02x07 & 02x08 - BMW E30 325i Touring (Part 1 & 2)

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers,
the show that loves iconic motors.

This time we set ourselves the challenge of
buying and restoring one of these beauties,

the classic Autobahn Stormer,
Munich's mighty BMW 3 Series Touring.

With its clean lines and
squat stance, the Touring

was the motor that made
estate cars desirable.

This is a thing of beauty,
a creamy, silky smooth

six-cylinder engine, the
best BMW ever made.

If you're a yuppie with a family, then
this is the car that you dreamed about.

Bags of image plus a boot
big enough for Jemima and

Barnaby's overnight
bag, travel cot, toys, roller.

In the 80s, BMW stood
for quality and style.

Now, if you had the money and
wanted reliability, you bought a Mercedes.

If you wanted a real
driver's machine, you

bought a big engine
beamer with rear-wheel drive.

These cars cost all the
money, then around 18 grand.

But nowadays, you can pick up
bargains if you know where to look.

My manor, a car auction
in the East End of London.

Out there somewhere is
going to be my 1980s BMW.

Thing is, he's finding it because
there's so many cars to choose from.

And that's the number one
rule of going to the auction.

Get there nice and early, that way
you can have a good look round.

There's thousands of car
auctions around the country,

but make sure you're
going to the right kind.

Some sell nearly new ex-fleet cars,
others deal exclusively in old bangers.

It's worth getting a sales
list in advance so you

can start making a short
list of cars that you fancy.

Now, when you come down
a raffle or the auction to buy

your car, you'll notice a
sales ticket in the windscreen.

Now, this will give you
all the information you

need to know about the
car that you want to buy.

However, there's some
important information you should

be aware of that's written
on these sales tickets.

If it says the vehicle is sold as seen,
that's basically it, it's sold as seen.

If you drive it away from the auction,
the engine falls out in the road, tough.

It's your car, you should
have known better.

However, if it says it's sold with warranty,
at most auctions you'll get an hour.

It's called the golden hour.

At the end of the sale, you can
drive the car around the block,

and if you find anything
mechanically wrong and prove it,

you can bring the car back
and renegotiate with the

auction who renegotiate
with the seller on your behalf.

Either that, or they give you
a full refund if it's that bad.

But this one looks all right.

This could be the one. Look at this.


touring model as well, the estate car.

Tiny looking thing, and look at the colour.

I think they call this cobalt
blue, nice metallic dark blue.

You should never buy a car like this
in a useless colour like white or beige.

They only sell in good, strong colours.

Silver, black, red, blue.

I mean, that is just fantastic, isn't it?

It's got all the goodies, isn't it?

Leather interior, flip out
radio cassette, sunroof.

What's it say on the ticket?


and it's got some tax as well.

Electro windows, power steering, yep.

This could be the car for me.

It's even got the BBS alloys.

Anything else?

Edlin wash wipe.

What a bonus, but look at this bonnet.

That bonnet lets it down, doesn't it?

See, things like that
would put normal people off,

but for a dealer like me, I
know that that's a quick fix,

and that's probably one of the
cars in the auction in the first place.

So I'm not going to
worry too much about that,

and if I buy something like that,
Ed could repair it nice and simply.

So if I could get this car for sub £1,000,

I think I'd be a very happy boy.

Yeah, I think I'm going to
keep my eye on this car.

As the sun goes down,
the auction action hots up.

Buyers pile in from all across London.

I'm keeping a close eye on my BMW,

and hopefully I'll get
to give the car a proper

mechanical once-over
before bidding starts.

In a minute, what should happen
is they're putting keys in all the cars.

They should put the keys in this,

and it'll give me a couple
of minutes to have a

quick peek round it and
make sure it's all all right.

All right, fella. Cheers.

All right, a little tap on the accelerator.

Engine sounds sweet, doesn't it?


engines they ever produced, BMW.

So that's all right.
Let's have a quick peek.

Quickly pop the bonnet
while I've got a chance.

No, it's a bit dark out here,
so you can't see too much.

But trust my judgement, I've got
very good ears for things like this,

and it sounds all right.

Shame that bonnet needs painting,
but other than that, it's all right.

Right, is it puffing any
smoke out the back?

No, it's not puffing any smoke.

Now, the best thing to do, great
little tip when you're down the auction,

wait by the car until it drives away.

What for? Well, I'll tell you.

Once the car drives away, you're looking
for any pools of oil left on the floor.

Clean. No oil leaks.

Absolutely spot on.

Right, it's going to be
pretty quick from here on in.

