MyE28.com

I'm back after a long absence due to shoulder surgery, and my wife's project making it to the top of the list. This is what I've been busy working on in place of Maeve. Deer around here are pests. Cute and destructive to plants, so the need for a fenced in garden area. I'm almost finished with her project, and then back to Maeve.

starting back in on the HVAC system. New parts etc, and probably the AC Solutions Sanden kit too. But here is where I get stumped, finding a list/diagram showing all the parts in the HVAC system. Real OEM helps, but when you get down to O-rings and small parts, real OEM is not always helpful.

I'm trying to spec thesis three o-rings that are part of the expansion valve installation. Any here with a list or hyperlink?

starting to make progress again.
I have to say, with all the discussion about whose seat covers to use (GAHH, zoom zoom, etc) I am happy with zoomzoom off of eBay. I emailed Steven about headrest covers, and he suggested I mail him the headrests and he would make the covers and install them. Mail them there, he mails them back, and this is what I received in the mail yesterday, front and back that came with the car.

not perfect, but plenty nice for a daily driver. I'm starting on the sport seats this weekend after I got an estimate of $2000 for a local shop to install the new seat covers. Seemed a little high.

gwb72tii wrote: Jul 21, 2023 11:58 AM I got an estimate of $2000 for a local shop to install the new seat covers. Seemed a little high.

I don't know prices for this work. I do recall decades ago the San Diego area had new leather installed in an M5 or something for maybe 1500 but included the rear seats. Believe there was some cross-border connection to keep the price low. Maybe your quote is close to the new price, especially in the more expensive places to live in the US.

alas I think you're correct, shadow man

Finally, back at it.
Started reassembly of my AC box, with a new evaporator and expansion valve, complete with new o-rings (thanks Mike W).

new o-rings assembled with Nylog Blue


old o-rings cross sections weren't "O" shaped any longer


removing this clip is harder than it could be, but necessary



re-insulated the pipe coming out of the expansion valve


with this


amazing how fragile the cooling vanes on the evaporator are. I spent about 20 minutes with a small flat head screw driver straightening them.

most of you know all this stuff but I'm adding pics and descriptions for future noobs to the e28 like me

Good news, bad news.

Good news is my wife's garden shed is almost done.
Bad news is it's not done, and for some reason my wife believes her shed takes precedence over working on Maeve. Go figure!

But I did get a couple things done later this afternoon.

First, I reinstalled the trunk lid cover and tool box. Maeve came with a complete set of tools!


Then I removed the left rear wheel to get a better look at the brakes and suspension bits. Look what I found:
Not one, but two spacers


Together they measured 0.244" thick, or 6.2mm. I will be the first to admit confusion here. My wheel is 8x16 et15 (I thought it was et20), which effectively adjusts the offset to ET8.8! On the drive north from Mesa, AZ I never noticed any rubbing, and the tire shows nothing either.



Here is the right rear side, with a 10mm spacer adjusting the wheel to et23! My car should have looked a little off center for those that followed me on I5 north.


I have been curious about the shocks and HR springs on Maeve. Turns out the shocks are Bilstein sport shocks, which is good. The H&R springs are spec'd to an e28 also so looks like I'm good to go if the shocks are good. My problem is unknown mileage on the springs and shocks. Kohler mentioned some time back that H&R hasn't made black springs for some time.

This came in the mail yesterday, from reyno in Latvia. Maeve came with the same Mtech 1 wheel but after years in the AZ sun it is dried out and the sewing threads are coming undone. Sils (reyno) does really nice work and I could not be happier.

Looks great - thanks for not adding a boy racer stripe at 12:00 to it!

John in VA wrote: Sep 23, 2023 6:55 PM Looks great - thanks for not adding a boy racer stripe at 12:00 to it!

I feel attacked!

Good job gwb. Happy to see some progress!

Looks great! Thank you for keeping us updated. I am anxiously waiting to see her when you finish.

Yes, thanks. Up here in the great Pacific Northwest we’ve had an epic summer with 80* days and I think only two days of light rain. Until now.
As the saying goes, someone threw the switch from summer to fall, and now the high temps are in the low 60’s and it’s been raining for the past week. My wife’s garden shed was number 1, and frankly playing golf sounded better than working in the garage. So the motivation has been lacking somewhat. But the MM motor should be here in January so the push is on now to get the car ready.

