Out with the new and in with the old; my 130i LE

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Podie said:

Ooh, looks good - following

Like the wheels on this, really suit it.

Interested to see the CarPlay retrofit.

Thanks, I really like it and I love the wheels.

I’m sure to most people it’s just a stty old one series but I’m very taken with it so far.

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Ben Lowden said:

In for this one! Interesting to see someone else go from a M140i to a 130i. Kind of makes me wish I'd found a way to keep hold of mine for when I eventually need a daily again.

Glad to see that getting a smiley on was high up your list of priorities too Looking forward to seeing more about your ownership experience!

Thanks Ben.

The smiley certainly attracted some criticism on another forum! Oh well, it’s my car and they’ve all had one.

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Ben Lowden said:

How dare you ruin the beautifully formed lines with such an obnoxious sticker

:lol: it was described as tasteless.....

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Few more jobs tonight....

Removed the spoiler because my temporary fix didn’t work. It came off easily enough but removing the old 3M tape was a bloody pig. It’s not fitted a bit better, much closer to the shut line now.

I started recolouring the sears too. Started with the drivers seat which was probably the worst one.



There wasn’t too much crud under the seat, but there was a mouldy piece of food which was nice. Found 55p too!



I bought a Colourlock kit which involved sanding down the worst bits which felt a bit wrong if I’m honest. Cleaned, sanded, cleaned and degreased ready for colour.



Four coats of paint / stain later and the bolsters are looking loads better.





Tomorrow night I’ll apply the leather protector and then crack on with the rest of the seats.

Kind of wish I’d stumped up for the flexible filler too but it’s bloody expensive. Will see how it wears and might do it again in the spring.

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B'stard Child said:

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Ben Lowden said:

How dare you ruin the beautifully formed lines with such an obnoxious sticker

:lol: it was described as tasteless.....

Hey you shouldn't take stuff like that to heart - I was told I would die in a ditch if I didn't fit MPS4's by someone who subsequently crashed an M3

I didn’t....that’s why the sticker is still on there!

A picture of your 125 was posted on the 130 FB group....the 130 badge confused someone who was wondering if it’d had an engine swap.

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J4CKO said:

Yes, there is an ex M lite support group growing on here.

My son just asked for a lift into the town centre, normally I would say walk but I was up and had my car keys in my hand, dropped him off and went for a drive, was a 2 mile round trip that turned into probably 15/20. I never had any inclination in the M135i to just drive it. Not a 130i but a tuned Fiesta ST, have fell back in love with driving, its like a little shouty rally car.

Dont mind the M135i/M140i but the whole thing was missing something that the power didnt make up for, I see folk adding more and more power via tuning when really its chassis, diff and steering improvement they need, not another 100 plus bhp.

I took my 140i on a few drives just for the sake of it even though it lacked a wee something. Power certainly isn’t one of those things so whacking a JB4 on is not what is required. It was a very good car but it’s not one I miss so far (other than the mod cons) which is strange given it was the most expensive car I’ve bought to date.

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B'stard Child said:

I seriously worry about "people" these days

I do wonder about some of them, I really do.

WhisperingWasp said:

Right, list of requests from me please!

1) Apple CarPlay progress ASAP!
2) Link to leather kit (bolster looks great - necessary to remove seat or just your preference?)
3) Pic of how your spoiler sits side on if poss. Want to gauge if mine sits the same

CarPlay is getting sorted at the end of the month. I’ve found another option which is the same thing but a fair bit cheaper. Just need to speak to them first.

The kit I bought was this one:

https://www.colourlock.com/checkout/cart

I took the seats out so I would have full access the sides of the seats and not have to worry about getting dye on the centre console etc. I wanted to clean under the seats too. It’s four T50 bolts then unplug the yellow connector underneath. It’s easier getting the seats out of the three door cars because the door openings are so much bigger. They’re bloody heavy mind.

I’ll take some photos of the spoiler later on.

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Good and bad with the car yesterday... I’ll start with the bad first.

Went to get some fuel and on the way home the car was idling a little bit lumping. It also cut out on me pulling off. I noticed that when idling of dipping they clutch the revs would fluctuate ever so slight, dropping to 500rpm before rising again. I plugged Carly in and this error code was stored:



I cleared the code and went to pick the boy up from school. The error hasn’t returned but it’s still want idling all that well. It’s a bit lumpy today too with the revs fluctuating slightly but not quite as bad. I can’t decide if it’s slightly down on power too. Looks like the six month warranty will be getting used sooner than I’d hoped.

The good....

I finished off the rest of the seats last night which took longer than expected.

Passenger seat out, cleaned and damage sanded before being cleaned and degreased again.



And the worst of the wear to the bolsters



Wasn’t too disgusting under the seat. Found another 17p in change.



