The Continuous Car Thread of S_S - Skodas, BMWs, Austins...

[surprising_skoda]

Hasn't been any update as we did indeed go to England and buy several cars for work, and then I got back and on the way home from the ferry spotted a car for sale I quite fancied on stalkface. Tried to make it happen but as I had a short turnaround before heading back to Scotland I was unable to make it happen.

Got back from that trip and a few days later the same car popped up for sale again (for more, just because) but I managed a deal anyway. Got it home tonight. Fancied this as a winter hack but I don't like the noise of it so I can't see it lasting.

No other news, haven't had time to work on anything. Oh the M535i has another different set of rear wheels, and soon to be hibernated.

 

[Boabybooster]

Hasn't been any update as we did indeed go to England and buy several cars for work, and then I got back and on the way home from the ferry spotted a car for sale I quite fancied on stalkface. Tried to make it happen but as I had a short turnaround before heading back to Scotland I was unable to make it happen.

Got back from that trip and a few days later the same car popped up for sale again (for more, just because) but I managed a deal anyway. Got it home tonight. Fancied this as a winter hack but I don't like the noise of it so I can't see it lasting.

No other news, haven't had time to work on anything. Oh the M535i has another different set of rear wheels, and soon to be hibernated.

Love those concave BMW wheels.

 

[greyfloppyhat]

Hasn't been any update as we did indeed go to England and buy several cars for work, and then I got back and on the way home from the ferry spotted a car for sale I quite fancied on stalkface. Tried to make it happen but as I had a short turnaround before heading back to Scotland I was unable to make it happen.

Got back from that trip and a few days later the same car popped up for sale again (for more, just because) but I managed a deal anyway. Got it home tonight. Fancied this as a winter hack but I don't like the noise of it so I can't see it lasting.

Let me know if you decide not to hang on to it for the winter, I'm on the look out for something along these lines.

Or a TDS e34....

 

[johnm]

always wondered about that alfa estate when the for sale ad went away.
great thread

 

[big_pete]

My old car, those wheels cost me a fortune. You are right about the noise though, horrible one of the things I didn't like about it myself and its painfully slow lol

 

[surprising_skoda]

Let me know if you decide not to hang on to it for the winter, I'm on the look out for something along these lines.

Or a TDS e34....

Yeah it has no chance now. Choice of it or the Alfa to take to church today and the Alfa won even though it needed petrol.
It'll get tidied up though it's not in good enough condition for me to sell just yet, but a week or two should do it, and won't be on the wheels and possibly the suspension as there is a rattle to locate and remedy also.

So, time to look about something else for winter use..

 

[big_pete]

What sort of shape is it in now Will? It was a good 9/10 car when I owned it but the guy I sold it two used it to carry dogs and stuff he wasn't a great driver either lol

 

[greyfloppyhat]

Yeah it has no chance now. Choice of it or the Alfa to take to church today and the Alfa won even though it needed petrol.
It'll get tidied up though it's not in good enough condition for me to sell just yet, but a week or two should do it, and won't be on the wheels and possibly the suspension as there is a rattle to locate and remedy also.

So, time to look about something else for winter use..

Is it about your yard atm? Popping down Saturday so wouldn't mind a look round it, if the price is right I would take it as it sits even if it still needed attention

 

[surprising_skoda]

What sort of shape is it in now Will? It was a good 9/10 car when I owned it but the guy I sold it two used it to carry dogs and stuff he wasn't a great driver either lol

The top half, maybe an 8, the mechanicals, 5 or 6? Drives like a bag of nails and sounds the same. Nothing that can't be sorted though.
Will be in work yes, no point it sitting at the house.

 

[surprising_skoda]

The 525i was a bit of a mess in the end, it had obviously been in a bit of an incident and nobody had thought to check it out and the "bag of nails" experience was down to a bent coilover and a suspect bottom arm. Somebody obviously thought they were cute by replacing one of the control arms and thinking that would do it.
Anyway it is now PROPERLY fixed but although it drives absolutely gorgeously now, it isn't for me. So up for sale.

I was walking past the Cadillac (now, shamedly, I've owned it for a month shy of three years and it's still not going to be done anytime soon) and I spotted some MORE rust, this time just behind the door on the pillar, and I poked, and next thing you knwo there was a hole...

And then I had no choice but to peel the vinyl roof off because I can't leave that as it is.
So now this:

And because no vinyl trim I will have to figure out another way to mount the window chrome surrounds etc and make it look tiday again. I'll probably now have to paint the entire car which is annoying.
Whoever did such an absolute pig of a paintjob on this a few years ago has a LOT to answer for. It really is shocking.

