Treating myself - E38 750iL

[handpaper]

You need a turd with shooter proof glass

Ah, that's the 750iLP
Glazing here:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=51&fg=05

Those prices

Good luck with MOT

And they need replacing every 2 years to maintain protection, less where it's sunny. Polycarbonate, UV light degrades it


In other news, while everything is now done, it's not been presented for re-MoT yet, took longer than I thought it would (doesn't it always).

In the meantime, it has developed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a fuel leak!
Not corrosion related, at some point the tank has been punctured underneath and repaired with a soldered patch. Which is now leaking slightly
I am very leery of trying to re-solder the patch with a blowlamp and I don't have a soldering iron anywhere near big enough. Paint stripper gun? Or is that too hot, too?
As things stand I can't even get the patch off to repair it with Permatex or similar.
I really don't want to drop the tank to sort this...

[Simon13]

drain the fuel out then no?

[handpaper]

The tank's nearly empty, Simon, but that's when it's most dangerous. Fire, probably not. Explosion, very possibly

[Simon13]

oh ok, not good.

[DanThe]

Sounds like a tank out job to me

[handpaper]

I'm going to go with the hot air paint stripper gun - and an inert gas flush from my bottle of Hobbyweld 5. The leak is on the side opposite the pump(also opposite the filler), so it should be nearly empty. Jacking the car up on this side only will move any fuel left in that side away from the leak, which is in the middle of the tank half.
Even if I don't manage to re-solder it, removing the patch will allow a repair with some form of epoxy.

[ImysE30]

Fuel leaks on these are a right PITFA!!!

[handpaper]

We have a ticket!

Wasn't ready in time for a re-test so it needed another complete one
I work away all week so couldn't have taken it in until Saturday. I don't trust the wife to drive this thing (she's OK with the touring). Fortunately the garage was willing to send their tester to collect it and drop it off afterwards, so it got done today. Pass - no advisories
I'd have loved to have seen the tester drive it away, though - I know him and he's only about 4' 10" ! The Mrs said it reminded her of Southall on a Saturday when lots of small Indian women drive their husbands' Mercedes..

Fuel tank repair went OK (I'm posting this, aren't I?) I've become a big fan of using a hot air paint stripper for soldering, easy to control and no worrying about running out of gas.

Next job is to fit the new(ish) door (cheers alpina) and source a mirror shell (from BMW) and some paint.

Later I'll start looking in the engine bay for somewhere to mount a couple of LPG reducers. It's very tight in there, but it has been done. Unfortunately all the write-ups are in Polish

[Brianmoooore]

Later I'll start looking in the engine bay for somewhere to mount a couple of LPG reducers. It's very tight in there, but it has been done. Unfortunately all the write-ups are in Polish

Biggest problem with 'Vee' engines is getting the required 200mm clearance on exhaust components. With in line engines you can squeeze it all in on the inlet side, but here you have exhausts on both sides.

[handpaper]

Looking at LPG kits on allegro.pl, this one :
http://allegro.pl/a60-ac-stag-300-6-isa ... 43479.html
looks like it might do. The vaporisers are only 113mm in diameter, so it should be possible to fit them in somewhere - there's a little space under the airboxes on each side, with a handy bit of chassis to bolt to.
I have no idea how the cooling/heating system is arranged; going to have to study the ETK at bmwfans and rootle around under the bonnet. It's a bit more complex than an E30, that's for sure...

In other news, I've got a tank. Advertised as a 120l for £80, I turned up to find it's a 100l. Clearly stamped on the tank Also stamped on there is "01 01", so it's two years out of certification. Didn't twig that until I got it home
Not a problem; the tank in the 325i track car is exactly the same and certified until 2023, so the 7 will get that one. Would have preferred a 120, but they are very thin on the ground.

[handpaper]

Just over a year of luxurious wafting, 9,000 miles, a European family holiday, a 'Ring trip and a truly frightening amount of unleaded later - MoT pass, no advisories!

On the Beach at Narbonne

[youtube][/youtube]
Also on the beach at Narbonne....


