MyE28.com

Dang!!! So much awesome.

Chris, you set a standard of restoration that has to rival many manufacturers specialty shops. I am in awe! I hope to make it to Phoenix one of these days and see your collection, buy you dinner and a couple of beers.

very impressive work and awesome looking car. keep on swimming.

Savage progress!

Better than new. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

I would pay to watch. Seriously. No 'omo.

Fuck yeah! Looks fantastic, Chris.

If your plan/goal is to have the car ready for Legends in Monterey next month, I'll keep an eye out for you and say hello if I see 'ya. Then I'll get you some demerits by drooling all over this fine beast.

Jim

Beautiful work! Detail, detail , detail! Many thanks for spending the time to document and share. Its a privilege to to be able to watch your progress and read the thought process. I almost feel part of the action ( you wouldn't want that )

Just stunning. I absolutely love these updates! Not that Chris even considered such, but it has to be comforting to know that since this project got underway the market value for the M535i has easily doubled if not tripled in price.

What a treasure it is to be able to follow along in the professional restoration of such a rare and special car.

Regards,
Chuck

Chris,

Thanks for taking the time to share with everyone. It's a fun and educational read!

-Matthias

Can not wait to see it finished...Bravo!

I have been going back and forth on posting an update. Still not sure it's a great idea but whatever.

Also, Google broke the Picasa thing, so if the pictures don't show up, don't worry. They sucked anyway.

Right around the time I posted this update, I ordered tires from Tire Rack. They said I'd have three the next day and two in a week. Great.

I had been going back and forth with the Porsche shop that was working on my oil cooler lines. There's really no good reason it should be taking this long, but apparently the correct cloth-wrapped hose is not available with the correct OD/ID for this application, so we had to look elsewhere. We made arrangements for Friday the 29th. His schedule has been tough since they're moving their shop of 30 years into a brand new 30,000 square foot facility and obviously this piddly oil line project for a non-Porsche has taken enough of their time. Of course, he didn't say any of that and I really did appreciate the effort they have put into doing this the right way.

I got the driveshaft heat shield installed. It sucked, mostly because it's not in really great shape, but believe it or not, the original from the car is the best one I've found. Part number was superseded to the E28 style which doesn't fit the E12 since the studs are in different locations. Fortunately, I did my homework on that before ordering one blindly. Of course, as with everything on the car, it took two hours to attach six M6 nuts and washers. Not sure why but whatever.

While I was still pissed off from the heat shield, I decided to hang that giant, heavy, hard-to-balance exhaust alone on my back with the car on jack stands. I got it done, though I did have to do some light sanding and whatnot due to the thickness of the ceramic coating where the front muffler mates with the downpipes. I was so excited by the experience I didn't take photos.

With that done, I called it a night. On the 29th, I went to get the cooler lines and said that since the motor and oil cooler are in the car, why don't I take the lines before we crimp them and make sure they fit. He showed me what he had for hose and while it wasn't as nice as the original, it was better than many things being a high temp, high pressure hose. We put them together and I went home, and mocked them up.





The shorter line was really tight and I didn't like the way it was sitting. Couldn't be right. Frustrated, I went back and explained the situation. He knew the measurements. One hose was 29" and the other was 25.5". Turns out the one he gave me was the leftover scrap from the section of hose, so that was easily rectified. He crimped the collars, I paid him and I thought there was a real chance I'd get this damn thing running the next day.

Why the next day? Well at this point, the radiator wasn't installed and neither was the airdam since I wanted to make sure the oil cooler connections were correct, then install the airdam then do the radiator, since it would be a lot easier to do it than trying to feel around for the fasteners, etc.

After I got the hoses, I popped on over to the polishing shop in Mesa. Years ago, I pulled this nifty aluminum oil cap off of a '67 1600 that I found in the yard. A beam had fallen on the car and there really wasn't much I was interested in, but the oil cap was neat and I took the fuel cap as well (still have - super nice shape). I have used this oil cap on a couple of cars, but it had some light scratches and I thought it would be something he could knock out in a day or two if I asked nicely. He told me to have a seat and read a magazine. The top one was a 1956 issue of Car Craft, and it was pretty interesting seeing what people were doing to pre-war cars back then. I only had time to read a couple articles and he came back out with a nicely polished cap for an image of Alexander Hamilton.