And... what else is new? Bought an E34 520i Touring because... well, cheap. Don't like it, very boaty. Mini Cooper alternator jammed and seized so ran around for weeks trying to find one eventually stumped up the GDP of a minor nation for a new one, specific to the Cooper S wouldn't you know. Bought two more white E34 Sports because there are no more Avus blue ones to buy. Lowered the E24 so it sits on the floor, finally got the E21 registered and kept the original NI plate so that's back to the top of queue, um I think that's it for now.

 

[Ben]

Pics of E24 pls.

 

[surprising_skoda]

Finally I remembered that the S110R was not in the workshop for giggles. it needed work. So I ordered some NOS caliper rebuild kits and Vinny rebuilt it one morning in work. You might as well note down his name because despite being the youngest guy that works for me by some margin, Vincentas has a capability and work ethic that puts most people I know to shame and if it were not for him, most of my cars would be languishing at the bottom of the yard steadily progressing further and further away from the realm of "restorable". In short, Vinny keeps my fleet mobile.

One rebuilt caliper:

Also my recently acquired 530d, which I had intended to sell on, had too many problems to address which would have led to a very narrow and therefore unacceptable margin. So, instead, I'm just going to run it into the ground with 9 months MOT to play with. Put some winter wheels on it, bogged around for a while ignoring the propshaft donut clattering, and generally putting lots of miles down until I noticed a top end clicking. My initial thought was a duff injector but noticing a slight whiff of exhaust smoke we checked the oil level fearing impending disaster. And yes, caught it just in time. The high pressure pump seal was leaking and letting diesel into the crankcase which was diluting the oil and raising the level, endangering the turbo. Very common on BMWs M57 common rails, and the cause of so many blowing up. Well, having bought one to fix recently and being given a recon pump with it, we had one on the shelf and it was duly fitted and serviced. I had bought engine flush before diagnosis along with the oil thinking we had top end work to do and gunk to clear out but that was unnecessary once we knew the diesel had mixed in the oil and thereby it could not possibly have been more flushed than it was.
Back on the road.

A pic has been requested of the 635i, so here it is, as is:

Now, to more serious news.
I am not a great driver. That said, I'm definitely more aware and capable of 75% of the other drivers out there. But I'm no Alonso, that's for sure.
A few days ago, with a bit of damp on the roads and a keen desire to avoid using the dreary 530d, the E28 got a final rattle before being tucked away for winter.
Unfortunately, rattle it I did, and lost it, going broadside before mounting a verge and smacking a fence and barely wrestling it round again rather than go through the flimsy wooden fence and plunge 50 feet down a near vertical bank.


Death race 2000 anyone?

I love how aggressive it looked...
However, reality:

Thankfully, and testament to not only how solidly these old cars were built, but how solid mine is, it suffered bent panels, but no ripped out sections or weak metal failing. So the bonnet, inner wing, slam panel and very slightly the outer wing were bent. The inner was hammered out a bit, the bonnet squashed down, the slam panel pulled back into shape and with the addition of a new headlight - again, on the shelf - it is looking almost presentable again. The grille was busted but in areas unseen so it was screwed back on and looks ok.
I have said it from the start; this car is not about looks, it is about performance. That's why the bad (previous owners) paintjob doesn't bother me, nor the half stripped interior or the missing exterior trim pieces etc. Its a 1400kg 215bhp manual straight six with LSD and polybushes and bilstein suspension - I don't care if the paint needs buffed.

Bumper still needs fixed but that's not bad.


And lastly.
Do you remember my 740i?
This one:

It was "out of mind" over in a storage yard when a friend of mine from Slane rang up looking an old BMW to use in a film. "I've five of my own cars hired out for it, but the only BMW I have is too new. Do you have an old 5 or 7 series? Dark colour?"
So it was dug out, interior refitted (rewiring needed to get them fitted in a hurry ready for collecting it the next day - they took two weeks to collect in the end!) and charged battery fitted, tyres pumped up, bumper trims refitted etc. I'd had to smash the grille in to access the bonnet to jump start it recently after one of the boys deadlocked it, but despite that, when the director came to see the car, he was over the moon. Right colour, and exactly what they were looking for.
So that's been away a couple of weeks for filming.
Here's the interesting part. I can't give the game away for reasons of confidentiality but the film is about someone currently doing time that wont speak to the media. My car is being used to be their car.
I was in HMP Magheraberry on Sunday to help with a church service for the prisoners. That was an experience in itself and we were able to mingle and talk freely with the inmates, and they really seemed to enjoy it and get something from it. In fact we did two services in two wings and it was in the second wing we visited that I got talking to one in particular. Now I don't think this can be put down to coincidence, but how shocked can you imagine I was when it turns out that this was the person being portrayed in the film - driving my car?! I've just met the person the film is about, that my car is being used to be their car in the film, and nobody writing or making the film has spoken to them. The timing, that these events would happen concurrently, oh, I just can't even put it into words the surprise? shock? hilariousness? bewilderment? that I felt.

