MyE28.com DEV

The grinch is now making transmission mounts.



Once the diff is out I plan on cleaning this up real nice.











Aforementioned exhaust.

Wasn't this car just supposed to be an inexpensive temporary thing while you were getting "Vlad" completed ?
I think you might have, ummm, a problem.

waynet1 wrote:Wasn't this car just supposed to be an inexpensive temporary thing while you were getting "Vlad" completed ?
I think you might have, ummm, a problem.

Same problem as the rest of us. I think he fits right in.

Coldswede wrote:

waynet1 wrote:Wasn't this car just supposed to be an inexpensive temporary thing while you were getting "Vlad" completed ?
I think you might have, ummm, a problem.

Same problem as the rest of us. I think he fits right in.

It's just too nice a car to NOT fix up! Plus, look at all I get to learn!

My wife thinks I'm certifiably nuts. She's probably right.

cek wrote:

Coldswede wrote:

waynet1 wrote:Wasn't this car just supposed to be an inexpensive temporary thing while you were getting "Vlad" completed ?
I think you might have, ummm, a problem.

Same problem as the rest of us. I think he fits right in.

It's just too nice a car to NOT fix up! Plus, look at all I get to learn!

My wife thinks I'm certifiably nuts. She's probably right.

Please tell your wife that I am very sorry, since I was one that recommended you get this car.
She may want to form an intervention. Hopefully you will at least be able to get back down to a social wrencher. If not, you might have to give up garages all together.

waynet1 wrote:
Please tell your wife that I am very sorry, since I was one that recommended you get this car.
She may want to form an intervention. Hopefully you will at least be able to get back down to a social wrencher. If not, you might have to give up garages all together.

I hope I get to buy you the beer I owe you someday...

I realized that I didn't actually know if the guy who sold me the diff had taken the rear cover off or not. And if so, if he'd replaced the gasket.

So I emailed him. Sure enough, he'd taken it off and not replaced the gasket. So, as is normal for me...one step forward, two backwards...

The local stealer had a gasket in stock so I bought one. Drained the fresh gear oil I'd added, pulled the cover, cleaned the faces, a thin coat of permatex #3, gasket on, cover on, put oil back in.

Pretty happy with how the insides of the diff look. Paul & Joel came by tonight with the 13lbs flywheel and the both commented on how good the diff felt. So I'm happy.



Paul & Joel looked over all my parts and inspected the underbelly of Maytag and gave me tons of advice. We realized that while I have the bracket for the rear of the shift console, we don't have the mount point to weld on. Hopefully Joel can come by this weekend and fabricate and weld one on for me. If not I may just bolt the bracket on, but I'd much, much rather do it right. Paul also had a master->slave hard line he gave me which was the only other part I knew I was missing.

The goal is be driving around stirring gears manually Sunday evening...

Whoa-boy. Worked our asses off today.

Started by ripping out AT stuff. ATF coolant lines, disconnected shift linkage, pulled cross member/sway bar, etc... Lowered back of tranny to get to bolts...







Then started removing bolts. Got them all off.

Then when the transmission wouldn't separate realized there was one more. Just to the left of the top 'head' bolt. Got a socket in there and started turning. And turning. And turning. Hmm.. Is it stripped? WTF?

Called Paul. Duh. It's the top starter bolt, so there's a effing nut there. I knew this. I forgot this.

Went and got a burrito.

Then we were able to finagle a socket on an 10' extension on to the nut along with a ratchet. CJ turned the reverse-torx on the other side and off it came. It took about 30 minutes to figure out how to secure the nut and 10 seconds to actually get that last bolt off.

Pulling the tranny off at that point was easy. Paul/Joel had already reminded me to remove the 3 bolts from the timing wheel so it all came off easy. I have a big oil catcher that goes on the top of my standing oil thingy and we got most of the ATF, but as was expected, in the end, it looked like someone was murdered in the garage.





These things are obnoxiously heavy. They should be outlawed.


The next step was to clean.

