Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, E28

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delorean175
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by delorean175 »

Man that color :shock: :D Its gorgeous! When the day comes (unfortunately it will) when I sell my car, I hope someone with your passion and resources buys it. That way it can be fully restored to its former glory. I've been struggling to justify spending the money to have it painted because of other mechanical issues and other cars with issues. As time has passed I am coming to a crossroads where I'm almost done with mechanical stuff, but paint is by far the most expensive project for me. Anyway, I always look forwards to seeing what car porn you post. :laugh:
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

vinceg101 wrote:We didn't get a chance to catch up this weekend, and I know this is a silly question, but will this be unveiled at 5erWest in July?
I did get to show off your engine bay for CJ though!

Yes, the goal now is 5erWest (2019).
Foonfer
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Foonfer »

Nice workaround on the expansion tank hose. Good to have some slack.

Did you consider doing a leather-wrapped dash (stitches and all) - what made you go the way you did?
NedNorton
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Location: Colorado USA

Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by NedNorton »

Charlie,
Great build! Very inspiring. I had a quick question on the S54 swap. I have read through the thread and was unable to find answer. Are you keeping the secondary air pump or are you deleting it? I am leaning towards the S54 for my project, but living on the front range of Colorado, the swap would need to incorporate it. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

Foonfer wrote:Nice workaround on the expansion tank hose. Good to have some slack.

Did you consider doing a leather-wrapped dash (stitches and all) - what made you go the way you did?
Yes, I considered it. However I've never found a leather wrapped e28 dash that I thought looked good, even OE M5. I'm too anal retentive about stitching.
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

NedNorton wrote:Charlie,
Great build! Very inspiring. I had a quick question on the S54 swap. I have read through the thread and was unable to find answer. Are you keeping the secondary air pump or are you deleting it? I am leaning towards the S54 for my project, but living on the front range of Colorado, the swap would need to incorporate it. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
Uh, good question. I don't actually know. Well, I certainly haven't ordered it deleted. I will have to check if along the way it got deleted. Heck, I don't even remember what it looks like.

With the possibility of this car being in the SLC area I will have to get clear on the topic. Thanks for stressing me out. ;)
wkohler
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by wkohler »

How many OE E28 leather dashes have you seen?
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

wkohler wrote:How many OE E28 leather dashes have you seen?
Quite a few. Including that amazing red interior in Ivo's shop. I've looked closely at every M5 I've ever gotten close to.
Foonfer
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Foonfer »

cek wrote: I've never found a leather wrapped e28 dash that I thought looked good, even OE M5. I'm too anal retentive about stitching.
well you got me there. Who would have thought? :heehee:
Philo
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Philo »

Chuck, great meeting you and your son in SD and chatting about S54 swaps. I hope I was helpful. Your car is looking amazing and wish you the best on its completion.

Regarding the secondary air pump question, I deleted mine and now have to creatively work around CA smog. Not sure about how others will get around this in other states.

Let me know if I can help with anything else :)

Philo.
310-766-1923
phil@infostreet.com
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

Philo wrote:Chuck, great meeting you and your son in SD and chatting about S54 swaps. I hope I was helpful. Your car is looking amazing and wish you the best on its completion.

Regarding the secondary air pump question, I deleted mine and now have to creatively work around CA smog. Not sure about how others will get around this in other states.

Let me know if I can help with anything else :)

Philo.
310-766-1923
phil@infostreet.com
Hey Phred, feel free to call me Chuck. Once. :laugh:

It was awesome meeting you too, and I really appreciated your insights and offer to help. I poured over your engine bay and took many photos of it!

Why did you delete the secondary air pump in the first place?
NedNorton
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by NedNorton »

cek wrote:
NedNorton wrote:Charlie,
Great build! Very inspiring. I had a quick question on the S54 swap. I have read through the thread and was unable to find answer. Are you keeping the secondary air pump or are you deleting it? I am leaning towards the S54 for my project, but living on the front range of Colorado, the swap would need to incorporate it. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.
Uh, good question. I don't actually know. Well, I certainly haven't ordered it deleted. I will have to check if along the way it got deleted. Heck, I don't even remember what it looks like.

With the possibility of this car being in the SLC area I will have to get clear on the topic. Thanks for stressing me out. ;)
Sorry Charlie... For the added stress. Any work on it? All the engine bays I have seen delete the pump and remove it from the programing. Hence the question.

Cheers,
Chris
piperbrothers
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by piperbrothers »

A whole month with no updates? Rude!
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

piperbrothers wrote:A whole month with no updates? Rude!
You know what's rude? "Jake" deciding he had to move to CA to care for his dad right as we were getting so close.

Work picked up again this week. I have some nerves because I've not met the new wrench.
RonW
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by RonW »

I hope you reinforced the clutch pedal bracket while you had the chance. I had someone weld a bead at the usual failure point, plus I installed one of those brackets.
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

RonW wrote:I hope you reinforced the clutch pedal bracket while you had the chance. I had someone weld a bead at the usual failure point, plus I installed one of those brackets.
Yep. Did both.
jhh925
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by jhh925 »

Charlie: Maybe I missed it, but what is (and what's a source for) that material that you've put on the back "firewall"? And what is its purpose? (I assume sound-deadening?)