 

[surprising_skoda]

So yesterday I heard the news that there had been a crash involving a car running over some people on a film set in Belfast. Film crew from a southern Irish company, filming for a "crime series"... I wasn't too keen to find out what was going on and my relief to find out it wasn't my car was soon replaced with shock and horror when it turned out there were people seriously injured.
Two in critical condition after car crashes into TV crew making crime series - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Tonight I stayed a bit after work to try to figure this E28 front bumper out. It was so broken and wouldn't clip back into shape.

So eventually I ripped the various bonding agents off and separated the lower Zender valance from the top half which is the top half of the original M535 bumper.

I need to strip all the paint and fillers off, then rejoin this bumper and add some structure to it so I'm pontificating about what kind of thing I can do while I'm at it - tie-rods or something. Always take the opportunity to make something better.

And getting closer to the paint shop goal too. Two 320d Msports to finish off and a 728 to sort out and then Christmas and then in january we should be good to go. Couple of E30s to paint then hopefully the Cadillac, Austins, E28 bumper, can all get painted at the start of 2016 and a series of Skodas next summer if I can get my act together.

 

[surprising_skoda]

I'm not convinced anyone is still interested but the journal continues. Today was a day of taking things apart.

In the previous post I made mention of a pair of 320ds that are to be sold soon. One blew it's turbo on the way to the MOT, depositing oil all over the engine bay.
Having been told that a replacement is some £340, and arranging to buy a good, used unit from a local scrappies, only to find it binding internally, Vincent (mentioned before) and I decided to strip the turbo down and see if we couldn't diagnose, if not fix, it ourselves. We also stripped down a wrecked one at the same time, doing each step on it before doing the same on this one. We were also thinking to measure the internals and see if it's conceivable to swap the internals from a good similar sized turbo into the housing we need.

Some of you are thinking - so what? What's so hard about that? Well, sorry, but I don't know. I've never worked on a turbo before. I grew up with carburettors. So if this is reciting your ABCs to you, please excuse me, as I don't know how a turbo works. Well, I didn't, not until today.

Stock photo of a BMW turbo for anyone who doesn't know what one looks like:

So, remove the oil feed pipe, and the brackets, and in the case of the Garrett GT1749V I was working on, the circlips, then the connecting rod, then the electronic actuator.
Then get out the spanners and remove the 8mm pinch bolts holding the cold side body on, then tap to remove:

So far, so good. No damage.

10mm bolts to undo and then tap the hot (exhaust) side off. This took more convincing with the persuasion tool.
The "cartridge" as I now know its called, in the middle, is the bit with the vanes and oilways and turbines. Seems I didn't really do enough photos, blame the oil covered hands... The exhaust vanes were damaged causing it to stick causing the failure.
And then we persisted, and removed the central spindle, as it was dead anyway. The vanes slid off, and revealed a intricate lubrication setup to feed a central bushing held in place by a ridge one end and a screwed on plate on the other. Very simple engineering really.

And I now understand turbos, and also see why ball bearing turbos are such an upgrade, and necessity for big power.
Furthermore, as cartridges are readily available, we may well refurb this unit ourselves... which opens the doors to refurbishing all the damaged ones we get through...


So that was 6pm and time to lock up and go get dinner.

This evening, I set to my other rebuilding mission. I smashed yet another mobile last week and had to revert for a day to my previous one, a Galaxy S3 with a completely smashed screen. Still works well enough mind.
I have a large box of smashed phones, but they all worked apart from the screen. So I thought why not fix some of them, they're that old screens are bound to be cheap now. I asked about and was kindly offered a Galaxy S2 with a faulty circuit board - perfect for my needs as I have all the internals but needed a screen.

I have done this loads of times as I had to keep replacing broken phones but needed to keep the info on them. Not being able to use them, my only option to retrieve info etc was to build my original board into the new phones. Hence, my original circuitry passed through four or five bodies/screens, repeatedly being smashed, and leaving a trail of unused backs and boards lying dormant.

So here we have the "new" S2, face down, with working screen but inoperative board - and a replacement board from one of the many previous screen donor phones. Remove battery, SD card, SIM.

Taking a small screwdriver, remove the screws and prise off the rear cover. Be very careful not to break anything and do not stick the screwdriver in to prise it! There's no hidden screws on an S2 but there are on other phones so mind out.

The circuit board will have a couple of tiny screws holding it on. Lift up all the connectors as well. Mind the like of the white wire on the left, easy to miss. On an S2 all connectors are on the side we're working on, other phones have them underneath as well so don't just yank at it.

