B10 V8, No. 388

[Gorgerak]

Change of plan! I have enjoyed 3 or 4 really good drives this last week or so, the B10 stays put!

Absolutely brilliant news!!!! Definitely agree with this conclusion!!

[KennyP]

Cheers Chaps!

Well, that's the end of the summer that wasn't. No.388 now sorned for the winter after a lovely drive out to St Andrews in the sunshine today, sunroof open and the V8 burbling away. It may seem a little early to some but October here generally ends up with salt all over the place and the B10 sat in the garage still taxed.

Lots more important jobs completed this year and plans for other smaller ones for next year.

Cheers!

[KennyP]

Afternoon Everyone!

388 has been hibernating since late Sept, lovely (freezing cold) bright day here today so it seems like a good opportunity to apply some electrons and see if there is any life in the old girl.

Starter motor turned over slowly and then into life! Out into the sunshine and everything slowly brought up to temp. Some fresh December air into the tyres, through some of the gears and all seems fine. Some gratuitous pics (of course... )

Cheers,

[JohnW]

The E39 shape B10 will remain probably one of the best in history with the M5 of the same era. It’s yet to catch up to the M5 recognition but will be on the way soon I feel.

It’s a fantastic looking car

[KennyP]

Agreed John, e39 M5 prices really starting to head off now, perhaps with Alpina changing next year that effect will trickle down a little?

Been a while for Alpina land but finally a warm-ish sunny day to get the bonnet open and start some jobs in time (hopefully!) for summer.

Plan is to check and re-new inlet manifold gaskets, throttle body gaskets, CCV system, fuel pressure regulator and hopefully 8 new injectors if I can source them for a sensible cost. I also want to restore the fuel rail and some new fuel piping where needed. Most bits appear original so 27 years old and they look it!

Just taking my time and trying not to break the multitude of brittle plastic clips and already have a poorly torx holding on the bracket for the throttle cables that bolts to the throttle body so that will require some effort to loosen. It doesn’t actually have to come off, but since I’m this far I might as well as I want to scrub the inlet manifold and get underneath it to check the deck below and clean everything. There is also an ‘O’ ring seal behind it that I want to renew too.

What is nice to see was 2 or 3 years ago I cleaned the throttle bodies and inlet trunking and they are both still really shiny and clean.

Car actually started up just fine after the winter lay up so nearly didn’t bother but bloke brain kicked in and well off we go…..

[simon13]

m5 prices have dropped a fair bit since covid. More like 20k for a good one now, lots of overpriced stuff been forsale for months years on ebay/autotrader etc

B10s seem to be steady still

get the injectors cleaned, waste of money on new ones imo. I've never had a bmw whos injectors dont refurb back to Original spec from this era or older

[KennyP]

Good shout on cleaning the injectors Simon. Mine ain't the prettiest though....(see below) Anyone recommend someone decent at injector cleaning?

Busy day today, managed to get the 'quick release' :woohoo: under bonnet fuel pipes off without killing them. Much wiggling later and off came the inlet manifold. A couple of the rear vacuum pipes suffered during the process :smash: but the plan is to replace the whole ccv system anyway.

Caveman'd off the Torx holding onto the throttle cables, plan is to clean up everything and make it purty, replace inlet seals and so on.

The injectors aren't the prettiest;

[KennyP]

OK, been in touch with a few places including Mr Injector UK who can re -build them, paint them, tested before and after etc for £22.50 per injector.

They seem to have pretty good reviews so will get them sent off next week!

[KennyP]

Bit more progress today. Inlet manifold fully disassembled, scrubbed inside and out. The seals/O rings weren't the best. Wanted to take the valley pan cover off but that meant removing the big long coolant tube as it fouls the bolts to both it and the knock sensors.... Not going there just now. Used brake cleaner and the old hoover just to chuff it up a bit.

Fuel rail sanded down and cleaned then painted with black enamel. I do want any jealous comments about my pro spray booth either.....
I used the same enamel on the tailpipe of the touring a year ago and it has stood up well so it should be fine here.

Gave the throttle body a clean up too but it really needs some dry ice blasting for best results.

[KennyP]

Full disclosure, I haven't seen inside a standard V8 head, but you can clearly see where The Man has been with his polishing kit in the ports on the B10. Also really clean considering they are 27 years old this month!

[KennyP]

New Ccv, inlet seals, t/b seal all on and sat back onto the heads. Injectors now with Mr Injector and they won't be back until into April. New ps pipes and reservoir, fuel filter, MAF and fuel rail pressure valve ready to go on. More under bonnet brackets got the black enamel treatment too keeping things factory.

[greenelekta]

Nice work Kenny. Good to see a hands on enthusiast.

[KennyP]

Cheers chap, waiting on the injector report and then hopefully back to me over the next week or so. Do you still have yours? I seem to remember you thinking of selling a while back?

[greenelekta]

Yes, still have mine.

[KennyP]

Good stuff Greenelekta!

Injectors arrived back today. The report shows an improvement of between 3.37% to 4.9% across all injectors. All balanced and matched together. They have also come up looking like new. Just need to get it all back together now to see if there is any noticeable difference!