MyE28.com DEV

Received my bumpers back from paint. They look great, but before I can mount them, I need to sort out my turn signal conundrum. My euro turn signal housing socket areas are damaged so it looks like i'll have to cut out the old socket area and attach them to the "new" housings, which conveniently also solves my 2-wire to 3-wire conversion problem. Time to get me a dremel kit.

on a side note, is the electric fan made of fiberglass?? I rubbed it with the back of my hand and now it's pins and needles when I rub it against anything. I hated working with fiberglass.

Gave her a bath and took her to Cars & Coffee this past weekend.


[Photo credit: Pher Reinman]

Got my front bumper mounted and tested the rear. Looks like a brand new car. Love it. Somehow I didn't get a pic of the front yet. Next, getting some bilsteins...

'87 535is

I lubed the antenna mast so it goes up all the way without me having to help it. There's something sticky about it, so I have to do this on a regular basis.

I also oiled the fresh air blower motor. My car has the gasoline cooler, so completely removing the firewall cover isn't happening. I could pop off the squirrel cage covers, which allowed me to reach the bushings with the dipstick, which I did to put a few drops of oil on each bushing. Worked like a charm.


'86 535i (retired)

It's official now. This car is never moving again. I wanted to fix a flat and a gas leak, so I jacked it up under the front cross member with a hydraulic jack, then put a jack stand under the driver's frame rail. When I lowered the hydraulic jack, the frame rail buckled. So that's the end of that.

It's 33 years old. I've had it since 1992. It has 585k miles, 450k of which are mine. I changed the oil every 10k miles. I have no garage, so it stayed outside year round. I never even washed it. It was my all season, all weather daily driver until January 2017, when its final inspection ran out.

It owes me nothing. I know this, and yet part of me doesn't accept it. Somehow (probably from my Depression-era parents) I got the idea that anything I buy should last forever, and if it doesn't then I was gypped. Maybe I should have bought a Camry instead. Of course then I would have learned a lot less about cars.

Ordered bilstein B8s Also ordered some strut mounts since they've been creaking for a while now. I took a closer look at the weathered paint and found out that my car used to have pinstriping at some point in its life. I wouldn't mind bringing that back...

RonW wrote:'87 535is

It's 33 years old. I've had it since 1992. It has 585k miles, 450k of which are mine. I changed the oil every 10k miles. I have no garage, so it stayed outside year round. I never even washed it. It was my all season, all weather daily driver until January 2017, when its final inspection ran out.

It owes me nothing. I know this, and yet part of me doesn't accept it. Somehow (probably from my Depression-era parents) I got the idea that anything I buy should last forever...

Completely understand this. A sad day, but a great testament to engineering, value and longevity in a culture of disposable things.

RonW wrote:'87 535is

It's 33 years old. I've had it since 1992. It has 585k miles, 450k of which are mine. I changed the oil every 10k miles. I have no garage, so it stayed outside year round. I never even washed it. It was my all season, all weather daily driver until January 2017, when its final inspection ran out.

It owes me nothing. I know this, and yet part of me doesn't accept it. Somehow (probably from my Depression-era parents) I got the idea that anything I buy should last forever...

SPF2006 wrote:Completely understand this. A sad day, but a great testament to engineering, value and longevity in a culture of disposable things.

I have an old brochure for the E28 5 series. The first thing you see when you open it is the bold headline, "Lasting value in times of change."

Not today but yesterday:

• Reinstalled the seats (yay! for front seat backs that don't flop into the back seat when you pull the recline lever),
  (also had to remind myself that I didn't improperly install the seat; having working seat elevation struts allows them to be adjusted up & down, like they are designed!)
• Reinstalled the instrument cluster (yay! for an odometer/tripmeter that is working again),
• Reinstalled the taillights,
• Installed the spiffy new set of BavAuto spark plug wires (which also required pulling all the spark plugs to install the terminal nut on the ends),
• Reinstalled the steering wheel,
• Actually drove it for the first time this year (yay! for the gravel driveway of the storage complex being dry enough to be able to drive the thing out without the fear of getting stuck.)
• Was reminded again of the many things that require attention on my far-from-perfect e28,
• Was also reminded again why I like these cars so much, and that I should drive it more and worry less about the things that I think need attention!

