RE: Bangkok Motor Works - 2001 BMW E39 523i restoration
Man 'Bangkok Motor Works' I fucking love it!!!
You're about as crazy as I am and I thought I was the only one posting in depth detail blogs about restoring/maintaining old cars, never mind BMWs, never mind an epic late E39.
Your comment about the driveshaft link exploding nearly had me spill my coffee all over the desk - so true.
I've had a similar experience and am afraid a similarly lengthly list with my daily driver ('99 E46 320i 5sp sedan) which now has 340.000km+ with no signs of giving up any time soon.
Thank you for this post and your photograpy and video making skills are something Sir!
Rock on and please share any updates you may have on the continued service of this car. Must say I'd agree with you the E39 is probably one of the best sedans BMW ever built, one of the best anyone ever built for sure.
It was penned by a Japanese designer (Joji Nagashima) by the way back when one single designer was responsible for the entire design and widely regarded as the modern BMW that encapsulates the 'Luthe Design Language' most completely. Epic execution for sure.
PS: NGK Platinum for the win! When I replaced the ignition coils on the E46 after 335.000km you know what it said on the back of the coils? July 1999 :).
Followed!
Hello, thanks for the comment. upvoted and followed.
Yeah the list is long on this car, but most all work is down to replacing aged parts, not component failure if that makes sense.
I kinda like the mechanical puzzle that it is. it satisfies the mech eng. in me.
Agree that it is probably the best touring sedan the world ever built. Even subsequent 5 series' weren't as good imo.
340,000K? Wow, I hope mine reaches those levels, and I think it will. Currently at 258K.
Any pics?
Speaking of updates a high-end mechanic shop here in BKK snapped two wheel bolts off on Saturday. After two hours of trying to get the threaded part out I called it a day. Had better things to do w/ my Sat. nite.
Got a call from them this afternoon (Mon) out of the blue asking me to bring the car in on Thursday and they'll have a pro guy there to get the snapped bolts out. I must say, I'm pretty impressed by the follow up. I guess I wont have to burn effigies of them after all. ;)
My coils are probably original too, although I replaced number 2 late last year due to a misfire.
Thanks again for the comment and follow :)
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Wow, I never seen that happen with BMW bolts. Had a guy stranded next to me late last year with an ML Merc that lost 3 of the 5 front right wheel bolts at around 120 but he managed to haul it onto the rest area. Usually this only happens when they're tightened too much right?
I had a shop marathon like that when I replaced the rear wheel bearings. As you probably know they like to deform and burn themselves onto the driveshafts. It took a lot of heat and hammering to get that thing outta there. A 800NM press wouldn't do a thing. Eventually I could continue using the driveshafts but those bearings came out in a 1000 pieces. Probably were the first ones as well, 310k at that point.
The only thing that keeps happening is what you already mentioned on yours the plastic and rubber just gives up. My mechanic called yesterday cuz he heard a 'plop' and the coolant warning light turned on. Turns out the upper water hose which attaches on the cooler's top left had just snapped off it's base, looked like a clear cut. Apart from that the cars are really over engineered.
I was last to tighten two weeks ago by hand when replacing two front fender liners. Took them off to replace a crumbling washer hose and they crumbled too haha. Point is; they weren't over tightened. I think the garage had the air wrench up Way to high, and set to clockwise (tighten) and just sheared them off.
I'd never seen it either.
That's crazy re. your bearings. And yeah, I'm always gentle with anything plastic.
I see some of your posts have in excess of $600. I'm new to steemit, what's the secret? (I'd have direct messaged you this question, but I don't see a DM feature)
Cheers..
Man I got no idea if there even is a PM/DM feature. There apparently is a chat that works sometimes.
Secret is there is no secret as far as I can see.
Truth be told I got no idea whatever what happened there. I only know some people's vote counts more than others and some posts get picked up into a momentum but there doesn't seem to be a system behind it. I literally have no clue.
The only thing I've read is that this is one of those slow and steady wins the race kinda things and it also seems to be a very honest, open and sincere platform. Meaning if you put out quality content and connect with the commentators and other contributors over time you'll be able to build a following and if you keep giving you'll keep getting.
That said, I got here via cryptos and precious metals and didn't even expect to even get 1 cent out of it. I still have no idea if I'll even get anything cuz the voters and the system gets paid by your earnings. This is what it's about for me in terms of building the network and the infrastructure (steem and blockchain) behind it.
I'm looking forward to this crazy ride, even if I make zap I'll still share and contribute cuz I enjoy the community.
Yep OK, like a website, good quality regular content etc etc wins out.
Looking forward to it. Actually.
I too got here via cryptos..
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