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Key, Ignition barrel, and ignition bracket are all as one now, i just need to fit it to the car . I also got the Cleaning kit and dye from Bespokeleathering.com today. I'm just waiting for the seat switch box to arive. That'll give me something to do this weekend then .
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Jun 12, 2012 16:27:34 GMT
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A couple of weeks ago, i bought a Meguires clay bar kit, with the plan of giving the 6 a once over. There were some strange marks in the paint that didn't wash off when Gareth and i scrubbed it a few weeks ago, and i was hoping that the clay bar would lift them out. Last week, before the rain came :roll: , i had a quick go with the clay bar. I only did half of the bonnet just to get an idea of wether it was going to pull out those weird marks or not. The car has gotten surprisingly dusty again since being in the garage :? The weird marks are the white-ish patches that you can see, it's almost like some cats have walked across the bonnet with muddy feet, and the mud has sunk into the paint a bit. The clay bar has pulled a lot of it out, but to the eye, you can still see it. I'm going to try some polish's next to see if they'll lift it out, but thats for another day. As the sun was out this morning, i decided to risk it and went to the 6 to fit some of the bits i've gathered. Typically, i forgot the seat switch, so that still needs doing, but thats a few minutes of a job. As i now have a new BMW OEM key, a new BMW OEM barrel, a replacement ignition bracket and replacement steering column cowlings, i have only been waiting for the rain to stop so that i can go and get it all fitted. it only took a couple of hours, but the steering column was being an curse word, and wouldn't go back together properly. I won in the end though, as always, and it now looks like this again... I also gave her a short test drive earlier again to test the brakes out, as the other day it felt like it pulled to the left. It isn't doing it now, though. I'll see what the MOT man has to say about the brakes. All that remains for me to do now, is refit the drivers door card, sort the headlight alignment out, and do something with the battery (it's currently too big to fit in the tray well, by about 10mm :roll: ). I'm either going to trim the little feet things that stick out of the side of the battery (carefully ) or try and fit some kind of plate for the battery to sit on. It needs to be fixed down, but i'm sure i can figure that out. If i can work those things out in the next few days, i'm hoping to get the MOT done next week. More updates soon
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Jun 22, 2012 18:47:14 GMT
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I've been down to the 6 today, i grabbed the chance with a few hours of sunshine today. I didn't really get that much done, but it's all small things really. First off i needed to sort the headlights. The drivers side was a little bit loose, so i've fixed that in position, and aligned both sides as best i can. I've also fitted new sidelight bulbs. Next was to sort the valance, as it wasn't fitted properly on the passenger side. When it was repaired, the body shop filled one of the fixing holes. I made a new hole carefully and bolted it up to it's mounting point. Third on the list was to have another go at the glue on the windows. It is shifting with the autoglym tar remover, but it's slow going, so i've just bought some paint thinners and i'll have another go again. The drivers door card was next, it completes the interior and makes it look loads better. Last on the list was an all round bulb check. The front all seems fine, but the rear lights not so much. They're so dull that they can barely be seen, and a couple of bulbs are out. So, i've removed the rear lights to clean them up a bit, and i'll replace all the bulbs. The inside of the lights was disgusting, so they've had a scrub out, but the backing of the lights was just useless. I picked up some chrome enamel paint, and i've keyed them up and sprayed them. I'll give them a second coat, and see how they look. This has all been typed out on my iphone, so please ignore the spelling mistakes
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Jun 25, 2012 10:06:43 GMT
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:roll: 2 steps forward, one step back :? The weather stayed dry again today, so I took the chance to get the 6 out and do the coolant change. I was right in that the previous owner had only filled the system with water :roll: , so i got some system flush in it first thing, and left it running for the 10 minutes according to the bottle. I then pulled the bottom hose off, and out came some nice rust coloured water.  I took the stat housing off, and that was also full of limescale and curse word. That took minutes to swap, so i got with the waterpump. Again, it's not a difficult job, but a bit more time consuming. The old pump still feels quite tight, so i'll keep it as a spare for now. I refitted the new one, put everything else back together. As i pushed on the pipe that goes between the pump and the thermostat housing (just behind it), the pipe split about an inch along it's length :? . It's not long enough to cut and re-attach, so i'll have to source a new one. That shouldn't be too difficult, the M30 3.5 was shared between a few other cars, one of which is the E34 535, so i'm hoping i can pick one up fairly easily. This all meant that i've had to push the 6 back into the garage, no easy job on your own, until i can replace the pipe. The other issue is that the switch box i bought for the drivers seat isn't working correctly. I don't think it's the box though, i think it's to do with the memory control unit, so the drivers seat is going to come out, and i'll see about rewiring it to bypass the memory for now. So, the MOT is on hold for even longer now, until the drivers seat can be sorted out, and the coolant pipe is replaced. FFS.
