MDifficult’s E82 1M Coupe & Ariel Atom 3

[MDifficult]

PowerslideSWE said:

100 on the speedo Don't know the real speed, but it couldn't be too far off, mine wasn't really standard. I too remember the hesitation on part throttle despite it being close to 30 years ago Mine, despite being brand new when "tuned" was very grumpy on cold starts and spluttery on part throttle, but screamed like a demon when the throttle was up. Mine didn't hold up, one day after a long time hard riding in a style that only a 16 year old w/o mechanical sympathy can manage and pretending to be Wayne Gardner it broke the piston in half, well, the skirt on the exhaust side just cracked and locked the crank case, luckily that happened at low speeds and during a gear change. Ended up needing new crank bearings and a new piston and it was good to go, dad was equally pleased about that Still have the piston btw, will dig it up as proof Great times were had on that little bike.

Testament to being braver and more stupid when younger I got my self a 1990 Suzuki GSXR 750, but in a sudden moment of clarity (doesn't happen often when 18 y/o) I decided that the thing was waaaaay to fast for me, and it was sold shortly after. I have over they years tried my friends various super sports bikes, and the new ones are just silly, they are so fast it's just insane I usually get off them scared, sweaty, weak at the knees and giggling like a 14 year old girl

And after reading the thread again the aim is clear, must work harder, must get a F10 M5 at some point

Sounds like I got a Monday Morning engine and a Friday Afternoon frame

I'm always crazy tempted to get back onto a big bike but just can't see it ending well - I'd love to think age and experience will enhance my self-control but if anything that's getting worse, just as the road are!

As for buying an M5... I certainly wouldn't put it forward as a car for everyone, but it's a hell of a thing. The next one will no doubt do the numbers but being EVEN bigger and 4WD just doesn't do anything for me. If I wanted that, I'd probably go RS6 Avant all day long.

[MDifficult]

lestiq said:

I am, but sadly I haven't given it the same level care that you have, it has sort of given me a kick up the arse actually! I had all the wheels off on Sunday to clean the suspension and brakes, still can't get over the size of the front calipers. I promise when I get to Goodwood, I'll have some pictures and words : )

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... - I'm getting thread envy haha.

Enjoy !!

Nice one, I'll take a look (and subscribe!). TBH, it's nice to be able to share the stuff I obsess about, knowing someone out there is interested in it! I've thought about it for years but wish I'd done it earlier - really been good fun doing it and great that people are enjoying it (even if it is a pretty niche audience!)

[PowerslideSWE]

MDifficult said:

Sounds like I got a Monday Morning engine and a Friday Afternoon frame

I'm always crazy tempted to get back onto a big bike but just can't see it ending well - I'd love to think age and experience will enhance my self-control but if anything that's getting worse, just as the road are!

As for buying an M5... I certainly wouldn't put it forward as a car for everyone, but it's a hell of a thing. The next one will no doubt do the numbers but being EVEN bigger and 4WD just doesn't do anything for me. If I wanted that, I'd probably go RS6 Avant all day long.

New cars in general do nothing for me, hence the E39 M5 purchase which is yet to be delivered, but the F10, I could see myself in one of those, if I could afford it

[marky911]

Cracking thread MD,

A brilliant rise through the ranks car wise. Great pics too. That M5 is a beast.

I'm like you in that I'd love another bike, but don't trust myself. I keep looking at little cafe racers to pootle to work on, but it's not long before I'm looking at R1s again.

Anyway, enjoy those cars. The Mini looks great fun, The wife had an earlier cooper years ago which we didn't gel with but those GP models seem a world away. Good stuff!

[MDifficult]

marky911 said:

Cracking thread MD,

A brilliant rise through the ranks car wise. Great pics too. That M5 is a beast.

I'm like you in that I'd love another bike, but don't trust myself. I keep looking at little cafe racers to pootle to work on, but it's not long before I'm looking at R1s again.

Anyway, enjoy those cars. The Mini looks great fun, The wife had an earlier cooper years ago which we didn't gel with but those GP models seem a world away. Good stuff!

Cheers, really appreciate it! Still loving them although they're both giving me a little pain at the moment (for different reasons) - I'll write an update soon to explain all but here's a clue...

