MyE28.com

EDIT: SOLD.

Hey all,

I have an early build E28 M5 that I've had for around 23 years. It's been parked for about the last 10.

The car and I are in zip code 58051.

I would like someone to come to North Dakota with a trailer and take the car and take all of the parts/books/etc I have for it. You can restore it, you can part it out, you can turn the motor into a coffee table. I don't care what you do with it. If you restore it into a concours car, please send me pics when you're done. If you turn it into some kind of weird abomination, please keep that to yourself and your friends

Please do not ask me for parts. If you want parts, come show up with your car trailer and buy the car.
After I sell the car, any parts the buyer didn't want will get their own threads.

The car:
So, I've got a non running M5 with rear body damage, light hail damage, and clearcoat/paint damage.

It suddenly died while I was driving it, years ago. and I haven't gotten it to fire up since. I assume it is an electrical issue; either a crank/ref sensor, or, DME output driver solder failure (again). I've repaired both in the past; in the _decade_ that it has been sitting at my property, I haven't tried to troubleshoot either.

While it has been parked it received the slightest. bit of hail damage.

Before the engine died, it was rear ended and never repaired. Nobody up where I live wants to touch a car like this. They don't know what it is or what to do with it.

Here are photos I took over 10 years ago right after it was rear ended: https://www.mattevans.org/matt/M5wreck/

While I'm making the deal sound great, I'll add: the clearcoat on the hood has started to peel away.

It's got around 127k original miles. The SLS is still installed, and used to work. It has a crack free dash.
It has a aftermarket audio system (not my fault), and it has a 9lb flywheel, which is super fun.

I have extra body panels, seats, E28 non-M5 taillights, etc. I have a new-in-box correct NLA Natur E28 M5 shift lever cover. I have some books and factory manuals and other stuff.

I have some keys and a bunch of paperwork and all that stuff for it.

I love the car, but I need to be honest: I'll never get around to restoring it. I don't even have the willpower to try to get the engine running again, even though I think it's a simple fix. I have too many old cars and I am despondent. Strike while I am depressed about car stuff and take this one off my hands please.

Make me an offer, and say something about when and how you'll be able to come get it. Offers that don't require me to expend much time or effort will get more attention than schemes that sound complicated for me to deal with. I don't have time for high-maintenance cars; I definitely don't have time for high maintenance people.

Thanks,
Matt

PM, or email: matt@mattevans.org

(this is part of a private response I sent someone; so, adding it here for the benefit of others)

I would say, there _is_ one mechanical issue with the engine: it leaks oil. IIRC, if I drove it, got it nice and hot, and parked it, there's be about a 2-3" dia oil spot where I parked it.

If you're not familiar with the S38 engine, here is a BAT auction for an S38 that has photos you can use as a reference: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/bmw-s38/

The leak seems to come from the three-way junction of the head, block, and front timing case cover, right below where the chain tensioner installs into the side of the motor. I replaced the chain tensioner with an S54 tensioner, as that is considered an upgrade, but that did not stop the leak.

Picture #6 shows the area I am talking about.

My guess is that to fix the leak, you'd have to pull the timing chain cover off and figure out what's going on with the mating surfaces and any gaskets/sealants you find there. Pulling the timing cover requires pulling the harmonic balancer and the crank hub.

Picture 8 shows the front of the motor, including the crank nut, hub, and harmonic balancer.

Pulling the crank hub on this specific car may be difficult because of a crank hub repair I did on it over 20 years ago. This car had the M5 crank nut back-out problem. I repaired the keyway in the protruding crank snout using JB Weld, and installed a new woodruff key at the same time. I installed the Frank Fahey Bulletproof crank hub (which fixes the crank nut problem) using loctite green sleeve retainer between the new hub and the protruding crank snout. I used loctite red on the new crank nut. I did not want the crank nut backing out again!

That repair has held ever since, including many track days at BIR. When the car was running, I always gave it the beans, every single drive. The 9lb flywheel begs you to wind it out and to h/t every shift, so I always did.