We need to get in the auction hall,

make yourself known to the auction here,
and hopefully I can buy this motor. Come on.

Do you know, I love
this bit down the auction.

This is the bit where I get really nervous.

Excited at the same time, though.

It's good fun, this.

Right, here we go.

Sounds good, doesn't it, this car?

Right, this is the bit where I
need to make myself known

to the auctioneer, hopefully catch my eye,

and I'll let him know that I'm
interested in bidding on this car.

You forget all that nodding and
winking that you see in the films.

This is all about buying with confidence.

Stick your hand right up in the air.

No, a bit lower than that.

Come on, a bit lower.

Right, so he's got me interest, £550.

I'll let him run away.

That's £750, £850, £850.

£850, come on.

£900, here we go.

Come on, put the hammer
down, put the hammer down.

Hammer's down to me.

I bought that car for £900, I'm delighted.

Now what I need to do, up there it
says I've got to leave a £200 cash deposit,

which I'm going to do.

I can't tell you how happy I am.

This is the worst bit, paying the money.

Wonderful.

Right, got me receipt for the car.

Nothing else for me to do now.

I'm going to go get myself
a nice cup of tea and wait.

Well, cracking.

Look what I bought.

I've come away with a
car, a BMW 325 Touring.

I paid £900 for this little car.

To be honest with you, it's been a
long old evening, but it's well worth it.

I bought the car for £900,

but by the time I paid for it,
there's a little bit of extra money,

and people tend to forget that when they
come down the auction and buy the cars.

On this, there was 1%
buyer's tax, which was only £9,

then there was £30 indemnity insurance,

and that means that
the car's not a total loss.

It's not wanted by a finance
company or the police.

Well worth it.

You have to pay VAT on £39,

so basically it owes me about £950.

I'm happy.

I just hope Ed approves.

An auction special, then.

A classy motor for
sub-thousand pound money.

I reckon this car would
have cost me around £1500

from a private seller, so
we're in the money already.

Ed.

Hello, mate. How are you doing?

How are you fellow? Good to see you.

What do you think? You must be proud.

It's a good job.
I like this car already, yeah.

It's really good.

Well, I thought it was an opportunity for
us to rescue a Bavarian motorway muncher,

because this is a car
that is just on the cusp.

It's almost...

If we rescue it now, it'll
be all right, but any later.

Perfect.

But there are a few problems with it, Ed.

I mean, number one is,

it's fairly obvious you had a bonnet.

It looks like somebody's
shut the bonnet down with

a tool underneath it,
and it's dented upwards.

It's not ideal.

You can tap that out
and Polish it, can't you?

It's going to be easier just
to get a new one, I think.

Just a whole new bonnet?

Yeah, it'll be a lot easier.

You don't mind the work here, do you?

Well, you know.

There are some really good
things about this car, though, Ed.

Look, it's got leather interior.

It's also got a remote
central locking alarm.

It starts, stops and goes.

I'm a little bit concerned about.

a few of the little chuffs and noises.

It's got a little bit of a blow, I
think, maybe on the exhaust.

I think we're actually okay, mate.

I think it's just the back box has gone.

Just the back box?

Yeah, I think so.

And do you know what?

I thought it just sounded fruity.

Underneath here is the silky
smooth six-cylinder BMW 325 lump,

one of the best engines they ever produced.

I sold these by the dozen
because they never went wrong,

but this one is just
running a bit lumpy now.

Okay.

I mean, I imagine you're thinking
it's going to need a tune, but it doesn't.

Just a service would be
probably fine on these things.

They respond really,
really well to that, you know,

sort of plugs, oil, air
filter, that sort of thing.

As simple as that,
and it'll run a lot better.

It should do better.

Brilliant.

Okay.

Well, down to nitty-gritty then because
there is a problem with the clutch.

Okay.

When I'm sitting in traffic, it gets warm,

the clutch tends to drag a
little bit, it feels hydraulicky,

and also the power steering makes
a little bit of a noise on full lock.

Okay, well, I'll have a quick look.

at the power steering and the fluid.

And what is that?

This is the reservoir
for the power steering,

and look at that.

That is nasty.

Well, what should it be like?

It should be a nice pink colour

rather than a horrible black colour.

So, I think it probably
hasn't been serviced

for a long time, so
if that fluid's rubbish,

then probably the chances are
the clutch fluid is also pretty nasty,

and that's where it's starting to degrade
when you're using it when it gets hot.

And it may even be the sl*ve
cylinders naked as well, but we'll see.

But I think do all the
fluids, do a service,

and I think that should sort
out most of our problems.

Fantastic.

