BMW E39 540i Shed and a half budget

BMW E39 540i Shed and a half budget

Author
Discussion

carinaman

21,214 posts

171 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Six Fiend said:
£250 smile
Thanks. Less than I thought.

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Saturday 21st November 2015
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carinaman said:
Six Fiend said:
£250 smile
Thanks. Less than I thought.
That was having the arch repaired with made to measure metalwork, a fibreglass repair would have been cheap but not very long lasting.
A whole rear quarter panel is about £300 and then £800 to do properly (screen out, door off, bumper off). Nobody appears to make an arch repair panel, which I reckon they could shift plenty of!

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Saturday 21st November 2015
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Hammerhead said:
That's scrubbed up really well, Pete. Brian would be most pleased smile
He would indeed. I still prefer his looks!

Had a good look at every panel after the workshop mopped it. Every bit bar the roof seems to have been painted at some point! The tell tale signs are there but it looks tidy smile

Huff

3,140 posts

190 months

Friday 27th November 2015
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Hving met up with SF and his new toy today for a few coffees interspersed with some wanton C02 generation - this is epic shedding.

Still giggling over the 520 badge - with the un-bling (and very comfy) turbine alloys/tall sidewalls and lack of rear valance exhaust cutout most will never know! And as a fan of E34/E39 540s the car is spot-on otherwise and only improved by Pete's usu. high standard of 'just a quick clean&polish...' Well done, chap biggrin


Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Saturday 28th November 2015
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Was a jolly hoot smile


Leptons

5,113 posts

175 months

Saturday 28th November 2015
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Lovely! Great tip for cleaning seatbelts I heard the other day- pull the belt out as far as it will go and close the door on it! Then you can spray it with tfr or similar and jet wash them! smile

Buff Mchugelarge

3,316 posts

149 months

Saturday 28th November 2015
quotequote all
Leptons said:
Lovely! Great tip for cleaning seatbelts I heard the other day- pull the belt out as far as it will go and close the door on it! Then you can spray it with tfr or similar and jet wash them! smile
Ha! Brilliant.

13 years of valeting/ detailing and I've only just heard that method?!

NiceCupOfTea

25,280 posts

250 months

Saturday 28th November 2015
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I have an awful lot of love for e39s and I think my car will be a 530/540 Sport, but even in SE spec this is a fine looking motor car. I thought the thigh supports were only on the sports seats and the "comfort" were the standard ones (have them in my e36 and they're NOT particularly "comfort"able IMHO).

ETA "NOT" in previous sentence!!

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Sunday 29th November 13:22

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Sunday 29th November 2015
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Excellent tip Leptons smile - The outer rears may get that, the middle one perhaps not!

Mr Tea you're quite right I was talking cobblers, heated sports seats to go with the M-steering wheel and M-sport suspenders. Here's the spec sheet:

Vehicle information


Type code DE62

Type 540I (EUR)

Dev. series E39 ()

Line 5

Body type LIM

Steering RL

Door count 4

Engine M62

Cubical capacity 4.40

Power 210 (286bhp)

Transmision HECK

Gearbox AUT

Colour OXFORDGRUEN METALLIC (324)

Upholstery STANDARDLEDER/BEIGE E36 SANDBEIGE E (N6SN)

Prod. date 1998-07-20


Order options
No. Description
216 SERVOTRONIC

302 ALARM SYSTEM

339 SATIN CHROME

354 GREEN STRIPE WINDSCREEN

403 GLAS ROOF, ELECTRIC

428 WARNING TRIANGLE

431 INTERIOR RR VW MIRROR W AUT ANTI-D

441 SMOKERS PACKAGE

481 SPORT SEATS F DRIVER/FRONT PASSENGER

494 SEAT HEATING F DRIVER/FRONT PASSENGER

500 HEADLIGHT WASHER SYS/INTENSIVE CLEANING

508 PARK DISTANCE CONTROL (PDC)

534 AUTOMATIC AIR CONDITIONING

540 CRUISE CONTROL

694 PREPARATION FOR CD CHANGER

704 M SPORT SUSPENSION

710 M LEATHER STEERING WHEEL

773 WOOD TRIM

812 ENGLAND VERSION

850 ADD FUEL TANK FILLING FOR EXPORT

863 EUROPE/DEALER DIRECTORY

877 DELETION CROSS-OVER OPERATION

880 ENGLISH / ON-BOARD DOCUMENTATION


Series options
No. Description
260 SIDE AIRBAG DRIVER/FRT PASSENGER

280 LT/ALY WHEELS SPOKE STYLING

411 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC

473 ARMREST, FRONT

510 HEADLIGHT BEAM-THROW CONTR. F LOW BEAM

520 FOGLIGHTS

555 ON-BOARD COMPUTER

665 RADIO BMW BUSINESS

853 LANGUAGE VERSION ENGLISH


Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Time for an update because some stuff has happened. I've used it at the weekend a lot which is against PH rules because it has too many seats and too much roof to be a weekend car. I fart in your general direction!