RonW wrote:

RonW wrote:'87 535is

It's 33 years old. I've had it since 1992. It has 585k miles, 450k of which are mine. I changed the oil every 10k miles. I have no garage, so it stayed outside year round. I never even washed it. It was my all season, all weather daily driver until January 2017, when its final inspection ran out.

It owes me nothing. I know this, and yet part of me doesn't accept it. Somehow (probably from my Depression-era parents) I got the idea that anything I buy should last forever...

SPF2006 wrote:Completely understand this. A sad day, but a great testament to engineering, value and longevity in a culture of disposable things.

I have an old brochure for the E28 5 series. The first thing you see when you open it is the bold headline, "Lasting value in times of change."

They are such great workhorse cars. It's funny how they became an effete status symbol back in the day. What I like about my E28 is how humbly purposeful it is. I mean it's spartan by today's standards. The average Camry has ten times more gadgetry going on. My E28 is totally stripped down, which is what I like about it. And of course it looks fantastic.

RonW wrote:

RonW wrote:'87 535is

It's 33 years old. I've had it since 1992. It has 585k miles, 450k of which are mine. I changed the oil every 10k miles. I have no garage, so it stayed outside year round. I never even washed it. It was my all season, all weather daily driver until January 2017, when its final inspection ran out.

It owes me nothing. I know this, and yet part of me doesn't accept it. Somehow (probably from my Depression-era parents) I got the idea that anything I buy should last forever...

SPF2006 wrote:Completely understand this. A sad day, but a great testament to engineering, value and longevity in a culture of disposable things.

I have an old brochure for the E28 5 series. The first thing you see when you open it is the bold headline, "Lasting value in times of change."

We shall raise a glass to it and toast its' passing.
Minstrels will write songs about its' journeys.

Received a comically large UPS shipping box containing the trunk emblem that I ordered from Pelican Parts. I'm talking you could fit 50 or more in this box

Picked it up from Maaco yesterday. The job as a whole is a solid 5/10, but this is what I was expecting. 30 footer for sure. It will revert back to my daily driver after my strut install, So I do not need it to be show-car quality. Rough prep job, orange peel on the sides, an occasional run, all that. But it is one uniform color now and my main areas of concern (roof, trunk, hood) came out decent and it still looks much better than before. For 600 bucks, i'll take it. I also will not be a returning customer I will need to address the issue of the window trim now, as it now sticks out like a sore thumb.


Shoutout to user DangerWillRbnsn for selling me those bumpers 2 years ago finally came around to it.

Today, I tore apart the suspension to remove my front and rear strut assemblies to install my billy sports tomorrow. Front was actually easier than I thought it would be. My work has a nice wall mounted spring compressor, so I will be "borrowing" it tomorrow. Also discovered that one of my link pins is bad and a sway bar mount bushing is also bad. I will order them tonight and hopefully they will arrive sooner than later. I was thinking of upgrading my sway bars while i'm in there, but...not yet. It's simple enough to remove when the time does come. I actually learned a lot about my car's undercarriage today Not necessarily a bad thing, but suspension will need to be overhauled soon with new axles.

amagansa wrote:Picked it up from Maaco yesterday.

Which Maaco did you use? I've had the Santa Rosa one do 4 cars, the first 3 I felt like I got more than I paid for, the last started failing after a year.

RonW wrote:
'86 535i (retired)

It's official now. This car is never moving again. I wanted to fix a flat and a gas leak, so I jacked it up under the front cross member with a hydraulic jack, then put a jack stand under the driver's frame rail. When I lowered the hydraulic jack, the frame rail buckled. So that's the end of that.

It's 33 years old. I've had it since 1992. It has 585k miles, 450k of which are mine. I changed the oil every 10k miles. I have no garage, so it stayed outside year round. I never even washed it. It was my all season, all weather daily driver until January 2017, when its final inspection ran out.

It owes me nothing. I know this, and yet part of me doesn't accept it. Somehow (probably from my Depression-era parents) I got the idea that anything I buy should last forever, and if it doesn't then I was gypped. Maybe I should have bought a Camry instead. Of course then I would have learned a lot less about cars.

wow... well mine is still moving but otherwise same sentiments... In a few years I'll plagiarize this post with the fate of mine. The only corrections will probably be little lower numbers and that I do wash my windows about once a year. Oh and I'll add the fact my wife calls it the hoopty and my daughter says it's janky. Are those compliments ? I'm never sure

Mike W. wrote:

amagansa wrote:Picked it up from Maaco yesterday.

