And so it starts, Maeve

[Blue Shadow]

maybe someone on the board wants to sell a used one.

You do have south26's pm address in your files, don't you? He has broken a number of E28s over the years and may have a collection of less needed parts.

[gwb72tii]

Bit of a challenge today.

I had about 30 minutes to work on the car, so I thought I'd remove the heater box.
The passenger 10mm nut unscrewed about 3 turns (luckily) and then the stud started turning with the nut. I remembered a power tool I had bought years ago, used once, and had been ignored since. But it was the perfect tool.


Because the nut had turned a little before seizing, I had just enough room for the blade to fit under the nut. Now I have to come up with a way to replace the stud.

[Blue Shadow]

yup, Milwaukee makes some good tools.

[gwb72tii]

progress!

the heater box is out. good news is the blower works fine without any clicking or funny noises.


typical dried out foam


and this little electric motor is flopping around. not good but I hope fixable without buying replacement parts.


in a previous post I learned this radiator for the power steering system is not standard. but this picture shows its obviously made for the e28 as it matches the bend of the front clip perfectly. maybe you that live in hot areas have this piece too? I will be selling it.


here's the heater valve. looking at it there is no obvious way for any electrical connector to attach. something else to learn about. No clue if its operational as the heater/AC system was not operating on the way north from Mesa, AZ when I bought the car.


As many of us probably do, I used to have a left over AV receiver for music in my garage, and older Marantz. Great sound but it took up a big chunk of my smallish work bench. I bought this, a Dayton Audio 50w bluetooth amp. It's terrific, it's $100 and frees up lots of space. Now I can annoy the wild geese that crap all over my property with ACDC and Led Zeppelin. They don't seem to notice....


And the front kicker panel speakers look to be in remarkably good condition. Surprise! I will be installing a completely new stereo system that will duplicate what I had in my last e30. Outstanding fidelity and not a lot of money.


I have removed most of the interior, most of the body trim, door panels etc. My body/paint guy is stopping by next week or so to take a look at the car before I deliver it to him in March.

Bad news is I fear finding rust, and I found some on the bottom of the right rear passenger door. Enough that it will need to be repaired. I'm guessing any body guy that has been in the business for over 40 years knows what to do.

Good news is I ordered a 4 post lift in November and it arrives next Friday. I bought a Direct Lift, identical to one I owned before and had to sell when we sold our house in 2014. Best tool I've ever owned. It will be a big help when I remove the motor and tranny and refurbish the suspension.

more later....

[jayjaya29]

The electrical connector on the heater valve should be on the top of the valve. Looks like it has been snapped off on yours.

[Crazy_Canuck]

Talk to your body shop, they can weld on a new stud.

[vitapiubella]

I’m loving reading about your build! I’m in the process of upgrading a few things on my new to me e28, including the stereo system. You had me at “Outstanding fidelity and not a lot of money”. So… What’s this e30 system you’re going to be duplicating?

Also, I’ll be replacing my old crackedy cracked dash soon as well. Any thing you can recommend that I should take care of underneath whence I have the old dash off? If so, do tell

Gracias!

progress!

And the front kicker panel speakers look to be in remarkably good condition. Surprise! I will be installing a completely new stereo system that will duplicate what I had in my last e30. Outstanding fidelity and not a lot of money.

[gwb72tii]

Go to this thread:
https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/ ... ds-of-pics

Then take a look at all the stickies under car audio on r3vlimited. The hardest part will be replicating a “Luke box” but I don’t think it will be too hard.

The biggest improvement I think was in tuning the amp, which also is a stickie. The system used a particular e34 speaker and with the amp tuned it was crazy how loud you could play your stereo with no distortion.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/ ... lectronics

I will post more in a while as I’m out of town and the car goes in for paint in about 3 weeks.

[wkohler]

The power steering fluid absolutely circulates. The reservoir feeds the pump, which sends fluid to the proportioning valve then from there to the steering and to the brake booster then the return from the steering box goes to a hard line on the left frame rail to the front of the car through the cooler loop and back through the other hard line on the frame rail to the reservoir.

Who knows why anyone put that cooler up there but it was probably related to covering up some other issue. Get the correct parts (I can send you stock hard lines and a cooler loop) and delete that crap.

[vitapiubella]

Aaaaah... the famous "Luke Box". I read those threads long long ago... thanks for bringing them back to my attention. Let's see if I can figure something out using Luke's ideas. I can't wait to see the stereo setup you end up doing... Somehow I'm thinking many of us will want to copy whatever you figure out

Go to this thread:
https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/ ... ds-of-pics

Then take a look at all the stickies under car audio on r3vlimited. The hardest part will be replicating a “Luke box” but I don’t think it will be too hard.

