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Dec 28, 2013 21:24:49 GMT
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Alright it's not really Retro, have no plans to modify it (though it needs a bit of work) so this is'nt really a build thread but i'm bored and thought i'd post it anyway as i'm chuffed with it, if no one likes it this thread can sink without a trace So i've been smoking around in a 98 728i for the past few years, love (d ?) it to bits, dead reliable, don't see many about etc, lately though i've had half an eye open for a higher spec'd 740 (4.4 V8) then decided if i'm going for another E38 it might as well be a 750 (5.4 V12, full dictator spec ) and if i'm going for a 750 it might as well be an iL (long wheel base, SWB 750's are rarer anyway) Would like to say i looked at a few, considered carefully and bought the best, mintest example i could find with full S/H after a thorough inspection and test, as most of us know that rarely happens, i've been through a fair few cars and always bought on impulse, sometimes unseen, some you win, some you loose. Anyway a last minute frantic E-bay bid, car bought unseen, a very pleasant 130 mile train journey, an even more pleasant meeting with the seller who had a ton of interesting stuff in his yard (he was selling the beemer as he had bought a Bentley Turbo R with race history ) and an uneventfull waft home and this was in my drive. 5.4 litre V12, 326 bhp, limited to 155 mph , straight away when i drove the car it felt a completely different beast to my 728i, so much power and torque, needless to say fuel consumption is grim (i've ran Yank muscle before though), probably 13 around town and 26 on a run (compared to 19 and 32 for my 728), wont be doing big miles in this (though may take it to Sky in the summer) the fuel consumption does'nt bother me. Interior is lovely, full Bufallo hide leather (even on the door cards and dash) bags of space in the rear (just as well as i'll be sleeping here if it goes to Sky, i hate tents : , car has double glassing, blinds in the rear, heated/electric seats/headrests, electric seats in the rear etc, etc. Built in phone, as far as i know just needs a Sim card, would like to get it working even though i probably wont use it much. Screen in dash is also dead , checked the fuses etc recon it may be the module in the boot, have other stuff to sort out first though so will get this working eventually (even just to display the time, radio stations etc) So a week of owning it seen it T-cutted, waxed and the staggered M-Parallels fitted off my 728i, bodywork is generally ok and polishes up nice. Hate the black grills on the front, these will be getting changed for the std style chrome/black ones, will also be fitting the headilights off the 728i (yellow tinted mains, already fitted the yellow fogs) Took a pic of the 750 and the 728 as the 728 may sadly be being broke for spares , damned shame, hate breaking a decent car but there is just too many new parts on the 728 i can use on the 750 (mostly suspension) Plans for the 750 are to convert the suspension to standard (it has electronic dampers that are very expensive to replace, also self leveling rear suspension, just something else expensive to go wrong : Have already bought new Sachs front shocks and front springs, (the 728 has new shocks on the rear i can salvage for the 750) the front springs are scary large though , recon i'll need to take them to a garage for fitting to the shocks.
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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Dec 28, 2013 21:46:41 GMT
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In case no one likes it? Are you joking! I LOVE these!! No shortage of E38 love here! Look like a great car. Why break the 728 though? Can you not just transfer the old 750 parts on to it and sell it on? Looking forward to seeing it with the silver grill and other things. Top stuff!
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1974 Skoda S100 tarmac car 1998 BMW 750 daily 1994 Mitsubishi Evo2
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Dec 28, 2013 22:16:37 GMT
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In case no one likes it? Are you joking! I LOVE these!! No shortage of E38 love here! Look like a great car. Why break the 728 though? Can you not just transfer the old 750 parts on to it and sell it on? Looking forward to seeing it with the silver grill and other things. Top stuff! Cheers man, i'm 43 so don't really consider the E38 retro myself so could imagine how most would view it Shame to break the 728 but the harsh reality is the body/paint is'nt that great (though probably average for a 16 year old car), it needs a Cat (£220 new)and front suspension arms for the MOT, cant transfer the bits from the 750 as it has EDC (electronic damping control) shockers with an ECU to control them (though i can fit STD shocks to the 750 and leave the ECU disconnected), rear shocks are self leveling but again i can get round that on the 750 but impossible to fit them to the 728. The 728 is worth £200 scrap, £300 spares or repairs but i can get at least about £400 worth of bits off it for the 750.
