I bought a BMW 1 Series shed!!!
Discussion
Evening,
This year is meant to be a year of saving money and trying to pay some stuff off. Because of this I sold my BMW 530i a couple of months ago. It was costing me an arm and a leg to run and I was sensing a big bill coming up so it had to go.
Since then I’ve been making do with walking to work, cycling to my girlfriends and borrowing my Brothers car for anything else. This isn’t really ideal so for the last couple of weeks I’ve been keeping an eye out for something cheap and cheerful that can also fit me and my girlfriend and our three kids in when needed.
Ideally I was looking for something for around £1000. That price range meant I was looking at Mk4 Golfs, Mk1 Ford Focus’ or similar, none of which I really fancied. I happened to ask a mate (who also happens to run a BMW tuning company) if he knew of any 1 Series for sale in my price range. Surprisingly he came back to me saying he had a 2004 116i for sale for £300!!! Apparently it needed some bodywork and he’d bought it as a spares car, but was willing to sell it. I was on a day off work (had to use up the last of my holiday, so did so by sitting around the house!) so drove over to have a look at it.
Well, he had told me it needed some bodywork. In fact it needs the front and rear bumpers replacing, both N/S doors, the rear windscreen was smashed as was the O/S headlamp, it stinks of weed inside, all the seats are in a disgusting state, the radio doesn’t get any reception, the key has fallen apart and the battery has been pulled off the circuit board so the remote central locking isn’t working, the centre air vents are knackered, the ashtray lid doesn’t shut, the airbag light is on, both front tyres are bald and it only has 1 month of MOT remaining!
Sounds great doesn’t it? Obviously for £300 I wasn’t expecting a lot but was this a bit too much hassle? Of course not. Plus my mate had another headlamp I could have so that was one thing sorted
Anyway, due to the illegal tyres situation (plus the smashed headlamp and rear windscreen of course!) I got another friend to pick it up and deliver it to my house on his recovery truck. I’m sure I heard my neighbours sigh as he unloaded yet another shed outside my house
Not one to be disheartened by knackered cars I set to work getting it sorted. First thing was to get on the blower to my insurance company and arrange to get the rear screen replaced. £85 glass excess later and it’s already looking slightly more presentable. While the guy was replacing the screen I was at the front of the car replacing the headlamp. This involved removing the front bumper, which thankfully only required removal of a handful of 8mm bolts and then some T30 screws for the headlamp itself. Now the reason the headlamp is smashed is due to the previous owner whacking that corner against something. With the bumper off I found that the headlamp bracket wasn’t in the greatest condition either, however I didn’t have one of those, so it got removed, araldited and then bolted back on, new headlamp in and bumper back on. Now we’re getting somewhere
While I was doing that I also found out that the bonnet doesn’t lock fully. Some brake cleaner, WD40 and a flathead screwdriver soon had the bonnet catch moving freely and within minutes that was another problem crossed off the list
Yesterday my Daughter was at her performing arts class all day which meant I could do some more to the car. I really wanted to make a start on cleaning the interior, however the rain put a stop to that, so instead I decided to have a look at the key and the radio.
First of all was the key. This is what I was presented with!
As you can see. It’s f
ked! From what I could tell at some point the battery has gone flat so the key has been cut open and the battery cut off the board. That’s about it. There doesn’t appear to be any attempt to solder a new battery in but there was a whole heap of super glue on the key casing. Sooooo, I ordered a new casing and battery from Amazon. The casing arrived yesterday and is amazing quality considering it was only £6! The battery is arriving tomorrow so I’ll solder it onto the board after work and fingers crossed it’s going to work.
Next thing was to have a look at the radio. It turned on and the CD player worked, however I was only getting static from the radio itself. I removed it from the dash and was met with some “interesting” looking additional wires and a twisted together aerial wire “repair” It would appear the previous owner liked their music and must of had a different stereo and possible a sub woofer fitted at some point Anyway, I sorted out the aerial and tidied everything else up, however the radio still wasn’t getting a signal. I was sat there scratching my head wondering what else it could be when I finally spotted the pin in the aerial socket on the radio was missing! It looks like it’s been snapped of at some stage so that radio is now fit for the bin! I’m not sure whether to spend £60-70 on a replacement standard radio or £15 on a facia and wiring harness and fit one of the aftermarket radios I have kicking around for now. I’m swaying towards the cheaper option at the moment. After all, this is only meant to be a shed!
That’s about it so far. I’ve got a pair of tyres sitting at work so I’ll whip the wheels off one night this week and take them in to have the tyres swapped. I’ve ordered a replacement ashtray and centre air vent from eBay which should be here on Tuesday or Wednesday and I’ve found a pair of N/S doors as well. I’m still on the lookout for front and rear bumpers in the correct colours but so far they’re all about the same price as it would cost me to have these ones sprayed!
Sorry for the lack of car pictures. It’s not really been the weather for standing outside taking pictures! Here’s a couple I took this evening in the dark. They’ll have to do for now!
The knackered doors!
This year is meant to be a year of saving money and trying to pay some stuff off. Because of this I sold my BMW 530i a couple of months ago. It was costing me an arm and a leg to run and I was sensing a big bill coming up so it had to go.
