doesnt have rust, only 21 so time to change this though.

03 focus - arch and sill
01 focus - sill
01 320i - wings
87 defender - rear crossmember
02 range rover - rear arch is starting
01 civic - boot and roof
83 cherry turbo - all over little bits
84 323i - horrific lack of rust free metal (seriously more rust than the titanic)

And that brings us to this 730i.... This isnt bad by any stretch. All cars rust in the highlands, we salt our roads for 4 months a year minimum.

Edit: Looking into aux inputs for this as it should cost like £10 most, I have a 6 cd changer in the boot (not attached to the car, just dangling from its wires)It powered up and ejected the cassette when asked though so figure it works. Where abouts is best to splice into this changers wiring for adding an aux input with a blank noise cd in the changer. Assumed at the input into the rear of the radio, but not sure on dificulty removing it, and then knowing which wires.

Edited by Slow on Wednesday 10th February 20:18

[Sillyhatday]

I don't remember exactly now but, if you get the right signal wires that run the CD signal back to the radio, you can just intercept those. The only issue being that some systems don't work without the CD changer playing something. I think some systems use another wire as a signal to tell the radio it's playing something.

The easy solution is to leave a CD in playing and just insert your own signal into its path. Which wires? I can't say without a wiring diagram or looking at the car.

EDIT: Pretty much ignore this, you already said about using a blank CD of sorts. Carry on

[Lugy]

Slow said:

Found out today its central locking when I was cleaning the car... Its now stuck down due to crap round it :L Cheers for the help non the less.

Upon starting and moving it today there is a noticable power steering pump whine, checked the fluid and its low. Couldnt see oil on the floor so not sure if it leaked overnight or I just wasnt listening yesterday. Either way, it states that it requires ATF on the cap, what sort of ATF do I require. Hopefully a top up will see it working, if not it will find the leak for me at least.

However after a little googling found out it could have some special rear shockers which are part of the whole power steering system, the rear end is bouncy if I press down on the boot. Not sure if this is worn normal shocks, empty special self leveling bds or fked springs.

Random bulbs blown all over the outside, going to remove headlights to clean up anyway.

Washer jet for one of the headlights is missing, assume it needs it for the MOT.

Found another spare where it should be so have 2 now.


Started to clean with a wetvac type thing, didnt have a good carpet shampoo so results arent brilliant. Will be going back to it tomorrow with some better stuff hoping to get it clean.

Also ordered a front wing up for £37 inc shipping, its red. Repainting the whole car anyway so figured no point trying to source the correct colour. Think it bolts straight it, will need a little welding of the base however.

AFAIK ATF on the power steering cap means no self leveling suspension and as for blown bulbs, I've usually found it's bad contacts on the bulb holders causing it and the bulbs being fine, easily sorted with a bit wet and dry.

[shakotan]

TooMany2cvs said:

_dobbo_ said:

shakotan said:

That 'Irish' plate is worth literally nothing, there's hundreds for sale on eBay for £30.

Doesn't this mean it's worth literally £30?

Not if nobody's buying the £30 ones...

Exactly. If there's a sea of things worth £30 and you place your £30 in amongst them, chances of it actually selling are neglible.

If you look at 'Completed Listings' then you'll see they rarely sell.

[Sillyhatday]

shakotan said:

TooMany2cvs said:

_dobbo_ said:

shakotan said:

That 'Irish' plate is worth literally nothing, there's hundreds for sale on eBay for £30.

Doesn't this mean it's worth literally £30?

Not if nobody's buying the £30 ones...

Exactly. If there's a sea of things worth £30 and you place your £30 in amongst them, chances of it actually selling are neglible.

If you look at 'Completed Listings' then you'll see they rarely sell.

Then sell it for £20. That's more than you would otherwise have got, without the number plates at all

[TooMany2cvs]

Sillyhatday said:

Then sell it for £20. That's more than you would otherwise have got, without the number plates at all

Well, you could list it for £20, but would anybody buy it?

Let's face it, after the transfer costs, the difference between £30 and £20 and £10 and 99p is not actually particularly relevant. The main reason nobody's paying £30 sad-pad plates is not that some magical price barrier's been breached. It's that nobody actually particularly wants the front and rear of their car to say "OIJQZ248356284". They'd rather have a more memorable plate, something like "EK61SWN"...

[Slow]

TooMany2cvs said:

Sillyhatday said:

Then sell it for £20. That's more than you would otherwise have got, without the number plates at all

Well, you could list it for £20, but would anybody buy it?

Let's face it, after the transfer costs, the difference between £30 and £20 and £10 and 99p is not actually particularly relevant. The main reason nobody's paying £30 sad-pad plates is not that some magical price barrier's been breached. It's that nobody actually particularly wants the front and rear of their car to say "OIJQZ248356284". They'd rather have a more memorable plate, something like "EK61SWN"...

It does come with 2 brand spanking new plates in the correct format. Reckon if it was sold with the actual physical plates it would sell. Dont plan on selling them anyway, dont exactly need to recoupe a whole £30 from the car

[TooMany2cvs]

Slow said:

It does come with 2 brand spanking new plates in the correct format. Reckon if it was sold with the actual physical plates it would sell.

At a £20 sale price, that takes the actual value of the registration down to about a fiver... before eBay and paypal fees.

Not forgetting the hassle-factor of dealing with the kind of numpty that wants them.

[T5XARV]

Without wishing to be negative........Break it. Now. Before you spend another penny or devote any time (or paint !)..... on it.
Example....they're not Sports Seats, they're Comfort. A small market and as they're not in great condition you'll struggle to get more than £100 for them.

Another long term E38 owner/Paintwork Detailer/BMW nut right here......

I suggest practising your painting/ defect correction on a panel from the scrappy, not a whole car....

Oh, and your torch is missing.

Good luck though, whatever you decide.

[bomma220]

Bravo Slow for having the bottle to do something like this at 21 !

When I was 22, I turned my (long ex) girlfriend's TR7 into a TR8. All the nay-sayers said 'no, no, you can't do that,

that won't fit, too small, too big, it'll overheat, the tyres will melt etc' Ignored all the miserable fkers,

turned out a great car & when we eventually sold it we were around £800 to the good!

Not that's why I did it, I just wanted to do it, the sceptics only added fuel to the fire...

Great project for all the right reasons, well thought through, well done that man ! .

[Gallen]

Pull the seats out.
Pull the carpets out (hoover the carpets).

Apply LOTS of TFR then pressure wash and dry.

Then you will have a good base to leather feed or repaint (not to mention a hoover full of walkers crisps to snack on for the next 6 years).