Faults:

A lot, basically engine related. But I drove this really hard. It had the original engine when I bought it that was pretty worn with low oil pressure. This engine lasted less than 2 months before it developed a rod knock. I replaced it with a newer 1.8 from a 3 series. This lasted less than a year until the top blew and cracked. The block was also pretty bad so nothing to repair. I got a worn 2.0 from unknown source, the inline 4, not the newer 6. Put new piston and rings into it, new bore, new seals, new bearings. Oil pump was fine. Ported the head. Race cam. Rejetted the carburettor. Race exhaust. Original engine probably barely had 90 hp, rebuilt 2.0 probably had closer to 150 hp. Really drove this engine hard, no problems.

General Comments:

Really nice to drive. Not a race car, but rather a good cruiser, especially with the uprated 2.0 that I built. Would outrun most cars back then.

Finally it rusted out. I originally replaced both sills and floor. Had to replace rear suspension mounts. Fuel tank rusted out. The 5 series before the 1976 facelift had virtually no rust proofing underneath. Sound deadening directly put on bare metal. This started to crack and created water pockets that rusted. Sold because it had bad structural rust around the A pillar that was virtually impossible to fix on a DIY basis. Sad to see it go. But the engine was used in another car.