Ummm.... So I took a chance. ***Now with Fire Content***

Boris3

Great deal for $250!

Of course now this means one more auction site to watch for potential "barn" finds.

m42b32

Nice find!! It's pretty hard to go wrong for 250!

timmer

So I just got done peeking st the car, and so far, so good!

Interior is super crusty, no keys, paint is shot, brakes are froze... all thing that probably should be expected. Hopefully not too hard to remedy.

On the plus side; everything seems complete, no rust/rot that I saw, and the rental storage lessee is the owner listed on the registration from 1993 that was in the glovebox. The marks on the bodywork are little pieces of tape. ??

According to the property manager, the car was running was parked decades ago.

oh boy....

-Tim

straight6pwr

cool! hope she fires up with little effort.

these storage companies must have decided that using a potato for a camera makes the purchase more of a gamble, therefore harder to resist.

Boris3

Re bits of tape: May have had a cheap cover, pieces of paper or cardboard taped to the body at some time so the car wouldn't get scratched by other things stored next to it in the unit?

timmer

It made it home...

HipMF

Nice score.

Curious what your plans are... Make sure you take care of the fuel system before you start messing with trying to get it started. Probably obvious given how long it's been sitting, but I thought it would be worth emphasizing since the CIS system on these cars is a fairly complex and delicate mechanical/pneumatic system that doesn't take well to rust or old varnishy fuel.

Gettin' the popcorn ready.

HipMF

timmer

A little progress update as a result of not having keys...

Did I mention how fun it is to navigate a non-running car into a garage with the steering locked and the front wheels at a slight angle? A wheeled floor jack under the rear end ultimately saved the day!

Got the ignition lock cylinder removed with a little persuading with the drill. Now to see if I can have new keys made to fit, or if I have to get new lock cylinders for the whole car...

Meanwhile, the trunk is locked. I’d like to see what surprises are in there!! Anyone know of a way to get in?

-Timmer

m42b32

BMW can cut you a new key from the VIN. I got one for my E30 a few years ago and it was about $40. I did need the title to prove I owned the car though

timmer

m42b32 said:

BMW can cut you a new key from the VIN. I got one for my E30 a few years ago and it was about $40. I did need the title to prove I owned the car though

Perfect, I’ll give it a try! Is this something any dealer can do? The closest one is Bergstrom in Appleton for me....

Thanks!

m42b32

timmer said:

Perfect, I’ll give it a try! Is this something any dealer can do? The closest one is Bergstrom in Appleton for me....

Thanks!

I would think so! I believe they just ordered it for me and I picked it up a few days later, I didn't have to give them an old key or anything. I'm sure if you called the parts desk they could tell you if they can get one or not

Jdesign

Nice deal for the money! that site is pretty cool. Im not going to lie, I spent some time sifting through other units in hopes for some gold.

timmer

*** UPDATE...version Winter Storm Wesley ***

Im hoping to have her running soon! I’ve tackled the fuel system...what a mess. New key is cut courtesy of Enterprise BMW, and I started cleaning up the interior a bit.

What the crap-wooly mammoth-fur stuff did BMW use to cushion the seats with anyway? Years of sitting turned it into a crunchy, rust colored dust.

She was diagnosed with two frozen solid fuel pumps, and every fuel line held as much fuel as a cheese grater.

Luckily the tank is dry and in good shape; the new in tank pump is in, the external pump is out. Just waiting for the fuel lines, fuel accumulator, and fuel filter to arrive to finish things up.

Im confident she’ll fire right up once reassembled.

Obligatory first fire up in 20+ years to follow.

-Tim

B C

That fuel pump/accumulator looks like something from the great barrier reef

jc43089

Excited for this! The fuel pump setup looks just like on an early e24 that I worked on. It's a pain getting the lines up over the tank to the pump, I think I used a small hose and taped the large one to the end to pull it through.

timmer

*** UPDATE... Version I need a stiff drink ***

Good News!

On Wednesday night, I finished installing the new external fuel pump/accumulator/and fuel lines. I disconnected the bajo bolt at the fuel distributor and flushed out the lines, and decided to give her a go. Expert tip: I added pigtail wires to the new fuel pump so I wouldn't have to struggle to hook up the short leads provided by BMW under the car.

She wanted to fire up right away, but I assumed the the old gas had to get flushed out of the rest of the system. She eventually ran, but was running extremely rich and I needed to keep my foot on the throttle to keep her running. I hoped the fresh fuel mixed with fuel system cleaner would continue to flush everything out, and I kept her running up to operating temp and shut her down for the night.

I noticed the a banjo bolt was weeping fuel at the fuel filter, so I replaced the copper washer. Everything else looked good! I was hoping a little more cleaning, and a mixture adjustment and everything would be good to go. I also bled the brakes and got them working without issue.

Now, the bad news...

Yesterday I had half the day off , so I thought it would be a good time to work on the car a bit more since I work all weekend.

Things started off fine, the car fired up right away, but was still running rich and would not idle. I kept running the car, hoping the new fuel and cleaner would do its job for about 15 minutes. Things did not improve, so I decided to look into things further. I could not find any obvious vacuum leaks, or anything else, so I decided to try to start the car again.

The car did not start, and eventually stopped cranking. I assumed the cylinders were hydrolocked with fuel. I turned the ignition to the "on" position and jumped the fuel pump relay to discover the fuel injectors were spraying without the motor running.

I pulled the spark plugs, setting the wires to the side, and turned the motor over to clear out the fuel. As fuel began shooting out of each cylinder I head a large "WOOOOOF", and approximately 6 foot flames were now shooting out of the passenger side of the engine bay. Maybe I should have disconnected the coil before dousing the exposed plug wires with fuel?

I was extremely lucky. I quickly grabbed a large wool moving blanket and was able to smother out the fire, not before singeing my beard and eye lashes. Luckily the fire only burned the insulation on wires for the ignition coil, and oxygen sensor, which were easily repaired.

After taking a little breather, and pouring a glass of Blanton's bourbon; I explained to my wife my foolish ways. Needless to say she was not impressed.

I decided to call it a day. I'll troubleshoot the fuel issues at a later time. My thought is the piston in the fuel distributor is stuck in the open position a bit, feeding the injectors.

Lessons learned. I need to take my time, have a plan, and always have a fire extinguisher handy. You would think that a firefighter like me would know this? It's easy to become complacent.

More updates, without fire, to continue...

-Tim