But the repair I did will probably will make it harder for some future owner remove the timing case cover. I suspect you will want to remove the timing case cover if you want to get to the bottom of the oil leak.

Finally, on the front of the engine, there is also a hairline crack about 2" long. This may also contribute to oil leakage. I don't remember if the crack is in the lower head or the upper head (cam box). I caused the crack when I was hand tightening one of the vertical allen head screws that you see on the front of the engine in photo 8. You can see two of the fasteners between the head and the lower timing cover, and I believe there are 3 fasteners between the cam box and the head, but one of them is hidden by the distributor in this photo.

I was tightening one of these fasteners and heard a "pop" and there was a hairline crack near where the fastener boss was cast into the aluminum. Repairing that properly (if repair is needed) probably involves aluminum brazing or welding, which is not a skill I have.

I didn't consider either of these issues (oil leak, small crack in non-pressurized area) an impediment to driving the snot out of the car, and so I drove it accordingly.

I am telling you all this so you can think carefully about your offer and your interest in taking on the project. I would hate for you to come here, get the car, get it home, tear into it, and be disappointed, and especially for you to feel like I misled you. My integrity is worth more than a few bucks to me.

Someone asked me for photos of the interior; I took photos this evening to give a sense.

https://www.mattevans.org/matt/M5Sale/

In short, the interior condition is not bad, except for the drivers seat (typical). The drivers side seat piping on the driver's seat has failed.

I do have a spare set of front seats, but their condition is not better, as I recall. I think the leather is in some spots better but the seat frame is damaged.

I have the missing driver's door card. It was removed to troubleshoot something in the door and never re-installed.

I've updated the directory of photos with many more pics:

https://www.mattevans.org/matt/M5Sale/

The sun came out today and I brushed some of the snow off and took some photos. I was asked to take photos of usual rust spots. I also got some better interior photos, open door photos, under hood photos, inside trunk photos.





Halloween is over, except for under the hood of this car. boy that's a lot of cob webs!



As I moved snow off of places, I was reminded that the car has a few special things that you can't get any longer
- the M5 shadowline antenna

- some of the M5 trunk interior pieces

- all of the seats are real M5 seats, w/ emblems

- the headliner actually looks good [not sure if this is NLA or not]

The dash is indeed crack free. The overall interior condition is pretty nice, I would say.



I took photos of the glass also; some people are particular about glass. I don't know if this is "good glass" or not.



IMO, the car is pretty good on the rust front, but everyone has their own metrics there, the worst spot being the bottom rocker panel section of the driver's front fender.



I tried to take photos that show the hail dimples, but the camera angles have to be just right to see them.



The peeling clearcoat on the hood is the biggest cosmetic problem (imo). Even worse than their rear end damage.

There's still a lot of shine left in much of the paint. There is some odd blue run-off color in spots; I tried to capture that as well. I don't know what it is; it wasn't there when I parked it.

Daaaang!

someone has to be that motivated person... if they do restore it, please create a thread for us all to follow.

GLWS.

BTW,

I have the trunk toolkit, and the trunk lining panel. Those are inside with my parts, which is why you do not seem them installed on the car.

I also have the factory spare wheel and tire, also not in the trunk. I think it is in the background of some of the pics.

As someone who just went through a similar project, (our build thread is a few pages back) I want to say it’s totally worth it. Go ahead, throw away the next 150 weekends. Figure on 1200 ish hours of work. Driving these cars is really something special. We’re really enjoying ours.

I’ll also add that the e28 community, particularly the M5 part, is amongst the best in the auto enthusiast world. Many people here have contributed to our project getting completed with their knowledge and generosity.

But know what you’re in for. Many parts are NLA and the ones that are available are doubling in price over the last few years. You have to be resourceful and diligent.

Last thing I’ll add is that I would suggest that every example should be saved. That rear end must be able to be pulled on a frame machine. There’s maybe 4-500 of these cars left out there.

Good luck to the OP and prospective buyer!