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I was hoping for a bit of dry weather today, but as per usual, it's curse word down :roll:. I went down to the 6 anyway, to fit the new pipes and refit the rear lights. I took a slight (about 12 miles, lol) detour to get some new bulbs first though. The pipes swapped over easy enough, I did the air pipes first, then the coolant pipe, then refilled her with new BMW coolant. I started her up and drover her out of the garage, but she's still not idling right. I got her about halfway up to temp, checked all the pipes and it felt like she was pressurising. I turned her off, looked up on google how to bleed an M30 engine (i've never had to do it before, ) and got on with it. she let out a few burps and bubbles, and then all seemed well, though there's no hot air through the vents. I don't know if that's because of an air lock though, or if the heater valves are stuck (they are around 24 years old, lol). I'll look into that at some point. I held her up at about 2k RPMs, until she got up to temp, and then the needle sat bang in the middle and didn't move. Result. I checked again for any air at the bleed screw, nothing, sorted. So, I refitted the rear lights after I took them home and sprayed them with some chrome enamel paint. It's not quite the chrome finish I was hoping for, but it's far better than it was. with all 10!! bulbs refitted, and the lights rebuilt, I checked them all to make sure they were all working. Typically, one of the brake lights isn't working, but I think thats because I sprayed the contacts too. I did try to clean them up a bit, but i'll get some wet and dry in there and clean it out better in the next few days. The rest of the lights are far brighter than before though, so thats another good job done. I bought some thinners the other day too, as the autoglym tar remover I bought wouldn't even touch the glue on the inside of the windows (from the tints). Using a spray bottle, I managed to clean all of the glue from the side windows, and I also finally got the tint film off of the rear windscreen, though the glue was being a pain to get off, even with the thinners. I'm going to leave it a few days to dry out, and then give it another go. Otherwise, I might see about taking out the rear windscreen and doing it that way, It's not bonded in like the front screen. The boot spoiler has also been on my list of things to do for an age, so today I put a screw through where the previous idiot had fillered, and fixed it down with it's original fixing point. It might need another screw in it at some point, but if it holds to get it to an MOT, it'll do for now. My plan is to get her tested this week, one way or another. I need to get it done, and everything else keeps getting in the way. Hopefully by the end of the coming week she'll either have an MOT, or i'll have a list to work from. I am hoping to get it to the next local meet which will be her first outing with me, other than in and out of the garage, lol. She'll need another good clean, clay and polish before then though, lol.
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Last Edit: Jul 7, 2012 22:30:57 GMT by gav328t
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Jul 11, 2012 18:03:47 GMT
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The MOT man tried to adjust the headlights, but they're adjusted to the maximum and it's still not right. I'm going to take the lights out in a minute and sort them out, it's already booked in tomorrow for a free retest I did ask the MOT tester what she looked like underneath (he wouldn't let me look ). He said it's very tidy apart from one small patch thats been welded before wasn't finished properly, and needs a small weld and some paint. All the bushes were in excellent condition, and the emissions were 0.51% out of a maximum 3.50%. ------------------------------------------ Driving to the test center, i noticed a few issues. 1. the speedo isn't working all the time. It's probably a loose wire or something, so i'll get that checked out. 2. she's misfiring, quite badly when she's under load, but only when you 'floor' it. Though, once she'd warmed up properly she did drive better, so i think new plugs, leads, dizzy cap and rotar will be ordered. 3. i think the accelerator pedal doesn't move far enough. She drives fine, but if you put your foot down, it's like she's not at full throttle, more 3/4. the kick down works, but again, she doesn't feel like she's pulling right (this is after she had warmed up properly of course). I'm going to take it to Dave i think, and get him to have a look. Things left to do now... 1. realign headlights 2. Full service including plugs, leads, dizzy cap and rotar, filters and oil. 3. Brake overhaul. New fluid at least, maybe braided hoses if i can get some. The imbalance was at 22%, with the drivers side grabbing a little bit. 4. Tax it (once the MOT is redone). 5. Drive it -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've just finished sorting out the headlights, back for the retest in the morning. I've also given her another quick wash, a VERY quick clay, polish and wax, and she's looking nice and shiny again. Those strange marks on the bonnet still haven't lifted though. Anyway, here's a pic from earlier
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Jul 11, 2012 18:42:16 GMT
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Not too much to fix up for the re-test. Should be easily sorted.
Gotta love the old 6-series.
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looks good, a massive improvement on when you first started it
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Jul 12, 2012 10:08:16 GMT
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I win
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jul 12, 2012 10:14:56 GMT
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Congrats! You must be slowly appreciating the good ol' 6 now aren't you!
