Tupperware, 1985 M535i 7/12 DIY Alignment,Rust Repair, A/C compressor Debacle, Found a Headunit

[LeiseyJr]

Just got this thing. Here it is in it's current state:

IMG_9424 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

It's kind've a long 6 month story.

Early August of 2022, Pavel sent me a text asking if I was interested in a car. Eric Booth's M535i, had been sitting for the last 5 years. Life was busy, just never got around back to fixing it. He had taken "some" parts off it for customer cars. The front bumper was present but had been run over.

These were the pics of the car:
IMG_9583 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9577 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9575 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9573 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9572_1 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9569_1 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9566 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

For sale description from 2015 that was copy and pasta'd:

1985 BMW M535i - Arktiksblau Metallic - 0642240 - 267K
Euro car, dirty motor, M-tech kit, 219 stock HP, working headlight wipers.

Lots of spare cloth interior parts, uninstalled powder coated e32 calipers and new rotors/pads and steel brake line, electric antennae, taillight upgrade kit and wheels/tires.

Paint is 7/10 in some spots, 6/10 in others. Could use a respray. Exterior cosmetic issues are the probably the only issue left with this car. Car is practically rust free (small surface rust spots on doors). A few spots behind bumper in rear. M-tech kit is not perfect, but fixable. Have a very nice rear Mtech bumper in CA that I'll throw in. You just have to figure out how to get it to you. Have all the tow hook and jack point covers.

Car has perfect staggered Ronal Hartge 16" wheels with Michelin Pilot Sports with two spare caps (wheels and tires put on in April 2013, about 2,000 miles on them).

I put new Hella headlights and fogs on in April 2013. Also put protective coat on them.

Head was rebuilt in June/July 2013 by Paul Burke. Burke performance cam installed with variable timing. Lots of B35 parts installed at the time. Basically, I told Paul to upgrade everything that could be upgraded. Piano top cylinders and walls looked good when head was off.

All new hoses/belts/plug wires/water pump/thermostat/battery/starter installed when head was put back on in August 2013. Also put on a new timing chain and tensioner/guide.

All engine bay work done less than 1,500 miles ago.

Has a crack-free dash. Blue-cloth interior is in 8/10 condition. Manual cloth sport seats are tear free (had the passenger side fixed in August). Back seat has one small hole but have an entire spare rear seat to replace. Rear window shade. Saab Moonroof. New Sony stereo. Could use new shifter boot, floor mats, short shifter, etc.

New slave/master/reinforcement bracket on clutch. New dogbones. New rear CV.

Car has bilsteins, 3.91 diff out of M6, stahl headers, super-sprint exhaust when I got it.


So it had my attention to say the least, I did not have the money to comfortably spend on the car. I jokingly showed it to my friend Ryan. He had the means to buy it and of course we'd both be willing to revive it.

Next post will be going to look at the car and getting it.

[LeiseyJr]

CECBF295-D136-41B0-885F-088B02DA9383 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So this is Ryan, good friend, and the soon to be new owner of this M535i. Eric was busy at work, but he said we could stop by and look at the car.


hmm yes car is car
IMG_9556 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_1934 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_1933 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9600 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9599 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9567_1 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

It was missing some stuff but it was all as he described for the most part. He wasn't there with the key. I really wanted to turn it over and make sure the engine sounded healthy. At least cranking, used two picks to jump the starter at the diagnostic port. Also used that to turn the ignition on and test some other things with the battery we brought. Car was tweaked but overall very rust free, it but we knew it had been rear ended around 2010ish.

As far as missing stuff. Shifter was missing and something else related to the pedals, gas tank looked and smelled totaled from the filler cap test. The bones were all there. So it was just a matter of getting the car.

It was kind've convoluted but it worked out pretty well. One of Ryan's friends was trailering a car to Austin for fabrication. The trailer would be empty for the way back, so we had a ride back. So that's how we got it.

DSCF3833 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So we got the car back and parked behind my E12 parts car at
IMG_9726 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Immediately started wrenching and in 3-4 hours it was ready for start up. Fuel system as smelled previously was indeed totaled. My E28 parts car had a good tank, intank pump and main pump. So I sold that to him and we installed it. I also had an intake boot, from a 733i. In pretty terrible shape but it would get the car running. Also raided the E12 of its battery.

