Few things keep me awake at night but, definitely, a sagging headliner would be one of them.... :-) The M539 restorations youtuber did a nice video about re-covering a 750i headliner in alcantara. Worth a look if that's the way you might go. His headliner had let go almost completely.

Personally I'd try the recyclers for a full set of black items.

Here I was thinking that the next step will be to quickly bleed the brakes and get Swampy stopping since replacing the rear brake lines, but I came outside one day and noticed this


https://i.imgur.com/sTiN9Hk.jpg


The picture might not be the best at showing the drop of brake fluid that was hanging right on the bottom of the hose but it was there ready to join the rest of his droplet friends running down the tire and forming a puddle on the driveway.

I checked the passenger side and sure enough it's also dripping.

So the brakes are still leaking...WTF?!?!?

Upon further inspection it seems that the copper washer that came with the Raybestos brake lines are larger than what was in there before.

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but the brake line has this recessed area that the washer is supposed to sit in. The included washers were overlapping the recessed part and from the looks of things wouldn't seal properly.


https://i.imgur.com/5dn18o4.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/AgoZj8J.jpg



I got lucky and happened to find an assorted pack of copper washers at the local hardware store that had the size I need.


https://i.imgur.com/3Jzr8sK.jpg


Got the new washers in there, tightened everything up, cleaned it all out with brake cleaner and waited until the next day.

I'm happy to report there was NO more dripping the next day so I can finally move on to the next step and get the bleeding done.

Normally I do it old school with two people but I moved recently and don't have a helper I can call on around here. I looked into the bleeding procedure with INPA and watched a couple videos of people getting it done by themselves so I figure I'll give that a try first and see how we do.

And right about here is where things start going downhill again.

I wake up the next morning and I'm looking at this:


https://i.imgur.com/r3LImdn.jpg


So that will put the brake bleeding on hold until it melts

3 days later I'm in the truck with my INPA laptop and can't find any of the menus that are supposed to be there. Come to find out that the latest and greatest version (I believe 5.02?? maybe) of INPA does NOT have the brake bleeding procedure for the E53 :rolleyes: BOOOOOOOO!!!

ISTA does have a brake bleeding procedure but it's not the same as what I saw with INPA and it tells you right off the bat you need two people. I guess we'll see about that soon enough.

I connect a little 5amp charger to the battery, fire up ISTA and start triggering the ABS pump to get it to bleed.

Bleed here, bleed there and about the 4th time around the ABS pump isn't triggering anymore, just making a click and that's it.

As it turns out the battery went dead and 5amps is NOT enough to keep the system going while everything else was going on.

Back on the battery charger it goes...

My first thought was to get a headliner from the scrap yard but it would be a little challenging to find one in good condition. Usually people beat up the interiors tearing out other parts or when the tow truck drivers throw in the bumpers or whatever damage was caused during the crash.

Also since there's usually broken windows involved weather will get in there and make a mess

Same. One of the first things I took care of on the wagon after rescuing it. I did all the pillars and lower parts but had a local auto upholstery shop wrap the headliner. Cost was reasonable at $350 including material.

https://i.postimg.cc/hjTp94Cw/IMG-20201003-135143.jpg

Nice work on Swampy cbass. It's a lot of work, but definitely rewarding when it's done.

That headliner looks awesome.

A thought crossed my mind during one of the cleaning sessions. If you wrap the front A pillar panels with Alcantara would that affect the airbag deploying properly?

Thanks! Until I v8 swap it, the interior is my favorite part of our wagon.


I hope I never have to find out. But the e60 m5 has suede pillars so I'm assuming it's okay. I'm guessing the force of the air bags overcomes most fabrics.

It shouldn't. I think the pillar covers just pop off when the bag blows. At least that's how it appears. Wrapping them shouldn't have an effect.

Yep - that's exactly how it happens, the a-pillar actually gets blown "towards the center of the windshield" and the airbag bursts towards the occupant. If it isn't physically broken in the accident the a-pillar can be snapped right back on... for all practical purposes.


Yea... don't ask me how I know that...

Thanks for the info.

having removed the A pillars a couple times I can't imagine the lower part by the dash coming off clean. It always puts up a fight trying to remove it.

Ugh...remember the picture of the snow?? That should have been a little clue for me...but nooooooooo

So guess who's an idiot and forgot the cooling system was still filled with distilled water :doh:

Walking past Swampy yesterday and I saw a little trail of wet underneath the front passenger side and INSTANTLY I realized what I did (or didn't do).

I panicked and opened up the expansion tank to a bunch of slush but the level stick thingy was still bobbing up and down...albeit reluctantly.

I started her up to get things warmed up and about 10-15 min later the temp gauge was pointing straight up.

I opened up the radiator drain and the water started dribbling out slowly so I blew into the expansion tank and dislodged something letting it flow freely.

Unfortunately we were on our way to run some errands just before I noticed all this and by the time I got back


https://i.imgur.com/yI00BhA.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/LYB5F2p.jpg


The little dribble was coming from the temp sensor on the lower rad hose so I'm guessing it was frozen enough to push the sensor out slightly.

Currently the coolant hoses going to the heater core are frozen solid and there is no give at all when I try to squeeze them.

The weather is supposed to warm up a bit in the next day so hopefully it will thaw out the hoses enough to circulate.

Man....what a dumbass move