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Just to say Hiya to you all. Bringing my 325i cabriolet out of hibernation, not turned a wheel for 14 years!! Had it from new Sep 1986, done 22000 mls, all totally original, down to unused spare etc. More of that at a later time. I'll be asking lots of questions in the future & hoping your collective knowledge will guide me through the process of bringing car back to life. Cheers

Great job. The car looks fantastic. A true classic that anyone would be proud of.

MOT..............1 Advisories... ..0 Made the Prom with 48 hrs to spare! Time to start blatting whilst the sun's out. It's finished, all I have to do now is polish my Aviators. Cheers

I have never seen one of that age so clean and straight. Lovely.

Very Very Nice!

Update 2. "The Princess awakens". So I did turn the engine on the starter motor to pump oil around, and watched the oil pressure light go out each time. Eventually the big moment came, tried starting it, no joy. No fuel being pumped to the injector rail. So today I've had my electric fuel pump off, it's a Bosch unit mounted in front of the rear nearside wheel, adjacent to the jacking point. As they are sealed units, I had nothing to lose by taking it apart out of interest, to see how they are made & work. It's a small electric motor with a pump on one end of the shaft, this fits into an aluminium canister, the open end of which is "crimped" around an end plate which forms the electrical connections, the bearing for the motor shaft, the commutator brushgear & the pump outlet pipe. I "uncrimped" the endplate & pulled it out, along with quite a bit of petrol. I was gobsmacked! The petrol is pumped through the motor, yes!, the armature, commutator, it's bearings & brushgear are running in petrol, & as you will know commutators always spark!!! Of course there should be no air (oxygen) in there, but if say the outlet pipe ever deteriorated & dropped the fuel sufficiently to allow air in there.....well bang! To complete the story, I freed the armature & pump, the end plate had an "O" ring rebated into it & I'd been very careful in taking it apart, the "O" ring seals the unit into the cannister, I put it back together recrimped it, ran it on the bench with fuel, tested for leaks, put it back into the car, primed the system & got ready to make a hasty retreat as I started the engine. The engine fired immediately & the pump appears as good as new. I don't know what a BMW replacement would be , but guess there'd be little change out of £200. I'll check. I have never taken one apart before & had no idea they are constructed as this, I'm extremely alarmed at this design, I've worked with electric motors all my life but have never come across anything like this before. Unbelievable me thinks, every time I start the car now I'll be thinking of that motor, whirring away submerged in fuel. Like sitting on a bomb!! Anyway the first time the engine has run for 14 years, it sounded beautiful, purring is the only description which comes to mind, ran it for a good 30 mins, max 2000revs, to thoroughly warm everything through, slight exhaust leak just before the back box, could not see anything else. My son stood in wonderment, he can't remember it ever running before, I think he was impressed. Lots more to check out yet, am taking photos, & will post whenever. Cheers