Great work Gentil, and an amazing car with a super story, I am sure Mrs Garcia would be very pleased, if she is still around. All BMWs of this era tend to shift into top gear very early. When the ZF 3HP 22 was introduced they spent a little longer in the lower gears, but still tended to shift up early. However, Mercedes of the era started in 2nd, unless you floored it! My 1976 e12 528 looks just like yours, same wheels, but is Fjord Met. Blue and has the M90 3.5L and 3HP 22 auto now. The 1972-76 520 was the only BMW to use this particular carb set up. It was supposed to have good carb synchronization when new.
Thank you very much. I tried to trace her whereabouts but found nothing yet. I wasn’t aware of that trait from the 3hp12, so it’s good to know that it’s a normal thing. Nice setup you got on yours. I might do a few changes regarding the carbs on mine in the future and get rid of the Strombergs.
There is nothing like the feeling of finally getting a car bavk on the road, the excitement and anticipation if getting behind the wheel after months of work and finally seing if it payed off. The body roll could be warn conpinents but likely just how cars were back then. Evem my 90's Coupe I doumd to have far more body roll than a moderm car. Its not just regular family cara either, i saw a vdeo of a McLaren F1 being driven in amger and that was rolling lile a ship on a wave compared to cars we have become accustomed to in recent years. Hope you are able to sort the major issues prior to FOTU.
Is it a great feeling indeed. The rear shocks might need replacement, but still it has that typical body roll from the era. But yes, cars have become stiffer and the compromise of the ride quality. See you at the FOTU, but I’ll keep everyone updated on the work being done.
Good to see it back on he road. Are you sure the Speedo drive didn’t get disconnected when you put the instruments back in? I have had that happen to me.
Great work, Gentil! So the MOT was a success? Isn't it MOT exempt after 50 years? I hope you will keep the patina and just make it a driving restoration, fixing those minor things and preserve her in the current state. About the cold start: is it possible to convert the automatic choke to manual? That would be helpful, right? Good luck and have fun with her 😀🍀👌🏼
Thank you very much Frank. It hasn’t gone for an MOT yet. I had to take the car for a drive to have a feel of the car itself and to spot any issues that I wouldn’t be able to check on the driveway. Once done, it’ll go through one to make sure it’s all ok, even though it’s exempt. It will be a driving restoration, but some bodywork surface rust spots need to be addressed before the winter. I’ve searched and enquired about the manual choke conversion kits for these carbs, but nothing is available, unlike the ones for more widely used Zenith, Solex and Weber units. Some Volvo and mercedes had a similar version of my carbs fitted, but single setup and not twin. The timing was very hard to set too as the gun I have produced a weak light so I’m getting a professional to setup everything and I’ll know it’ll be done properly. It’ll be fun I’m sure 😂but before I go on holiday in a few days, I’ll just bleed the brakes again (after I found extra info for RHD cars) and check why the fan isn’t working. Oh and get the steering aligned.
@@GentilsGarage Sounds good! Of course some bodywork will need to be done, but I really like the character she has now, including some battlescars and all the history. I hope the carbs will work out 👍🏻👍🏻
No, they’re all good. It’s the servo cylinders that need further bleeding and I didn’t do that properly. The maintenance manual omits that and has no reference for pre-facelift RHD cars. After I searched a few forum I found that these need additional bleeding.