Since then I’ve been making do with walking to work, cycling to my girlfriends and borrowing my Brothers car for anything else. This isn’t really ideal so for the last couple of weeks I’ve been keeping an eye out for something cheap and cheerful that can also fit me and my girlfriend and our three kids in when needed.
Ideally I was looking for something for around £1000. That price range meant I was looking at Mk4 Golfs, Mk1 Ford Focus’ or similar, none of which I really fancied. I happened to ask a mate (who also happens to run a BMW tuning company) if he knew of any 1 Series for sale in my price range. Surprisingly he came back to me saying he had a 2004 116i for sale for £300!!! Apparently it needed some bodywork and he’d bought it as a spares car, but was willing to sell it. I was on a day off work (had to use up the last of my holiday, so did so by sitting around the house!) so drove over to have a look at it.
Well, he had told me it needed some bodywork. In fact it needs the front and rear bumpers replacing, both N/S doors, the rear windscreen was smashed as was the O/S headlamp, it stinks of weed inside, all the seats are in a disgusting state, the radio doesn’t get any reception, the key has fallen apart and the battery has been pulled off the circuit board so the remote central locking isn’t working, the centre air vents are knackered, the ashtray lid doesn’t shut, the airbag light is on, both front tyres are bald and it only has 1 month of MOT remaining!
Sounds great doesn’t it? Obviously for £300 I wasn’t expecting a lot but was this a bit too much hassle? Of course not. Plus my mate had another headlamp I could have so that was one thing sorted
Anyway, due to the illegal tyres situation (plus the smashed headlamp and rear windscreen of course!) I got another friend to pick it up and deliver it to my house on his recovery truck. I’m sure I heard my neighbours sigh as he unloaded yet another shed outside my house
Not one to be disheartened by knackered cars I set to work getting it sorted. First thing was to get on the blower to my insurance company and arrange to get the rear screen replaced. £85 glass excess later and it’s already looking slightly more presentable. While the guy was replacing the screen I was at the front of the car replacing the headlamp. This involved removing the front bumper, which thankfully only required removal of a handful of 8mm bolts and then some T30 screws for the headlamp itself. Now the reason the headlamp is smashed is due to the previous owner whacking that corner against something. With the bumper off I found that the headlamp bracket wasn’t in the greatest condition either, however I didn’t have one of those, so it got removed, araldited and then bolted back on, new headlamp in and bumper back on. Now we’re getting somewhere
While I was doing that I also found out that the bonnet doesn’t lock fully. Some brake cleaner, WD40 and a flathead screwdriver soon had the bonnet catch moving freely and within minutes that was another problem crossed off the list
Yesterday my Daughter was at her performing arts class all day which meant I could do some more to the car. I really wanted to make a start on cleaning the interior, however the rain put a stop to that, so instead I decided to have a look at the key and the radio.
First of all was the key. This is what I was presented with!
As you can see. It’s f
ked! From what I could tell at some point the battery has gone flat so the key has been cut open and the battery cut off the board. That’s about it. There doesn’t appear to be any attempt to solder a new battery in but there was a whole heap of super glue on the key casing. Sooooo, I ordered a new casing and battery from Amazon. The casing arrived yesterday and is amazing quality considering it was only £6! The battery is arriving tomorrow so I’ll solder it onto the board after work and fingers crossed it’s going to work. 
Next thing was to have a look at the radio. It turned on and the CD player worked, however I was only getting static from the radio itself. I removed it from the dash and was met with some “interesting” looking additional wires and a twisted together aerial wire “repair” It would appear the previous owner liked their music and must of had a different stereo and possible a sub woofer fitted at some point
Anyway, I sorted out the aerial and tidied everything else up, however the radio still wasn’t getting a signal. I was sat there scratching my head wondering what else it could be when I finally spotted the pin in the aerial socket on the radio was missing! It looks like it’s been snapped of at some stage so that radio is now fit for the bin! I’m not sure whether to spend £60-70 on a replacement standard radio or £15 on a facia and wiring harness and fit one of the aftermarket radios I have kicking around for now. I’m swaying towards the cheaper option at the moment. After all, this is only meant to be a shed! That’s about it so far. I’ve got a pair of tyres sitting at work so I’ll whip the wheels off one night this week and take them in to have the tyres swapped. I’ve ordered a replacement ashtray and centre air vent from eBay which should be here on Tuesday or Wednesday and I’ve found a pair of N/S doors as well. I’m still on the lookout for front and rear bumpers in the correct colours but so far they’re all about the same price as it would cost me to have these ones sprayed!
Sorry for the lack of car pictures. It’s not really been the weather for standing outside taking pictures! Here’s a couple I took this evening in the dark. They’ll have to do for now!
The knackered doors!
Phunk said:
Looks good for £300.
At that price point I wouldn’t bother replacing the doors or bumpers, it’s only scratches!
Hence why I haven’t clicked buy it now on the doors yet. I’m in two minds about sorting the bodywork. It would mean spending £120 on the pair of doors and then around £120 per bumper. It would look a lot more presentable but then the costs do start to creep up. I still need to plug it in and see why the airbag light is on as well. At that price point I wouldn’t bother replacing the doors or bumpers, it’s only scratches!