And obviously you'll throw
a bucket of water over it

to steam clean the engine, you will do,
and you'll replace this mat underneath here

because that looks pretty
nasty because you're going to...

We're going to do the
bonnet anyway, so yeah.

Fantastic.

Right, now, down on the front
here, Ed, is a little bit of scuffing.

This car's been in a scrap,

it's exchanged paint, and I was
thinking you'll just rub that down

with a bit of sandpaper,
paint it black, and done.

No, no, these scratches are far too deep.

I mean, all it is is a bit
of trim, so I just pop it off,

I think it's just popped on
anyway, and then replace it.

As simple as that.

As simple as that.

How wonderful.

Right then, just to recap,
we're going to do the exhaust.

Yep.

We're going to do the
bonnet, you can lift that up.

Yeah, change to do one
of those, that'd be nice.

Okay, you're going to do the engine,

nice service, get that
running as it should do.

All the fluids, of course, as well, yeah.

All the fluids, especially the clutch
one, because that is a worry for me.

Yeah, that's a problem, okay.

And just generally clean it up,

get it looking nice and tidy.

I reckon it's going to be quite a
grippy little car when this is finished.

Do you know, we could be in
the profits on this one, Edward.

Would you buy me a beer, then?

Hopefully.

Good luck, fella.

See you later.

Mike's done us proud with this car.

On the face of it, it
seems in really good order.

Now, there is a problem with
the clutch, which I'm going to have

to look at later on, but
essentially, mechanically, it's okay.

Now, it's a performance motor,

and I do have a little trick up my sleeve

to make it go that little bit better.

Of all the things I could do to the
engine to increase its performance,

changing the air filter is probably
the simplest and cheapest.

Now, on our beamer,

it's actually down in the guts of the
motor, but essentially what it's doing

is filtering out any dust and debris that
would otherwise be sucked into the engine.

Now, by its very nature,

an air filter actually restricts air flow,

but our performance air filter
reduces that restriction by almost 50%.

Now, that's going to give us better
acceleration and more brake horsepower.

Okay, well, this thing I've just
removed is actually two things.

I have the airflow meter here and
the air filter, which I'm about to remove

and replace with our lovely shiny
new one, which is going to go there.

When dismantling factory-fitted parts,

you're never too sure what
you're going to get inside,

so rather than risk losing washers
and nuts inside the engine bay,

the best thing to do is
come to a nice clean space

like a workbench, and
that way you'll be fine.

Okay, now here's the old air filter.

As you can see, it needed to be changed
anyway because it's absolutely filthy.

And here's our new filter, and it
doesn't actually need any of this casing,

so I'm going to remove
all this black plastic

and actually just end up
with just the airflow meter.

This is the thing I want.

This is my airflow meter.

I'm now going to attach this to this...

...and this.

Well, that's the air filter put on.

All I have to do now is secure it in place

with the jubilee clip
that comes in the kit.

Because we no longer
need the old air filter housing,

we've actually lost
these mounting brackets.

which attach this to the engine bay.

Thankfully, they've actually
supplied a new bracket in the kit.

With our air filter assembly now complete,

it's very easy to fit it to the car.

This bolt here attaches to the
original air box mounting point,

and this end attaches to the rubber
boot which goes onto the manifold.

That's the air filter fitted.

All we have to do now is the cold air hose,
and all this does is guide cold, fresh air

from the front of the car up
through this hose into the air filter.

That looks great,

but let's see if we can
hear the difference.

That sounds wicked.

Mike is going to have
such a treat with this.

Right, I need some parts for our BMW 3252,

and then I could go back to the manufacturer
because the car's really not that old.

However, if you come to a place like this,

some big nondescript
car superstore warehouse

that you're bound to find on the
edge of a town where you live,

I guarantee you'll find the parts at
well below recommended retail prices.

And that's what I'm going to do,
so let's find out how cheap is cheap.

Good morning.

Morning, sir.

I need a couple of bits for my BMW 325.

Right, and what year is it?

It's early 90s, and it's an E30 shape.

It's a 325 Touring.

Right, and what would you like, sir?

A bonnet.

Right, let me check for you.







For a bonnet?

Yes, sir.

Is that for real?

It is for real.

That's cheap, isn't it?

That's fantastic.

Very good, very good.

All right, well, I'll
definitely have one of them.

I also need a rear
sil*ncer as well, rear box.

That one's rattling.





It's not like being in the Jamboree.

So it's 114.64.



Right, OK.

Well, what about the middle
section, then, of the exhaust?





That's fat.



Oh, that's fat.

And so it's 95 pound,








I could beat just a tad over
budget here, but you know what?

