So,
I've been reading on RR for a looooong time and created and account a while ago but never posted much.
I know, it's not really retro, but I figured this might interest someone, if not, well just tell me.
Basically, I owned a E38 730i V8 up until June but the gas mileage (or lack thereof) got to me, not to mention that the thing ate parts like nothing else. I wanted something more reliable and affordable and also a wagon again. However, I've grown to be quite a stingy fool over the last few years, which was certainly helped along by recent bout of unemployedness only broken by various crappy jobs. However... a reasonably cool car is a must!
Various family members've owned various E39s for a long time so I know these cars and know they're nearly bulletproof and take pretty much any abuse you throw at 'em. So I went to look at quite a few cars in the tight budget I had and well... most of them were nightmares, i.E. stuff like shoddy spraybombed quarterpanels with rust showing through and so on.
This one was actually the last one on my list since it had velours seats and I absolutely despise the BMW velours seats... there's nothing more disgusting than sitting on these abhorrent things in summer, they make your back sweat, your shirt gets wet, the seat gets wet and when you get out your shirt sticks to the seat and sticks and sticks until it comes off and flaps against your back with a wet slap! Eww!
But, the redeeming factor of the car was that it had a LPG conversion, so that meant it was super cheap to run.
Looked at it, found the condition to be surprisingly great with lots of new parts (and a whole stack of bills to go with em) and just a hint of rust at the hatch and a dent in the left front fender.
LPG Conversion:
Translated to pounds, that is 0.49 GBP per litre of LPG!
Had the car for 3 weeks when I went to Gatebil in Norway with it and promptly crashed it into the guardrail on the way home when I nodded off at the well. Ugh.
Luckily nobody was hurt and the damage was only cosmetic.
So I bought a non-running parts car two weeks later, to source the body panels and also the nice leather interior.
Rear quarter panel was fixed at a local panel beater's, and he was nice enough to pull the rear fenders a few cm while he was at it!
Then I thought, now that the lower part of the interior is nice, how about I change the headliner to black? But, how to go about it without buying a pricey OEM one? Well, the poor man's dye job and get a whole ton of black shoe polish and rub it in with a brush! Smells a bit for a few weeks but goes away. Needs 2 or 3 days to be fully dry to the touch, before you might get some shoe polish on your fingers.
Plastic parts were just sprayed black
Finished:
So then I bought some wheels... RH ZW1, classic 90ies 2-piece split wheels in 8.5x17 and 10x17. They were pretty beat. I sold the lips and got another pair of 3.25 inch lips from a friend to make a pair of 10x17s... for the front! The rear's will get 4.5 inch lips to make 11.25x17s!
Got around to splitting them
Started sanding the front lips for polishing, got so far as to 500 grit, but didn't have anything finer yet
Then recently got around to do a test spray on one of the centers using some matte graffiti paint. Quite like the result - so much infact, that I will paint the whole car this way! Will just cost me about, oh 80€ or so.
This is basically where I am right now. Next step is to finish the wheels and get tires fitted so I can work out adapter sizing. Planning to run 215/45 and 245/40 and have the thread sit slighty inside the arches with the wheels themselves poking out.
And to give you guys an idea what "NoBudget" means...
Car Price: -1800€
Parts car: -900€ (kept interior and 3 doors, hatch, bonnet and both front wings)
Part out: +1600€
Panel beater: -300€
Headliner: -30€
Wheels: -200€
Sold old lips: +100€
Bought two used front lips: 80€
Total spent so far: 1610€
Paint will cost me about 80€ - 100€, will need another 600 to finish the wheels (500 for the rear lips, 100 for new bolts and nuts) and a further 600 for coilovers. Adapters will probably be another 100. Tires will be around 200-250. Also need to do the rear axle bushings which, including the necessary tool will set me back about 200€. I aim to have it finished by April or May, and if all goes according to plan the total spent amount should only be about ~3200€.
And just for giggles, some pics of it being used as a wagon is meant to be used.