Eddieslofart said:
Cheap car ! All i would do is mot it and a good service, Whats to lose !
I’ve got all the service parts sitting here already. Once the tyres have been replaced I’ll drive it to work and chuck it on a ramp one evening. I was rifling through the paperwork that came with it and found an invoice for replacement of the timing chain. These engines are notorious for the chains failing (actually the tensioner fails) so it’s good to see that it’s already been sorted!Phunk said:
Looks good for £300.
At that price point I wouldn’t bother replacing the doors or bumpers, it’s only scratches!
Agreed. If you're trying to save money by not spending it on cars, then surely not spending money on cars is the solution? I'd be trying anything cheap to stop it looking sheddy, like a touchup pen or plastidip for the bumpers. But spending hundreds on new bodypanels is crazy.At that price point I wouldn’t bother replacing the doors or bumpers, it’s only scratches!
Stop tarting it up, and focus on the oily bits. They will be the bits that dictate how long before this leaves you waiting for the RAC, not airvents and an ashtray.
Good little project mate, interior smells are a major bug bear of mine, especially smoke.
I saw this video recently that may be of use to you, ignore the products.. the main thing is the ozone generator. If it's as good as it's made out to be, you might be able to sort yourself out a more family friendly interior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LDXk8ov_E
I've also found that the Karcher wet vacs are really good for cleaning car interiors, I can rent one from a local toolhire place for about £35 over a weekend including consumables,
I saw this video recently that may be of use to you, ignore the products.. the main thing is the ozone generator. If it's as good as it's made out to be, you might be able to sort yourself out a more family friendly interior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LDXk8ov_E
I've also found that the Karcher wet vacs are really good for cleaning car interiors, I can rent one from a local toolhire place for about £35 over a weekend including consumables,
C70R said:
Agreed. If you're trying to save money by not spending it on cars, then surely not spending money on cars is the solution? I'd be trying anything cheap to stop it looking sheddy, like a touchup pen or plastidip for the bumpers. But spending hundreds on new bodypanels is crazy.
Stop tarting it up, and focus on the oily bits. They will be the bits that dictate how long before this leaves you waiting for the RAC, not airvents and an ashtray.
Surprisingly the oily bits all appear to be in fine fettle, bar a slightly whiney alternator. Stop tarting it up, and focus on the oily bits. They will be the bits that dictate how long before this leaves you waiting for the RAC, not airvents and an ashtray.
The air vent and ashtray are proper grim
I couldn’t drive the car with them looking how they do so I’m happy to spend £20 for the pair of replacement parts CP12 said:
Excellent shedding!
Must ask though, how do you intend to fit wife plus 3 kids in a 1 series!
We are only just about to manage in a focus st, and they will be new borns!
Shouldn’t be an issue at all. Only one of them has a booster seat these days and with my seat in its usual position there’s plenty of legroom behind. My Mrs is only just five foot tall so no issues there either Must ask though, how do you intend to fit wife plus 3 kids in a 1 series!
We are only just about to manage in a focus st, and they will be new borns!
Tom-B said:
Good little project mate, interior smells are a major bug bear of mine, especially smoke.
I saw this video recently that may be of use to you, ignore the products.. the main thing is the ozone generator. If it's as good as it's made out to be, you might be able to sort yourself out a more family friendly interior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LDXk8ov_E
I've also found that the Karcher wet vacs are really good for cleaning car interiors, I can rent one from a local toolhire place for about £35 over a weekend including consumables,
I was talking to one of the technicians at work today (who buys and sells some really sI saw this video recently that may be of use to you, ignore the products.. the main thing is the ozone generator. If it's as good as it's made out to be, you might be able to sort yourself out a more family friendly interior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5LDXk8ov_E
I've also found that the Karcher wet vacs are really good for cleaning car interiors, I can rent one from a local toolhire place for about £35 over a weekend including consumables,
t cars!) and he advised putting a particular brand of screen wash into a spray bottle, soaking the seats and carpets and then wet vaccing the whole lot. Apparently this works wonders for stains and smells. Sammo123 said:
CP12 said:
Excellent shedding!
Must ask though, how do you intend to fit wife plus 3 kids in a 1 series!
We are only just about to manage in a focus st, and they will be new borns!
Shouldn’t be an issue at all. Only one of them has a booster seat these days and with my seat in its usual position there’s plenty of legroom behind. My Mrs is only just five foot tall so no issues there either Must ask though, how do you intend to fit wife plus 3 kids in a 1 series!
We are only just about to manage in a focus st, and they will be new borns!
Christ, I've spent more on a coffee machine or headphones that cost more than that car. Great Buy.
I have noticed that 1-Series have utterly plummeted in price. Facebook marketplace is riddled with mega-miles bottom specced worn out models hovering around 1500 quid. I guess all those lease deals and company cars had to go somewhere!!
I have noticed that 1-Series have utterly plummeted in price. Facebook marketplace is riddled with mega-miles bottom specced worn out models hovering around 1500 quid. I guess all those lease deals and company cars had to go somewhere!!
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