Not Vlad, and not bad either!- My first E28

[unknXwn]

Let me start by saying I never knew about "Vlad: The Zinno '87 535is" til after I had already committed to the following. I merely want to share a similar story/adventure that I just partook in a few weeks ago. Link to Vlad: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=115049

History:
I've only ever owned BMWs, not many though, as I'm only on my 3rd, but I guess buying my wife's '03 325Xi counts as a 4th.
-1990 535iA - white over beige - first car, had for a few years, chassis was a rusty leaky heap, but the M30 was a beast.
-2004 330CiA sport, japanrot over grey - had for 5 years. beautiful, but yearned for a manual, and throttle cable again, and non-grey/beige interior

At some point this year, the opportunity finally presented itself for me to be able to look for a "new" car. I had sold my wife's 325xi, and my 330Ci, and was bumming rides in the family SUV to get to/from work. I only had the funds from the 330ci to work with, as the Xi went into bills/debt. We were doing the tax-refund-hustle.

Requirements:
-manual before I turn 30, because I call myself a car guy.
-sedan (because two kids)
-non-grey/beige interior, preferably black [because grey is for American cars, it is the color of misery]
-non-white exterior, preferably red [white is clean...when it's clean, but I live in NJ and this car will be my DD]
-sport package a plus [because my friends are all a bunch of picky BMW guys that somehow get the best deals and sport models, and they don't have families to pour money into so they can do whatever they want when they want to get the car they really want] (next breath)

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I searched and searched, and did not find what I wanted, then my friend suggested I search the "deep south" (I'm in NJ), and I thought he was crazy, til I saw a one-way flight to Charlotte, SC for $20. Yes, $20. So, that got me thinking that it could be possible. I searched as far as 1250 miles if I recall. Found a lachssilber over schwarz 1987 535is with a 5-speed, just 40 min north of New Orleans. Yay. Found a flight for Cinco de Mayo '17, convinced the wife to let me go do this crazy car-guy thing/rite-of-passed. Booked it; loaded 35lbs worth of tools and a rag in my suitcase; had my mom come over the night before so she could drive with me to the airport at 3am, because 5:20am flight. I was nervous about the trip every time I thought about it, til D-Day. Come 3am, the alarm went off and it was go time.

Flew down by myself. It was great to be out on my own again. Haven't flown by myself since '07. Layover in Charlotte coincidentally, which I barely made it to my gate in time.

Convinced the seller to pick me up at the MSY airport, saving me a $75 Uber during Jazz Week, so I was stoked.

We drove over the longest bridge in America to get to his shop. It was endless. As a random note while it's in my head, the idle was pretty chaotic, though the tach rocked steady. It had an exhaust least just prior to the O2 sensor, in the cat[less] area. I later found out that it has a reground 292 cam in it, along with all the associated internal upper goodies.

He took me to his favorite diner for breakfast because I was famished. I actually didn't have a "po-boy", or "bin-yay's" while I was down there, against advisement because it wasn't in the cards. The now-PO owned a small man-cave garage which he turned into a shop months prior to my arrival, and LLC'ed his new biz and things were on the up and up for him: Northshore Motorworks in Mandeville, LA.

After breakfast, I hopped in for my first turn at the wheel. Half a crank and the car came alive with such energy and enthusiasm that my 330Ci never expressed. But it was a familiar feeling, being that my first love was the B35. The "Check" light blinked. Anti-Lock light was on. OK, who needs ABS? Pff, only sissies. "This is my safety, sir" - brake modulation, that is.

Car was great, the PPI which I had studied prior to committing to this escapade showed a severe lack of rust, and it was quite apparent that held true as we put the 5er on a lift and proceeded to examine the undercarriage. Leaks here and there, new bushings, new exhaust [post catless section] and a separate rear M tech bumper which I still have to get shipped to me from the PO, as I didn't want it in the car for the trip. Stupid of me. He tossed an extra quart of all the fluids he thought I might need for my 1400-mile journey. Yes, I searched within 1250 miles, but took a nice custom route home because after all, when was the next time I'd get the chance? Mandeville is actually 1239 miles from my town, so right on the cusp of that search radius.

