Vlad: The Zinno '87 535is

[tig]

The UPS man delivered Vlad a Christmas present while I was in Hawaii.



My wife loves me.

[OcCoupe]

Nice!!!

Looks familiar. I ended up putting a set in the e28 and then the e12. I remember my parents having a set in there 1969 280se. I will probably end up with a set in the e9 too.





They definitely add a bit of period pizzazz.

[tig]

Of course my wife bought a set for her 135 as well...

[tig]

I gotta get busy on putting the M30B35 motor together. If I don't get it done soon, Vlad is going to run out of oil. This is from just over two weeks of sitting, from the rear main seal.



Ignore the coolant; I dribbled that while picking up Maytag's old overflow tank while I was cleaning the garage yesterday. Gotta get everything tidy before we dive into the motor project.

From this:


To this:


Still not done, but my goal is to be before the 49ers v. Packers (go Packers!) game today.

[rmiddendorf]

I gotta get busy on putting the M30B35 motor together. If I don't get it done soon, Vlad is going to run out of oil. This is from just over two weeks of sitting, from the rear main seal.



Ignore the coolant; I dribbled that while picking up Maytag's old overflow tank while I was cleaning the garage yesterday. Gotta get everything tidy before we dive into the motor project.

From this:


To this:


Still not done, but my goal is to be before the 49ers v. Packers (go Packers!) game today.

Love your garage. I'm building mine this year to my liking but it will never be that nice. But the psychological effect of having an inviting space to work in is my end goal.

[MIK911]

The UPS man delivered Vlad a Christmas present while I was in Hawaii.



My wife loves me.

Are those CoCo mats? Very Cool.
I used to have a set back in the day in my other car.
Where is a good source for purchase?

[tig]

Are those CoCo mats? Very Cool.
I used to have a set back in the day in my other car.
Where is a good source for purchase?

I believe my wife bought them directly from Coco Mats.

http://www.cocomats.com/

[leadphut]

very nice. you'll love 'em.

which island were you on?

[tig]

very nice. you'll love 'em.

which island were you on?

Maui. My extended family (wife's side) goes every 2 years. There were 18 of us there ranging from 9mo to 78 years. What I love most about these vacations is we do nothing.

[leadphut]

I've never been to Maui, but heard it's a nice combination of Kaua'i and O'ahu.

[unt0uchable]

Oh boy do I envy that garage space. May I ask, what's the red markings on the floor near the entry of the lift?

[tig]

Oh boy do I envy that garage space. May I ask, what's the red markings on the floor near the entry of the lift?

Original plan (2001) was to install a counter-sunk Bend-Pak 7000 lb 2-post lift. By counter-sinking it I would get the benefit of no overhead bar, and no 'bump' below.



I never got up the courage to ask my wife to let me buy that lift.

But in 2011 I scored and got my Backyard Buddy 4-poster from an ex-NBA player for $900.



I kept tripping over that trough. I decided to splurge and have a steel plate cut and powder coated:



If you want all the gory details on my garage, my lift, air-compressor, and other related things, I have a massive thread on Garage Journal:

Bald is Beautiful: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... hp?t=91146

[tig]

Brand new OE heater control valve installed. I'm getting pretty good at doing these things and spilling the minimal amount of coolant...

[pants|works]

That's a neat garage. Looks like a well-lit, organized, inviting space to work. Beats my driveway. haha.

I liked the look of the E28 seats, but a buddy has an E34 540 with those sports seats and they're really comfortable too.

[tig]

Been a while since I've given Vlad much love. I mean I fixed the heater valve, but my garage time has been spent on Maytag & Bae. I did wash him today.

On the flip side, I'm driving the hell out of him which is the best kind of love. It probably goes without mentioning but I freaking dig this car. I really feel like I nailed it in purchasing him. He's the perfect commute car for me. Cool looking, fast, handles amazing, and with just the right amount of modern comforts.

