Fix and Flip E38: 1998 BMW 740iL

In reply to grover:

I don't know, I've never asked.

Dang, has it really been 5 months since the last update?  So I'll get you all caught up with a story I like to call "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Rosh Hashanah".  

Wednesday, September 20, I'm booking down 696 on a hot afternoon, A/C blasting, not a care in the world, when I see a big sheet of plastic, a garbage bag or something, lift into the air a couple carlengths in front of me.  It doesn't go over my windshield, so I check my mirror and see that it didn't go under either.  About a minute later, I get a warning chime and CHECK COOLANT LEVEL appears on the message center.  A quick look at the IP shows temp needle is centered, so I don't worry about it until about another minute later when that same needle takes off for the red zone.  I pull onto the shoulder and shut her down.  A quick roadside inspection shows that garbage bag is stuck to the front end of the car, completely blocking all of the airflow to the radiator.  I pop the hood and find this:  

Yes, that was one of the new hoses I installed a few months back.  

Being the road-savvy used BMW owner that I am, I've got two gallons of distilled water in the trunk.  But being the disorganized fool that I am, my roll of Gorilla Tape is somewhere *not* in the trunk.  So I pour the water in, start the engine, and limp it about a mile to the Greenfield Road exit in Southfield, where I know there's a gas station and a drug store.  I park in a tow-truck-accessible spot (just in case) and ask the gas station clerk if I can fill up my water jugs from the hose outside.  I head to the drug store and pay something like $8 for a roll of Gorilla Tape, then I head back to the car to bandage her up.  

At this point, a little bit of backstory is in order.  Southfield MI is home to a large and long-established Jewish community.  So large and/or connected that when I-696 was built 30 years ago, it was built with a north-south deviation of about a mile from its otherwise nearly perfect east-west trajectory, to avoid disrupting their neighborhood / temple / etc.  

On any other day this might not be so significant, but Wed 9/20 happens to be the first day of Rosh Hashanah, and it's about 3PM so all the traditional Jewish men and boys are walking to Temple in their black suits.  And it's hot out.  And I'm the shiny happy person in full office attire duct-taping the still-hot-AF exploded radiator hose on a German car with all these Jews walking by.  At one point, a teenage boy is walking by with his father, and I hear him say "Shoulda bought American!" which makes me LOL because Detroit.  

Anyway, I finish my duct tape job, fill the system and let it burp a few times, open the bleed screw to purge the rest of the air, and drive the 6 miles back to work.  

The taped hose was still leaking quite a bit, so a call to AAA got me a ride home on the stretcher.  

I ordered new hose and coolant from FCP Euro and repaired her correctly that weekend.  

Last weekend, I finally replaced the battery since it would only hold a charge for about 13 hours (down from 3 days when I bought the car).  With a 2010 date code, it's a wonder the battery lasted as long as it did.  MSRP on new battery was $182 plus core, so I hit CL and found a Group 95 battery, AC Delco brand, never-installed, 2017 date code, for $70.  Took the dead one to AutoZone to recycle it and was surprised to receive a $10 store credit.  Minor win right there.  

So that's where we stand as of 11/20/2017.  I lost my budget spreadsheet in a thumb-drive failure when I changed jobs a couple months ago, but I think I'm in about $1800 now.  Not too bad for a 20YO BMW with 207k on the odo.  I still love driving her, but would like to sell before Christmas so I don't have to pay $240 to renew the tags.  Yes, in MI the registration fee is based on MSRP and she was about $80k new.  :-(

Thanks for keeping one of these majestic beasts running :) I've done about 10 timing chain guide jobs on various M62's, both vanos and pre-Vanos. The Vanos engines are a lot trickier to time because their sensors are very sensitive to discrepancies in the timing.

My current daily driver is a 2000 540i wagon, and it's been rad. I love the M62tu, it's such a nice engine when it's well-sorted.

There's not too much margin to be made with flipping these cars due to their super deflated market, but they're great cars nonetheless. Peoples' fear of old German cars means they sell for pennies if anything is wrong with them. These days I don't flip BMW's anymore, I just fix them. It's much easier to do a chain guide job, make some money, and not have to worry about buying/selling.

My nephew is willing to give me a screaming deal on his '90 325is because he wants me to M62-swap it.  I haven't decided yet.

Anna Nicole Smith has moved on to a new home.  Sold for a bit less than I had in her, but I enjoyed my time with her.