After running other errands and finishing up some other work, I did what needed to be done. Installed the radiator, shroud, fan, "intake muffler" and added six quarts of this stuff:



I bought 8 and figured that after the oil cooler thermostat opened, I'd add more, but for initial startup, I'd be good with the 6.

I had to take the valve cover off to install the distributor. Since the crank nut was tightened and whatever, I wasn't sure if the top of the motor was at TDC anymore. I probably could have figured it out by looking through the oil cap, but I decided to be careful and make sure that #1 was in fact at TDC, and that required turning the motor a full revolution, so glad I checked that out!

By that evening, we were here:





I decided this thing was going to run on my birthday and that it would be awesome.

The next morning, I added coolant and brake fluid. I then chased down all of the brake fittings that weren't tight, dumped distilled water over pretty much everything and then bled the brakes. I wasted a ton of brake fluid bleeding the rear calipers, since I figured that air was actually coming in through the threads on the bleeder. Couldn't figure out all these stupid bubbles. I could have probably poured it back in but I was certain that my catch bottle was contaminated with something so I disposed of it anyway. I got a great clutch pedal, but the brakes weren't good. I'm thinking that the fronts need to be done again, likely the right front - I don't think I had the bleeders open long enough. I decided to do that when I get my tires mounted since I didn't feel like taking the wheels off again.

With all of that done, it was time to take the battery out of the 530i and put it in the M535i. Then I realized I needed fuel. I got five gallons of fuel and poured that in the tank. Nothing was leaking, everything seemed good to go.

I pushed the car out into the driveway so that if something did happen like a backfire or something, I had less of a chance of burning down my house. I approximated the position of the distributor looking at one of the 6ers. Turned the key to run and noticed the fuel pump was running, which shouldn't be happening. I briefly looked into that, but figured fuel was probably good, so I cranked it and it fired right up. No extra cranking for fuel pressure or anything. Then it died. Bummer. Tried again, same thing. I started pouring over wiring diagrams and making sure everything was correct and given I had no exact M90 with this version of L-Jet, everything looked correct. I was hoping to have Alex come by so he could do the final torque on the head, but I put that off until I had this thing running.

I couldn't figure out the fuel pump running with the key on. I figured it had to be related. I was getting very spotty voltages, I had solid grounds with good continuity. I was stuck. My birthday totally sucked. I was sweating all over my car. I didn't even get a chance to get any of the free meals I was looking forward to. Shitty day. This car was ruining my life. It had to run. Had to. The next morning, I had to work, but I conferred with experts on wiring, L-Jet and E12s in general. Everything was pointing to the combo relay, but I bought a new one when I got the car and had two other very recent ones I pulled from cars in the yard. Of course, I didn't know if they were good and very well could have been the reason they were there. I spent hours on the phone trying to work this out, swapping components and I had even heard the words "broken wire in the harness" and that wasn't going over well. The problem I kept having was that sometimes I'd get power at both pins 10 and 29 ad the ECU, but sometimes I'd only get power at either 10 or 29. Swap combo relay then it changes. Couldn't figure it out. Every time I made a change, start the car. It runs for two seconds then dies.

Monday morning, it was suggested that I run a wire from terminal 1 on the 530i's coil to the trigger for the ECU and see if I can get the injectors to pulse. I said, okay, I'll do that, but instead I decided to order a new combo relay since I knew I could get one and try that first before hooking the two cars together since it was easier, especially considering I only had the one battery. Before I installed it, I checked every damn thing to make sure that I didn't screw something up in the car with the fuel pump wiring and that it was feeding from another circuit. Once I was satisfied, I plugged the combo relay in. I turned the key to run. Fuel pump wasn't running. Whoa. Cranked it and the damn thing fired right up. It was running around 2000 rpm, so I rotated the distributor to retard the timing some and I ran back over to check the cluster and that's when I saw the oil light didn't go out. It had been about 20 seconds. I shut it off immediately. I had heard people say it could take 30 seconds or so for the light to go out on the initial start, but as long as there was flow, we were fine. I opened the oil cap and I didn't see any oil at the top of the motor. Still some assembly lube, but no oil. I called Alex and he said he'd think about it and get back with me. He told me to see if the filter canister had oil in it. I confirmed that it did after disconnecting the battery and loosening the bolt for that stupid contraption.