Rear bench out, cleaned sanded, cleaned and degreased etc.



These were in pretty good shape so didn’t need too much attention. Pretty much the worst of the wear....



The rubber inserts to the rear bench were grubby and stained and no amount of APC and scrubbing made them go black again so I gave them a quick coat of satin black. Much better. Under the bench was pretty manky with a melted toffee or something by one of the seatbelts. Found some zips, hair clips and more change (although that went up the hoover).



Lots of APC, carpet shampoo, scrubbing and hoovering later. Sad I know, but hey ho.



Took longer than I anticipated so I only have a few snaps of the finished passenger seat.





Overall it looks loads better. All I need to do now is to apply the leather protector which is supposed to last for three months.

I’ve started wrapping the replacement interior trim ready for fitting at some point. The 3M stuff I bought isn’t very nice (graphite carbon but it’s very, very silver). So I’ve made do with some eBay special for now (all the black 3M stuff will take ages to arrive).

Popped to Sytner today to pick up a few odds and sods including the clips for the gear linkage so I’ll change the shift bush whilst the centre console is out to give me a bit more access. Had my plates made up too, so they’ll go on at sone point, depending if Flux will charge me for the privilege. If they do, I’ll wait until my policy with them expires because the new guys don’t charge you fo stuff like that.

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d_a_n1979 said:

Oh balls; deffo needs to go back to the dealer... If that's valvetronic related, needs to be fixed!

Good work on the interior though; I've found a clothes brush and a gentle leather cleaner the best for lighter leather interiors and a good wipe down after...

There are loads of cleaners & conditioners I know; I tended to stick with AG and Megs and they both worked absolutely fine...

It’s a third party warranty provider but the local specialist is well within the limits for labour rates. The motors don’t seem too expensive or hard to change but if I’m honest, I’ll use the warranty where possible.

The interior looks loads better. I’ll only use very mild stuff. I’m pretty good at keeping on top of it, so hopefully it’ll be a while before it looks cack again.

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cerb4.5lee said:

Sorry to hear about the potential(hopefully not) engine issue. You've done a stunning job as always with the seats though big time.

Thanks Lee. It seems to be running better today, but I don’t think it’s quite right.

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d_a_n1979 said:

I'm sure they'll have it sorted soon enough

Agree re the interior; mild is the best way IMO

This was the pearl beige interior in my E65 730D; it was filthy when I bought it; a few hours later and some elbow grease and it came up brilliantly:

Fingers crossed. Been out in it tonight and it sounds a bit rough, mainly from the front of the engine by the VANOS.

Will get it booked on to the local specialist as soon as I can.

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WhisperingWasp said:

Right, list of requests from me please!

1) Apple CarPlay progress ASAP!
2) Link to leather kit (bolster looks great - necessary to remove seat or just your preference?)
3) Pic of how your spoiler sits side on if poss. Want to gauge if mine sits the same

Bit late I know but here are some pictures of the refitted spoiler.





I’m detailing it properly tomorrow so will take some more minus the tape.

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In other news, the error code for the valvetronic has returned.

Good news is the car has six months warranty and it looks like it will be covered but my local indy is dammed until 22nd June. They’ve said they see a few issues with the system these days but as I’ve not got any warning lights on the dash and it’s not misfiring it should be ok to drive just be careful. I think it may be the sensor rather than the motor that is playing up, but we’ll see.

I’ll have to use it a bit but will minimise the amount I use it. Looks like I’ll be stealing my other half’s 125i for my C&M trip tonight.

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t66gal said:

I've just picked up a 130i in similar condition with a few modifications. Really surprising how well they drive- I also have a few niggling issues to solve

IMG_0623

That looks lovely. Le Mans blue is a great colour.

They do seem to drive well plus, you’ll have hydraulic steering too being an earlier car.

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Have been busy with my car.

I booked yesterday off to detail it. I’d hoped to get the paint looking better but I need to get a heavier cutting compound. It’s very shiny but there are still a fair few imperfections that I think I can improve.

Took delivery of my new toy this week…



It’s a big step up from my ancient old DAS6 DA.

Despite the forecast being overcast the sun made an appearance so I emptied the garage so I could avoid the annoying bloke over the road and get out of the sun.



I didn’t take any pic during the day but I did the following

Snow foamed with Garage Therapy decon shampoo
Washed with the decon shampoo
Dried
Chemical decon with Korroaol and Trix
Washed and dried again
Wiped over with Angel Wax Stripped Ease
Polished with Menzerna 2400 (heavy cutting pad for the bonnet and roof, medium pad elsewhere)
Finish polish with Menzerna 3800
Two coats of Soft 99 Kiwami Extreme wax
Glass cleaned
All I had to do with the interior is protect the leather that I’d recoloured.