I think it would make a
whole heap of difference

to the car if I was to do
the whole exhaust system.

Indeed it would.

Go on then, I'll go for it.

OK.

Factoring in the VAT, that
means I've saved a huge 375 quid

on the recommended retail
prices for genuine BMW parts.

This might look like Christmas,
but it's actually way better than that.

This is a present from Mike,
and that is a rare occurrence.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, this
isn't socks and a handkerchief.

This is a new bonnet for our Beamer.

I'm very excited.

Isn't that good to me?

This is a brand new BMW bonnet.

Only trouble is it's the wrong colour.

I'm looking for midnight blue
metallic, and this is quite clearly black.

And that's because this is a protective
coating they put on to guard against rust.

The next stage is to use one of
these really ultra-fine abrasive pads.

And the idea with that is to
give the paint the key so my etch

primer will have a much better
chance of sticking to the bonnet.

Now, you don't want to rub
this too hard because you're just

looking for a nice, even,
sort of satin-to-matte finish.

There you go. It's all finished.
Well, except for the other side, of course.

I've got a really good key on
both sides of the bonnet now, but

the problem with this process
is you get a really fine dust.

Now, I need to clean
that off before I get onto

primer, so I'm going to use
some pre-paint and a rag.

Nearly ready for primer. Just one last job.

And that is to use a tack cloth,
and that is exactly what it sounds like.

It is a sticky cloth, and
I'm going to use that to

remove any foreign
bodies still left on our panel.

Our panel's now ready
for primer, but as always

with paint, don't try and
put too much on in one go.

Okay, that's the underside
of the bonnet primed.

All I have to do now
is wait for it to dry, flip

it over, and then do
the whole process again.

The primer's thoroughly dry
now, but it's still not quite finished.

I have to flat it off next, which of
course involves some sandpaper.

Some really, really fine,


of water, because that
is the trick with this stuff.

And I have to whip off any
last lumps and bumps in the

paint and get it super
smooth, ready for our top coat.

This bonnet is ready for its top coat.

The only thing is
it's a dark blue, it's

metallic, it's in a
prominent place on the car.

It needs professional
equipment and professional

expertise, so I know
just the man for the job.

This is what we want, a
professional spray booth.

We've got professional
lighting, professional

extraction, and a
professional painter.

All right, d*ck, how you doing?

Hi, Ed, fine, thank you.

What do you think of my nice BMW bonnet?

Great.

Priming's all right, is it?

Yeah, that's fine.

We need to degrease
it, get rid of all this dust.

Okay.

Tack cloth it.

Right.

Then we're ready to paint.

Oh, then you're ready to paint.

I'm ready to paint.

It's a bit over my league, this
one, so I'll let you get on with that.

This dust residue is actually
from the wet and dry process.

Now, I could have cleaned
it off before, but because it

was in transit, I knew it
was going to get dirty again,

and it's critical that this is spotlessly
clean before d*ck has a go at painting it.

So that's why I'm wiping it now.

Okay, that's me done, d*ck.

Over to you.

Do your magic.

I could watch that
paint dry, but d*ck tells

me it's going to take
at least 12 hours,

so I've got loads more
work to be getting on with.

Now, that looks fantastic in
there, but imagine how great

it's going to look when it's
fitted back on our beamer.

This should be a pretty easy job.

All I've got to do is
disconnect the windscreen

washers, undo the bolts
that hold on the hinge

assembly, and, of course,
undo the bonnet stay.

I nearly forgot these bonnet guides.

Now, even if I do say
so myself, this is looking

pretty gorgeous now, but
it is missing a tiny detail.

And here it is.

Nice.

Ed.

Hey.

How are you doing?

How are you, fella? Really good to see you.

Look at the bonnet.
You can see your face in there.

It is a very, very shiny paint job.
It's fantastic, actually.

This is the first thing that people see
when they come and look at their car,

and so it's made all the difference
to this car. It's really looking fantastic.

They will be impressed, but they won't be
impressed when they see things like this.

It's a little detail.
We're going to get all that sorted out.

But there's still plenty of stuff to do.

There's a really big job, a real meaty one.
That's the exhaust system on this.

I've got to change that over, but
once that's done, it's going to fly.

Well done, Ed. Do you know what? I reckon,
for once, we could be in the profits.

Fingers crossed.



Since I bought it from auction, I
haven't been able to drive the BMW,

and it might have been a pile of old
rubbish, but it is as strong as I'd hoped,

and thanks to all the work that Ed's
done so far, it's just getting better.

His first job was to replace the
air filter for a performance unit,

and that dented bonnet made
way for a brand-spanking-new one,

sprayed up in the original midnight blue.

