MyE28.com

2020 update...

I have been looking for a factory intake silencer box, since I bought this car, almost three years ago! Bought a NOS unit last week - likely one of the last ones in the world. Installed it yesterday. Never thought I'd be so excited about a factory air box.





BKbimmer and I installed a Spax lowering kit back in September. I haven't really done much with it since. Work consumes my life - nothing new. I love how the car rides, but I think it's a little too low. Perhaps this is a sign of maturity...





I'd really like to overhaul the front control arms and change out the subframe and trailing arm bushings soon. Hopefully time will allow. Excited for spring to arrive so I can start driving it again.

That is all.

AB

Looks great and thanks for the update

It's still green.

bkbimmer wrote:It's still green.

I know, the genie broke his promise...asshole.

Great read. Give BK a kiss for me?

oldskool wrote:Great read. Give BK a kiss for me?

We haven't made it to that stage. He's a bit of a prude still. Will update as things progress.

I only kiss wieners, for money.

Call me Kermit, but I LOVE the badass green and your amazing story behind this car. Don't let anyone tell you M5's need to be black. I think the next paint job on mine might be a steel grey metallic. Or an old Porsche color....

Congrats,m
Jeff

Ahh so this is the car! I saw pictures bouncing around & was quite curious. Cool story & an awesome find!
I love the green, but I've always been biased to that color.

Subscribed for updates! Hopefully I can see it at a future 5erWest or TexFest!

edit: Where did you find a set of 17" RS?

milarsky wrote:Call me Kermit, but I LOVE the badass green and your amazing story behind this car. Don't let anyone tell you M5's need to be black. I think the next paint job on mine might be a steel grey metallic. Or an old Porsche color....

Congrats,
Jeff

Thank you for the kind words, Jeff - unfortunately (or fortunately for everyone else), the green is staying for an indefinite amount of time - I don't have it in me to deal with the headache of having a car painted ever again.

Nebraska_e28 wrote:Ahh so this is the car! I saw pictures bouncing around & was quite curious. Cool story & an awesome find!
I love the green, but I've always been biased to that color.

Subscribed for updates! Hopefully I can see it at a future 5erWest or TexFest!

edit: Where did you find a set of 17" RS?

Thank you, i appreciate it. The RS212 came from an acquaintance in the south. They're pretty rough overall, but get the job done, just like the car. The color has grown on me enough to deal with it (likely) for the rest of my life.

I like the color. It's reminiscent of Mike Scudder's Green Hornet.

stuartinmn wrote:I like the color. It's reminiscent of Mike Scudder's Green Hornet.

I like it. Reiterates how much I like E28s with euro bumpers. Wish I could bring myself to install a set on this car.

Another very cool car was Roy Wicklund's old agate green Alpina B7.



It was featured in a Hemmings article: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/b ... b7-alpina/

Stop it! Stop it with (other people's) green e28's! I can't take it!!

I'm amazed at how far this has come. I saw that car years ago under tarp at JJ motorworks and asked about it then. You did a sweet job on it so far. I'd like to see it in person. I think you put your card on my M5 at the autoshow this year in Portland. So long ago it seems in this pandemic craziness....

stuartinmn wrote:Another very cool car was Roy Wicklund's old agate green Alpina B7.



It was featured in a Hemmings article: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/b ... b7-alpina/

I always really liked that car a lot, despite not being a fan of green!

vandiesel wrote:I'm amazed at how far this has come. I saw that car years ago under tarp at JJ motorworks and asked about it then. You did a sweet job on it so far. I'd like to see it in person. I think you put your card on my M5 at the autoshow this year in Portland. So long ago it seems in this pandemic craziness....

Thank you, sir. I'm happy to have saved this one from a sad, disappointing death. JJ motors had zero business working on this poor car...so much hackery, everywhere.

I did put a card on your car - I remember yours, when Ed still owned it (I looked at buying it, at one point); it's cool to see it come back from the dead! You are more than welcome to stop by the shop and have a look around!

-----------

Found some old pictures of the car and thought it was neat to see progress of how far the car has come since my purchase. These pics are roughly from ten years ago...







Wow...it's still hard for me to accept that this is what the car became, for what I had to start with.

And, on a similar note, I have decided to part ways with the left over Dinan turbo parts and left over short engine, that came out of the car. Listing is here, no reserve!

