Restoring my 1985 535i (11-7 pic update)
Posted: Oct 20, 2010 2:58 PM
The car is still far from complete. I thought I would share the work I completed over the summer. At this point it's down to odd and ends and
final "finishing," which I imagine will consume another 20 years of my life.
I originally purchased this car to serve as a daily driver. Posted on ebay by a high school student in Arkansas, the car needed a good amount of
repairs. Several interior panels were held in with duck tape, the body was three different shades of red, the front and rear suspenson were shot,
the exhaust was full of holes and there were marks from someone had tried to shoot the glass out with a bb gun. I probably could have started
with a better example, but the entire restoration was inch by inch until the bodywork started. Honestly, I wasn't even set up with the proper
equipment or facilities to carry out a full on restoration. It was very much a learning, and tool gathering, process! I was just thrilled to finally have
a big six 5 speed e28! I couldn't leave well enough alone, and after becoming addicted to MyE28.com, it was all downhill at that point.
First things first.
After discovering Turbo Charging Dynamics, I knew this car was going to turbocharged, no "ifs, ands or buts" about it. I purchased a partial kit
from Todd and installed it on my 200k mile engine. One summer and one clutch later, I had found all the weak points of the drivetrain. After
thouroughly trashing every mount and bushing, the turbo return line collapsed internally and forced oil by the turbine seal, causing heavy
smoke from the exhaust. Figuring this was the end, I pulled the motor and disassembled it. Everything was ok, but the pitons and cylinder
walls were showing their signs of wear. A rebuild was at hand!
Here's the full story on the turbo and megasquirt build from 2008;
http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=42 ... sc&start=0
A few pics from that build.
Engine bay Before.
Engine bay during.
Engine bay after. These are the most recent pics, I still have some work to do underhood.
Here's how the car looked early 2009 right after I installed euro bumpers...
...and with the pfeba spoiler, style 66 wheels and front fenders no thanks to whoever hit the car.
Onto the bodywork.
I completely converted the body of the car to euro specifications. The front bumper trim holes are filled in, a new oem front valance was
used and a euro tail panel was installed. The exhaust will be centered to the rear cutout and dual tips will be installed.
Some rust repair.
Fixing dents and dings. The right rear door was rusted along the bottom edge where the door seal sits. I found this odd as all the
other doors were completely rust free. I replaced the door.
And we're off! I lost my original workspace to finish a "correct" paint job, partly due to a miscommunication with the
owner of the company I was working with and partly due to me going to work with a new company(both completely unrelated)
Since my original plan of painting the whole car myself, the way I wanted to do it, didn't pan out I had a local paint shop
apply the paint. Because the project was derailed from its plans of a perfect DIY restoration(being that engine was already
back in), I had a decision to make. I knew the paintjob I was going to do would have its imperfections, but at least the
process would have been right and the experience would have been awesome. I knew the amount of money I was putting into
the car was never going to be recuperated by selling the car as a whole either. I decided to keep the total amount
spent on the shell of the car as low as possible while spending up for the bolt in items. After shopping around, I decided to
have -this is going to hurt- MAACO paint the car. There, I said it. Minus the purchase price of the entire vehicle, I have less
than $3000 in the actual shell of this car. I am 66.5% happy with the job. Some of you may remember my thread on the engine bay
overspray debacle. Well, the guys at this location bent over backwards to make things right and didn't stop until I was happy.
I'll never be happy with a respray though, it's just never factory equivelant. I'm sure if I were on the other side of the fence
with a $10k+ paint job I'd hate the fact that I could never bring myself to drive the car and enjoy it for what it is. The whole
turning wrenches and fixing stuff up thing is quite the drama inducing hobby to keep in balance. You have your ups, you have your downs
and you end up settling somewhere in between.
With the windows out for paint, it was a perfect time take care of a few interior things.
Paul Ladue leather dash.
Jim's upholstery recovered the front e30 sport seats, rear seat and all 4 headrests in leather.
Unisuede headliner. Like my pin cushion?
A new mtec2 wheel and black plastic to "Kohlerize" the interior. Also in this pic; mtec flares, TCD valve cover and oem headlight
wiper arms and blades.
I still have the style 66 wheels, but when I first came to this site my dream E28 quickly became a zinno on gold centered BBS RSs.
I found a set of staggered 16x9(061) and 16x8(022) somewhere in CA. I payed entirely way too much for them and put even more into thier
restoration. I now own a blast cabinet! The wheels were chemically stripped, lips repaired then blasted. The centers were painted with GrimmSpeed gold
and the outer lip and inner hoop were polished.
Assembly.
This sub box is in the trunk.
Uh oh, I seem to be missing some assembly pictures...
...Schatzi, did you take them?
Some final product* pics. I know the tow hook covers are missing, I'm having a hard time installing the Pfeba
spoiler. It's so nice not having to worry about it dragging on the ground.
(*for now)
Here's a few of the Loess Hills Drive that LJ(NebraskaE28), Troy(trmcatee) and I went on.
I like your auxiliary gauge panel.
Next year for sure! I don't care where it's at, driving this car never ceases to amaze me! 
