What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by sandbagger

how do you even find replacement plastic tanks available?

in all my years of working on stuff, I cant say I have ever seen them available for anything, let alone a BMW

Many radiator shops can order them. I used to work at one stateside in the 80's and the key to getting them in the USA is to ask for your core to be rodded and tanks replaced, don't ask for repairs.

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[X5chemist]

Originally Posted by alberniken

. of folks with a lift. Getting too old to fix things with just a jack & stands and sliding around in gravel.

Wish I had one too! It's five hours away from me! I have to make another trip to get the oil pan, bearings, axle shafts, seals, and struts installed. Using a lift sure does help with access. So many parts make up the suspension. We put it back together to hold in place. The front toe in is bad on both sides. The plan is to tow on a trailer for alignment.

[Henn28]

I spent this morning putting in a fuel pump I had planned to install during the motor swap, but ran out of time. The car was stumbling a bit when starting fully warmed up, and a fuel pressure test indicated fuel pressure was dropping quickly with the key in the off position. I'm hopeful that the pump will fix the problem, as the fuel filter is only a few months old. My first fuel pump install, so thanks to those I bugged here for advice.

I also replaced the "wedge" and nut assembly that holds the battery positive cable on the terminal, as I snapped mine right off when installing the subwoofer a few days ago. I got a used positive cable, including the first foot or so of cable, but replacing the fastener and plastic cover (mine had shattered years ago, which probably contributed to the corrosion that made it snap off with so little torque) was much easier than splicing the ebay cable in.

Fuel pump went in fine and the pressures are good with the key in position 2, motor running and key off after running. The insulation/noise mat on the floor was in 1000 pieces, along with 20 years of kid debris and detritus, so I cleaned it all up, re-taped the wire bundles and put a sheet of Dynamat extreme down. The only struggles I encountered were caused by the middle seatbelt inertial reel being locked (as been for years), which makes it difficult to get the seat/belts, etc. back together again. I have no idea how to replace the center inertial reel, but probably need to figure it out at some point while I can still get a new reel, if needed.

Pics below.
after cleaning up the mess...


After installing the new pump and laying down the Dynamat...

[andrewwynn]

I had to cut my middle seat belt the last time I did fuel pump work on e53.

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by sandbagger

how do you even find replacement plastic tanks available?
in all my years of working on stuff, I cant say I have ever seen them available for anything, let alone a BMW

Yes that's amazing. I've only replaced the whole radiator.

[EODguy]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Yes that's amazing. I've only replaced the whole radiator.

Any radiator shop that "builds" radiators in the United States has access to the tanks and cores. At least they did back when I worked at a radiator shop back in the 80s...

Look at my temps now...

Oh and the actual temp in the shadebshowed 47c at the time, plus just creeping along at 1,000 rpm seems to be the sweet spot for cooling.

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[StephenVA]

Install a new driver's side mirror motor assembly and black surround trim without breaking the old one nor the painted cap. Looks nice and shiny!

Put in a few new "Push Clips" on the driver side interior door panel to resolve a long standing intermittent rattle that was vibration sensitive.

Now off to get the AC recharged (evac and recharged) for the first time in 20 years as she doesn't blow cold. Cool yes, cold no....

[zuvarak]

Repainted my side-mirror assemblies along with the wiper blade arms last Saturday. They looked horrible. Motip semi-gloss spray paint did a fantastic job. Is it okay to paste an instagram link here? https://www.instagram.com/p/CgZJtn-q...6n8xflT8CvcXPI

Stripped one bolt in the process. Put like 3 hours on top of the entire job. Was a real pain in the ass. Ended up drilling another hole into the broken off bolt and made a new thread into it lol.

[guntherrex]

result looks good though!

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by zuvarak

Repainted my side-mirror assemblies along with the wiper blade arms last Saturday. They looked horrible. Motip semi-gloss spray paint did a fantastic job. Is it okay to paste an instagram link here? https://www.instagram.com/p/CgZJtn-q...6n8xflT8CvcXPI

Stripped one bolt in the process. Put like 3 hours on top of the entire job. Was a real pain in the ass. Ended up drilling another hole into the broken off bolt and made a new thread into it lol.

Wow, that is some serious corrosion on that mirror base. How did you clean it up enough to get a good paint job? My driver side mirror is showing signs of corrosion under the paint at the same place as yours. I was thinking of going the new mirror route when it got too bad, but would rather save a few bucks.