I just had to rescue it... a rough 1991 750iL

[BFPilgrim]

Hello all,

May I introduce Project Heidi, a rather rough 1991 750iL. The story is, I used to have a 1991 E34 M5 called Heidi which I had to sell to fund pilot training, so now that’s well out the way I had to get something to adequately fill it’s shoes and I’ve always wanted a V12.

I found this 7er in northern Georgia where it had recently been pulled out of a field in Tennessee where it sat for 15 years. It’s rough. The paint is gone, the leather needs professional work, the battery acid leaked out and the battery actually fell through the floor. It does start and move, it’s in limp mode and it smokes heavily.

The good bits; it’s the exact year and spec I wanted, it’s black with a cream interior, 144k miles, it idles silky smooth, no rust (other than battery area) having spent most of its life in hot climates, all body panels original and barely a dent on the whole car and apart from the wheels, it’s all original. The smoke is also erratic so I believe it is PCV or valve stem seals, both of which I will enjoy doing myself.

She cost the mighty sum of $1200, well and a 850 mile round trip with the truck and trailer to get her home!

I’ve only had it a week and this forum has been an invaluable resource already, so thank you all!

Benjamin

PS, if anybody has an E32 for parts with good sheet metal in the battery area I would very much like to buy that section and get this girl rolling.






















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[kce1900]

Welcome to the Forum and the E32 gang!
I wish you all the best with your new acquisition.

Check out this post here, there are a few more E32 in Florida who meet once in a while: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...et-to-together
Normally, I meet two of them once a year at a large vintage gathering in North Carolina, but not this year...

[rbelton]

Wow, welcome to the forum. You are brave! Now you have me thinking I need to check my battery box asap on my recent acquisition...

[CamE32]

Welcome! When I found my ‘88 735i in 2018 it had been sitting for 12 years too - inspection sticker was from 2006!

I also got a ‘88 735il parts car as a package deal. I’d love to help you out with the battery area sheet metal, but I don’t have the means to cut it out for you. But if you were willing to come up all the way to Cape Cod, I’d let you go to town.

Short list of things to do/watch out for given yours sat for the same amount of time as mine:

-all rubber brake line hoses will need to be replaced, but they’re cheap so don’t worry. A power bleeder will make this job, and the 3-4 brake bleeds you’ll need to do in order to get the gunk out, much easier.
-all rubber fuel lines will also need to be replaced
-I suspect the fuel tank could use a good cleaning, but maybe you lucked out (mine had to be swapped with the parts car’s & a new fuel pump)
-I’d prioritize refreshing the entire coolant system. My car was very low miles but the water pump still went pretty quickly once I started daily driving it - same with the accessory belts.
-do a power steering fluid drain/refill - the old fluid will be nasty
-the brake “bomb” has likely lost its nitrogen charge over the years and it won’t be a pleasant experience if you ever need to brake quickly... very scary when the pedal feels like you’re stomping on a brick.
-all the vacuum lines (and idle control valve air hose) from the bottom of the intake will likely be cracked - replace them
-I’d recommend doing a suspension refresh even if it has low miles. All the rubber fittings will be severely dried out after sitting so long, and once you start driving, the ride/handling will get considerably worse (ask me how I know...) Hop on RealOEM for an idea about what you’re up against.
-check and/or just replace the “fusible links” that are in-line on the battery cables - with all the rust in that area, they might be toast.

there’s more I can’t think of right now, but that’s a good start of things I had to figure out for myself with the help of this forum. And not to scare you.. but the only other time I’ve seen that much white smoke out of the exhaust was due to a head gasket failure on my first E32 - so keep an eye out, check the coolant level often, and check the inside of the oil fill cap for the classic milkshake of horror.


otherwise, enjoy!! Love to see these cars being revived, especially the v12s

[Zieg]

Welcome and good luck. Don't know where in Florida you are located but last week there was a running 735i in green that was for sale as a two for one sale. It was listed on Face Book Marketplace in Apopka. He was asking $3,000 for both. Just in case you are interested.

[paulmer]

Welcome to the Forum and the E32 gang!
I wish you all the best with your new acquisition.

Check out this post here, there are a few more E32 in Florida who meet once in a while: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...et-to-together
Normally, I meet two of them once a year at a large vintage gathering in North Carolina, but not this year...

You go all the way to NC from QC? That's probably a fun drive.