Got the title notarized by some dude that chuckled and wished me luck when he heard of the trip I had ahead of me, with my old 535i plate now bolted on the rear as I had no other recourse. The PO turned in his antique LA plate. I would have liked to keep that for the story. Got in the car, "well this is it", and fired up my custom route, and it said something like 23 hours drive. I zipped out of LA, into Mississippi, into Alabama where I met up with biz friends at SPEC Clutches in Bessemer. I talked with Matt over there for a half hour about the Viper ACR he has....and yet he met me at a CVS after he left work, in a red '94 Civic hatch. I asked him to meet me there because I was super tired from the long day and headache from the plane travel. Good guy. It was raining btw, and the wipers were garbage and at no point did it occur to me, esp when I was at the CVS, to walk over to the parts store for new wipers. Dum dum. Zipped in to Atlanta because I thought it would be nice to stop at the Spartanburg BMW factory, but they're not resuming tours til 2018, and I didn't want to go there just for the museum, so after my late night clover in Atlanta, barking that 1st gear exhaust leak off the skyscrapers, and dropping $30 on 15 minutes worth of [top floor photoshoots] parking garage activity, I found my hotel in Duluth, GA. This was after I specifically did what Matt told me not to do, and that was take I-85, because it led me into a few miles of bumper to bumper. Clutch in, clutch out. rinse. repeat. Idiot. Oh, and I booked it on the hotels.com app and 40 min later, I got there, and had to wait another hour in the lobby while the hotel rep spoke on the phone with the hotels.com rep about why I was not in the system, etc. Got into my room at midnight.

The next morning was wonderful. Refreshed. I woke up with a change in plans. I checked the radar, and saw a large plot of rain heading southeast towards eastern Tennessee..but judging by my expert meteorological [high school class] skills, it wouldn't be there for about 3.5 hours. You know what's in eastern TN? US-129, aka The Tail of the Dragon. Time for a proper shakedown, I thought, and decided to race the storm to the dragon. Popped the hood, checked fluids, and to my surprise, everything was fine. I swapped out some fuses in hopes of restoring my heat [to the front facing vents], but it didn't work. It was in the mid-high 50's down that morning, and since I didn't know how to change the units on my OBC, I just knew that 15 degrees Celsius was nice, and 7 celsius was [friggin] cold, based on the drive up til that point. I headed north now, up SR 23 to 28 in North Carolina [which is glorious], and connecting to the end of the tail, US129, Deal's Gap.

Here's the exact route, if anyone is curious: https://goo.gl/maps/29LSfhQv9no

The Tail of the Dragon: On the way up, I did hit a couple spots that had me worried, as it started to drizzle, then went away. By the time I got to the resort, and the Killboy fan club hangout etc, it was a gorgeous partly cloudy climate. I bought a decal for my 1/4 panel window, a cheesy sign that said Bimmer vs Dragon, and found a bearded fellow named Conner to take my photo in front of the building, and in return I snapped his in front of the metal dragon they had there.
I shot off to tackle the black dragon in the woods. Mind you, I had done this before. My 330Ci had been down and back up the dragon back in 2012, but this was a one-way, reverse dragon for me. I came in pretty hot to the first turn, and went to hit the brakes, and--oh wait, what the heck?! Do something!!! The pedal was stiff, and the car was careening towards certain doom. I pushed harder and it eventually gave way and did its job. So that was scary. I proceeded to check my brakes a few times after that, and got the feel for how it reacts to sudden brake input. Yes, I know now that I need to replace my brake bomb. But, this and no ABS didn't stop me from giving it a proper hooning, chirping tires and one slight tire lockup. It was the ride of a lifetime.

After that, I had a permanent grin on my face, wishing I hadn't sold my GoPro a year ago, and I was on my way to certain boredom on I-81, through what always feels like the longest stretch ever, Virginia.

Anyway, I had no issues except I noticed that I killed my front shocks, as they were hitting very hard over subtle bumps by the time I got to Maryland. And, I noticed that I had hit zero tolls til I got to Maryland, DE, NJ. I bet the people down south have never heard of the term before. And I accidentally discovered this thing called the EZ-Pass Expressway somewhere around Delaware. I don't have EZ Pass, so I did what any guy who doesn't have ez pass does when they realize the folly of their follies: WOT. I must've blasted at least 4 of those EZ overPasses doing speeds I can't even begin to imply in writing. Let's just say I ran 4th all the way out and kept going. This story wouldn't be complete without the inclusion of the part where numerous hotshots I ran into roped me into cat and mouse games at speeds where I just refer to the aforementioned.

Got home after trying to find a way around the worst road that leads into town, but had to give in after nearly driving into a military gate at 10:30pm. No disturbing noises from the now-dissipating engine bay. I feel like my M54 would always make noises after long trips that would drive my OCD a little crazy.

Said hi to the wife and had dinner.

Thanks for reading. May post more as I restore her/him to his/her former glory. Not sure yet what to name it, if anything. I bounced a name off the wife and she laughed, so back to the drawing board.

PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/GLs8VDHBYcnZY4k66

[leadphut]

Vlad?


Love the enthusiasm. These cars deserve it.