I see people do things like 5speed or diff swaps and they leave all that grease and grime in place. I just can't stand that. I *have* to clean it up. I could have spent another couple of hours making it REALLY clean, but I just wanted the majority of it off. I think this makes working on the car much easier. I also think it has a significant positive impact on resale value...if there's no rust as is the case here.
And, if you have a lift, it's not THAT hard to do. Lots of good degreaser, good brushes, and tons of elbow-grease.






While I scrubbed the bottom of the car, CJ cleaned all the tools and put them all away. This also resulted in the floor being cleaned, which was a good thing because between all the ATF pictured above and the combination of Maytag's AND Vlad's leaks the floor was a little like an ice rink.

Once done, we decided we'd close out the day by installing the 3.46 LSD and half-shafts...

\

I like making CJ do the repetitive work :-). He's also the strong back that is required for lifting things like diffs.


The 2.93 open diff that was in the car felt like shit compared to the 3.46 LSD we put in. As I mentioned in a previous post the new diff is really tight. The old diff feels like it has rocks for bearings. We decided to open it up to see how it looked, since we've not seen the insides of very many diffs. The oil was murky but not super nasty. And there's no obvious chunks missing from any of the gears. I'm guessing it's just the bearings that are bad.



I'll try to make a few $ off of this. Maybe just the cover. I can't imagine very many people want a 2.93 open that feels like shit.




While we were at it, we opened the 'found in puget sound' 3.25 LSD that I had previously bought. The outside of this diff is extremely rusted, but the seller had assured me it turned great. I wanted to see the insides.

Looks as good as the 3.46 we put in the car.




I'm going to keep this for a while and maybe put new bearings on it and clean the case. Or maybe I'll sell it. We'll see....

That's all for today. We should be able to finish tomorrow, barring any real hang-ups. I plan on replacing the rear main-seal first thing and then yanking the auto shift console and pedals out of the interior. I'm hoping I can get Joel to come by mid-day to weld on the shifter console bracket. From there it should be bang-bang. Haha.

Looking good! I wish I had time to clean more when my drivetrain was out, but we were under a bit of a time crunch. And I'm not exactly worried about resale on my pos

Btw, how is a 14 page picture thread not in eye candy yet?!?

cddallara wrote:Looking good! I wish I had time to clean more when my drivetrain was out, but we were under a bit of a time crunch. And I'm not exactly worried about resale on my pos

Thanks!

Btw, how is a 14 page picture thread not in eye candy yet?!?

Good question. Mods?

Progress this morning...

Got the oil drained in prep for the rear main seal replacement.

Got the console pulled apart and all the automatic shit out (including the ticking mileage counter!!).



I was hoping the mail man would drop off a package yesterday... It contains the connector from the clutch master to the master soft-line to brake reserviour. I won't be able to finish today without it. Arrrg.

Now working on the pedals...

Can I borrow your garage some time? I won't bring any of my cars to work on; just a lawn chair and a cooler so I can sit in there and bask in the openness, cleanliness, and utility of it. Everything that my garage is not.

Have I told you recently that you do nice work? Nice work.

davintosh wrote:Can I borrow your garage some time? I won't bring any of my cars to work on; just a lawn chair and a cooler so I can sit in there and bask in the openness, cleanliness, and utility of it. Everything that my garage is not.

Have I told you recently that you do nice work? Nice work.

If you are ever in the Great PNW, you are obligated to stop by. I probably can dig up a lawn chair. Thanks for the kind words, but just as a fast car won't make you a fast driver, a nice garage won't make you a competent mechanic. It's nice working in a nice place, but I still am making way too many stupid mistakes.

That said, got this done:

Old rear main seal & carrier seal:


Groovy. New seal sits much further towards the back edge (back of car), so that's good because if it had been the same kind it would have either had to stick out of carrier or be so far in it would risk falling off the shaft.




Done. Light coat of permatex #3 on all surfaces, new carrier gasket (which is metal where the one I took off was paper/plastic).


I know that taking the steering column all they way out is not strictly needed for this swap, but I really wanted to sort out all the wires...there were still some vestiges of the PO's alarm system. Plus, i figure this way I can actually see how everything is put together up under there.


Now to get the transmission into place...

I think I'm done for the day. As is typical with me, I just take too much time making sure everything's perfect and things just move slowly.

Sometime around lunch the 13lbs flywheel got put on.