The biggest improvement I think was in tuning the amp, which also is a stickie. The system used a particular e34 speaker and with the amp tuned it was crazy how loud you could play your stereo with no distortion.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/ ... lectronics

I will post more in a while as I’m out of town and the car goes in for paint in about 3 weeks.

[gwb72tii]

The power steering fluid absolutely circulates. The reservoir feeds the pump, which sends fluid to the proportioning valve then from there to the steering and to the brake booster then the return from the steering box goes to a hard line on the left frame rail to the front of the car through the cooler loop and back through the other hard line on the frame rail to the reservoir.

Who knows why anyone put that cooler up there but it was probably related to covering up some other issue. Get the correct parts (I can send you stock hard lines and a cooler loop) and delete that crap.

Thanks Chris, got it covered.

[gwb72tii]

A little more progress today.I'm just back last night from a vacation and am operating on about 3 hours of sleep, so please excuse my spelling or other grammatical errors.

The car goers into the paint/body shop at the end of the month. Took off the exhaust today as the motor is eventually coming out.


Also removed the driveshaft. When you buy an older car, you find various surprises, like this driveshaft that was remanufactured by Beyer Motor Works. When I do not know, but the driveshaft looks new. Maybe some of you can tell me what the "461x" means.



From working on 2002's for years, I know from experience you have to mark both halves of the drive shaft so you can reassemble them in proper alignment for balance. I dimpled both halves.


only to find white marks from probably Beyer, although not aligned. On the trip north from Mesa to the Seattle area I never noticed any funny or out of place vibrations. If I can source a reasonable drive line shop I'll take it in for a check


It was nice to see the rear of the tranny didn't have the usual leaks around the selector shaft seal.


the power steering system is leaking however. My biggest pet peeve is a car that leaks fluids. I will fix this.


And last but not least, look what came when I was out of town! A brand new front euro valance from Wollothnesch. I took almost 2 months to get here, the biggest part being UPS customs in Kentucky.

[wkohler]

461 are the last 3 digits of the part number for the shaft. Line up their white marks and I'm sure the vibration would go away, but it wouldn't hurt to have the balance checked.

[gwb72tii]

Just goes to show previous owners lacked knowledge in what I assume was replacing the center support bearing and not knowing what the white alignment marks are for.

Now, what else was reassembled improperly?

[Blue Shadow]

Now, what else was reassembled improperly?

That's just a guessing game that will change. With the makeover you are doing the only improper reassembly will be done during your ownership cause it seems you are not leaving anything alone. Every piece will be removed, cleaned, polished/painted/replaced with all new fasteners like the car is going down the production line. Should be a nice one when you're done.

[gwb72tii]

Honestly I am only replacing what needs to be replaced. Unfortunately the list is long so yes the car will have many new parts. Some of what is being replaced is stuff that just wears out like door seals, window guides and things. Mostly rubber/plastic parts that are subject to the hot weather this car lived in for 30 years or so. Plus the usual old car things like suspension bushings.

Luckily the car came with somethings I would have added like bilstein shox and H&R springs. The car sits like it should. Plus for now I like the Racing Dynamics wheels.

I am coming to the conclusion though that I bit off more than I anticipated, and my time schedule for fixing everything will be drawn out longer than I'd like. My intent is to get this car on the road and perhaps fix some things as I go, like the sound system which I can do after the car is running.

[Mdreamer]

I am coming to the conclusion though that I bit off more than I anticipated, and my time schedule for fixing everything will be drawn out longer that I'd like. My intent is to get this car on the road and perhaps fix some things as I go, like the sound system which I can do after the car is running.

I empathize with you here, gwb72tii. I've been going through a pretty exhaustive rehab of my car too, with a key difference being that I am not handy when it comes to working on my own car. Now that I'm reaching a point at which it seems like the car will be running and looking very nice (in several weeks, anyway), I am pondering waiting until a later date for some of the other tasks on my to-do list like ICE. On the flip side of the coin, I think it may be worth it to have it all done at once so I can move onto whatever is next in my car life. Sigh..

[gwb72tii]

Well, another unexpected challenge. After removing the exhaust and driveline, I thought I'd jack up the rear of the car and turn the rear wheels to feel/hear the cv joints' condition. No noise or crunching = happy boy. I never got that far yet as I noticed the driver side cv joints used a socket head screw that I haven't seen before



Anyone know what these are? They are not Torx, but similar.