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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Dec 28, 2013 22:29:06 GMT
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Love the E38's, own one myself, but a 728i as my wallet could not cope with a larger engine.
Know a bit of history re this car from the Saab Forum UKSaabs. Was owned by a member on their (Colin, aka Microcat), and was then bought by the owner of UKSaabs (Nick, aka TFatC) Both have always cared for their cars, with Colin being more of the BMW fan.
Got to sort out the Stereo fault on mine as its hit and miss if it works. Display always works but on occasion nothing from the speakers. Had a look in the boot and the amplifier has been changed for a non BMW one, so trying to find someone in the West Mids to check it out for me.
Vodaphone sim in either the slot in the phone, or in the reader in the boot should get it working.
Cheers
Dave
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Dec 28, 2013 22:30:05 GMT
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Love the E38's
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Dec 28, 2013 23:14:22 GMT
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Love the E38's, own one myself, but a 728i as my wallet could not cope with a larger engine. Know a bit of history re this car from the Saab Forum UKSaabs. Was owned by a member on their (Colin, aka Microcat), and was then bought by the owner of UKSaabs (Nick, aka TFatC) Both have always cared for their cars, with Colin being more of the BMW fan. Got to sort out the Stereo fault on mine as its hit and miss if it works. Display always works but on occasion nothing from the speakers. Had a look in the boot and the amplifier has been changed for a non BMW one, so trying to find someone in the West Mids to check it out for me. Vodaphone sim in either the slot in the phone, or in the reader in the boot should get it working. Cheers Dave Cheers Dave, yeah it was Nick i bought the car from , he'd only done 211 miles in it all year which was why he was selling, he had so much stuff at his place though (about 30 odd cars i think ?) top bloke though Was trying to contact Colin to ask him about the car (tried and failed to regester with the Saab forum : , mainly about plug/oil changes as the car came with some old reciepts but no history of recent servicing, runs fine though and i'll be doing an oil change as a matter of course (just the plugs are a two day nightmare on these so it'd be a bonus if i can skip these) The car has the usual E38 dodgy fuel tank (same as my 728) so that's needing fixed, going to pull that out in the spring and see about getting it repaired. Got an 02 Sim the other day, only tried it in the phone though (it did'nt work) think i need to regester the card though, i'll maybe try it in the boot too.
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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Dec 28, 2013 23:35:06 GMT
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Like it, not keen on the green, but the parrells make it look "harder". May be interested in some parts off the blue one when/if you break it
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Dec 29, 2013 15:05:51 GMT
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Like it, not keen on the green, but the parrells make it look "harder". May be interested in some parts off the blue one when/if you break it No worries pal, PM me what you are looking for, will be breaking it in the new year. Starting this thread yesterday gave me the gumption to go out today and get a few things done to it. Moved the badge on the bootlid from this location. To further up and to the right a bit, anal i know but i wanted it in line with the BMW badge , also fitted the chrome boot trim and removed the Halfords V12 badge. Stripped the headlights out and fitted the ones off the 728 which have yellow tinted mains and better Halo rings (angel eyes ?) All went well, also fitted the standard black/chrome kidney grills, to my eyes these make the car look wider/lower than when the plain black ones were fitted. I'm calling this the continental gangster look
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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Dec 29, 2013 20:24:01 GMT
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Looking good. I've hankered after a 7 for a while, it's just my 14k a year commute that's putting that on hold at the moment !
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Dec 29, 2013 22:27:25 GMT
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Looking good. I've hankered after a 7 for a while, it's just my 14k a year commute that's putting that on hold at the moment ! Cheers man , i'm lucky that my work is only 2.5 miles away and i walk it most days, my 728 only averaged 3K a year.
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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dbdb
Part of things
Posts: 821
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Dec 30, 2013 14:19:10 GMT
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I like the extra leather - and the V12!