I went to put on the clutch and found that the "kit" only came with 4 bolts for the pressure plate.


I knew CJ & I had to go to a party later so I'd stop by Ace and see if they had M8x16mm fillister bolts. In the meantime, I started assembling the shifter and was not at all happy with the rust on the donor parts.


And the rust that is visible on the wiper stalk just annoys the hell out of me.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/p5Qpeh]

So I got out the paint.


Missed a little spot, but I'll touch that up tomorrow.


Ace didn't have 16mm M8 bolts. But they did have 20mm. So I bought two and ground them down and used a die to make sure the threads were good.


Clutch on. Tranny is just sitting there waiting for a few bits to be bolted on and CJ to be available to help me with those damn starter bolts.




I'm betting it'll be ready to drive Tuesday afternoon...

I suggest that you use the correct bolts for mounting the pressure plate to flywheel. It is my understanding that they are stretch bolts, not ordinary bolts. Plus they are cheap and the dealership has them instock. Also, use new bolts to attach the flywheel to the crank, or at least clean them and use a thread locker.

Part # for the PP bolts: 07119919939 torqued to 22-24Nm

Might save you some trouble before you put the tranny and exhaust back on.

Flywheel to crank are the more critical stretch bolts. Definitely use new.They come with blue threadlocker.

I used new flywheel bolts.

Then M8x16 hex bolts are not special.

I'm a lucky guy. Tonight Paul & Joel came by with Joel's welder in his slick E39 touring. Joel had fabbed this up:



When they showed up I was putting the shifter together.



The replacement gearshift rod joint is different than the one that was on the transmission (and the one that was on Vlad). Those are asymentric. In addition the selector rod has one end that's longer than the other; made to fit the asymmetric rod joint. I wasn't going to take a picture of this and then pretend it didn't happen, but I figure some of you would want to sneer. So sneer away.


I'm going to try to source either a correct selector rod or rod joint and if I ever need to pull the exhaust on this car again I'll do this right, but for now I'm not delaying the project completion when a few washers will do the job.

I needed a bracket to hold the clutch hard-line to flexible line to the slave, so Joel welded that on.


Getting a transmission installed is a hell of a lot easier with 4 people. Well 3, it's not like CJ actually did much more than hand us tools. Getting the tough bolts on actually went pretty smoothly too. We dropped one nut getting the top starter bolt on and couldn't find it, but eventually got everything connected (Paul/Joel: After you left we lowered the car and were able to find that nut).


Next Joel worked his magic with the grinder & welder.




Protecting the carpet from the heat. Good thinking Paul.


Which resulted in our own Shroud of Turin.


Some under-body paint and it's done.



Freaking feels great. The Z3 shifter makes me HATE my UUC. I'm ripping that damn thing out of Vlad first chance I get. The spring that holds the ball in the socket of the UUC is super-super annoying and causes shifts to feel jerky at end-range-of-motion. I should have listened to Kohler (FWIW, I'm actually ordering one of the http://www.autosolutions.net/ shifters for Vlad. I may start collecting shifters like I collect wheels).


I was embarrassed to note CJ was wearing flip-flops in photos from yesterday. I didn't realize he wasn't wearing shoes then. So I yelled at him. He got sassy.


All that's left now is:

• Install driveshaft
• install exhaust
• Install pedals, connect master to hard-line, connect hard-line to braided flex-line to slave.
• Wire in brake light switch. Figure out what to do with the clutch cut-out switch for cruise control
• Make sure jumper for gear select sensor is right
• Install steering column
• Test
• Install kick panel and console
• Drive like hell (or at least as hell as a M20B27 can).

FWIW, this is golden if you are doing a swap like this: http://web.archive.org/web/200510241645 ... ndex2.html

Using the excellent documentation I pointed to above, this morning I pulled all the automatic wiring out.





I still need one of the new style brake light switch connectors, which should arrive today. Other than that all the wiring is done and everything, including cruise, should work as though it were a factory 5-speed.

I started to put the driveshaft in and realized that the bolts required for a 5-speed shaft are different. I don't have the 6 M12X1.5X56 bolts, nor do I have new M12 self-locking hex nuts. So I'm scrambling trying to find them locally. So far BMW of Bellevue doesn't have them. Whelp!

