E34 525i Sport opinions

[Speedtouch]

I had to do a 'bodge' repair on my first E30, a 1984 320i. Unknown to me when I bought it from a used car lot in Essex, one of the spark plugs had stripped its thread, and it had been somehow jammed in; when I went to change the plugs, it came out but wouldn't hold back in again.

So, I had to jam it back in using a mix of wire and JB-Weld, to try and get a reasonable seal.

I took it for an MOT once, and it failed on emissions being too high. While the MOT tester had it hooked up to the gas tester equipment, I temporarily disconnected the injector to the cylinder with the dodgy plug and voila - the emissions level dropped to a pass level. He was amazed, and badgered me to reveal what it was I had done. Reluctantly, I told him, and he gave the car a pass certificate, knowing full well I'd be reconnecting the injector as soon as I'd left the garage.

Surprisingly, the engine would run fairly well on 5 cylinders, and didn't sound much different at low engine revs.