Starting the reupholstery of my front and rear seats.

35 year old rear seat. Actually in pretty good shape other than faded and a little discolored.


Here you can see the difference between a newly recovered headrest and the seat:


Bending up the sharp pointed ears that hold the leather skin in place:


Here you can see the dried out horsehair pad. I'm going to need to replace it with either foam or rubberized horsehair:


And here you can see some of the dust from disintegrating old dried out horsehair:

Is mixing original horsehair and foam or rubberized horsehair an option? I ask because I've read that the original stuff has a smell and feel that new padding can never offer.

All, is there any truth to the latter?

Years ago, in my 2002, I added a layer of carpet to the bottom of the horsehair seat pad to help keep it from being destroyed by the springs. With the cost of the gummihaar pads many have resorted to multiple layers & densities of foam sculpted & glued together to fill out the seat cover but the formed pads do the best job.

Mdreamer wrote: Oct 03, 2023 11:05 PM I ask because I've read that the original stuff has a smell and feel that new padding can never offer.

All, is there any truth to the latter?

I feel there is truth. I re upholstered the front seats and the smell has never been as intense as it once was. I've always thought it was the loss of the horse hair padding. Maybe I'll get some horse hair from etsy and put it under the seats. I just tried a goodle search and came up with this, but the link is broken:

finkbuilt.com
› blog › bmw-2002-seat-covers
January 29, 2006 - I’ts a very complex, sort of musty but not unpleasant aroma, somewhat organic and entirely automotive. You smell it when you first get into an old VW, Mercedes or BMW, most noticeably on a warm day after the windows have been rolled up for a while. One of the primary contributors to that distinctive smell, is the horsehair padding that was used in the seat cushions in these old cars...

Thanks to my friends over at bmw2002faq.com for the thread on reupholstering seats.
I've ordered 2 rolls of the 2x24x72 so I can do both the bottom and seat back rear seats.
https://www.onlinefabricstore.com/produ ... =affiliate
plus natural burlap to lay down over the springs to limit damage to the pad:
https://www.onlinefabricstore.com/natur ... abric-.htm

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic ... -hair-pad/

I continue to run across surprising things when working on Maeve. From common things like dried out rubber bits, missing fasteners etc.

And then things like this:
I'm starting to get everything disassembled in the engine bay so I can remove the motor/tranny in a few weeks. Took off the air cleaner/air flow sensor only to find the bottom open to the atmosphere. I'm pretty sure it should have a cover, no?

Please advise.

I'm also realizing that I have a LOT of work to do before Maeve is on the road. Much more than just swapping motors.
I'm not someone to do something half way, so when the motor is out it's time to replace the firewall shielding with something else. Multiplied by 10 with other areas of the car and my goal is to have my car on the road sometime in late spring. I still have a day job so my time is limited to a degree.

ugh...

I will get her completed and drive her for a long time. But after Maeve, my 2002tii is going to be completely disassembled and repainted after I mashed in her passenger side. Smaller car, I know everything about the car, no computers etc. Straightforward. But a lot of work too. So my spare time is pretty much spoken for over the next three years. I'm going to be 70 this January and will move to other things in life when I turn 73, so with a little perserverence both my cars will be ready by then.

Then I'm going to buy my dream car, a Citroen 2CV

gwb72tii wrote: Oct 05, 2023 8:52 PM I continue to run across surprising things when working on Maeve. From common things like dried out rubber bits, missing fasteners etc.

And then things like this:
I'm starting to get everything disassembled in the engine bay so I can remove the motor/tranny in a few weeks. Took off the air cleaner/air flow sensor only to find the bottom open to the atmosphere. I'm pretty sure it should have a cover, no?

Please advise.

Yeah there's supposed to be a cover. Normally it's glued on at factory, but you need to take it off to adjust the wiper if the track is wearing

gwb72tii wrote: Oct 05, 2023 8:52 PM Took off the air cleaner/air flow sensor only to find the bottom open to the atmosphere. I'm pretty sure it should have a cover, no?

Please advise.

Should be able to source a cover here.
I'd offer but I don't have one that's not attached to the AFM.

A little progress, and one step back.

