750iL Build/Work Log

[DUDMD]

Alright, so it's time I start a work log thread for my 1998 750il. Since it's probably a keeper E38 for at least the near long future of its life.

I picked it up from Artur, who bought it and sold it to me exactly how it was.

This car had a seized motor, where a 5 foot pipe on the crank shaft bolt was ready to tear the motor mounts before letting the motor turn any. I picked up another 98 750il parts car from another member on here for the engine and tranny (123k miles on the donor)

After the car stood here for over a month, I have finally got the time and garage space to start on it.

Plans for the car:
MK4 Navi computer - done
16:9 Screen - done (need bezel, if you have one available let me know)
BM53 radio - Picking it up on Tuesday
Dice Silverline - need above radio in order to get iBus.
Facelift front, sides, and rear lights - done
Alpina front lip - replica - need to place another order.
Paint job with a shadowline trim
Window tint, a little on the lighter side.
2001 Clear Tails (possibly Celis style LED later on)
20x9 front and 20x10 rear iForged Imola wheels, I just need to finish the lip refinish on them.
Kido Coilovers, identical to the set my brother has on his car.
Jaguar tables, just got to refinish them in a darker stain to match the wood in the car.
Muffler and Cat Delete, possibly an x-pipe install.
Some more special mods that I'll share later, don't want to give them away yet.



Here's the pictures of the car and a slight description of good/bad pictured.

Perfect working cluster and with every pixel functioning, don't mind the mess the car has been parked for a long time until now.


Options, pretty standard for a 750il. Broken cupholder and missing the OBD cover trim.


Dash, in pretty good shape except for damage around the headlight switch.


Engine bay, nothing missing.


M-par replicas, staggered with tires that are a little bit too small for the car.


235 on the rear wheel is pretty streched and looks fugly at the moment.


Shot through the open sunroof.


My 2 other BMWs, the 740il sport and 540i/6. The V8 M60 on the right is a little 3.0L midget out of a previous project 530i/5 that got a b40 put in it.


Hmmmm, no bumper trim???? Tape line???? Such a ghetto fix.


Passenger side trim


Hmmm, 2 V12s and 5HP30s, almost side by side


Look at that filth from the trees


Missing fogs and more of the ghetto fixed bumper, headlight glass also has a 3/16th inch hole from catching a rock at one point of it's life.


Hmm, might actually not debadge this car after all


Just chilling on the passenger seat, begging to be installed.


146k miles


Heated steering wheel


Seats are in very good/excellent condition


Factory HID/Xenon headlights (will be for sale soon)




These are also begging to be installed:


Love the black interior, just needs a crazy nice detail in here.


All sunshades are there and they work, driver's quarter shade has trouble pulling itself all the way in. Either got to find a fix for that or replace it.


The other 2 again


Radiator during the engine removal




Engine removal process began

[DUDMD]

Here's the actual bumper trim after I tore it off the bumper



Hmm, filler and tons of it.




This is the only other part that seem to have been damaged whenever the front bumper was broken. The reinforcement bar is untouched and nothing other than the fog lights, bumper cover and bumper guide bracket was damaged.



Keep checking back in here for more updates and feel free to ask questions and leave suggestions.

[TheLadiesMan]

I will be following. Good work.

[M I C H A E L]

following going to be a good ending result can't wait for more pictures!

[Sobek]

Awesome. Do you know why the old motor is seized, or do you plan to tear it up and find out for the fun of it?

[franco90]

I got my bezel from http://www.bmaparts.com/ it was really cheap
part # 65528385450 it was like 30 dollars
or here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-OEM-E53-...32da9f&vxp=mtr

[DUDMD]

I got my bezel from http://www.bmaparts.com/ it was really cheap
part # 65528385450 it was like 30 dollars
or here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-OEM-E53-X5-WIDE-NAVIGATION-SCREEN-MONITOR-FRAME-TRIM-BEZEL-MOULDING-/110867176095?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &fits=Make%3ABMW&hash=item19d032da9f&vxp=mtr

Thank you, I couldn't find the stupid part number anywhere.
BMA doesn't list that bezel when I search the part number, did you have to special order it from them?

Awesome. Do you know why the old motor is seized, or do you plan to tear it up and find out for the fun of it?

My friend needs one of the heads for his dad's 750il, so I gotta pull it apart. I'm guessing that the engine seized due to running out of oil. The whole underside and oil pan is covered all around in oil.

I'm planning on making a table for my room out of the bare V12 block in the end of it all.

I will be following. Good work.

Thanks.

following going to be a good ending result can't wait for more pictures!

Thanks, same here.

[franco90]

nope trust me call them and ask for patrick give him the OEm number and he will make sure you get the part , funny the OEm is not in the site , but trust me they have it is a special order item

[2000bmwe38]

Woohoo! Finally!!! subscribed!!!! : D

[DUDMD]

nope trust me call them and ask for patrick give him the OEm number and he will make sure you get the part , funny the OEm is not in the site , but trust me they have it is a special order item

Will do, since I need to order it anyways. Looks super ghetto with trim missing.

Woohoo! Finally!!! subscribed!!!! : D

Yeah

[DUDMD]

Current state of the car.


A little up closer, hinting at possible failure of the engine.


All over the place.
I noticed that clamp on the small water pump hose is factory. So either the pump is still original or it has been replaced at BMW.


Underside = more oil


Need to pick up a set of these hoses, they're thrashed on both engines.


