MyE28.com

I swapped the diving board bumpers on my '88 E30 325is with some plastic "world bumpers". But first I had to repair, prep, and paint the used set I bought, since they were the wrong color. I do not enjoy painting. anything. at all.

End result:





-Graham

From what I can see in the photos, they came out great! nice work. Great-looking E30.

grahamular wrote:I swapped the diving board bumpers on my '88 E30 325is with some plastic "world bumpers". But first I had to repair, prep, and paint the used set I bought, since they were the wrong color. I do not enjoy painting. anything. at all.

End result:





-Graham

You have an awesome collection of cars. You also need to update your sig

davintosh wrote:Watched the X5's new owner drive it away. Happy trails, Randy!

say it isn't so...................suppoused to be arough winter you might miss the AWD sled.

Drew in NYC wrote:
You have an awesome collection of cars. You also need to update your sig

Thanks, fixed!

Looks good. I don't even like E30s, but the plastic bumpers just transform the cars. They look lean and trim with them, with the big bumpers they just look clunky. On the other hand, on E28s, they just look different, and fragile, really fragile with euro bumpers, IMO they don't transform the car. All that might be a result of how many times our old E12 was rear ended and knowing how much good the large bumpers can do, but whatever it's how I see them.

2 5's and a 7 wrote:

davintosh wrote:Watched the X5's new owner drive it away. Happy trails, Randy!

say it isn't so...................suppoused to be arough winter you might miss the AWD sled.

It's so. It went to a good home (I'll let the guilty party identify himself ) and should serve him well. I grew up driving in snow, and I'll get along fine without the AWD. The wife wanted something a bit smaller, so we're shopping for an e46, and may end up in a 325/330ix anyway.

davintosh wrote:

2 5's and a 7 wrote:

davintosh wrote:Watched the X5's new owner drive it away. Happy trails, Randy!

say it isn't so...................suppoused to be arough winter you might miss the AWD sled.

It's so. It went to a good home (I'll let the guilty party identify himself ) and should serve him well. I grew up driving in snow, and I'll get along fine without the AWD. The wife wanted something a bit smaller, so we're shopping for an e46, and may end up in a 325/330ix anyway.

Guilty as charged. I originally started out just asking Dave about his experiences and recommendations for an X5. The next thing you know I was buying his! It was a very nice ride home, if a bit hurried. Thanks Dave and tell Yvonne I loved her potato soup!

I arrived home at 4AM to a raging lake effect snow storm and the X5 just ate it up. The real story is the epic trip to Dave's. The lurid of which details are redacted.

Trey says I am a BMW snob and will not ride in anything but. Perhaps he is correct, I just don't feel like a snob though.

Walked to the Land Rover, unlocked got in, turned key, " CLUNK" ALL DARK,
got out, opened hood, found negative cable loose, whacked it with lineman's pliers, a nice lady asked "is everything ok, do you need anything" (didn't touch that one)" No Ma'am, just having a Rover moment thank you for asking", "well if you need something just ask" Got in, hit the key "CLUNK" all dark again, walked to the battery, whacked the shit out of the cable clamp, walked back hit the key WHABOOM! up and running, got out, closed the hood and heard " Nice technique, I like it" all I could do was shake the head and go home... DAMNIT GUMBY

My Honda had the same problem and it would do the no-start thing at the most inconvenient times, plus I was tired of having to reprogram the radio.

Put one of these on and no more problem.

Karl Grau wrote:My Honda had the same problem and it would do the no-start thing at the most inconvenient times, plus I was tired of having to reprogram the radio.

Put one of these on and no more problem.

I could say that's what you get for driving a Honda...

Cheaper than a new battery cable but more than the sheet metal screw I've seen some guys use.

Mike W. wrote:I could say that's what you get for driving a Honda...

Say what you want, but in 8 years it has cost me $0.00 in repairs. Oh wait, I take that back, I spent 97 cents for two battery post shims.

I sold my non e28 today. 1999 Yukon. No more tow vehicle.

Down to 3 e28s and the wife's car that doesn't count.

Karl Grau wrote:

Mike W. wrote:I could say that's what you get for driving a Honda...

Say what you want, but in 8 years it has cost me $0.00 in repairs. Oh wait, I take that back, I spent 97 cents for two battery post shims.

While shocked, I still have to wonder if that means it's been worth it or not?

Wait a minute, you've got an M5, a euro 323i, had a 911 and you've been driving a Honda for 8 years?

Dropped the squirrelwagon off at a friend's shop for a refresh.

Stumbled on my friend's one of one e34 540iT for sale and bought it.

Sleepless nights have followed.

Don't need/can't afford two cars that don't get driven.

May punt the 540 when the squirrel is done. I can't seem to come to terms with selling it.

Polished the Hooptie, replaced the cooling system, picked up head gaskets for next weeks fun and frivolity, ordered the shuttle valve assembly for banishment of the 3 amigos.
Striped off the "bling" running boards, painted the center console to match the center switch and stereo cluster, shampooed the carpets and polished the pig.
It's still just a pig, but it is a mountain goat pig, I'm fighting the urge to install 3"spring & shock kit from Australia and a warn winch, I broke down and ordered the headers and universal mandrel bent dual exhaust kit from Summit Racing, need 2 hi flow cats and It will be time for some off-road Michelins. I was going to yank the motor for the MGB but it has to wait, so much time, so many broken Land Rovers, that's a target rich environment!

Mike W. wrote:Wait a minute, you've got an M5, a euro 323i, had a 911 and you've been driving a Honda for 8 years?

Well I've been putting less than 3K miles a year on the Honda so I'm not driving it that much.
The take-home 'company car' racks up 15K plus miles a year though.

Fetched the 750iL from up yonder and brought it down next to the garage so I could charge the battery. I'm getting it ready to start the 6 speed swap. Finally.

