Dabooka

Weekend over, 250+ miles and almost exactly a tank later and the car did well without trouble aside from an annoying rattle from a heatshield with the top down. Pretty sure this was also the first time I drove over the Hardknott pass, which happened to be during a bicycle hillclimb type event...

A few driving impressions: Generally quite comfortable, the suspension and seats are definitely long-distance worthy. Noise levels are high with both the top up or down (naturally) at motorway speeds but the only comparable car I have ever driven was a 2-series convertible.

It handles well although I couldn't get even close to its limits with the gf in the passenger seat (constantly shouting slower SLOWER even at normal speed limits)😂. Tracking is quite easily affected by uneven road surfaces, much more than the usually much bigger cars I'm used to. That compactness really helps with the lake district's many one lane roads though.

Its not quite summer yet but with temperatures rising I'm definitely looking forward to some more top down motoring. Maybe I'll actually get the SL500 sorted and MOT'd in time to be able to compare the two.

If I could follow this thread twice I would… 

The Corona only made a brief appearance as its now switching storage spaces with the Z3, which is reawakened from its slumber over the winter. The Clubman isn't mine, neither is the Rover 200 convertible rotting away just outside the frame.

Today was actually the first time I could have a really close look at what I bought at Mathewsons back in October as the car went into storage not all that much later.

A wash was badly needed, even under a tarp the dust quickly built up.

So yeah, impressions are still very positive considering the silly low price I paid. There is a little bit of bubbling on the passenger front wing panel and outer sill. Since pretty much every exterior panel is bolt-on on the Z3 this should be a rather easy fix however, if I do anything about it at all for now. There's a scratch on the rear quarter and a few stonechips on the very large bonnet, other than that its really just very minor stuff for what is now a 25 year old car.

I've managed to clear the airbag light (driver seatbelt tensioner) and will keep an eye on any fault codes coming up over the next few days. The plan is to take the car out for a weekend in the Lake district tomorrow, plenty of time to get a little more familiar with it then! The cheap floormats will go in the bin once I got a proper OEM-like set. I want to replace the center console dials/shifter trim with the burl wood variant as well to brighten up the interior a little, if I can find a sensibly priced set for a facelift dash that is. The chromeline package helps a little but the less matte black plastic the better.

Its incredible to think that these were sold side by side in a BMW showroom back in late 2001/2002. With its E36 origins the Z3 feels easily more than a decade older inside, the E65 still feels somewhat fresh today.
Speaking of the E65 - the 18 quid pedal assembly actually fixed the limp home mode. It sucks that things appear to break all the time. At the same time parts are so plentiful and cheap that it almost doesn't matter. With the running issues sorted I was able to confirm that the windshield was sealing properly after all, no whistling sounds noticeable at any speed. That meant the A-pillar trims could go back on for one last time:

I've also had a moment to replace the bonnet badge. They are all prone to fading and its surprisingly hard to find a badge that's not clearly Chinese junk sold as OEM part, fake packaging and everything.

That's much better:

Still plenty of other things to sort but this was a satisfyingly easy improvement for once.

Don’t know whether I’ve made it look better or worse but here we go. Took the door card out, pushed the top part out by hand and then got a block of wood and a rubber mallet to get as much out from the lower part. 
 
It’s certainly still very uneven but it’s not so caved in now, bit less noticeable. 
 
Also took the blower motor out, it seems to be the actual fan making the noise so will likely just replace it. Have put some oil on the bearing tonight, will let it soak for a day or so then plug it in and see if it’s any quieter first.
 
Before:



After:

Collected it last night, stuck 3 hours insurance on it for £11 and made it the 30 min drive back from Norwich.
First impressions? Decent. Auto box is smooth, it runs/idles lovely, cabin is very basic but I look at this shape and see it as a brand new car still. £550 seems mental. 
 

1500 quid sounds alright for this posh as fuck 405 with a years MOT
handbrake status unverified.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196345282968

Ordered a replacement gas pedal for the BMW for 18 quid. It's probably the throttle body that's the actual issue but its worth a shot.
In Celsior news, the car finally received fresh brake fluid, pads, hoses and wear sensors this weekend. I've also done a few other minor jobs while in there and unfortunately revealed a little more carelessness by the bodyshop. Let the wrenching commence!
Front brakes first. I actually didnt end up using the caliper piston rebuild kits on the left, the pistons were still sliding back in nice and smoothly.

Well, I think we can say I got my money's worth out of those pads. I don't know when these got changed the last time but it certainly been a while considering the car didn't do that many miles in the last 15 years.