Few pics after:









I also fitted my plates.

I had time so I changed the angel eye bulbs to some LED ones. Struggled to get a decent photo, but they look loads better.



Despite a layer of dust overnight, it still looked good this morning






When I got back from my ride, I had some time to kill so had a look at the squeaky fan motor. Little sod to get out and even more of a sod to get back in. The bearings felt smooth enough but there was a crispy leaf stick in there and a berry. Hopefully that’s solved that issue.

My stuff is due back from RSW on Tuesday.

I need to finish wrapping my spare interior trim so I can get all that fitted next week. Whilst the centre console is out, I’ll have a crack at the shift bush now I have some spare clips.

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Thanks both.

It’s getting there and it doesn’t look too bad for a 14 year old car. Drives nicely, probably a nicer car to drive on a B road then my 140 was.

CarPlay in a few weeks which will modernise it. I need to fit my cruise control and have that coded at sone point too (will wait for the valvetronic issue to be fixed first).

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Tom4398cc said:

I'm really impressed by the detail. It has come up very well. Of course, I'm even more impressed to see a hardtail on the roof!

If we're allowed to vote on the silver trim, my vote would be to keep it. It matches the wheels really nicely and is a great contrast with the carbon black. I'd be sad to see it get wrapped.

Thanks Tom; it’s usually lugging my silly coloured gnarrpoon around.

I’m pretty sure the silver trim is staying. Not usually my thing, but it works on this.

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D4MJT said:

I caught up with this thread the other night and meant to reply, but got waylaid with a militant toddler.

What a lovely thing this is. I struggle massively with what I'd ever replace mine with, but I really really like this. It helps that the colour and interior spec is definitely a bit of me haha.

Fingers crossed the Valvetronic stuff is sorted easily and under warranty, but it's already looking a thousand times better than when you collected it.

Looks utterly brilliant post detail!

Thanks for the comments. Your beast will be a tough car to replace.

I’m hoping the valvetronic issue is the motor which looks easy enough to replace. At least that way, if the warranty company make hard work of it, the bill won’t be too horrendous!

The interior will be finished tomorrow. I’m fitting my carbon wrapped trim tonight (the silver doesn’t really work with the cream leather) and my big parcel is due back for Royal tomorrow with my retrimmed wheel, binnacle cover, dash insert, gear gaiters and hand brake. All have been trimmed in black alcantara with cream stitching to match the seats. The useless ashtray is being replaced with a far more useful cubby hole too.

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A bit more fiddling with the car tonight...

My retrimmed parts from Royal are due to arrive tomorrow so I though that I’d swap the silver trim for the other set that I’d wrapped on carbon ready.

First task was dismantle centre console



And removed



Whilst the centre console was out, I decided that I’d tackle the shifter bush because my gear change was pretty sloppy. Rubber boot removed so I could gain access to the linkage etc.



I managed not to lose the little retaining clip and once that was out, the shift lever came out easily enough. The bush stumped me at first until I noticed the little cut outs to un lip the retaining clips on each side. Our ready for cleaning and a new bush.





New bush fitted with lots of grease (I only had bike stuff, but it’s water proof etc so figured that it’d do).



Managed to get the retaining clip on ok. I’d bought a couple of spares just in case. They’ve been redesigned looking at the original one and they’re much easier to reinstall. Good news is that the majority of the slop from the gear shift has gone.

I then set about fitting the wrapped trim and reinstalling the centre console. This was much easier than when I did it on the 125i because I had a better idea of what to expect plus I reinstalled sone of the brackets before it went back in rather than after like in the video I watched.





Pleased with it so far, the silver trim never really went with the cream leather in my opinion. Can’t wait to for my alcantara parts when they arrive tomorrow.

In other news the blower motor is quiet now. It squeaked twice after reinstalling it and I thought it might not have worked but since then it’s been silent.

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pmorg4 said:

That looks fantastic, you've done a great job with it.

I was surprised when I read that you'd replace the shift bushing while the centre console is out, as I was convinced that the retaining clip has to be released from underneath the car. You've clearly demonstrated that's not the case, and I'm now hoping I can apply the same approach in my E91 to resolve the sloppy shift. I'm assuming you used needle-nose pliers to take the clip off from above? Good idea having spares, they are cheap and I can imagine it's very easy to drop it when trying to reattach it.

Thanks.

It is possible to do it with the centre console in place, but as I had to remove it anyway to change the trim, I figured I’d give myself the best possible access. If you put the car into reverse, you’ll be able to see the retaining clip. The later ones have been redesigned and are much easier to install from above. Needle nose pliers and a thin screw driver did the trick for me.