Unseen £200 e38
Discussion
So got a little done today but the cold eventually won.
Had a slight problem with a garage door haha
Removing the old wing was a b
d, bolts on the underside just rusted too much to turn, while being recessed into a plastic moulding so couldnt be grinded off either. Another bolt behind the front bumper wouldnt shift without bending the mount, even when grinded down so its just been left, will make up another mount as it was bending alot just trying to remove the old bolt, let alone putting in a new one.
Going to buy a bunch of bolts to use instead of these awful torx fittings that bmw decided to use which strip easily. Fitment of the new wing is almost spot on, just needs pushed in slightly at the top when I tighten the new bolts.
What remains of the old one haha
Notice the hammer and chisel used to deal with the rounded bolt in the plastic moulding, big washer to fix the hole where I hit it throught the plastic. One of the cleanest inner arches ive ever had on a car, the plastic is there unlike most.
Removed both front headlights to take the lens off and give them a good polish then reseal them as one had condensation and the other had a big dead spider. Also resealed the indicators already with silicon, probably better stuff to use but I had it laying around.
Had a slight problem with a garage door haha
Removing the old wing was a b
d, bolts on the underside just rusted too much to turn, while being recessed into a plastic moulding so couldnt be grinded off either. Another bolt behind the front bumper wouldnt shift without bending the mount, even when grinded down so its just been left, will make up another mount as it was bending alot just trying to remove the old bolt, let alone putting in a new one.
Going to buy a bunch of bolts to use instead of these awful torx fittings that bmw decided to use which strip easily. Fitment of the new wing is almost spot on, just needs pushed in slightly at the top when I tighten the new bolts.
What remains of the old one haha
Notice the hammer and chisel used to deal with the rounded bolt in the plastic moulding, big washer to fix the hole where I hit it throught the plastic. One of the cleanest inner arches ive ever had on a car, the plastic is there unlike most.
Removed both front headlights to take the lens off and give them a good polish then reseal them as one had condensation and the other had a big dead spider. Also resealed the indicators already with silicon, probably better stuff to use but I had it laying around.
So Ive got some done, mainly the front wing is all fitted up.
Driving to manchester to collect a S class on Thursday so ordered up a bunch of parts including a compressor to the garage selling the S class, its my grandpa's old garage so im friendly with the new owner hence him letting me get so much dropped off, but this saves over £200 of postage to the highlands because Inverness isnt mainland uk apparantly.
Got a rough set of 17" alpina replica's missing a center cap (dont suppose anyone has one haha), however these might make their way onto my e30
Rear drivers side door, mine has a dent - fixable, but the electric window is also shot so seems easier to replace it all
Front bumper, mines been cracked right down the middle when it was crashed into what ever broke the fog light/mount + numberplate bracket
Orange indicators (originals) as mine are nasty clear ones which are turning yellow with the inside chrome peeling
100L 3hp 14.1 cfm air compressor which should be enough to spray cars
Bits are off this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bmw-E38-730I-V8-Breaking...
Some in progress pictures of the headlights
About 30 minutes to do them both quickly gave me this
Notice the nasty aftermarket indicator
Wing all bolted up except the mudflap
Shut lines arent bad for a first attempt
Driving to manchester to collect a S class on Thursday so ordered up a bunch of parts including a compressor to the garage selling the S class, its my grandpa's old garage so im friendly with the new owner hence him letting me get so much dropped off, but this saves over £200 of postage to the highlands because Inverness isnt mainland uk apparantly.
Got a rough set of 17" alpina replica's missing a center cap (dont suppose anyone has one haha), however these might make their way onto my e30
Rear drivers side door, mine has a dent - fixable, but the electric window is also shot so seems easier to replace it all
Front bumper, mines been cracked right down the middle when it was crashed into what ever broke the fog light/mount + numberplate bracket
Orange indicators (originals) as mine are nasty clear ones which are turning yellow with the inside chrome peeling
100L 3hp 14.1 cfm air compressor which should be enough to spray cars
Bits are off this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bmw-E38-730I-V8-Breaking...
Some in progress pictures of the headlights
About 30 minutes to do them both quickly gave me this
Notice the nasty aftermarket indicator
Wing all bolted up except the mudflap
Shut lines arent bad for a first attempt
Edited by Slow on Saturday 27th February 22:12
Had all these things delivered to a garage in Manchester where I was collecting a S class from. Saved over £250 in postage to the highlands, only challange was fitting it all in 
The S class first
Picked up a compressor to spray
Got these wheels, 17" alpina replicas I think. Sadly missing one center cap if anyone here has an odd set too :P
New rear door to replace the dented one
Front bumper as the old one was cracked in multiple places, only swapped 1 foglight at the moment
Amber indicators
The S class first
Picked up a compressor to spray
Got these wheels, 17" alpina replicas I think. Sadly missing one center cap if anyone here has an odd set too :P
New rear door to replace the dented one
Front bumper as the old one was cracked in multiple places, only swapped 1 foglight at the moment
Amber indicators
sinbaddio said:
What's the plan with the S Class?
S class isn't mine, collected for Mums boyfriends dad - he's like 95Used to be a chauffeur driver most his life, had a Granada cosworth till 3 years ago, then a jag 3.2 which gearbox just blew so wanted another cheap barge. In steps the s430 for him
Having problems, my bonnet wouldnt close. Well it would shut but then jump back up to the safety catch, the latches wouldnt catch.
To begin with neither would latch in any way at all. Found the passanger side one with the spring had come out of the little guide for the spring. Fixed that no problem.