The loose wire in the left photo is the wear indicator sensor btw, for some reason whoever replaced the pads didn't know how to or didn't bother installing it again. This is also what I originally expected to be a cut ABS sensor wire a few years back btw, the sensor plugs into the wiring loom of the ABS sensor, bit of an odd design on early Celsiors.

Can't say these are the worst pads I've seen but we haven't had a look at the rear ones yet.

Quick look underneath to see where the minor exhaust leak is coming from. Like the exhaust shop said, one of the exhaust temp sensors is blowing, they tried to goop it up but no luck. Unfortunately impossible to buy now, not sure if it could get welded? I've also had a look at the O2 sensors and tried to measure their resistance. Well, it seems like there is infinite resistance which of course isn't right, it should be somewhere between 5.1-6.3 ohms at around room temperature. I unplugged them to see if it would make any difference to the way the car runs. It doesn't so new sensors it is!

The 135 quid Maxpeedingrods which I only bought to get the car through the MOT are holding up surprisingly well. I've greased them up before installing them so everything is still moving nicely. Unfortunately I just remembered while writing this that I should have put some fresh grease on them... I also found the source for my very noticeable front suspension clunking. I originally blamed the coilovers but its actually the front swaybar bushes that are so worn out that the swaybar can freely move from left to right. So new swaybar bushes are added to the shopping list. I've also fixed the messed up passenger side bumper corner I accidently caught on a wall. No photos yet but some hot air, a tactical ziptie and reinstalling a bumper bracket did wonders.
The rear is next. Working on an incline lifting a rear weel driven car is always fun.

If you are wondering why Im using different brands for pads and hoses compared to the front, so do I. I think they just ended up reducing the combined shipping costs when I ordered them from Rockauto like 2 years ago. Motul RBF600 is probably some of the best brake fluid you can get if pedal feel matters to you.

Yeah, I think its about time to replace those pads...

The disc is getting very thin as well so rear discs are added to the shopping list...

Certainly cutting it thin with these. The rears actually had the wear sensors properly in place, replacing this one finally got rid of the last (permanent) dash warning light. Unfortunately the passenger side rear caliper piston was really struggling getting pushed back in so I might need a new caliper there. I'm not sure how much extra I paid for the Bosch pads compared to the Beck/Arnley ones but they were certainly much more neatly packed and actually came with a sachet of brake grease. I used copper grease on the sliders for the front calipers instead.
About the bodyshop's carelessness mentioned further above:

The rear trailing arm bolt is completely loose, the nut was never tightened after the sill got welded there. Mistakes can happen but I'm really starting to get the feeling that things were just slapped together in the end to rush the car out the door. Something like this is pretty dangerous. I had to replace the nut (with a Mercedes one no less) as it wouldn't properly tighten anymore, I'll have to have another look the next time its on a lift though.

While having the wheels off I finally had a chance to raise the rear coilovers by 20mm to level out the car a bit better. I don't think its perfect yet but lowering the front should result in a nicely balanced stance.

Let me know what you think! The rear discs, swaybar bushes and O2 sensors will hopefully be the last few bits to make it mechanically solid. Being 32 years old now it'll probably always need something but any MOT relevant work should near with these 3 things soon.
Some bonus content, the Cadillac is finally moving again and received a wash. That immediately revealed the various paint defects it has, the photos are hiding them remarkably well fortunately!

Another big blue landyacht that will receive some more attention this summer.

E65 finally got a new windscreen today. Unfortunately Im fairly sure I heard some whistling sound coming from the windshield on my way back on the motorway, which would mean that it's not sealed properly and will need doing again. I wanted to confirm during my lunch break, the problem is that either the gas pedal position sensor or throttle body decided to die, sending it into limp home mode and it's now not recognizing any gas at all. E65 ownership in a nutshell.
At least I was able to glue a new BMW badge onto my remote so there's that.

All I can say is the missus and I lost out on our ‘ideal’ home a few years ago which changed our plans and now sees us in a house we are far far happier about.  It’ll all work out in the end (like missing out on the ideal bargain motor, another one always comes along). Incidentally when we sold our house (to a pal as it turned out) the move was set for the Tuesday and we got it moved on the Friday; they declined the £60 quid fee for the faster payment and we had to wait three extra days. For sixty fucking quid.
And that Celsior is 🔥

I don't wanna holiday in the sun
I wanna go to Preston
I wanna see some bodgery
'cause  now I've got a reasonable economy
 
Now I've gotta reason, now I've gotta reason
now I've gotta reason and I'm still waiting
now I've gotta reason
now I've gotta reason to be waiting
For the AA to call