What's the meeting in NC? Maybe I'll have to do a roadtrip from California someday..

-all rubber brake line hoses will need to be replaced, but they’re cheap so don’t worry. A power bleeder will make this job, and the 3-4 brake bleeds you’ll need to do in order to get the gunk out, much easier.
-all rubber fuel lines will also need to be replaced
-I suspect the fuel tank could use a good cleaning, but maybe you lucked out (mine had to be swapped with the parts car’s & a new fuel pump)
-I’d prioritize refreshing the entire coolant system. My car was very low miles but the water pump still went pretty quickly once I started daily driving it - same with the accessory belts.
-do a power steering fluid drain/refill - the old fluid will be nasty
-the brake “bomb” has likely lost its nitrogen charge over the years and it won’t be a pleasant experience if you ever need to brake quickly... very scary when the pedal feels like you’re stomping on a brick.
-all the vacuum lines (and idle control valve air hose) from the bottom of the intake will likely be cracked - replace them
-I’d recommend doing a suspension refresh even if it has low miles. All the rubber fittings will be severely dried out after sitting so long, and once you start driving, the ride/handling will get considerably worse (ask me how I know...) Hop on RealOEM for an idea about what you’re up against.
-check and/or just replace the “fusible links” that are in-line on the battery cables - with all the rust in that area, they might be toast.

there’s more I can’t think of right now, but that’s a good start of things I had to figure out for myself with the help of this forum. And not to scare you.. but the only other time I’ve seen that much white smoke out of the exhaust was due to a head gasket failure on my first E32 - so keep an eye out, check the coolant level often, and check the inside of the oil fill cap for the classic milkshake of horror.


otherwise, enjoy!! Love to see these cars being revived, especially the v12s

Good list of stuff. I would prioritize any safety items -- bleeding brakes, brake accumulator, replace tires (probably unsafe and old), checking alignment.

Depending on how much time/patience you have -- I would recommend tackling the intake manifold gasket resealing job. You can use high-quality REINZOSIL, just clean up and dress the old big rubber "gaskets". Perfect opportunity to tackle a variety of tasks, such as safety wiring your oil spray bar banjo bolts, replacing valve cover gaskets, replacing spark plugs, checking compression, sending injectors out for service, replacing all vacuum lines, replacing all fuel lines (another safety issue), etc.

I would also be concerned about the smoke. I'd suggest starting with a compression check or sending oil out to be analyzed. I'd hate for you to tackle something like intake manifold gaskets, and then have to tear it all apart again for the head gasket job..

[kce1900]

You go all the way to NC from QC? That's probably a fun drive.

Well, 1000 miles in the comfort of a well sorted E32 isn't a problem. I usually do this with several stopovers and detours to visit museums on the way. There are people who drive similar distances in a 2002. The event is called The Vintage. It attracts around 600 aging BMWs. The BMW CCA Foundation has been organizing some very interesting exhibits in past five years that open on the same weekend. It's worth the trip!

@paulmer, it would be cool if you could make the trip. Then I won't be so lonely with my Style 3 wheels.

@BFPilgrim, I hope some day you can make the pilgrimage to the Vintage as well.

[paulmer]

Well, 1000 miles in the comfort of a well sorted E32 isn't a problem. I usually do this with several stopovers and detours to visit museums on the way. There are people who drive similar distances in a 2002. The event is called The Vintage. It attracts around 600 aging BMWs. The BMW CCA Foundation has been organizing some very interesting exhibits in past five years that open on the same weekend. It's worth the trip!

@paulmer, it would be cool if you could make the trip. Then I won't be so lonely with my Style 3 wheels.

@BFPilgrim, I hope some day you can make the pilgrimage to the Vintage as well.

Sorry to take this so off-topic, but @kce1990, I think I might just. I actually have family very close by in NC. I'm pretty confident in the reliability of my car. I've put about 4000 miles on it since I purchased it, no unusual issues, just maintenance. I do have a few small things to fix before I'd want to drive it a few thousand miles though.. Diff is leaking, etc. Hopefully by next summertime I can square all of that away. I'm also hoping to manual swap it, but that might have to wait until summer 2022 at this rate

[BFPilgrim]

Thank you for the replies everyone, some good info.

I have been busy making a start, gathering missing parts and ordering new bits.

