Sunday, December 1, 2013

Removing the engine

The easiest way to work on the engine is to remove it. Not so much work on this car... with a little help from my new friends at the garage.






Water and oil are mixing

Bad news. Oil and water are mixing together. I feared this may happen. The engine will have to be opened up, new head gaskets and all that. What will we find when we open the engine? Who know.
I expect I will be sending the head off to be redone (new valve guides, valves re-cut, etc) and replace the rings, and hone the cylinders at the very least.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Carburettor tear down

I will take the carburettor to Scooter Works and put it into the Ultrasonic Cleaner. It is filthy inside this thing. This will do wonders for it.

I don't see how these needles affect anything. This piece only affects airflow.





The €45 needle valve





The center bolt holds in the 2 chamber pieces. I can't see how to remove the needles extending over the chambers so I don't know how to remove these for cleaning.

I have no clue what some of these screws do!

I would have expected a fabric type washer, not an aluminium one.




I was given 2 of the bottom gaskets when I needed 2 of the middle gaskets instead.



A bit of good news, a bucket of bad

I was planning on having the car back on its wheels a few weeks ago. It didn't go as planned.
The petrol tank connector is leaking so I have to work on that. The rear breaks leaked. I have to fix that. The carburettor needed new gaskets and rings. There is air/fuel shooting out from the left side of the engine when the engine turns over.

What is the good news? I can't remember.

I order head gaskets and valve cover gaskets.  €311 excluding VAT just for those!!!!!! F@$&!!
I bought a new set of spark plug ends since some are broken. I didn't realize they cost €11 each. I will return the ones I don't need.

I thought the leaky rear brake cylinders may be caused by old nuts, so I ordered new ones plus a few spares. At €11 each I will be returning those I don't need.

I bought a new set of gaskets for the carburettor plus a new valve with needle. At €45 for the valve with needle, I will see if I can get mine to work well.

Total bill came to €749 when I was expecting something close to €250.

The head gaskets are worth it because I want to take the heads off and grind the valves. The compression was all over the place so I know this will make a huge difference. 32 valves... that will take me a while to grind them all.


Sunday, December 30, 2012

Sunday Gazette article on the 501


My friends in Germany just sent me a link to the latest Sunday Gazette. It is featuring the BMW 501.

There is a nice video of the car driving on the first page.

Here is the link:
Sunday Gazette

Brake Reservoir

The brake reservoir is not easy to replace. The current one is too old and weak to repair. A new one will cost 350 EUR. I will find a creative solution. 2 plastic ones would work. Or 2 aluminium ones would also work.

I just ordered a set of aluminium screw top container that are just the right size. The lids have silicone rings to create an air tight seal. These are normally for spices or other such things. I think they will be perfect as brake fluid reservoirs.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Registration

I send off the papers to get the car registered in my name. This should take about 4  to 6 weeks. The DVLA are not the quickest bunch in the shire.

It is strange that there is no records of this car with the DVLA. I have an original V5 certificate. I guess it has been off the road for a very long time.

The car will be registered with modern plates. When I get the heritage certificate, I will be able to switch it to classic plates.


Saturday, December 1, 2012

Brake renovation

I sent all the brake parts to a company called Past Parts. They did a great job rebuilding them.











Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Heritage Certificate

I just sent off the paperwork for a Heritage Certificate. I am not sure how long it will take. With this certificate, I will be able to switch the registration of the car from modern to classic. Then it will be tax and MOT free in the UK.
The certificate costs 60 EUR and I ordered it direct from BMW.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Engine number



I found the engine number. It turns out the engine number on the registration is different than the actual engine number. I think they made a dyslectic mistake when copying the number down (16952 vs 16592)


Saturday, October 20, 2012

Battery

I bought a massive new battery that barely fits in the tray. The old Acolyte battery looked too small.



Thursday, October 18, 2012

Carburettor

The carburettor is simple and single. It will be easy to clean. The design is very similar to American cars.





Body panels and frame

There is very little rust on the car. The underside looks great. The previous owner spent about £10,000 on body work. It is very sound and well preserved.






Interior

The interior needs a LOT of work.

The original fabric seats are corroded and falling apart. They were tan in color. There are now covered with temporary seat covers.

The room lining is OK, however, in the back corners it is heavily faded.

The carpets are long gone. From fragments I can see they were tan in color.

The dash board has rust around the radio. Otherwise it is fine. It is a two tone gray (dark over light).

The base of the steering wheel is missing the ivory enamel. I wonder if this can be fixed?



Radiator/tubing


The water tubing and radiator is completely corroded. It will all have to be replaced.