Left-threaded 528
Fellow enthusiasts and myopic, left-handed bad back sufferers…I’m inspired to write once more in response to Jon Faine’s piece in the October issue of UniqueCars magazine. He pleaded the case for workshop manuals for myopic, left handed, bad back sufferers.
I hope this helps you feel a little better Jon, cause I can do better than that. Way betterer.
Glasses – tick. Left handed – yep, very dominant. Bad back - yep, that too. Plus a hip replacement this year. All tickety boo so far. Then some minor back surgery to relieve nerve pressure. But the real kicker is an ‘essential’ tremor that mostly affects, you guessed it, my left hand. And that really is annoying. Not sure why it is called an ‘essential’ tremor, cause I could sure do without it.
Try this. Upside down, under the dash tr ying to fit a small Phillips head screw through a tiny opening to hold a gauge cluster on and in. Then hold it all in place while fitting a screw driver up to the tiny head. With a very shaky left hand that just wont stay still. Stupid, stubborn or what?! Fitting a knurled retainer nut onto its thread – piece of cake. Dashlight globes? Nothing to it.
I’ll give him this though. It sure does develop your vocabulary!
And to prove it can, and is being done, albeit ver y slowly, following is and up to date pic of the BMW e28 535i I’m currently in a ‘relationship’ with.
This is where it was when I last sent you blokes a pic. Ready to tidy up the engine bay.
Well that’s all done. As well as the rebuild engine, transmission, diff, front and rear suspension all installed. Plumbing, wiring (excluding interior) and ancillaries hooked up. Plus some tidy up of the duco. But only where absolutely necessary, cause the original duco is pretty good.
And here it is now. Hopefully it will look pretty schmick as a driver, with a good detail and polish.
It is slow going. But hey I’m not in a rush. Can’t be really. See above. Plus we are on a pretty tight budget.
Michael Sandford DON’T TAKE
this the wrong way, but for the more senior mechanic, getting up and under dash is no fun. Here’s my tip: Remove the front seats. Then, before you get upside-down make sure you have every tool and component you need, all laid out in arm’s reach. This sort of work has been known to turn even the best of us into tourette syndrome impersonators. I reckon God gave us auto electricians for a very good reason, so I’m happy to turn a lot of that under-dash work over to them!