Somewhere in Munich, circa 2011…

Hans: “Gutten tag Frank. I am vorking on ze suspension for ze new BMW F10 M5. Vot should ve do about it, and vot should ve spend?”
Frank: “Ah Hans, come in! Ze new M5 ah? Bespoke all-aluminium suspension ov course! Bespoke castings for ze sub-frames, unique springs, dampers, arms, roll bars, everyzing. Spend millions of Euros, votever it costs to make it ze best of course."
Hans: “Das is zerr gut Frank, danke! Und ze vheelbearings?"
Frank: “Votever. Use derr cheapest scheisse you can find in ze varehouse. Just use ze ones off ze 520d”

[marky911]

I get the idea. As ever though, it's always worth all the hassle.

First world problems an' all that.

[MDifficult]

marky911 said:

I get the idea. As ever though, it's always worth all the hassle.

First world problems an' all that.

Yeah, I suppose I should be celebrating them lasting for 50k miles rather than moaning that they didn't last 150k. They're a known weak spot for the F10, especially the M5 because they're not really up to the job.

[MDifficult]

So the 'big blue one' has been struck down with the curse of many an F10 5 series - failing front wheel bearings.

In their wisdom, BMW decided to use the same wheel bearings (or wheel hub really, it's all a single unit) on every 5 series from 520d to M5. From what I've read, they're a bit of a weak spot on the whole range but the M5 with it's big heavy 20" wheels, grippier tyres and more 'enthusiastic' drivers tends to be even harder on them. Only 50k miles is still a bit of a kick in the guts but that's life - once they're done it's going for a full geo to see if I can extend the life of the new ones.

The tell-tale signs were a cracking/splintering noise that I only really started noticing when manoeuvring in multi-story car parks. The combination of good acoustics, window down and music off combined with extreme steering angles meant that was the first place I started to be able to hear that something was wrong. As with all these things I decided to leave it a little while to make sure it was definitely the bearings as they were whisper quiet when no steering lock was applied. Sure enough, they got worse and BMW also agreed that was the issue. Time for them to be replaced.

A happy coincidence is that the local BMW dealer was able to offer me a curtesy car I've been dying to try for ages, an i3! I'd have preferred black but otherwise it's ace!



I've been really keen to try an i3 for a while, I love the quirky styling inside and out and was looking forward to finding out what the 'real world' drive was like by putting it through a standard commute. No hyper-mileing for me.. I want to see what it's like being booted out of junctions and at 80-odd on the motorway. So far I'm pretty impressed!



I guess the styling is pretty marmite but I love it, especially the unusual composite materials (both structural in the exposed chassis and the non-structural in the doors etc). It's my first proper drive in a fully electric car although this one has got the little 647cc 2 cyclinder 37bhp range extender with it's 7ltr fuel tank. So far, so impressive.



So, here's a summary so far. Things I like:

- The looks & build quality (entertaining & rock solid feel)
- The performance (it'll blatt along at 90 no problem and goes from 10-40 like a bloody rocket )
- The tech (makes my version of iDrive look about 50 years old sadly)
- The range (normal everyday driving seems to show about 100 miles from a full charge. That would work really easily for me)
- The regenerative braking (it's weird getting used to never really using the brakes, you have to focus on easing off the power rather than jumping off the power and covering the brake. Strangely satisfying to get it right.)
- The sound (in town it's silent which really helps concentration, on the motorway it pretty much sounds like any other car, in car-parks with the windows down it sounds like the future )

Things I don't like:

- The price (DAMN these things are expensive)
- The seats (they're the least laterally supportive seats I've ever sat in. I think I need to slow down in the corners)
- The rear seats (come on BMW, couldn't you squeeze three proper seats in there? It's not a bloody coupe)
- The weight (most of the time you don't notice it but hit a speed bump and you realise it's 1.5 tons pretty quickly)
- The driving position (it's like an MPV, ie far too high up)
- The suicide doors (super practical sometimes, irritating as hell sometimes)

So would I buy one? Well.. aaaaalmost. It's pretty much just the price that puts me off. I know there are good leasing deals out there but it still feels juuuust that little bit too expensive for what it is. Mighty fine thing though, and the drivetrain is outstanding.

[Lynch91]

I've got to say now the prices of these on the approved site is coming down, it makes one very tempting.

[MDifficult]

Lynch91 said:

I've got to say now the prices of these on the approved site is coming down, it makes one very tempting.

You should certainly factor in the saving in pads and discs... I'm pretty sure they'd last the life of the car and then some. In circa 90 miles I think I touched the brakes twice!

[MDifficult]

Some small updates to both the cars recently, nothing mind-blowing but each another small step to having both the cars exactly as I want them.

