Lou's 1994 7 Series

[740i_Lou 5]

Thought I'd start a thread for my 740.

Bought her a few weeks ago now and haven't really had time to do much due to work and what not.

Gave her a quick wash today and snapped a couple of photo's in my driveway.

Came with the plates. Body work and interior are pretty damn good for a 20 year old car.

Just a few clips missing here and there. Have already fixed an oil leak (loose hose clamp) and

squeaking brakes (brand new pads). Given her a good service and installed a new head unit.

Previous owner had made quite a mess of the wiring. Still in the process of sorting out whats what.

Edited December 28, 2013 by 740i_Lou

[740i_Lou 5]

Not looking to do too much to this other than the usual and bring it up to standard.

1. Fix the leaking water pump

2. New rocker cover gaskets

3. New struts in the boot

3. Alignment

4. Fix the rear high stop light

5. Fix the rear blind motor

6. Fix the air con

7. Fix intermittent locking issue

8. Muffler delete and install tips

9. Remove the tow bar

10. Lower it

11. Wheels

Currently have the gaskets, water pump, struts and a new key fob coming.

Edited February 7, 2014 by 740i_Lou

[kulgan 1042]

NIce to see another 7 around here.

Before you race ahead replacing the waterpump, check the thermostat cap first. They're made of plastic and tend to get hairline cracks along the inside of the ridges.

If that is the problem have a look on ebay for a aluminium replacement cap.. You can get one of those plus the thermostat for about a third of the cost of buying the plastic replacment from repco.

Good luck and have fun with it..

[Mark 178]

Tidy car. Just a note... your model badge is in the wrong place. Could have been replaced after an accident? Worth checking out anyway. Should be placed like this:

[740i_Lou 5]

Cheers for that Kulgan. It's definitely coming from the water pump. Can see it dripping out and around the passenger side.

Just added a housing to my order from pelican parts though. another $10 or so is worth the peace of mind.

Thanks for pointing that out Mark. Hadn't picked up on that. Pretty sure it has had some impact damage at some stage

but the repair work seems pretty high standard. I picked up on it as both bumpers are immaculate and free from stone chips.

Also the drivers rear quarter has perfect paint and the pin striping (which i removed) was near new. In fact the roll was in the glove box.

The passenger rear tail light looks newer then the drivers as well.

[Michael. 2313]

Very nice.

If you change the exhaust, put some straight through oval / box mufflers 2.25-2.25 then fit tips, if you run straight pipes only it will give a pretty average sound.

Magnaflow ultra flo or Lukey stainless mufflers from Ebay would do the job perfectly.

[beemn 50]

Not looking to do too much to this other than the usual and bring it up to standard.

1. Fix the leaking water pump

2. New rocker cover gaskets

3. New struts in the boot

3. Alignment

4. Fix the rear high stop light

5. Fix the rear blind motor

6. Fix the air con

7. Fix intermittent locking issue

8. Muffler delete and install tips

9. Remove the tow bar

10. Lower it

11. Wheels

Currently have the gaskets, water pump, struts and a new key fob coming.

The rear window blind motor went on mine years and years ago when I owned one and from memory it was the gears grinding so I wedged some tin to tighten it up and it worked, cheap fix, not easy to getin or out tho

[740i_Lou 5]

Michael - will probably straight pipe it for now and see how I like it. Would rather put the funds into other area's at the moment.

If it irritates me too much, I'll change it.

Beemn - I've had a few reads through other forums to do with the blind and it always seems to be the same problem.

It'll probably be one of the last things I look at. Think I'll have a look when I have the back seat out to do the suspension.

[740i_Lou 5]

sh*t just got serious.

Water pump fix has turned into a nightmare.

Had trouble getting the fan pulley off and ended up shattering the lip.

Finaly got the water pump off now and the end of the 32mm water pipe is rusted to buggery and will need replacing.

On Pelican now ordering up on parts. Any recomendations on what else i should get while im there?

Got the intake manifold gaskets, extra o-rings and a brand new pulley coming.

[*Glenn* 855]

Replace both pipes, valley plate and PCV while your in there

[740i_Lou 5]

Was going to do the pips but leave the valley pan as there wasn't any visible leakage.