IMG_9727 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr



After this we noticed the street absolutely covered in oil. We had it running for about 30 seconds. Before Ryan saw the huge puddle forming. Apparently one of the other parts he took off the car for a customer was an oil pressure switch. So I went to one of my parts engines and grabbed one of those. It wasn't happy to idle with all the vacuum leaks but it was doing it. Luckily the M30 was unbothered but there was a giant mess. We called it a night there. '

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jBkM_f-3c-M

Now it is Monday.. The car as we found the night before was a not a G265, it was actually a G260. It is a weird crossover car and ended up with that trans unfortunately. I didn't have any of those in stock but Sherman did. So I went to go grab that on my lunch break and install it.

https://youtu.be/tPgnbDlCNB4

In less than 24 hours we had a running driving M535i that had been sitting for 5 years all done in the cul de sac in front of my house.


IMG_9758 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

Ryan took the car back and took care of many many little things, and sourcing a lot of the missing bits. He got the interior cleaned out and all in one piece, got the lights sorted, wired up a stereo. He got the exhaust fixed up, or at least better then it was when we got it.

IMG_0919 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

It was actually funny because we visited its past owners in Texas and they all had something. The car originally came with 2 front cloth black door cards, and when we went to Sherman for stuff. I noticed two blue cloth door cards that were on a shelf.

When we went to Jose for the dash for my car. He still had the sunroof and a some more blue interior parts.

IMG_0035 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So we had to go back for those
IMG_1672 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

That is also when we found Jose had a full set of 5 e28 m5 wheels with 200tw.
The bbs mahles had some horribly dry rotted 15s. If those wheels were 16s, I think they'd be perfect on the car.

We were able to fix the bumper. Ryan sourced the sideskirts from the UK.
IMG_1989 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

At this point it was a car you could take to work reliably.

IMG_1995 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Then it was time to get it ready for Tex-Fest.

[vinceg101]

Awesome to see another M535i saved and back on the road (or getting closer).
What is the build date of the car?
If the G260 was indeed standard, then that is a bit odd for a MY 1985 car, especially with high compression dirty M30.

[wrkdcossie]

Awesome to see another M535i saved and back on the road (or getting closer).
What is the build date of the car?
If the G260 was indeed standard, then that is a bit odd for a MY 1985 car, especially with high compression dirty M30.

The build date on this car is September 2, 1985, which should be the first month of G260/6 transmission in these cars.

[vinceg101]

Awesome to see another M535i saved and back on the road (or getting closer).
What is the build date of the car?
If the G260 was indeed standard, then that is a bit odd for a MY 1985 car, especially with high compression dirty M30.

The build date on this car is September 2, 1985, which should be the first month of G260/6 transmission in these cars.

[LeiseyJr]

Vehicle information

VIN:WBADC710X00642240

Type code DC71
Type 535 I (ECE)
Dev. series E28 ()
Line 5
Body type LIM
Steering LL

Door count 4
Engine M30
Cubical capacity 3.50
Power 0

Transmision HECK
Gearbox MECH
Colour ARCTISBLAU METALLIC (045)
Upholstery PACIFIC (0130)
Prod. date 1985-09-02


Order options
No. Description
300 ZENTRALVERRIEGELUNG ELEKTRISCH
314 HEATED WINDSCREEN WASHER NOZZLES
350 WAERMESCHUTZGLAS GRUEN, RUNDUM
401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC
410 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC AT FRONT
415 SUNBLIND FOR REAR WINDOW
498 HEADRESTS IN REAR, MECHANIC. ADJUSTABLE
500 HEADLIGHT WASHER SYS/INTENSIVE CLEANING
551 ON-BOARD COMPUTER II W REMOTE CONTROL


Individual data: no Data

[LeiseyJr]

So for Tex-Fest the car was basically ready to go, it needed a CSB and subframe bushings. So we totaled the driveway over the weekend getting the two cars ready.

IMG_2370 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2345 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2342 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Tex-Fest was a good time.


