Page 26 of 37
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Aug 03, 2016 4:11 PM
by KrautnotRice
Hi cek,
Sorry if I missed it, but I was wondering how the Wipe New held up now that it's a year later?
Also, I saw you switched from a S3.46 to a S3.25 diff, how do you like it? Which do you think suits the eta better?
Thanks!
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Aug 04, 2016 5:08 AM
by tig
KrautnotRice wrote:
Hi cek,
Sorry if I missed it, but I was wondering how the Wipe New held up now that it's a year later?
Also, I saw you switched from a S3.46 to a S3.25 diff, how do you like it? Which do you think suits the eta better?
Thanks!
The Wipe New held up well. It's time to do it again. I'm still reticent to use it on the Porsche, but for this car it seems great.
The 3.25 is better, for how i drive the car anyway. I spend about half my commute on the freeway and the 3.46 was just too buzzy. The motor has plenty of torque to deal with the higher ratio when putzing around town.
Once I move to the higher-revving e2i motor I may change my stance, but for now, all the work I put into refurbishing the 3.25 was worth it.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Oct 24, 2016 2:25 AM
by tig
Maytag's suspension is shot. I've deferred everything except the dogbones and it's clear all the rubber bits including the UCABs and subframe bushings are done, done, done. It all seemed to go south pretty quickly, pretty recently. Never had any shimmy before. Only slight 'oh-shit-the-rear-end-is-floating' from the subframe bushings. But recently the car actually feels almost unsafe.
I also have been itching to play with some coil-overs; just so I'd know what they were all about. I bought a lightly used set of BC Racing off a member a while back and they've been sitting.
I had the old subframe from Vlad (it was replaced by one I bought from spen) and another off the turbo car part out. I put IE adjustable (posilock) camber/toe kits on both, just as I did on the one that went on Vlad. One is for Maytag and the other for the Blue car project.
Over the past months I've removed all the bushings and bearings from these and the TAa whenever I had wrench time. Last weekend I got one of the sub-frame bushings out, and Saturday I got the other one out. Much easier the second time. Much harder the first time. Much. What a PITA.
I've ordered Moosehead UCABS, E31 LCAs, and all the other necessary replacement bits for Maytag (i had a fair number of parts already for the Blue car).
Is soon as all this stuff comes back from the powder coater, i'll be diving in...
(The second set of TAs are for the blue car...yes, that project is moving forward...slowly).
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 10, 2016 3:59 PM
by tig
I am pumped up. Pumped up, I say!
Yesterday the Mooshead UCAs showed up.
And I Just heard from the powder coater that everything's done and I can pick up tomorrow morning. This means, with my wifey being out of town, I have the whole weekend to wrench!
Maytag's going under the knife. Wish her/him well.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 12, 2016 6:48 PM
by tig
Here we go...
Getting everything organized before surgery.
Not shown are new bearings (remembered them after I took the photo) and brakes (on car).
Before...
You can see how worn the TA bushings are:
Starting at rear. Plan is to complete it first then move to front.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 12, 2016 6:55 PM
by Karl Grau
Looking good!
(And the Seahawks play at night so you have an extra 4 hours
)
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 13, 2016 2:26 PM
by tig
Karl Grau wrote:Looking good!
(And the Seahawks play at night so you have an extra 4 hours
)
Who thought it was a Good Thing that the 'Hawks play Monday Night and then have to travel 3000 miles to play in NE...the week after NE has a buy week?
Any-hoo. Before:
After:
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 13, 2016 3:38 PM
by davintosh
Looking good, sir.
Do you make house calls? To Germany?
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 13, 2016 11:33 PM
by Foonfer
After turning my envious tone down a couple notches, I'll have to ask: How did you get to remove all crud from the wheel wells/strut cavities and leave them SO.SO.CLEAN???? Jeez that's just beautiful.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 14, 2016 12:36 AM
by Mike W.
Wait a minute, the before picture is better than 99.999 of the cars on the road and better than anything I've ever had, and the after looks like you could eat off it. That's appalling.