Keep posting!

[Somjuan]

Great story! That's the biggest shakedown run I've heard of

[waynet1]

Wait a minute.........
You live in New Jersey and you've never heard of EZ Pass ?? I think NJ invented the damn thing .

[unknXwn]

Wait a minute.........
You live in New Jersey and you've never heard of EZ Pass ?? I think NJ invented the damn thing .

LOL. Maybe I didn't express my EZ pass experience properly. I never knew about the EZ Pass expressway. We don't have those in my 'hood nor have I ever come across them. Normally there's a row of toll booths and to the side of them sometimes you can skip the booths for EZ Pass, but we don't have dedicated strips of highway for EZ Pass that I've encountered. At some point, the GPS route got confusing and I ended up following it down the EZ expressway. Not proud of that, so let's let it be.

Glad you enjoyed the read.

[unknXwn]

Vlad?


Love the enthusiasm. These cars deserve it.

Keep posting!

Yeah man, Vlad! The story from 2013 that I linked in the first paragraph! Check it out. Glad you enjoyed the read.

[demetk]

Nice story unknXwn.

But you bought a car with a big dent in the door?

And you drove through Alabama? Have you never seen My Cousin Vinny?

[leadphut]

Fake news.

[oldskool]

What? There's fake news??

[bkbimmer]

Congrats on the purchase.

[tig]

Fake news.

True dat.

OP: Congrats and well done. Keep it up.

[Tammer in Philly]

No heat from the forward-facing dash vents is not a failure; it's a feature.

Welcome to E28-hood.

[Mat & Pat]

No heat from the forward-facing dash vents is not a failure; it's a feature.

Welcome to E28-hood.

Fresh air to breathe from the middle vents, lower and top vents keep you warm. It's a great setup.

Thanks for the great story and amazing photos by the way! Sounds like a dream journey. Bet you had quite the adrenaline rush at the Tail of the Dragon when you had to discover the brakes for a bit.

[davintosh]

No heat from the forward-facing dash vents is not a failure; it's a feature.

Welcome to E28-hood.

Fresh air to breathe from the middle vents, lower and top vents keep you warm. It's a great setup.

It really does work well when you know how it works. Here's a diagram that helps in understanding it:



And a thread that helps as well: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=137078

Thanks for the great story and amazing photos by the way! Sounds like a dream journey. Bet you had quite the adrenaline rush at the Tail of the Dragon when you had to discover the brakes for a bit.

Ditto. Great story; thanks for sharing!

[unknXwn]

No heat from the forward-facing dash vents is not a failure; it's a feature.

Welcome to E28-hood.

Fresh air to breathe from the middle vents, lower and top vents keep you warm. It's a great setup.

It really does work well when you know how it works. Here's a diagram that helps in understanding it:

And a thread that helps as well: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=137078

Thanks for the great story and amazing photos by the way! Sounds like a dream journey. Bet you had quite the adrenaline rush at the Tail of the Dragon when you had to discover the brakes for a bit.

Ditto. Great story; thanks for sharing!

Yes, I researched this "feature" after I got back home. I had asked a previous E28 owner about it and they swore that theirs blew hot through the front vents so they didn't believe me, but it's ok. I often tell my occupants that the E28 was built on a lean spartan idealogy. Keep the windshield warm and clear, keep the pedal area warm so the feet stay flexible, but keep the face cool for sake of alertness. The dash area where you can place a few things is just out of reach because the idea is you should not have distractions within reach, and there's no armrest because your hands shouldn't leave 9 and 3, because driver's car. Something to that effect.

My power seats on the other hand, have been a handful. I've been manually sliding the driver seat forward with a bit attached to a drill when I want to bring the kids with me somewhere, and the back doesn't go up/forward I think because someone was screwing with the gears on one side. I wish they were manual seats.

[Sapotorito]

It's a nice feeling getting home after a long road trip without any major issues driving a 30 year old car you have never driven and for that matter no idea how it will behave.. Uncertainty definitely takes a toll on you at first but the closer you get to your destination the more it diminishes of course. My drive was almost half of yours (750 approx) but can definitely relate...

Nice ride, thanks for sharing!

[Dale3783]

No heat from the forward-facing dash vents is not a failure; it's a feature.

Welcome to E28-hood.

Fresh air to breathe from the middle vents, lower and top vents keep you warm. It's a great setup.

It really does work well when you know how it works. Here's a diagram that helps in understanding it:

And a thread that helps as well: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=137078

Thanks for the great story and amazing photos by the way! Sounds like a dream journey. Bet you had quite the adrenaline rush at the Tail of the Dragon when you had to discover the brakes for a bit.

