What did you do to your other car(s) today?

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
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John in VA
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Post by John in VA »

$nec wrote:After about 2 years of tossing and turning, I've finally picked the colour my e28 will be painted.
Now It'll be painted within 2 weeks and then I can upload some photos :D
Congrats - be sure to add your pix to the proper thread! ;)
http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=69254
cddallara
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Post by cddallara »

1st 5er wrote:Wifey left the lights on. Jumped it.
I don't know if the US LKM does this, but with my euro LKM, only the marker lights stay on if I leave the headlights on (city lights in the smileys which used to be the bumper trim lights until the euro trim went on, front corner lights, and rear taillights). Saved my butt a few times now, since I like to have my headlights on in the rain and forget to turn them off :oops:
1st 5er
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Post by 1st 5er »

cddallara wrote:
1st 5er wrote:Wifey left the lights on. Jumped it.
I don't know if the US LKM does this, but with my euro LKM, only the marker lights stay on if I leave the headlights on (city lights in the smileys which used to be the bumper trim lights until the euro trim went on, front corner lights, and rear taillights). Saved my butt a few times now, since I like to have my headlights on in the rain and forget to turn them off :oops:
Just the markers, same as the E28.
genzox
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Location: Winter Garden FL

Post by genzox »

I went to the junk yard and pulled the rear seats out of a 95 540 and polished them up and installed them on my e28 :D all for $36!
tsmall07
Beamter
Beamter
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Post by tsmall07 »

New pads and rotors for the 540 today. I made sure to tie up the pad sensors so I don't have to deal with them anymore. I'll get it inspected on Monday. I just need to replace a fog light bulb and I should be good.
MicahO
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Post by MicahO »

Saturday I did the first oil change on the wife's '12 Odyssey. Having spent 8+ years crawling around under her prior minivan (an '04 Nissan Quest), I have to say that the Honda seems to be FAR better put-together.

Back in early February I had to drop the various splash pans from the front of the car to replace a foglight (lost to a gravel truck on the drive back from FLA :x ). The Nissan's splash pans were thin plastic and held on by crappy pop rivets that seemed to work their way out by themselves. After it dropped on me once at 75mph, I started carrying extra rivets in the glove-box and checking it before and after every long trip. The Oddy's pans are held in by a combination of screws and sturdy rivets - I don't see the Honda's pan coming down by itself.

The oil change was the first time I really poked around underneath while the car was elevated. I was impressed with the size of the various connectors and bolts and overall quality, at least when compared to the Nissan. That was a nice suprise. Now let's hope the tranny holds up!
a
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Post by a »

R+Red the rear main seal in the Ranger, just because it was there.
1st 5er
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Post by 1st 5er »

a
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Post by a »

Put the clutch and PP on the new Fernco flywheel.
w0014170
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Location: Deep South

Post by w0014170 »

01 E430: fuel pump, filter, motor mounts, transmission mount, 12 plugs, wires, filters, fluilds & window tint replaced, new LLoyds floor mats.

400E: fender lips rolled, chassis steam cleaned, rotors, pads (ceramic), front & rear, new Bilsteins on 4 corners, sway bars upgraded to 500E pieces, resonator replaced, new wheel/tire combo (ASA Type 8, 16x8 w Michelin Pilots) from TireRack remote power for V1 installed, new LLoyd floor mats, removed UNGO & factory phone.

Shipped new tires from the TireRack to Savannah for the 535 for Little Dougs trip home to New Orleans.

300TE: washed and parked in garage for future use.

Busy week.
ldsbeaker
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Post by ldsbeaker »

It was such a beautiful afternoon that i spent it working on thr church lady's mazda. A few weeks ago, I did timing belt, tensioners, water pump, belts, and valve cover gasket. Some other crap, too. She took it on a 2k+ mile road trip and as soon as it entered MD again, started making some kind of ugly rattling in the business end of the engine. Her "mechanic" (i'm just free help) diagnosed it as a bad PS pump. She acquired one, i replaced it. Rattle persists. Watching the belt, it seemed as if the AC pulley was a little wobbly, so i bought her a non-AC belt and installed it at autozone. Rattle persists.

I hate working on this car. There isn't even a stinkin' Haynes manual for it. Compounded by her telling me her fambly's opinion of my FREE mechanical ability. (... the timing must be off ...) The timing was a PITA, i tried to set it 3 times and missed, 4th time's a charm... some things should just be kept to yourself, right?