Now, this car is in good shape,

but if I'm going to sell it on for big
money, then there's still plenty to do.

With these cars, it's all about the
detail, the things that say quality.

Right, I'm off to meet a chap called
Steven, who's got a Stormer 325 Tourer,

and he reckons it's as good as it gets.

Steve, thank you very much for bringing
your 3 Series Touring down to show us,

and what a mighty fine car it is.
You must be very proud.

I'm very proud of it, yeah.

I use the car every day, do
about 250, 300 miles a week.

I just want to keep it in top condition,
you know, keep it looking good.

So what made it such a special
car when it was first introduced?

Prestige thing, really, was a cut
above the normal run-of-the-mill fours,

like Sierras or Vauxhores or Volvores
or something like that, you know.

I suppose these things come
along and just re-wrote the rule book.

If you was to run one of these
on a daily basis, like you do,

obviously you need to
get your parts and stuff.

Are there websites or
clubs that you can join?

You've got the BMW Car Club,
that's the biggest club in Britain.

Then also you've got
the likes of the E30 Zone,

which covers for this
particular style of 3 Series BMW.

You find a lot of
enthusiastic owners on there,

and you can ask any question.

You can guarantee you can
get an answer from them as well.

Right, now you said E30 Zone.

The E30 is actually the
chassis spec number for this car.

This is the E30, the
next one on was the E36.

So for trendy enthusiasts like
yourself, you call it the old E30.

Steve, your car's not
standard by a long way.

You've done quite a
few modifications to it.

What are they?

Well, looks-wise, the obvious
thing are the Centene sharpeners

on low-profile tyres.

I've also lowered and operated
the suspension on it as well,

lowered by 30mm.

It's also got a little
bit of colour coding,

door handles and the
clear indicators as well.

Easy enough job to
do, it doesn't cost a lot,

but it makes a hell of a difference
to the look of the car as well.

It's got a performance air filter,
stainless steel exhaust on it.

It's not cheap, it's about 500 quids worth.

It does make a bit of a difference,

and it would last a lifetime, so they say.

Any difference to the handling?

Yeah, I fitted a chrome strap brace to it,

sharpens up the steering, makes the
suspension work more like it's supposed to.

For an old car, it
handles well, it goes well,

and to be honest, it's a bit more
character to it driving as well,

compared to new cars, you find
new cars are going to be a bit softer.

So it feels much more alive?

It does, yeah.
More like a car should be, really.

Now, it has been known
that I can drive the old car,

and I was kind of hoping
that if you trust me enough,

would you let me have a spinning your one?

I think I'll trust you enough, yeah.

Thank you very much.

Well, Stephen would probably
have the BMW engineers turning

in their grave if he could
see what he's done to their car

since this was introduced
way back in the mid-'80s.

What Stephen's done to
it, basically, is improve it.

He's improved the engine performance
by putting that stainless steel exhaust on.

He's improved the
handling by lowering the

suspension and putting
these 17-inch alloys on,

and it's made it a much
better driving experience.

Just have a listen to this.

Jump on the loud pedal in this
car, and it definitely zings along.

One of the other
things that I really do like

is this short shift that
he's put on the gearbox.

Basically, it's a kit that you can buy,

and it will adapt onto our gearbox as well,

and it made a whole heap of
difference to the gear change of this one.

It's much snappier.

As for the driving dynamics of
this car, obviously, it's fantastic.

I don't think our one can get up to the
standard of this in terms of its performance

because we haven't got the
benefit of the low-profile tyres,

but Ed can have a little fiddle and
give it a little service on the engine,

and maybe we can get it
singing and dancing similar to this.

I hope.

Right now, Ed's trying to
get ours to run like this one.

Next up is the exhaust.

BMWs are renowned for their quality,

and this car was built to last,

but as with most cars, the
exhausts often suffer from corrosion.

Now, I've noticed on the top of this
resonator, there's actually rust holes,

but also if I follow the exhaust all
the way along to the back box here,

you can see there's actually leaking.

Water's coming out of this thing, but
it also makes a rattle when you rev it,

so I've decided I'm going to
change this for a whole new one.

Now, removing an exhaust like
this is actually quite an easy job.

All I have to do is undo a series of bolts
that run down the whole of the exhaust.

The thing is, those bolts have been there
for a long time and are very corroded,

so I'm going to use some
penetrating fluid to help ease them off.

Some people think the exhaust can
only be handled by expensive specialists.

Nonsense.

It's a metal tube with a box on the end.

You just need basic tools
and a ramp to work on it.

