M535i my new toy. It's a keeper.

[Tiit]

Thanks for the info!

[Tiit]

I have finished working in the trunk (for now). I cleaned the surface rust and painted the whole thing. Water has been leaking in there for a while and quite a bit of surface rust there. It took me forever to prep the trunk for paint mostly because I had no idea what was I doing and secondly the surface area of the whole trunk/boot area is as big as half the car outside.
Final paint turned out not great, but acceptable for a complete amateur. Didn't really need to paint the whole trunk, but its so much nicer and a good practice for me too.
Trunk seal installation is pretty easy when trunk lid and hinges removed, but I am not happy with te end result. I might redo the seal in the future. It was pretty big project and I am glad it is over now.
Things I need to address:
*Hinges are worn and don't work well. Need to replace/repair
*Trunk carpet has shrunken. I don't know if its a result of washing it or do they all shrink with age.
*Water is leaking in to trunk from right C pillar vent.
*Spare wheel well is rusted through. Too much for me. I will get someone competent to fix it.

the beginning
IMG_1977 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_1978 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_1979 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Rust in the spare wheel well is more serious than I had hoped.
IMG_1986 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Progress.
IMG_2050 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2051 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2053 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2054 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2072 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2076 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Not perfect, but much better than before.
IMG_2079 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_0235 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_0238 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_0241 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Shrunken carpet
IMG_0242 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[sail_or_drive]

Nice work. I need to do the same thing with my trunk. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Chimi-Changa]

Great work here, hopefully your trunk stays dry. I just did my seal channel and that was plenty of a pain, never mind the whole trunk!

Curious how you removed all the glue off the trunk floor before paint?

[Tiit]

Curious how you removed all the glue off the trunk floor before paint?

I simply rubbed with fingers until the glue turned in to a ball and started sticking to itself. Pretty dull job and fingers were sore. There maybe are some chemicals out there that makes the job easier, but nothing worked what I had on hand.

The other day it rained here
IMG_2107 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


I took advantage of the rare wet day and washed the car for the first time. I spent couple of hours on wheels alone. I think it has been years since last washed and was very dirty. A lot more cleaning still to do in future.

IMG_0249 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


Floor mat is disgusting. Holes burned in by sigaret butts and the stain is probably caused by a leaky clutch cylinder.

IMG_2114 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_2115 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


Last weekend a friend of mine visited me. We worked hard insulating and sheeting my shed (actually half of it). What a great weekend and my shed is transformed now.

IMG_2118 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_0253 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_0251 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[tig]

What's the sheet metal look like under the pedals?

Are you Iain's nephew? If so, I'm so sorry for you. If no, never mind. Regardless, carry on

[Tiit]

What's the sheet metal look like under the pedals?

I haven't checked yet. I'm scared.

[Tiit]

I received front outer window seals from eBay.
IMG_2128 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Well packaged, but the seals appear to have been sitting in storage a while. Seals are not completely straight.

IMG_2131 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2136 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2137 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

I didn't want to install them until I have all of the window seals so I can do them all in one go, but I had to find out if the damaged seals straighten out once installed. When I started poking around I went down the rabbit hole and spent a whole day on the driver door. The driver door have been replaced at some point and whoever did it slapped it together in hurry.

IMG_2161 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2164 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Wiring was a huge birds nest and central locking parts were missing.

IMG_2173 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2174 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
Luckily I found all of the missing parts from my parts car. Its really handy to have a unmolested parts car where I can see clearly how things supposed to go together.

I pulled the wiring out and re wrapped in harness tape.

IMG_2175 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2177 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Outer seal seems to fit fine. I think I can give the seller positive feedback now.
Things done:
*Outer seal installed
*Central locking
*mirror adjuster
*door stopper
*sound proofing and moisture barrier
*replaced missing mouldings and covers
Once I will receive window guide seal I have to take all apart again.

At night I had some spare time and removed these stupid pedal covers finally and peek under the carpet.

IMG_2181 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_2182 by Tiit Saul, on
FlickrIMG_2183 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

I assumed the fluid is from clutch, because what else can it be? Brakes are on the other side. But clutch appeared to be dry and then I noticed this.IMG_2184 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

A/C leak. Refrigerant seems to be a very effective paint remover too. Rust situation is not as bad as I had feared. I don't know what to do about it yet.

[Tiit]

Local BMW club event is coming up soon and I really want to fix the sloppy shifter by then. I have heard of someone replacing shifter bushing without removing exhaust and drive shaft so I decided to try it as well. It is very tight as expected, but it went pretty well and got most of it apart, exhaust and drive shaft still in place. Dropped exhaust and drive shaft after I could not get the selector rod pin out. Even with more access I can't get the pin out. I modified small C clamp to push the pin out but no budge. I then went full barbarian on it and carefully carved the bushing away from the selector rod. I now have all kinds of room to clamp Vise-Grips on the pin but still no luck . What the hell? I am running out of ideas. Do I really need to drop the tranny and drill it out? any ideas?