**found it** weird vw socket thing, or technically called triple square. who knew?

[Mike W.]

Well, another unexpected challenge. After removing the exhaust and driveline, I thought I'd jack up the rear of the car and turn the rear wheels to feel/hear the cv joints' condition. No noise or crunching = happy boy. I never got that far yet as I noticed the driver side cv joints used a socket head screw that I haven't seen before.

**found it** weird vw socket thing, or technically called triple square. who knew?

Yeah I've heard of them, head bolts mostly I think, but I don't think I've seen them on anything. But what's really odd is they didn't come on that car. Someone probably stripped out the allen heads and replaced them with whatever. As they tend to be very tight, I can see stripping them out if one neglected to clean out the recess and get the full tool in.

[Galahad]

Anyone know what these are? They are not Torx, but similar.

**found it** weird vw socket thing, or technically called triple square. who knew?

The only time I've seen one is holding the seat rails to the floor in some VW beetle. I'd be inclined to replace them with E-Torx, Allen bolts SUCK

[gwb72tii]

they are called triple square screws. there are specific bits that engage all twelve points.
I think with the specific bit they'd be easier to remove than the normal hex socket head screws. I've stripped those before and then they are a complete pain in the ass to remove. And it's always the last screw head that strips.

[Mike W.]

I've been known to put a Vise-Grips on the head of those bolts, along with using the allen head bit to break them loose. Not that I've ever stripped one, but I figure if I can reduce the torque to the allen, it's less likely to strip.

[gwb72tii]

A little more progress.

Removed the half shafts. The driver side had the triple square "weird vw thingy" socket head screws, the passenger side your normal hex socket head screws. I like the triple square a lot better. Twelve points of contact and a more secure grip less prone to slipping and stripping. I removed the half shafts to rebuild the cv joints. I figure as long as I'm under the car removing stuff I might as well rebuild them so I don't have to later. One of the things you do maybe when you know the car has over 300k miles and no way of knowing if they've been cared for. Turns out the driver side is a newer half shaft so there has been some maintenance before me.



And this is what happens when your car has lived in 100*+ heat all its life. Rubber and plastic things wear out and dry out. Here you can see how the rubber suspension bushings are deteriorating and in need of replacement. I won't be using poly bushings. I have them on my 1972 2002tii and I hate them because they squeak and ride harsh. I want a car the handles well, not a car that drives like a go kart. As soon as I am done with Maeve, replacing the tii suspension bushings are next.



Here's the uber expensive differential carrier bushing. When I jacked up the car previously I used the differential as a lift point. As soon as I started lifting the car I heard a "clunk" and the car dropped a little. Looks like the bushing came apart from the weight of the car.


Maeve Is being trailered to the body shop April 2nd for repair and paint. I'm pretty excited because when I get Maeve back, it's the beginning of the end, reassembling everything I've taken apart.

[Blue Shadow]

Here's the uber expensive differential carrier bushing.

Folks use the cheap 528e diff bushing instead of the 250 buck one for the other motor.

[gwb72tii]

Here's the uber expensive differential carrier bushing.

Folks use the cheap 528e diff bushing instead of the 250 buck one for the other motor.

meaning I should or should not use the 528e one?

[Mike W.]

Here's the uber expensive differential carrier bushing.

Folks use the cheap 528e diff bushing instead of the 250 buck one for the other motor.

meaning I should or should not use the 528e one?

Meaning you should. For whatever reason, the light duty 528e got the HD diff mount. As did euro M30 cars. But for some reason they used the light duty one on US spec 535i's.

[gwb72tii]

Good to know, thank you

[Blue Shadow]

Good to know, thank you

Keep track of the money we save you and use a portion of it to bring a good beer to the e28 events you go to. Secret passwords could be used.

[gwb72tii]

more progress

This Saturday Maeve goes into the body shop. It's going to be a big job to put her back together. Last time I restored a car and had to reassemble it was my 2002tii. I had helpers back then as I was teaching my son and daughter how to turn a wrench. That was almost 18 years ago! Man how time flies. Greg is now the go to car guy for his friends, and Kristin knows when someone doesn't know much about cars. She doesn't mind getting dirty working on things.




One thing I've learned is BMW loves zip ties. Most of the car's wiring is zip tied to the body. Maybe a reason why old BMW's don't rattle like other cars. And I wonder who the engineer was who designed these clips that hold the chrome trim and lots of other pieces on the car. I haven't learned to take them off without destroying them.

[gwb72tii]

And the exhaust system is off to a new car in PDX with Patrick. I gave all the pieces to him free with the hope he pays it forward some day when he can.