Then the drivers side there theres the little arm on a ball where cables join from either end. One of the ends of the cable (side leading to the other catch) had come out, put it back in and closed the bonnet.
It locked! It then opened correctly too on the lever, tried again just to make sure it was fixed.... It wouldnt open.
st!
Ended up prying the drivers side grille out (unbroken remarkabley) and managed to pull the cable to release. This time the little ball has popped out of the arm. Put it back in, tested the locks with just a screwdriver to avoid the bonnet being stuck down again. Yet again the little cable from the passanger side has come out.
Currently I have tiger seal (very sticky black stuff) all over it, a zip tie round it and going to test tomorrow.
Also found the locking wheel nut key down beside the battery which was lucky. Fitted my 17" alpina replicas, including 1 missing center cap
Tiger sealed the front + back number plates on as I didnt have double sided tape to hand and didnt want to screw it on. Also tiger sealed the front fog lights into the bumper as both had broken brackets so wouldnt stay without help.
Pictures tomorrow when all is fixed and shes rolled outside hopefully.
To begin with neither would latch in any way at all. Found the passanger side one with the spring had come out of the little guide for the spring. Fixed that no problem.
Then the drivers side there theres the little arm on a ball where cables join from either end. One of the ends of the cable (side leading to the other catch) had come out, put it back in and closed the bonnet.
It locked! It then opened correctly too on the lever, tried again just to make sure it was fixed.... It wouldnt open.
s
t!Ended up prying the drivers side grille out (unbroken remarkabley) and managed to pull the cable to release. This time the little ball has popped out of the arm. Put it back in, tested the locks with just a screwdriver to avoid the bonnet being stuck down again. Yet again the little cable from the passanger side has come out.
Currently I have tiger seal (very sticky black stuff) all over it, a zip tie round it and going to test tomorrow.
Also found the locking wheel nut key down beside the battery which was lucky. Fitted my 17" alpina replicas, including 1 missing center cap
Tiger sealed the front + back number plates on as I didnt have double sided tape to hand and didnt want to screw it on. Also tiger sealed the front fog lights into the bumper as both had broken brackets so wouldnt stay without help.
Pictures tomorrow when all is fixed and shes rolled outside hopefully.
Flickering side light fixed as well as the passanger side one working.
Ran new wiring for the passanger side off the drivers side wiring. Didnt bring it to life, already tried new bulbs. Turns out the holder was slightly corrodded so gave it a good scratch with a screwdriver. Came back to life and now neither of the lights flicker
3 colours in 1 corner
New wheels (need a good clean)
New rear plate
New front bumper, needs taken off to fit a new connecter for the washer nozzles though
Got 6 of these horrible wheels now (1 in boot as spare)
Fairly new looking discs and pads
Ran new wiring for the passanger side off the drivers side wiring. Didnt bring it to life, already tried new bulbs. Turns out the holder was slightly corrodded so gave it a good scratch with a screwdriver. Came back to life and now neither of the lights flicker
3 colours in 1 corner
New wheels (need a good clean)
New rear plate
New front bumper, needs taken off to fit a new connecter for the washer nozzles though
Got 6 of these horrible wheels now (1 in boot as spare)
Fairly new looking discs and pads
olly22n said:
fluffnik said:
Great project, E38s rock!
However:
(I might be biased... )
plus a million. Cleaned up, with new tyres they'll look a million dollars.However:
Slow said:
Got 6 of these horrible wheels now (1 in boot as spare)
Those are much nicer wheels than the fake Alpinas!(I might be biased...
)
Slow said:
I disagree about the origional wheels looking better, really cant stand them.
Your car, your choice. But you're wrong. Those Alpinas are just naff.Slow said:
fk knows what has happened here except a poor respray maybe?
Somebody's bodged it over in the past, probably when it started to rot, and it's showing now. Get it back to bare metal.k knows what has happened here except a poor respray maybe?
Some Gump said:
Why are you messing about with an old BM when you have a corvette? Fix the corvette!
Its my mums and is being worked on slowly along as my rusty e30 + e38.Its a 1981 5.7 manual corvette, currently awaiting a new radiator + belts#
Edit: Would like to point out that my e38 has ice cold aircon which is first for me.
Edited by Slow on Tuesday 15th March 00:36
twoblacklines said:
Does a lot go wrong a lot of the time on these?
I am looking to spend £3k and currently the ideal car is a golf v6 4mo... but I have seen a few 735i/740i's for sale that look pretty decent with low (100k ish) mileages.
Thoughts?
I wouldnt actually know, but from my own personal look around the car it seems almost ready for an MoT which for under £500 all in is pretty good.I am looking to spend £3k and currently the ideal car is a golf v6 4mo... but I have seen a few 735i/740i's for sale that look pretty decent with low (100k ish) mileages.
Thoughts?
Needs a fuel line secured, a brake pipe cleaned up/maybe replaced and sort the reversing light out (is that even on the mot?)
Other than the fact I needed to remove the drivers door, front bumper and bonnet just to remove the wing it has been pretty simple to work on. Thats coming from a 21 year old chimp who hasnt ever been taught mechanics, just ask friends/family and try stuff myself.
Slow said:
sort the reversing light out (is that even on the mot?)
Yes.It's probably a contact issue at one end of the circuit - check the bulb holder and the switch on the gearbox.
Cracking little project, by the way. Given the amount of rot on the body panels, have you had a good poke around underneath with a screwdriver? My major worry would be that the sills are going to need a decent amount of welding to get it through an MOT. However, if that's not the case, and you can prep/paint the new panels yourself (dubious about the end result quality in a ventilated garage in Scotland), you're onto a bit of a winner.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff