The M10 sensation: Euro 518i

[Shawn D.]

Coming along nicely!

[Justin_FL]

Also decided to be a little OCD and partially clean the wheel wells while the strut was out of the way for better access. I'll finish the rest of the wheel wells later once the car is mobile so I can do it outside and use the garden hose and not worry about containing the mess.

Before:


After:

[Justin_FL]

Coming along nicely!

Thanks! Too bad I work so damn slowly. Could have knocked it out in a weekend if I was motivated enough.

[Justin_FL]

Got a bit more done last night and today-- finished off the driver side completely today and nearly completed the passenger side.

After some deliberation I decided the Sachs boots and bump stops were not assembled right, so I broke down the strut and flipped the boot around so it was attached to the bump stop and loose at the strut retaining nut. The way I had them originally seemed that it would allow for dirt/moisture to collect at the strut retaining nut.


Forgot to take a picture of the left steering arm with the new LCA and UCA torqued, but there is one below at the end of this post from the right side.

In preparation of returning the strut assembly to the car, I cleaned up the mounting bolts. Started off with a wire brush and thought they were clean...


Nope! Old threadlocker:


Cleaned the grease off the bolts and saw the factory paint markings. The marking came off one when I was cleaning the grease/oil off of them.


Applying Loctite Red to steering arm bolts (#263, replacement for the #270 noted in the Bentley):


Strut attached and bolts torqued to 48 lb-ft.


Extra pictures with strut assembly returned to car:




I haven't decided whether to stay with the original 12mm solid rotors and calipers up front or switch over to 528e or 535i calipers and vented rotors. So I put the original stuff back on for the time being so the car is mobile. It pained me greatly to put dirty/old parts back on the car:


It looks like for now I'll be leaving the factory original steering parts on the car since they seemed perfectly tight and in good shape. I have new stuff on hand once the time comes.


I also got started on the passenger side control arm replacements.

Popped out control arm ball joints:


Started off removing the heat shield for the UCA from below, but then I realized this thing has an M10 and access is much easier from the engine bay




New control arms ready to go in:


Nuts torqued to 63 lb-ft. Kinda looks ugly under flash, I probably should have painted it after degreasing. Most of the splotchniess is cosmoline residue, though.


I'll be doing the final torque under pre-load later on the UCA and LCA bushings once it's on a 4 post lift.

[tig]

Nice work. I feel on putting those old brakes on...

[Justin_FL]

Today I finished up the passenger side of the car and got it back on 4 wheels.

Passenger side strut returned:


Miscellaneous picture:


Torqued the 13mm nuts to 16 lb-ft:


Replaced wheels in preparation to drop it like it's hot:


And the drop is... disappointing:


Bonus front end shot:


Maybe it will settle down a little bit! The upper strut bearing/mounts are probably 3/4" taller than the old flattened ones so some gain in ground clearance was expected. The 14" tires on the 5.5" wide wheels are not correct and are a bit short, which adds to the large fender gap. But I wanted to keep this thing as stock as possible.

I bounced the front end up and down and the 518i springs are super soft compared to my 528e. This car is probably going to be one plush ride, haha.

Need to go buy a new battery for the car so I can perhaps take it for a spin around the block.

All that is left now is to figure out the brake situation, do final torque on the control arms, and also put the front sway bar back on the car. The sway bar was left off because I wanted to clean it up before reinstalling-- the paint had flaked off most of it.

Then I will commence on the rear suspension work, or perhaps delay a bit and drive the car around to see what other mechanical needs are requiring attention. The clutch is almost completely shot and slips, so that one is priority #1 (already bought one a while back). Other than general tune up stuff, new fluids, belts, etc I don't recall many obvious issues. The alternator bushings are done however, so I'll have to replace those before putting on new belts.

[Justin_FL]

It's alive! Robbed a battery from the eta. Didn't make it too far, the alternator/water pump belt was extremely loose so I only looped around my driveway to not risk overheating. R12 A/C still blows ice cold

Hard to believe that I've had this car 5 years and haven't done anything with it until now.

[tig]

So weird, but I think that thing is just sexy.

[Justin_FL]

So weird, but I think that thing is just sexy.

You might need help!

[Justin_FL]

Crap that pisses me off: shitty mechanics, owner's manual that lists the incorrect size belts, and Conti belts that are made in China now

Got a license plate bracket for a US plate (used on E46 and various other newer BMWs) and refurb parts for the front calipers. I'm just going to keep the original non-vented discs on the front for now.



Don't believe your owner's manual (only one that works is the power steering belt):


The fan/alternator belt that was on the car I assumed was too long because the adjuster was all the way out. Turns out the belt was just worn a shit ton and seemed significantly too long so I'll buy a 10x888 belt as that was on the car. An 875 and 880 are impossible to fit. Power steering belt was 10x820, which seemed too long as the bracket was all the way out, so I went closest to the manual which was 10x813 and seems to be a good fit. The A/C belt on the car was a 13x818 and this was impossible to remove the belt with the compressor on the car (very small amount of adjustment is actually possible). So the 13x810 that I bought was obviously a no-go. Might order a 13x825 and see if that works and can slip on within the range of the slotted adjusters without having to undo half the compressor mounting bolts, which would be a bitch to do on the side of the road if any belt replacement was ever necessary.

