New to BMW

[Saular B]

Hello I am New to the Bmw world I have been mainly into American cars. I have owned a couple of mustangs and have been working on them for a while. I am thinking about starting a new project. I have always loved the look of the 80's BMWs and specifically the e28. I am wanting to do a pretty in-depth build most likely with a motor swap, custom parts, and a unique look. Planning on doing the build starting in the summer. I wanted to introduce myself to the forum because I know I will be spending some time here. To start off a couple of questions.

what should I look for when buying the car?
I don't want the car to be super clean because it's going to come apart so mileage, interior, and paint don't really matter to me. I don't want to do much rust repair keep in mind I am In Texas so rust is not too bad to hear. So What should I look out for?

What are some good swaps for motor/trans?
I have a budget but I have some money to spend I want something that is somewhat reliable and won't be extremely difficult to swap out. what motors are recommended, I know for the American market there are entire swap kits or guides listing everything you need. So if there is anything I should know about these BMWs specifically?

I will definitely have more questions as time goes on but I am just doing research, for now, to see how much money I will have to spend and how long this is going to take. Thank you.

[stuartinmn]

Welcome to the site. E28 BMWs are generally pretty robust. Rust can be a problem of course, but since you're in Texas you stand a better chance than most people of finding a clean one. Conversely, since you're in Texas the interiors may be burned out from the heat; dashboards in particular will crack. As they age they can have pesky problems with the electrics, like failing power window switches, etc. Parts availability has historically been pretty good compared to other brands, but as the years go by more and more things are no longer available (after all they're 35 years old or more.) European specification parts like the headlights or the slimmer euro bumpers can be particularly hard to find. Check the tech FAQ section of this board, a lot of common issues are covered there.

[Mike W.]

Welcome to our group!

There's a number of different variations of E28s, mostly engine dependent.

524td. A rare diesel, all auto.
528e. An "efficiency" (read economy) engine for the era. The "baby" 6. Slow, but they have their fans.
533i. The "big" 6. Only made for 2 years, but quickest of the non "M" cars.
535i. Should be quicker than the 533, but it's not. But not by much, they're similar.
M5. An early 4 valve engine with spectacular output and performance for the era. They've gotten crazy expensive.

Generally the nicer the car the cheaper it is in the long run. It's cheaper to buy it nice than make it nice, but since you appear to have in depth plans that may or may not apply to you.

Engine swaps. Many have done it, but outside of an upgrade version of the 3.5 called the B35, not much in the way of off the shelf parts. Expect to do much of your own engineering if you go to a different manufacturer of the engine. If you really want to do a big engine, like say a V8, buy a 528e, they're cheaper to start with. While the cars do age to a degree, most stuff is just bolt on and except for little stuff like trim it's readily available and not terribly expensive.

5 speed cars command a premium over autos. The engines are notoriously long lived, many cases over 300K, a couple over 500K. Manual trannys do well, but I wouldn't call them bulletproof. Reliable yes, fragile no, but not bulletproof. The 4 speed autos in 84+ cars do well in 528e's and ok but not great in 535i's.

[Panici]

I will definitely have more questions as time goes on but I am just doing research, for now, to see how much money I will have to spend and how long this is going to take. Thank you.

Welcome to the group!
You will find the forum very helpful, and I look forward to reading about your project.

[Saular B]

Thanks for you guys information. I am going to do more research and start looking for one in about a month or so.

[Saular B]

After a lot of research and waiting I finally bought my bmw. I got a 83 528e. It was maintained well and is a nice example of one. I am planning on going through the whole car so it can be used as a daily to go to school and back. In the future I will be doing performance modifications and putting a 5 speed in it. What’s are some things I should keep in mind. Thank you!

[Shawn D.]

Congratulations!

The first thing would be to ensure the timing belt is not overdue for replacement. If it breaks, the engine can be trashed. There's LOTS of discussion about this on the board.

[Saular B]

Will do thanks

[Mike W.]

Congratulations!

The first thing would be to ensure the timing belt is not overdue for replacement. If it breaks, the engine can be trashed. There's LOTS of discussion about this on the board.

There was one guy who bought the car, bought the belt something like 3 days later, and by the time he went to change it, it broke. And trashed his engine. Big deal, it does happen.

[BDKawey]

imo, if you're wanting to swap it relatively soon you could just run the timing belt and if it pops then you have a parts motor. just depends on your timeline and how much money you're wanting to recoupe from the stock drivetrain.

swap options you wont find anything more simple than an m30b35 which isnt much of a bump in power or the next simple level is the m/s5x motors from e36/e34. you'll find mount kits and some write ups about them.

[Archaus]

Go for the sport seats next. Having an “e” and an early one to boot, I highly recommend the sport seats which, I think, are made by Recaro. Those are favorite seats even including the amazing ones from my e50 M5.

If you have an idea of what motor upgrade you want, I’d roll in that direction next. Everyone has put anything into e28s…ls-x s85, s52, s54 swaps, etc. They all sound fun to me. That should also determine your manual swap.