Soldato
I've been meaning to make a post about this for a while - but just for those that are interested in these cars, I've just kept a bit of a running log.
At the moment I'm running it alongside my C63 but I'm probably looking to sell the C63 in the next couple months as I just fancy something a bit cheaper and that I can worry less about. I've always fancied a 130i and there is little I could find for something which has a decent engine, decent interior, some decent "tech" (albeit a bit older), rear driven and is fairly cheap and cheerful to run. I finally found a fairly decent example online and managed to get it for £4250. It's a 2007 LCI LE with 153k miles on the clock, FSH, Bi-xenons, full electric memory leather, i-Drive, brand new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 tyres all round. It came with crazy amounts of service history and repair receipts from a BMW specialist and with only 2 previous owners. Last owner alone spent £3k on it a couple of thousand miles ago putting in front and rear M3 control arms, Bilstein B14 coilovers, full service including diff/gearbox etc etc and from before that, judging by the invoices it's always had everything it's needed without money seemingly an option!
It's needed a few bits doing on it since I bought it, but I managed to get the price down quite a lot to account for this. These cars really aren't that difficult to work on, and after working on the C63 and E92 M3 - it's such a revelation to have space in an engine bay to allow you to work without having to do everything with your fingertips (even though this is the smallest car in the range and has a 6cyl 3litre engine!).
Anyway, this thread was just going to be a bit of a running log of bits and pieces that I've done. I've done a few bits already, so I'll put them up
First things first, this is what she looks like:
At the moment I'm running it alongside my C63 but I'm probably looking to sell the C63 in the next couple months as I just fancy something a bit cheaper and that I can worry less about. I've always fancied a 130i and there is little I could find for something which has a decent engine, decent interior, some decent "tech" (albeit a bit older), rear driven and is fairly cheap and cheerful to run. I finally found a fairly decent example online and managed to get it for £4250. It's a 2007 LCI LE with 153k miles on the clock, FSH, Bi-xenons, full electric memory leather, i-Drive, brand new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 tyres all round. It came with crazy amounts of service history and repair receipts from a BMW specialist and with only 2 previous owners. Last owner alone spent £3k on it a couple of thousand miles ago putting in front and rear M3 control arms, Bilstein B14 coilovers, full service including diff/gearbox etc etc and from before that, judging by the invoices it's always had everything it's needed without money seemingly an option!
It's needed a few bits doing on it since I bought it, but I managed to get the price down quite a lot to account for this. These cars really aren't that difficult to work on, and after working on the C63 and E92 M3 - it's such a revelation to have space in an engine bay to allow you to work without having to do everything with your fingertips (even though this is the smallest car in the range and has a 6cyl 3litre engine!).
Anyway, this thread was just going to be a bit of a running log of bits and pieces that I've done. I've done a few bits already, so I'll put them up
First things first, this is what she looks like:
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(albeit on an F30).
So I searched the trusty internet and there was someone who was selling the seals on eBay for around £5 for a pair, so I got them and a new fuel cap tether for £3 as well as they always snap on BMW's. Again BMW don't sell the tether separately.
I snapped the second bolt due for two reasons - A) you need to reallllly clean out the threads in the head of any oil so you are able to torque it properly and B) I found online the torque spec - but it was the wrong torque. I read that it should be something like 28nm + 90 degrees and then I found the proper TIS and saw that it should be 15nm + 90 degrees. It doesn't matter so much when it comes to steel bolts, but aluminium bolts are totally unforgiving of **** ups.