And I discovered the alternator adjuster bar and nut teeth are chewed the fuck up. Lovely:

[Crazy_Canuck]

The fan/alternator belt that was on the car I assumed was too long because the adjuster was all the way out. Turns out the belt was just worn a shit ton and seemed significantly too long so I'll buy a 10x888 belt as that was on the car. An 875 and 880 are impossible to fit.

Yup, I've had that fight with the belt being too short.

[tig]

The fan/alternator belt that was on the car I assumed was too long because the adjuster was all the way out. Turns out the belt was just worn a shit ton and seemed significantly too long so I'll buy a 10x888 belt as that was on the car. An 875 and 880 are impossible to fit.

Yup, I've had that fight with the belt being too short.

I now have a very nice collection of brand new, odd sized belts that will never fit any car because I feel bad returning things to Blunt because he's awesome and I'm an idiot.

[Collin380]

Justin, nice to see you making progress!

[Burnze]

Great progress! Subscribed!

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

This thing is so great.

[Justin_FL]

Haha, thanks for the nice words guys. Disappointed about not making progress the past two weeks-- the fan belt and adjuster situation is not resolved, plus the weather has been utter crap lately. Since my garage does not have A/C and the lighting isn't the best, I sort of need to have the doors open to see and to get airflow. It has been like non-stop rain the past week and probably again this coming week, so the sideways rain precludes me from opening up the doors. Always seems like the weather is worse on the weekends but fine during the work week

[kzolee]

And I discovered the alternator adjuster bar and nut teeth are chewed the fuck up. Lovely:

Tooth Fairy was here.

[Justin_FL]

Something happened. A cool front decided to swing on down to Florida. It was in the 60s this morning so I decided to take advantage of the less than 85-90°F temps and work in the garage. The car was just parked in the garage while I've been focusing on exercise and other things around the house this summer. Also bought two new, full carbon fiber bicycles and have been riding the wheels off those. I'm surrounded by protected lands so plenty of nice stuff to see within a few minutes ride from the house



Anyway, it's finally time to replace the rear shocks this morning. Removal was a piece of cake, all nuts broke loose easily and the struts popped right out of the trailing arm with a tap of my hand. Much easier to roll around in the trunk when I weigh 70lbs less. Advantage goes to US-spec bumper cars as those provide a nice step to climb into the trunk. I spent more time sweeping out the garage, organizing tools, setting up the jack and jack stands, etc. Now I'll change into my short sleeve shirt and go back to work after posting this update



Time to climb in!

13mm gear wrench in action:


A tap of the hand and free at last:


Nice and clean:


Missed a spot:


No rust here:


Time to break these down, clean the springs and reinstall with new mounts and shocks!


Someone didn't like the game of hide and seek when I was in the trunk:

[Kyle in NO]

Nice progress on both the auto and health fronts!

[tig]

Nice work.

I think this car is neat.

[Justin_FL]

Put everything back together before closing up the garage and going for a bike ride.

The spread (couldn't proceed with ugly springs):


Assembled with repainted springs:


Back home:

[Justin_FL]

Nice progress on both the auto and health fronts!

Thanks! Good thing I was thinking ahead and never torqued down the front control arms. The ride height might be slightly different now.

Nice work.

I think this car is neat.

It's so ugly it's cool! Eventually it will be on the road! I'm actually thinking this car will be ready for The Vintage 2019. Next major project is replacing the slipping clutch. Still have yet to replace the alternator adjuster mechanism. Then figuring out the damn fan belt situation. Those are the two hold ups. And most certainly other things are needed but I can't generate a priority list until putting a few miles on it.

[SeattleGuy]

So weird, but I think that thing is just sexy.

'Cos it is. And it is in a way that a 4dr E30 could only dream about.

[Justin_FL]

Ordered some other belts and the alternator adjustment bar and toothed nut. Maybe this week I'll get around to making the car usable if the belts fit!

[T_C_D]

6+ years and counting.

[Justin_FL]

6+ years and counting.

Yay, got a cool front so I fitted the alternator bracket/adjuster and fan+power steering belts. Didn't mess with the new 13x825 A/C one yet. Popped in a battery, she fired right up and went for a couple spins around the block. Maybe I'll get to the clutch job next.

[Nebraska_e28]

What does it feel like driving an m10 e28 vs a m20?

[Mike W.]

I did see this some time ago, but a delayed comment.

2560lbs!!! That's lighter than US spec E21. So a 5 series, with an M10, with a better power to weight ratio than an E21. That's just not fair.