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tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

jhh925 wrote:Charlie: Maybe I missed it, but what is (and what's a source for) that material that you've put on the back "firewall"? And what is its purpose? (I assume sound-deadening?)

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Sound deadening. Same basic stuff as dynomat but made an a (likely) un-ecologically-friendly way in the USSR.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074Q ... =ceklog-20
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

Not that I have the time, but this should be a fun project painting this Arrowblau and assembling it. I've never built a diecast model before...

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I had given the shop an ABS unit they could use to size brakelines correctly, but had stripped inlets. I wasn't going to let someone else rebuild an ABS unit and this meant I was now blocking project progress. So this weekend I dug into my rebuild and finally got it done. I had dreams of sending most of the parts off to plating, but I didn't do it when I had a chance. So, at least for now, the unit is going in looking somewhat cosmetically challenged. For something like an ABS unit, function is far more important. That's my story anyway.

I had previously disassembled a full pump but found the strap that holds the casing together was horked. I sourced two additional pumps in order to get the parts to ensure I could build one good one. This weekend's job was to disassemble one of those and finish the original...

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Pro-tip (and I'll update the ABS pump rebuild thread with this info), the screws that hold the pump motor on are heavily locktite'd. Be super careful or you'll strip one of them:
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None of the rebuild threads have good pics of the pump pistons. I've fixed that.
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I took the pump and some other new parts (e.g. new headlights) by 425... With Jake gone, progress slowed to a crawl.

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We're going back and forth on brake lines. Original plan was to do all new stainless. But these are in fine shape and just need to be painted.

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Original plan was a 924 brake booster. Then I found out that the 528e booster fits fine and is available new vs refurbished. So we swapped to that.

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Headers have been built...
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Vroom! Vroom! Snick! Snick! x6
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I'm sooooo happy with the color.
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Adam W in MN
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Adam W in MN »

Wow so much fun to watch.
Karl Grau
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Karl Grau »

^^^ What Adam said. It looks amazing.
Nick1984
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Nick1984 »

Great color and an amazing build! Can't wait to see it finished :up:
davintosh
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by davintosh »

Noice. :up:
delvin
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by delvin »

Headers came out great and that color with the black interior is gorgeous.
Tiit
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by Tiit »

Good progress. Thanks for keeping E28 community excited by sharing your awesome project.
piperbrothers
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by piperbrothers »

Will you be "shadow-lining" the tail lights or leaving them chrome? If the former, is it simply a matter of taping off and painting with satin black Wurth (or similar)? I have a very nice set with better lenses than my current ones, but they are chrome.
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

piperbrothers wrote:Will you be "shadow-lining" the tail lights or leaving them chrome? If the former, is it simply a matter of taping off and painting with satin black Wurth (or similar)? I have a very nice set with better lenses than my current ones, but they are chrome.
The ones on the car now are temporary. I have a like-new set that were already shadowlined that will go on before completion.

I shadowlined the set on Vlad with SEM Eurotrim Black 4 years ago and they still look amazing. The key is to scuff the plastic chrome before painting.
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

Some more pics from my visit to the shop today. Things are picking up steam, but he motor's still not in.

I had a bad dream and woke in a panic thinking I had forgotten about getting a shift boot with a good frame. Searching the garage found TWO. This one is the better of the two. I've ordered a new leather boot off eBay and I'll let them fight. I bought one from the same seller for Maytag and it's quite nice.
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I'm not putting a wing on this car. But I always loved the E39 M5 spoiler. I found this rubber lip (just sitting on Maytag to test fit) and really like it. Never seen anything like this on an E28 and think it may add a nice touch, especially if I can get it painted body color.
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BBS RZ-394 8.5x16 ET13
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Fikse Profil 5S, E28 Fitment 17 x 8.5 ET13 Forged
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I've ordered tires (Conti DWS for the RZs and Pilot 4S for the Fikses) and took the wheels in to be mounted. The 16" RZs will be for daily driving. The 17" Fikses will be dress shoes because we all know E28s ride like ass on 17" wheels.
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Some pr0n of little things...
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My bad. I thought I had two full sets of brake shields. Apparently the parts for Minvera had two right-rears and no left-rear. They are still available new so one's inbound from Blunt...
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The rebuilt ABS pump from above...
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Forgot to order a grill. Inbound...
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Thank you Pavel...
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I'm keeping this. You never know...
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I'm pretty damn excited about the interior. I have a nit or two about the rear seat that I'm going to ask to get fixed (e.g. cross strap on arm rest is not straight).
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The weird blotches are from Dan's iPhone... the lights in the store room are flickering and they confused the camera.
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I took these photos today; I didn't want to completely unwrap things...
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Left this lovely beast at the shop so they can have another E28 to ensure everything goes in the right spot...
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delvin
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by delvin »

Those Fikse look like jewelry, very nice addition!
tig
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Re: Minerva: The S54 powered, better than new, daily driver

Post by tig »

Can haz bronze glaz.

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