Window switch looks like it has been replaced before with a power-folding mirrors unit.


Parts pile gets bigger as I keep doing this


Our first snow of the season, came down yesterday at 3:30AM and melted a few hours later


Today, I removed the valve covers (easy), intake manifolds (nearly impossible). I am extremely happy with the condition and shape of the internals of the head. At 123k miles, it seems to be very well kept.


Passenger side


Overall:


Worked on cleaning the parts I removed today. Went to a few powder coating shops, they all are asking too much and at least a week of waiting time. I don't want to wait that long and want to keep the project going.
Here's one of the manifolds de-greased. Notice the yellow stains from oil/heat.


Untouched manifold:


Side by side:


Damn right:


Valve covers are clean and ready for paint:


Second one:


Look closer, no more yellowing/staining. The paint should last a lot longer now and stick much better.


Looks good enough to be installed, but I'll be painting them still.
Before and after:



Staining on the back, half of it is cleaned already (warm soapy water and a scotchbrite scuffing pad makes it easy)




That's about it for today. Next available day is to clean the second manifold and the throttle bodies.

I'm going to paint the valve covers and the throttle bodies in wrinkle black. The manifolds will be in a wrinkle flat red finish, with a sanded/polished BMW lettering and lines around it.

[Alpine 7even]

I'm loving this thread!! Let me know if you need an extra pair of hands man!!! Ill shoot over.

[M I C H A E L]

Im loving this too <3 e38 loveeeee. Black krinkle is great choice

[board57796]

Very nice job bringing her back! When I had my intake manifolds off, I painted them with a high temperature black outdoor grill paint, and then sanded down the "BMW" and bars so it matched the plastic cover between the two cylinders. I also painted the VC and TB's silver.

Don't mind the ghetto intakes.

[SEVEN40iL]

Gotta love a build thread, especially a V12!

[E38740iMD]

Will you be using the sport diff?

[DUDMD]

Very nice job bringing her back! When I had my intake manifolds off, I painted them with a high temperature black outdoor grill paint, and then sanded down the "BMW" and bars so it matched the plastic cover between the two cylinders. I also painted the VC and TB's silver.

Don't mind the ghetto intakes.

Looks good, but I wanted the manifolds to be something different than the normal silver/black.

The stuff you painted silver (TBs and VCs, I'll be doing in VHT Wrinkle Black), the manifold will be done in VHT Wrinkle Red, with lines and BMW letting polishedd. I have used the VHT wrinkle paint on valve covers before and had good success.

Will you be using the sport diff?

Planning to eventually down the road. Gotta get this car back on the road and get back on my 540i/6 build.

I'm loving this thread!! Let me know if you need an extra pair of hands man!!! Ill shoot over.

Thanks for your offer.

[mcallister]

Dima, which side, driver or passenger front bumper mount is broke? Awesome thread! Yeah, you need to work on that M60 Turbo build so you can build mine next!!! '

[2000bmwe38]

freakin troll!

[DUDMD]

Dima, which side, driver or passenger front bumper mount is broke? Awesome thread! Yeah, you need to work on that M60 Turbo build so you can build mine next!!! '

Driver's side. I think I'll just repair by drilling a few holes on each part and then use some welding wire and plastic epoxy to attach that broken piece back. The entire purpose of that bracket is just to align the end of the bumper. Nothing serious or structural.

Ughh, the turbo m60 build, can't wait to get it into the garage and get at it. I've been busy with work the last few weeks. Once it gets slower after Christmas/New Years, I'll have a lot more time for my car addiction

[darkstarmedia]

I wish you were closer.... I'd love to have the extra engine for a coffee table...

Richard

EDT: ever make it to california?

[DUDMD]

I wish you were closer.... I'd love to have the extra engine for a coffee table...

Richard

EDT: ever make it to california?

Plans for now are to use it for myself as a table.

I rarely leave Kent, only for work.

[Drilim]

Crazy that a 5 foot breaker bar couldn't even get the motor turned over. Work looks awesome so far.

[DUDMD]

Crazy that a 5 foot breaker bar couldn't even get the motor turned over. Work looks awesome so far.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy.


Anyways, not much progress with the holidays and work going on for the past week. I spent a couple of hours today cleaning and assembling the motor, still a ton left to do. Intake manifolds are ready to go on next and then I have to change a few tranny seals while it's easy to get to.

Today I changed the spark plugs, one broken distributor cap, cleaned up a bunch of things, and bought and cut new hoses for the front Y-pipe.

Valve covers and throttle bodies in wrinkle black




Intake manifolds ready for paint


Paint that I used, one can of each color was enough.


All parts are dry, almost ready to be installed


Wrinkle red finish up close. I'm going to sand down and polish the horizontal lines and BMW lettering.


Throttle body


Valve covers are installed, new plugs ready to go. I also cleaned up the heatshields


Had to replace this distributor rotor and the cap. They were broken from the impact on the parts car.


The other side, you can see how dirty the spark plug wires and the heat shield were. They were actually dirtier than the picture shows


The two little hoses for the exhaust emissions crap are replaced and attached. Also cleaned the oil filter housing a little bit. I'm going to wash the rest of the engine once it's installed and I can drive to a car wash to make a mess over there.


Drivers side plugs replaced and did a little cleaning here


Wrinkle black valve covers finish when dry and installed.


This is it for today, I'll have more updates as I progress further on this project.

[kalkan]

Nice work! Love the attention to details.