Peel back the sticky buttons and remove the board.

Now fit the new board. Carefully click down all the connections - they'll give a really positive click when they slot in.

The buttons are quite hard to line up and hold in place while refitting. Watch none drop out as you snap the cover into place.

Cover snaps on and screw it down again.

Switch on. Moment of truth!

Success. One revitalised Galaxy S2 which would be a very handy backup phone, but as I have another three phones to fix up, I've someone in mind to give this to that desperately needs to update their ancient old brick.

And to avoid the despair I sense setting in at the back, here's another car I picked up for work to restore and sell, but I quite like it and it may feature in my own little collection when it's done. I just like the look of a metal bumper E30, especially in my favourite BMW colour Diamond Black, especially when its a fully loaded 325i.

 

[surprising_skoda]

I don't think I mentioned this, back in october, when it happened.

I parked the 330ci out by the road over one weekend to advertise it. Obviously that meant the perfect opportunity for something orange to take the front corner out of it.

Thankfully a replacement indicator was all that was really needed - and some paint. Wing survived un-dented.
Wasn't like it was in anyones way...

Anyway, one dreary day just before new years someone came and bought it.
I have only done a "so sad to see it go I take a last photo" photo of less than half a dozen cars... there she goes

In slightly brighter news, a new plan was formulated. Every Thursday from now until they're done, my dad comes up, Vinny is roped in and I all work on Austin 7s only.
Beginning with the silver one, which I've already replaced the rad on but needs a complete new loom. There's just too much old bodgery, failed circuits and obsolete stuff built into this car. I'd already got the dash out last year so on Thursday past...

We also concluded the large electric fan was not necessary and far to awkward to fit anyway. We'll re-organise the alternator/fan belt and put a 2 blade fan on as original because with the new rad that will provide all it needs.

The back frame was looking a bit ratty (from I got it really) and with the intention being to sell this one as soon as it's done and put the money into the Cadillac/other two A7s, it needs to look nice. So out came the tank and off with the frame.

And lastly the seats came out, just so we can get access to the floor to clean it (after MANY years!) and lay the new loom once I've made it up.

 

[vibe_kid]

deffo a varied and interesting read!

 

[big_pete]

Your not a bit wise Will lol but it makes for great reading

 

[surprising_skoda]

Last Thursday we stripped the interior of all the remaining panels and painted the insides black

and sent the alternator for a rebuild, planned out the next couple of stages etc.

My dad ordered material for the interior side panels and they will all be remade as they were a little bit tatty.

Also spent half the day chasing around trying to get a decent horn button that didn't look like it was out of a corsa stockcar, and a fusebox enclosure, but no joy.

Yesterday was a bit more degreasing, stripping back 60 year old paint to repaint the engine compartment.

I can't wire up until all the paint is dry but that means I can fabricate the new loom next week as all the clips, connections, cables and so forth that I've bought locally and ordered online are all here now.

Debating the future of the Alfa 156 at present also.
It barely gets used, but is always there when I do need it. MOT is now up and it will need the exhaust welded (why I don't know, new stainless less than 18 months ago, and it's not lowered), new discs and pads all round (again, brand new EBC Greenstuffs 18 months ago), a few brake lines of which one is an engine out job! but can be routed over the top of the engine bay as a cheap fix, and timing belt. On the other hand it has had many upgrades, I've recently shelled out many fortunes for a new OEM rear window wiper, boot badge/lock mech, and a key repair as it was getting a bit dubious. There's a good car underneath the issues as this one has always got whatever it needed, but this is a big bill for the MOT and I don't use the car, but I like having one reliable, presentable daily to hand when I need it. I do have the 740i coming into service this year I think, if not the Caddy and at least one of the Skodas, all of which could do the daily job, along with the M535i when the sun is back, and trade plates allow me to drive any of the cars in work if I'm really stuck.
Head says "time to let go", heart says "you love that Alfa, find the money"...

 

[Ben]

I love this thread.

Were you driving the E24 on the M2 out of Belfast last night? Saw a dark one on what looked like Style 32s. Such a cool car.

 

[Turbokid89]

I love this thread.

Were you driving the E24 on the M2 out of Belfast last night? Saw a dark one on what looked like Style 32s. Such a cool car.

Seen that today at Dee street bridge it lookied like a high line 635i e24

 

[surprising_skoda]

Another Thursday passed and this was the start of the wiring process.
I had the alternator checked over and repaired, so I can be sure of it, and all the instruments have been multimeter tested so everything on the car should work once I lay the loom.

First up was a few fitment issues first though.

Battery on it's perch.