First up ‘the big blue one’ has been doing a quite a few mundane duties including a bunch of tip-runs (see below) so as well as the new front wheel bearings it’s also now had a full four wheel alignment at BlackBoots. I’d heard about these guys quite a few times on the forums and I was looking for someone I could really trust to do the job well but also to my preferred level of pedantry and without scratching anything! They did a cracking job, including asking me to get into the car while it was on the ramps to make sure I was 100% happy with the dead-centre for the steering wheel - exactly the kind of little touch I was looking for.



Now the car’s back to mechanical perfection again (touches wood) it was also an opportunity for a little treat. The previous owner had removed the standard fit first aid kit from the car completely and the gap nagged at me every time I got the locking wheel nut out, not to mention being a proper ‘miss’ when my wife cut her finger on holiday recently. Thankfully, they’re a generic BMW item so there was loads of new/sealed options on eBay. First Aid kit reinstated and my OCD can take a break:



Now onto ‘the little grey angry one’. The GPs also been into the dealers, for a brake fluid change - I bought the car with some of the TLC pack remaining so this cost me nothing and included a useful report of the status of most of the consumables on the car. I took the option of extending the TLC pack (with the TLC XL) which gives another three years of servicing for about £250. With rumours that MINI were about to axe the TLC XL option it seemed like good value and should help if I decide to sell at any point, plus I've found that having a service pack in place really helps with 'goodwill' gestures

With the dealer work done, a few little jobs for me to do. Firstly, a big parcel arrived from BMW which looked really exciting (big parcels from BMW normal signify something good!)…



Although sadly it was just some very oddly packaged wipers I’d ordered for the GP weeks before. What a let down! For what it’s worth, I’ve always found that the genuine BMW wiper blades are a million times better than any other options including Bosch ones. Someone told me it’s because they’re graphite coated, don’t know if that’s true but for whatever reason they’re the best of all those I’ve tried.



Next job was to find a proper home for the connector for my battery maintainer. Originally I connected it to the battery and then accessed it via the battery hatch which is under the bonnet just in front of the windscreen. However, this hatch has very brittle plastic clips holding it in place and it was obvious that keep opening and closing it was going to result in broken catches. Now, I’ve run the connector through to just above the suspension turret - should keen nice and dry, out of the way of moving parts and easy to reach. Ideally, I’d like to find a place to get to it that didn’t require opening the bonnet so open to any good suggestions!



I’ve also resorted to Post It notes as I’m paranoid about forgetting to disconnect before driving off.. I’ve come very close before.



I’ve also had my first go at fixing the buzzing that comes from the dome light in the middle of the roof. First attempt is to remove friction so I added some ultra-low friction patches under the light fitting where it touches the roof beam. Seems to be working so far but if it comes back I’ll go the other way and add friction/damping with some foam padding tape instead.



Lastly, the trip to MINI gave me a proper opportunity for genuine envy. It doesn’t matter what car you own, you’ll always find something at the dealers that catches your eye I wonder if they’d let me take THIS for a test drive...

[lestiq]

I've just ordered a full set of Kumhos for mine for £360, I'm pretty sure they won't be a brand new batch but I'm not that bothered about how long they'll last, I'll send you the link if you want to get some too.

I've also gone for the XL extension which will last for another 3 years or 70k miles which is pretty good imo.

[MDifficult]

lestiq said:

I've just ordered a full set of Kumhos for mine for £360, I'm pretty sure they won't be a brand new batch but I'm not that bothered about how long they'll last, I'll send you the link if you want to get some too.

I've also gone for the XL extension which will last for another 3 years or 70k miles which is pretty good imo.

That would be great, please do! I'm a big fan of the MPSS on the car but a chance to try out the original rubber for that price might well be worth it, especially with some track days on the cards.

I guess time will tell on the TLC XL, but if they're scrapping it it must be good

[MDifficult]

Been a while since I've updated this thread, but for anyone who's interested there's been a number of developments (both big and small!).

A few months ago the GP developed a rather worrying clonk from the front suspension, one of those ones that hard to hear but you can feel because you know what it normally feels like. MINI gave the car a thorough look over but couldn't recreate but confirmed wasn't any of the obvious bushes, drop links etc.

SIDENOTE: While visiting the dealership I spotted probably the first 'F-Series' Mini that turned my eye... no idea what this thing is but it's totally 'murdered-out' inside and out (apart from the blue obvs) and the front brakes are HUUGE. EDIT: Turns out it's this: https://mulgari.com/mini-f56-sv


Anyway, back to the clonk. As ever with mysterious problems, I decided to just keep driving it in the hope it would get worse and therefore easier to recreate and diagnose! Which is exactly what happened. What was a slight clonking on sharp turns after long enthusiastic drives eventually became a loud and constant clonking - so back to MINI who delivered the bad news... the front shocks and top-mounts had had it. Talking to other owners, it seems like quite a few other GPs had had the same problem at about 30-35k miles.

