525e to 525i conversion + Bolt & Nuts restoration

[redc6t]

I picked up this bronze beauty in early 2022, not running.
The previous owner was planning to give her a full restoration but never got around and eventually decided to get rid of her as is.



(Imagine the troubles I would have to go through if I picked the Alfa instead )



Dropped the girl at my mechanic's shop for the night, I was still arranging a deal to get a unit with hoist for myself at the time.



This is how she looked:
- The thermostat housing wasn't fitted and I could see a decent amount of deposit in the water system.
- Some fuel lines were disconnected and the old petrol just stank like bad eggs
- Battery missing
- Alternator dangling
- Corrosion everywhere

I must admit, I have seen worse and a lot of people would have probably chucked the missing/broken parts and give her a go, but I wanted to do something more.
The idea of a full restoration wasn't even crossing my mind at that stage, I was planning to rebuild the engine and refresh bushing and suspensions... then it got out of hand.



Surprise! The boot (not trunk in Australia) was full of goodies:
- "200" cylinder head
- "731" cylinder head
- 528 intake manifold
- 535i ECU
- Cams, rockers, bits and bobs

At the time I had no idea on what a 200/731/885 head was, but I understood the current engine was the bottom of the line and the previous owner was attempting an upgrade.



Once the intake manifold was off I realised how much dirt was there after almost 40 years of service.





One the engine was out I couldn't wait to see how's head and block looked like. The 200 head was really bad, corroded mostly, thankfully the block was very healthy.
Due to the high mileage a re-bore and oversized pistons was mandatory.


(Date with my other girl )



Sandblasting the engine bay.



Clean! All the paint is gone.



I quickly moved the car to the Panel Beater to apply the colour before the surface start rusting, I live on the coast and the air is... salty!
The colour I choose is Nardograu.



Now the car didn't need to move for any other job I decided it was time to remove the front and rear suspensions.



And remove the fuel and brake system. I was really unhappy on how the floor looked like, it was probably at this stage when I decided it was time to strip and refresh everything.



Brake/Fuel lines would have to come down as well.



In the meantime I started sandblasting the suspensions components...



...and the calipers. (Only the one on the bottom right was done at that stage)







Then it was time to respray all the sandblasted bits.



Brake/Fuel lines sanded and ready for a fresh coat meanwhile all the suspensions bits are drying up.



Primer coat and black coat done.



Those muddy clips gotta be washed!



Much better.



Brackets polished.



The underbody got steam washed and coated with "Raptor Tough Undercoat"



Detail on the clips.



Time to fix this mess, new fuel filter and fuel pump obviously.



Fuel pump and filter fitted, I couldn't find the fuel pump rubber enclosure so I decided to clean it.



Front suspensions needed new shocks absorber so bad, the car was really bouncy.
While I was there I decided to refresh the springs. Yellow should stick with the gray panels.



Ouch! That was a scary moment, still alive tho



Rear shocks replaced too (KYB), springs refreshed.



New suspensions and steering arms received.



Tie rods and steering rack assembled.

[redc6t]

Primer coat applied on the differential.



Raptor Tough Undercoat applied.



I had to change the boots on the axles so I decided to fully refurbish them.



Fits like a glove.



Later was time to fit a new pair of shoes and new hardware for the pull and locking mechanism.



That was fun to assemble.



Gotta do the other side now, but looks promising.



Enough suspensions and underbody work, time to focus on the engine.
Crankshaft, pistons, rods, oil pump are out and the block is ready to go to the machinist to get it re-bored.



Engine got back home quick, so it's time to give it a nice coat.



The oil pan had bashes on every corner, so, once again I went full on and scratched the paint and beat the poor thing until it was straight again.



And primer applied, mint!



Oil sump powder coated and engine parts restored.



Mahle pistons and Head ready to go too.



Oil pump cleaned.



Crankshaft and oil pump installed.



Fun night with my friends Arrik and Luigi installing all the engine internal components, conrods, piston rings, crankshaft.



Piston installation went smooth.



Head gasket installed and Lui pointing at something



731 cylinder head ready to be installed with brand new head bolts.
Funny story about this cylinder head: remember the 731 head I found in the boot? Well that was rotten and I had to find a new one. Michael from Brisbane saved the day and sent me his, which was absolutely mint.



The head is finally bolted and torqued to specs to the block.



Rusty booster and corroded brake master cylinder.



Same treatment for the clutch master plus new piston and seals.







Engine bay view after the following were restored:
- Booster
- Clutch and brake master cylinders
- Steering box
- Left hand drive brake arms
- Power steering lines
- Clutch and brakes lines
- Cabin blower

[muleskinner]

Looks like an ambitious, to say the least, project. Unfortunately, pictures aren't displaying.

