Lardy V8 - save clogging up Fish and chip run thread

[B'stard Child]

Conversation

Mrs BC - so Marham is cancelled
BC - yeah bit of downer but hey the boys gotta job to do and I wouldn't fancy competing with a tornado for rights to the main runway
Mrs BC - so does that mean a run to the coast
BC - In April?
Mrs BC - Fish and Chip run dozy
BC - OK can't use the Monza (track only and she hates it with a passion) LC still isn't finishedstarted Polo it is hun
Mrs BC - Nope Seven
BC - It's not been run for a year, it's black green, gotta flat on the front, no MOT, tax or insurance, the grill is broke, battery is fubar and they aren't cheap (it's huge) and it probably needs a damn good service.
Mrs BC - Seven please - the Polo needs a cambelt soon you told me, you already have all the bits (true) and tax and insurance run out on that end of March (MOT shortly after) take it off the road and use the Seven for the summer - you've got to buy tax anyway and the seven is no more than the Polo - same with MOT - maybe you'll finally fix the passenger side elctric window while you are at it - I'm not turning up to another PH gathering in a bloody Polo

What can I say - Mrs BC has issued a commandment - stop using the 40 mpg Polo and use a V8 - gotta love the way she thinks sometimes

So when it's clean it looks like this



I daren't post a picture of it currently but it'll scrub up fine

17 days to the F&C run seems like a long time..........

So Battery purchased today and fitted
Tyre pumped up to turn it round so I could resolve the deflation issue
For the first time in a year she fired up on the key - no churning just instant vroom
(bit of a lazy tappet issue but that'll disappear soon enough)
Turned it round on the drive as the flat was against a wall
Whipped the wheel off - quick investigation revealed slow leak on inner bead (hammer on balance weight likely culprit for the cause)
Wheel in Polo to tyre place tommorrow
Swapped out the broken grills with replacements
Sat I'll sort out the service and give it some MOT preparation work as well as a good wash and brush up
Better ring the ins broker and see if prices have become a bit more reasonable since last March when they wanted more for insurance than I spend on petrol for in in a year (it might be a V8 but it's a very economical one on a run and we never really use it for short trips)

[slippery]

A fine machine they are! I would take a late model 740i or 750i Sport in silver over the newer shape 7 any day, just so well proportioned!

[B'stard Child]

11 days to the F&C run and progress continues......

Tyres now all hold air, are round and black and have acceptable tread depth

Tappets are silent at last

3rd wash and it’s now back to looking black again - needs a Lime prime and a nice coat of Dodo Juice to bring the wet look back

I’m liking the new front end look (pics to follow)

Aside from the few small rust bubbles on arches it scrubs up well
Leather cleaned and fed (next is all the plastics & glass followed by the last run thro with a hoover)

Faults found as a result of extended layoff
- Trip comp/TV screen not displaying intermitantly
- Built in car phone may have been cut off by Vodaphone – it hasn’t been used for a year too

MOT booked for Friday

Still getting interesting quotes for insurance (by interesting I mean silly £1500 is just daft) but we are getting somewhere slowly on an alternative plan.

I've postponed the service untill insurance becomes acceptable but meantime I'll finish giving it some MOT preparation work (Garage will collect the car on trade plates and their insurance if needed for an MOT)

I'll sell the car before I spend four figures on insurance

Mind you means I would be forced to fit a tow bar to the LC - still thats not all bad.......

[B'stard Child]

Insurance issues resolved

Couldn't get a quote under a classic/cherished scheme which would have been the perfect option as I can't find anyone who will cover a 98 740 under a classic policy (1996 is the cut off it appears)

So My NCB is tied to the ecomical daily driver (2001 Polo GTi)

options ended up as

A Start a new policy with my broker who looks after all my classic cars - zero NCB £490 fully comp £250 excess (this is a mileage limited policy 3K)

B Mirror my NCB with the insurers I use for my daily - £630

C Take the Polo off the road and swap insurance to the 7 with full NCB (£50 admin charge transfer from - £50 admic charge transfer back and no idea yet of the premium increase - what I do know is I will pay the increase for the rest of the cover period and last time I did it I got sod all back - £270

I went with option A - more than I wanted to pay but flexibilty of having two cars avaliable to use was a big factor and overal not a huge difference price wise

Next job try and work out what the battery drain issue is - not a problem for the MOT booked for Friday as the battery is on charge again now having discharged in less than a week

PS I did look at a multicar policy but it doesn't seem to like my tastes in cars......

[B'stard Child]

Mission accomplished

The lardy 7 now has insurance MOT (no advisories) and some rent in the window

I'd forgotten how bloody quiet it is - might have to replace the back boxes - they are looking a bit frilly

[Wing Commander]

Fantastic work!!!

I really really want a 7. The E38 model looks so much nicer than the E65/E66 range, but the later cars have better interiors (gadget wise) so I am torn!

Lovely car you have, all the same, and I am glad you sorted all the issues!

[slippery]

Tow Bar on a Lotus Carlton? Really BC?

[B'stard Child]

Wing Commander said:

Fantastic work!!!

I really really want a 7. The E38 model looks so much nicer than the E65/E66 range, but the later cars have better interiors (gadget wise) so I am torn!

Lovely car you have, all the same, and I am glad you sorted all the issues!

