The search for a BMW E66 Barge Borker

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Hereward said:

Great thread.

Why did you replace the conventional battery with an AGM one? Do the AGM ones resist sulphurisation/deep discharge better?

The car kept throwing random errors, and some times a low voltage error. These cars are notoriousley sencitive to batterys. When you replace one, you need to tell the ECU about it so it can run its own charging cycles. NUTS.

The battery it came with was new, and good. But BMW recommend an AGM battery. So i gave it one.

Not had the same wing wang faults since.

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New ECU / Module in and the air is fixed.

Boot is still leaking though. REALLY need to fix that before it kills another air suspension module.

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Car is now off being repaired. Getting the dent / scrape down the side fixed. Also having the wheels refurbished at the same time.



Then it will be time to spruce up the callipers with some silver paint. Re-Colour the leather and maybe carbon fibre the wooden bits in the dash.

I also need to flatten off (Sand) one side of the car to get it to shine properly.

Then once its just the way i like it, will probably sell it.

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Car is now the way i want it, with EVERYTHING working properly



This is the side that was caved in.





Next up, i might carbon wrap the wooden bits inside and re-stain the leather.

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Krikkit said:

What a transformation! Managed to get all the electrickery in line yet?

Yes, after multiple failieurs and chasing my tail a bit. the electrics, along with the leek in the boot (Cause of most of my pain) are now fixed.

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Zombie said:

Very nice priz but @12.6mpg, I can see why you bought the panda!

Don't know why you need such big cars either! :P

Its a bit better on juice these days. 25 on a motorway run, 18 round town.

I do like a big car, i have the bike and TVR if i want somehting smaller

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eltax91 said:

Ok. So when you selling it? And how much do I need to part with to get a car that's now all fixed?

Got to be worth about 5k? Really not sure. Its the Li and fully loaded. A genuinely rare spec.

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Zombie said:

Yes, I know... I'm Chris155 everywhere else Stu

I had twigged... Just.

Fancy doing a fiat pander head gasket for me ? 20 min / 2 beer job for you isnt t?

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Not much more to mention on the car. Haven't washed it since the piccys were taken.

On Wednesday did Reading - Milton Keynes - Bournemouth - Reading

Absolutely beautiful. Ice cold air con working away with its new condenser. gearbox was spot on. And even cracked 30mpg.

Only job remaining is to re-stain some of the leather. And give it another wash.

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As a tidy up to this thread. I had the car perfect in every way.

We were due to go on holiday with the car so gave it a good wash, clay bar. Cut and polish. (Takes forever when you're doing it to a land yacht).

Looking forward to a long drive in the car, most of my mileage is on a motorbike. I took it down to the petrol station to fill er up.

The pump got to around £80 and the whole car shunted forwards and to the side. Looking up I see a panicked woman hanging her head out the window looking at the damage she had just caused. then deciding to try and drive off... damaging the car even more.

Luckily there as traffic trying to get out of the petrol station so she had nowhere to go. I have no dought she would have driven off.

She at first tried to tell me she didn't do it. "Your lying, I didn't hit you."

After pointing out that petrol stations have an abundance of CCTV cameras, on every pump... that track your reg numbers. And there were a lot of witnesses about... She changed her tune.

"Its just a scratch", "Its ok... nothing wrong".

At this point, I simply give up. My little girl who is in the car is now getting a little upset that she hasn't seen Daddy through the window in a little while.

The damage is a scratch, dent and chip/gouge to my 1-month-old paintwork and a front bumper that is now misaligned.. suspect bent / broken plastic brackets. After having so delicately removed the front end to do the air-con condenser.

Idiot face clearly doesn't give a crap about her "Stuff", and after being a pathetic snake trying to deny it ever happened in the first place... I give up.

Take her insurance details in the hopes she will at least have a few weeks of dread. Get in the car and go home.

I did the holiday in the car, couldn't fault it. But was ruined by knowing the thing was now damaged again. I kept the car until early 2017 but hardly drove it. Completly fell out of love with the thing.

Sold in February after I couldn't stand looking at it anymore. Got back the value of the car and my investment. Overall I think I broke even.

I could have fixed the thing again, but to what end? So someone else could drive into it? Open a door into it? Stick it into another pothole?

It's a big car, and for some reason, this means more people hit it.

I now run about in a £500 ford focus with balloon tyres on steel rims. it's fine. I have a TVR in the garage but fear to take it out too.

I quite fancy a Maserati grandtourismo, but looking back on this thread has reminded me why I cant be arsed with anything nice.

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C70R said:

Sorry to hear that - why didn't you pursue the woman through insurance?

Not worth the effort. As it turns out, the petrol, stations CCTV was crap and didn't get the "Incident". Otherwise, I might have given it a go.

Owing to the hateful cow's attitude I figured I was best not enlightening my life with the sense of her presence any longer. Besides, taking the car to garages for quotes, dealing with insurance and getting the work done is a real pain. Even if I was not to blame.

I was also on holiday for 2 weeks from the day of the incident anyway. Upon my return, I just really couldn't be arsed.

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C70R said:

Amiable said:

C70R said:

I don't understand this. It's a car. No matter how much you like it, it's a tool to be used. As a consequence of this, there is a risk of damage - this is why we have insurance.
Saying that you couldn't "bring yourself to look at it" is a bit melodramatic, no? Are you like this with everything, or just cars?

When you commit to a project and put a lot of time and money into it, throughout the process you tend to develop a bond, it becomes less of a "tool" and more a labour of love.

To have it wrecked by a Avon-selling half-wit without remorse must be soul-crushing. I`m not surprised he couldn't look at it.

Good thread, OP.

I can't really agree, to be honest. As much as you might love a car (and God knows I've loved some of my old cars), the type of relationship you're describing is impractical, unrealistic, and a bit unhealthy.
You're effectively setting yourself up for stress, and massive disappointment - why?

No, it's pretty much this. The car was mechanically spot on but the alloys were a bit shabby and the near side had a dent and grove across the doors. There were also a few little scuffs on the rear bumper.

The car wouldn't fit in my garage for me to spray it, so got someone else to do the job. The car didn't NEED to have the work done. But I chose to spend out the extra money on the car as I had fixed everything else mechanical. This was the last piece of the puzzle. The last job before I had my perfect 745LI.

It lasted about a week. I was pissed off and lot heart with it all. Why have an expensive car if it's just going to get knocked about. £500 ford focus sits in traffic just as well as the BMW did. And I don't care when it gets battered about.