So far on the car all I’ve done is:
-Lots and lots of cleaning!!
-The hood and trunk gas struts replaced, worth every cent of the $70 ish, what a fantastic transformation.
-Gas tank with the 15yr old fuel has been drained and flushed through.
-I’ve had each wheel off just inspecting stuff and cleaning up the hubs. The disks/rotors and pads are like new, they cleaned up good, but I’ll leave the paint for later.
-My wheels I am going to keep, it turns out they are not genuine BMW M Parallels but they are a perfect matching set of 8x18 all round, correct center bore, correct offset and made in Italy, so they can stay. As you correctly assumed the tires are shot and are not safe for use, so I wanted to check out my wheels and decide whether to keep them before ordering new rubber.
-I have a battery en route, what a saga, but a this forum helped, 10 business day special order for that. Size 93, height 175mm to clear the rear electric reclining seats.
-Rear lights I have had off for some love. I found water ingress into the trunk down the back of the cluster, so it looks like some good cleaning has potentially sorted that out, plus the heat from cleaning seamed to liven up the flat seals. The bulb holders were all toast so there’s a full set en route, they’re pricey at $200 ish.
-Rear half of the exhaust is off, a previous owner felt flex pipe hanging from the floor of the car held up only by tangled electrical wire was appropriate for a car such at this.... I disagree so it’s gone.
-I’ve got a full set of Bosch fuses en route to clean out both distribution boxes with a little brass brush and electrical contact cleaner. Good call about the fusible links, I’ll get those replaced too.
-The rest of what I’ve been up to is checking everything over and ordering parts, even random stuff like module box covers that were missing. Many of the lines/hoses are in excellent condition surprisingly, so I assume they’re not original. The coolant vent system is not however, so I have all that stuff coming, along with all new PCV components.

Here’s some pics!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0w5X...GbYWFPaPHscTXg


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[BFPilgrim]

@BFPilgrim, I hope some day you can make the pilgrimage to the Vintage as well.

Yes that sounds great! I’m near Ocala, north central FL, but as you say, covering miles in something that is well sorted is no problem!


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[paulmer]

Thank you for the replies everyone, some good info.

I have been busy making a start, gathering missing parts and ordering new bits.

So far on the car all I’ve done is:
-Lots and lots of cleaning!!
-The hood and trunk gas struts replaced, worth every cent of the $70 ish, what a fantastic transformation.
-Gas tank with the 15yr old fuel has been drained and flushed through.
-I’ve had each wheel off just inspecting stuff and cleaning up the hubs. The disks/rotors and pads are like new, they cleaned up good, but I’ll leave the paint for later.
-My wheels I am going to keep, it turns out they are not genuine BMW M Parallels but they are a perfect matching set of 8x18 all round, correct center bore, correct offset and made in Italy, so they can stay. As you correctly assumed the tires are shot and are not safe for use, so I wanted to check out my wheels and decide whether to keep them before ordering new rubber.
-I have a battery en route, what a saga, but a this forum helped, 10 business day special order for that. Size 93, height 175mm to clear the rear electric reclining seats.
-Rear lights I have had off for some love. I found water ingress into the trunk down the back of the cluster, so it looks like some good cleaning has potentially sorted that out, plus the heat from cleaning seamed to liven up the flat seals. The bulb holders were all toast so there’s a full set en route, they’re pricey at $200 ish.
-Rear half of the exhaust is off, a previous owner felt flex pipe hanging from the floor of the car held up only by tangled electrical wire was appropriate for a car such at this.... I disagree so it’s gone.
-I’ve got a full set of Bosch fuses en route to clean out both distribution boxes with a little brass brush and electrical contact cleaner. Good call about the fusible links, I’ll get those replaced too.


Here’s some pics!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0w5X...GbYWFPaPHscTXg


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Sounds like you are on the right track. I recently also replaced the hood shocks, such a relief. Make sure you also change your fuel door hinge, so it doesn't fall off and get lost.

How are you going to repair the exhaust system? Are you planning on going aftermarket or will purchase OEM muffler/resonator?

[BFPilgrim]

Sounds like you are on the right track. I recently also replaced the hood shocks, such a relief. Make sure you also change your fuel door hinge, so it doesn't fall off and get lost.

How are you going to repair the exhaust system? Are you planning on going aftermarket or will purchase OEM muffler/resonator?

