Only just fits into the criteria for the forum, so please don't be too harsh on me 
Please bear with me, this first post is long, but necessary to set up the full situation.
The story goes thus: Got rid of my 99 ST200 Mondeo in April due to MOT failure on sills, seat belt mounting points, brakes all round etc etc. As I had a work van that I could take home at the time, a replacement wasn't needed. I have 2 motorbikes, my wife has a car, so if I don't need a car for work, I don't need a car at all. However, about 3-4 weeks ago, I was told that due to the cuts being imposed on local Councils, I could no longer use the van to/from home as I don't start "on site", I start in the main yard/offices. Fair enough, I'd always classed having the van as a perk that I wasn't really entitled to, the job doesn't come with transport provided and I'd sort of carried the van over to my new post in March from my previous chargehand role.
So for the last 3 or 4 weeks I've been commuting on the motorbikes (varying between sensible tourer, or mad twin depending on what side of the bed I got out of
). But, for all I've been lucky with how mild November has been, I've had a couple of soakings, and the weather has turned colder of late, and inevitability dawned, I'll have to get a car. So, even before I was officially told about the van, I've had an eye on what I would get if and when the rug was pulled from under my feet. Bearing in mind my max budget has always been £1500, I've looked on here in the For Sale section, ebay, Gumtree, Pistonheads, Preloved, Autotrader etc and jumped from car to car on what I'd get if and when the proverbial hit the fan.
The list was numerous. I jumped round the following: Jag X-Type, Saab 93, Golf, early 90's Audi Coupe, E Class merc, C class Merc, A8, and 5 series. Then I came across a thread on here about an E38 7 series about 3 weeks ago. Always had a liking for that shape BM, and when I researched prices, I figured there must be one out there for me. Due to a roof problem with my house 2 weeks ago, my £1500 budget was now very optimistic. I started searching for real last weekend and singled out a couple of 728's from the above mentioned websites.
To cut this already long story a bit shorter, I had a round trip of 250 miles but I've bought a 2000 W plate 728i M-Sport. It has a few issues that need sorting, but I was ok with what I paid for it knowing the faults. I've made a "to do" list, and so far, it has 16 entries
I'll not list them all here, some are fairly major, brake judder, crusty inner wing, perished rubber on the front scuttle panel, some are really minor/nothing difficult, cd shuttle stuck, give it a wash, clean the cabin area. So far, 7 of the 16 have been ticked off (2 are half ticked off due to running out of interior cleaning stuff and my old T-Cut bottle being so old the chemicals have auto seperated into liquid on top and gunk in the bottom ).
Jumping ahead a bit, here's a couple of pics after I've washed it today:
So, on to the healing beginning. As I mentioned, the front scuttle rubber was really perished, and any water running off the screen would just go in front of the firewall to who knows where, but I bet it would create rot. After doing a search, I got a part number for the full plastic scuttle with rubber seal attached (cannot buy just the seal) and phoned the local BMW parts department on Friday. Gave them the part number and expected a long lead in time to get the part. The guy told me they didn't have one in stock (no surprise) but I could pick it up the next day after 8.30. Magic. £80.04 wasn't so magic, but needs must. So, went and picked it up Saturday morning, and after doing a job at the in-laws, I set about it on Saturday afternoon in the freezing cold.
Here's how it looked when I got it:
Once I'd removed the old scuttle, it was like this underneath, not too bad phew!!!:
After about an hour and a half, it looked like this:
I'm sure you'll agree, much better.
After that, I changed the wiper blades. Driving home after buying the car, the weather was a bit iffy, and they didn't clear the screen properly. A trip to Europarts, and now rain and spray don't bother me.
Next job yesterday was the rubber seals on the C pillar. One side was missing, the other was perished badly:
After seeing a "How to" on meeknet, I bought some ferrite magnetic trim from RS components, and after having to cut it in half lengthways, ended up with this:
Again, a much better look in my opinion. I'd have done without it altogether but you can see the white clips holding the trim on if nothing is there. Not good.
In the week coming, I'm (hopefully) getting it into the local BMW specialist as it has brake judder which I was told by the seller is a bush problem, and a new lambda sensor to hopefully get rid of the emissions light on the dash as the seller had a diagnostic done which highlighted lambda sensor problems. 1 has been done, it's now my job to do the next one.
The car isn't a minter, but with a few quid spent, I think it can look really smart. More to follow as and when I get the work done. It's a fantastic drive, smooth as silk and quick enough for what I need. All the electrics in the cabin work fine, the seats and door cards are in really good nick, there are about 5 rust patches here and there, but these will be addressed when funds allow, sooner rather than later hopefully. I really like this car.