IMG_2643 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on FlickrIMG_2624 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2607 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0007 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

So here we are the present day. I am now the new caretaker. I will have a dedicated post on like the history of the car because the paperwork is incredible.

IMG_9560 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

But yeah here it is now, had to sell my E46 to make this work. Last picture is it parked in the parking garage at school, where I am writing this from. So it's in daily use already.
Fubar is doing well, hopefully I can get this to be as mechanically sorted as that.

IMG_9429 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_9520 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_9536 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[jayjaya29]

Glad Tupperware got a second shot at life. Its a fun car.

[1st 5er]

Love the way this has happened.
She's in good hands now "mechanically".

[msauls]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing, but looking to see more of this car around!

[Sh00bs]

sweet story and pics! mind if i ask you how much you scored it for ?

[LeiseyJr]

I have almost put 500 miles on it now. Here it is meeting Ryan for lunch in his new GDE RRC.
IMG_9737 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr



It needed a radio, so I am borrowing that from Fubar for the time being. Trying to source another one of these radios for both cars.

IMG_9612 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_9609 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

One of the selling points/terrible things about this car is the exhaust. It has some Stahl headers, to a mid section that has a welded in cat (was gutted when we had exhaust apart). It might've been Supersprint I can't tell. The catback is definitely Supersprint.
These were installed in 2/03 according to the receipts, so they have seen some service life.

IMG_9671 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_9670 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

When Ryan got it, it had had some alarming holes in the muffler, where a hanger broke off and cracked by the header.
He had a local fabrication buddy weld it up, due to time constraints they were unable to make a hanger as well. The cracked weld was welded up by a local exhaust shop.

The exhaust rattled sometimes and I was worried it was going to fall off.
I in general stray away from fabrication. However I had the stock style hanger I cut off a parts car. I was not paying the Supersprint prices for a new section, did not want to go the custom route again like on Fubar. So I had to fix it. I know how to weld enough to get by. My dad has all the fabrication stuff at his place so I drove over and gave it a shot.


A box section of steel and a dream.
IMG_9761 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9770 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9771 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9772 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9776 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9788 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9789 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Not elegant but it supported my dad and I. So should be okay.
IMG_9792 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


However it no longer rattles, and has less leaks after fixing this gasket at the collector for the headers:
IMG_9786 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9787 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


The header patch is leaking. So I can have the exhaust shop try to patch it again or take the headers out of the car. I really don't want to remove the headers from the car but I cannot weld it myself. Since it is broken on top of the pipe right under the floor, I would need flux core wire to patch it. It leaks way less and the exhaust isn't scrapping the ground anymore. So it is 10x better but the 21 year old rusty and fatigued headers remain an issue.

Saturday started to lose ignition intermittently. I always carry a spare. So swapping that in traffic was no fun. I was able to replicate it by hitting the DME. So I resoldered the ignition transistor borrowing Ryan's soldering Iron. Can gladly say that seems fixed. Has not cut out since and no longer cuts out when punching the DME. I have attempted to do the same repair on 059s in the past, but it has never fixed it. I will give it some more time, but it seems like it is fixed.


IMG_9872 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Also washed it:
IMG_9623 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9851 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9862 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_9931 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


We have made some progress with the A/C system. It has been an absolute bitch finding a belt. Waiting for some from Autohaus AZ that I ordered this morning, hopefully this upcoming weekend we will have cold R12 A/C. Just like Fubar.

[LeiseyJr]

sweet story and pics! mind if i ask you how much you scored it for ?

One turnkey 2004 330i 6 speed + tax return, I was thankfully able to not touch my savings for it.

[LeiseyJr]

IMG_0115 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0004 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr



Made some headway with the A/C but the weather is now nice, so haven't been able to test it.

So this was a Non-AC car, and had a Clardy AC system put in. At some point someone put in the BMW evaporator assembly and wiring underneath the dash no idea when. It was either the first or second owner, but when the car was federalized it had the correct center console according to the pictures I have.

IMG_0214 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0217 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The glorious 37 year old aftermarket R12 air conditioning. Not pictured is the Sanden style compressor Clardy used that has 281,000 miles on it.


