Leonard E34 540i Project

[zaleonardz]

Hi All,

I though I would start my own thread, and will feed back info.

Ok so officially, I am picking up my baby tomorrow on a trailer.

I have bought so far the following Items for the repairs

Agent specified Gearbox oil for ZF5HP30- 83229407765 - R1000 (Bought it from the guy I bought the car from so that I can stop feeling guilty for stealing the car from him, and I will feel better knowing that this is OEM)

ZF5HP30 Gearbox oil filter - 24341422419 - BMW Northcliff and OEM oil pan seal - 700 all Incls

 

[freerider]

nice, I cant wait to see the pics.

 

[Jandre]

me too.

 

[zaleonardz]

You think you guys cant wait, I have only spent like 40 min with the car in a dodgy garage on a plot in farking Donkerhoek, never mind the pics, I want the car home now

 

[Hellas]

GL with the project. Just let me know if you get too busy with it, I can always take the 'Bird' off your hands if the 540 is keeping you occupied...

 

[zaleonardz]

Hellas, the 'bird' is my dads, so we shall have the 2 project cars, although the bird is slowly starting to be dismantled

 

[Hellas]

 

[zaleonardz]

:excited::excited: SHE's HOME :excited::excited:

Pics over the weekend, I promise.

So 3 hours drive there and 2.5 hours back in a Pathfinder lugging around a 5 meter long and almost 2 meter wide car trailler is not amusing, I can tell you that right now.

But we got there, I changed out the battery, pumped all the tires with the lil baby compressor we took with, started it, and drove it onto the trailer, strapped it down... back to Joey's.

Stopped at my place, drove it around the block, no gearbox squeeks, rattles, noises, grinding, nothing, the shift down is a bit rough, but I recon a filter and oil change should sort that out, at the most as clutchy says a valve body replacement..

But she drives, that leather inside is virtually perfect, the body work is damm good, no noisy exhaust, there is a tappid making a bit of a racket, but when I rip off the heads to have the gasflowed, I can take car of that.

Bit of tinkering this weekend, will do a DECENT service all round, engine bay clean(worried about that one,may do it by hand myself)

So all and all, change the gearbox oil, and i can drive her to work on monday

 

[freerider]

flippen awesome man, cant wait to see some pics

 

[clutchplate]

woot woot you sounded very excited on the phone .. haha, would love to see it in daylight tommorow so as soon as we get the E39 started I'm driving to your place and maybe stopping off at Uber's place on the way there...

 

[Hellas]

:thumbsup:

 

[zaleonardz]

Soooooo....

Your never going to believe this, I found out whats wrong with this car.

My dad wanted to take it this morning for a wash, and got stuck 500m down the road, and the clue was the low voltage which is visable by the illumination of the lights.

So we tow it home quickly, put it on a heavy duty charge, and she charges right up, we took a fresh battery with when we picked up the car and she started fine.

Now while she was sitting in the drive way trying to start it with this low voltage problem, of course what do you get, the xmas tree effect, it starts throwing errors, "Trans prog failure" airbag light, ABS light, because the modules are not getting the required juice.

So strip out the alternator (WHAT A FRIKKEN ISSUE) as you have to drop out the power steering pump, the fuel filter cansiter, bucket loads of wires, off we go to starter/alternater exchange.

Confirmed, alternator armuture mechanism problem due to bearings, R400 bucks later for new bearings and bits, and off you go.

THERE WAS NEVER anything wrong with the gearbox..... it was just the alternator, and thats why the car cut out on the man.

Dads busy putting on the lasts belts, and then she's back up and running.

 

[freerider]

:clap: lol, sweet!

 

[zaleonardz]

Ok.

Done so far today

Stripped out + refit alternator - No Cost
Alternator Repair - R400
Power steering fluid (I did a full fluid replacement) Erm... 80 bucks I think
Spares shop did not have the 2 V-Belts, but he's gonna order and those belts are still fine.
Degrease engine bay - No Cost + wash it (Thanks dad)

And Purring like a kitten, car is now clean and this body work is virtually perfect, I recon I could get it all sorted with a decent buff job

So Tomorrow,
Fix + refit cubbyhole
Install new MP3 head unit which I have spare in the garage... and off we go :excited:

Will do a tally of all the figures at month end

 

[1lum1nat1]

Dude, I'm sorry, but this is not acceptable. How can you go about posting all this nonsense & we don't even have a pic to confirm progress? :slap:


:nono: we don't air punch here. I WANT PICS !!!!

I'm glad everything is going as planned.

 

[zaleonardz]

Photoshoot tomorrow.. promise.

Im just to frikken tired now to post photies as its on my dads camera, having my last smoke, then im gonna go watch antz with my wife and my daughter in bed...

 

[freerider]

postits or GTFO... I mean postpics...


So.... why dont you turbo her with clutchies?

 

[Hellas]

:thumbsup: AWESOME for you LZ!!
(Oh, and also in for the piccies... )

 

[clutchplate]

LZ ! dude, lol, when Uber told me what u said, I went GREEN, lol, I am super jealous
no, seriously, that was an AWESOME buy ... you could NOT have found a better car in a better condition, that thing is SPOTLESS. sorry I couldn't make it thru today, had to help Uber with some websites and stuff, so we were busy quite late... :excited:

so how does she go bro ? does she gooi lekker ?

 

[zaleonardz]

Hi All,

Freerider, I am seriously thinking about it, but I am not sure if I am going to do a turbo or a blower, I have never had a supercharger, but have owned like 4 turbo cars, research will tell which way I am going to go.

Clutchy, there are some slight gearbox issues, kick down is really rough, but an oil change should sort that, none the less I am going to take her to a gearbox place.

Today was spent doing the basic sound installation and general cleaning. Still have not done a full photo shoot of the car yet, been a bit busy, but look out for some DIY's.

So done today,
Installed JVC DVD/MP3 headunit
Installed RCA cables,remote wires, and sub adjust wires to the front and rear (a massive job)
Installed 2 gauge power and ground including 100A fuse to the amp
Removed CD shutte and standard amplifier
Trace and install Rocford 551x Amp using standard speakers (for now)
General re-assembly of all loose panels

Next up is a set of JBL limpets in the back and 4" JBL Pro-Reference in the doors, a Rockford BD500 and 2 x DVC subs, but I will do this in December.

So here are some basic pics

WHere we picked up the car on a trailer in Cullinan

Car in the garage, will post better pics later

Reconditioned Altenator

Clear power steering pump

Cleaned Engine bay

Stripped Interior for Radio fitment

A really messy boot

Completed Radio install

And Final justice, she's returing the trailer that brought her home

Hope this is enough to wet your taste buds, more photies def on its way, and guess whats taking me to work tomorrow :excited:

LZ