Previous battery was the other way round but that put the positive terminal in the inner corner with alloy panelling on two sides of the clamp. Not great with a negative charged body, so it's being turned. Will have to add some protection to inside of the bonnet just to be safe too.

This cut off switch through which most of the wiring runs (so it becomes an immobiliser) had the two mounts with long shafts coming out so Vinny nipped them off so it can be flush mounted to the panel instead. one of those little tidying jobs I'm doing to enhance the "finishedness" of the finished car.

my dad also had a few grinder jobs to attend to.
The fan I have mentioned before. Someone previously thought running tie clips through the rad core was a good way to mount a 4kg electric fan. I disagree. We opted to ditch this as it would never sit right even with mounts made up as it was simply too large for the wee cars nose. Instead we'll refit an original two blade belt driven fan. It's good enough for my high compression racing engine Ulster so it will do this one too.
So that meant finding a new engine crankcase cover, as the fitted one had been cut down to remove the fan pulley mount bracket. I have a garage full of A7 spares so that took not too long. Then the end of it had to be drilled and tapped to take the new dizzy, as originally they had a magneto and the dizzy bolted to that but not so in this car with the alternator fitted, which I'm keeping.
So my dad was in charge of that. Then he had to ream out part of the inside of the new housing. Then he had to source a cotter pin for the pulley wheel clamp and cotter pins are not normal fare anymore, but he found one in a backstreet bike shop in Ards somewhere.
Which also then needed "trimming".

Camera speed too high there...

There we go!

meanwhile I am running the main earth wires. Previously all it had was an earth terminal to the gearbox. But the engine and box are rubber mounted so a strong earth was no guarantee. I decided to run a three way earth to body, chassis and engine. Had to find a good chassis point then, and the best place was actually where the A frame bolted to the under-body cross beam, which meant getting under the thing.

Earth straps are usually braid or short black/brown, so I'm using lengths of red cable which I'll wrap later in black tape or black loom binding fabric tape.
Vinny soldered all the connections for me after I laid the lengths down and riveted the P-clip clamps in place, although we're going to go back and re-do the clips and rivets as neither of us are happy with them.


Apologies for any slow loading or broken photo links, imgur is playing up this evening.

 

[surprising_skoda]

The next news article is that of a NEW CAR!

You've no doubt (maybe) read the previous musings on the imminent termination of my beloved 156 V6. Several discussions were had with people who know my cars, or love for them.
After which I was still unsure, but I happened to come across an advert for a car I quite liked, for what I thought was a reasonable sum of £800 with MOT until Spetember. Ideally I would want an estate (a Tourer, if you will) with a V8 plant in it, but those are slim pickings.
If I was to replace the Alfa, there were certain conditions. A friend of mine in church has a little autistic boy that loves cars, although his parents know nothing about them. He loves the Alfa on account of being noisy, fast and his favourite colour. He asked me only a week or two ago "when are you going to drive the Alfa again?" Pressure was on to find a noisy red car.
This car was a red V6.
I filed that under "maybe I'll think about that again later" in my head.

The next day whilst checking out facebook (for WORK PURPOSES honest!!) I saw the same car for £650. My interest was piqued. Cheapness I thought. I rang a mate for some sense but he also thought I should buy. I filed this all under "will sort it out later" in my head.

Cue lunch-time and the same car popped up with an ad of "£500, must go, getting company car" and I was scuppered. No chance am I refusing that. Got in touch, sorted a time out for just after work, got one of the guys to drop me off on his way home. 25 miles down the road only.

So. Half Leather. Xenons (high and low). 18" alloys, good tyres. 89k. Folding mirrors. "Get inside your house without falling over in the dark" lights or whatever they be called. Other nice things. Red. V6. Noisy!

There were a couple of issues I picked up on after a couple of days motoring.
Firstly after I got it back home it started cutting out on idle. It wouldn't idle smoothly and pickup from low revs was very bad, especially under load when moving off. Felt like an intake air leak to me, and sure enough after digging around for all of five seconds the revs were changing when a little pipe coming from the TB was moved. Not sure of its original purpose but maybe a secondary intake or idle valve connection? Anyway it was cracked at the end and the little filter on it was filthy.

Vinny said there was one of them on something else in the yard and went for a rummage only to come back with a nice clean one although it was twice as big. Cut the pipe down, made a step up and blatted it on - problem solved.


The other problem is that water is getting into the spare wheel well. This is apparently fairly common. The boot also doesn't close well, needs a good slam and several tries to get it to stick and even then the on-board says its still open.
I have however devised an ingenious solution to both of these issues, by not using the boot area at all, ever. Sorted.