Aren’t the new struts great. When I open the hood I don’t need to lift the front of it up anymore before lifting the rear. the front pops up very positively all on its own when I release the hood latch.

I figured I would be spending quite a bit of time under there so why not! My E34 of the same year, I do recall the hood falling on my head when the wind blew!

Oh yes, I have a genuine BMW fuel door hinge on its way, the fuel door won’t cam over and stay open and on closer inspection it’s cracked top and bottom and ready to fall off. My E34 did the same, funny how common some of these quirks are.

Regarding the exhaust, for now I plan to extend straight pipes all the way back following the original route. I need to start it and see how loud it is. If it’s too loud I can reuse the original rear muffler. The resonator/center muffler and cats are all missing and it was pretty quiet with just the rear muffler, which isn’t surprising as it is humongous. It would be nice to keep true dual exhausts all the way back for the short term for diagnostic purposes. Afterwards, I could do with doing some testing with an X pipe or not to make sure I get the pure V12 sound and not the straight 6 sound.


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[Zieg]

Aren’t the new struts great. When I open the hood I don’t need to lift the front of it up anymore before lifting the rear. the front pops up very positively all on its own when I release the hood latch.

I figured I would be spending quite a bit of time under there so why not! My E34 of the same year, I do recall the hood falling on my head when the wind blew!

Oh yes, I have a genuine BMW fuel door hinge on its way, the fuel door won’t cam over and stay open and on closer inspection it’s cracked top and bottom and ready to fall off. My E34 did the same, funny how common some of these quirks are.

Regarding the exhaust, for now I plan to extend straight pipes all the way back following the original route. I need to start it and see how loud it is. If it’s too loud I can reuse the original rear muffler. The resonator/center muffler and cats are all missing and it was pretty quiet with just the rear muffler, which isn’t surprising as it is humongous. It would be nice to keep true dual exhausts all the way back for the short term for diagnostic purposes. Afterwards, I could do with doing some testing with an X pipe or not to make sure I get the pure V12 sound and not the straight 6 sound.


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I am located in Leesburg. Less than an hour from you. Abdul lives in Kissimmee about an hour south of me. We get together about once a quarter. Did you read my post about a 735 plus a parts car located in Apopka. Let me know if you need anything.

[Zieg]

By the way Dirk mentioned the Vintage. I have attended 13 out of the sixteen vintage's in NC. That's where I met Abdul, Dirk from Canada, Cory and many other E32 members of this board. We coined the phrased "BMW E32 The forgotten Vintage BMW" because while the car was eligible by age for the Vintage it was left off the eligibility list.

We are looking forward to the 2021 event. I expect Abdul and I will caravan again. It is a fantastic event, not a car show, but a Gathering of the BMW Faithful!

[BFPilgrim]

I am located in Leesburg. Less than an hour from you. Abdul lives in Kissimmee about an hour south of me. We get together about once a quarter. Did you read my post about a 735 plus a parts car located in Apopka. Let me know if you need anything.

Excellent. I look forward to meeting you guys and checking out your cars. Yes I have those cars I’m my watch list, I’ll check, I believe I already messaged him about buying parts. I don’t currently have room for a whole parts car

There’s another E32, a wrecked 735 being stripped in Miami and I have definitely messaged him about parts and he doesn’t reply.

There’s an eBay seller called BimmerPC I think it was that has sent me stuff already. He can get me the battery tray sheet metal but not for 2-3 months as they’re moving premises.


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[BFPilgrim]

By the way Dirk mentioned the Vintage. I have attended 13 out of the sixteen vintage's in NC. That's where I met Abdul, Dirk from Canada, Cory and many other E32 members of this board. We coined the phrased "BMW E32 The forgotten Vintage BMW" because while the car was eligible by age for the Vintage it was left off the eligibility list.

We are looking forward to the 2021 event. I expect Abdul and I will caravan again. It is a fantastic event, not a car show, but a Gathering of the BMW Faithful!

It sounds great. The E32 does get a little bit forgotten in the USA and UK, but it seems popular in Eastern Europe and Russia. My Russian friend Yuriy in Kazakhstan says it’s the mafia car of choice

I actually have an OE rear door handle trim coming from Russia right now. I was missing one and all the replacements I saw were plastic. My other 3 despite being what appears to be just pot metal, are all really nice and just need fresh paint, so that’s the plan.


