Stuff busted

There were a few things broken on Arraow, but surprisingly little for such an old car.

His wing mirrors have motors with potentiometers that provide position feedback when using the memory settings that have push buttons for different driver seating positions. The motors worked, and they could be adjusted. After pulling diagnostic codes with a BMW tool I found that the potentiometers in the drivers side were busted, which meant the memory recall function that adjusts it made it go spaz. This is not one of those things that you pick up during a test drive, nor something that was really needed, given it's just me driving.

But Arraow is being restored to his former glory, so even though that bit technically worked, just not completely, it was one new mirror actuator later... $150 from Lithuania. Free shipping.

Inside the car, below the passenger seat is a first aid box, and it had a broken door latch. It'd flop open under mildly heavy braking, so presumably would spew its entire contents into the footwell in a crash. It doesn't take a genious to work out that you probably would want to know where the contents of that kit are if you do have a serious crash. Replaced. $45 for the box. Yep. Lithuania.

• His paint is in very good nick, with only one minor door ding that I can find, so he has been "defensively parked" his entire fifteen year life, I reckon. The paint does have swirl marks that can been seen in bright sun, so it was out with my Festool buffer, and a good going over with finishing compound on a foam pad to take them out. The dent I found will be taken out by a paintless dent remover bloke.
• Rear bumper is near perfect, with only one blob of touch-up paint, but that makes my eye twitch. There's a trick to use a razor blade, mostly covered with tape to level off touch-up paint, so I'll give that a go and it'll look a whole lot better after a buff. Flat, and un-noticeable.
• The front bumper is another story, with a small, but very noticeable corner scuff that has been painted over to make it less visible, and another puncture mark. These look within my ability to fix, with some filler, primer and Alpine White III in a rattle can from a mob in Melbourne that do custom cans for small car repairs. Then three or four light coats of two-pack DuraMax clear coat on top, and a buff.

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