Sorry for the long winded post, I'll make my next jobs a bit shorter, I promise
Please bear with me, this first post is long, but necessary to set up the full situation.The story goes thus: Got rid of my 99 ST200 Mondeo in April due to MOT failure on sills, seat belt mounting points, brakes all round etc etc. As I had a work van that I could take home at the time, a replacement wasn't needed. I have 2 motorbikes, my wife has a car, so if I don't need a car for work, I don't need a car at all. However, about 3-4 weeks ago, I was told that due to the cuts being imposed on local Councils, I could no longer use the van to/from home as I don't start "on site", I start in the main yard/offices. Fair enough, I'd always classed having the van as a perk that I wasn't really entitled to, the job doesn't come with transport provided and I'd sort of carried the van over to my new post in March from my previous chargehand role.
So for the last 3 or 4 weeks I've been commuting on the motorbikes (varying between sensible tourer, or mad twin depending on what side of the bed I got out of
). But, for all I've been lucky with how mild November has been, I've had a couple of soakings, and the weather has turned colder of late, and inevitability dawned, I'll have to get a car. So, even before I was officially told about the van, I've had an eye on what I would get if and when the rug was pulled from under my feet. Bearing in mind my max budget has always been £1500, I've looked on here in the For Sale section, ebay, Gumtree, Pistonheads, Preloved, Autotrader etc and jumped from car to car on what I'd get if and when the proverbial hit the fan.The list was numerous. I jumped round the following: Jag X-Type, Saab 93, Golf, early 90's Audi Coupe, E Class merc, C class Merc, A8, and 5 series. Then I came across a thread on here about an E38 7 series about 3 weeks ago. Always had a liking for that shape BM, and when I researched prices, I figured there must be one out there for me. Due to a roof problem with my house 2 weeks ago, my £1500 budget was now very optimistic. I started searching for real last weekend and singled out a couple of 728's from the above mentioned websites.
To cut this already long story a bit shorter, I had a round trip of 250 miles but I've bought a 2000 W plate 728i M-Sport. It has a few issues that need sorting, but I was ok with what I paid for it knowing the faults. I've made a "to do" list, and so far, it has 16 entries
I'll not list them all here, some are fairly major, brake judder, crusty inner wing, perished rubber on the front scuttle panel, some are really minor/nothing difficult, cd shuttle stuck, give it a wash, clean the cabin area. So far, 7 of the 16 have been ticked off (2 are half ticked off due to running out of interior cleaning stuff and my old T-Cut bottle being so old the chemicals have auto seperated into liquid on top and gunk in the bottom ). Jumping ahead a bit, here's a couple of pics after I've washed it today:
So, on to the healing beginning. As I mentioned, the front scuttle rubber was really perished, and any water running off the screen would just go in front of the firewall to who knows where, but I bet it would create rot. After doing a search, I got a part number for the full plastic scuttle with rubber seal attached (cannot buy just the seal) and phoned the local BMW parts department on Friday. Gave them the part number and expected a long lead in time to get the part. The guy told me they didn't have one in stock (no surprise) but I could pick it up the next day after 8.30. Magic. £80.04 wasn't so magic, but needs must. So, went and picked it up Saturday morning, and after doing a job at the in-laws, I set about it on Saturday afternoon in the freezing cold.
Here's how it looked when I got it:
Once I'd removed the old scuttle, it was like this underneath, not too bad phew!!!:
After about an hour and a half, it looked like this:
I'm sure you'll agree, much better.
After that, I changed the wiper blades. Driving home after buying the car, the weather was a bit iffy, and they didn't clear the screen properly. A trip to Europarts, and now rain and spray don't bother me.
Next job yesterday was the rubber seals on the C pillar. One side was missing, the other was perished badly:
After seeing a "How to" on meeknet, I bought some ferrite magnetic trim from RS components, and after having to cut it in half lengthways, ended up with this:
Again, a much better look in my opinion. I'd have done without it altogether but you can see the white clips holding the trim on if nothing is there. Not good.
In the week coming, I'm (hopefully) getting it into the local BMW specialist as it has brake judder which I was told by the seller is a bush problem, and a new lambda sensor to hopefully get rid of the emissions light on the dash as the seller had a diagnostic done which highlighted lambda sensor problems. 1 has been done, it's now my job to do the next one.
The car isn't a minter, but with a few quid spent, I think it can look really smart. More to follow as and when I get the work done. It's a fantastic drive, smooth as silk and quick enough for what I need. All the electrics in the cabin work fine, the seats and door cards are in really good nick, there are about 5 rust patches here and there, but these will be addressed when funds allow, sooner rather than later hopefully. I really like this car.
Sorry for the long winded post, I'll make my next jobs a bit shorter, I promise
), but the needles have to come off.