I just happen to have some bolts for you. Brandy new from the dealer. You have a PM.

Not a good day.

First, I get up early to wrench and get all the wiring sorted. That's a good thing.

Then, figure out I don't have those 6 drive shaft bolts and nuts.

Then, I go to start Vlad and the radiator fan explodes. I suspect my fan clutch seized when I started the car.

Then, Kohler discovers the brake light switch harness he has crumbles in his hand as he's trying to ship it.

Then, CJ goes and gets me 6 bolts from the local bolt place because none of the Stealers have them in stock (Tacoma Screw).

Then, BMW of Seattle has 6 nuts in stock and I get them (this is a good thing).

Then, I get home and notice 6 bolts sitting on the workbench...they were there the whole time. So CJ didn't need to drive up there in a rush.

Then, we go to put the drive shaft on and find that the guibo I ordered is the wrong one (or Blunt sent the wrong one; likely I just wasn't clear enough). Anyway, the one I have is smaller and takes M10 bolts; it's for the 88.

Then, I see that BMW of Bellevue has a correct guibo in stock. That's a better than horrible thing.

Then, I set about installing the pedals and the master. When I tried to attach the new soft line to the brand new master 'connector' I fu**ing break the thing. How many times did Plndr & I talk about how easy these things are to break?!?! Eff!!!!

Then, I call BMW of Bellevue and they HAVE ONE IN STOCK! This makes things better because we can get it tomorrow along with the Guibo.

I'll likely jury-rig the brake light switch... I did this on Vlad already... I used butt connectors to create my own plug. But I really want do to it right and find TWO connectors with pig-tails that will fit on this style of brake light switch.



The pedals are in. But no master. Basically 2 hours of work for nothing. And we're completely stalled.

So stuff like that doesn't just happen to me. I know the feel, bro. My e32 has been on stands in the garage going on two weeks.

Driveshaft in. Happy birthday to me.



Coco, the miniature wookie, is impressed too.

Tooling around in it yet?

happy birthday!

i see some grease spots on your underside.

no ...er, likely homo. (nice try filter)

Progress and some questions...

Everything under the car is buttoned up. Exhaust, sway bar, slave hardline & soft line (not in these pics), etc...




Pedals are in, clutch master is in.

Used my wife's turkey baster to try to get the brake fluid out of the reservoir. There are two compartments. We can't figure out how to get the fluid out of the front compartment in order to cut off the nipple! Whelp!

Also, I lost track of which spring went where. Can anyone ID which of these springs is which? One is for throttle & one for brake pedal.

Nice progress, weird looking garage helper.

bkbimmer wrote:Nice progress, weird looking garage helper.

Thanks. Not quite a dog. Not quite a cat. Not quite a Wookie.

Last thing before bed tonight: Get the brake and clutch switches wired up. I didn't see this in any of the other posts and threads on swaps, but in this car (7/86) the auto pedal box used the old style switch. My 'new' 5-speed pedal box is from a later model car and requires a new style switch. Being an auto the clutch switch wire (green/red) has this jumper on it. Take that off and those wires plug into the clutch switch.


I was hoping to find an actual later model plug for the brake light switch, but they seem to be made of unobtanium. So I did what I did on Vlad: I fabricated my own using crimp connectors whos inner diameter just happens to be an almost perfect match for the pins on the switch. A slight squeeze on the connectors makes them fit nice and tight. With an ohm-meter I verified everything works well even with lots of pulling and prodding.



Interesting that brake switch is the same brand new kind that BMW currently sells. Vlad's PO included a spare switch (which I had completely forgotten about) that is of the old style. If the new switch were installed in THIS pedal bracket it would be partially depressing the brake it is so long. The old style switch is much shorter. I don't remember noticing this on Vlad when I replaced the switch after 5erWest, but next time I have the foot panel off I'm going to double check.

Tomorrow:

• Figure out how to get brake fluid out of reservoir so I can snip the nipple and attach hose
• Install steering column
• Bleed brakes
• Bleed clutch
• Test
• Install kick panel and console
• Drive like hell (or at least as hell as a M20B27 can).