Here's a detailed update on all the details, including work I know I need to do (I write these posts partially because it helps me keep my thoughts straight and remember things).

• 1987 BMW 535is - Built September 9, 1986
• WBADC7401H0964420
• Zinnoberrot (Cinnabar) on black
• Delivered to first owner in Orange, CA February 27, 1988
• Sold to 2nd owner in Santa Barbara, CA October 6, 2000 @ 87,525 miles
• Sold to 3rd owner (me) in Bellevue, WA April 5, 2013 @ 171,000 miles
• Now just shy of 177,000 miles.

Updates/Tweaks:

• Conforti chip
• 740iL calipers (painted red), ATE power rotors, 740iL master cylinder, Akebono ceramic pads, stainless hoses
• 3.23 limited slip differential (from a 2003 M Coupe)
• Summer tires: Alpina open lug (16x7 ET11, 16x8 ET24) wheels - Continental Extreme Contact DW 205/55-R16, 225/50-R16 tires
• Summer tires #2: BBS RS Staggered 005s and 006s (16x7 ET11 /16x8 ET24). Not mounted yet.
• Winter tires: BBS RX223 (16x8" ET15) wheels - Nokian Hakapelittas R2s in 205/55R16 (currently on Maytag)
• Rolled rear fenders
• Tinted windows
• Cibie headlights, H4 80/100w, H1 100w, with upgraded wiring, relays and fuses
• Upgraded tail-lights (E28+4 light adaptation kit from MisterFixit)
• Motorsport Series strut brace
• H&R Springs
• Bilstein Sport shocks
• K-MAC Stage 1 street front adjustable camber kit
• K-MAC Rear camber & toe kit
• Powerflex rear subframe bushings
• Custom installed 2-port USB power plugs
• Custom hard-wired Valentine 1 radar detector install
• JVC KD-AHD75BT CD/MP3/Bluetooth head unit, big ass amplifier, and subwoofer (PO)
• ///M shift knob
• Shadowline conversion (in progress)
• Bavarian Auto ceramic coated headers
• Ireland Engineering exhaust
• E34 Sport seats
• Black with red dots Cocomats.

In progress or planned upgrades (in rough priority order):

• I have a Miller MAF I want to install for funzies. I plan on using it with the M30B35 engine, but want to test it out on the B34 first as part of the 'baseline' dyno testing I will do before the engine swap.
• 10:1 compression, Paul Burke cam'd, M30B35 motor from an '88 735i (currently rebuilding for funzies).
• Pelican Parts clutch kit (incl. Sachs clutch; acquired; will go in with M30B35)
• Lightweight flywheel (acquired)
• Lighted //M shift knob (acquired) as current knob is shot to shit internally
• Upgrade of dash, center console, etc... with black leather and some red highlights.
• Shadowline kit (faux vinyl tape based kit installed, real kit acquired, just not installed)
• Euro bumper conversion (WTB)

Current gremlins & annoyances:

• Hesitation/stall right after cold start (for 8-10 seconds). Minor but annoying.
• Voltage drop to accessories on brake light (and headlight) activation; causes radar detector to reboot
• E28 power seat wiring still in place, E34 sport seats heat not hooked up. Will fix this and previous next time I have a chance to pull the seats out of the car.
• Breaks squeal/squeak after sitting/drying/rusting
• Rear window defroster inop

Oh, and BTW, for those of you have been following along since the beginning:

Two weeks ago my son (CJ) committed to Computer Engineering at Cal Poly. Makes this car even more special.

I meant to post this news last week, but spaced.

[leadphut]

Congrats on your Son's commitment. Computer Engineering is a great course to pursue. What does he want to work on when he finishes? If I was to do it over again, I'd go into law or medicine. FWIW.

[tig]

Congrats on your Son's commitment. Computer Engineering is a great course to pursue.

Thanks!

What does he want to work on when he finishes?

The engineering of computers.

