My Balticblau E28

[tuffode]

Niiiiice!

Thanks!

awesome! looks like a great one, glad to have another e28 in NJ. when i bought mine i also had water on my foot wells and the trunk, for the foot wells it turned out to be the sunroof drain holes. easy fix, but the trunk... let me tell you... it took me a VERY LONG TIME to find where the water was coming in from. i replaced the trunk seal, tail lights gaskets, licence plate lights, antenna grommets, c-pillar grommets, etc. pretty much everything you could think off. the frustration lead me to one day lock myself inside the trunk with a flashlight and had my GF pour like 50 buckets of water (i dont have a hose, lol) until i finally saw the damn leak, the water was coming in from one hole of the screws that hold the bumper plastic cover center piece. put a bit of good'ol silicone around it and VIOLA! dry trunk ever since.

Cool, you're in NJ. Maybe I'll see you around sometime .
That sounds interesting, haven't gotten around to checking the sunroof drains. But when I was washing the car today, I opened the trunk and I saw a tiny bit of water landing on the mats, so I'm assuming its the trunk seal. Not 100% sure yet though. Also the trunk has a bit of mold in the carpet, which I'm going to try to get rid of

[tuffode]

Just came back from a drive, here are some pictures I took on a one lane bridge.
I love the way the blue plates look on the car.

[e28Sean]

Heh. I had those same style blue license plates back when I lived in the Dirty Jerz.

[tuffode]

Got it up on a lift today. Not too bad.
Has a slight coolant leak, as well as a small oil leak. Gonna have to take a closer look to figure out the exact cause. And still need to get a new starter. It had been replaced by some cheap off-brand starter. The exhaust had also been replaced with an aftermarket solution, which is why the rust is so bad on it.

[tuffode]

So I checked the sunroof drains, and both the front ones are clogged
Tried unclogging with this weed wacker line, but it's too thin. Going to try getting something a bit thicker to do the job.
Also I made room in the garage to keep the car. Need to find more room to bring in the e30 too!

[vinceg101]

Heh. I had those same style blue license plates back when I lived in the Dirty Jerz.

Same here on both my first two cars. His photo actually makes them look better than they really were.

Nice find, welcome aboard. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Whereabouts outside of Trenton are you?

[tuffode]

Picked up a $10 exhaust tip that someone on this forum told me about. They fit perfectly and make the rear look much better.
Before:

After:


Sorry for the terrible quality, the lighting in my garage is nonexistent.

Got the starter replaced today. Would have done it myself, but I looked at some other threads and forums and it doesn't seem to be as easy as it looks due to the location of the starter.
I was itching to get the car back home from the shop, even though it was only gone for a few hours .

[tuffode]

Heh. I had those same style blue license plates back when I lived in the Dirty Jerz.

Same here on both my first two cars. His photo actually makes them look better than they really were.

Nice find, welcome aboard. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Whereabouts outside of Trenton are you?

The plates do look good in person in my opinion, but yeah you're right. The pictures make them look brighter and more saturated than they are in real life.

I'm in this small rural town called Chesterfield. You probably haven't heard of it. It's like 80% farmland.
Where are you from in NJ?

[vinceg101]

Heh. I had those same style blue license plates back when I lived in the Dirty Jerz.

Same here on both my first two cars. His photo actually makes them look better than they really were.

Nice find, welcome aboard. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Whereabouts outside of Trenton are you?

The plates do look good in person in my opinion, but yeah you're right. The pictures make them look brighter and more saturated than they are in real life.

I'm in this small rural town called Chesterfield. You probably haven't heard of it. It's like 80% farmland.
Where are you from in NJ?

I grew up in Westfield up in Union County but spent my first few college years down in Pennington while attending MCCC.
My wife is from Princeton and my her father still lives there so we go back every now and then (in fact likely this September).
I have probably driven through Chesterfield and not realized it.

So yeah, I know all about farmland.

[tuffode]

Heh. I had those same style blue license plates back when I lived in the Dirty Jerz.

Same here on both my first two cars. His photo actually makes them look better than they really were.

Nice find, welcome aboard. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Whereabouts outside of Trenton are you?