[redc6t]

Looks like an ambitious, to say the least, project. Unfortunately, pictures aren't displaying.

Apologies - I did a rookie mistake. Should be up and running now.

[muleskinner]

Wow! This will be going in the "too nice to drive" category.

[adam_poll]

Looking really good! Keep it up.

[tig]

<3

[Zeuropa]

Amazing work. Well done!!!

[Galahad]

looks great! Lots of work getting all those parts that clean

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

It's always nice to see another e28 getting some love down here. Good stuff.

[turbodan]

Very nice. What are you doing for fuel injection? The eta stuff would kneecap what is clearly a thorough and proper build.

[redc6t]

Very nice. What are you doing for fuel injection? The eta stuff would kneecap what is clearly a thorough and proper build.

Yup, you are right - The ETA stuff is all gone and replaced with:
- ECU kdFi V1.4 PNP BMW M20 (https://k-data.org/en/kdfi/pnp-bmw/28/k ... np-bmw-m20)
- 731 Head
- 731 Intake Manifold
- M30 Throttle Body
- Upsized Injectors (INJ-260)

I am also getting rid of MAP/MAF, ICV and cold start stuff since the "smarter" ECU can deal with all that on its own.

[redc6t]

Time to post some updates!



Primer coat on the valve cover.


Engine mounts and timing cover painted.


Always with the dream team Arrik and Lui timing the engine and setting up valve clearance.


Covers, dizzy and water pump on.


Alternator, Power Steering and their pulleys on with belts.
I actually have a bunch of photo when I pulled apart the alternator to restore it, maybe I'll post them later.
Bushes, voltage regulator, brushes and filter were changed FTR - Enclosure sandblasted and painted.


Three quarters view.


Voila. That valve cover came up quite good.
(just don't ask me how long it did take, three coats every 72 hrs, baked and then peeled on the fins)


Exhaust manifold.
(Ye ye I know that it would be sick with extractors, I'll do it later, promised)


Upsized injectors on the 731 intake manifold - Love those beefy intake ports, nothing compared to the tiny 200s on the ETA.


Intake on, easy one.


Gotta admit the spark wires management with that plastic tunnel is far from optimal but I found a way to make it look half decent.


View from the back.


Back on the "boring" stuff: I had to fix a lot of cracked insulation on the wires, Australia is hot


Since I was there I cleaned up good plugs, boots and wires.


1/2 engine bay view on 18-02-2024 - Harnesses cleaned and repaired, fuse box cleaned, booster serviced and restored, brake master cylinder serviced.


Second 1/2 of the engine bay: Expansion/overflow tank and wipers fluid tank in place, charcoal canister and coil on too.

[turbodan]

You'll still need an ICV. MS and its unlicensed variants can handle cold start enrichment as long as you have suitably large injectors. 30lb/hr or 315cc/min works on an M20 down to 20 degrees F.

Speed density works as well as anything once tuned but a MAF isn't a bad idea for a NA build, even if only for a secondary load signal.

[redc6t]

You'll still need an ICV. MS and its unlicensed variants can handle cold start enrichment as long as you have suitably large injectors. 30lb/hr or 315cc/min works on an M20 down to 20 degrees F.

Speed density works as well as anything once tuned but a MAF isn't a bad idea for a NA build, even if only for a secondary load signal.

Luckily in Western Australia the coldest time is about 5/10°C (40/50°F) but I agree it could do some sputtering on a cold start.
Maybe I could keep the original ICV but I really feel the itch to remove that enricher "seventh injector" on the side of the manifold.

Anyway, shouldn't the combination of LSU4.2, MS build-in MAF,Throttle Position Sensor and coolant sensors be enough for the ECU to have a clue?

[turbodan]

The seventh injector can definitely go. Like motronic 1.1 and later versions, MS2 can handle cranking and warmup enrichment with only the port injectors. Only caveat is that MS needs larger injectors for low temps than Motronic. I don't know what Bosch was doing differently but Megasquirt could not get enough fuel in at low temperature to get the engine going with the stock injectors. If you never see freezing temps you probably won't have to factor that in.

The original ICV is probably the two wire item if you got the same as we did for the earlier ETA motors. The one to use with MS2 is the 3 wire pwm valve from the later cars. Your ECU might not have the hardware provisions for that, and if not they can be built in later. It's not essential but the driveability improvement is nice.

I am assuming this ECU is the same kit as MS2, so if I'm correct it primarily uses a manifold pressure sensor to calculate load. For non-turbo applications it is beneficial to add a MAF to supplement this as it gives the ECU a direct measurement or air mass. This gives you more capabilities when tuning. You can certainly get the tune dialed in with just the MAP sensor signal, that's all I use for my turbo car, but there are times where a MAF input would help.