MyE28.com

Been having some fun working on a few things over the off season. Vintage prep sheet has been organized and trying to knock a few things off while I can. Nice having the car within 10 minutes away to be able to get to.

Transferred the VIN tag to the A pillar of the black one, seemed to have installed when the car came across the pond back in the day:



First time using a rivet gun, I wish it was a little flatter sitting on the pillar



Seat Time! Passenger seat needed some new shocks and decided to put the fire extinguisher on that side also. The factory sport bracket lined up perfectly, and is mounted nice and snug.









Those large clamps worked great- Thanks to those that posted here about them.



Speaking of seats.... These cloth "poverty" seats seam to have a softer cushion feel from the leather seats I was used to in my old car. Micah O suggested some extra padding, and using some large foam pieces seems to fit well and add some extra support in the rear seat bottom cushion. Felt better for sure-



Cluster Battery time! Tach dropped out a couple times driving around, so new batteries were soldered in. Also worked the digital oil pressure and temp gauge into the cluster. For now the box is above the chime unit on the left kick panel.















Hope it works!



Checking in to the power windows, looks like I have power at the switch, and at the door- so must be something at the motor or glass is just stuck in the tracks.



I know not usual, but I really like the analog clock instead of the OBC. For the moment going to run this:





Front spoiler painted and came out pretty



Glad the console lights that were out (all) were just bulbs!







Dialing in the mono wiper too, trying a slightly longer arm and shorter wiper. Looking to max the single wiper sweep area without going over on the top edge. Looks like will be doing some trial and error



Little nervous about cutting window switch holes in to these door panels- I better measure twice.



right about here....




PavelPhoto

Hello,

the most important thing about cutting the hole for the window switch is, to never cut it as large as it is shown on the backside, because it is often prestamped to large. The best solution is to start smaller and then widen it up until the switch fits in.

greetings,
Wolfgang

Lots of progress. Glad this car was saved!

And the push is on for The Vintage! Working on a list prioritizing things, settling temp is top priority. At this point since my fuel gauge does not seem accurate I don't trust the dash temp gauge. I swapped in a VDO temp gauge into the dash pod and should have a sender here this week to hook it up. I did just replace the thermostat again last night and fan clutch, after a drive today it seemed better. Not 12 oclock but closer than it has been in a while. I've also installed a PLX AFM setup with a sensor to see what the mix is like. (Thanks for all the help with that Ahab)
Also still sorting injectors.... have Bosch 201's in there ( 24#, low ohm) and found out need 130's ( 19#, low ohm) to work with the 011 ECU and 018 AFM. Weird science was apparently going on in the 1982 year this motor came from. Still figuring out the aux air valve and how to tune things.

PLX setup, ill plan on mounting in glove box.



bung welded in for wideband sensor



Titanium, Yum.



Tool kit installed with new foam, and trunk light working



Front spoiler time, was a little tricky to put on solo, but think it came out allright. Just one area got a little scuffed by the bumper end. And it seems even lower to the ground than the RD one on my old car ( with M tech springs)- this car sits even lower. Have to be super careful.





I cant believe the handling difference it makes. Digs way more in on corners and feels super planted at higher speeds.



Time for some stripes







Interior coming together



Thanks for following along, and hope to see you all at Vintage

Looking awesome.

Such a cool build and the car is looking really nice. The front end look with the low hanging spoiler is mean.

it's amazing that you had a vision of how you want to put this together down to the smallest details. Great work!

I wish I could see it in Hot Springs..

Great work. Looks like everything is coming together. I just installed the analog clock also. I like it a lot.

With you on the analog clock (replace the digital in mine) and the HVAC bulbs replacement, these cars have a DNA all their own.

Your car looks just fine, keep the shiney side up.

The air dam does make a big difference at speed. I've written about the first time I had BMW dam on the front of my car, a year after getting it.

Looks great.

Good beer at this place, and BBQ next door. Pulled Pork Ruben's...So Good!

Car looks awesome, Jamie. Has really come a long way. Almost can't believe it's the same car thinking back on the first photos I saw of it.

It's been a bit! The shorter story is I have been driving and enjoying around ( inc 3 trips to NC). Have had some surprises, but that is par for the course I figure. Including, but not limited to a new head gasket a couple years ago after the second Vintage trip.

This summer, went to head swap to the Mike H. fully ported head with the B35 valves and springs and 290 cam. (and B35 intake) Ended up having some valve contact on the pistons ( via iphone scope ala Amazon)- and now here we go. So much "while I'm there" stuff and its looking like a full rebuild is due including oil pump. Now we are going for Hartge "SP" mode- Special Priest...

First trip down, photo by BenGerman



Hartge Master Minotaur blessing his tukkis on it:



Let the fun begin!



Gearbox and shaft pulled, 265/5 going in also ( and M5 heat shield fitted)



In the lab ( basement) besides some not so nice marks on the con rod bearings, plastiguage revealed the bearings were not correct. Had machine shop go over head, and measure crank. Ended up replacing 3 valves, valve pocket cut pistons, and measure/ polish crank. Also, new timing gears after noticing some wear on both sprockets.

No Bueno



"Fly Cut" Piano's



Ended up needing "Blue" BMW main bearings, and .25mm oversized con rod bearings ( rod journals had been machined at one point looks like)





Buttoned up bottom, measured, tested with plastiguage and torqued to spec:

Jaimie,

Lovely car. Somehow I’ve been missing the ongoing improvements. Thank you for sharing and oh yeah! Personally I appreciate all the photos. Best of luck.

Jackie

DP Lab progress? You 'betcha!

Was able to get the oil pump sprocket nut drilled, so now safety wired, and red loctited. Although was not loose, don't want to chance anything at this point.