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/bmw-s ... ter-turbo/

23 June, 2020 - decided i would take the car for it's longest (consistent) road trip, as i needed to travel to Eugene, OR, to pick up some parts, for a car i'm working on. did the ~250 mile round trip journey without a single issue.

however...i got back to town, popped the hood (i always give the car a once over, after a long drive) and i notice a bit of dried coolant on the side of the radiator. found that the braise job, where the lower radiator hose neck meets the tank, had failed and was slowly weeping. as soon as i wiggled the hose, the minor pinhole turned into a crack... i cannot believe that it didn't leave me stranded along I-5 somewhere. i replaced the radiator when i had the engine out, last year, with a new, OE, brass/copper unit. so much for quality these days. should have spent the extra $100 for the Wizard Cooling unit.

anyway, called the dealer and made my case, and i had a replacement unit on my doorstep within 24 hours. shout out to Jered at Kuni BMW, for always taking care of me. i'll shove the new one in, probably this morning.

other than that, the car did excellent, and i would now trust it to drive anywhere. pretty good feeling, i'd say. oh, and when you don't drive like a complete prick, the car actually returns halfway decent fuel mileage - who would have guessed?!


(don't mind my speed, the speedometer is ~30% off, need to send in for repair)

Time for euro bumpers. Oh wait. It's always time for euro bumpers.

Car is looking great.

muleskinner wrote: Jun 27, 2020 8:18 PM Time for euro bumpers. Oh wait. It's always time for euro bumpers.

Car is looking great.

haha - maybe some day. the shadowline bumpers would look excellent with the green. just will take a lot to do it correctly, so in my messed up mind, i would have to repaint the whole car - and that would defeat the purpose of owning it, for me thanks for the compliment!

21 July, 2020 - had a friend shoot the car, last week. never had any "real" pictures of this car taken before. sure looks great in the photos. i'll let you all be the judge...











(danielpouch and i on the Glen Jackson bridge)

Is that mt hood in the background there?

not much of an M5 update here. i replaced the clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder, feed and pressure hoses and bled all the brakes. the fluid had very little miles on it, but since the car had been off the road so long, it absorbed a lot of moisture and definitely was not great looking. brakes and clutch feel much better now. still haven't replaced the blower motor, so i won't be driving it much through the winter until i get that handled. unfortunately, i r lazy and really not thrilled about doing that job anytime soon.

also, thanks to "derrith", back in October, i was able to use his subframe bushing tool to r/r the rear subframe bushings on both my M5, and Daniel's 535is. mine were "96" stamp replacements and were wasted. his were the 260k mile, original units and the left side bushing sleeve fell out, once we removed the 22mm nut. eek.

-----

last night, a car that i wasn't expecting to buy, fell in my lap. it makes a for a good stablemate for the M5.

12/88 M3
DS over partial cardinal/black
CR 265/5 transmission (that alone sold me on the car) and M-coupe 3.23 LSD
175k, tons of maintenance
solid driver quality M3

drove it all afternoon. i love it.



---

6 Jan, did a few things to the M3 (but this isn't its thread, so i won't make a separate post for it)

installed 17" BBS RS212, H&R Gruppe G Race springs, NOS smoked Hella smileys, Startec taillamps, sold the bright red interior and installed Recaro Confetti SR seats and a black M3 rear seat, Italvolanti Super Formel wheel, Sport Evolution shift knob and dead pedal, among a bunch of other little stuff. bought a Supersprint exhaust for it earlier in the week and hopefully, i will see it sometime in the next month. really enjoying this car, a lot.

Marry Christmas to you! That's a great gift to yourself.

Hey Austin -

I saw you drive through Portland last summer, NW area, and knew instantly who it was. The car looked great and congrats on saving a worthy car.

Cheers!

leadphut wrote: Jan 06, 2021 10:28 AM Hey Austin -

I saw you drive through Portland last summer, NW area, and knew instantly who it was. The car looked great and congrats on saving a worthy car.

Cheers!

thanks, Troy - i appreciate it. i made it a point to drive it as much as i could, over the summer. if it had a working heater motor (grrrrr), i'd probably be out driving it today!

(lazy owners suck sometimes)

Yes, a great read. When I purchased my M5, which was a total basket case, after rebuilding the suspension and some engine maintenance items I drove it 100 miles to and from work each day for the next 12 years and it only left me stranded twice. Once for the throttle cable snapping, my fault for not heeding the stiff pedal warning signs, and another time after an oil change when the mechanic didn't tighten the drain spout on the canister.

The S38 has been a very dependable engine for me. Great job, bring it to the "cancelled" St. Patrick's Day meet in San Diego so we can all see that spectacular green in living color