Lets start with the fuel system
Needed some work.
POR 15 on the outside and POR15 tank sealer on the inside...should be as good or better than new.
Old and new. More POR on the bracket.
Something a little different:
The car came from the factory with the mtech/bilstein suspension...no self leveling system. I pulled all of the suspension and had it blasted and powder coated (I've never powder coated springs...we'll see how it holds up) I also sent the bilsteins to the factory to be rebuilt.
I did a little preventative maintenance by installing the Ed Rather (Mwrench) steering box fix
I installed new wheel bearings, stock rubber bushings, etc. One thing I always do is paint new parts...I've just put on to many new parts that get covered with surface rust within the first year...everything gets painted.
I will be running e32 vented brakes front and rear. Much easier to source, rebuild, etc. Those got painted as well.
Got everything together and installed last weekend...
I still need to paint the rotor hats and edges/vaines.
Also, the firewall insulation that came on my car looked like arse...as this is NLA from BMW, I began searching for an alternative. The below pic is a product by Dynamat. I think it matches pretty well and the stupid logos should be covered once everything is installed.
11/27/10---Progress has been slow. Started working on the interior. With an eye towards simplicity, I picked up a pair of manual sport seats from Derrith (aka Logan) last summer. I just received my new skins from Kevin Chinn at Creative Options and a set of new seat heater elements on-line. I had to replace some of the bolster foam on the driver seat with foam pulled from the local yard. Going from Natur to Black (flame away...I hate tan) . Hopefully done this weekend.
The old and the new...
11/30 Fronts done (shitty camera phone pic):
I should say that Kevins kits are great. This is the first interior recover that I've done...I was surprised at how easy it was and how well it turned out.
1/27/11 Long time since I've updated. I just loose my mojo for being in the garage when the temps are in the singe digits....Engine is in the car and now working on putting the interior together. The original roof foam was a nasty cracked mess. I pulled good foam out of the junkyard and replaced. Not a chore I really ever want to do again.... The plan (if the temp holds) is to get the headliner, carpet, heater/AC, dash installed this weekend.
Heater box rebuilt (new core and replaced all foam). Some may notice that this is a 3 cable box. My original box had issues with the electric servo motor and with an eye to simplify shit that breaks, I pulled the 3 cable Behr box and controller from an early car.
3/3/11 Update:
It's been a while since an update. A little minor surgery and I'm back in the game. Now the purists better hang on.....
I ditched the hydroboost in favor of a vacuum booster. I tried the e21 booster and it wouldn't clear the intake. Ended up with a Porsche 924 booster....you'll see why.
I had to find a bracket and heater valve from a 528e to make this work. The "e" heater valve has a 90 degree elbow at the bottom to clear the steering wheel shaft. With that sorted, I needed to make sure that everything would fit together and I had all the necessary clearance. Sorry for the dirty engine...
I had to relocate the steering reservoir....Did I mention that I am putting an S54 with 6 speed in the car. Maybe I missed that detail. Engine is out of a 2005 M3 with 17K miles.
Engine mounts, tranny mounts and wiring/ECU burn are all done. Goal is to make it look like the factory put it there. More to come.
Update 8/21:
Life has been way to busy.... Exhaust is done. I utilized the E46 M3 header. In stock form, the header has the catalytic converter as part of the downpipe which would not fit the e28. Thus I cut the cat off the header and created new downpipes from 2.25" mandrel SS. For the center section, I utilized 2 front sections from an E46 M3. I mated the first section to 2 Magnaflow high flow cats (similar to the euro M3). From the cats I flow into a Magnaflow Tru-X muffler (it is a muffler that incorporates an X pipe), From the muffler I reversed another M3 front section to make the way out and around the rear diff. Today, I took a few hours and polished off the old M3 bits...I think it turned out OK. More to come.
1/12 Update:
Almost forgot about this thread. I finished the car late summer and all I can say is that it has met all of my expectations. Pulls like you can only imagine. I had it in a couple of car shows and it was well received by all the local BMW nuts. There are a few cosmetic "odds and ends" like painting the red Aeromotive FPR and doing something with the stereo set-up.... but those things had to wait as I was just having to much fun driving. I put the car away for the winter but the lack of snow and temps in the 60's made me pull it out for a new years days run. I snapped a few pics before it went back in to hibernation.
Couple of pics to answer questions:
First I utilized an e36 aluminum radiator along with an overflow tank from an "e". I cut the brackets off a junkyard car and welded into a position that allowed a standard strut bar to clear.
I did move the radiator overflow to the pass side to eliminate a long run of hose to the e36 overflow position.
For the power steering reservoir, I couldn't find anything that would mount in the stock location as the intake and boot just took up to much space. I found a bracket off of a Range Rover in the JY that held a plastic ATE reservoir identical to those used on e30/36/46/etc. I mounted it to the fenderwell just below the intake boot.
For the fuel system, I made a valiant effort to utilize the stock e46M3 pressure regulator/filter and fuel rail setup. Then just the regulator. Long story short, I just wasn't happy with how the fuel lines routed in relation to the steering shaft/box, starter, etc. I went with an aeromotive FPR mounted to the power steering res mounting tab. I then modified the fuel rail by welding shut the stock feed location and added an AN fitting to the front of the fuel rail. This is really my only deviation from stock BMW parts.,,,but I wanted to err on the side of safety. I may mount the FPR out of sight at some point but initially I needed to have it in a location to put a gauge on it to adjust fuel pressure.
Airbox is from a Z3M. The last year of the Z3M came with an S54. The stock intake elbow angled the airbox to far outboard. I purchased and trimmed a silicone intake to make the angle more of a 90 degree to the engine/intake.
Finally, one problem that I had was routing the harness into the car utilizing the stock e46m3 harness. It just wouldn't stretch the distance to get the ECU to the pass side. Again Z3M harness saved the day...with a little trimming of the plastic case...like it was made for the car.
Moving on......my 76 IH Scout (aka the test bed for an e28 LS1 swap)