Nice work Charlie.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 14, 2016 8:47 AM
by MicahO
Gorgeous and clean. Outstanding work.
Reiterating other's questions: What's the secret sauce? Purple Power and patience? You were in the garage, so I don't think you were blasting a power washer inside?
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 14, 2016 10:47 AM
by Chimi-Changa
Beautius Maximus!
Now I know why it's called the Maytag. Clean is the Word.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 14, 2016 1:28 PM
by tig
Mike W. wrote:Wait a minute, the before picture is better than 99.999 of the cars on the road and better than anything I've ever had, and the after looks like you could eat off it. That's appalling.
Nice work Charlie.
Recall that I did a 5-speed conversion and replaced the diff with an LSD (actually two). When I did that I did a 'light' cleaning, so this time it was easier.
Reiterating other's questions: What's the secret sauce? Purple Power and patience? You were in the garage, so I don't think you were blasting a power washer inside?
I use Oil Eater.
https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Eater-AOD1G3 ... =ceklog-20
1:2 dilution in spray bottle.
Spray on and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Scrub with nylon brush.
Rinse.
Repeat until clean.
Usually takes 2 or 3 turns. Sometimes I'll use a brillo-based sponge if there's a tough spot... but lightly.
No way of doing this without a lot of elbow grease and getting absolutely disgustingly covered in muck, but that's part of the fun.
I've gotten good at using the hose under the car in the garage with little overspray. My garage floor slopes out nicely so I can keep it pretty contained.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 15, 2016 3:19 PM
by BDKawey
Is this car brand new yet or...?
haha. extremely nice work. sat here and rand through the thread on a slow afternoon at work. how'd you enjoy doing your trailing arm bushings? i need to get to that this winter, subframe bushings were done the winter of 2015 so those are fine, im a dummy for not doing the trailing arms
Re:
Posted: Nov 15, 2016 6:54 PM
by John project car
cek wrote:tsmall07 wrote:
That looks like a pretty stinkin nice car for $2k.
I'm sure it literally stinks too. I drove one once and not only did it stink and belch black smoke but it shook like hell. But...
I have often thought an old Merc would be a good car to drop a blown big block into . Nice sleeper . Trouble is the seats and suspension came out of a school bus with ride and handling equal to a 1970's pickup but not a nice ...... .
Re:
Posted: Nov 16, 2016 4:25 PM
by tig
Three years ago today I bought Maytag and got her home. That evening I posted the following on this thread (page 2). Heh.
cek wrote:
Let's start with what we know of the history of Maytag...
She was built in July of 1986. VIN WBADK8307H9707185.
(Note, for Vlad I had found a site that gave me all of the options in addition to the build date. But I can't find it now. Tried searchy with no joy.)
She's a 528e automatic. White with tan (I think) interior.
According to the PO she was purchased in Dallas by a lady. The PO, an American Airlines 777ER pilot, purchased the car in 1994 with 87K on it and shipped it to Los Angeles.
It was in LA until August of last year when he drove it to Seattle where it has basically sat since.
My wife and I (more on her involvement later) picked her up today with 202,305 miles on her. I paid $2k after doing an exhaustive inspection and an extended test drive around Edmunds, WA.
The timing belt was replaced at 199,000 miles. The PO had said it had been done last year, but the tag the mechanic left inside the fuse box says 2009. This means I need to replace the timing belt asap. Fun.
The car is amazingly straight. The body is actually in better condition than Vlad, with fewer little dings. There is some evidence that the front passenger door has been repainted. The paint will polish up very nice.
There is no rust anywhere that I could find. There's some moisture in the trunk just under where the factory radio amplifier is mounted, and a bit of mold where a jacket has been sitting.
The interior is in fantastic shape. There are two tiny cracks in the dash, where all E28 dashes start cracking. The vinyl on the seats is in tip-top shape. The carpet is pretty dirty and the floor mats are shot.
The suspension feels great. The shocks are not worn and the rear-subframe bushings do not feel worn. The dog-bones are shot and need to be replaced.
