Project Domes shonky autos - Car that lived by the sea in Scotland in rust shocker*

[dome]

It gets more complicated, the caliper carrier spacing on a 1*2 is different to what I have. This means I need hubs at least and possibly more. 

Annoyingly I've bought calipers, caliper pins, discs and pads from 4 separate suppliers so returning them all would be a ballache. 

More importantly, regardless of how good the brakes were now I know they aren't 1*2 I need to fix this. 

Will hubs be enough or will I need arms, driveshafts, track rods? You'll find out shortly after I do...

[hairnet]

erp

hope its not too much of a headache

will @320touring bother his for ya?

 

[dome]

So, as you may have seen from my collection thread I picked up the Rangeys replacement last weekend -a 2008 BMW 530D MSport touring auto.

Here's some pics from the ad.

 

It's got the M57 engine which had 230bhp as standard, this one has been remapped to 272 though (same as a 535d). It goes well 😳

It's on 160k but has full history and the guy I got it from has had it since 2016. 

It's a nice spec and drives well but I wanted to do some fettling before it was pressed into service.

First up, some cosmetics. 

The number plates were the only advisory on the MOT it has just passed the day I viewed it so new ones were ordered up.

Old

New. I'm going to relocate the rear, it's too high 🙄

The centre caps were also knackered, £10 to eBay sorted that.

As it'll have a bike and/or dog in it most of the time a boot liner was required, I scored a genuine one locally.

And it is due a service so Opie were called upon.

 

[dome]

The main thing I wanted to attend to was the infamous swirl flaps on these engines.

I'll not bore you with the long winded version but a lot of this era of BMW diesels have moveable flaps in the intake manifold which over time can deteriorate to the point of breaking up and being ingested by the engine. Not good.

The standard way round this is to remove the flaps and blank them off.

There's 2 sizes they could be, I purchased both sizes of blanking plates as I got this wrong on my old 330d. 

The pollen filters are under the scuttle on this so they come off along with some other trim and you can then get access to get the manifold off. 

And, by the state of the flaps, I got to them at just the right time!

https://youtube.com/shorts/5U8wigoU-mI?feature=share

The plastic coating broke away in my hand. Not likely to be fatal to be fair but they can get tae fuck.

Half way there

And done

I'd ordered up some vacuum hose to replace the lines under the inlet manifold, unfortunately the old hose was stronger than the connectors so I need to nip to the scrappy for a new valve before I can put it back together. 🙄

I've left the egr soaking to give it a clean up. I've seen worse though. It was mainly used for motorway miles which will help.

I'll have some peace of mind knowing that the flaps are gone so can start to use the thing!

 

[Bren]

Looks lovely. ZF boxes are a bit meh - if changes are a bit fluffy it may need a service.

[dome]

2 minutes ago, Bren said:

Looks lovely. ZF boxes are a bit meh - if changes are a bit fluffy it may need a service.

Thanks  Changes are ok but I plan on getting it a service anyway. I'll probably farm it out if it's the box where you need the fluid at 30 degrees with the fill plug open as you really need a ramp for that.

[dome]

Oh yeah, the Kangoo. 

Brake woes continue, here's what I need (so far) to upgrade to the Clio 182 brakes I thought I had anyway!

New hubs with correct caliper bolt pattern AND new driveshafts as the splines on the existing ones don't fit. That, caliper carriers and a couple of new lower ballpoints might be all I need. 

Sometimes it's better not to look...

[cort16]

1 hour ago, dome said:

The main thing I wanted to attend to was the infamous swirl flaps on these engines.

I'll not bore you with the long winded version but a lot of this era of BMW diesels have moveable flaps in the intake manifold which over time can deteriorate to the point of breaking up and being ingested by the engine. Not good.

The standard way round this is to remove the flaps and blank them off.

There's 2 sizes they could be, I purchased both sizes as I got this wrong on my old 330d. 

The pollen filters are under the scuttle on this so they come off along with some other trim and you can then get access to get the manifold off. 

And, by the state of the flaps, I got to them at just the right time!

https://youtube.com/shorts/5U8wigoU-mI?feature=share

The plastic coating broke away in my hand. Not likely to be fatal to be fair but they can get tae fuck.