My tires showed up.



Tuesday morning, he called and said he thinks he may have not installed the pressure relief valve in the oil pump. He had me call a tow truck. So, in order for that to happen, I had to remove the airdam. I grabbed the original front housing of my oil pump and sure enough, the relief valve was still in place.



This showed up Tuesday, just in time to help.



Wednesday evening, I got these photos.





He said everything looked good and the next morning, they were going to put the oil back in it, install the fan, etc and I could come get it running when I had a chance.

The next morning (Thursday), he sent me a text saying they had oil pressure. He unplugged the combo relay and got pressure by cranking. Light went out. Great.

I got to the shop around 1pm and was pretty excited. I put some of the wiring I had changed so I could close the hood back the way it was when the car ran. Cranked the car over and nothing happened. Just cranking. Weird. I did a bunch of testing and found I didn't have spark, but what I couldn't figure out was that I had 12v coming out of pin 1 on the ECU harness without the AFM installed and 6v with it installed. I was stuck, so I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with both Mike W. and Peter Florance and while I thought I had all of the grounds hooked up, it turns out I didn't. Peter said that there's supposed to be a ground for the coolant temp sensor and it grounds pin 5 at the ECU. I didn't have ground at pin 5, so I went digging. The ground for the coolant temperature sensor was hidden from view when I installed the harnesses and I guess, after I jiggled everything around enough checking before installing the new combo relay, it must have made contact with the plate for the duck gasket or something. Once I connected that ground, all of the voltages normalized and the fuel pump only ran when the AFM door was moved, which is correct operation. Couldn't believe it. I figured the car had to start now. Nope. No dice. Well, I figured maybe everything I did fried an ignition module. I did fry an ECU.

Friday morning, I came to the shop with four ignition modules (one had screws replacing the rivets, so I had to figure it was good), my original ignition harness, another distributor and a couple of ballast resistors and went to work. I swapped an ICM to start and no dice. Then I pulled the distributor cap to check for a pulse from the reluctor wheel in the distributor. I was able to rotate it enough to get a good pulse, but I wanted to make sure it was repeatable, so I bumped the starter to move the distributor rotor.

It didn't move.

It didn't move!

I pulled the distributor and it looked like the gear that drives the distributor was embedded in the upper timing cover. Looking further, that wasn't my only problem.



Alex came over and told me to hit the key. Cam gear moved, but the cam didn't. He grabbed a pair of pliers and the cam is seized in the head and it's obviously broken. I don't think punched in the stomach is quite enough to describe how I felt. I couldn't even say anything. I've got so much money and time into this car and I was within sight of my goal to have it in Monterey for the Festorics/O'Fest this year and this happens.

The thought is that the cam seized from lack of lubrication after I shut the engine off. The next time the motor was cranked, that broke the cam. Obviously valves have hit pistons and everything is all screwed up. Of course, it all comes back to an oversight of omitting the pressure relief valve in the oil pump.

I had a duty to tell those who helped me troubleshoot the car that I found the spark issue. I got a lot of support from them and even some ideas of how to overcome this. Some more feasible than others. At this point, it looks like I at least need the whole top of the motor. Ray has an M90 and had been talking about selling it so I asked him about it. It's from a 1980 Euro E24 we parted, so it should have the correct head. He offered it to me suggesting we can settle up later. I had a thought of just cleaning it up and putting it in for now and addressing this later, but you might notice in the photos (if you can see them) that front and rear glass is still not installed along with the dash - very useful for troubleshooting, which is why I wanted a running car before the interior went in. Putting a motor in, then doing all of that in less than a week by myself is a tall order and that's if everything goes smoothly. Nothing has been done to the car since. Alex is waiting to take it apart until we get the motor from Ray. Obviously, everything is going to be inspected, but it's not a situation either of us want to be in and it's all because of an oversight.