Well I appear to have broken it now........ So I shouldn't have spoken so soon...

[B'stard Child]

slippery said:

Tow Bar on a Lotus Carlton? Really BC?

Wouldn't be the first person to do that - sorry

[B'stard Child]

So having time the road tax issues to perfection Polo ran out of tax Friday and 740 was taxed on Friday - result - I've now broken the 740 and had to tax the Polo for six months

I had a choice this morning - either give the paintwork a claybar rub followed by lime prime and then a nice coat of my favorite wax - Dodo Juice

That should get the paintwork back to this









Nice beading



But that damn sill cover was staring at me - go on punk make my day it was saying = also the discs were a bit lippy - the backs of the wheels needed a proper clean and I know it's been 2 years since I had the wheel arch liners out to get rid of any nasty dirt and salt from behind them so I thought Paintwork can wait I'll do the mechanicals.....

So my drive has a bit of a slope on it but the section closest to the garage is flat - unfortunately that's occupied by a Monza which can't be moved due to some modifications currently in progress so back end of the drive with a slope it is.

Handbrake on and in park

Jacked the car up at the front jacking point using a trolley jack and poked an axle stand under the engine subframe - damn it mid way between a tooth so left it where it was and gave the jack another pump.

The handbrake cried enough and park wasn't quite up to the job and the jack decided it would roll flat......

No worries wheels still on so lands on terra firma - troube was there was a partially raised axle stand under the car

Guesses on what it damaged?

Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 2nd April 20:59

[slippery]

Errr, thankfully not you!

[B'stard Child]

slippery said:

Errr, thankfully not you!

Nope I'm fine - piddled off about the stupid mistake and slightly embarased as in 28 years of working on my own cars it's the first time I've ended up damaging one trying to fix it

Oh and I have fixed the sill cover not fitting right issue although I won't be re-fitting the cover as that one is toast - it was no where near the axle stand but the jack however decided it wanted to have some up close and personal time with it

Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 2nd April 21:03

[slippery]

So embarrassed, you posted it on the web for all of us to take the p!
Well I won't, because I wouldn't even have attempted it in the first place, DIY (home or car) is not my forte and usually results in a bill for remedial work in excess of what I was trying to save!
That's my excuse for being a lazy sod anyway!

[B'stard Child]

slippery said:

So embarrassed, you posted it on the web for all of us to take the p!

I've posted it so that others may learn from what I did wrong - several things in fact - all added together to produce a rather expensive result.

Mistake No'1

I put the jack in under the car at 90 deg to the side - I normally go in as close to parallel to the car as possible but I wanted to remove the sill cover and the wheel are liner so it would have been a pain - even on axle stands I leave the jack under supporting some of the weight

Mistake No'2

I left the axle stand under the car while I jacked it up a bit more I don't do that normally either

Mistake No'3

I was working on a slope and I didn't use chocks behind the back wheels (or any wheels)

slippery said:

Well I won't, because I wouldn't even have attempted it in the first place, DIY (home or car) is not my forte and usually results in a bill for remedial work in excess of what I was trying to save! That's my excuse for being a lazy sod anyway!

I reckon my DIY's have enabled me to run some cars outside of my income so I'm fairly philosophical about it.

Just a smidge piddled off

[Wing Commander]

Go on then. What have you damaged? Axle stand through the floor or sump?? Or something else?

[B'stard Child]

Wing Commander said:

Go on then. What have you damaged? Axle stand through the floor or sump?? Or something else?

Sump had a lucky escape but the auto transmission fluid runs through a cooler/preheater unit (when the engine is cold it helps bring the transmission temp up and when transmission is hot it cools it) - that took a hit from which it can't recover.

Also

Power steering pipe.

Serpentine belt pulley

Passenger side sill cover as previously mentioned

Basically about £500 worth of parts

[markCSC]

Ouch!!! You can tell Mrs BC it's all her fault. She made you do it

[B'stard Child]

markCSC said:

Ouch!!! You can tell Mrs BC it's all her fault. She made you do it

Mrs BC comment was "well things happen - at least you weren't underneath it" and then "if you'd burnt that bloody Monza like I told you to you could have been working on the Flat section of the drive"

Yeah she really doesn't feel the lurve for the Monza

[B'stard Child]

At last (too late for the F&C run but the 740 is moving under it's own steam so back back on the road and not acting like a puppy leaving water puddles under it all the time

Total damage

Under tray
PAS Pipe
Heat exchanger
Valve body above it
Pride

Seems to run OK but at some stage the TV module seems to have cried enough (may have been during it's 12 month hibernation so I'll be trawling ebay looking for a second hand one of them as trip computer and sat nav both need it!!

Meantime I’ll unplug the damn thing as I can’t even turn it off without it working!!

Clay'd the paint yesterday evening - another quick wash tonight to get the dust from today off it - followed that with some lime prime and then a nice coat of Dodo Juice to protect the orange peel finish that BMW supply as std on black cars

Call that it for this thread - thanks for listening

Right Not The Royal Wedding Run

PS apologies for the product placement

[Marshy]

It's worth it though. I still - after 10 years almost - miss my E38. They're damn fine cars: they look good from any angle inside and out, nothing jars, they're just svelte. Everything since has been a bit less uncompromisingly nice looking.