I have noticed a lot of differences between this, and the Alfa, and the E39 530d and 525i I've been driving recently. These are all concurrent cars aimed at the same market but the differences are marked, so I might do a little back to back road-test report on them soon when I can feel my fingers again.

And one final piece of news is that AFTER the arrival of the MG, a last chat with my resident mechanic about the Alfa issues revealed that the exhaust was not actually holed, but in fact just badly scuffed (ramps where I live) and therefore not an MOT worry, and only the front brakes were needed, and I had already got new discs for the car but just needed pads, and the brake lines were fixed already... so I actually just need to buy a set of front brake pads for the Alfa and if I ignore the timing belt there is no reason why it wont pass another MOT... Oh the look I gave him. Some things really are lost in translation eh?
I'll give it a twice over myself next week to be sure but in all likelihood I now have two red V6s. Well, still not complaining.

 

[surprising_skoda]

So I did mention in my last ramble that I might do a road-test report. More for my own amusement and interest than anything else but I do not mind sharing it for you good people. Or indeed, for you to bemusedly wonder what on earth I am bleating on about this time.

So four cars I've done a few miles in each of lately.
2001 Alfa Romeo 156 V6 Veloce Sportwagon
2002 MG ZT+ 190
2000 BMW 530d SE Touring
2002 BMW 525i M Sport

The Alfa I have had for several years now. People say "Oh, it's Italian" as if that should explain it all. "Italian electrics!" or "Typical Alfa" are things I have endured in that time. And yet, what has it needed? Tyres, a radiator after a heavy winter, top wishbones which are a common fault. I've done a lot of work to it but that's my own choice, putting the GT front bumper on, new boot badge and wiper mechanism which I could have lived without, I upgraded the leather to facelift leather for some forgotten reason, facelift steering wheel which apparently is not compatible but its on mine, so... , and speaker and stereo upgrades, and a few alloy wheel changes. Oh and the strut brace and 3D dipped spoiler.
Anyway the things it has "needed" have been service items. Brakes have been done (and upgraded) and they are needed again which is unexpected but they've spent much time standing around and it's easy to see how they could become poor over time.
The 156 gets a poor rap for rust, and to be fair the first one I looked at (a grey diesel wagon) was rotten in the floor, but when I drove it and sat looking at the instrument binnacles I knew I was having one. It was just "special" to sit in. My red one has had zero rust prevention and is still just dandy. The front bumper mounts are a bit crusty now though, a common point on which any other I've seen have been eaten away completely.
So there are rust issues, but then, a 2001 3 series or a 2001 C-class would be just as bad, and actually have just as bad a reputation.
I say the three series as I don't think the 156 is up against the 5 series, even though that's what I'm checking out. It's a smaller, lighter car, with fewer toys, but I could be wrong.
So ignore the electrical "worries". My biggest issue in that regard has been a dash backlight that goes out sometimes so I can't see the higher end of the rev counter. And sometimes it comes back on again. It's more usually on than off.
Reliability wise it has never failed to proceed save when I flung a gallon of diesel into it (whoops!). Towed home, and pulled the injection system apart, used the fuel pump to remove the diesel from the tank, filled up with super unleaded and it has ran fine ever since. It has a towbar and has pulled a 2.5 ton load 60 miles home once when stuck in dire circumstances.
It still feels special to drive. It's quick, it's rev-happy, it has a great pickup without any lag and it goes where you point it. It does get a bit under-steery when pushed. The suspension is good, compliant but firm. The gear ratios are very short. Acceleration is odd as you are frantically changing gear every two seconds until you get to sixth and still want another. It has no nice final drive gear for cruising. V6s to tend to rev higher I find, but even still, 70mph at 3,200 rpm is the same as my 1.3 Skoda, and noisy on the motorway. I know its undergeared as a quick stamp on the throttle and the torque is there to accelerate from 70 further. A cruising gear does not need to be in the torque band. It's my one major grip with the car. It feels as though I have redundant gears and I would be surprised if third and fifth are not gummed up inside the box as they're never used.
The electrics are all to hand, the steering wheel is small-ish and everything makes sense with its location - the only out of the way thing being the fog light switches between the seats. But you shouldn't be playing with those anyway.
Interior space is tight. I'm six foot and I like some head space so I sit low. There's no room for a rear passenger behind me and my elbows have no natural resting spot on either the door or the centre console. Early cars had no centre arm-rest, the facelift seats in mine have one attached to the seats which is handy but its small. It just about does the trick for my left side at least. Boot space is decent, although the lip doesn't help with getting heavy things in. My boot is full of crap. There's still shin pads and helmets in there from the last time i took out my MTB in like 2012 or something. Embarassing.
The Alfa has no cruise control and it can't be added to pre-facelift cars without a complete wiring session. Facelift cars you can plug it into. So none of that for me, and few other mod-cons really, just electric windows, mirrors, usual things.
I think its a reasonably good looking car, its fairly practical, its interesting and in my case reliable. I bought it with 82,500m and now it has 99,200 with little more than servicing and a few replacement items that I can see being needed on any 15 year old car.