Plan of Attack for the AC:
1. Fix the Wiring
2. Figure out what Belt it takes
3. Throw Freon in the system and see what we are working with/general condition of everything




1:
When we got the car, AC button would turn blue when depressed. It would switch over to the right fan as well. However, the compressor clutch would not engage and the auxiliary fan would not turn on.

Underneath the airbox there is an old aftermarket relay, this would receive power from a now deleted Fuse holder that would get power directly from the battery. So gave that relay some sauce
IMG_0146 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


The relay under the airbox:
IMG_0180 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

This relay has two coils that powers the compressor clutch and no fan. We diagnosed it as getting to signal to the relay. So naturally the next question is why no signal and how the fuck did they wire that in?



The signal wire we found was coming from the Evaporator Regulator relay. The P/O had kindly deleted it. That took awhile to find out. Grabbed one from the parts car and wired in a fuse holder and we had everything working as it should when pressing the A/C button.


IMG_0184 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Yummy. Need to order another one.
IMG_0185 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The only safety in the system that I think is present is the temperature sensor in the evap unit.

So cool we have the system wired up again!

2:

So finding a belt was not fun. Got angry at the autoparts store, so shot gunned a bunch from Autohaus AZ. The original belt was cut and the brackets had been modified not that their any info on the clardy system. There is actually quite a bit of info for the Clardy stuff on the BMW 2002 forums.

It threw off a 13x830 belt (more on this later) and I have now persuaded a 13x825 belt on.

3. Throwing freon in wasn't too bad other then the stupid placement of the fittings. The system did hold a vacuum, not as well I would've liked but no massive holes.


This is very similar to how the setup is:


With the R134a adapters you can only do one port at a time. So there was a lot of back and forth, and since it is right by the headers it was fun. During all this idling, a issue presented itself. The compressor clutch and aux fan would shut off, and the compressor about every 60 seconds would try to engage then unlock. It self healed and the system was cooling somewhat adequately. The pressures the compressor was doing seem very healthy, so that was nice.

The next day took it to TMJ meet about an hour there, AC worked great! The tint in this car really does wonders. Still won't put it in my other car but glad someone did it for this one. On the way home after about 20 minutes in traffic it did the cycling thing. Then it also spit the belt at some point. I didn't have any extra Evaporator Regulators so couldn't throw that at it. I really felt it was just the relay getting old and weak.

So I needed to find this obscure relay to start firing the parts cannon at it.

I did find a NOS on ebay.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284454378015
However, it would take to long to get here. Bought it Anyway, I wanted to see if it was similar something at the junkyard. Some googling showed it was similar to some Nissan relays. So a 2001 Xterra donated two of them for experimenting. It was the same relay aside from the part I had to trim.
IMG_0262 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0263 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0272 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0273 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0274 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0268 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0269 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_0270 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Just slapped those and a belt on it. I had the car idling/city driving in 70 degree weather for over an hour. The compressor was cycling due to the evap temp sensor I believe. All seems well, but need to test it in hot weather commuting to be sure. If it holds a charge fairly well, it'll get R12 and I will call it there for now.

The DME resoldering did not work, so I ordered a replacement Ignition transistor/driver. I just can't find any 061s anymore.

[LeiseyJr]

It's been like 3 months, so what the hell has happened?

Well the A/C has been working. So that's good. I found a replacement DME, got the tune sorted. Swapped out the totaled Bilstein shocks in the front, put a S3.46 in it, put in mooshead UCABs, replaced the Lower Control Arms, and swapped in E34 540i Brakes. Also put in a set of ABS housing back in the car since one of the p/o put in non ABS ones. I still haven't aligned it. Which makes it driving it somewhat tricky especially in the wet on bald 200tw tires. Speaking of the wet fixed a horrific sunroof leak. It's honestly the main reason it has sat because of the alignment.

I also have ST swaybars but they sent the wrong front swaybar bushings.