I finally received from ECS the necessary parts to install the knee trim mouldings. For once, German engineers made it simple:
this is an ingenious seal that pushes onto the threaded stud that locates the front of the rear door trim. It pushes into the clearance hole for the stud and is pulled tight against the door when you tighten the nut, sealing the opening against water intrusion:


here it is on the stud:


I also recieved this, the trunk seal from the infamous URO.


I have to say it fits perfectly:


One step back. I'm having a problem in how to orient the rear euro bumper brackets so the bumper is located correctly:


This is not how it is supposed to be:


Anybody know the proper way to orient the brackets? I have a question posted under "Tech Talk".
These are the brackets:
https://e28goodies.com/product/rear-eur ... stainless/

gwb72tii wrote: Oct 30, 2023 7:57 PM

One step back. I'm having a problem in how to orient the rear euro bumper brackets so the bumper is located correctly:

Anybody know the proper way to orient the brackets? I have a question posted under "Tech Talk".
These are the brackets:
https://e28goodies.com/product/rear-eur ... stainless/

This was properly answered in your other thread but here is the answer from realoem showing the brackets installed horizontally. Not that realoem is the best place to find orientation of parts. But in this case it works.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=51_0697

Blue Shadow wrote: Oct 31, 2023 3:47 PM

gwb72tii wrote: Oct 30, 2023 7:57 PM

One step back. I'm having a problem in how to orient the rear euro bumper brackets so the bumper is located correctly:

Anybody know the proper way to orient the brackets? I have a question posted under "Tech Talk".
These are the brackets:
https://e28goodies.com/product/rear-eur ... stainless/

This was properly answered in your other thread but here is the answer from realoem showing the brackets installed horizontally. Not that realoem is the best place to find orientation of parts. But in this case it works.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=51_0697

well sort of blue man

the issue is there is a proper left/right bracket because of how the bend of the bracket where it sits on the rear valance is not at 90*. That means there is an inherent angle to the bracket depending on which side you mount it, up or down.

my problem is neither way seems to be correct as it's either too low or too high.

my brackets do not seem to be damaged etc, so I'm still at a loss as to how to attach them to the car properly. I've done a pretty thorough search on this board and on the inter webs but I can't find a YouTube or any installation pics/instructions.

I will figure it our eventually, I was hoping someone here that had converted to euro bumpers had faced the same challenge and had some advice.

Please, BS is the handle and frequently the reply's value.

I'll see if I can look at Chip's ride next time I'm over there. We euthanized (put on the € crap*) a few years ago and I don't recall exactly. I'll be sure to check the bumper ride height.

Doesn't anyone have a picture of their rebumpered car showing the bumper in the proper place and another showing the alignment of the brackets in the trunk? This shouldn't be that hard to get.


words like crap and junk are just easy to type. Do not read much meaning into my use of these words. Dealing with vintage audio I call it all crap/junk just cause it is easier making a post. Particularly when I call a stylus a nail.

This is how my car came north, and I believe the positioning of the bumper to be correct. I unfortunately did not take any pics when I removed the bumper prior to painting the car, but the brackets ar the same, so there is a correct way.'

One thing I try to remember when working on cars as old as an e28, is "I'm smarter than the car".
The rear bunker brackets are designed as a left and right bracket. As it turns out, the proper installation is with the tabs for mounting the bumper facing outwards and down. I had it backwards yesterday, and walked away from the darn car to think it over. Removed the bumper and brackets today, mounted the bumper, and viola! The bumper fits as intended. See, I am smarter than the car:


This is the right side bracket mounted with the tab inwards, which is exactly 180* from correct:


And now, you can see the car starting to look like an e28 again, with the left rear door knee trim installed along with the bumper:


More knee trim next week, and onto the rear right suspension tomorrow.

gwb72tii wrote: Nov 04, 2023 7:37 PMRemoved the bumper and brackets today, mounted the bumper, and viola! The bumper fits as intended.

gwb72tii wrote: Nov 04, 2023 7:37 PM One thing I try to remember when working on cars as old as an e28, is "I'm smarter than the car". I had it backwards yesterday, and walked away from the darn car to think it over. Removed the bumper and brackets today, mounted the bumper, and viola! The bumper fits as intended. See, I am smarter than the car:

Fortunately this was not a timed test. winner might have been different.

Lol had to laugh at that BS