I've come across a problem.

The front part of the exhaust
fits inside the rear section.

Unfortunately, it's rather corroded,

and even with a persuading
device, I can't get it apart.

So what I'm going to do is hang
the exhaust back onto the car

and then undo the whole
system from the front.

Now, it's going to be heavy,
so I do have to be careful.

It's pretty much child's play, this.

Take the bolts off and brace yourself.

The old exhaust system is now off
the car, as are all the old brackets.

Now, I have a selection
of replacement brackets,

and the reason I'm changing all this over,

here is a new rubber mount
and here is one of the old ones.

You can see it's in
pretty poor state of repair.

So before I can put the
new exhaust onto the

car, I will have to fit
all the new bracketry.

These brackets go on first

and will hold the middle
section secure and rattle-free.

Make sure the bolts are good and tight

because coming back to them later
will require the exhaust to come off.

And now for the new one.

Mike paid less than £300 for this exhaust,

which includes the
middle and back sections.

It's good value and the
difference it makes will be clear.

It'll let the engine breathe more easily
and should free up a few extra horses.

Locating is done by feel
and then just do up the nuts.

Then it's time for the back box.

Once you've manoeuvred it into place,
the exhaust clamps need to be tightened.

Then the rubber mountings that
suspend the whole system can go on.

And that's it.

Well, that's the exhaust done.
Let's hear what it sounds like.

When we first looked at this car,

we noticed that the power steering
fluid looked really rather manky

and I think it's just because it
hasn't been changed for a while.

So it's a very simple job.

I just crack off this pipe here,

drain out the fluid, reconnect it and
then fill it back up again from the top.

To make my life a little bit easier,

I'm going to remove this
protective cow link just here.

Now this next bit's going to get
very messy, so I've got my gloves on.

So I need a spanner and a bucket.

And here we go. Just crack that off.

A fluid service as simple
as this could set you back an

hour's labour at a garage,
but it's fine to do it yourself.

It's always worth doing
this for peace of mind.

It only takes a minute
and once the car stops

making funny noises,
the system is bled.

Now that's the majority
of the fluid drained out.

There's still probably a
little bit in the system still,

but once the new stuff's gone
in, it's going to do a world of good.

So I'm just going to
tighten up our nut here.

and then wipe off any excess fluid,

put the cowling back on and
then I can fill it all up from above.

I'm using automatic
transmission fluid for this,

but don't worry, it's almost exactly
the same stuff as power steering fluid.

And here is my fluid reservoir down here.

So I pull off the cap and very simply.

you just pour it in.

Now, of course, I either
need a steady hand.

or a good funnel.

I'm going to risk it with a steady hand.

Well, that's pretty much full.

And you may ask, why change the fluid?

Well, I'm going to show you why.

This is the old stuff.

You can see it's horrible and black.

Here's the new stuff and you
can see it looks a bit like a chariot.

Now, the reason this is
black is because of the dirt

and it's going to be slightly burnt
and lots of deposits and things in there.

And that means that it might break
down under hydraulic pressure.

This stuff won't because it's brand new

and it's also going to lubricate all the
parts to make sure everything's tickety-boo.

So that is why we're changing this stuff.

I'm just going to check the level again.

Look at that bang on.

Fantastic.

Job done.

Now, although the
reservoir looks like it's full,

there may still be a few air
pockets stuck in the system.

So what I want to do is turn on the engine

and put the steering from
lock to lock a couple of times

and let the power steering
pump bleed the system for me.

Our beamer has a clutch problem and
I think it's to do with the sl*ve cylinder.

Now, when you put your
foot on the clutch pedal,

fluid is pushed through
a tube into a piston,

the piston acts on the rod and the
rod acts on the clutch mechanism.

When these things fail,

what tends to happen is the seals break
down and the fluid gets past the seals,

which means the rod doesn't
get pushed and that means

the clutch doesn't work
so you can't get your gears.

So what I'm going to do is replace our
old sl*ve cylinder with our brand new one.

Now, the sl*ve cylinder on this
car is actually very easy to find.

It's just up here on
the back of the gearbox

and it's only held on with a couple of
bolts and, of course, the hydraulic line.

Once the unit is off,

you need to collect the clutch fluid
before it makes a mess of your workshop.

Now the system is full of air,
which can cause problems later on.

So first attach the new
unit, which is easy enough,

and then I have my own
special way of bleeding the clutch.

I'm just about to bleed out all the air
from the hydraulic system for the clutch.

So what I've done is I've connected
this pipe to our new sl*ve cylinder.

On the other end, I've got
a very clever brake-bleeding

machine, which actually
is normally powered by air.

