adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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May 12, 2018 17:57:18 GMT
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Aye, ideally I would change it really as it is a dirty bodge! But since I'm still planning to swap engines (and I think the 525i intake is a different diameter) I can't be bothered ordering another 520i intake for now! Also the Corolla now has an exhaust so daily duties are back with that, rather than my Honda 125, or risking the BMW haha, I'm going to persevere with the CPS though, I've got this far so I may as well! I noticed the Corrola today. I could have sworn I had a stalker following me on the B4100 up to the M40 . I couldn't hear you however! As for the intake leaks they are always tricky to find. No amount of sealant would cure my 205's iffy idle or even Gaffa tape on top. It was alot nicer on the new tube. Being tight I ordered a secondhand K&N relocation item. Sometimes proof that forum how-tos aren't all they are cracked up to be; my 205 was on a badly leaking/modified air filter relocation kit. The Alfa was the one that really enforced that however, the 147 JTD. It would always smoke on throttle and it never got any better in my ownership. The pipes looked fine but I tightened the clips. When one hose went I replaced it with a silicon item. It improved the lack of smoke but it was definitely still there. It was only when I changed the final silicon pipe that it stopped smoking completely. To this day I now wonder why I was being so tight over £140 worth silicon hoses. I probably would have saved that in diesel! I went from doing low 40MPG at best (i.e what my W124 does now!) to constantly over 50MPG. I really didn't want to sell the car after that but the mega smoking and EML prior to changing the hoses didn't help the other users of the car, which again I could have avoided with changing both hoses when I should have done. But, we live and learn . it sounds like you're wanting to throw in the 2.5 already! Yeah I'm still not convinced it's an intake leak to be honest with you, but we'll see what happens when I get the CPS changed. The engine swap is well overdue so I'm wanting to get moving on with it really, time spent on the 2.0 is time wasted! And yeah I did wonder if it was you, I couldn't put my foot down too much as I thought I had a bit of clutch slip that morning, so I'm taking it easy for the time being
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Eugh, nearly a month since my last update on this, they're just passing too quickly! I do have a couple of good reasons for my absence however, firstly I went on holiday to Corfu which turned up quite a lot of retro spots, a couple of examples: Then I spent a fair amount of time and effort on turning my 'sensible daily' (I've but all given up on the phrase 'sensible daily') into something suitable for my first track day with a few mates Anyway, thats out the way, and you're here for BMW updates. After my attempts to get the CPS to move previously, I went out and bought a propane blow torch which has already been very handy on a couple jobs on both the BMW and the Corolla. However I still wasn't quite able to get the sensor to move. I called in my mate and BMW CPS sensor veteran Rafftank to offer some of his expertise on the subject. After much swearing, blowtorching, penetrating fluid-ing and brute force, we finally had it out Getting the new one in was fairly straight forward and soon the fan and shroud were back in place also. However the car had a very flat battery, so out with the trusty emergency jump battery (originally from the MG) And it spluttered into life (its not a fan of low battery power) but then settled into a smooth idle. Took it for a drive round the block and all seemed well, it also seemed to be smoother than previously. This happened yesterday, so the BMW's battery went on charge overnight ahead of supporting Matt's ulterior motive for helping out. This morning, battery went on fine, and car starts up nice and quickly. On with the roof bars I've had for ages and we head off to a scrapyard in Rugby. Once there, we liberate an early E39 523i of its bonnet and front bumper Then off to see his new purchase, a 530i M Sport which was missing much of its face (You can see how much my phone loves bright sunlight...) The bits we got aren't really right but will give the E39 a temporary face so it can be used at least, here it is looking a bit patchwork We also got it running after it had been stood for some time also, but were slightly pegged back to reality when a hefty coolant leak soon made itself apparent. As we were running out of time at that point, both the scrap bonnets got chucked on the E34 and a knackered bumper went in the back and we headed off. The E34 ran without a hitch all day and its always nice to fully use its practicality so I'm very happy! Now, I seem to have stated elsewhere on this site that the BMW shall be appearing on the Midlands stand at The Gathering in August.. A bit optimistic given my usual working speed, but having the BMW usable again, and the success with the Corolla has given me a fair bit of motivation so I'm hoping to make it to the Gathering! I've not been to one yet without a Retro car after all
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Jun 10, 2018 12:30:18 GMT
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kudos on the perseverance. the wagon looks great with the hood on the roof!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Jun 10, 2018 19:10:25 GMT
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kudos on the perseverance. the wagon looks great with the hood on the roof! JP Thanks! It did a tip run today as well, filled the back up with a few fence panels worth of wood haha Gave it a very quick wash as well, there are a few little rust bubbles appearing which will need sorting at some point
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Jun 10, 2018 19:44:24 GMT
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Great car. So much want for a late 80’s early 90’s e32 or e34 but no room,
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1994 BMW 525i touring 2004 BMW Z4 sorn and broken 1977 Ford Escort 1982 Ford Capri getting restored 1999 Mazda B2500 daily driver.