I spent the weekend trying to decide what to do regarding the trip to Monterey. Most of my expenses were already paid and the whole thing I had been working on wasn't going to be there, so I really didn't feel like even going. I didn't register for some of the things I wanted to do because of cost simply trying to get the car done and the things I did register for seemed like a waste. I ended up deciding to make the best of it, so I'll bring the B7 Turbo since they're doing something special for Alpina cars this year, so it will be nice to have it there. Not the outcome I was hoping for, but whatever.

Monday morning, I had an appointment with a local shop (Parts Score in North Scottsdale) to get my tires mounted on the refinished BBS RAs and road-force balanced. There was a certain degree of this is a waste of time and money now since the car is broken, but in reality, progress still needs to be made, I had an appointment and the wheels and tires will take up less space when the tires are on the wheels. I ended up choosing Parts Score because I know someone who works there and through him, I found out they are the only shop in the state to have the latest whiz-bang Hunter truly touchless mounting machine and the road-force balancer.



Here we are figuring out that the extra thickness of the RA centers necessitate an alternate securing method. From this photo, you can see that the machine holds the wheel from the hub, unlike conventional machinery. It is guaranteed not to damage a wheel and consequently has an HD camera on board in the event something does happen. They did a great job getting everything done, and even taped one vulnerable area to ensure it wasn't damaged. Road force was good all around. One wheel/tire had a road force rating of 4 and didn't require any weight. I guess it's great news that it is actually the spare. Anyway, that worked out great and I was happy with the work and really the cost was hardly more than having the Discount people mount/balance/scratch the wheels and actually less than the super high end specialty shops that do this. I imagine that this equipment will bring quite a few customers through their doors - not that they're hurting for business.



I don't know when I'll have further updates, but I do hope that maybe by the end of September I could have it done. Hopefully for SoCal Vintage. It's registered for a show in Sedona in a month, but I'm not sure that's enough time. It's not on my schedule right now. I'd offer to help with disassembly/assembly, but I am going to be out of town until the 28th.

Sorry to hear about the motor, Chris. I'm sending positive vibes your way. I can only imagine how frustrated you are.

is what I'd be doing.

Fingers crossed for a quick recovery.

Good luck....you are due.

Chris's run of bad luck on this project is really gut-wrenching, especially considering the sweat equity and thoroughness he's put into it.

When Chris told me about the cam I felt like I'd taken a hit to the stomach. I can only imagine what he felt like.

Good God that sucks.

so sorry Chris. really tough news.

The cam issue is an obvious setback, but remember Chris, this is a project meant for long term enjoyment. Whether it is SoCal Vintage, or some other event as its debut, the quality of your work will ultimately be what you will remember.

Shitballs. That aint cool.

Set it on fire, go sailing.

Thanks. Yeah, I agree it's definitely a setback, not the end of the world or anything. Throughout the process all the way back to the bodywork phase, I figured it would be nice to finish it for the Festorics/O'Fest, what with 2016 being an important year and whatnot but I wasn't going to let a deadline affect the quality of work I put into the project and I like to think that looking back over what I've shared, that has been evident. Even with a condensed timeline, I have been working to put the car together correctly, not just throw it together for a show. Sure, I have had to make a few compromises and even said, "I can fix this later," but when considering them, I think they were going to happen anyway given certain factors surrounding the restoration of an E12 in general - it's not the most appreciated platform and parts are in that flux where if they have it, it's generally either something that cross-references to E28, E9s or '02s or it has an orange sticker and has been sitting on a shelf since 1981. Still, minor things.

That is one of the reasons why I was negative on several of the solutions offered to me. As much as I'd like to have the car there, a car with a placeholder engine isn't the car I wanted to build and doing it the way I want to do it is more important than any event.

People know what I have been going through to get it done and I know a few folks were very excited to see it completed in Monterey. The last 18 months have been very stressful and really I have neglected many aspects of my life from other cars to house needs to certain work opportunities in the interest of completion by a certain time. Time to work on the car and funding all of the aspects is a huge hurdle, but I turned my life upside down to do it. Seeing the plan fail - not due to me throwing in the towel, which I threatened to do many times at lesser hurdles - is particularly depressing. You look back on the project and think that you are supposed to enjoy it. That's why I took it on. When you do it this way, it becomes a job and it becomes harder to enjoy it. I almost think I'm more upset that I didn't enjoy the journey as much as I could have and I would have liked to address some needs on the E34, since I put about 30k miles a year on that car. Either way, it's all "first-world-problems" but I am confident that in the end it will all work out and I can sweat the details without a deadline looming over me.

