Following the hilarious tail-lift and adaptor collection, the facelift was almost a smooth operation. It all looked so simple to begin…

I knew which tools to use, which bolts to remove etc, and it wasn’t long before the lights were swapped over on the passenger side. Then I had to connect them up. The motor, the high beam and the primary dipped beam all connected straight away, the sidelight connected through the adapter and then, then I discovered that I also needed an adaptor for the indicator. So, for the second night in a row, ‘bollocks’ was the general theme and mood.

Still, at this point my fortunes improved. I found that the whole indicator bulb holder could be removed from the old unit, and wedged pretty soundly into the new one. So I continued.

Then, my luck improved further: when I’d disconnected the driver’s side unit from the 528i I’d done so south of the indicator adaptor – so that was plug and play.

A quick bit of beam alignment against the marks I’ve etched on my garage door and the job was done. I’m really pleased with the result – the car now can’t be easily aged, and looks smart. Shame the Vanos rattles so – a day off from the blog tomorrow and then it’s TWS 10W60 time on Saturday!