Vlad: The Zinno '87 535is

leadphut · Post by **leadphut** » Jun 25, 2013 5:43 PM

Looks good. Prefer the style 8's.

LarryM · Post by **LarryM** » Jun 25, 2013 6:51 PM

cek wrote: The 17 year old in me wishes they were 17" wheels and it was 1/2" lower. But the 46 year old in me loves driving it every day on the rough streets around here.

I think a recent article in Car & Driver, comparing the new GTI to the Focus ST summarized it well:

"Part of being an adult is knowing when not to overdo it."

bigjay973 · Post by **bigjay973** » Jun 25, 2013 7:24 PM

Now that's serious.

5280 JB · Post by **5280 JB** » Jun 25, 2013 10:49 PM

I was in Seattle all last week - was hoping to see this beauty prowling the streets. I would have pulled a "Counts Kustoms" and pulled up next to you saying "Dude, got a minute to talk about your car?"

She's looking great on the RX's.

Jim

Post by **tig** » Jul 06, 2013 5:21 PM

Dropped by a muffler shop this morning and had them take a look at the exhaust alignment. We concluded a little bracket would be the easiest fix.

The muffler/tips needed to move down away from the valance and to the right towards the gas tank. This bracket did the trick, but may be a bit too low; I might elongate the bolt hole and make it sit a little higher (closer to valance).

But much better...

The exhaust is still not straight, but fixing it would require heating and bending tubes and I got out of there without them charging me anything, so I'm declaring it good enough.

unt0uchable · Post by **unt0uchable** » Jul 06, 2013 8:36 PM

Looking good. Can't decide if I like the style 8's better or not....I like the RC's but typically in a 17 inch....hrm. Looks good still! Now I need to get to work on mine...ugh.

Post by **tig** » Jul 07, 2013 9:29 AM

unt0uchable wrote:Looking good. Can't decide if I like the style 8's better or not....I like the RC's but typically in a 17 inch....hrm. Looks good still! Now I need to get to work on mine...ugh.

I'm happy with the RXs but now they're on the car I'm even more motivated to refinish the Style 8s. I'm also eyeing those RSs for sale in SF...

I figure if my wife can have dozens of pairs of shoes, my BMW can have a few sets of wheels :-)

LarryM · Post by **LarryM** » Jul 07, 2013 8:46 PM

cek wrote:I'm also eyeing those RSs for sale in SF...

Towards the beginning of the thread when you were wheel shopping you said you hated basketweave wheels and couldn't stand cleaning them; aren't RSs considered a basketweave design?

I would have recommended RSs from the get-go; IMHO there's no finer looking wheel for 1980s bimmers (incl. E28s, E24s and E30s). Yeah, cleaning them takes some time and energy...but they're well worth it.

Post by **tig** » Jul 07, 2013 9:01 PM

LarryM wrote:
cek wrote:I'm also eyeing those RSs for sale in SF...
Towards the beginning of the thread when you were wheel shopping you said you hated basketweave wheels and couldn't stand cleaning them; aren't RSs considered a basketweave design?

I would have recommended RSs from the get-go; IMHO there's no finer looking wheel for 1980s bimmers (incl. E28s, E24s and E30s). Yeah, cleaning them takes some time and energy...but they're well worth it.

This car is the first car I've owned with brake pads that hardly make any dust. The reason I hated the basletweaves on my 95 540iA was they dusted so bad, so frequently, that I was ALWAYS washing them. Until this car, I never considered you wouldn't have to clean them.constantly.

Also, my plan would be to make the centers black with polished rims.

Note I've also changed my mind on the Style 8s. I like them alot now, and will be very happy having them on the car with winter tires...probably for more of the year than the summer tires.