As you can imagine, the bespoke GP parts are not cheap and readily available but MINI, just like BMW are bloody brilliant in situations like this. The parts arrived in the two weeks as promised and they made a very significant goodwill gesture on the cost. Even offered to let me keep the curtesy car for the whole two weeks. The work's all done, the clonk is gone and the car drives and steers better than ever - a series of morning runs with no apparent after-effects.



As the pic above shows, and as I mentioned in an earlier post - I previously changed the sidelights from the standard dull orange bulbs to LEDs but have always hated the 'bluish' nature of the 6000k LEDs versus the very white headlights. I've been hunting for some quality 5000k LEDs in the hope they'll look a lot less 'chav'. After one of the LEDs failed there was the perfect opportunity to swap out.

After a few false starts (lots of LEDs advertised as 5000k are not, they're the same 6000k 'bluish' ones) I found some quality ones on eBay. See below for the difference (cheapo bluish on the left, quality white on the right).



All swapped over (a < 2minute job on a Mini) and all is looking much better at the front - they match the headlights perfectly. Time for my OCD to rest easy!



That's it for this update - hopefully I can just keep driving it before the weather turns for good. It seems there's talk of an F-series-based GP3 'concept' for the German motorshow. I hope the renewed interest doesn't bump prices up even higher or I might start thinking about selling

Edited by MDifficult on Wednesday 6th September 10:41

Edited by MDifficult on Wednesday 6th September 13:45

[Aftershox]

Was your car under warranty? I own a GP2 and have just noticed the same problem but looking to go to Lohen for the Damper refurbishment service which i've heard good things about?

[MDifficult]

Aftershox said:

Was your car under warranty? I own a GP2 and have just noticed the same problem but looking to go to Lohen for the Damper refurbishment service which i've heard good things about?

Nope, been out of warranty for a couple of years. As mentioned earlier in the thread about my M5, I find BMW are excellent with goodwill gestures on cars where they've been main-dealer serviced, particularly if they have service packs on them - was delighted that MINI follow the same policy. How many miles have you done?

Worth checking all the other stuff before leaping to shocks - there's lots of noise bits in Mini front ends

Good luck with it!

[Aftershox]

MDifficult said:

Aftershox said:

Was your car under warranty? I own a GP2 and have just noticed the same problem but looking to go to Lohen for the Damper refurbishment service which i've heard good things about?

Nope, been out of warranty for a couple of years. As mentioned earlier in the thread about my M5, I find BMW are excellent with goodwill gestures on cars where they've been main-dealer serviced, particularly if they have service packs on them - was delighted that MINI follow the same policy. How many miles have you done?

Worth checking all the other stuff before leaping to shocks - there's lots of noise bits in Mini front ends

Good luck with it!

It's on 20k at the moment. I think it's the shocks, happens when it's warmer but low speed turning you can feel knocks through the steering. Very low speed over bumpy road when it's hot seems to be much worse.

If the Lohen fix doesn't do anything i'll happily contact a dealer.

Love the car though.

[MDifficult]

Aftershox said:

It's on 20k at the moment. I think it's the shocks, happens when it's warmer but low speed turning you can feel knocks through the steering. Very low speed over bumpy road when it's hot seems to be much worse.

That sounds exactly like mine was. Started at very low speed, over a speedbump or something but only after about 30 minutes of driving (at least) to warm everything up. Made recreating it for the technicians a right sod.

Originally thought it might be the lower engine mount rubber softening with heat-soak or one of the ARB bushes going wonky.

Loving mine too - absolutely hilarious!

[Aftershox]

MDifficult said:

Aftershox said:

It's on 20k at the moment. I think it's the shocks, happens when it's warmer but low speed turning you can feel knocks through the steering. Very low speed over bumpy road when it's hot seems to be much worse.

That sounds exactly like mine was. Started at very low speed, over a speedbump or something but only after about 30 minutes of driving (at least) to warm everything up. Made recreating it for the technicians a right sod.

Originally thought it might be the lower engine mount rubber softening with heat-soak or one of the ARB bushes going wonky.

Loving mine too - absolutely hilarious!

My other half thought it was popping when she felt it! I had to remind her popping when we were crawling at 5mph wasn't that common!

[Trustmeimadoctor]

F56 gp concept is here
http://www.motoringfile.com/2017/09/05/world-premi...