[Etwenty1 45]

Rocker cover gaskets ( already on your list ) x2 plus 2x coil cover gaskets, 20x rocker cover washer plugs and get some hex head bolts to replace all the torx screws you will enjoy removing, if you do the PCV plate there are some special o rings needed. See like blue and orange ones;

similar to : http://www.meeknet.co.uk/e31/Bmw_m62_pcv.gif

[Phil-540i 166]

Bugger.................!!! Least you'll have peace of mind once its back together again though, so a little pain & muttered curses at the mo will turn out ok once wheels start rolling again for ya..........

You sorted that 540 yet Chris.............or is it still making yr head hurt..??

[740i_Lou 5]

Yeah. Its a bit gutting as I was hoping to have it done by the end of the weekend.

Most of the parts were able to be shipped straight away but the pulley is about a week before they can send it.

All up she's out of action for the better part of a couple of weeks.

Was going to get the 22 grommets on my last order but thought I'd use the originals. Too bad they were so brittle and crumpled to bits when I tapped them out.

$5 each when I rung Coombes Johnston!

Oh well. Took the covers to get blasted today and will get them powder'd this week sometime as well as refaced so they are nice and flat.

On of them seems to be quite warped/uneven.

[Etwenty1 45]

Oops yeah sorry 22 of those grommets.

I read lots of stories about the oil pump bolts working loose so I dropped the pan on mine.

Some were definitely loose and the oil pump chain was slack past spec.

Thats a separate job tho.

Taking pause on mine at the moment thanks phil, after finding chain guide debris....... have an e30 and and an old mercury 50 that need some attention.

Edited January 10, 2014 by etwenty1

[740i_Lou 5]

Got the rocker covers back from the coaters a couple of days ago. Had them done a textured flat black.

A little different from factory but still give a standard look. Looks good with the contrast of the smooth plastic covers.

Now that they are back on I will be removing the intake to get at the water pipes.

Still waiting on the next shipment of parts.

Will upload a couple pictures tomorrow.

[740i_Lou 5]

To-do list has also been updated.

Has been given an alignment and no longer have to wedge the boot open with a piece of 4x2

[740i_Lou 5]

Finally got the intake manifold out and the water pipe out.

Here's the bastard...

She crumbles away to powder when you pick at it.

And for those interested, a pic of one of the rocker covers reinstalled.

[BM WORLD 1286]

nice , have the parts if needed

[740i_Lou 5]

Cheer's Brent. Already had them coming from Pelican Parts though.

Got rid of all the paint flakes and crap that was around the valley pan. Found a tiny wet spot.

Wasn't really sure if it was a bit of fluid from when I took off the pump or I had a tiny tiny leak.

Rather that have to pull the intake off again later, I got stuck in...

Unfortunately, as I was unbolting it one of the bolts sheared off.

whats the easiest way to sort this? It sheared off part way down the shank and about 3mm into the hole.

[740i_Lou 5]

Everything's back together and the engine seems to be running fine.

Stuck some new spark plugs in while I was in there and cleaned everything up when it went back together.

Flushed the coolant system out but as I was putting the drain plug back in, she snapped off inside.

Managed to get the broken shaft out with some easy outs sweet as but on the hunt for a plug now so I can get some fluids back in.

[kulgan 1042]

Gotta say. Those rocker cover are looking rather smart..

Very nice.

[740i_Lou 5]

Thanks for that.

She's back together and running now after a fair few drama's.

After getting a new bung, the overflow nipple snapped off.

Replaced that with a new one and filled her up to find a leak in the radiator

Replaced that and found that the overflow also had a leak.

Sorted that and detected a hiss from the radiator cap. Let it sit over night so I could top up the coolant in case there was an air pocket.

Topped her off and drove to work and found that it had leaked out the cap.

Replaced the cap today and finally its all sweet.

Will give the bay a bit more of a tidy up and take some photos over the next day or two.

[jeffbebe 1560]

After getting a new bung, the overflow nipple snapped off.

Topped her off and found that it had leaked out the cap.

Lost.for.words.

[740i_Lou 5]

Why's that? bad luck?