LarryM · Post by **LarryM** » Jul 07, 2013 9:08 PM

I know what you mean. Soon after buying my 6er in 1997 I installed Pagid pads and couldn't believe what a mess they made. I'd never be able to stand them with the RSs or just about any other wheel for that matter. Since swapping them for PBRs I've never looked back.

leadphut · Post by **leadphut** » Jul 08, 2013 11:15 AM

Not sure if you've tried this, but waxing your rims will help keep dust from sticking.

Mab1957 · Post by **Mab1957** » Jul 09, 2013 8:39 PM

cek wrote:The driver's seat rocks backwards & forward and squeaks when I drive. Very annoying.

Since I had my son helping today (strong back and all that) I had him help me pull it from the car so we could see if we could tighten it up somehow.

Sadly, it just appears to be old/worn as most of the play is coming from joints like where my son is pointing in this pic. We could not find any obvious location where something could be tightened down.

Anyone have any experience tightening these things up?

This may accelerate my search for a set of E34 sport seats...

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=97 ... sc&start=0

I've not advanced on a solution this since this time. My recommendation is another seat for tight parts. Look at all the pivot and hinge points.

Post by **tig** » Jul 29, 2013 2:16 AM

Mab1957 wrote: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=97 ... sc&start=0

I've not advanced on a solution this since this time. My recommendation is another seat for tight parts. Look at all the pivot and hinge points.

Thanks, interesting read.

I'm hunting for a pair of E34 Sport seats...

Post by **tig** » Jul 29, 2013 2:17 AM

Some eye-candy of Vlad from the 2013 BMW Seattle Concours today:

OcCoupe · Post by **OcCoupe** » Jul 29, 2013 3:13 PM

Vlad is looking great!

Post by **tig** » Jul 29, 2013 4:09 PM

OcCoupe wrote:Vlad is looking great!

Driving great too! I grin ear to ear all the time.

I have four annoying items that I need to fix, but besides those, everything I want to do to Vlad is cosmetic/eye-candy.

1) The voltage drop that causes my radar detector (radio circuit) to reboot and the OBC to dim (different circuit) upon application of brakes, turn signals, headlights.
2) The rough, surging idle with occasional stall.
3) Starter fails to engage about 25% of the time.
4) The driver's seat is loosey-goosey.

#2 and #3 will be fixed with the B35 transplant.

#1 is annoying the hell out of me.

I'm going to start a dedicated thread for #1 once I have a chance to be able to really spend some time in the garage. For those who want to start giving advice, just know this: I've searched the forums ad-nausea on the subject and the PO spent a HUGE amount of time trying to fix this, replacing tons of shit from the brake light switch to relays. He never made a dent.

On #2, I've done enough diagnostics myself to know that it is most likely a vacuum leak I can't find myself. I plan on going by a local shop and having them smoke it.

#3 will only get addressed if the starter completely fails before the B35 is ready. In which case I will bite the bullet and put the new starter in.

#4 will be fixed with that pair of E34 Sport seats someone on this forum is going to sell me.

OcCoupe · Post by **OcCoupe** » Jul 29, 2013 4:15 PM

Just out of curiosity, on issue #1 is this also accompanied by the temp gauge reading hotter than it should? I was having similar problems as you are with the addition of every time I turned on another system the temp gauge would read hotter. By the time I had the headlights, radio, and A/C on the gauge made it look like I was about to overheat. It turned out the ground strap from the valve cover to the firewall was not well fastened. The problems went away when I re tightened.

Post by **tig** » Jul 29, 2013 4:52 PM

OcCoupe wrote:Just out of curiosity, on issue #1 is this also accompanied by the temp gauge reading hotter than it should? I was having similar problems as you are with the addition of every time I turned on another system the temp gauge would read hotter. By the time I had the headlights, radio, and A/C on the gauge made it look like I was about to overheat. It turned out the ground strap from the valve cover to the firewall was not well fastened. The problems went away when I re tightened.