Wow, that sounds interesting. E32 or E38?

I wasted an hour or so cleaning and relubing the sunroof tracks on my E34. Everything works great if I open the rear panel first. If I open the front first, I hear some metal on metal sliding/grinding sound and there is one spot where it will hang up if using the one-touch operation. Using the rear, it works great. I hope I don't have to take it all apart. It's orders of magnitude better than before, but I'm annoyed. Of course what difference does it make with the lifter tick, lightweight flywheel marbles and squeaky brakes?

E32. Should definitely be fun. I've been looking for a trans for about 10 years. Now I accidentally two of them.

Rob_K wrote:Fetched the 750iL from up yonder and brought it down next to the garage so I could charge the battery. I'm getting it ready to start the 6 speed swap. Finally.

Rob_K wrote:E32. Should definitely be fun. I've been looking for a trans for about 10 years. Now I accidentally two of them.

Way cool. There's a guy on BimmerBoard who did a manual conversion on a 740i a couple of years ago. Do you have all the 3rd pedal bits to make it work?

Coincidentally, I finally got around to going all the way replacing the clutch master cylinder on my e32 today. Done. Well, at least the hard parts are done. I'll finish it up tomorrow. It's a factory 5-speed, and the MC has been weeping a bit since I bought it in 2009. Procrastination is about as much of a beech as getting at the hydraulic fittings on that thing. My son & I were joking a bit about how much more difficult that job would be with a V12; it was plenty bad enough with the M30.

The worst part was the fittings; I don't think they had been cracked open since the thing rolled out of the factory in '88. I ended up pulling the far end of the hard line that was attached to the MC & pulled the whole works inside the footwell to get it separated, but by that time I had mucked up the fittings enough that I didn't want to put them back on. Thankfully I had a couple of hard lines on hand that I had bought for the e32 rear trailing arms, but didn't actually need for that job. They were a bit longer than was needed for the clutch circuit, but at that point I really didn't care; I just wanted it back together.

I've done 6 speed swaps on M60s before (5 and 7). MUCH easier since the parts are far more plentiful. In my case, my upper oil pan gasket is long gone (literally no gasket remains), and I have a hydraulic leak to the rear SLS somewhere down under the master cylinder. I'm just dropping the entire front subframe with the motor and trans so I can reseal the whole motor again and replumb the SLS stuff. Access for the clutch hydraulics should be cake at that point. I'm using an E34 pedal cluster for the 3rd pedal. The only thing I'm not 100% certain of is where the E31 shifter will end up. I'll be really surprised if it ends up in the correct location. One thing I know definitely will need attention is the driveshaft. It'll need to be shortened a bit. I'm really excited to finally get this project off center.

Rob_K wrote:I've done 6 speed swaps on M60s before (5 and 7). MUCH easier since the parts are far more plentiful. In my case, my upper oil pan gasket is long gone (literally no gasket remains), and I have a hydraulic leak to the rear SLS somewhere down under the master cylinder. I'm just dropping the entire front subframe with the motor and trans so I can reseal the whole motor again and replumb the SLS stuff. Access for the clutch hydraulics should be cake at that point. I'm using an E34 pedal cluster for the 3rd pedal. The only thing I'm not 100% certain of is where the E31 shifter will end up. I'll be really surprised if it ends up in the correct location. One thing I know definitely will need attention is the driveshaft. It'll need to be shortened a bit. I'm really excited to finally get this project off center.

Is there a build thread on this anywhere asks the owner of a 92 750iL?

rmiddendorf wrote:

Rob_K wrote:I've done 6 speed swaps on M60s before (5 and 7). MUCH easier since the parts are far more plentiful. In my case, my upper oil pan gasket is long gone (literally no gasket remains), and I have a hydraulic leak to the rear SLS somewhere down under the master cylinder. I'm just dropping the entire front subframe with the motor and trans so I can reseal the whole motor again and replumb the SLS stuff. Access for the clutch hydraulics should be cake at that point. I'm using an E34 pedal cluster for the 3rd pedal. The only thing I'm not 100% certain of is where the E31 shifter will end up. I'll be really surprised if it ends up in the correct location. One thing I know definitely will need attention is the driveshaft. It'll need to be shortened a bit. I'm really excited to finally get this project off center.

Is there a build thread on this anywhere asks the owner of a 92 750iL?

Nope. Well, not yet anyway. I usually get in a zone when I'm working on these sorts of things forgetting to take photos and notes along the way. The fact that I work by myself probably doesn't help either. I'll try to document the process best I can. I've literally been planning this for the better part of the last 10 years. I've spend countless hours/days online trying to determine if anyone has actually successfully done it in an E32. Theoretically it has, but I have yet to find confirmation of it anywhere. I know Rob Levinson did an E38, but that's all I've found to this point. The number one hurdle to achieving this is locating a trans. They simply don't exist unless you're willing to pay brand new dealer prices.

Rob_K wrote:[about the 6-speed transmission for the M70]They simply don't exist unless you're willing to pay brand new dealer prices.

I didn't even know that was an option. Truth be told my E32, although condition worthy of collecting, is actually a work truck and probably will need to stay an auto. Nothing can replace my M5 in the hobby car slot so unless I win the lotto an MT in the E32 is a pipe dream for me.

I work in a very similar manner- alone- and I like your approach. And despite the fact that people pay me a whole lot of money to tell visual stories- film, video, photo, etc. I never document my work either unless its a factual shot needed for re=assembly.

Have you considered lightening the car? If I were going to go this route I'd get rid of the power seats for one and I'd consider dumping the SLS due to complexity and weight but I never discovered a suitable solution as a replacement at the time.

My E32 is the best DD car I've ever owned. These things are amazing.