No, seriously, he's really interested in the space where the hardware integrates with software. Robotics, controls systems, etc... He currently has a major boner over building and hot-rodding general purpose computers. He has a weird keyboard fetish too...I mean I remember hacking a removable, corded, keyboard onto my Apple ][, but this is ridiculous:

[leadphut]

Just curious. I'm in the EDA field and our company is always looking for talented CE's, even though our group has nothing to do with the physical side.

Hope he enjoys the schooling. I'm glad I never have to do differential equations again.

[tig]

Just curious. I'm in the EDA field and our company is always looking for talented CE's, even though our group has nothing to do with the physical side.

Hope he enjoys the schooling. I'm glad I never have to do differential equations again.

Which EDA company? Since it's Portland, maybe Mentor? One of my best friends has been with Synopsys since forever.

I failed diff EQs twice (but conned my profs into giving me "audits"). I finally passed it in summer school. Hated that stuff.

[Coldswede]

I am all for neat and tidy garages, however yours is borderline neurotic!







I am kidding of course, your garage looks great, the cars are not too shabby either.

[leadphut]

Just curious. I'm in the EDA field and our company is always looking for talented CE's, even though our group has nothing to do with the physical side.

Hope he enjoys the schooling. I'm glad I never have to do differential equations again.

Which EDA company? Since it's Portland, maybe Mentor? One of my best friends has been with Synopsys since forever.

I failed diff EQs twice (but conned my profs into giving me "audits"). I finally passed it in summer school. Hated that stuff.

Yes. I've been in the Calibre group at Mentor for about 10 years now. Excellent company by the way.

[tig]

I've been ignoring Vlad, so today I decided to give him some love and take care of the most annoying issue:

- When applying the brakes, or activating several other electrical circuits, the circuit the stereo, OBC, and (by extension) my V1 radar detector are on has a voltage drop. This causes no real harm except my V1 reboots each time. Quite annoying.

Along the way I also got the old E28 sport seat harness connectors out of the way and installed my lighted shift knob.

I promised I'd take better photos of the footwell light the PO installed in Vlad. Here you go:





The core of my fix for the undervoltage was to move my head unit, radar detector, and fancy-smancy USB outlet to the ignition-switched circuit available on the aux fuse box (green wire).



I powered the new shift knob via the wires that light the ashtray. I had some appropriately colored wire from a tail light harness I chopped out of a parts car, including a nice little connector. Here's where I tested that my wiring actually worked.



Here you can see how I wired it up. I had to take the boot completely apart, pulling the little two part plastic sleeve that the shaft goes through apart so the wires could go on the OUTSIDE of the sleeve; it was too tight to have them go between the sleeve and the shift rod.



Ta-da!



This picture was really hard to take. Even with the camera just sitting on the driver's head rest in timer mode my breathing in the back seat was enough to cause a little movement.



A quick shakedown drive showed that the radar detector no longer reboots too.

[tesko]

Looks great, the lighted shift knob is in my plans, glad to see it comes out so well! Nice work on the footwell lights for sure.

[tig]

I effed up.

I didn't look closely enough at the ETM, or read other threads on this carefully enough.

The green side of the aux fuse box is tied to RUN. I thought it was tied to ACCY.

So now I have the problem that my radar detector is getting all the noise from the ignition when starting the car. I think it's effed up now because of this. I also can't listen to the stereo on ACCY mode.

I need to go back in there and switch this around.

I think what I'm going to do is use the violet lead at the fuse box to drive a relay that will switch always power from the red side of the aux fuse box. I'll mount the relay near the aux fuse box (there's already like four relays in there from the PO's headlight upgrades). This way I won't have to take the dash apart again to rectify this problem.

In what world would it make sense for the aux fuse box to be tied to run and not accy? What were the BMW engineers thinking? (The aux fuse box is just an "interesting" design choice all around, IMO).

[tig]

Anyone got a get out of jail free card?