I told her i'm not digging in again until she has a "professional opinion" that we can take to the bank.
a
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Post by a »

Got the 5 spd in Saturday. Replaced the rear U-joint and put the transfer case in. With washers, the E 28 1/2 shaft 8 mm Allen heads were perfect for bolting it up. Except for the 2 boogered bolts that were drilled and re-tapped with a 10 mm thread. Poorly spaced, it turned out. It was getting close to supper, so I used a 3/8 drill on a 4' flex shaft. to ream out the holes and used 3/8 hardware. Worked pissah!. Gotta get going. In order to preserve domestic tranquility, the tent is coming down next weekend. tomorrow is the wye pipe.
davintosh
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Post by davintosh »

Didn't do much to them, other than add another to the stable; my middle son ended his hunt for a car of his own by pulling the trigger on a '92 Miata MX5. It's not a BMW, but it is right-wheel-drive, has the proper number of pedals under the dash & 5 speeds, and is a decently solid little car. I get the feeling a second car -- as a winter driver -- might be in his future though.

Image

http://www.12thstreetautomart.com/show.aspx?vid=2079970
rmiddendorf
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Post by rmiddendorf »

davintosh wrote:Didn't do much to them, other than add another to the stable; my middle son ended his hunt for a car of his own by pulling the trigger on a '92 Miata MX5. It's not a BMW, but it is right-wheel-drive, has the proper number of pedals under the dash & 5 speeds, and is a decently solid little car. I get the feeling a second car -- as a winter driver -- might be in his future though.

Image

http://www.12thstreetautomart.com/show.aspx?vid=2079970
Looks like a good car in the pics! Miatas are fun little cars. I have two friends who have owned them- one still does and the other drove it year round.
1st 5er
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Post by 1st 5er »

Ended up showing off my Bimmer Garten to an out-of-town visitor who happens to be one of the intellectual owners of its' naming.

A couple of other locals joined us for dinner at Fox & Hounds, who's names I'll not mention, 'cause...

Crappy cell phone pic, but you get the idea.
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MicahO
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Post by MicahO »

So the wife's '59 Galaxie has been on the lift for a couple of weeks. I haven't done anything to it. I keep hoping that, with the car up in the air, I'll get inspired to go after the bad UJoints or the bad rear wheel bearing or the torn tranny extension seal or some of the other issues. Not yet.

One issue has been ride-height. Almost 3 years ago I got new front springs from MAC's and swapped them in. The front's been slightly higher than I would like ever since, and the left side is higher than the right. About 1/2" - enough to drive me nuts, though some say they don't see it (I think they are being polite, and in the case of my father-in-law, well, he's only got one eye). Last year I did get it up in the air enough to see if the spring was correctly positioned for the spring seats in the control arms, and by feeling around it appeared that things were properly aligned. I also played with the somewhat uneven swaybar endlinks, and repeatedly released and re-tightened the control arm bushings. No joy.

Last night, for no really good reason, I pulled the wheel off and stuck my head in the wheelwell. And under the spring.....in the groove for the spring seat....was that bolt I never could find.....

Image

With the weight of the car off the spring, I was able to pry it up a bit with a BF screwdriver, while my son wiggled the offending bolt free with a pick and a magnet.

:roll:

I should have looked harder when I misplaced that bolt! But maybe this one teeny victory will inspire me to get back to work on that car? Parade season IS upon us!

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waynet1
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Post by waynet1 »

Wow! She is a beauty :up:
My parents had one of those when I was about the size of the little guy in the pic :D
a
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Post by a »

Yah ,its a beauty. How are the rear springs ? Old Ford s usually drive down the road with the hood emblem higher than the trunk key bezel.
a
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Post by a »

After 3 1/2 months, the Ranger is driving again. It is a 600$ truck with at least 900$ of new parts. And waaay too much time. It is gonna have an easy life putting around town . It is far from perfect and still needs work.. How does it feel to need? It is battered little old Ford truck.. I like the 5 spd and its firm ride. Manual windows, no AC, ABS on the fritz. I have the clutch switch jumped out. with no plans to activate it. Old school. None of my previous sticks ever had one.
oldskool
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Post by oldskool »

a wrote:After 3 1/2 months, the Ranger is driving again. It is a 600$ truck with at least 900$ of new parts. And waaay too much time. It is gonna have an easy life putting around town . It is far from perfect and still needs work.. How does it feel to need? It is battered little old Ford truck.. I like the 5 spd and its firm ride. Manual windows, no AC, ABS on the fritz. I have the clutch switch jumped out. with no plans to activate it. Old school. None of my previous sticks ever had one.
Still need a key to start it?
cddallara
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Post by cddallara »

The continuing saga of the non-idling 22re:
The other day I was advised to remove and clean the ICV. So I popped the rdiator cap, pulled the various hoses, and removed/cleaned/reinstalled it.