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Jun 23, 2018 19:04:53 GMT
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Great car. So much want for a late 80’s early 90’s e32 or e34 but no room, Now's the time to buy if you can, they're certainly not going to get any cheaper! The 520i has been doing good daily duty work again while the Corolla has been at a garage having some work done ahead of a Nurburgring trip, its obviously slower than the 'rolla, but still entertaining to drive in its own boaty way Today however I have made some massive progress on the donor 525i which has well outstayed its welcome! To recap, I was held up by a rounded hex bolt on one of the halfshafts going into the diff. I made a start at drilling it out but it wasn't happening, so I hammered a hex socket in there, and hit it with some heat from my gas torch (new favourite tool ). Sure enough, it came free! One medium case E34 LSD I'll probably start looking for somewhere to give this a going over before I fit it in the touring, might as well make sure its sorted while its off the car From there, it was a case of moving forwards along the drivetrain. I'd already disconnected the prop from the diff and loosened the bolts holding the middle bearing in so it was a case of three nuts and bolts at the gearbox end and that too was out I'll replace the 'guibo' on this (rubber flex joint at the gearbox end) as it has some cracking in the rubber. It's got BMW markings on it so probably the original, its had a good innings! Now, according to my E34, the next job is to remove the gearbox. I sort of did this, but also removed the engine simultaneously I thought I was having issues with the gearbox being stuck to the engine so thought I'd pull on the engine a bit to give it a helping hand.. Turns out I'd missed two bellhousing bolts! with them removed, and a fair bit of heaving, the two were separated and out of the car Happy days The 525i donor can now go for scrap (I'll be glad to have it off the drive), the gearbox will get cleaned up and have a short shifter kit fitted (more on that at a later date) and I'll make a start on the engine strip down, going to get it down to a bare block I think, so I can then have it honed in preparation for the 3.0 stroker bits to go in
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Jun 24, 2018 18:01:12 GMT
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Bit more progress today, made a start on removing some of the ancillaries from the engine and started making a list of things I'm going to need to buy The first immediately obvious casualty was this idler pulley The belts themselves are actually in decent nick so I may re-use those.. I won't be reusing these knock sensors though On the topic of sensors, given the challenges I had removing the crank sensor from the 520i, I think I'll put a new one in this engine just for peace of mind. It didn't take long to get most of the ancillaries off and I gave them a quick clean with Gunk. I'll also grab a new engine earth lead.. Next steps should be clutch, flywheel, sump, head and internals I think. Just got to work out the best order to remove them all in!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Jul 13, 2018 19:28:04 GMT
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Jul 30, 2018 17:44:11 GMT
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Well in true Adam fashion, I haven't done anything particularly useful to the BMW, or ticked anything off the lengthy to-do list.. What I have done though, is buy some wheels.. Now, anyone who had seen my RX7 thread, will be getting a sense of Deja Vu right about now... These are Rays Volk Racing CV Pro's, 3 piece split wheel that I love the design of, I had a (less dished) set on my aforementioned RX7 The new ones I've got are 17x 9.5 et38 which should look ace on the e34, in my mind at least. There are a couple of hurdles to overcome; first one being that they are 5x114.3, so I'll need some adapters, which isn't too much of a drama. The second issue is that I only have 3 of them they were cheap for a reason! So I either need to find a 4th in the same spec (unlikely), find a pair, or cheap set to make a staggered set with, or find a pair of some other cool wheels and run different wheels front and back. While I'd like to have it back on 17s for the Gathering, I'm not in any mad rush, so I'll just keep my eyes out for the right rims
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1995 BMW E34 520i- End.. 05/03fr€$h&m1nt¥
@freshandminty
Club Retro Rides Member 99
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I thought they looked familiar Is it worth contacting the new owner of the rx7 to see if he wants to sell them on? He may have his own wheel plans to make it more “his” car?
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Jul 31, 2018 17:30:41 GMT
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Is it worth contacting the new owner of the rx7 to see if he wants to sell them on? He may have his own wheel plans to make it more “his” car? Not a bad idea, and one that hadnt really occurred to me to be honest! The main issue with the ones on the RX7 is that they were a bit flat/narrow so might not work with the 9.5s as a staggered setup, but its an option! (assuming he would want to sell)
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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More wheels things! I haven't yet found some more CV Pro's so I'll keep the hunt for them on the back burner at the moment, but I have picked up a reasonably priced pair of Rays Volk Racing 'Fortesst' Touring Evolution wheels And as modelled on one of the Top Secret Supras I quite like them, they're very light, single piece, forged wheels. They're a 17x9 et40 so they'll be going on the front of the BMW, my 20mm spacers should be arriving soon so I can see whether my mental maths on each axle will come good or not! In other wheels news, I finally got round to fitting my M Tech 2 steering wheel I need to do a little work to get the horn working but otherwise I'm quite pleased with it The big rush now is to get the wheels sorted and on the car for RRG!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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The new wheels look much classier on the supra, I assume they’re not staying dayglow yellow?! Aha definitely not! Just got the tyres stripped off them today ready for painting, currently thinking either silver or anthracite. I'd also love to find some replacement decals for them but that may take a bit of time Just been splitting the CV Pro's this evening ready for refurbing also, and found that one of my three 9.5" wheels is actually a 10" Doesn't really change much as I can still make a staggered set from the two 9.5"s and the two 9" Fortesst's, but its cool to have an extra wheel with even more dissshh
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Last Edit: Aug 9, 2018 20:26:29 GMT by adam73bgt
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Geordie
North East
Course I'm out of my mind...........it's dark and scary in there!!
