Never-Ending Project e28 528e

[Ordnator]

Did the dipstick orings help with the idle vibration at all?

After changing them I felt like the vibration was reduced a slight amount because before the car would vibrate and cause an interior piece to make a slight rattle noise but now thats gone.

The vibration is weird because I when the car is in park, there is no vibration at all and the car idles perfectly.
But, when the car is shifted into drive or reverse the rpm drops by about 100 and the vibration starts. Also, there is no hesitation when driving and once the car starts to move the vibration is gone and there is also no rough running at all.

Have you checked the gearbox rubber mounts?

There is also an exhaust hanger that bolts to the gearbox rear end which could throw up an issue / provide a bridge for vibration.

Best regards,

Mick

[mnnguy]

Have you checked the gearbox rubber mounts?

There is also an exhaust hanger that bolts to the gearbox rear end which could throw up an issue / provide a bridge for vibration.

Best regards,

Mick

I have and replaced every rubber mount that mounts the driveline to the body. Engine, transmission, and diff mounts. That exhaust hanger and all others have been changed already as well.

All vacuum hoses replaced, no vacuum leaks found with a smoke test, tps, and icv have been tested good as well. Adjusted the throttle body to spec found in the Bentley manual.

This problem has been an on going one for a long time. Before the e2i swap it was worse but I had improved it ALOT by changing the fuel pump to a wahlboro 255.
Fuel system has been gone through and everything replaced except injectors so I might replace them for larger injectors when I get a chip for the ecu.

[mnnguy]

Long time since I've posted an update, but only driven maybe a couple hundred miles in the past year ever since the ac compressor froze on first start after it was parked for a month or two. I had a bunch of parts ready to install, so started buttoning up a bunch of different things.

Starting point:

Front lip got cracked in a couple places since it sits kinda lower to the ground from myself and also family members since I let those that visit to just use the car to get around,






Another box of parts lol



E28 goodies tail light gaskets, hopefully these seal well but time will tell.



Start of the front end rebuild, got most parts from schmiedmann. Got an OEM valance and euro m5 lip chin spoiler. The valance did come banged up a little bit on the passenger side so they refunded me the full amount. The box they delivered everything in had almost no padding, just a couple air cushions. Not sure if I will be ordering from schmiedmann for big parts in the future





Replacement of all the old bumper rubbers, and replaced the front license plate holder since the old one was cracked in a couple places







The OEM valance fits way better than the old aftermarket valance I got about 8 years ago from classic euro parts. That valance was super flimsy and the turn signal/foglight mounting holes were off so the lights never sit flush. This new one finally has the turn signals sit flush with the valance.

front lip mounted, there is way more clearance with the m5 lip. For the m5 lip hardware I used a mix of the standard hardware plus e30 hardware that has been discussed on another thread before.

7 x hex nut with plate - 07147134319
2 x expanding nut 63171367868
2 x hex head screw 07119901299
4 x M6 clamping bolt 51711933719
4 x clamp 51711922599
4 x M6 plastic nut 16131176747







I misplaced the screws for the driver side turn signals so I'm currently waiting on those to arrive before i finish the front end.

Next part was to fix the power steering lines. Every time the car was cold or at full lock, the steering system would groan pretty load and would go away after a minute or two of driving. Replaced both hoses, got new crush washers, hose clamps, and reservoir with OE since i think i had a URO one from years ago.

Parts:
1 x 32411131545
1 x 324111315241
1 x 32411097164



Rockauto stocks the pressure hose under EDELMANN 71359, its $20 I'm going to try this since the OEM line is NLA and its cheaper than getting a hose made at a hydraulic shop.



Next step was to rebuild all the seals on the power steering pump, this thing was gross to work on. Part # 32411135880







The hardest part of the process is the little c clip which I ended up prying/bending off with two screwdrivers. I cleaned everything up before re-installing, but did not take any other pictures.

While waiting on hardware from Pelican, I just started tackling some smaller stuff out of boredom.

The plastic fender liner/cover was old and grey colored and you could see the grey plastic color pop out from behind the wheel. I painted it black so it could frame the wheels better. They were kind of cracked/damaged already but I don't mind and just sprayed them with SEM trim black.



Final part of the update was that I slightly lowered the car a little more up front to close up the wheel gap, especially because there's more ground clearance with the m5 lip. Measuring both sides from lip to fender, it was lowered approximately 6/8" on the passenger/driver side.

Before:



After:



Plans for the car once everything is buttoned up is to have my body shop paint the valance, fill in the holes on the front core support/front clip since I forgot about it when the car was first painted, and I have an mtech rear spoiler that I've had for the past couple years.

Currently looking for a later model manual swap for the car, and plan to do an e30 single mass flywheel conversion with an e21 throw-out bearing when that time comes since I dont have to worry about the bellhousing sensors. Hard part is now trying to find the parts needed for a manual swap. Before i remember finding full swaps for $500 all day but that time has passed.

[muleskinner]

This car has come a long way since you got it. Keep up the good work.

[vinceg101]

The plastic fender liner/cover was old and grey colored and you could see the grey plastic color pop out from behind the wheel. I painted it black so it could frame the wheels better. They were kind of cracked/damaged already but I don't mind and just sprayed them with SEM trim black.

You are doing a fantastic job with this and I applaud your efforts. It looks great.
Not that my opinion should have any influence but I was disappointment you decided to do this. Disappointed not that you didn't want to see the original light grey components and wanted to show your wheels better, but that you painted these original pieces. The light grey OEM parts were delivered on the older cars and are way NLA; finding intact versions is next to impossible today and for those doing a full, complete restoration, these represent one of those parts that we have to accept will never be replaced (or wait for someone to 3d print a set).
You could have bought new black ones from BMW (granted they're not the cheapest, but they are available) and sold the hugely uber-rare light grey ones to someone (okay, likely me as I have been looking for a decent set for a while).

