I’d set today aside to give the 330d some much wanted love, and I was required to help Robin perform a quick gearbox swap in his 325i, so the M5 has only a short tale to tell.

This morning I pushed it out of the garage so I could retrieve some 330d tyres.

Utterly filthy from last weekend! Also, a really heavy car: pushing it back in the garage was a real effort! Still, I ignored that and filled the tractor with tyres, got that sorted, changed its back brakes, wipers and got it washed. A suitable stable-mate.

Having nipped up the road to help sling a new gearbox in Robin’s 325i, most of Saturday’s daylight had escaped. A root around in the garage produced a few choice bits and pieces which I quickly fitted to the M5.

The water-pump pliers and the wiring harness were retrieved from James’ knackered 528i during the week. I did have some pliers from Ben’s 328i but they didn’t quite fit in the tool box correctly, so I’ve replaced those with James’ ones that do. I’ve got whipping the headlamps out down to a fine art now, so it wasn’t long before I had the harness and correct indicator fitted to the lamps – facelift (finally) complete!

As a result of the Cornish camping trip last weekend the inside of the car was a bit minging:

So I vacuumed and polished back to a satisfactory condition. Sadly it was pretty much dark by the time I’d finished, but trust me, it’s clean inside. Still filthy outside though…