I've been reading on RR for a looooong time and created and account a while ago but never posted much.
I know, it's not really retro, but I figured this might interest someone, if not, well just tell me.
Basically, I owned a E38 730i V8 up until June but the gas mileage (or lack thereof) got to me, not to mention that the thing ate parts like nothing else. I wanted something more reliable and affordable and also a wagon again. However, I've grown to be quite a stingy fool over the last few years, which was certainly helped along by recent bout of unemployedness only broken by various crappy jobs. However... a reasonably cool car is a must!
Various family members've owned various E39s for a long time so I know these cars and know they're nearly bulletproof and take pretty much any abuse you throw at 'em. So I went to look at quite a few cars in the tight budget I had and well... most of them were nightmares, i.E. stuff like shoddy spraybombed quarterpanels with rust showing through and so on.
This one was actually the last one on my list since it had velours seats and I absolutely despise the BMW velours seats... there's nothing more disgusting than sitting on these abhorrent things in summer, they make your back sweat, your shirt gets wet, the seat gets wet and when you get out your shirt sticks to the seat and sticks and sticks until it comes off and flaps against your back with a wet slap! Eww!
But, the redeeming factor of the car was that it had a LPG conversion, so that meant it was super cheap to run.
Looked at it, found the condition to be surprisingly great with lots of new parts (and a whole stack of bills to go with em) and just a hint of rust at the hatch and a dent in the left front fender.
LPG Conversion:
Translated to pounds, that is 0.49 GBP per litre of LPG!
Had the car for 3 weeks when I went to Gatebil in Norway with it and promptly crashed it into the guardrail on the way home when I nodded off at the well. Ugh.
Luckily nobody was hurt and the damage was only cosmetic.
So I bought a non-running parts car two weeks later, to source the body panels and also the nice leather interior.
Rear quarter panel was fixed at a local panel beater's, and he was nice enough to pull the rear fenders a few cm while he was at it!
Then I thought, now that the lower part of the interior is nice, how about I change the headliner to black? But, how to go about it without buying a pricey OEM one? Well, the poor man's dye job and get a whole ton of black shoe polish and rub it in with a brush! Smells a bit for a few weeks but goes away. Needs 2 or 3 days to be fully dry to the touch, before you might get some shoe polish on your fingers.
Plastic parts were just sprayed black
Finished:
So then I bought some wheels... RH ZW1, classic 90ies 2-piece split wheels in 8.5x17 and 10x17. They were pretty beat. I sold the lips and got another pair of 3.25 inch lips from a friend to make a pair of 10x17s... for the front! The rear's will get 4.5 inch lips to make 11.25x17s!
Got around to splitting them
Started sanding the front lips for polishing, got so far as to 500 grit, but didn't have anything finer yet
Then recently got around to do a test spray on one of the centers using some matte graffiti paint. Quite like the result - so much infact, that I will paint the whole car this way! Will just cost me about, oh 80€ or so.
This is basically where I am right now. Next step is to finish the wheels and get tires fitted so I can work out adapter sizing. Planning to run 215/45 and 245/40 and have the thread sit slighty inside the arches with the wheels themselves poking out.
And to give you guys an idea what "NoBudget" means...
Car Price: -1800€
Parts car: -900€ (kept interior and 3 doors, hatch, bonnet and both front wings)
Part out: +1600€
Panel beater: -300€
Headliner: -30€
Wheels: -200€
Sold old lips: +100€
Bought two used front lips: 80€
Total spent so far: 1610€
Paint will cost me about 80€ - 100€, will need another 600 to finish the wheels (500 for the rear lips, 100 for new bolts and nuts) and a further 600 for coilovers. Adapters will probably be another 100. Tires will be around 200-250. Also need to do the rear axle bushings which, including the necessary tool will set me back about 200€. I aim to have it finished by April or May, and if all goes according to plan the total spent amount should only be about ~3200€.
And just for giggles, some pics of it being used as a wagon is meant to be used.
)