Again, I am enjoying your progress and my opinion on this shouldn't sway you one way or another.
Looking forward to more.

[mnnguy]

The plastic fender liner/cover was old and grey colored and you could see the grey plastic color pop out from behind the wheel. I painted it black so it could frame the wheels better. They were kind of cracked/damaged already but I don't mind and just sprayed them with SEM trim black.

You are doing a fantastic job with this and I applaud your efforts. It looks great.
Not that my opinion should have any influence but I was disappointment you decided to do this. Disappointed not that you didn't want to see the original light grey components and wanted to show your wheels better, but that you painted these original pieces. The light grey OEM parts were delivered on the older cars and are way NLA; finding intact versions is next to impossible today and for those doing a full, complete restoration, these represent one of those parts that we have to accept will never be replaced (or wait for someone to 3d print a set).
You could have bought new black ones from BMW (granted they're not the cheapest, but they are available) and sold the hugely uber-rare light grey ones to someone (okay, likely me as I have been looking for a decent set for a while).

Again, I am enjoying your progress and my opinion on this shouldn't sway you one way or another.
Looking forward to more.

Thanks!

Ah I totally had no idea that the grey ones were rare, i just looked up the part number and saw that they were black so i sprayed them. One thing to note is that i didnt sand them so they could probably be brought back to original with relatively little effort.
I guess one thing was that the driver side bottom part was unfortunately cracked 3/4 way through and was just hanging on

[vinceg101]

Thanks!

Ah I totally had no idea that the grey ones were rare, i just looked up the part number and saw that they were black so i sprayed them. One thing to note is that i didnt sand them so they could probably be brought back to original with relatively little effort.
I guess one thing was that the driver side bottom part was unfortunately cracked 3/4 way through and was just hanging on

They're all like that after 30+ years; that's why finding good, intact ones are sort of like finding a Unicorn.

[mnnguy]

They're all like that after 30+ years; that's why finding good, intact ones are sort of like finding a Unicorn.

Got it, I might be able to find a pair for you because I'm pretty sure a friend of mine has a pair just lying around. If they're good ill reach out to you.

Got more parts for the car, Pelican Parts is down the street from me so I'm unfortunately able to pick up parts a couple hours after I order them. Ordered a bunch of hardware i needed to replace among other small pieces.



Finally putting in the window guides that I've had for a while now because the wind noise was getting annoying at highway speeds.





I tried to do the way that people described by just using water/dish soap as a lubricant with the window in, but could never get that to work. I just took the door panel off/vapor barrier and remove the two 10mm nuts that hold the glass in. I then tilted the glass forward out of the way of the window guides and dropped the window guides into the window and pushed them by hand into the channel.



I replaced the vapor barrier with the Vvivd Vinyl Clear PPF that was just recommended in another thread and it worked perfectly.

Once the window guides were replaced, I did start to notice the sunroof wind noise so I ordered new seals from Pelican and installed them. I decided to take the sunroof off instead of keeping it in place, but while doing it i accidentally busted a hole in the headliner. I didn't read the bentley fully on the instructions and thought the headliner goes in the same way as removal with the panel fully down. Didn't realize that you have to line the metal guide onto the pin with the rear slightly tilted.
I am going to a parts car this weekend and getting a new to me good condition headliner panel.

While doing the window guides i noticed that the interior driver door felt seal was missing. Probably from the body shop since I had them do the exterior weather strip. Ordered that and installed it as well.









Next up were the side view mirrors, they were faded and scuffed on one, so I uninstalled them and sanded them with 2000 grit sandpaper and SEM Trim Black.





While taking off the mirrors, the glass was super floppy and I think my hands while holding them gave them the last bit of force to give out. The motors behind the glass were toast and kind of explains why they moved so terribly. I replaced the motors from an e36 from the local scrapyard, but Z3 mirrors works as well. The e36 side mirror motors use the clip on mirrors but the exact same motor as the e28.

I have on order a pair of aspherical euro side view mirrors meant to fit on e30/34/36 coming with the clip on style and those will fit right on. After running e92 m3 euro side view mirrors I ordered while on vacation in Munich, I want all cars I can to have the same type of mirrors. The field of view is huge on them.









e36 Side Mirror Motors - exactly the same as e28/30 - fit up perfectly with the e28 mirrors





While taking off the grills for the new front valance, the plastic screws that hold the grills in kept splitting in half so I replaced them with the metal e12 screws in the original e28 expanding plastic clamps. I didnt want to ever have to replace these again and the metal screws should be good to go.
Part # 07147202502





Finally the front end is reassembled, and i'm just finishing up some small things before I can take it to the body shop.



Hood wasnt closed all the way but I'm going to have the body shop realign the hood.

[mnnguy]

Car is now in the shop for paint, should be a couple weeks until its ready.

Received euro side mirror glass from Lithuania, the FOV is way better than stock US glass. They use the clip style and are meant to fit e30, 34, 36s but also fit the e28s, it also includes connections for the heated mirrors I have.









Also installed the sport seat covers that holds the bolster switch. Had to cut away the leather in some spots for the clips to attach and to put the securing pin in. Had a bunch of the sport seat plastic covers and hinge covers always laying around and finally installed them.



Disassembled the front end prior to taking it to the body shop.





Car as it was dropped off. Getting some holes from the euro conversion filled, valance painted, and the IS wing painted.

[alps]

Car looks amazing, great work! Near twin to my 86 535i also in LA.

Dreaming of painting mine... what has your experience been painting with local paint/body shops?