My name is Carlo and I purchased my first E28 the day after Thanksgiving. She's a delphin grey 1987 535i 5spd with 260k miles. I consider myself a car/motorcycle enthusiast and have had various cars/bikes over the years which include a 600rwhp MKIV Supra turbo, an E46 M3, a 997 GT3, Ducati 748/853, and a Ducati 749R track bike.
I've always loved classic BMWs such as the E28 and 2002 and knew I had to own one someday. In fact, I almost purchased a bronzit E28 2 years ago when I was looking for a daily driver. However, my wife (gf at the time) persuaded me I needed a newer car for my daily driver so I ended up leasing a Prius and passing on the bronzit E28 *sigh*.
Knowing my lease for the Prius was about to end this year, I started my search for another E28 in last summer and found one with the right bones for a project car in November. The previous owner had the car repainted, tucked the bumpers, and shadow lined the chrome trim. Below are some pics of the car when I got it.
Since I bought the car in November, I've done a bit of work to get my E28 to my liking. I started off setting a good baseline including fluid change, a valve adjustment, spark plugs, spark plug wires, air filter, air intake boot, fuel filter, rotors, performance brake pads, and a EAT performance chip. The LSD was making a ton of noise so I sourced a used 3.25 LSD.
After setting the baseline, I went to work on the suspension. I installed BC coilovers, Lemforder upper control arms with Moosehead engineering spherical bushings, E31 lower control arms, new tie rods, and new dog bones. I also had the guys over at SpinFab build me a set of 16x8 BBS RS wheels with double step lips and faces that are brushed with a metallic grey powder coat.
Once I was happy with the suspension, I went to work on the interior. I've never been a fan of tan interior so as soon as I purchased the car I knew I had to have it replaced. This forum is such a great place for used parts that I was able to source black interior panels for a great price! All I need to find is crack free dash as mine is cracked to hell. I also installed a MOMO prototipo steering wheel and mushroom shift knob.
I had originally planned to install black seats, but a buddy of mine found a mint set of cardinal red door cards at our local pick and pull so I decided to do a cardinal red interior. After getting the door cards, I found a local shop that sources E30 seats and I had them re-wrap a set of E30 sport seats in cardinal red with black stitching and perforation that matches the door cards. The shop also wrapped my rear seats in cardinal red.
Lastly, I was having trouble finding black carpet so I decided to have a custom carpet made for the car and redo the headliner. Mike over at 02Creations in San Jose, installed the custom black carpet, black suede headliner, and black suede rear deckled. Super happy with how it turned out.
I have a few things I need to get done such as replace the stereo system, install camber/toe adjustment plates in the rear subframe, subframe bushings, RTAB bushings, sway bars, change out all the vacuum and rubber fuel hoses, rubber bumper strips, and ss brake lines. I have most of the parts, but its just a matter of time to do the work I can handle and come up with the $$$ to do the big ticket items such as the camber/toe adjustment plates, subframe and RTAB bushings.
But I'm really happy with the car so far. It's super fun to drive. Unlike my GT3, I can ring its neck on the street and still not be break too many laws. And IMO the car just looks SO COOL.
Well, sorry for the long rant. Below are some pictures I took today after a wash and detail. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.