Idle was much improved:this made me happy. :)

The following day, coming home over the Richmond Bridge, I smell coolant and have that "oh sh!t" moment. Crank the heater and pull off asap, into a deli parking lot on the frontage road.

I forgot to tighten the radiator cap after the ICV clean. :oops:

Fill the radiator, tighten the cap, jump in: stumble idle under load. After cleaning coolant out of everywhere and still having acceleration issues, I call it a day.

Today we're headed back to oakland, and over the bridge its stumbling, up and down acceleration, etc. AAA it back to ignacio where my friend discovers the plug to my TPS is half gone, and the coolant shower the day before didn't help.

Luckily, another friend had a harness with the right plug, which I promptly bought and installed.

Voila! Truck has never run better! It also got new cap/rotor/wires...

Phew! Sorry for the novel ;)
1st 5er
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Post by 1st 5er »

I prefer the movie versions. :laugh:
MicahO
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Post by MicahO »

a wrote:Yah ,its a beauty. How are the rear springs ? Old Ford s usually drive down the road with the hood emblem higher than the trunk key bezel.
The rear springs are a literal PITA. Going back to 1998 - when we rebuilt the motor and did a bunch of other work - at that time the car got new springs all around. At the time, there was not a lot of parts availability for some of the old Fords. For example, a lot of time was spent in junkyards looking at old trucks to find the right exhaust manifolds for the FE-block 352 in this thing. Anyhow, the only springs we could find for the front were for a '60 full size, which were too high. So with the 'right' springs on the back, the nose was WAY high. I put some helper springs on the rear to balance it out a bit.

From 2003 to 2007 car then sat and saw almost no miles. Then I got the 'right' springs for the front, which still seem a bit high, though the rocker panels are damn-near-level. Keep in mind that I never took the helper springs off the rear. So now that the car is up in the air, I'm thinking about another set of rear springs. PITA.
Mike W.
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Post by Mike W. »

I ran out of gas in the E12!!! :shock: I thought it was low from the last time I drove it, but it showed 3/8 on the gauge. At about mile 60 of a 70 mile round trip it started running on 5 cylinders. Hmmm, that's odd. Then 4, then 3... Crap, it still showed a quarter tank and the last I knew the light worked, and no light. So I pulled over to the side with it sort of still running, shut it off and called the wife who brought down the can of lawnmower gas. I guess it was about a gallon, took a minute to purge the lines, but it started up and ran fine. Filled up 8 or 10 miles later and it took 15.2. :shock: This is the exact same tank and sending unit and everything as an E28, but I don't know why it didn't go to empty or light the light. I may be in the market for a new sending unit/pickup. :(
Karl Grau
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Post by Karl Grau »

Micah,
Between the Galaxie and the Nixon Wagon, you are SO my hero!
w0014170
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washed and vacuum

Post by w0014170 »

ImageImage

Basically after the weekly bath and vacuum, the 01 E430 replaced the 88 535, the 93 400E was purchased by my wife new, after several poor BMW dealer experiences with her 325i.
Duke
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Location: Ormond Beach, FL

Post by Duke »

Spent the morning replacing a transfer case on a neighbors first year Jeep Grand Cherokee. 3.5 hours start to finish. The six bolts that attached it to the tranny took hours to get off due to lack of access. Had to cut and grind a 14mm wrench to get two of them off.

Not fun but done and he is very happy. His young son and dad were also with us at the Auto Craft Center on post to help out.
AlpinaE24
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Location: Arizona

Post by AlpinaE24 »

I designed this baller boost referenced fuel pump/regulator setup for my sand rail. It keeps my fuel pressure at 3.5psi at idle and 5lbs over boost, works awesome. After all my hard work the fuel pump only lasted for 15 minutes :cry:

Gotta go steal the fuel pump out of the E30 :alright: :laugh:

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Now I just need a firewall
freetoride
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Post by freetoride »

Wiped down the old bike because this is how my wife prefers to travel on her day:



IMAGE CODE - Image


The tractor is in the background so that the Vmax wont appear quite so old. :D (1990)
cddallara
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Post by cddallara »

Can you spot it?
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