The plates do look good in person in my opinion, but yeah you're right. The pictures make them look brighter and more saturated than they are in real life.

I'm in this small rural town called Chesterfield. You probably haven't heard of it. It's like 80% farmland.
Where are you from in NJ?

I grew up in Westfield up in Union County but spent my first few college years down in Pennington while attending MCCC.
My wife is from Princeton and my her father still lives there so we go back every now and then (in fact likely this September).
I have probably driven through Chesterfield and not realized it.

So yeah, I know all about farmland.

Oh nice, I'm going to college at Rutgers, I start this August.
I'm like 20 minutes from Princeton.

[offroadkarter]

God damn, reppin the blue plates? I don't see those very often, usually it means "look out, senior citizen!"

Your e28 looks really clean, with those plates on it looks like a time capsule.

What are your plans? Keep it as is? euro conversion? turbo?

[gadget73]

yeah I haven't seen those plates in years. My first car in 1998 had yellows. I wanna say the blues went away early-mid 90s. Anyone remember the yellow plates before the blue plates? My aunt's car had those when I was a kid. I really hate the newest plates though, no raised letters. Looks like a cereal box or something.

[tuffode]

yeah I haven't seen those plates in years. My first car in 1998 had yellows. I wanna say the blues went away early-mid 90s. Anyone remember the yellow plates before the blue plates? My aunt's car had those when I was a kid. I really hate the newest plates though, no raised letters. Looks like a cereal box or something.

Yeah these blue plates went away in 92 I think. My dads 2017 has the new flat plates, they look really bad. A few other states are doing the same thing. It’s a shame

[vinceg101]

yeah I haven't seen those plates in years. My first car in 1998 had yellows. I wanna say the blues went away early-mid 90s. Anyone remember the yellow plates before the blue plates? My aunt's car had those when I was a kid. I really hate the newest plates though, no raised letters. Looks like a cereal box or something.

I sure do: we moved to NJ in 1971 and had many sets of them on various cars. They introduced the blue & buff versions in +/-1979 and there was a big back-lash against them; they were not very well loved all the way through their run. Rumor has it that the then governor's 8 year old daughter chose the colors.

Neither color scheme is really a winner; NJ has had probably the least amount of variety in license plates over the last 60 years than almost any other state. The only upside is that unlike here in California, the plate belongs to the owner so you take it with you when you sell the car as opposed to here where the plate belongs to the vehicle (unless it's a vanity or special plate); they might as well weld it on to the bumper.
[Unless NJ changed this rule?]

[tuffode]

yeah I haven't seen those plates in years. My first car in 1998 had yellows. I wanna say the blues went away early-mid 90s. Anyone remember the yellow plates before the blue plates? My aunt's car had those when I was a kid. I really hate the newest plates though, no raised letters. Looks like a cereal box or something.

I sure do: we moved to NJ in 1971 and had many sets of them on various cars. They introduced the blue & buff versions in +/-1979 and there was a big back-lash against them; they were not very well loved all the way through their run. Rumor has it that the then governor's 8 year old daughter chose the colors.

Neither color scheme is really a winner; NJ has had probably the least amount of variety in license plates over the last 60 years than almost any other state. The only upside is that unlike here in California, the plate belongs to the owner so you take it with you when you sell the car as opposed to here where the plate belongs to the vehicle (unless it's a vanity or special plate); they might as well weld it on to the bumper.
[Unless NJ changed this rule?]

Yeah, you’re correct. The plate belongs to the owner.
I didn’t know that the plates belonging to the car was even a thing!

[tuffode]

Got pulled over and got a warning for not having a front plate. I was planning to put it on, I just need to get the mount and the correct screws. In the pics I posted, I just hung the plate with 2 random screws just for the photos but it wasn't secure.
For now I just zip tied it on. Looks bad, but it's just temporary.

[offroadkarter]

Got pulled over and got a warning for not having a front plate. I was planning to put it on, I just need to get the mount and the correct screws. In the pics I posted, I just hung the plate with 2 random screws just for the photos but it wasn't secure.
For now I just zip tied it on. Looks bad, but it's just temporary.

