Busy week of DIY sorting the car for MOT.

tomstickland

Car failed on corroded rear brake lines so I decided to replace them myself. It was quite a big job because I had to remove the rear subframe to get at the pipes.
Loads of photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/92961862@N00/sets/72157605661533928/






I also repaced the subframe bushes:




Put the car in for retest yesterday and everything was fine apart from a clip that snapped off a headlight. So I drove down to BMW to pick up a new part. On the way home I went round a roundabout and then the engine stopped.
I rolled to a halt and then spent some time delving around for the problem.
Turned out the the fuel pump wasn't running.
So I removed it and connected it to the battery using the jump leads. Nothing happened except a few sparks.

I phoned up the recently joined breakdown cover and got a tow home.

Today I cycled to the scrap yard and picked up a replacement. Bargain at £10. A new one is £170 minimum. I just checked on google maps and my round trip was 35 miles, so no wonder I felt a bit tired by the end of it.
All back together now and working.


It's a good job I enjoy doing this.

Thunderbird_2

Well done Tom :T

I like the pictures, they speak thousands of words.

Keep the Beemer going:cool:

BillScarab

What fun it is changing bushes. I remember what a pain it was to get the old ones out of my Land Rover. Did you put original spec ones back in or fancy polybush ones?

Conor_3

Nice neat job on the brake pipes there, Tom. Remember the wife's 5 series. That was a PITA as well but with hers it was the fuelpipe which runs over the top of the tank.

tomstickland

I've got a mixture of poly and rubber bushes, based on the advice I received.
The fronts are poly bushes, with M3 eccentric bushes that change the front geometry slightly. The rear trailing arms are poly, but the subframe bushes are std BMW parts.

Jorgan_2

Ooohh an E30, very nice. I used to love tinkering with cars, don't get much time though now. DIY is true moneysaving.

Is that the garage you didn't realise you had bought in the background? Or am I confusing you with someone else?

tomstickland

Yes, that's the free garage.

Keith

How did you not realise you'd bought a garage?!