E28 project

[fluidmotorunion]

Work began on the e28 I bought last week starting with the engine bay. Figured we would sand blast as much as we could and get it all clean, new fluids and running right before we get going on the big projects. I picked the car up off of craigsist last week for $1,500 and it currently has 149,000 miles.
Here are some before pictures of the engine bay:




Inside of the valve cover before Sandblasting:

And After:


Before and After of the Throttle Body:


Here are some after shots of the engine as it sits right now. This is a temporary set-up until the final decision is made on what we will do with this engine. The reason I didn't clean the intake manifold is because I am pretty sure we will be using ITB's on this car so there was really no point:
After shots:






Still not 100%, needs a good cleaning underneath but we are making progress.
Next step is definitely a nice suspension set-up.
More to come soon, keep checking in!

[Deuce8]

Wow! I'm doing sort of the same work. Mine was in a little better shape when I got it though. How much did it take to get down to the valve cover. I'm trying to get some time set aside to tighten down the oil spray rod.

[fluidmotorunion]

Valve Cover was pretty easy to clean, turned out excellent though. Post some pics!

[ewing]

have ben slowly doing same to mine next for you get an lsd and get rid of all the unessesary intirior and air conditoning and car will run quicker times but be carfull of the light rear end might consider moving bat to back

[Deuce8]

Valve Cover was pretty easy to clean, turned out excellent though. Post some pics!

How much work went into taking all the stuff off to get to it though.

[fluidmotorunion]

Really didn't take that long, car was down for about two days but that was because of the painting we had to do. Could easily be done in a day if you do everything we did and have parts in hand.

[TOTALmoron]

Wow those salt road cars always look so groody. I drove a life long Pacific Northwest 87 535is from Seattle to Hoffman estates about 3 summers ago and I was attacked by old BMW fans and got so many offers I had to sell it. Some jerk paid my price and a plane ticket home. THAT A HOLE!!!

[Dat Avus]

This is crying for an update. Would love to see ITB's on an e28

[Colonel]

This is crying for an update. Would love to see ITB's on an e28

Car has been through a transformation! There have been a few threads up on it's current state, check out this post from fluid's blog about the work:


http://www.fluidmotorunion.com/archives/1495

Afterwards, a small photoshoot:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...light=lakeside





The 535is went through a euro conversion on the outside: hartge front spoiler, euro bumpers, fresh diamond black paint, as well as a huge interior cleaning. The interior was extremely dirty when it was picked up, but the seats were in good shape and all it needed was a nice clean and some folex for the carpets. As far as engine work, there was not enough time to get plans going for it, I stepped into the picture a little after this thread was put up actually and decided to work more towards the outside of the car instead of towards expensive engine work (which I could not afford ). Made the trip down to Florida where I live without many problems, only a small fuse problem easily fixed. So far it's running great, only a couple small things which I'm working on, and I just installed some euro headlights to complete the euro look:














As far as what I have planned: fix up some small paint chips, fix the mixed wipers , find and install headlight wipers, BBS RS 17" powdercoated satin black. Engine work will come after those are done and when funding is ready to begin the work.

[Greenlantern181]

Looks awesome! I've seen it in my friends apartment complex while visiting fl. Looks just as awesome in person.

[GazM3]

its amazing what abit of cleaning does for the engine bay.

BTW what springs are you running.

I just picked up an E28 535i and some new in the box 17x9 ET19 throwing stars that fit nice with a 5mm spacer (on the front), just need to drop the suspension quite alot now

[Colonel]

Running H&R sports, cut down about 2 coils all around, with bilstein sport shocks/struts. Congrats on the purchase! I'd love to run some m systems powdercoated all black, and have some throwing star caps or turbines.

Greenlantern: thanks for the compliments!

[motorlager]

Nice project! Mean stance.

[TONe28]

Sup, I really like those seatbelt pads. I would like to buy some just like those, is there a site I can order them from?

[4playcamaro]

Sweet build. Car looks SICK.
Question about your tire choice... Why those EL42 tires? Runflats right?

[khabra04]

hows is the ride after cutting those springs? i was going to on my old e28... man i miss that thing

[Colonel]

Sweet build. Car looks SICK.
Question about your tire choice... Why those EL42 tires? Runflats right?

We just swapped on available tires we had in the shop that were the right size. These are the normal non-runflat EL42s turanzas, 205/55/16, with contisport IIs in the rear.

hows is the ride after cutting those springs? i was going to on my old e28... man i miss that thing

The ride is definitely a stiff sport setup. These are bilsteins sport shocks/struts and h&r sport springs, cutting them will make them slightly stiffer but not by very much at all. I've heard people not recommending to cut a stock spring setup without switching to sport springs and sport shocks. Overall, you will definitely feel the bumps in the road. I personally don't mind the setup at all, it's really tight and corners well.