Half way there

And done

I'd ordered up some vacuum hose to replace the lines under the inlet manifold, unfortunately the old hose was stronger than the connectors so I need to nip to the scrappy for a new valve before I can put it back together. 🙄

I've left the egr soaking to give it a clean up. I've seen worse though. It was mainly used for motorway miles which will help.

I'll have some peace of mind knowing that the flaps are gone so can start to use the thing!

Impressive that it got to those miles without someone replacing the flaps or it grenading as it's such a well known issue. I remember a 320d coming into the garage next door to me and the guy spent the near end of a grand on a new clutch and flywheel and 5 days later it grenaded as the flaps had dropped. It was on similiar miles as well.

[dome]

I cracked on with this after work today. I managed to pick up the part I broke and vowed to leave the vacuum lines the fuck alone. The vacuum lines on this are stronger than the parts they're attached to.

First up, the egr. It's not quite up to M539 standards but unless Vixen Surface Treatments want to sort me out with a big fuckoff blasting cabinet it's as good as you're getting.

I got it all back together and cracked on with servicing it. 

This is where it gets frustrating.

There's an access hatch for the sump plug.

Which I discovered after pulling the front undertray off, forgetting how far back the engines sit in these things🙈

Still, it gave me a chance to clean the salt out of it😳

Then on to the air filter. This has a handy access hatch.

Which only serves to frustrate you when you have to take all the bits you've refitted from doing the flaps back off again to get the actual cover off.

Aye, it's a big fucker. 

I got that changed and then on to the fuel filter. This was a bit of a faff as it's hidden under an undertray so you're not getting any pics. It would be easy on a ramp but I don't have one.

I do have a set of campervan ramps though that I bought today, these are pretty good for access to simple things like dropping the oil and you can drive a modern on them unlike old fashioned ramps.

Anyway, fuel filter changed-a cheapy Chinese filter from 2019 was replaced by a fresh Mahle one. Modrin diseasals do seem to like a good quality fuel filter so hopefully that'll help.

Priming it was easy-ignition on and it'll self prime-take note Honda et al with your manual priming pumps. 

Tomorrow I need to refit the undertrays then give it a clean. 

Oh, and put the Kangoo back together. Have I got all the bits I need? Stay tuned...

[horriblemercedes]

You're right about the fuel filter. I have a 320d with the M47 engine and it developed a very occasional stutter at about 220k. So slight and occasional that I thought I was imagining it at first. 

 

Changed the filter at about 230k in the end and it has never stuttered again

[Matty]

28 minutes ago, dome said:

hich I discovered after pulling the front undertray off, forgetting how far back the engines sit in these things

I had that e46 for nearly 5 years. Every fucking time I serviced it I pulled the under tray off before remembering the sump plug was after it 🤣

[dome]

Got the BMW back together and took it a spin. Was treated to an EML for the egr. I pulled the throttle body off and poked around at it and it's not came back on yet. Hopefully it'll stay off...

Gave it a quick wash, have some pics.

 

[dome]

Also started on the Kangoo. Driveshafts swapped over and as usual pulling the passenger side one deposits the contents of the gearbox on the driveway 🤦‍♂️

New ones fitted and started assembling the drivers side.

Stopped for lunch, back at it in a bit!

[Split_Pin]

Cracking big car that 5 series, good shout on the flaps.

The 75 has the 4 cylinder version of that so the air filter arrangement is the same, except its transverse and tight against the bulkhead. Its a fun* job.

[dome]

So, where did I leave this? Ah yes, just about to move on to the other side of the Kangoo.

So, let's fit the driveshaft. This involves draining the gearbox oil(either voluntarily or involuntarily) as the passenger side shaft goes straight in to the gearbox.

Note to self-drain it out of the drain plug first as no matter how quickly you try and swap shafts you won't be quick enough 😳

New shaft on and fit the hub with a new balljoint as per the other side, just need to get the strut bolts in before assembling the rest. 

But, what's this?

Balls. The shaft was too long.

Ah well, not much I can do until I can get up to my mates unit to swap shafts. At this point another mate popped in for a cuppa so I let him have a look at the BMW. I gave him a shot but it was as flat as a witches tit with zero acceleration - very strange after it driving fine for me an hour earlier 

TLDR it would eventually pull if you kept your foot in but only above about 2k rpm. I had codes for the EGR so sacked it off til Sunday.