IMG_2268 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2354 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

.IMG_2355 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2356 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[dsmith]

Looks like someone jammed in a roll pin. I have only seen the solid dowel pin. Euro and US cars.

Maybe a 90 degree drill and a short drill bit?

[mescko]

At night I had some spare time and removed these stupid pedal covers finally and peek under the carpet.

IMG_2181 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr[url=https://flic.kr/p/23Y5cX7]


Looks like a Huntsman. http://www.spiders.com.au/huntsman-spider.html

[Tiit]

Looks like someone jammed in a roll pin. I have only seen the solid dowel pin. Euro and US cars.

Maybe a 90 degree drill and a short drill bit?

Dsmith you win. I ended up buying angle attachment for drill and it worked. That pin is hardened steel and not easy to drill. What a pain in the neck, but out it came. IMG_2616 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Also I managed to mess up one of the exhaust manifold stud. I tried various methods to remove the damaged stud, but ended up drilling it out.
Welded nut method didn't work.
IMG_2619 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

New stud in
IMG_2623 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

New copper nuts
IMG_2626 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Also while I was in there I discovered exhaust leak from catalytic converter. I removed the heat shields and there was a big crack in it.
IMG_2612 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2605 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
I decided to weld the crack up the best I could and keep it until I source a replacement.

Car is now back together and I've done my test drive. Shifter feel ok and exhaust is quieter. Transmission shifts a bit slow. Not crunchy, but I can't slam gears in. It takes a second or two to engage. The real bummer is that I can not get the tranny filler plug loose. I can't even check the fluid level.

OEM BMW part has a sloppy fitment
IMG_2591 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

glad to see these shitty parts are gone from the car.
IMG_2615 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[Tiit]

Transmission fluid has been replaced finally.
Is this amount of steel shavings on the drain plug something to worry about?
Untitled by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

This peace, stuck on the magnet, worries me a little. About 2.5mm diameter and appeared to be hardened steel. Untitled by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Old fluid had lots of non magnetic shiny stuff in it. Syncros? Really beautiful actually when light shining the right angle.
IMG_2747 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Old fluid after 2 days.
IMG_2758 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

I replaced it with ATF. Transmission now shifts better when cold and maybe a little improvement when warmed up, but not perfect. Still struggles to get in second gear some times. Also the box is leaking pretty bad.

[Tiit]

Sunday I had my first track experience with my car. A local BMW club event of driver training at the track and skid pad. A full day of awesomeness.
My goal was to have fun, push my car (and myself) close to limits, learn from trainers and get to know my car better while NOT crashing it. Accomplished all of it.
We started off at the Sutton track, which is not a raceway, but kind of a real world road simulation. The track is really cool with its long straight, sweeping bend, tight bends and elevation changes.
I missed out on the second session due the coolant light came on. It ended up being just a little low on coolant and nothing major. On the third session, primal instincts took over and I drove it like I stole it. It feels weirdly calm and relaxing when I'm driving like an animal. Perhaps having driven Toyota Camry's and Corollas for the past 10 years, has done something to my head.
29872827_10215980114363949_1777801707897160981_o by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

The skid pad was awesome! There was a learning curve, but in the end I started to get the feel of it. Power steering couldn't keep up with steering, so I had basically manual steering, which gave me a good workout Lack of LSD is challenging as well. It wanted to spin only one tire and sometimes felt like my clutch is slipping, but i smelled no clutch and carried on. Can hardly wait to get back on the skid pan.
IMG_0305 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

All and all a great day. Met some BMW fanatics and had great time on track. Highly recommend for enyone to check out your local motorsport events. And don't be discouraged by your lack of skills or your car not being ready for track. My car isn't "ready", far from it, but it doesn't stop me having a good time.
I made a video as well of the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LisUnJfMjeg&t=251s

While I was waiting for my turn, I snapped a few shots of others having fun.
IMG_1913 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_1895 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_1884 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_1831 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[Tiit]

My son and I made a video of installing hub caps.
Warning! Artistic approach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLk3gE4xbWo

[Tiit]

I was convinced that the radio is broken and requires some serious repair. I pulled it out and replacing the blown fuse made it work again. Left channel has some intermittent issue, which need to be addressed at some point. I love these old stereos.
IMG_2904 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Also done lots of little things not worth to mention really.
IMG_2956 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_0543 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2845 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2842 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2875 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_2876 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Another thing I've done is added more lights in the shed. I can't believe the difference. You can't have too many power outlets and lighting in a shed! 'Before and after' pictures below.