Haven't noticed that, but will take a look asap. I will say that the only things that cause the OBC to dim seem to be light related (headlights, brakes, turn indicators, hazards). AC, fans, windows, seats, etc... have no effect.

unt0uchable · Post by **unt0uchable** » Jul 29, 2013 4:52 PM

I had a similar voltage drop issue on my 88 535is that I recently sold. Although mine was a little different.

When I would start the car, the ABS and Battery light would illuminate (this didn't start happening until I had a regulator go bad on the alternator, though it continued to happen after replacing it with a brand new one from Blunt). I got in the habit of revving the car slightly to get the alternator spun up and thus putting the lights out as well. I found that if I hit the brake pedal to turn off the check light BEFORE revving it, it would cut the radio out for a moment and then restart. I found that it wouldn't do it thought if I revved, then hit the brakes. I never got a chance to dive into the issue but I have a feeling my issue was either charging system related or cluster related. In fact, now that I come to think about it, I replaced my bulbs in my cluster with LED's and I wonder if that was causing my voltage drop. I'm not too keen on how LED's drop voltage as opposed to incandescent but I wonder if somehow that was causing some resistance in my charging circuit....Anyway, good luck with hunting it down! I'll be glad to see if you solve the issue!

PS: Vlad is looking stunning, and it's good to hear he's driving well too! I really need to get my but to work on car. I'm missing the e28 driving experience (auto trans or not, bleh).

alpinamotorsport · Post by **alpinamotorsport** » Jul 30, 2013 8:21 AM

read the whole thread. here are my notes:

1. Amazing car.
2. Amazing thread.
3. Awesome attention to detail. Welcome to the "I put way more money into my car than it will ever be worth club." I'm the president!
4. Don't drive Vlad in the winter--get a beater for that.
5. Vlad sucks--it needs a better name.
6. New wheels are stunning!
7. Luke warm on the shadowline--still thinking about it.
8. Stance is perfect...well executed!
9. Keep up the good work--that car is lucky as hell to fall into the hands of a steward like you.

Post by **tig** » Jul 30, 2013 11:23 AM

alpinamotorsport wrote:read the whole thread. here are my notes:

1. Amazing car.
2. Amazing thread.
3. Awesome attention to detail. Welcome to the "I put way more money into my car than it will ever be worth club." I'm the president!
4. Don't drive Vlad in the winter--get a beater for that.
5. Vlad sucks--it needs a better name.
6. New wheels are stunning!
7. Luke warm on the shadowline--still thinking about it.
8. Stance is perfect...well executed!
9. Keep up the good work--that car is lucky as hell to fall into the hands of a steward like you.

Haha. Thanks.

On #4 - no way. I plan on putting winter tires on the Style 8s!

Kyle in NO · Post by **Kyle in NO** » Jul 31, 2013 12:21 AM

Start by removing the radar detector power source from the radio circuit. It will probably help things.

leadphut · Post by **leadphut** » Aug 03, 2013 12:51 PM

Have you ruled out the teeth around the flywheel for the starter not engaging?

Post by **tig** » Aug 03, 2013 1:17 PM

leadphut wrote:Have you ruled out the teeth around the flywheel for the starter not engaging?

Nope.

Post by **tig** » Aug 06, 2013 11:15 AM

cek wrote: 2) The rough, surging idle with occasional stall.

On #2, I've done enough diagnostics myself to know that it is most likely a vacuum leak I can't find myself. I plan on going by a local shop and having them smoke it.

FWIW, here's a video of the occasional stall in action. In this case (around 25 seconds in) it's a partial stall. Sometimes (rarely) the car stalls completely, which can be a bit embarrassing at a stop light :-).

You've described my idle gremlin precisely, except when it stalls mine seems to be more subtle than yours (e.g. it just barely dies). I've done everything suggested here except try a new ECU. My next step is to get a smoke test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hTHlN1g ... e=youtu.be

The only diagnostics I have not yet done are swap out the ECU and a smoke test.

MyE28.com

MyE28.com

Vlad: The Zinno '87 535is