Current List to do:
- Alignment
- Four Tires with tread that are somewhat grippy
- It is still charged with Freon so it's R12 time
- The rotors and pads are all used, so I'd like to do that with some Jurid pads or something stock
- Source Front Swaybar bushings
- buy a headunit (I keep borrowing Fubars radio whenever I drive it)
- Maybe upgrade AUX fan runs warmer than other car with a/c on
- Throwout bearing is making noise sometimes
- Figure out why it gets bad gas mileage (compared to other car, think it's just the cam)


It's not as fun to drive this car as my other one. It is fast though. Just isn't a go kart, it is like a normal cookie cutter E28. The overdrive is nice but also, I want to put a dogleg in it. It is fine but I don't get the enjoyment of driving it as I do with the other one. The M535i kit hasn't really grown on me either. I have everything to convert it to regular euro sans foglights but that would be pretty sacrilegious.

I took Fubar to Vintage in May, and I just got back from Road Atlanta in it as well. So all my time and mainly money has gone into that car. This car has been put together with a lot of stuff I had from part outs and stuff I had laying around.

Basically I got bored with it so it has become more of a backup car than a daily. I do need to start getting it ready for my last semester of college.

Car looks the same but some pictures

IMG_1637 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_1645 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_1680 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2323 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2325 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2349 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2355 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

Just did NOS FAG master cylinder and a used ATE slave cylinder. Both were leaking even though replaced recently.

Also filled with 2lbs of R12. Seems colder, filling setup was totaled. Broken gauges, but did it by weight and sight glass. Still some bubbles, want to inject a oil can in there and if more needed will side tap a can.

[LeiseyJr]

This weekend let the intrusive thoughts win. I tried on for size my spare euro rear bumper. If I keep the car it will not have the kit. I just don't like it. I do love all the effort BMW put to make the kit fit correctly, all the small brackets and details are really cool to see. Whenever this car was pulled out in the rear, they pulled it knowing the M535 Rear Bumper would cover everything up. So it needs some love whenever I go that route.

IMG_5257 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5253 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5252 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5254 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Anyway onto actually fixing more stuff.

IMG_5328 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

One thing that has made the car infuriating to drive is the embarrassing and concerning sound on clutch release.
80% of the time it will grind on takeoff and 95% of the time slipping the clutch in traffic.
So one of the good things about this car is the documentation. So I knew the clutch had been done almost 30 years ago around 140k mile ago. The clutch did not slip. Now that the hydraulics were working correctly, very confident the disc still had plenty of left in it. I was really hoping it was the throwout bearing so I pulled everything and was just going to put a used one I had in.

Unfortunately, the throwout bearing was smoother than the one I planned to put in. Which put my attention to the pilot bearing.
IMG_5289 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5272 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
70934893659__AD42B9CA-A6B6-4F97-897C-5CDC9879CAED by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
70934894413__A3D3621A-9051-4574-9357-D4FAEE817B3B by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

As you can see it was a shielded bearing that was rusty and barely turned.

IMG_5297 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Luckily Autozone had one so I didn't have to wait.

Slammed it all back together and the noise is gone!

$2.15 and 2 days worth of fun.

[tschultz]

For some reason, I rarely liked the look of the M535i tupperware kit. IT can look decent to me super clean cars or in black. I just think it makes the car look too bulky for my taste. For this reason, I too prefer the look of empty rear bumper and valance. The M5 wheels do help, they look great.

Nice job making progress on it.

[LeiseyJr]

Alright another update on this garbage.
B281A649-F60B-4133-AE67-57E34683E743 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So basically the compressor finally died . I wasn't sure what I was gonna do, rebuild it myself, take it to someone to rebuild or buy a new one. So I took it out to see what I was dealing with and hopefully find a manufacture part #.

B0795E77-A59C-492F-8CE4-2DF03A1B6E6E by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5211 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5216 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So as far as I can tell, this is the original compressor and the cars paperwork verifies that. This compressor was installed when the Clardy A/C system was put in and stayed there ever since. Upon removal I noticed it had the god awful flare fittings instead of oring fittings. On top of this it has the low and high side ports on the back which is fine with R12 fittings but R134a (superior fittings) you can't have both gauges plugged in because they are too close. You can still get this style of compressor new but they were out of stock, so I just decided to take it a local place.

Why not update to a Genuine Sanden 508 and something that has Oring fittings and doesn't have the low and side on the compressor? I didn't wanna redo everything. The aux fan is too small, and the condenser. The blower motor is squeaky and needs to be resealed. Something with the center vent is messed up. Pretty sure no one has replaced that drier. I don't like the layout of how it was done either.

