1995 BMW 320i

[320touring]

Haaaah! Good to see her ride again!

[Supernaut]

That brake dust!

 

Also, immature snowfoam photo you say?

 

 

Bah, you edited the post while I was posting this!

 

 

 

Still need to do the rear shocks, but it was too cold to do that today. I also have the bracket for the left front drop link to clean up and find another bolt for. I have that in the Mondeo, as I'll be going past the parents' farm tomorrow for Easter lunch. My dad has a very useful workshop where I'll be able to clean it up and find another bolt that fits.

[fatharris]

Glad this is progressing nicely, the wheels are fine as stopgaps for now

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[Supernaut]

Seeing as this car is edging slowly closer to being roadworthy, and thus street parked in Aberdeen, I'm thinking about security.

 

What type of steering wheel locks do people recommend and where would I purchase it from?

Puddlethumper's 305 van going missing has sadly reminded me that older cars are not safe from oxygen thieves.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Disclok. And agreed value insurance.

[Supernaut]

Another question!

GSF have a 58% off offer right now, so I'm looking at getting oil and filters for this. I know 320touring said he serviced it fairly recently, but it's been sitting all winter and I don't think that's done it any good.

The problem is, GSF list a few different grades of oil for this!

- 10W40
- 5W40
- 0W40
- 5W30
- 15W40

 

Which one would the discerning shiter recommend for a 150k+ mile 320i?
 

 

[binbag]

My e4shite has done 136000 and I just use the cheapest fully synthetic 5W-30 oil that I can find.

 

I change it every 6 to 8000 miles and in 4 years I've had no problems (touch wood)

[Supernaut]

Fair enough.

 

The other problem I've noticed is that this takes 6.5 litres! Of course you can only buy oil in 5L or 1L bottles! Gah!

[binbag]

If you are keeping the car buy two 5L tubs , the used one goes towards the next oil change.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

15/40 semi is fine.

[Supernaut]

Changing the rear shocks on this was relatively straightforward! It now has new rear shocks and top mounts.

The front ARB links are now properly attached too, and I even put a motor in the driver's side window! The driver's side window still doesn't do the automatic drop a few mm then back up again when you open/close the door, but you can still open/close the door with it all the way up. Seems better than it was with the regulator cable-tied in place. It's not the quietest of electric windows either... hey, at least it works!

 

With the suspension sorted it actually feels really nice to drive now.

 

Have a photo of me looking victorious after removing one of the shocks:

 

 

 

 

Mr Coffees has more photos. I was too busy, y'know, doing stuff to take photos.

[Split_Pin]

The auto drop window on my Coupe is reset by pressing and holding down until you hear a click then the same in the fully closed position, worth a try?

[Supernaut]

The auto drop window on my Coupe is reset by pressing and holding down until you hear a click then the same in the fully closed position, worth a try?

Turns out it's a different method:

 

 

Basically, put all the windows down, get out of the car and hold the key in the door in the lock position, and all the windows go back up again. Apparently. Will my one do it? Find out next weekend!

[320touring]

Good work on this:) I imagine rear shocks and topmounty will have it feeling like a racecar compared to before!

[Supernaut]

Good work on this:) I imagine rear shocks and topmounty will have it feeling like a racecar compared to before!

Aye, it feels awesome now. The front droplinks seem to have all but cured the brake judder too!

 

I'm tempted to punt it in for MOT sometime this week, complete with all the boot carpet and trim loose / detached and the speaker down next to the throttle pedal removed. I'd need to ask the garage to do the rear brake hoses, but otherwise it's sorted!

[320touring]

Dae it:)

[Supernaut]

Next available date at the garage is next Tuesday, so I've booked it in.

 

Oh well. Can tidy up the interior this weekend then.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

With the mot tester who has 36 BMWs!

 

 

Jesus Christ. I'm back up to five (bought another one today) and I thought I was ill. 

[17-Coffees]

Mr Coffees has more photos. I was too busy, y'know, doing stuff to take photos.

I was busy nursing a hangover...

 

Anyway, Supernaut covered most of what happened so I'll add photos and more random info.

 

The O/S/R shocker sleeve had been rubbing on something, leaving a small hole, So i decided to set about fixing it...

 

Correct* use of electrical tape

 

And for the lulz...

Sorted.

 

I decided to fully compress the old shocker...

Which resulted in this happening.

Its worth noting that while the shockers were fine enough and not leaking, the top of the shafts were very corroded. I chipped away the built up rust, which was a fair amount. About 1/2 of the shaft was left. So was a good call changing them.

 

Random photo of Supernaut fiddling with securing the shockers in place...

The battery had died, again, so could't get the boot unlocked and had no access to jump start it. Much like the weekend before...lessens were not learned.

 

While he finished as started stripping the drivers door down to fit the new motor, I'd sobered up enough to actually be bothered helping, so I seen about fitting the bracket to the N/S/F lower wishbone, to finally re-attach the wishbone to the new drop link.

*Why it's upside down is beyond me?

 

Going back to saying the battery had died again, we had to do the same procedure as the weekend before to jump start it, that is as follows:

1) Roll the BMW down my driveway

2) Block half the street with the BMW

3) Drive SN's Mondeo up to it and then attach jump leads to battery point on front of car

4) Jump start the bugger

Thankfully it started no bother's, unlike last time. So quickly drove it up the driveway again and let it idol while tidying things up.

Then we took it for a few runs up and down the street, I finally had my first little go of it...

 

And that's really all of it.

[Supernaut]

I never realised my boiler suit is called a Diablo!

[Split_Pin]

I wish the inner wings and suspension components on any of my cars were that clean! Looks like its going to be a good un once you have finished!

[Supernaut]

I wish the inner wings and suspension components on any of my cars were that clean! Looks like its going to be a good un once you have finished!

 

There is a little bit of slightly concerning grot inside the front offside inner wing, but otherwise it seems decent. At some point I may go over the underside with Vactan... My main priority is getting it MOT'd and then giving it a service. I've got the oil, oil filter, air filter and a new aux belt all ready to go!

 

It's quite an amusing thing to drive. It sounds quite exciting with its straight 6 soundtrack, but the fact it's only a 2.0 and it has an auto box means it doesn't actually go massively quickly. It's decent enough, though. Still quicker than the 316!

[17-Coffees]

All trim is fitted back in place and car looks presentable inside again. So we took it for an Italian tune up on the way to the MOT station! 

[Supernaut]

The most important part.

 

 

 

Yep. The technique for resetting the windows worked! Now both windows do the drop when you open the door!

 

You can just make out the residue of the vaseline I put round the window seals. With the window sealing properly now, it no longer whistles at all at speed. It's a lovely car without that whistling happening. You can happily get it up to NSL with the sunroof wide open and it's still civilised enough to have a conversation without really raising your voice.

 

 

EDIT: Ordered some front discs and pads from GSF too. The front discs are fairly pitted and make a bit of noise when braking. The judder from before is all but gone, but the pitting on the discs is horrible.

 

EDIT EDIT: I forgot the actual most important part! It started today without needing a jump! It's like the warmer weather has awoken it. It also seems to idle much more happily than it did last week.

[Supernaut]

I dropped it off at the garage earlier. Tomorrow it's getting the rear brake hoses replaced, the driver's headlight aligned, the front tyres re-seated (they're leaking a bit round the edge)... and an MOT.

 

[The Moog]

I reckon will pass nay problems

[Supernaut]

I expect a small number of advisories, but we've sorted all the failure points (bar the two things I'm asking the garage to do).

[Split_Pin]

What news chap?

[Supernaut]

Nothing yet.

[Supernaut]