I'm going to use gravity on this occasion.

What I have to do is put some
new fluid into the clutch reservoir

and then wait for it to
bleed through this pipe.

It's like siphoning your
homebrew from a demijohn.

While I pump the clutch,
air is blown through the tubes

until only fluid is being
drawn from the funnel.

Simple, but effective.

Don't forget to tighten
the bleed nipple at the

end, though, or you'll
have wasted your time.

When Mike handed me this motor,

the clutch biting point
was right by the floor

and sometimes you can actually
feel the pressure ebbing away.

So now I've changed the new sl*ve cylinder.

Let's see if I've done the trick.

Okay, I'm going to stick it into gear.

and just feel for this biting point.

Look at that. You see, that is perfect.

And there's a real positive
feel to the hydraulics as well.

I'm more than happy with that.

Since I've swapped the bonnet,

this car is beginning
to look pretty special,

but it's being let down by
all this rubbish on the front.

I've got a cracked and split number plate,

a cracked and split indicator,
a cracked and split fog lamp,

and somebody's trying to bump part
the car as well on these Fender covers.

So luckily I've got all the replacement
parts, so I'd better get on with it.

Not a lot of people know
that you can find new

glass and clip-on
plastic trim very easily.

And if the paint is good
on the car, like on ours,

the effects are astounding.

You can take years off,
and for around 140 pounds,

you can add a fortune to the value.

I could put on a new orange indicator lens,

but to be fair, these clear ones
are considerably more dapper.

Only thing is, I will have to change
the clear bulb for an orange one.

That's another four quid on the budget.

Hope Michael forgive me.

Here is my replacement fog lamp.

And as you can see, it comes with a special
bracket that attaches it to the car.

But I'm going to save myself
some time here and cheat a little bit,

because the actual fog
lamp has a special bracket

and the actual fog
light on the car has got

damage on it, and it's
not the bracket itself.

What I'm going to do is
undo the little grommet here,

undo a screw and pop out the old lamp
and then push in the new one. Simple.

Just like the front of the Beamer,

I'm going to change the bumper
capping and the number plate.

When tidying up the trim on a car,

you might be tempted to focus on
the front and forget about the back.

But with so much new plastic elsewhere,

it would be silly not to
complete the job properly.

This car is nearly there, but there
are just a few little jobs I've got to do

to finish it off and get it
back to showroom condition.

The old gearstigator was so
old and manky it just fell apart.

Putting on a new one is dead easy and
it makes such a world of difference too.

Well, that's done the trick.

Our Beamer's got two of
these centre caps missing,

so I thought while I'm getting replacements,
I might as well get a set of four.

And the new ones really
rather put the old ones to shame.

A nice touch, this.

New hubcaps which show off
the X-Boat BBS alloys to their best.

Well, we've got our new exhaust,

but I think it needs something a bit extra.

How about some chrome tips?

And that's it.

The BMW Touring is finished.

Doesn't it look fantastic?

I took a risk and picked
up the car at auction.

It looked tired, but
underneath it was solid.

First job was to take out the old one
and stick in a new performance air filter.

A new bonnet was needed.

That was keyed.

Primed.

And then painted in BMW Midnight Blue.

A new exhaust system improved
power and engine density.

All topped off with chrome towel pipes.

A fluid service on the steering was his
next job, followed by a new clutch sl*ve.

Now it bites with the best of them.

And finally, the exterior trim that was
scratched or cracked was replaced.

Pretty much all of it.

A new gearshift gator
gave the interior a slight lift.

And new hubcaps were the finishing touch.

The air filter kit was £54.

The exhaust and trim was £219.

Bonnet, just £64.50.

Paint, £275.

Clutch sl*ve and fluids, £20.

Trim, £210.

And on a purchase price of £950,

and the BMW owes me a
few pounds less than £1,800.

That's one hell of a car for the money.

It's been a week or so since I've seen Ed,

and I'm really looking
forward to seeing him,

because he should have finished
work on our BMW 325 Touring by now.

That car should be a doddle to
sell, and I can't wait to test drive it.

Ed, how are you, fella?

How you doing?

Good to see you.

It's like walking into a
BMW showroom in 1989.

Mate, it's fantastic.
Well done. Look at it.

Well, cheers.

I mean, I thought it was all going
to be about cosmetics, this car,

but I've actually done a whole
load of work under the bonnet,

and I've done the
exhaust, so when you drive

it, you're really going
to tell the difference.

Well, driving it is what I want to do.

Give it the keys, fella.

Woo-hoo!

I mean, that goes like a train.