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Feb 22, 2014 10:56:17 GMT
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Got most of the suspension change done on this now, changed the front struts last month, that was fairly easy after i'd taken the struts to the local indy to get the springs fitted to the struts, springs were too big and heavy for normal DIY spring clamps. I've left the EDC (electronic damping control) wire disconnected and still clipped to the shock tower in the engine bay. Had a wheel bearing to replace on the n/s/f, hub nut is huge, 46mm, luckily i have access to an HGV workshop on a Saturday morning (i work for a Haulage company)so i took it in there and used a buzz gun. Bearing came as a complete flange so was easy to do, whole job only took 35 minutes. Started swapping the rear shocks a few weeks ago, this is far more involved as the rears are self leveling (also have EDC), started by identifying the pipes to the rear suspension and made damned sure i wasn't ripping out brake pipes by mistake , the two thin pipes are the feed and return (the thick pipe is a tank breather), these pipes come from the power steering pump. Pipe was simply looped using a new bit of brake pipe. Then had to spend ages removing the whole rear interior of the car just to get to .................. ................... the top shocker mounts. First shock off, bottom bush, sleeve put up a bit of a fight as usuall. Being a dobber i thought i'd undoo inner bolt on the front arm to get the shocker out (it looked easier to get to than the rear one) not realising this bolt is an Eccentric adjuster for the rear tracking................... .............. of course is snapped , had do go to the dealer to get another but was only a tenner (still dear for a friggin bolt but being a BMW main dealer was imagining £34.99 + VAT) so bought a spare for the other side and put the new one in with plenty of copper slip. New shocks to go in, again plenty of copperslip on the bottom pin incase they need to come out again. New shocks in place. Old EDC/SLS shocks for the scrap. While poking around the car i found this rust on the rear of the sills , other side is worse, this pic also shows the chemical metal tank repair on the seam, E38's are really bad for rotting tanks, the tank on this cars is really sound except for this tiny pin hole, hopefully this repair will hold for a while. Pipes in this pic are the now redundant suspension pipes so will be ripped out but the other side has the brake pipes in the same place so will need to be carefully bent out the way for access. Welding will be awkward being so close to the tank but should be able to wedge an aluminium shield in place, will also be wearing my trainers in case i need to run
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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I like the dark green colour Mark, it works really well with the chrome trim and polished wheels. Good to see that you got those new springs fitted without too much hassle.
The chrome grilles look much better on it too, although I'm not so sure about the yellow lights as personally I like the all-silver contrast with the body colour.... but not so much as with the all-silver headlight backing on later facelift cars.
I'm biased, but I do love these cars, and they have a real presence on the road that not many have being so relatively low and wide. The E38 is easily the best looking of all the 7 Series cars. Sheer class.
I think the loop in the suspension plumbing could get an MOT tester scratching his head! It does make sense to simplify it though.
It is a shame about the 728, but that is just the reality of the economics of them just now. Be sure to let me know before you scrap it, but it would be wise to keep anything that could possibly be useful as spares for the 750 too.
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Cheers Jim, I love the shape of the E38 too, don't like the later one with the messy rear lights, the one later than that (don't know the E?? number but around 05 plate) is nice but i still prefer the E38. The loop on the suspension pipe wont be a problem, it's hidden above the plastic undertray Got the welding on the sills done during the week. Repairs painted with red primer, then black Hammersh*te, followed by underseal, should last a while. Repairs just about hidden by the arch liner and plastic sill guard (it was nud trapped under these that caused the rot), could have got away with bodging it but plan on keeping the car for a while an at least i know it's solid. Actually quite frustrating the amount of rust in this car, my 728i was solid with a rough fuel tank, this car has rust issues but has a pretty good fuel tank , the way it goes really, at least the rust is'nt too bad and is pretty much (still a bit to patch on the boot floor) dealt with now. Replacing the fuel pipes next, going to get it outside the garage to do this though. Luckily i found this genuine BMW fuel pipe in B&Q
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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Mvictor
Part of things
@r4v.oli on insta
Posts: 31
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That's a nice ride mark, keep up the good work, gotta love euro big saloons! haha
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