On the 'Ring


Someday I might get round to gassing the thing, but my commute is down to 38 miles a week, so the incentive isn't all that strong anymore. For now, I'm just enjoying my barge

[BenHar]

Driving on sandy beaches is a very good way to destroy a car.

It will rust away in no time now.

Ben

[Andyboy]

Yes, because a 20 year old E38 is a valuable long term asset.

[BenHar]

Yes, because a 20 year old E38 is a valuable long term asset.

Not now.

Can't see the point in destroying a car just because it's 20 years old.

Ben

[Andyboy]

Jesus. 20 UK winters and it lives, bit of easily hosed off sand in the arches and it falls to bits? Really?

[DanThe]

Dry sand isn't going to hurt is it, you would do more harm driving past a gritter....

9,000 miles worth of petrol would have more than covered the LPG bits and LPG itself I reckon

[handpaper]

Yes Dan, I should have gassed it by now, but as always it's the time and hassle rather than the money. As far as I can guess, it's a couple of days at least in a proper workshop (hello maggspower!) or best part of a week outside the house. Still haven't a clue where I'd stick the reducer(s), or the filler.
£1,000 worth of fuel saved is a compelling argument, though

Ben, while I don't consider the car an asset I'm not trying to kill it. As has been pointed out, a bit of dry sand shouldn't (and from my inspection during the MoT, hasn't) hurt it. The British winter that's occasionally spraying its nethers with salt water is far more worrying.
Incidentally Andy, how well protected are these monsters?

P.S. - the sand (big clumps of) was still in the arches after 1,000 km of Peage and 4 'Ring laps. Never mind, the Belgian autoroutes shifted it

[Andyboy]

These aren't rust heaps but obvs check sills, jacking points etc. the worst bit is the fuel tank. Inexplicably, BMW msde them from mild steel with a light coat of black paint when everything else the built (E39, E36 etc) had a plastic tank.

[handpaper]

It's had a recurrent misfire for the last few months, came and went.
I put it down to use patterns; 20 motorway miles to work Monday, 20 back Friday, almost nothing more. Later I read that a worn dizzy cap can cause this, along with loss of power, economy etc.

It's the same part as a facelift E30 320/325i cap; in a few places it was cheaper to order it as such...

Anyway, here's what came off (both caps looked like this) :



The brass contacts are grooved over a mm deep, furry and green. The carbon is gone and the spring is visible about 8mm deep in the hole. To fire a spark plug the ignition would have had to bridge both of these gaps, too!
Going by the embossed date, they were the original parts. If the replacements last another 19 years I'll be very happy

[DanThe]

Shocking

[Simon13]

you might get 13mpg now lol. It should certainly run and accelerate better with new ones looking at them!

[handpaper]

According to the OBC, my current average is 15.6.
This may have something to do with my drive to work being on an empty motorway in the small hours and my drive home being in stop-start traffic, so I'm either finding out if the speed limiter still works, or creeping along in 1st.
Cruise control set to 60mph returns 33-35 mpg, but also risks putting me to sleep...

[Simon13]

as long as i have a hole up my arse that 750 won't do 33 MPG @ 60 !

[DanThe]

Downhill maybe? A steep one

[handpaper]

Had to happen sometime - it's broken a front spring.
Not a hugely difficult thing to fix, especially as I already own "spring compressors of considerable force", but finding out which spring to buy is a bit of a pain.
The answer apparently is in an adjunct to the ETK called the "spring table", which isn't available through realoem or bmwfans.
Does anyone have a working login for bmw's system?
The one given on this page :

http://www.bmw.co.uk/en_GB/topics/owner ... parts.html

isn't working.

In other news, the barge finally fulfilled its purpose last Saturday when it towed the track car down to Llandow for the day.
Effortless, everywhere

[DanThe]

Have you put the VIN into realoem?

[handpaper]

Yep, neither realoem nor bmwfans list springs for e38s.
Apparently the huge number of available options that affect vehicle weight (protection package adds over 500kg), as well as the different suspension types (EDC, SLS, LAD) mean that apparently similar models (728i, 740i, 750iL) may have different springs.