Wow.

That's transformed.

This car is now fantastic on the road.

This car doesn't look like its age.

It looks much younger.

In my day, I bought and
sold hundreds of BMW

Tourings, and this one
is now as good as it gets.

All through, a little
bit of spit and Polish

from our Ed, and he's
done us proud again.

And remember how this car started.

It was a dingy little thing that I bought
down the auction for not a lot of money,

but just by doing the
small jobs that needed

doing, like the sports
performance air filter,

it's made a huge
difference to the way this

car now drives with
the rear exhaust as well.

Listen to it.

Woo-hoo!

It feels remarkably
different, not only to drive,

but also on the outside.

Ed's changed the bonnet.

He's done a load of paint work
there, and it's made it look fantastic.

We've also polished
up the exterior of the

bodywork, and we've
tidied up the alloy wheels,

and it's just made a
whole heap of difference.

Now, a car like this would usually end up

in the bargain section of anyone's
magazine, but I'm so proud of this car

and so pleased with
the way it's turned out.

It's going to go right into the car.

It's going to go into the prestige section.

It's going to have a nice big
square rad with impact lines around it,

and it's going to sit
there puffing its chest out,

beaming proudly,

come and buy me,
because that's what it says.

Ed, yet again, fella.

Well done.

You should be wearing your pants
on the outside of those trousers.

You're like Superman to me.

Woo-hoo!

BMW Touring's a really good
news at the moment, and a car

in a good a condition as
that should sell pretty easy.

Now, I advertised the car
in the prestige section of

a motoring magazine, and
the phone rung off the hook.

The guy behind me, Jamie,

has got down there nice and
early to come and have a look at it.

He's already had a bit of a test drive.

He's interested, and I know he is.

I'm just going to walk him
around the final bits of the car,

and it should be like taking
candy off a baby of this.

Watch me sell it.

Jamie, thanks for coming over, fella.

Appreciate it.

So what do you think?

Looks lovely.

Lovely and clean.

Can't really complain about money things.

This does look a little bit too clean.

Is this just a great Polish?

Good observation.

What we did is when I bought the car,

it had like a crusty bonnet on it,

and rather than muck around
and strip all the paint work

back and whatever, we got
another bonnet brand spanking new,

had it repainted in
exactly the same colour,

and put it on,

and that's why it's got this
beautiful lustre at the front.

Great match.

It's beautiful.

Lovely, isn't it?

Yeah. Good job.

Inside, it's got absolutely
everything, this car.

It's got electric windows,

electric roof power,
steering, electric mirrors.

It's got the computer.

It's got a lot.

What about this stair here?

The one little thing on the whole car,

it's got a little weenie rip in it, but
then you're going to have to expect that.

But we did change the
gator on the gear shifter.

We also done some
work on the clutch on this

car as well, because
that was a bit heavy,

and it's perfect.

I mean, it's got leather.

It just looks right.

It feels right.

It's what you want, fella.

It's looking great.

Like the BBS alloys?

I love those.

And look at that, eh?

Now, they're just two pipes.

No, they're not just two pipes.

They are part of the stainless
steel exhaust system that

was put onto the car, and
it's a performance exhaust.

It gives much better
breathing to the engine.

The gases escape a lot faster,

makes the car go a lot
quicker, and it sounds fantastic.

Also, we did a lot of
work to the air filter.

High performance one
makes it go like a train.

Well, as you say, it sort
of sells itself in a way,

so what did you advertise it for again?

I advertised it for 2,000 pounds.

I know on a forecourt
they're changing hands

for around two and a
half grand at the minute.

Okay.

So I was hoping to get as
near to two grand as possible,

say, 19.99.

I'd like to offer 1,850 cash.

Why do people just assume you can get
money off when they come and buy a car?

It's amazing.

You wouldn't go buy a pint of milk,
would you, and say, can I 10p off of it?

I couldn't get away with it.

What about 1,950?



What, 1,900 quid?



Cash, yeah?

Hold out your hand, fella.

Well done.

Pleasure.

Bought a car.

Cheers.

Nice one as well.

Maybe I should have asked for more.

Well, with only 100 quid profit,

Ed and me can't exactly
give up the day jobs,

but the car has flown out
the door looking brilliant,

and that's worth more than the money.

Well, Jamie seemed very happy with the deal

that he had on the 325
Touring, and so he should be.

It was a cracking car, good money,

and that car will give him many
years of loyal service, I'm sure.

Well, that's it for this show.

Make sure you join us
again on Wheel of Dealers

when we'll be recreating
another masterpiece just for you.

We'll see you soon.

Tala.