The rear tires are shot; they are rotting. The fronts are basically new. The chrome bottle caps are pretty tired, but they'll clean up nicely.
It's got an idle issue (hunts high).
Everything electric except the headrests work. AC blows very cold. The heater fan makes some noise and will need to be taken out and cleaned up.
It has some ancient aftermarket alarm on it. There's only one key and no keyfob for the alarm, so it will need to be ripped out.
Julie (my wife) insisted on driving her home. It's about 30 miles from Edmunds to Bellevue. I followed her in Vlad taking pictures...
Here she is at home next to Vlad...
More to come...
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 20, 2016 12:04 AM
by tig
I think I goofed.
With the help of my son who's back from College this weekend, I got the TAs installed.
I figured it'd be straighforward putting the hub flanges in while the TAs were on the car. I was wrong.
I don't want to whack them in with a hammer for fear of damaging the bearings. And I can't get my hub-helper thing around the dust shield to press them in.
I think I have to pull the TAs off again and take them to a shop with a press. What do you folks think?
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 20, 2016 9:08 AM
by davintosh
You don't have a press?
I haven't done that particular job, but it seems like it'd be far easier with them off the car than on. And a hydraulic press can be had for ~$150. Little reason not to have one in your garage.
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 20, 2016 11:13 AM
by a
I did a rear hub R+R to replace the ABS ring IRRC, I used a steering wheel puller some prying and tappage to pull the stub axle . Light tappage, hard wood were all I used. In situ. Install was a piece of cake compared take apart. The Rear wheel bearing is a pretty stout piece of metal and is a precise push fit. That is the shade tree way . Maytag is quite a work. Gonna be better than new. Great job !
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 20, 2016 1:18 PM
by tig
Laying it all out there. Full transparency. I have no shame. Or I should be ashamed.
I am an idiot.
First, after polishing the mating surface of the hub flange and then freezing them overnight I decided to try the hammer method.
It worked great; it went in relatively easily and I felt good that I wasn't destroying the bearings. I got the axle flange on and everything tightened up.
Then I said to myself, let's look at the other side and make sure the brake lines line up and all that...
Then I said: "Charlie, you are a fucking idiot." Why? Because I had put the fucking dust-shields on the wrong side of the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had my son helping me last night, and I'm going to blame the fact that I was so happy that he was with me that I was distracted.
This meant the hub flange I just pounded in had to come out. And this meant that my brand new bearing was going to get destroyed because you can't pull the bearings without destroying them.
One step forward, two steps back, or something like that.
Now to order another bearing from Blunt (he LOVES me). At least now I know how to do it with the TAs on the car!
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Nov 20, 2016 7:10 PM
by davintosh
Sounds like something my son & I did a couple of years ago when doing the bearings on the X5. I've had more expensive lessons.
http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=2& ... &#p1159542
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Dec 03, 2016 7:56 PM
by tig
This arrived:
Also got the replacement bearing. Blunt rules.
Need to get the rear suspension back together tomorrow so I can get Maytag off the lift... I need to put Julie's snow tires on because it's gonna snow!
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Dec 04, 2016 5:38 PM
by tig
How does one install one of these lock rings in the rear hub?
I butchered the first one following instructions I found somewhere to use the socket to tap it in. Maybe my socket is too beefy?
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Dec 05, 2016 2:05 AM
by tig
Hubs are assembled. All that's left is to install:
-shocks/coil-overs
-diff
-half-shafts (after figuring out how to seat the lock nut...see above).
-exhaust
The BC Racing coil-overs have goofy lower-mount points. I can't tell which end to stick in the hub. The long side is too long (the shock sticks out). The short side doesn't seem long enough; it fits but makes me nervous. Anyone dealt with these? I have an email into BC Racing...
Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 528e Bench Player
Posted: Dec 05, 2016 9:47 AM
by ovide
davintosh wrote:Looking good, sir.
Do you make house calls? To Germany?
If he does, please make a detour via Franeker!
