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Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - A8 gone, 540i Update


Schaefft

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1 hour ago, DVee8 said:

Reading an old copy of Modern Classics.

I turned apon 

 

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Nice, I still got my copy as well. This came to be after an editor asked about anyone owning interesting classics they wanted to get featured in the BMW E39 FB owners group iirc. It took them a few months to publish it, its quite a condensed version of the email I sent originally. Also I dont know why but they completely made up my dreamcar lol.

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Anyway, the Audi A8 of many shiters has now gone to live with @Split_Pin, thanks again for the easy sale! Naturally I only found out today that it was actually financially completely unnecessary for me to sell this car but I've at least shown some goodwill towards my gf and her parents🤷‍♂️ The BMW Z3 has taken its space in my multicar policy so hopefully I can get it out on sunny, salt-free roads soon!

As mentioned above the NEC happened this weekend and I've been there with two mates who haven't been before this year. It was a good show, still a little smaller than pre-Covid but great nevertheless. The ticket prices are rather high though and charging £17.50 for parking for a few hours on top is insane, especially if you have to walk 15mins to get anywhere. Naturally my favorite car of the show was this first generation Mercury Sable thats been living in the UK since 1992. Of course someone had to turn into into a copcar replica at some point, it was still great to see a Sable in person, I don't think I ever have such an early one!

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To get to the NEC the 540i needed a bit of work. As mentioned further above in typical BMW manner it snapped a spring and destroyed a droplink the weekend before, so those needed to get sorted in the short moments of sunlight after work during the week:

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Using everyone's favorite, the dodgy spring compressors, I managed to get it all reassembled, only to realized that I wouldnt be able to get the compressors off the moment the strut would go in the car.

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So out it all came again, spring compressors released and reinstalled the other way around (none of which was easy), only to now see that the strut wouldn't fit underneath the car without losening the lower control arm.

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That fortunately did the trick and revealed that the bushing of one of them must be so knackered that there was very little restriction at all lowering the strut assembly to get it in. Thats of course not good and another thing that needs sorting eventually.

For some reason the ABS sensor managed to remove itself, quite mind boggling considering its held in by a bolt and is usually seized inside the hole it resides in. The bolt decided to just snap at one point so the sensor was just dangling there.

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A bit of superglue made sure that its not going anywhere anytime soon, but only after reseating the sensor a second time as it immediately triggered an ABS light the first time around. Extracting that snapped bolt will be a job for another time.

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All back together, everything seems to work fine. As always, tighten up the control arm bolts with the car on the ground and loaded to avoid tearing up your bushings. This is the sparewheel that came with the car, which happens to be the same wheel design my Z3 was equipped with from new. I'm planning to keep this car as unassuming and stock as a non-sport pre-facelift E39 can look (pre-fl headlights with gingercators coming soon) but this design of alloys is currently at the top of my list for the Touring.

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Which was quickly put into use to deliver the '64 Tbird trunklid I picked up for a mate in Berlin over Christmas. He ended up strapping it to the roof of his Peugeot 106 (only passed its MOT a day before after he had to replace both of his inner front wheel arches) and transported it that way all the way from Shepshed near Loughborough to Norfolk, an easy 140 miles.

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Since I couldn't return to Newcastle empty handed after the NEC I toured pretty much the entirety of the Midlands to pick up a replacement E39 Touring tailgate (wouldn't recommend transporting one with 3 people inside the car) and a replacement rear bumper for the E38 later, something I've been searching for in the right color for ages.

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As you can see, it all fits, just about. Even with this being a fast V8 estate its still earning its keep being a practical parts and scrap hauler. I left around 7am in the morning and got back at midnight, certainly put a few hundred occasionally pretty rough miles on it on that day.

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I didn't have time on the day but had a look into the factory toolkit of the new tailgate yesterday, only to find the fabled original BMW branded blue polishing cloth still in its place. Naturally these are usually long gone and impossible to find nowadays, especially with the logo still in place, making this a very rare and desireable accessory for many BMW botherers. Considering the going rate for them in Germany this made my day as it paid for half the price I paid for the thing. The rest of the toolkit is in excellent shape and worth decent money, too.

To thank the car for its services it finally received a (used) replacement oem drivers mat, have the mandatory before and after for cleaning them for the first time:

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Could have another go but considering this car is used regularly this should be ok for now. I've also got replacement sill/kickplates for it but didnt take any photos of that. The car will continue to receive regular action but with a house purchased soon locked in I need to get all the broken Mercedeses back on the road soon, more on those soon!

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  • Schaefft changed the title to Schaefft's Bargain Barge Extravaganza - A8 gone, 540i Update

Almost forgot to post this one, the only moment I had both of them parked next to each other. You'd think that two similar age, segment and origin cars would offer the same ownership experience. In reality these two cars have very different personalities thanks to their design inside and out and driving characteristics.

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Hopefully the much larger drive of the new house will allow me to do these kind of side by side comparisons more often.

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Sorry you didn't need to sell the A8 in the end, you did seem quite sad to see it go yesterday 😕

Rest assured it has gone to a good home. It has been a dream car of mine since the D3 was launched. 

I did a circuit of the nearby streets before meeting you yesterday to warm up (wearing shorts was a bad idea) and I took a tour of your fine collection! 

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1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

Sorry you didn't need to sell the A8 in the end, you did seem quite sad to see it go yesterday 😕

Rest assured it has gone to a good home. It has been a dream car of mine since the D3 was launched. 

I did a circuit of the nearby streets before meeting you yesterday to warm up (wearing shorts was a bad idea) and I took a tour of your fine collection! 

Knowing its not out of reach certainly makes a difference, hence the decent shiter discounts people usually get on here. I'd definitely have it back in a few months when all the hassle is over!

And well, now that winter is over I can hopefully find the time to properly clean and drive all of them again. 5 months of barely seeing a bucket of water makes the neighborhood look a kinda run down now😂

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