IMG_0538 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_0537 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[tig]

Did you install new lights or just turn them on?

Nice work.

[Tiit]

Did you install new lights or just turn them on?

I did both. Installed new lights and turned them on.

[Tiit]

It has been a while since my last update. The truth is, not a whole lot has happened to the car and have nothing major to report. But its been over a year now since i bought the car, so i should write something down.
I now have an additional member in my family and there is not much free time with two little kids around. Ive been to local car club cruise with my family, which was really nice.

IMG_3828 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Also my car was displayed on a german car show. Ironically, when I was looking to buy my car, I made very clear to myself I didn't want a show car. I wanted a car I can drive often and not care about cosmetics. One year in and we have travelled a whopping 4000km (of which 1000km was taking it home from the seller) and displaying at car show
IMG_2764 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr


I am not a good writer, so I will express my thoughts in bullet points.
*When I bought the car, I wasn't sure if it was THE car. If it didn't click with me, I was prepared to get rid of it. Now, one year in, its clear it is a keeper. I have no regrets about buying it. It feels totally natural having it around. The car came home to daddy.
*In one year I've made FAR less progress on it then I had hoped.
*A lot of issues needs to be addressed on the car, but I was careful not to start on a task that would take me longer than couple of weekends. My strategy worked! I much rather have an imperfect car, that I can take out for a club cruise or a show, than having it stuck in the shed, pulled apart in million bits for months.
*It drives pretty horrible. Lowered suspension ruins the handling. Some clunking in front end. Steering pulls to left.
*Mye28.com is an awesome site. This forum have made my car ownership much more enjoyable. I really hope this place stays great for many years to come.

It's starting to get late. Time to go bed now. I add few more photos from german auto day.
IMG_2753 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2760 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2806 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_2771 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[Bonsaibacker]

Great story and clean work! Glad you posted- I would not have found your thread if not at the top...
Keep going

[SeattleGuy]

Dude that's heroic stuff there with two kitlin's around especially, well-played. Love the two car seat situation you worked out. Your wife = Goddess.

[Tiit]

Thanks guys for kind words.

[LeiseyJr]

Cool Car! Good Read! That metal piece is concerning and 90% sure that is part of a bearing. I would take the trans apart or get a spare. I'm assuming yours doesn't have a lot of life yet. I've blown one up that was poorly maintained with similar amounts of metal. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if it starts rattling at idle don't ignore it like me and ruin a good trans that can be saved.

[Tiit]

Cool Car! Good Read! That metal piece is concerning and 90% sure that is part of a bearing. I would take the trans apart or get a spare. I'm assuming yours doesn't have a lot of life yet. I've blown one up that was poorly maintained with similar amounts of metal. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if it starts rattling at idle don't ignore it like me and ruin a good trans that can be saved.

Thanks for the heads up. Getting the transmission services is high on the priority list. I have been procrastinating because taking transmission apart (putting back together) is above my pay grade and paying someone to do it isn't cheap. Then again, trans overhaul is cheaper than its market value.

Last night, spur of the moment, I started full suspension overhaul. At first I planned to swap the lowered spring to stock springs, but we all know how this goes. While i was in there I discovered some worn ball joints, and I have e31 LCA sitting on the shelf ready to go in. Good time to install the moosehead UCA bearings and replace all parts that needs replacing. It felt like a black hole was sucking me in. I didn't want to start on a big project like this until I get my 535iA registered, but once parts started flying off, I couldn't stop.
BMW Club meet is in few weeks away, I haven't ordered any parts yet and time is limited. It may have been a mistake.
IMG_4480 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

[Tiit]

I spent few hours every night for couple of weeks and here is what i got done.
*Springs swapped to stock (I believe pink paint mark is the right spring?)
*E31 lower control arms
*New brake hoses and guide bushings installed
*Moosehead UCAB installed
*New front stabiliser links
*Some cleaning and lots of other little things while I was in there.
Doesn't sound a lot, but working alone at night has its limitations.
IMG_4499 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_4494 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_4507 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_4510 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_4592 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_4648 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_4659 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

IMG_4660 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

I almost ruined my moosehead bushings, but in the end, I managed to press them in with my little hydraulic press. Overall the car lifted about 70mm (almost 3 inches). It made massive difference how it looks, feels and drives. With lowered springs it was horrible thing to drive. Now, with stock springs and other upgrades, handling definitely improved.
IMG_4755 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr
IMG_4762 by Tiit Saul, on FlickrIMG_4895 by Tiit Saul, on Flickr

Still lots to do. I really need to get AC sorted. And drone from muffler (lack of it) drives me crazy. I have to admit I don't enjoy driving it at the moment.