This is the downside to keeping those plates, my 745i is registered as a QQ historic (thankfully I had the stamped plates). NJ changed the law about 3 years ago and now QQ cars don't need a front license plate anymore.

I was not going to drill my euro bumper to put a US plate on it.

ftp://www.njleg.state.nj.us/19981999/a0500/463_i1.pdf

I can't imagine you were in Trenton when you got pulled over, crap like that happens in towns where the police have nothing better to do *cough*Robinsville*cough*

[tuffode]

Got pulled over and got a warning for not having a front plate. I was planning to put it on, I just need to get the mount and the correct screws. In the pics I posted, I just hung the plate with 2 random screws just for the photos but it wasn't secure.
For now I just zip tied it on. Looks bad, but it's just temporary.

This is the downside to keeping those plates, my 745i is registered as a QQ historic (thankfully I had the stamped plates). NJ changed the law about 3 years ago and now QQ cars don't need a front license plate anymore.

I was not going to drill my euro bumper to put a US plate on it.

ftp://www.njleg.state.nj.us/19981999/a0500/463_i1.pdf

I can't imagine you were in Trenton when you got pulled over, crap like that happens in towns where the police have nothing better to do *cough*Robinsville*cough*

It wasn't in Trenton, it was in Chesterfield where I live. It's a really rural town. Also I worded it wrong. I got pulled over because the cops system showed my plates as expired because there was some problem with his system. Then he realized I didn't have a front plate too and gave me a warning. They don't ever pull you over because of no front plates, but if you do get pulled over they take notice. My dads new 5 hasn't had a front plate for 6 months and we haven't had a problem.

[tuffode]

God damn, reppin the blue plates? I don't see those very often, usually it means "look out, senior citizen!"

Your e28 looks really clean, with those plates on it looks like a time capsule.

What are your plans? Keep it as is? euro conversion? turbo?

(I didn't see this post earlier)

Thanks, I found some loophole and was able to use them.
Yeah its in really great condition, besides the bumpers which are faded, and the wheels it looks like new.
For now I'm keeping it as is. I'm using it as my daily. I want to do a euro conversion but not sure how I would go about getting the parts. Maybe down the line I can get an M30 swap, But that would be after I fix my E30 up, a few years down the line.

[tuffode]

Pulled the E28 out to take some pictures with my E30

[tuffode]

Odometer gears came in yesterday, so I decided to replace them today.


The old gears were broken and very soft.


With new gears installed, I put the cluster back together and installed it back in the car.

I went on a drive and the odometer still wasn't working

I replaced the gears in my E30 and the odometer worked, so I'm not sure what the problem could be.

Anyone know what I should do?

[tuffode]

This isn't really the place for this, but I just felt like sharing.

I found this old 80s road bike for $15.



Didn't fit in the trunk of the E28, so I went back home and borrowed my dads car which has folding rear seats.



Didn't fit in the back of it either. I should have just brought a spanner set from home to take the front wheel off to make it fit. I asked the people in the store but they had all the wrong sizes.

I went back home, and my dad had this bike carrier I didn't know about. It fit perfectly and I brought the bike back on my car.



I was told the tires were flat, but once I got home, I filled them up and they held in the air. The bike rides excellent.
The bike matches the aesthethic of the car really well

[tuffode]

I removed that annoying buzzer that buzzes whenever the doors are open. My E30 had a nice chime to remind you to close the doors which I didn't mind, but this buzzing is just so annoying.

It was super easy, at first I took off the big trim under the steering wheel to find it. In my E30 it was this black box that looked like a speaker. I couldn't find it here, the buzzing sounded like it was coming from the steering column.

So instead I unscrewed the door sensor and pulled it out. It had two connectors that I just unplugged, and boom. The sound was gone.

(Super interesting! Yeah I know)

[e28Sean]

What buzzer?

My e28 dings. ... it doesn't buzz.

[tuffode]

What buzzer?

My e28 dings. ... it doesn't buzz.

I think the earlier models had the buzz (like 80s MB’s) and they probably changed to the ding in a later year. Mines an 83