Ian_C Estoril S50 Journal

[Dave P]

Originally Posted by Ian_C

Finally managed to get started on the under bonnet refurb that I've had in mind for a while now. Doesn't look too bad from a distance...


...but really want to tidy up the bonnet slam panel by giving it a fresh coat of paint:


...and that means that it's got to come off to do a proper job. After a day of wrestling with the front end I got all the bits off:


This has encouraged me to do some other bits and pieces whilst I've got the front end in bits. There's a few brackets & pipes etc that could do with a coat of Hammerite and I'll replace some rusted nuts & bolts too.

The more observant amongst you will notice that the underbonnet area is flat estoril in my coupe. A bit of digging with BMW confirmed that the car had a replacement engine under warranty when it was a couple of years old at 17k miles. The area was freshly painted at the time as the dealer had scuffed a fair amount of paint getting the engine out. At least that makes it easier for me to get a good colour match when I repaint the slam panel

Good work Ian

[Ian_C]

Taking a bit longer than I initially envisaged as I kept finding bits and pieces that I wanted to tidy up whilst I had the slam panel off. I don't really want to be going in here again any time soon so thought I should do a decent job. To start with I'll show some pics of the bits I needed to tackle.

Power steering cooling loop pipe had rusted in the usual place. Replacement to be fitted:



Oil cooler, aircon radiator, arb and power steering pipe all had surface corrosion. Would be refurbed with new protective paint:



Fixed pipe to flex pipe connection for the power steering cooling loop had corroded badly. I didnt fancy changing the pipe so elected to refurb this:



Horn assembly was looking a bit shabby so elected to refurb that too:



Also decided to clean up the aircon radiator cooling fan. When I disassembled it the back of the motor housing had surface rust so decided to treat and protect:



When I took a good look at the slam panel itself I decided that it was a bit too far gone to repair and paint. I couldn't really see how bad it was inside the cavity and wasn't convinced that a repair would last more than a couple of years so I've gone for a new one:





I've picked up loads of new fasteners etc and have more on order:



The majority of the pipework, bracketry and rads are all freshly refurbed now and I collect the newly painted slam panel next weekend. I'll add the rebuild pics over the coming weeks.

[Dave P]

The bottom steering pipe is out of stock at BMW and they are saying November before they can supply so lucky yours isn't leaking

[Ian_C]

Originally Posted by Dave P

The bottom steering pipe is out of stock at BMW and they are saying November before they can supply so lucky yours isn't leaking

I ended up cleaning the connection, treating the rust, hammeriting the pipe and securing the flexi pipe with a jubilee clip. Also sealed the rough metal edge area around the flex pipe/metal pipe with sealant to stop water getting in and risk corroding the pipe any further. Should be good for another 16 years

[Ian_C]

Time to bring the journal up to date just over a year after I posted the start of my underbonnet refurb. As some of you know I suffered a bad eye injury last year and that meant I had to stop work on the coupe for approx 6 months. Whilst I'm still without vision in my right eye I have been able to complete the work and got the coupe back on the road at the turn of the year (and with a fresh 12 months MOT from Lloyd BMW in Blackpool too )

Essentially, rebuild was a reverse of disassembly and I either refurbed parts or replaced with new as I went along. First job was to get my new slam panel painted. As I was so pleased with the work that Gaskell Motor Bodies has done on the respray I went back there to get the slam panel done.

Old for disposal & new for painting



I treated the inside of the newly painted slam panel with Dinitrol





...and applied new foam parts to the rear and replaced bonnet cable retaining clips prior to fitting



Bonnet release catch protector cleaned up and refitted



New retaining bolts for slam panel painted prior to fitting



Rear power steering cooling pipe connector repair carried out prior to slam panel fitting



Slam panel fitted, aircon fan rebuilt and cleaned and new power steering cooling loop fitted



Jubilee clips used on power steering lines instead of OEM clips for ease of fitting

[Ian_C]

Before I refitted the remaining parts I wanted to get my air conditioning working. I’d hoped that it just needed a regas but unfortunately the compressor was seized. I sourced a second-hand unit on here (thanks Ben [Imolacoupe22] ) and prepared for fitting. I used a local mobile aircon fitter (Jim @ Chill Out) - he oiled the used compressor and helped me with fitting. He recommended a new drier so we fitted one of those too. Once he’d regassed we spotted the tiniest of leaks from the aircon rad - not enough for the gas to escape immediately but obviously why the system had stopped working in the past. After a couple of weeks I managed to find a new s50 ///M3 aircon rad on eBay (same part no. as the coupe), trimmed the mounting tabs and fitted. Jim came round again, regassed and now I have ice cold air . Some pics:

Old compressor removed





Second hand compressor VERY well packaged





Regassing

[Ian_C]

Now that the aircon was sorted it was time to refit all the trim parts from the front of the car. During the strip I’d managed to damage the rh air guide in front of the radiator. There are 2 types available from BMW - one for cars with headlight washers & heated washer jet nozzles and one for those without. I have heated washer jet nozzles but not headlight washers however I needed the first air guide as it holds the outside air temperature sensor. Imagine my surprise at the $tealer when I find out they want ~£130 for a piece of plastic!! I elected to go for the basic guide at ~£25 and drill a hole in it instead

Original (damaged) - left. New - right



Outside air temp sensor fitted





Oil cooler fresh air cooling duct was next for a refurb prior to fitting. I cleaned up the plastic parts and fitted new bolts and retainers







Cooling duct and air guides fitted (also note that I fitted new rear supports for the oil cooler air duct)

[Ian_C]

Next up was to refit my refurbed horn unit and put the front bumper back on.

Freshly painted horns and bracketry



I wanted to use new mounting nuts for the bumper as the old ones had tarnished quite badly. BMW wanted £7 for each nut ...so I got the same spec nuts & washers from RS components at £5 per 100

Old (top) and new (bottom)









Also fitted new bonnet insulation and new bonnet catches





Last job was to give the headlights a polish before refitting. I tried the 3M kit and got great results



Before



During



After

[Fat Tony]

Good job Ian

[Spooks]

Looking good

I want to do my headlights; have you put any kind of protector on to stop them fading again?