To prove I should only drive it at weekends I took it out on a Monday early in the New Year and promptly bent it. The hows and whys are not being divulged except to say the irony of hitting a large lump of steel in the dark warehouse complex containing the bodyshop I was visiting did not escape me, or my friendly paint man. I can laugh at such things, thank goodness!

I was quite impressed that having felt nothing I had managed to kill a headlamp, fold the wing quite neatly and put the bumper out of shape...




That looks costly, but in the tradition of shedding I've done well. My "Just in case" box of headlamp parts (you may recall I bought a load of duffers to make a good set) meant a ten minute job building a new one. I'm quite good at this now.

The wing was almost as simple. They bolt on. Off to eBay I went and searched for one and stumbled across just the part in Oxford Green for £45 delivered. It looked okay in the picture so I nabbed it. The colour match is excellent smile and the overall condition good enough for my needs.

A few personal matters (I have Cystic Fibrosis and thus spend a lot of time out of breath and in pain) meant the car standing doing nothing for a few weeks, then I needed a dry day and a good supply of codeine to take on the task.

The flat battery made moving the old barge tricky, so jump leads and Golf to the rescue. It was another few days before the sun came out but at least I had everything ready.

Replacing the wing is easy in theory - wheel off, arch liner out, unbolt and remove.

Front wheel corroded in place, wheel bolts out, lower jack very gently until it cracks free. Spend longer cleaning up the wheel and hub than doing the rest of the job!

A normal person would have taken about two hours to get it all done. The wing alignment isn't too hard. It took me all day, lots of drugs, an inhaler and a lot of sitting looking at it, coughing, and calling myself a silly bugger!

The bumper needs work but that can wait until after the MoT later this month. It drives, that's what matters. For £45 I can't grumble. I have a new bumper insert too, £17.



After that pic I took it for a drive to give it a good run. A comfy seat and a rumbly V8, that's all I need to feel better. Sunshine so I can open the roof would be good.


Edited by Six Fiend on Sunday 7th February 18:15

Huff

3,140 posts

190 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Superb recovery!

You were missed at The Salmon today, chap - at least now we can see it was for a good reason wink

Best
M

Mr Tidy

22,065 posts

126 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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Lovely looking car OP!

Glad you have managed to fix it without too much expense and are still enjoying it.

I haven't had a V8 for over 30 years, so now I have weaned myself off 4 cylinder turbo-diesels and moved onto straight 6 petrols perhaps that should be the next step! I have absolutely no need of one, but that isn't the point!

Hammerhead

2,698 posts

253 months

Sunday 7th February 2016
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You plonker, Rodney! hehe

Excellent repair, Squire. Waft gently ole bean!

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Monday 8th February 2016
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Cheers Huff, didn't manage to crawl out until 12:30pm. Will have to do another coffee before long.

Thanks Mr Tidy smile I have no need for one either but it does make life better! As a child I dreamed of having cars with big engines, just loved the sounds of the neighbours' cars.

Hammerhead, that's quite called for wink

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

214 months

Thursday 3rd March 2016
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MoT passed with only an advisory for an oil leak.

This may well be remnants from the cam covers as it had plastered everything. Nothing is dripping onto the drive so I've purchased some Power Maxed tfr and engine degreaser. Once the weather is far warmer the under tray and front bumper will come off and it'll get a good clean.

Today I've changed the original candles for Osram Nightbreaker Plus Superfandango items, 12v 51w as per standard but they do seem brighter. Will pop out for a drive in the dark soon...

Dear manufacturers, the bulb change takes approximately 1 minute per side. This is how it should be. No tools, no scraped knuckles and no dealer visit.

99Chimaera

324 posts

130 months

Friday 4th March 2016
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Nice car OP. My dad used to have an e39 540i in touring form. It was the fastest armchair I've ever driven😊. It was traded with 175k on the clock for a 545 touring which was not as good as the e39.
Good luck with your car ☺