There's sod all in the walls at all
while I was waiting for the cladder to call

I dared to asked for sun shine I got world of  wob 3
I'm looking at the tape and it looks fucked to me

Now I've gotta reason, now I've gotta reason
now I've gotta reason and I'm still waiting
now I've gotta reason
now I've gotta reason to be waiting
For the AA to call

The electrics are shite
there's nowt here anyway
The switches got no reason to be here at all
but now they've found a reason
and it's no real reason
to be glued to the fucking wall

I'm going send this over the weigh bridge scales
I don't understand this thing at all
I'm going to go over and over the weighbridge scales
I'm going to go over the weighbridge scales
I'm going to go over the weighbridge scales

Isoponophobia, there's too much filler here
there's too many bubbles oh when will it fall
and now I've gotta reason
it's no real reason, to be wobbing this door at all

It's gotta go over the bridge
I don't understand this thing at all
It's  like a third rate 'V-dub' horror show
I don't understand this bit at all

I'm gonna go over the bridge
I'm gonna go over the weigh bridge
I'm gonna go over the weighbridge y'all
fuck all before me over the weighbridge y'all
I don't understand this thing all
Please be Cartakebacking for me

1986 Bedford Midi Camper Campervan Classic Retro Project | eBay
 

Station Road, Fulwell, Sunderland. 

All I can say is the missus and I lost out on our ‘ideal’ home a few years ago which changed our plans and now sees us in a house we are far far happier about.  It’ll all work out in the end (like missing out on the ideal bargain motor, another one always comes along). Incidentally when we sold our house (to a pal as it turned out) the move was set for the Tuesday and we got it moved on the Friday; they declined the £60 quid fee for the faster payment and we had to wait three extra days. For sixty fucking quid.
And that Celsior is 🔥

Ta.
Link! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Rich-Duisberg/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ARich+Duisberg
 
 
 

Thanks guys, I'm hoping for the next one to come around eventually. The letter hasn't arrived to this day, very unusual for Royal Mail but maybe a sign why it wasn't meant to be. It's a huge bummer right now but might be for the better long term as long as we aren't overpaying for whatever comes next. Thats not easy in this market despite everything currently going on.

Some disappointing news on the house side. It was all pretty much set in stone, we were only waiting for a bank statement that would proof we had the deposit in place for the estate agent to agree on the sale. Well, for whatever inexplicable reason my better half and her dad thought it would be a wise idea to have this sent via Post when they sorted it (I thought its easier to just have it all in a single account, hers), before a bank holiday weekend. Naturally the expected happened, Royal mail fucked up and didn't deliver, viewings happened on the long weekend, the previously motivated seller got a significantly better offer and we are out. I intervened and told gf/father in law to call the bank asap when the letter still wasn't here on Tuesday, we promptly got an email copy instead but even that would have cost us tens of thousands (!) of pounds in the end. Just another lesson to be learned, if something is important sort it yourself and never ever rely on anybody else. In 99 out of 100 cases people simply don't think or will fuck it up. Unfortunately a lesson I learn over and over and over again.
I don't think we'll get the opportunity we had there again but maybe the next one will at least offer a little more garage space. I also have more time to revive the other cars that will need to move eventually, so there's that...
Anyway, after picking up the parts for the Celsior last week I managed to make a little progress. I tried to clean the new bonnet but the dirt is so deeply ingrained that I'll have to get the polisher out next. I've also transferred the dual washer pipes exclusive to the Celsior over to the new bonnet, I still don't know why Toyota decided to go with two different setups for something as simple as washer pipes. Many different clips that were previously missing are back on the car and I finally managed to have a look at the lazy blower motor (yes it's somewhere behind all that wiring):

Fortunately there's just enough space to undo 3 bolts and drop it out from the bottom. At first I thought the transistor controlling the motor (there's also a separate more common resistor) at high speeds would be at fault so I rigged up its replacement. It became increasingly clear that it cannot be the source of the somewhat erratic motor speed though, especially when the motor works differently well depending on its position.

In the end I think the carbon brushes are just worn out, another indicator that the car will have significantly more miles than indicated. I tried to clean it all with brake cleaner and made an attempt at greasing the bearings. It's not seized up (like the W140 blower motor was) or fouling against anything so it can only really be the contact points of the carbon brushes being close to gone. I can press up on the motor shaft when it's installed and it suddenly goes twice as fast. It just doesn't get the voltage it needs anymore.
Anyhow, another drive into the countryside yesterday. Despite the remaining jobs it really is a great driver now. Here it is assuming it's Street Fighter position:


Almost. Hopefully a replacement blower motor will sort the airflow, I'll have to reach out to the local old school auto electrician to diagnose the radio and I might have a go at raising the coilovers in the back. Maybe even the A/C system could hold some pressure?