The MG I purchased recently as a replacement for the Alfa although the Alfa may live on (see previous). It's also a 190bhp 2.5 V6 and another good looking car to my eyes.
It's a completely different steer though. First thing I noticed was that the Rover 75 based saloon was very much bigger indeed than the 156 or indeed the E39s. It is a concurrent car so this was some surprise, and as I have a narrow drive I needed to be careful when arriving home. The wider body, and presumably track, means its much more planted than the Alfa and I have not yet found if it under or over steers on the limit.
It has the same V6 undergearing woe, with no 6th gear to relieve the engine on a fast motorway waft. There's also no cruise control to make life easier. It does like to rev as well, and gear changes are to be done on the heavy side of 3k rpm to keep it pulling. It's an exceedingly rapid car though, given the bulk, lack of wind noise and displacement from the exterior I feel it to be surprisingly sharp. When lowering oneself into the seat, you do realise that the doors are thick, the dash long, the bonnet long, the bumper extends further still and the road is at some point over the horizon and you can take a rough estimate where it should be. The comfort though is something I've missed since my 620sdi, with half leather semi-bucket seats making for a most enjoyable butt-plonking experience.
The controls inside are not as accessible. The radio is too cluttered, as is the heater. They make sense, but there's too much going on. The steering wheel controls are in the 7-8 o clock position which is not where my thumb is when driving. However the armrest in the centre and on the door are in just the right spot for someone my height, as a result of being designed by someone called Arthur, not Alessandro. The dials light up white which makes it racy (not too bright) and there is a little LCD trip computer screen you can cycle through in the centre of the dials, or switch it right off which is good. It's prone to failure and mine has a few broken pixel lines in it.
Space inside is much better due to the large cabin size, so people (well, children), can sit behind me. There's headroom for all and footspace to match.
The ride is firmer but not uncomfortable with this car, and it feels much more taut than the others. The larger 18" wheels don't detract from the ride as you might imagine they would. It probably is the most quiet car to be inside, with no road noise except that of the burbling exhaust. It's a meaty sounding affair, with more purpose to it than the other cars here. Overall I'm very impressed so far with the finish of it and the comfort yet sportiness, if not the ergonomic detail, but its not something I can't easily cope with. The wipers are a bit fiddly. Every time you start up you need to reset them, unlike the Alfa and BMWs which maintain their previous operational discourse. Likewise all of these cars have lights that must be turned on/off except the Alfa which can be left on and go on/off with the ignition. It's the small things - but I've left lights on before and had flat batteries in the morning. If the "ping ping" fails, you might not realise. I don't trust car electronics not to fail and having a system that takes care of it is nice.