Ditto. Great story; thanks for sharing!

Yes, I researched this "feature" after I got back home. I had asked a previous E28 owner about it and they swore that theirs blew hot through the front vents so they didn't believe me, but it's ok. I often tell my occupants that the E28 was built on a lean spartan idealogy. Keep the windshield warm and clear, keep the pedal area warm so the feet stay flexible, but keep the face cool for sake of alertness. The dash area where you can place a few things is just out of reach because the idea is you should not have distractions within reach, and there's no armrest because your hands shouldn't leave 9 and 3, because driver's car. Something to that effect.

My power seats on the other hand, have been a handful. I've been manually sliding the driver seat forward with a bit attached to a drill when I want to bring the kids with me somewhere, and the back doesn't go up/forward I think because someone was screwing with the gears on one side. I wish they were manual seats.

Nothing like driving with flexible feet.

[unknXwn]

Slave cylinder went out last week; I discovered it when I got out to the car to leave for work, and couldn't get into gear, had to get a ride with the family.
Ordered ATE Typ 200 fluid and an ATE slave cylinder; bleeding the system was a trick. First time replacing a slave cylinder, and bleeding a system by myself. My wife was busy with the kids for all but 20 minutes.

Anyway, got it done by 8pm this past sunday, just in time for work.

It's a nice feeling getting home after a long road trip without any major issues driving a 30 year old car you have never driven and for that matter no idea how it will behave.. Uncertainty definitely takes a toll on you at first but the closer you get to your destination the more it diminishes of course. My drive was almost half of yours (750 approx) but can definitely relate...

Nice ride, thanks for sharing!

Yeah man. The drive time flew, and I'm surprised it's been 1 month as of yesterday, that I've had the car. Today is one month since I've been home in it. Good stuff.

[unknXwn]

My 5er is a rain or shine or snow...or hellfire-kind of car. Just replaced the battery under warranty after the uber-cold weeks killed it a few weeks ago.

[a]

Hie thee to a Harbor Freight and buy a 4.99$ Battery maintainer. Great read!

[Foonfer]

Great read, it seems you landed yourself an unforgettable ride and a solid car.

If you want to enjoy it for many years and you are in NJ, I have some pieces of advice: 1. Watch out for rust and salty roads in winter - The way rust can eat these cars away is NOT FUNNY, it is SERIOUS. 2. Get acquainted with a gentleman named Levent and his shop Guten Parts in South Orange. 3. This website just rocks. Find anything you want with the search function or ask around. Good luck!

[unknXwn]

Great read, it seems you landed yourself an unforgettable ride and a solid car.

If you want to enjoy it for many years and you are in NJ, I have some pieces of advice: 1. Watch out for rust and salty roads in winter - The way rust can eat these cars away is NOT FUNNY, it is SERIOUS. 2. Get acquainted with a gentleman named Levent and his shop Guten Parts in South Orange. 3. This website just rocks. Find anything you want with the search function or ask around. Good luck!

I agree, thank you for your advice.

So, a few updates for 2018:

- I finally bought a bunch of engine bay parts like: gaskets, thermostat, water pump, belts, distrib cap & rotor, NGK plugs, seals, new sealed high beams, brake bomb, etc.

- Been sitting on aforementioned parts for a couple weeks while I find the days to do it, and because I had to gut the XC90 we have, so I could fix the sunroof drains and clean/dry the carpet foam, ugh. During this time, the 535is decided to stop firing, so I figured now was as good a time as any to install the ignition parts I had. I installed Nology 8.5mm wires along with the NGK iridium plugs, Bosch cap & rotor, and a main belt. Apparently fried a relay or three when I did the wires, maybe because they were individually grounded..? I removed the grounds, and ordered relays from BavAuto.

- I had another interview with a BMW dealer, yesterday and after coming back from the interview, I grabbed my relays from the mailbox, installed em and got her fired up again. Felt great to go on a late night drive with her last night. Still got some tweaking to do on smooth[er] power delivery, but getting there. She was down for a week, but it felt like a month. Woulda been only a few days if I had selected UPS for my relay order.

- I entered the BavAuto photo contest and became a finalist with this photo:
It Lurks by Ryan Corneliusen, on Flickr

[tig]

Schweeet.

[boomslack]

I did something similar actually at the end of April in a new-to-me '86 535i myself . . . my goodness, those m30s just love to keep going. Once you pass 4k on the RPM, they beg to keep pulling.

[Mike W.]

. . . my goodness, those m30s just love to keep going. Once you pass 4k on the RPM, they beg to keep pulling.

Exactly, I posted about that one time. At 3K they sound like of busy, at 4K they just start humming along happy as can be.