In the right lighting you could almost forget about it's cosmetic flaws, with some paint this could be a great looking car from any distance!

Good news! Fairly expected ones to be fair. The ULEZ refugee E38 passed another MOT, same advisories as before and 222 miles later, 6 miles more than the year before... With so many other cars around it doesn't see all that much action, the only long trip its done last year was taking family to Cragside in Summer and it's not seeing the roads outside the estate at all during the salty season (which is basically half a year now it seems). A quick trip into town to have some Chinese dinner (it was great) was enough to confirm everything is still spot on.

Why do these look so goooood?! I might replace the rear lower control arms eventually to get those two points off the advisory list, no clue where they still found a seeping powersteering hose. With the replacement rear bumper and plenty of other parts for preventative maintanance and cosmetics in the boot I'm hoping to have another wave of improvements done on it over the next few months.

First real big trip for the Celsior tomorrow.

I literally just came back from Birmingham last weekend to pick up some parts for the E38 and E39. Naturally someone posted an LS400 they are breaking on FB just a few days later and it's got both the exterior and interior color of my Celsior, which is a very rare thing to happen nowadays really. And it's in... Birmingham!
I'll probably buy the front seats and rear bumper, plus possibly the bonnet if they are in decent shape. Its impossible to tell from the photos.
Coincidentally I also got a message from Scaryoldcortina yesterday that someone has an abandoned Toyota Celsior (!) they are looking to get offers on, in Gateshead of all places! So naturally I headed over there after work yesterday to have a look.

Unfortunately it's not in the right colors and too far gone to ever look decent again. It blows my mind that of the handful of 1st gen Celsiors that must be left in this country one is just rotting away minutes from my house. It could be a decent parts donor for some Celsior specific bits but I don't need all that much from a pre-fl car either. Would have been an easy decision if it had the right colors.

Should anyone be interested in a very rough example of a very cool rare car let me know. The odometer only shows 140k km (definitely more accurate than mine) and being a high spec it comes with the Japanese market electronic suspension (not air suspension) as well. Might even still work!

No, I really don't! 😆
Chod speed

cars for sale | eBay

So with everything out the way and a  compression test done, I had a niggling in the back of my mind - 'Do we actually have good spark, is the injector getting a pulse??'
One way to find out

Apologies for the poor picture, but with a noid lamp -  (Freshly purchased from https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637205125/6pc-noid-light-set ) , it was confirmed we had injector pulse.
And Halfords spark tester  (https://www.halfords.com/tools/hand-tools/electrical-diagnostics/laser-ignition-spark-tester-in-line-208694.html ) , it was also confirmed we had spark, but a rather weak looking one. Tried a new coil and things looked much healthier, result.
Old plugs removed and replaced 

Oh for a pot to piss in.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235452921604?itmmeta=01HS60DH0RKXA0CF7EFSRNX4SW&hash=item36d2167704:g:z7QAAOSwZLJl3XGf&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4JrKn4BKl64eouNHKPFiNOwkXpdFquIY3H%2BD3xEzaf2JPuaUX61M91JknX%2Firza32xh3%2BS5bsPXtXtLJlgmZ72x9cg8N2yGYOUCcaH6%2BzudbdB%2BvX2OBvfo8tchNPO66DQMI5QCLZeKwRY2%2BjtUkz3M9XZGlybvLSK99X78igS6YXzRJjyqrGz5nMF%2BobMs5Wy2w3W%2FPPmu%2BIma1rOjRpd6c9F%2BJzel5hsA1rVtBK8uCDRi2n%2BquONjePdfyIG4jhejvU3x73oF1xwA2pDnaA8h1oTsEdx8%2FFE9dBtTpOqtA|tkp%3ABk9SR7aQtsDJYw

Just caught up on this. Don’t feel disappointed at all, £650 quid is a bargain IMHO.  Spend some time sprucing and cleaning and it’ll feel a million times better.
I think it’s ace

Just caught up on this. Don’t feel disappointed at all, £650 quid is a bargain IMHO.  Spend some time sprucing and cleaning and it’ll feel a million times better.
I think it’s ace

Volvo F10 | eBay
'Sukalic-Trans' sounds like an interesting night on PornHub.

Nicely done and again thank you for undertaking this. Much appreciated by all