BMW E28 528i

[Nick1984]

I have been reading a lot on this forum, so now it is time to make a own topic about my car.

Excuses for the language faults, i can speak English but typing it is something different.

My name is Nick, and i live in Belgium, 33 years old.

My first car was a E28 518, the second an E28 518i, then an E21 320, an E46 320d, and from then of only cars from my work... So after the BMW's only boring cars.
3 Years ago, i decided to buy again an E28.
What i wanted was a solid rust free car, M30 powered, black paint and a sunroof.

After 2 weeks of searching on the net, i found one, faster then i ever could imagine

This is the car 3 years ago when i bought it:



@ home a complete inspection of the car:

[Nick1984]

The option list:



After claying, polishing and a lot of cleaning:







Then the first thing i changed on the car where the wheels, i found a set of RG wheels, alpina style





Every year we make a trip to the Alpes with some mates, because the car drove like a boat, the suspension needed to be changed.
I chose for the Bilstein and H&R combo.









I changed also the clutch.



There was an Supersprint muffler on the car, cool sound! but i wanted the look of the original tail pipes. Zo i welded original tail pipes on the supersprint muffler.





Then a big maintenance

[sail_or_drive]

Your English is fine, you car finer still. thanks for posting this, I really like the color.

[Nick1984]

As you can see on the spark plugs, the mixture was way to rich! After playing with the air flow meter (found something on the net to adapt it) i got it right.

The car was now ready for a 5 day trip to the Alps, this was in September 2016

[Nick1984]

And of-course pictures of the trip
Belgium/Luxembourg/France/Swiss/Italië/Austria/Germany/the Netherlands
















The last 300 km of the trip, the engine was running on 4 cilinders, but i could make it home, the brakes and the engine had an hard time those 5 days
But i was very pleased with the suspension and driving characteristics of the car!

[Nick1984]

And some more pictures of the trip...

[Nick1984]

The reason why the engine was running on 4 cylinders was a blown head gasket between cil 5 and 6.
I also changed one valve because it was not 100 % Straith. So cheap fix for another year of fun

[Nick1984]

@ this time we are in 2017, to be continued

[ElGuappo]

Great looking car, highly optioned too.
I'm buying a 528i and look forward to finding out how it feels.
Cheers

[muleskinner]

Great looking car and great photo story. The trip to the Alps looks like a blast.

[Tiit]

Neat car. Are good E28 hard to come by in your area?

[GoNoles]

Car looks great, what a terrific find.

[Nick1984]

Neat car. Are good E28 hard to come by in your area?

When you pay enough money it is easy
Seriously, to find a good car is not that easy, rust is here the major problem.
Because i am a technician and i didn't want to do some body work, i really wanted a good solid base to start with.

Thanks for the other replies!

[Nick1984]

In 2017 i didn't changed a lot on the car, i think the only thing i did was mounted an original BMW radio





And of course another yearly Alps trip

[Nick1984]

It was a great road trip, but there where some things i wanted to upgrade for the trip this year.

First the brakes, i bought a set of E34 M5 brakes, plug and play








then i finally had to make some centre caps, because i couldn't find anything for the RG wheels



Aluminium, polishing and clear lacquer

[Nick1984]

The next thing was an audio upgrade.

I had the option BMW Sound system, but the quality was not that good any more.
Because i wanted the original looks, i searched the correct speaker dimensions and installed an under seat subwoofer under the passenger seat.









On the last picture you see an AUX connection with a switch, after a lot of searching on the net, i found a way to make an input on the original radio.

The seats where "painted" black again, it is really amazing how good the result is, i never thought that painting leather could give this result.

[Nick1984]

Now it was time to do some decent mechanical upgrades



The diff before



the diff after, the LSD changed from 20% to 40%



Drive shaft refurbished and balanced.



And because i had already an Supersprint muffler, i made the complete exhaust line supersprint... not cheap

[Nick1984]

Then just because i thought it was cool, remote control

= movie



I found also some NOS rear bumper parts, so i made it complete and changed the bumper.
New left tail light, because of a crack, and new hood isolation

[Nick1984]

The last one for today, a teaser for the next post



The 3.5 Alpina engine from a E32 with Dbillas throttle body's...

[muleskinner]

[Bonsaibacker]

I like your style man!

[Nick1984]

The next update

2 years ago, i could buy a special engine, it was a 3.5 Alpina from a E32 B11.
The guy from who i bought it told me that it had 80.000 km, the E32 where the engine came from was total loss.
So it was a big gamble for me, the engine didn't run for almost 10 years... i took the risk







When i started to dismantle the engine in Januari this year, everything looked fine, so happy me!



I aqua blast every aluminium piece, cleaned the block, and did a proper respray of all the metal parts.





The engine supports i ordered from E28goodies.com







When i want to fit the Dbillas Throttle bodies, the shape didn't match, so a lot of "grinding" to make them match 100% for a good flow.

[Nick1984]

because photo's tell more then my bad English

[Nick1984]

Starter and generator refurbished, injectors cleaned an tested, new waterpump etc.

[Nick1984]

The engine fitted in the car, but still a lot of work to do...

- coolant reservoir does not fit
- servo reservoir does not fit
- i need to mount an oil cooler somewhere
- bigger radiator with electric fan
- make the wiring loom fit the fuse box
- find a place for the ignition coil
- change cable for throttle bodies
-...



535i radiator with SPAL fan



the difference



Supersprint spaghetti mounted





i used the old M30B28 flywheel

The original Alpina control unit (Bosch DME 1.3)



mounted on the original place





wiring loom modifying

[Nick1984]

At this moment we are September this year.

Because the next Alp trip is at the end of the month, i had a lot of time pressure to get the car ready in time.

Replacing the bushes of the front control arms



actually an easy job with the right tools





Every part in the engine bay finally got a place



And then the first start... Engine started an run good from the first time!

First test drive => me happy The extra power i wanted was there, and what a sound!

Because Alpina did not use the oxygen sensor, and put the car on the dyno and mounted an oxygen sensor to check that the engine absolutely never runs to lean





And the dyno sheet, 279 HP atmospheric, with an old original engine management.
Alpina claimed 254 HP for the engine, so the Dbillas in combination with the Supersprint really make the engine flow better!

The next thing i want to do is an modern engine management, probably KMS or Megasquirt...

[Nick1984]

The last job before the trip was mounting carter protection







And a picture of the hidden oil cooler, excuses for the dirty nose



ready for the trip!

[Nick1984]

And of course some pictures of the trip!

The car did a great job!

High in the mountains the car was way to rich, so flames out of the exhaust and bang bang roffle roffle
I am not sure if i want to change that

[ElGuappo]

I can think of a few guys who would love to get a copy of the chip in that ECU, myself included.
Cheers man, great work.

[muleskinner]

Great fotos, and looks like you get a really interesting bunch of running mates each year on your Alps trip. That's some hardcore engine bay porn!