On Sunday I pulled the inlet manifold back off to recheck the pipework-all was good. I took the egr off and cleaned it, again, then reassembled it and-got the same thing.

Unplugging the egr makes it drive fine so one of two things has happened.

1. The control valve I got from the scrappy to replace the broken one is knackered

2. I've broken the EGR valve whilst trying to clean it.

The parts cannon has been fired on a very clean looking egr on eBay. If that doesn't cure it I'll need a new valve. I'll need to change something to see where the problem lies. 

Until then I have this to contend with.

At least it drives well, as @320touring can attest to after getting a shot. And he's a man who knows his grey estate cars.

Back to the Kangoo and I got a chance to get the shaft swapped over-it turns out there's a big difference in length between Clio shafts over the years. I had a later shaft which was a good 15mm longer than the Phase 1 shaft which I ended up with. 

This looks a bit better...

And with a disc fitted

And (nearly) ready to rock with the studs and spacer fitted-Because Race Van.

Gearbox filled up with my patented method.

 

I'm waiting for a set of caliper shims and then need to get a volunteer for a final bleed then it can go back on the road. And not a moment too soon, I've missed it!

 

 

[320touring]

Thon 530d has a sufficiency of waft.

 

Big girl can run. And entirely undramatic. It put me in mind of @davidfowler2000's T6 

[dome]

OK, I've been a bit tardy in updating this so here goes.

 

Kangoo

I got this back together and back on the road only to be presented with a random droning noise which seemed to be wheel speed related. After an attempt at troubleshooting including regreasing the CV joints and prodding things I gave up and carried on driving it til it got worse. Sure enough at the weekend I jacked it up and the drivers side front wheel bearing which previously seemed fine was a touch rumbly. Good, at least I knew where the problem lay.

I also had to finally replace the rusty front wing as it started to self destruct. I had one in stock so it was pretty easy to swap over.

Patina*

Wing removed.

Wait, what's this? Enhance!

Aye, that's cunted! Fecking Eibach too. We'll come back to that...

Do not paint. Or actually, do paint. 

@fraz sent me on a fruitless trip to the scrappy to help polish his latest turd but I was unable to find the parts he needed. I did however find a Kangoo that wasn't lying on it's arse sans wheels so managed to liberate the spare wheel carrier from it which I was missing. 

This means I could move the spare from its current location freeing up a bit of space.

 

On Tuesday I visited my tame Clio wrangler and got a new bearing fitted to the hub and got a new pair of springs. Being lower than standard spring compressors aren't required which is handy. One of my shocks wouldn't stay extended though so I had to break out the redneck spring compressors to help get it back together. 

I also managed to have a brain fart and convince myself I'd put the top mounts on upside down. Spoiler alert-I hadn't but only discovered this after taking the fecking things apart and reassembling them. Baws. 

Anyway, I could finally get it back together and take it for a drive.

It's been a while since I'd driven it properly so i took it out last night. It needs tracking done but it's driving very well.

The brakes were good beforehand but with the bigger discs and new calipers they are now in a different league-it feels like it could lift the back wheels off the deck on heavy braking!

 

[dome]

BMW

The EGR I ordered arrived so I fitted this and took it a run and... same problem. That left the EGR controller which I'd already replaced. I ordered up another one from eBay and fitted it and thankfully the EML went out and has, so far, stayed out. So the problem in the first place was that the replacement I'd bought was fucked. What a pain in the ass.

This does mean that if there's a Guinness world record for M57 inlet manifold removal (or Clio/Kangoo strut replacement) then I'm your man. 

I did get the dreaded bong shortly afterwards to inform me i had a tyre pressure problem. I initially assumed there was an issue with the sensors but it runs off the ABS sensors so that would likely show up other errors.

Checking pressures showed that the drivers front had lost a bit of air. I did the right thing and ignored this for a while-as the car wasn't used much I just topped up the tyre before a journey. Talk of cracked alloys on these meant I was in no hurry to investigate.

On Saturday I finally had some spare time so pulled the wheel off and broke out the (dogs) paddling pool for testing purposes.

Good job the wheel wasn't any bigger...

There was nothing obvious until I left it lying face down and waited. Eventually a tiny bubble (©Sydney Devine)  appeared from around the valve.

Whew! Alloys intact! Off to my local National and they fitted a new valve for me. 