The A/C system is struggling but I just want it to make me through the rest of this summer, I don't want to deal with redoing everything right now because that's what it needs. I ideally want to find a 1985 535i parts car with its full factory system and put that in.

But for now I was going to fix what I have. So I took the compressor to a local place.
IMG_5442 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
73AEEBC3-0C1A-43A9-AF78-F04B9FF13349 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I was able to find one replacement crush flare thing, the other one the 3/4" one is NLA from BMW. I couldnt find anyone selling it in small amounts so I reused the low side one. That was its own ordeal but luckily this Ebay seller at least had the high side one which was slightly deformed on mine.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/401228248921

IMG_5367 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_5493 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I had leaking gauges, highside was leaking. It really needed to be cinched down and other stuff I am forgetting. As of right now there is pretty damn cold air out the vents the weather here has been brutal. The passenger vent doesn't really get any air though. So if I carry a passenger they are pretty uncomfortable.

I also aligned it, so the car finally drives well again. It was well worth the 3-4 hours of fiddle fuckery.

IMG_6155 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

This thing handles pretty poorly right now with bad RTABs, H&R sport springs and Bilstein B8s. Falken RT660s in the front and 5 year old RE71Rs on the back that are about to cord. Poorly in the best way, all the oversteer. So fun to toss this thing sideways.



IMG_5879 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
I noticed my battery was about to fall out, this isn't my greatest work at all I'm about to show but it is functional. It will do until I find a rust free battery tray to cut out from a parts car.

As you can see someone riveted aluminum right angle brackets to fix it. I had limit tested it enough that the rivets tore through the paper thin sheet metal. So I took the bumper off and headed to my dads.

IMG_5883 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Cardboard Aided Design

IMG_5885 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_5906 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_5908 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Good enough for who its for. Not pretty but it works. The biggest issue is there is still no tie down, which does bother me. Put 120lbs on it and it didn't sweat it, so should be a lot better than the previous repair.

IMG_6080 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_6081 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Yesterday I got pretty lucky.
I never really go to self service junkyards but with how dry everything has been figured this was worth checking out. FB marketplace ad for a 1985 E23 735i that came in. It was hit, looked all stock so I went to go check it out. I was hoping it'd have a LSD. I have a friend looking to purchase one, and maybe I could use the engine out of this. Found out it did once I decoded the vin but had a rear sunshade which was pretty neat. What I was not expecting to find was an original early factory headunit without the radio code.

IMG_6079 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


So I bought it and the toolkit that was in it.

IMG_6086 by
Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Of course the cassette deck is broken, but really glad I finally have a radio in this car. It's not a euro headunit like in my other car but this is basically exactly what I was looking for. I don't think a semi broken 38 year old radio has ever made someone so happy. It actually sounds really good. The car does have upgraded speakers especially in the rear (poor parcel shelf)

IMG_6154 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[Mike W.]

I don't go here on eye candy very often, so I missed this until now.

First off, tip of the hat to you young guys working on cars from before you were born, but still cool cars. Nice work.

I wish I'd seen this before just for the A/C. Those funky old copper flare fittings actually seem to work ok, not that I like them. You can find them online and I've been known to make them before. Cut off a little bit of soft copper pipe, put it in a flaring tool and work it gently. Or sand down the ridges on the old ones and use them. But. But. If you have a red fabric covered hose on the high side, I'll put money on it leaking. Probably on the low side too. They're steel braiding reinforced that will probably hold a million pounds pressure, but the rubber is crap, porous and leaks. Get rid of it the next time you have to tear into it. I used to use one size larger hose, regular A/C hose, open up the end of the hose in a bit of a flare and kind of screw the new hose on. Even with a bit of lube it didn't go on easy, but I made it go. I might have been able to use 2 sizes larger as one was an absolute bitch to screw on. I then clamped it with a pair of screw type hose clamps and no more problems. I did that on 3 or 4 cars.

[LeiseyJr]

Ended up putting a Spal fan in it, and fixing up some other little things. Put the correct original fuel tank back in after getting it rebuilt.

Just traded this car for a E46 M3 coupe, never fell in love with this one unfortunately like my beige car.