The BMWs can be summarised together for interior then separately for driving.
The E39 model is a very comfortable car, with large arm rests on both sides and steering wheel controls at your thumbtip. The radio and heater controls make almost instant sense and the wipers etc are all where you'd expect. There are no surprises. But then, it's very boring inside. The instruments are plain (and prone to failure) and the standard radio quite sparse with controls given it's size. The radio and the heater control panel are also prone to buttons falling off and LCDs failing and even the cupholders, which the other cars don't have, are so fragile that they are essentially useless.
BMW seats are hard but they are still reasonably comfortable and supportive. They're harder wearing than others too although these cars have more miles than my other two. They have a little more adjustment scope though and it leaves it that rear seat passengers can have thicker legs than the other cars. Equipment levels with all of these four cars is much the same, but the 5 series has got more radio control and almost all of them have cruise control built into the wheel. As per usual the windows and mirrors are all electric.
I've considered both of these cars as we have a Sport, auto, petrol, and a normal SE trim, manual, diesel which are far apart and give a broad view of what they're like.
The Diesel is very boaty, wafty, with no real prowess in the cornering stakes, but, in saying that, even with it's standard 16" wheels with sidewalls the size of some hi-rise tower blocks, it will stick to the road. It soaks up all manner of bumps and rattles but even though you don't feel the harshness of the bump, you feel the wobble in the back end as it goes over it. For this reason I find the car very comfortable when traversing some B roads or if I need to be somewhere in a hurry. The turbo is a good one (replaced it just after buying the car) and the kick it adds to the 184bhp 3.0 engine makes it a reasonably fast car. It is not quick, there is no "nippyness" about it, and it certainly wouldn't do well in a traffic light grand prix against anything other than a Daewoo, but once past the first few gears and into the boost range, it will fly along quite merrily at lose-your-licence speed with a settled feel and maintaining the torque curve so you have some when you need it. It will calm itself to about 2,150 rpm at 70mph and so beats the petrol cars 24-27mpg by doing 37mpg on the same kind of mixed mainly fast back roads driving I do mostly.
This particular heavy oil Touring has some 165k on it of which 5-6 would be mine over the last several months. The light control unit is faulty, I've had issues with the central locking, the boot doesn't open, it puts up error lights that sometimes go away and sometimes don't, and it has succumbed to rust which is unusual for these but once they get some, they go very bad indeed. It has a towbar as well and has pulled a few loads and is quite competent at towing, although the weight limit must be adhered to as the multi-link suspension and air-bags at the rear do not appreciate being pushed past their specifications. The rear tyres also wear quite fast when used for towing because of the way they camber in.
The petrol automatic M Sport model is much more stable but at the cost of comfort. It's not a harsh ride, but you know you are not being cossetted. It feels eager to push on but you can feel the tendency to oversteer when you do, unlike the diesel in which the heavy engine balanced the front to back and it would understeer first. The straight six 193bhp 2.5 has more toque and grunt than the V6s but then doesn't rev as high, so it feels like it takes less effort but by doing so removes a little of the ethereal pleasure. What it is, is very capable, but not terribly engaging. The auto box is efficient but kickdown is slow and accelerating feels a little too committee-decided. There's a decision every time in the transmission ECU on whether or not I really meant to jam on the throttle and if I actually need a lower gear or just a little bit more noise. It does get tiresome. I've driven manual petrol ones and they are better in this regard (of course) but you do need to drop a gear to accelerate or overtake as they are geared for cruising, not racing, so they sit just below the torque band. It's a nice sound off them although this particular car is too loud and being auto, odd sounding with a stainless exhaust. There is 138k on this car but it doesn't show in the way the diesel one wears its mileage. It has no faults electrically but did need some suspension work and the usual engine gaskets that all these BMW petrols need regularly.


I'm noticing the subtle differences with running these cars all at once (sort of). Like the BMWs have a key fob with a boot button, the others don't. The MG has a open button that opens the drivers door on single tap or all the doors on double tap. The Alfa doesn't have parking sensors but the others do. The Alfa can clear it's misty screen in half the time the others take, but the MG has "walk-me-home" lights.

I can't recall ever having several cars at the same time that would have been competing with each other when new, so it's interesting to me to segregate their differences and foibles and so on, and compare them 15 years later when all the common faults and reliability factors have been exposed. I'd be further interested to drive say a concurrent Mercedes/Audi/etc to see how they compare. I did drive a Lexus GS300 as a daily a few years ago but it was a '95 and I can't remember much about it apart from not liking it so that doesn't need revisiting!

 

[surprising_skoda]

If you weren't already fed up with this thread here is what the underside of the Alfa looks like:

Back nearside all ok

Offside good

The scabby, scabby exhaust revealed in all its ignominy. I paid a lot of money to have a custom made stainless fabricated for this car a couple of years ago. I've hated it since because it sounds pants. And considering I supplied the backbox, what I paid for was less than a metre of stainless pipe that has been butchered on. Sour face.

Downpipe - scobed through.

Front nearside - needs every single bushing

Offside passable but would need done to match. needs all front discs too.

Cars look pretty nasty from underneath in flash-light, highlights all the scabby areas! But for a 15 year old Alfa it has fared very, very well.



Austin work continues. Long hours spent staring at things like this

Trying to figure out how to improve. Or just get rid of nasties. Quarter way through I guess.

 

[surprising_skoda]

We've been hectic in work hence no updates in ages.
Just after the last post, I took this picture inside the workshop. There are 5 M cars in there being worked on, hence having no time (or spare money!) to work on any of my projects.

I mentioned in a recent "cars you miss" thread about a E39 535i manual I sold last year. I came across a similar car, a black facelift Sport, for sale in London. It had black leather and sat-nav over my previous standard radio and silver leather, and was advertised with "immobiliser problem". I bought it and had it moved to into storage in the midlands for a month until I could get over and sort it out.

Where I also have this lovely low mileage 530i Sport stored

I went over to sort them out a couple of weeks ago and brought of couple of my guys with me. The 530i got whatever work it needed and now just needs an MOT and will be up for sale. The 535i turned out to have been previously owned by a devious little liar who had totalled the engine internally and pulled the immobiliser to hide it. A real shame as I was quite looking forward to driving that one.

I had no choice but to buy another car to float around England in while I was there...

Another 530i auto with sat-nav and black leather but short MOT.
It stayed in England after I was done with it.


So next step is back home and see what the score is here.