Posts: 2,513
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Aug 12, 2018 11:57:37 GMT
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It's taken a couple of days of dipping in and out, but I've just read this thread from first page to the current one. Fantastic work. You're 'get stuck in' attitude and determination is inspiring. I love your attention to detail. The little things make as much of a difference to a car as the big things I think. Brilliant progress. Keep up the great work, and keep the updates coming. I recently took on my first E34 (1989 530i), and scratched an itch that had been there for years (either E30 or E34). Love it.
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Last Edit: Aug 12, 2018 11:58:36 GMT by Geordie
CURRENT FLEET '99 Ford Mondeo Ghia X (60k miles) '99 Alfa 166 (3 litre V6, 89k miles) '01 Mini (#869) '06 Audi A6 (18 year old 'modern' daily)
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Aug 12, 2018 21:31:36 GMT
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Thank you very much Geordie ! Looking back to the start of this thread, the car has certainly taken a much different direction than I had originally envisaged for it when I bought it! Also in hindsight it would have been easier to have started with a better specced model, but in a way I've enjoyed finding little OEM upgrades to add as and when they come up Brief update from today, the yellow Rays and the two black centres from the splits have gone off to be blasted and powdercoated, I should hopefully have them back by the end of the week but its going to be a bit touch and go for the Gathering! Meanwhile I've started polishing up one of the lips of the splits, they're in not too bad a condition to start with thankfully so I've started with some 240 grit, I'll go up through 400, then 800 and 1200 wet before polish. Its a combo I've used before and gets decent enough results, they won't be perfect mirror finish but should still look good! I still need to split the other lip from its barrel as whenever someone had these apart previously, they put sealant between the two parts of the wheel, which makes splitting them a challenge! As for the car itself its not being used this week as Corolla is on daily duties. I'm hoping I can give it a properly deep clean in the time I've got left ahead of the Gathering as its been a while and its not quite looking its best! Its going to be a busy week
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Aug 22, 2018 19:22:23 GMT
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Quick update, as anyone who may have seen the car at the Gathering on the weekend will know, I didn't get the 17s ready in time to fit on the car so it was on its 15" Sport wheels instead Which although the tyres are knackered, isn't too bad a look. I was happy the car made it after having been sat for a little bit, the battery has been through quite a few flat cycles now so I expect I'll need to replace it at some point. I did get the wheels and faces back from the powdercoaters though After going gold or Bronze on the last few sets of wheels I've done, I've kept these a bit more restrained. I'm in the process of polishing the lips to rebuild the CV Pro's then I'll get my tyres put on them and probably stick them on the car so I can at least see the look! Plus it will mean I should be able to sell off the 15" wheels and get a bit of overall space back. The 520i's MOT runs out this weekend, I know that there are least two fail items on it (windscreen crack and lack of horn due to the steering wheel swap) so I'm thinking I'll just SORN it now, get it off the road and get stuck into taking bits off, which will hopefully spur me on to replace them with bits of 525i!
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Aug 25, 2018 21:56:15 GMT
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520i is now on the driveway and out of MOT, so the works can begin.. Thought I'd finish off a tiny job I did the other day which was to change the manky footplates for the black ones from the 525i Sport Simple job, no dramas. Then I noticed a bit of daylight through one of the drainage/access holes in the top of the sill, had a feel underneath and was a bit suspicious, so pulled off the side skirt and had a look curse word, that'll be the front passenger jacking point rusting out then ¬¬ I knew the wing on this side was bad already because of a little bubbling in the paint I had been musing whether this could be repaired or if I'd be better off getting a replacement. With the side skirt off, the latter proved to be the case And just to keep things symmetrical, heres the jacking point and wing on the drivers side Yeah. So theres a load of rust I hadn't been anticipating which is going to mean two new wings and a front sill job to match the rear sill job I had done a couple of years back. Figured it was probably best to keep pushing onwards, so made a start on getting to removing the front wings, got as far as taking off the bumper before I started running out of light So now I need to think about how this affects my plans for the car..
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Aug 27, 2018 21:24:16 GMT
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Right, Passenger front wing off, it does not look pretty haha Nice big mud trap there.. Turned my attention away from the bodywork for a moment and had a look at the 525i rear subframe bushes again, finally managed to get one out! Applied a little thermal persuasion so should have that out soon also, then I'll give the subframe a bit of a wire brush and paint. I'll also need to get some sort of tool to get the new bushes in..
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adam73bgt
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,868
Club RR Member Number: 58
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Sept 8, 2018 22:38:26 GMT
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Been getting distracted with other jobs, but I have now got the subframe wire brushed and painted up with POR15, looks decent enough and should give it a bit of protection Just need to get the new subframe bushed pressed in and its all good Probably going to tackle the LSD next, really in two minds over whether I open it up and give it a proper going over, or just make sure its not leaking, paint it and change the oil..
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