I really appreciate the support.

Was it Ali or Foreman who said the greatest asset was to be able to take a hit, multiple hard hits, and just keep on going? I view accomplishing projects like this one and Adam's (with his setback story just posted too) as a known series of hits in the waiting, and you just keep on rolling. Heck, if it was me, I'd probably sit someplace and cry it all out if I needed to; totally drain the built up emotions, refresh the brain, refocus, and move on. This is such an amazing build of a very rare car and a so-far underappreciated one, but I think that is changing and rapidly at the moment (then again, I still believe the most under-rated BMW is the Bavaria -- the mark that car set as the true beginning of the BMW sport sedan in 1971 imo, so just ignore me perhaps).

Having to drive the B7 to Monterey should be a blast! There are many of us out here who would love to have that opportunity!

Regards,
Chuck

Sorry about the bad string of events. Absolutely gut wrenching to read/hear.

CSBM5 wrote:(then again, I still believe the most under-rated BMW is the Bavaria -- the mark that car set as the true beginning of the BMW sport sedan in 1971 imo, so just ignore me perhaps).
Regards,
Chuck

No, I totally agree with you. Except the E3 started in '68 with the '69 model year. It and the M30, which was introduced in that chassis, really set the stage for all the 5/6/7/8 series cars since then including Chris's M535i.

Sorry about the setback man. We can all imagine the feelings of excitement in perhaps closing in on that finish line, and then the sense of pain after discovering you have to run the last part again.
Keep your chin up and thanks again for sharing this journey.

-Matthias

Mike W. wrote:When Chris told me about the cam I felt like I'd taken a hit to the stomach. I can only imagine what he felt like.

Same here; when I got that text I had to sit down.
As tragic as that news was for Chris, I had to look back on my own decision to slow my project down and remove the Monterey deadline with some relief; I took his situation as a cautionary tale. I started running through all the assemblies I had finished trying to double check them mentally to appease my paranoia and fears. I don't know what I would do if I destroyed my engine, although Chris is made of tough stuff and is moving forward with a plan bravely.

I have to agree with Chris' sentiments about why one executes a project like this (especially for car fanatics like us) and not wanting to compromise quality and the experience; they were some of the very same reasons I changed my projects' schedule. Projects like these can quickly become overwhelming and all-consuming taking over all aspects of you life if you let it. They really do become a second job; heck, I was putting in more than 20 hours/week in shop time alone on mine let alone the research, parts shuttling, ordering, etc. so I can imagine what Chris was doing was more.

If there is anything I can do, let me know. We can commiserate together this week over an iced tea; see you in a few days.

Mike W. wrote:

CSBM5 wrote:(then again, I still believe the most under-rated BMW is the Bavaria -- the mark that car set as the true beginning of the BMW sport sedan in 1971 imo, so just ignore me perhaps).
Regards,
Chuck

No, I totally agree with you. Except the E3 started in '68 with the '69 model year. It and the M30, which was introduced in that chassis, really set the stage for all the 5/6/7/8 series cars since then including Chris's M535i.

Yeah, no I'm with you fully on the E3 history having lived it back in the day, what I was trying to convey was the Max Hoffman driven creation of the Bavaria using the age-old American hotrod formula to create the best performing, lowest cost combination. That E3 sedan with 4-wheel disc brakes, M30 engine, 4spd manual, excellent interior and trunk room, etc, was such a perfect combination of attributes at a reasonable price (for a time) that it was years ahead of its time in many ways. With help from Suspension Techniques, Korman, Miller and Norburn, and Alpina, Recaro, Momo, etc, I can attest to a nicely modified E3 as being WAY ahead of its time circa early 1980s.

(sorry for the off topic Chris!)

Chris, I'm sure you've already considered it. Would it make sense to check your rod and main bearings now also, since this was a lack of oil issue?