Do we spend too much time on our E34s? (+M51 Pics)

[Ferret]

Had a sudden loss of power coming home from friday, and could hear the turbo overspeeding... eventually tracked it down to the EGR valve being stuck open venting turbo pressure down the exhaust.

Have cleaned it all up and it works fine now, but I caught myself doing something very odd this morning.

I finished cleaning it and sat there thinking 'what can I do to it next?' - carried on busily and suddenly found an hour later that I'd cleaned every bit of plastic under the hood with the brake cleaner I'd been using. Made a hell of a difference to the look under the hood, but then I realised I'd done that without thinking - and it was pretty much unneccessary.

At what point does a hobby become an obsession I wonder, is it the point where you realise you're tinkering unneccessarily, or the point where you start getting bitched at by the wife?

Bah anyways, down to the business at hand:
EGR before cleaning:


Post cleaning:


I'll have to do the manifold shortly too:


Some shots of the M51 unit for those who've not seen one in situ...
With the plastic bits in place:

[Ferret]

Without the plastic bits, you can see the vaccuum pump exposed at the front of the head here. Interestingly I've only ever seen one design of vaccuum pump on euro cars...


Lastly, if you ever have one of these TDS units and it appears to clatter at idle, check the turbo heat shield:


Mine was rattling around in its lower mount like because it'd chewed itself up a bit:

[ironie]

I finished cleaning it and sat there thinking 'what can I do to it next?' - carried on busily and suddenly found an hour later that I'd cleaned every bit of plastic under the hood with the brake cleaner I'd been using. Made a hell of a difference to the look under the hood, but then I realised I'd done that without thinking - and it was pretty much unneccessary.

You could always clean those downright grubby Alpina rims mate ;-}. (j/k)
You did well catching up on some maintience. Good deal. Well done

[Ferret]

You could always clean those downright grubby Alpina rims mate ;-}. (j/k)

Lol, they're damned hard to keep clean, those. I've got texar pads on that literally spray dust at the rims...

Tbh, the rims need a rework cos they're totally knackered - the dust sticks to them amazingly well because the laquer is on its way out.

That, and I've got the spare on at the moment as the back left wore through a few weeks ago. It's due in for two new rears shortly.

[winfred]

my favorite is when the brake pads are so raunchy you have trails of dust stuck to the sides of the car, and then i gotta work on the nasty piece of ****

[ironie]

my favorite is when the brake pads are so raunchy you have trails of dust stuck to the sides of the car, and then i gotta work on the nasty piece of ****

You need a few years of agway feed trucks and school buses to knock off the clean edges Winfred ;-}

[filip00]

i know i spend way too much time on the damn car. good job cleaning the bay

[ironie]

Lol, they're damned hard to keep clean, those. I've got texar pads on that literally spray dust at the rims...

Don't I know it. I have used the preasure washer on mine a few times. It is quicker, but you have to be really careful as they can peel off what is left of the laquer pretty quick. Maybe someday when it grows up I will get it T-Stars.
My next jobs are fuel lines and rear bushes. Neither one as pleasant as the nice stuff under the hood. But in the last month or so I have changed the heat valve, rebuilt and cleaned both sets of lights..Humm come to think of it, that is it. I need a new expansion tank, this one is swelled, and leaks a little at the bottom seal. I have owed it a thermostat housing bolt since I did the thermostat and water pump last July, My those are easy to break...I am bad. It needs a lower left balljoint too. It will need new tires to pass the next MOT as well one of these days. I should do the diff and tranny when I change the oil next. It is due rear rotors when the pads wear out.
But all and all comapred to the amount of money I spend on it I can't complain about the time I have in it.
I bought it a over a year ago for £700 with a 12 month MOT and 6 months registration.
It has been good to me so far, But just lately the tach has been a little funny, and the fuel gauge as well...such is life

I plan to sink some time in rebuilding a engine for it though, and even a bit of money maybe

[Ferret]

I plan to sink some time in rebuilding a engine for it though, and even a bit of money maybe

The 520i has a good engine, there's a guy over on bmwland with one that's got 410k miles on it, never having had a hg change or any major renewal since new.

The head on the 2.0 is much stronger than the 2.5 and is less prone to having trouble. It's almost as quick as the 2.5 as well.

[525SEI BRIT]

Its not that we spend to much time on our cars, theirs just not enough hour's in the day!!

I'm pushing for a 5 day weekend!! Surely we got that the wrong way round!!!...Who's with me??!!.