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[BFPilgrim]

I also got a ‘88 735il parts car as a package deal. I’d love to help you out with the battery area sheet metal, but I don’t have the means to cut it out for you. But if you were willing to come up all the way to Cape Cod, I’d let you go to town.

Thank you for the offer, I don’t get up your way very often unfortunately otherwise I’d be right over to cut it out!


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[rbelton]

It sounds great. The E32 does get a little bit forgotten in the USA and UK, but it seems popular in Eastern Europe and Russia. My Russian friend Yuriy in Kazakhstan says it’s the mafia car of choice

I actually have an OE rear door handle trim coming from Russia right now. I was missing one and all the replacements I saw were plastic. My other 3 despite being what appears to be just pot metal, are all really nice and just need fresh paint, so that’s the plan.


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That is hilarious! Confirms my thoughts... I posted a photo of my just purchased E32 on Instagram and it received several hundred likes... 99% of those are from Slovakia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Poland. Nowhere else. I didn't realize the car had such a cult following in that part of the world.

[BFPilgrim]

I’ve been quiet for a while but I have made progress on Project Heidi!

All valve stem seals are now replaced, lots and lots of cleaning, banjo bolts tight again. The valve covers, intakes, tools and other bits have all had a bath in some jet fuel and everything is starting to look nice.

Slow and steady, but progress nonetheless.












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[theBMWbeast]

Those valve covers look really stellar. And the attention to detail with the toolset tells me everything I need to know about how you're approaching fixing this car. Just fantastic work, glad to see progress!

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[paulmer]

Those valve covers look really stellar. And the attention to detail with the toolset tells me everything I need to know about how you're approaching fixing this car. Just fantastic work, glad to see progress!

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Seconded. We demand more pics

[CamE32]

Wow!! Looking phenomenal so far. Keep up the great work.

[BFPilgrim]

Thanks guys. I’m just cleaning and painting a few more bits while I await more parts. I had a torque wrench failure so I have ordered a nice CDI (Snap On) 3/8 torque wrench and some new intake studs that I suspect to have yielded. I am excited to continue reassembly with the new tool

Here’s some more pics as requested!




The plugs I don’t believe were a matching set, I think the disgusting rear cyl plugs were older. Access looks tough with the engine in one piece so I won’t hold that against a previous owner. I chose the Bosch F8LCR.




I bought 10 gal of Jet A for the parts washing and it has been so useful. Even the fasteners have been having a bath, rinsed in WD40 and back in a labeled ziplock bag ready for reassembly.




As advised I’ve been thoroughly checking all perishable components and replacing anything not perfectly serviceable. These are the fuel rail return hoses that connect to the steel return pipes running under the intakes.



Here’s the coolant vent hose off the pump and rad to the expansion tank. I had a sneaky suspicion the brass T piece wasn’t OE BMW



$80 ish later. It seemed a bit pricey for a hose but it is a nicely molded Y hose. I replaced the plastic vent line that runs up to the expansion tank and other bits along the way.








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[BFPilgrim]

Now for some expensive pieces of plastic the fuse box cover lock was broken and the E box cover was missing entirely.






Now for some intake system cleaning and love:



You could now eat out of the air boxes they are so clean.





I realized the intake ducting was a little bunched up around the MAF sensors, and considering those sensors are rubber mounted I felt BMW would have left more room for those to move. After googling engine bay pics of M70 cars I figured out mine had the correct diameter but wrong length ducting off another BMW. Who knows what but now I have the correct ones:



Nice clean MAF sensors now, I pulled the gauze out and cleaned them throughly but gently.




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[BFPilgrim]

Now for some electrical bits. Both front and rear fuse boxes cleaned with all new fuses. Every relay near the front and rear distribution boxes have been out, all terminals cleaned.



Front finished:


Rear before pic, you can see the corrosion on all the fuse wire.



Working on the rear fuse box, relays and control modules.



I’ve also rebuilt the rear light clusters. The terminals had corrosion and the lens were filthy, so all clean now, new bulbs and bulb holders throughout ($225 ish just for rear bulb holders!) I love using a dishwasher for finishing up the cleaning on car parts in areas I can’t reach.



Rear clusters all back together, all light caution lights on the dash are extinguished. The rear lights are very bright and clear. Here’s the bulb holders that are $25 each and there are 9 back there on US spec cars.



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