Pan back on with new bolts. I was planning on reusing the old ones, but somehow misplaced 30 pan bolts! New gasket and Yamabond to seal it all up.



"Just zipped it on..."





Bread trick for the pilot bearing, and used the handy Ireland flywheel holder.





With the help of Mr Motronic, the block is now in. Transmission next!

Did not include in previous post, but oil pump is now rebuilt:



The Dogleg is in! Thanks to Sam and his Dad for helping fabricate an extra side mount for it. ( the early ones just had one side mount on them)
Ben and I had this gearbox in in 1.5 hours, including beverage breaks.







Now using the console shifter, which I'm not thrilled about- but doesn't seem too bad so far.




New OEM 265 driveshaft installed, they now have non collar nut splines- which I heard are not fun to take apart. Hope this one lasts a while!





Head on! With ARP's and new oil bar.



M30b34 head- 290 Cam, B35 valves and springs, Korman HD rockers, Ireland rocker locks, and shafts pinned, now fully ported to match B35 intake.



Intake porting:



Example of Hartge intake porting:



I'm using Bav Auto long tube headers on this motor, but here's what the Hartge short tube headers look like on it. Just for funsies:



Getting there, intake on and some things getting sorted:

-RoyW

Thank you Roy!

Now have this whole thing back together. Stoked, but wait...Oil pressure took way to long to build, even dry cranking for over a minute. Did that for a few times and still nothing- and thanks to Christian and Ben had a sense of oil flow. The filter is the first stop from the pump. So pulled the housing off the block, and used one of those fluid syringes to push oil up and down the passages. I filled housing as best I could ( bolt is from bottom on oil cooler housings) and WALLAH it worked. Oil light off, and pressure on the dash gauge.





Hartge valve cover underside:







Ok, this puppy is now rolling! Preformed break in for piston rings, and cam. Oil changes galore as should be done. Getting used to the 265 dogleg took a little bit as did the wonky ass console shiter. With a 3.25S out back- it tachs up there at speed. Highway driving in the 3-4K range. Would love to find a 3.07S or 2.93S for it. ( anyone...)

This setup requires a custom tune for the 179 ECU. I cant THANK Sam L enough for his help emailing over tunes that I was able to burn and run. Idle is apprx 1000, and he did a little magic with advance, etc. ( Sammy Secret Sauce)

Impressions- WORTH IT. Smooth, strong power all the way up, quickly- especially down low. Before I had to downshift, now I can just hit it from pretty much any gear and its on. Really nice visceral feel and feedback. And nothing like that hot cam idle. This is what I hoped was going to be the next phase for it- and super happy with the results.

Thanks for all that helped so far

Right on, Jamie. So glad to hear it was worth the journey for you!

Winter hibernation mode up here in the North East still but getting some things done while it has a roof over its head. I heard some humming noise on the way up to storage coming from the back, so some investigation will go on if it's the bearing or final drive related. Plans are to make it to Vintage again this year- so Prep is ON.

On the list are new tires. I've kept these Bridgestone Potenza's on it as long as I think I could ( they are from 2013) Going M5 tire size, so plan on pinch rolling the rear fenders with the et 13 offset for this square Hartge set. ( also have some 16" RA's plan to refinish someday)

Offseason stable



Trying to have more accuracy of the RPM's now with the engine rebuild, I've switched back to the standard RPM tach. ( not that my motor rev's to 8000 RPM anyway )

Its been a fun summer with the car together again! I was able to install the side skirts, after a little finessing and stressing. I tried to work in the rear valance, but still have a couple fitment issues to work out.







I'll need to shim the exhaust hanger down before can install this:



Finally got around to the bump steer spacers from Angry Ass



I was having trouble with fuse 4 constantly blowing. Sir Galahad was kind enough to come over and help me diagnose and also install a new fuse box panel. Ends up the culprit was one of the M5 visor mirrors was shorting it out. I have a factory wiring harness for the visors and the mirror- but it was something inside the visor. So those are unplugged, I only use the map lights on the mirror anyway.





Couple things I did at the end of storage season was to roll the rear fenders to be able to fit up some 225's all around and added some sound proofing in the back seat and rear parcel shelf (for the eventual booming system)

Jiffy Pop'd:



Thanks to some friends in far away places...I was able to secure this NOS M30 valve cover. Thanks Friends!



Looking into the final drive situation- Hartge used a 3.07s on the H//5S's and 2.93s with the H//5sp- so I focused my search on one of those. One popped up in FL from a nice forum member here- and Ben was kind enough to lend a hand, and one foot on the install. Wow, what a difference. Now i know what that "extra gear" feels like. 3k on the tach is now 80MPH, "can I get an Amen"!?







So the oil temp was reading real high at the digital in cluster readout, and then tried another pod mounted VDO to compare- same thing. I bought another one off ebay and wallah, with same sender now seems to be reading a "normal" range. This is on a hot day, highway cruising ( middle is oil temp)



Just entered the local Boston BMW CCA chapter concours d' elegance in the Super Clean class- and the dirty priest cleans up well.







Beer Time.

Congrats on the win!

I recall seeing that car before it was given a new lease on life. Guess it's like the terminator. Rebuilt bigger and badder!

It's been a nice Fall but The DP is in the box for the off season. Already have a pretty good list of to do's including pulling the G265/5 for bearings and leaks (death rattle), plus rear valance and wing. The original trunk already had a few holes in it from an Mtech spoiler it had on it, and the rubber Hartge one is glued and drilled at the corners so newer trunk lid was only way to go. Definitely have to relocate the antenna





Ordered some threaded inserts to try to use with the wing. If those don't work then will try nutsert rivets. Purple Haze!