Which Maaco did you use? I've had the Santa Rosa one do 4 cars, the first 3 I felt like I got more than I paid for, the last started failing after a year.

They opened up a new one here in Vallejo within the past year. Seems like they need better workers. I had them "fix" 2 dents and I can stil see them. We'll see how the paint holds up.

Today I had a chance to take the car out through the canyons to Malibu and back. I recently installed a Supersprint cat-back system, and last week I installed my Euro downpipes and Supersprint track pipe. It's noticeably louder without the cat but makes sweet mechanical music and the SOP dyno says it has more midrange torque and top end power. Sometime in the future I plan to verify that with a timed test. Being that there are now two separate pipes from front to back, at idle the firing impulses give the impression the engine has a hot cam (it's stock except for an E.A.T. chip). Accelerating hard through tunnels it now sounds like half of a 12-cylinder Ferrari...with a 6K redline...might sound .

Today in The More You Know,I learned that the dimmer control in the radio harness is on fuse #9.

I wired in a working unit and in my noviceness wired dimmer control to ground. Prior to figuring out that I had done that, I would blow fuse #9 (passenger side tail, license plate, and running lights) instantly on flipping the switch. Took some figuring out, as there's no indication that anything related to fuse #9 goes to the radio, but I guess if it goes through the headlights switch it would make sense. Hopefully this adds something to the vast and infinitely useful trove of knowledge here.

Finished install of billy sports and lowering springs the other day. I'd say a 1 inch drop up front and 1.5 inch drop in the rear. I didn't measure beforehand. Looks great, although I wouldn't mind if the front was a little lower. Probably stems from the fact that the fronts are an unknown brand while the rears are BavAuto. Next, just waiting on windshield molding to ship here and still have to install sway bar links and bushings. And a wash! Radwood is this Saturday and I will be attending.

Installed the window moulding. Got hand cramps. Should have used lube

amagansa wrote:Should have used lube.

There is always time for lubricant!

Removed the brake bomb assembly only to realize I didn't order a o-ring months ago...I ordered a gromet for mounting bolts.

Lesson learned: double check your part numbers before ordering

In the process of replacing the accelerator cable and various bushings, springs, clips, associated with that function. Hope to get a smoother throttle pedal feel and response. Will report back after the work is done.

Windows out repaint.
New windshield.
Replaced what chrome trim we could get new.

Dash cap - I struggled with the three options here (cap, new dash, or sending it into a place like Just Dashes).
Replaced vapor barrier liner in the doors with thin dynamat.

topher800 wrote:

such an attractive color. looks fantastic

That looks amazing, Chris! Nice work!

topher800 wrote:Windows out repaint.

You had me at that. My complements.

topher800 wrote:Windows out repaint.
New windshield.
Replaced what chrome trim we could get new.

That is so unfair, putting those images in my mind to be spoiled when I see mine in all it's lack of that. If only...

Thanks for the compliments everyone. Of course what we all really want to know is how they got style 5 wheels so clean! The car has really come a long way in the 11 years I’ve had it. I suppose I should have started a thread on the car, but I didn’t realize it would become a rolling refurbishment. I still daily drive it.

We drove it down to Taos yesterday from Denver on the back roads. It’s a bit anemic on the hills at 8,000-10,000 feet with the AC running. AC is the next thing to upgrade. With all the suspension rubber/bushings/tower mounts replaced over the last several years, it rides amazing.

topher800 wrote:Thanks for the compliments everyone. Of course what we all really want to know is how they got style 5 wheels so clean!.

go pick up a very small wheel brush. stabbing in the spokes after some wheel cleaner sits on it should do the trick if you dont let it get too bad.

Yesterday I had a satisfying drive around my block. The o-ring for my brake bomb came in the mail earlier than expected, and I was able to button everything up pretty fast. It idles and drives much smoother than it did before, with no flat spots in power delivery. While the car was down I replaced:

AFM with a known good unit
Spark plugs with correct ones
Voltage regulator
Coil/Wires/Cap/Rotor
Vacuum lines
Brake Bomb

I think my next task will be to replace my cluster batteries, debating if I should attempt a remote battery setup or OE style replacement.