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Last Edit: Jul 12, 2012 10:15:23 GMT by Clement
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Jul 12, 2012 15:37:01 GMT
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Good stuff Gav, looks a million bucks! I hope you got a lock up to keep it in when the weather turns, good cars like these need to be cherished.
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`99 BMW 528i auto - current `01 Merc C320 - Gone `01 Forester S-Turbo - Sold `89 BMW 320i Convertible - Sold(shoulda kept it ) `88 Toyota MR2 T-Bar - Sold `89 BMW 325i touring - Sold `89 BMW 535i - Let her go too early `85 BMW 320i 2 door - Rust = character `00 Subaru Impreza Turbo wagon - Sold (engine failure) `93 BMW 325i - Sold
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Jul 12, 2012 16:11:10 GMT
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Glad to hear you now have it on the road. Looks very well.
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'86 E30. '86 E28. '92 E32. '97 Laguna. '98 March. '00 A4. '05 Focus.
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Jul 12, 2012 18:40:55 GMT
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Thanks folks, it feels good to be finally getting somewhere with it. She is tucked away n a garage, but from the looks of it, our summer was about 4 months ago, so she'll get wet whenever she comes out. she is going to be tucked up for the winter though. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I gave her a very quick clay, polish and wax yesterday, considering it was done in about 15 minutes (all of it ) i think the wax is doing a reasonable job! So, now that the MOT is done and out of the way, it's time to start sorting the other jobs. I decided to start with the scuffmaster kit on the drivers seat. I cleaned the seat up first, it was quite clean surprisingly, but the water was still a dodgy colour by the time i'd finished. I left it to dry for half an hour, then gave it the conditioner treatment. it sucked it up pretty quickly, so i gave it another coat, and again left it for almost an hour to dry. i mixed up the dye with about 30% ish of water, and put it into a spray bottle. It's not the best way to do this apparently, but it's about the only option i've got. Anyway, i gave it a once over with the dye, making sure it was covered evenly. After about half an hour, it had dried but there was a few patchy area's, so i gave it another coat, and left it to dry again for about 2 hours, while i went shopping. Before.. From a few feet away, it looks good... but up close, it's still blotchy. Clearly my spray bottle is the culprit, so i just need to figure out how to even it out.
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Jul 27, 2012 14:16:16 GMT
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So... Fritz bits. i was a bit dubious of driving her that far, as she's still got a cooling issue. She isn't over heating, but she's not cooling efficiently, so i think a new rad is going to be in order. The drive to fritzs was nothing out of the ordinary really, except for the fact that she's finally fully road legal, and i'm the one driving her. I haven't driven her more than 10 miles ish so far, and it felt a little weird. Considering how 'old' the interior is, it's a nice place to be. Though, i have to say, it could do with a center armrest, lol. After a minor misshap with the sat nav (we ended up doing an extra 30-40 miles) we arrived at fritzs. A quick look around noted a few problems, the TPS wasn't set right so that was adjusted, the MAF sensor seems like it wasn't working properly either so a replacement was swapped in. After a bit of tweeking and tuning, she sat at idle perfectly, and runs a fuckload better. I then asked if the y could check the accelerator pedal, as it just didn't feel right to me. I was right, with the pedal as far down as it would go, the throttle was opening around 1/3 of the way :shock: . The bracket and pedal stop/kickdown sensor were adjusted, so now i have full travel on the throttle, and she drives like a different car The last job was to have a look at why the speedo wasn't working properly. It's been intermittent for a while, and on jacking up the rear end, it was found that the speed sensor on the diff's wires had broken. So a temp fix (read - won't be changed unles it breaks again) was made, and the speedo and tacho both work properly again. Lastly, just before i left, i picked up a spare wheel for her as well. She now has a 17ish" TRX wheel, that would have been on her as standard. It has a good tyre on it, but i don't know that i'd trust it personally. Still, i didn't get the spare to actually use, it's there more for aesthetics (though it needs a clean) and for the next owner. I've had a quote today for the few small bits of paint that need doing too, so i'm hoping to get them done before the autosport show, and Gaydon. More updates soon
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A few pics taken today locally with help from my photographer friend.. The battlewagon, My brothers coupe, and The Big 6... The big 6, Battlewagon and The Big 6.
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Jul 30, 2012 16:27:40 GMT
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The private plate has now been removed
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retrobastard
Part of things
Tits or tyres means trouble
Posts: 394
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Jul 30, 2012 17:14:53 GMT
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Proper lush bud!
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These pictures were taken at a 'Southern Old Skool' Facebook group meet, By Paul Cook of Aatomotion (click the pic to go there). She's also going to a local car show on the 12th, and then of course gaydon the following weekend. Note the perfectly suited new Reg too :lol:
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loving the car mate used to be one floating round near where i live with a v8 in it had the exhausts to sounded beaut , loving the reg ;D
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