While the wheel was off I gave the bushes a prod-there was a noticeable vibration under braking. The front discs are pretty new but the lower front bushing seemed to move quite a lot with a bit of prying. I've ordered up a pair of Meyle HD arms which will hopefully make a difference.

The service kit for the gearbox has also turned up. I'm very tempted to farm both these jobs out to someone with a lift-the full length undertrays on this mean getting it up on axle stands would be a pain in the ass. Also the gearbox needs warmed up to 35 degrees with the fill plug off to get the level correct which will be a pain on stands but far easier on a 4 post lift.

 

 

[J-T]

My 3 series did the brake vibration thing. It also had pretty new discs on it, so I changed all the front control arms which helped a bit but didn’t cure it entirely. I ended up putting a set of ATE discs on (OE manufacturer and were about twice the cost of most other alternatives) which sorted it, that was about 12 months ago. I think both 3 and 5 series of this vintage have a habit of ruining cheap discs 

[Bren]

I need a set of alloys for mine - low profile tyres = cracks.

[Tepper]

Would recommend farming the gearbox job out - I did it on a 2 poster and it was alright, if a bit fiddly, but doing on the deck would be a PITA. Not sure if you've already got these in the service kit but it's worth changing the mechatronics seals, D bridge seal and mechatronics connector sleeve while you're in there. Also, if you've got the standard (i.e. not sport) gearbox, the XHP gearbox map is worth doing. It's DIY through an app, although I haven't had the spuds to try out Drag Race Mode yet.

[dome]

3 minutes ago, Tepper said:

Would recommend farming the gearbox job out - I did it on a 2 poster and it was alright, if a bit fiddly, but doing on the deck would be a PITA. Not sure if you've already got these in the service kit but it's worth changing the mechatronics seals, D bridge seal and mechatronics connector sleeve while you're in there. Also, if you've got the standard (i.e. not sport) gearbox, the XHP gearbox map is worth doing. It's DIY through an app, although I haven't had the spuds to try out Drag Race Mode yet.

Thanks, this reinforced what I thought. I do indeed have the additional seal kit to fit too. 

I'd read about the gearbox map but was a bit wary of messing about with it when it's about to get its first fluid change in 160k miles!

[Tepper]

9 hours ago, dome said:

I'd read about the gearbox map but was a bit wary of messing about with it when it's about to get its first fluid change in 160k miles!

If it ain't broke... map it until it is.

[GingerNuttz]

Dome and myself got the engine mocked up on Sat.

Crossmember modified.

Steering rack spacers added to the crossmember for clearance.

 

Bolt everything back in tomorrow and start building engine mounts along with the gearbox mount .

[juular]

Just now, GingerNuttz said:

Dome and myself got the engine mocked up on Sat.

Crossmember modified.

Steering rack spacers added to the crossmember for clearance.

 

Bolt everything back in tomorrow and start building engine mounts along with the gearbox mount .

First rate stuff going on here. Exciting times.

[horriblemercedes]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:31 PM, J-T said:

My 3 series did the brake vibration thing. It also had pretty new discs on it, so I changed all the front control arms which helped a bit but didn’t cure it entirely. I ended up putting a set of ATE discs on (OE manufacturer and were about twice the cost of most other alternatives) which sorted it, that was about 12 months ago. I think both 3 and 5 series of this vintage have a habit of ruining cheap discs 

Oddly BMW actually produces its own brake discs in house at a factory in Berlin. They're very good quality too. Recommended 

[dome]

It was such a relief to see the engine actually fits in the shell, once @GingerNuttz worked his magic. 

Next up: 4 link kit and Volvo rear axle. The shell will be getting stitch welded too and some extra reinforcement to stiffen things up nicely. I've also got some reinforcement plates for the front suspension so it's safe to say it's going to handle well once it's all set up. 

Not a lot else has happened as I have a severe lack of mojo for fettling just now.  I did give the BMW bodywork a going over today-clay bar, polish and wax and it's looking better. 

It really needs a new bumper and bonnet, I'll keep my eyes open for one breaking in the right colour.

[stuboy]

bmw looks great, staff at work have been buying them but in 320d flavour

[dome]

Well, I've not bought a car for a while. This one isn't very autoshite, although it's 23 years old and is leaking fluids from various places. 

Location: Dundee #prayfordome

PC 2 and highly likely to increase

ETA around 3pm

[Bren]

Another BMW?