Mopar Muscle Association UK

Hi all,

A garage local to me has a BMW 850Ci for sale, it is running on 6 cylinders but would be a cheap car to buy and tinker with over many months. The garage has the car in for the owner to fix and then sell on, though the garage is now spending more time than he wants, losing money on his own time and just wants rid now...

I have always liked these cars and think they will not drop in value, car worked fine when parked up, now it starts on 12 and drops to 6 after a while of running... So he says...

I have no where to store it under cover (lots of space outside though), I do not really have the time to give to the car (work a lot away, two other road worthy toys that don't get used)

Should I get it, or is it a(nother) stupid purchase

The wife says "Whatever". So she is very positive about this as an idea (as usual). When I bought the Dart she said "a what?".

Personally, sensible head says it's a potential money pit. If you already have two other toys that don't get used enough, then this one will get less time spent on it than it needs. The longer they stand around doing nothing, the more stuff goes wrong, the more work / money they need.

I'd say leave it, but then I've got 4 cars in total already and would happily have another 4

Sounds like coil pack,one each side,about £40 each off ebay. The fact it's on 12 dropping to 6 as it warms indicates coil fault.

It depends how cheap, cheap is.

Recovery of investment in the worst case will say if its worth pursuing!

If its at a garage already I cant believe they wouldn't have already looked at the usual suspects (like coils).

Alternatively, buy it and drop in a SBC/LS engine!

Sounds ignition related, but I believe the 8 series was the first production car to use can bus wiring, they are pretty complex for the age!

Maybe post on a 8 series site to see if you can get any pointers?

850i is certainly the one to have (bar the 850CSI suedo M car), and they seem to be on the up now.

I say if it's cheap enough, do it.

Depends on the condition of the rest of the car though...

Very true,there's been a few very rusty ones round here.

Ignition system runs 2 Motronic control units one as a master and one as a slave so just watch out for that. Still have distributor caps for both banks so plenty of ignition components to check. Can be prone to oil leaks from front cover area which can be quite involved. Cheap on parts but dear on labour.
As Dave said I always felt these were a good candidate for a American V8 conversion. Later 840Ci(4.4 ltr) probably best of the bunch. Apart from the 850Csi the V12 is a bit of a lazy old thing - probably suited to fat Swiss millionaires

Lexus 4 litre conversion may be possible,and cheap to buy,Early LS 400s in the £500-£900 range in good order.

PaulR wrote:Ignition system runs 2 Motronic control units one as a master and one as a slave so just watch out for that. Still have distributor caps for both banks so plenty of ignition components to check. Can be prone to oil leaks from front cover area which can be quite involved. Cheap on parts but dear on labour.
As Dave said I always felt these were a good candidate for a American V8 conversion. Later 840Ci(4.4 ltr) probably best of the bunch. Apart from the 850Csi the V12 is a bit of a lazy old thing - probably suited to fat Swiss millionaires

Sounds like you know your stuff on BMW's

Had a few ended up with a csi cracking carmover top end had 164 from that some bitch,

check dizi caps they corrode like hell, stck to your basic famous escort n dart,

as dunc says ,fantastic cars ,till electricity gets involved ,had two with coil pack issues and the canbus system is a pita,,,,,big time