In my experience when you try and remove part of an old rusty exhaust you end up needing a complete new system! Maybe Should use a smaller hammer?

What is the faulty wheel sensor? would this prevent it from revving considering the codes have been cleared and the car is being revved standing still?

Well you only need to unbolt it from one end of the pipe, to release any potential back pressure...

On the faulty sensor as its located on the rear axle, apparently it triggers the safe mode to protect the box in case there is a mechanical fault.

Again heed to my disclaimer its only feedback I am getting from a BMW addict he had something similar that turned out to be the the DSC/ABS module on his 330 but they did the other checks first.

Good Luck!

The cat will be part of the front pipe - so in this case 6 nuts as it joins the manifold

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CATALYTIC-...EAAOSwwbdWH9pp

Bloody car, swapped out both camshaft sensors, removed and cleaned the icv and replaced the MAF. Have held back on removing the downpipe as I think a blocked cat very unlikely.
Still not revving over 2k but still showing an IVC fault on my cheap Ebay scanner. Sod the expense, bought a 2nd hand IVC on Ebay of £10 inc postage. This time due to all jubilee clips being in the right place it only took 20 minutes. While I was in there I noticed the throttle body flap was stiff, gave it a couple of taps and a squirt of WD40 and it freed off straight away. Now revs perfectly so whizzed it in for an MOT but failed on the handbrake. All stripped and cleaned so hopefully a pass tomorrow, although I will replace both rear discs, handbrake pads and give the callipers a good clean up when I start stripping it. Should make it a cheap doner.
Was a bit disappointed at the performance from a lightweight 2.8, maybe spoilt by my other cars, time will tell.
Got to start sharpening my sharp pointy stick ready for my gee up visit to Stoneleigh! (Only kidding Chris)

Handbrake cable.

This is a problem with my handbrake, cable is seized and partially broken halfway down on both cables. I have just bought a pair of replacement cables and they just push in through the body to the handbrake. The cables on the car at present look as if they have a nut on them as they enter the car from underneath but I can't get a spanner to fit. It's hard to see with all the crud and it's not the easiest place to get when working on the drive.
Does anybody know if they have to be unbolted or just pulled through?
My seized cable is about to snap so don't want to just keep tugging if it is a bolt on fitting.

Right, got the buggers out, they are a push fit but had corroded in. I had to cut the inner cables under the car, then remove the hand brake assembly and pull through the inners. I then used a drift to punch the outer cable out from the inside of the car.
I think this bloody car is going to fight me all the way.

Hi Jag,

You will have seen from my "Contemporary" thread that I am in no rush to buy a donor, but how on earth do you find one for £750? Richard's advice is to not worry too much about mileage and concentrate on condition. I think there is a lot of learning I have to do yet.

I thought I overpaid! It was on Ebay and the seller was fed up because it had already been sold once but the buyer never made contact, a common problem. It was £775 or best offer.
The pictures all looked good, went onto DVLA's MOT history and the last MOT had no advisories and all the previous MOT's had been failed or had advisories for very minor items, so I was pretty sure it wasn't a rust bucket. It was listed with no MOT and although it started and ticked over perfectly it wouldn't rev over 2k. He couldn't get it to the MOT test because it wasn't running properly.
I then checked the sellers feedback, 100% and all very good, I had asked for the address so I knew how far away he was, using the address I use google maps, drop the little man in front of the buyers house and have a look around. Are there piles of rusty cars on the drive, does the road look like something you would expect to see in Syria. This all looked good except the car was 140 mile away.
I was going to offer him £675 cash transferred into his bank account straight away, but he was driving home and wouldn't be back for 2 hours and would phone me as soon as he was back.
The advert was a buy it now so if I waited for 2 hours someone else may well hit the buy it now so for the sake of £100 I hit the buy it now button.
I then had the car collected £160, 140 miles away, There are lots of car delivery services on Ebay, just don't take the first price, this much cheaper than the train fare, days insurance, petrol, and a day to do it.
Buying a car like this is a risk, it is doing everything that you shouldn't. Always speak to the buyer, this will tell you a lot, if you feel unsure walk away, there will be another.
I'm hoping to get back about £500 in the parts, don't be greedy, list them at a reasonable buy it now price and they will sell, be greedy and you'l have bits of scrap around your garden this time next year.

When buying a car Ebay is always best, be prepared to take a risk and be prepared to travel. Don't wait and think about it, hit the buy it now button or call the seller and make a decent offer. Most buyers are lazy, it needs to be the right price, distance and need nothing doing. Keep searching Ebay every hour or so, my car had only been up for 40 minutes, it wouldn't be there in a couple of hours.
Condition is always important but so is mileage, this one has a full service history and 120K on the clock. I wouldn't be happy about buying one with much more mileage, especially an auto box, with an auto I wouldn't buy one with more than 80k on the clock. I had to get a recon auto box fitted to a 525 that I used to own, cost £3500 to replace and that was cheap and 15 years ago Manual gearboxes tend to go on for ever and clutches aren't too expensive.
I've fixed the revving problem, it failed the MOT on the handbrake, have fitted two new handbrake cables £35, pig of a job but now Mot'd and I can start stripping it in preparation of my kit in 2 weeks time.

On balance, sounds like a dream ticket, a donor vehicle in decent nick for a couple of hundred net. As you say though, it is not risk free. I'm glad you were able to address the niggles quickly and cost effectively. I have used the google street view trick before.

I have been gathering prices and details off gumtree today, and am getting a better idea of price range and mileage for the 2.2 and 2.8s. I will probably get the doner earlier rather than later so as to drive it and get it fettled before using it for the kit. I am aiming for something in the 50k to 80k range, as I plan to keep the re-modeled car for quite a few years.

My wife thinks it is OK for me to have a fun car, she just doesn't know the whole plan yet. She thought the NG was a waste of time, but softened as the sale value paid for her dental work.

Anyhow, the whole Tribute thing is tremendously exciting, both as a kit development, as well as the fun it has given to all the individuals building them. Long may it last.

Gumtree always seems to be more expensive and there seems to be a lot more scammers than on Ebay. The good thing about Ebay is the feedback, if it's poor just walk away.

Managed to spend the afternoon on the car, first time I have done any work on it to prepare for the kit which hopefully I will be collecting on Monday.
Spent 4 hours on it and managed to completely strip it all except for the bonnet which I will leave until the replacement is here.
One thing I did do was turn the rear crash bar upside down and I think that this will allow me to have the new section of boot floor level. I could also be naughty and trim the boot aperture at the rear and make the boot appear as if it were one boot without the divide caused by the old rear lights and lock panel.
i will try and post some pictures later.

trim the boot aperture at the rear

How stiff is the rear of the car with that bit removed?

Thinking that removing it might make the back end flex side to side causing issues with the body having to flex.

It's only a single skin panel. Below it is a double skin panel which holds the crash bar and boot floor. The single skin above appears to be there simply to bolt the rear lights to and for the boot latch.

Any links on how to post photo buck pictures, ideally a idiots guide.

Just removed the rad fan to find no cooling pipe for the power steering. The soft hose has just been joined together, must have had a leak at some time. Should be able to make a replacement from copper pumping pipe. Might have to buy a thinner fan as well but will wait until I trial fit the bonnet.

Smart arse!

How's it done in terms a 5 year old can understand

1) open the image in Photio bucket

2) Right Click and select Copy Image Location

3) Start a post on here with [img ] but without the space after the g

4) Paste the Image Location you copied from Photoibucket

5) Add [/img ] after the link but again without the space after the g

Thank you from a very happy 5 year old :eusa_clap: