couple of bits - welding supplies - metal and poor starting

[Caprian280]

Hi All
Im not sure if this is the right place for this post but im wondering if anyone can help me.

Firstly i bought my first bm 5 months back, i have to admit i was very much a ford man im afraid. Its a 1987 E30 325i se auto.
After a couple of weeks the car would stall when selecting reverse whilst cold. this problem would kind of ease once car was warmed up. Then everytime it rained the car would not run. I have since changed the cap, arm and plugs, car run sweet for a couple of days, now does not run again in the wet weather and still stalls when selecting reverse until warm when i can get it running. I have a new set of leads on order and hope this will cure the wet weather problem.
The original plugs were black and wreaked of petrol. Could this be a problem of overfuelling and flooding the car - i.e reverse problem, as reverse is selected the back lurches up and the revs pick up but die off straight away and car stalls?

The second question is, im looking to attack the little bits of rust it has. Does anyone know of a good supplier for sheet metal in essex at all where i can buy the metal to use. I can get hold of a brand new rear panel but dont really want to go that route when its a small patch under the rear light.

Any help on either of the above would be greatly appreciated and received. Cheers
Ian

[Speedtouch]

Sounds like a dodgy selector switch on the gearbox to me, so maybe it's confusing Reverse with Park, and cutting the engine.

Rich running and poor cold starting are often down to a duff blue temperature sensor, in the thermostat housing at the front of the engine - they should be changed every so often as a matter of course.

Sheet metal can be had from many sources: air conditioning unit or engineering fabricators often leave offcuts lying about or are able to supply offcuts cheaply, or you could use some steel cut from say, an old washing machine, fridge or car panel. You can even buy it on E-bay:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trks ... Categories

[danman2k]

check the gearbox oil, it should not be brown but reddish and clean of any browness, level needs to be checked whilst warm and cycle through gears before level is checked.

[Caprian280]

Cheers for the info. I'll get onto those parts and check them out.
With the gearbox oil - the colour is still a pink ish colour and very clear, similar colour to the comma longlife anti freeze.
Thanks again for the help there, Ian