Beiträge von NickF

  • Motivated

    I disconnected the steering column at the rubber joint, and also removed one of the two pins that keep the brake pedal in place, that have me enough wiggle room to get the bleeder out. It's all upside down with your head in the footwell, not fun, especially in the heat.

  • Motivated

    I repaired it myself (with a bit of help from my brother with the soldering). It's really very easy, but only after the fact. I think I could do another one in 30 mins. The difficult bit is getting blighter out.


    My symptoms were the fan would only work on full.

  • Motivated

    I've now gone a few miles in the car and I'm back in love. I've also fitted the new throwing stars (plus spacers) and new boot lid as mine had a horror show of a spoiler on there. I've also repaired and refitted my fan speed control sword which was an enormous pain in the arse, but for the first time in 10 years my fan works! There's still a huge list of things to do but my motivation is high so there is no stopping me.

  • Wheels

    The Falkens are great, thanks chaps. Tyreleader.com is cheap but very slow (rears took almost 2 weeks).


    Throwing Stars are looking great, Graham is too fixated with his grandad turbines to see what great wheels they are.

  • Yet another ABS thread

    Now that I have the car back I've got some time to look into the many problems that persist, and the ABS/ASC lights being on is up there.


    So I followed Reinhard's advice and did a stomp test. The ASC light flashed 15 times, this is reproducible so I think it's right. The german link didn't work, I don't think I have rights to access the german section. The internet claims 15 flashes is a pump problem - can someone confirm?


    I fired up my old DIS laptop and that still can't run anything to do with ABS or ASC.


    I think there are two things I can do in the short term. Bleed the pentosin circuit (i'll do that tomorrow) and change the lower filter for the pentosin circuit. I have tried this before and it was an absolute bastard, so much so that I gave up. It felt like I was going to do some damage. Is there a trick for getting that off?


    Assuming these two things don't work what part do I need to replace? The fault refers to a pump, is that the "hydro unit"? http://bmwfans.info/parts-cata…/brakes/hydro_unit_asc_t/

  • Wheels

    Now I've got my car back, I need to get my new wheels on there. I've ordered 10mm H&R spacers for the fronts to correct the offset problem (due to my throwing stars being for the e34) but I'm guessing I can get away with a 3mm difference at the rear.


    Next step is to sort tyres. I've looked at Timm's excellent tyre page (http://www.meeknet.co.uk/e31/t…w_wheel_and_tyre_page.htm - loving your work my friend) and I can see which tyres are compatible, but I'm not sure which size to buy. I was perusing our American friends' forum and the general consensus was to go for 245 fronts and 275 rear for my setup. That seems in range according to Timm's page, but for the rears 275 wasn't specified so I don't know whether they should be 35 or 40 aspect?


    Looking at blackcircles.com I see plenty of choice for 245/45/17, but no options at 275/35/17 and only one (Falkens) at 275/40/17.


    Any advice on size and brand would be greatly appreciated.

  • Power Steering Pump

    Just to update this. I did check the pipes and they were fine. The pump doesn't scream anymore. It occasionally grumbles a bit at idle, but it's not bad enough that I'd worry about it. I think it was just a function of the car sitting too long.

  • Motivated

    Thanks Graham. Is Gaydon on this year? It would be great to catch up.


    Hmmm, the wheels. I'm selling those and have a set of your favourite throwing stars in the garage :)

  • Motivated

    So the car lives :) It has an MoT, tax and insurance and I've even driven it! The car is still outside the garage for dull reasons of logistics but it's all paid for and I have the keys - it will be back on my drive tomorrow. I'm £6k worse off but the car is alive. When the epic fix commenced the mechanic pleaded with me to sell it for spares but I wouldn't listen. It's not a great investment and the car still has many issues but it's on the road to being a great car again. It still needs £5k putting in just to make it respectable, but mechanically it's pretty good. Pity it still looks like a piece of cr&p.


    8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/35880/


    Sorry for all the false starts, but I got there in the end.

  • Power Steering Pump

    Hi 8ers.


    One of the last tasks to get my car back on the road is to sort the horrible screeching sound coming from the power steering pump. It's been there for a few years, but it used to stop after a few mins, now it's a permanent fixture. I have changed the belt with no improvement and held a screwdriver to it, listening to the non-sharp end while the car was running and on ramps. I'm 99% sure it's the pump that's making the racket.


    There seems to be multiple versions depending on options, my car has ASC+T and I think it uses pump# 32 41 1 137 748 http://bmwfans.info/parts-cata…steering_tandem_vane_pump


    Which I think is this one? https://www.autodoc.co.uk/bosch/7917496


    Is that right? Is there somewhere better (read cheaper) to get one?


    All help appreciated chaps.


    Nick

  • Motivated

    The saga continues. I've been too embarrassed to post here as I have had many false dawns, but the current state is that the car is still with the mechanic. I haven't been in any hurry to get the car as the weather has been horrible, and despite it being MoTd and driveable there are a few things that the mechanic wants to do to it before I get it back. There is an oil leak from the pentosin radiator (looks like I badly connected a pipe) and the power steering pump is screaming its head off, so I'm now on the search for a new pump. I suspect this may be miserable as the car has ASC+T and I suspect the pumps are super rare. Oh well, it gives me something to do.


    The work so far:
    - Complete rear axle rebuild including all new arms/bushes everywhere, and subframe and everything else power coated.
    - New brake pipes front and rear
    - All four fuel lines under the car replaced
    - Most of the under body, scraped free of rust and treated
    - Bilstein B12 Prokit
    - Front suspension arms replaced or powder coated
    - Brake back plates all replaced
    - Transmission fluid and filters changed
    - New batteries
    - 4 wheel geo


    He is now waiting on me to get a power steering pump then I'm free to leave!


    I don't want to hazard a guess as to when I'll be driving the car, but I am many thousands of pounds in as you can see from the list so it will happen.

  • Motivated

    I haven't heard from the mechanic for a few weeks, but with the weather the way it is I'm not really in any hurry to get the car back as it's under cover where it is. I'll chase him next week, it only needed a 4 wheel align last time we spoke.


    The Alfa is great. It doesn't like the cold wet weather, but other than that I'm very happy with it. It's very fast indeed and makes me smile every time I put my foot down. It does try to kill me a bit, but I forgive it.

  • Diagnostic stuff

    Hi Rob,


    The laptop has not be started up for a few years, so there is a danger it has passed on to the other side. I will fire it up at the weekend and let you know the score.


    Nick