MyE28.com DEV

oil pan gasket.. the Joy!

HayekFan wrote:

New heat shields, air scoop covers, and front hood seal.

Where'd you get the scoop covers?

Getting ready for the first show of the car show season: San Diego BMW CCA Jack Cavanaugh Memorial Clean Car Contest & Charity Auction

Dale3783 wrote:Where'd you get the scoop covers?

Got them from the dealer three or four years ago. Also bought the heat shields and front seal around that time.

Washed, Clayed, Final Coated, and driven to Car Show/Fund raiser for my son's school.

Changed FPR and picked up a set of style 9 wheels.

Benny

Replaced the starter motor

Replaced the central locking module and got my system working properly again.

When I first got my car a few years ago, the central locking wasn't working at all. I had disassembled the module and fixed a broken solder joint, which got it working. But lately - and with increasing frequency - the locks would instantly unlock after locking; this seems to be a common issue with E28s. Anyway, I got a rebuilt module from ProgRama which seems to have cured the problem.

Finally rebuilt the shifter. What a difference! The sheet metal console was missing a bolt where it bolts to the transmission. After struggling trying to remove a severely rusted exhaust and removing all the guibo bolts, I gave up and only replaced the 2 pieces that connect the console to the transmission. I didn't bother replacing the shifter selection joint. It didn't seem worn out even though I had the replacement part on hand. Honestly if I had just replaced the missing bolt, it would have been 95% better. I used blue loctite on all of the bolts.

Had a fun little 30 second cat and mouse game with an e30 the other day. I pulled away on the straights and he was decent in the corners, but he was "drift spec" so he had minimal grip with all that negative camber said goodbye once we hit the freeway.

Today I changed the oil and did some slight bodywork to get closer to test fitting the bumpers.

Turned one into a hilly billy pickup truck. It's very useful.



Took the blown up S38 out of the other - hoping to see its replacement lump, very soon.

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Drove the hell out of the car over the past 4 days!
Rode up to the vintage with Bill S from Savannah on Friday.
Hit 74A
Saturday on the way from Asheville to Hot springs took a detour- 63-209.
These are roads you won's see in coastal GA!
Sunday drove from Asheville to north Ga through Cashiers and Highlands NC- wicked
And Monday toured around Rabun County and the lake roads pushing the car.

Car handled beautifully and it is thrilling to experience the ultimate driving machine on mountains and curves. If you live where those are abundant, take your car out there and wear it out!

Ordered the Mark D chip. I had no idea there was a Spring sale going on.

Had the exhaust replaced from the y-pipe back. Took it to a very reputable local muffler shop. Only charged me $175! It's a single pipe now running to a resonator then a muffler. Dual tail pipe muffler replaced with a single chrome pipe. Mainly because they didn't have the other in stock. Told them I just needed it to be functional. I no longer have a swiss cheese exhaust.

Small victory - center dash vents
Thought one of my center dash vents was broken (bought used replacement) due to messed up side to side action, but after pulling them found that
the slats were merely unseated from their "pinion" seats. Cleaned in soapy water and clicked the errant slats back in place and all is well.
Now I have extra center vents...Finally did this after 2 years of procrastinating. This does not compare to an engine swap but was good to get done.

Wasn't happy with the way I installed the meth injection system so I ripped it out and re-installed it. Much happier with it now. Going back to the dyno on Thursday to re-tune. Took Al for a drive tonight ahhh so nice to hear the echo of the engine in the night air!! bbaxter

Repainted the hood vents and sanded down 1/3 of the hood. Also primed the new bumpers for the last time.

Shot two cans of R12 into my dead A/C and to my surprise it's now blowing cold! Getting 41 F at the vent on an 85 degree day. Will be interesting to see how long it holds.

AMAGANSA which paint did you use for the plastic hood inserts?

HAYSEED wrote:AMAGANSA which paint did you use for the plastic hood inserts?

Some generic Wal-Mart 1 dollar can of black I had laying around. Turned out really well. No clearcoat used so it retains a semi-matte looking finish.

Refreshed a set of shadowline tail lights - polished the lenses and repainted the trim. I used Wurth satin black trim spray paint - works very well and looks like original. I have one broken lens and was thinking of using these on the M5 (also ordered fresh tail light trim gaskets).

Before


After

I've been enjoying(?) the smell of Leatherique the last couple days; they definitely look and feel better.

I'm about to dive into replacing the struts on my sport seats; if you think of it, say a prayer for me. I'm a bit frightened...

davintosh wrote:I'm about to dive into replacing the struts on my sport seats

I posted in that link, mentioning I needed to do the same thing...I still haven't gotten around to it.

As for what I did today, I finally got my car out of the garage for the first time since I parked it for the winter. Spring has been so dismal here there wasn't any motivation to do it any earlier.

VZehn wrote:Refreshed a set of shadowline tail lights - polished the lenses and repainted the trim. I used Wurth satin black trim spray paint - works very well and looks like original. I have one broken lens and was thinking of using these on the M5 (also ordered fresh tail light trim gaskets).

Before


After

How did you polish the lenses?

funkycharms wrote:
How did you polish the lenses?

I polished the lenses just like I would polish the paint. I used a heavy cut compound on an orange pad with my dual action orbital, followed by finishing compound on a black pad. Then I hit the trim surface with 800 grit sand paper. Before spray painting I cleaned it all up with Mothers Back-To-Black Trim Cleaner.

stuartinmn wrote:

davintosh wrote:I'm about to dive into replacing the struts on my sport seats

I posted in that link, mentioning I needed to do the same thing...I still haven't gotten around to it.

As for what I did today, I finally got my car out of the garage for the first time since I parked it for the winter. Spring has been so dismal here there wasn't any motivation to do it any earlier.

I had to go back and look for your post, that was a while ago; it's time, Stuart!

The job turned out to be easier than I expected. The only casualty was a 3/8" gash on my left hand knuckle caused by an errant screwdriver that got loose while prying one of the old push nuts off.

I bought a set of eight struts from https://bmwseatshocks.weebly.com/order.html , and judging by the banner on the page today, I got his last set; out of stock until next month. After I ordered mine, I also found them listed on Rock Auto for about the same price.

I had the seats out of the car for the job (highly recommended) and used the Kohler Method for installing them with the 12" Irwin Quick-Grip clamp. The lift struts were pretty straightforward, but had to futz around a bit to get them lined up properly. The recline struts were a bit tricky because one end has the seat padding & leather in the way; I just mounted that end where it belonged, then braced one side of the clamp under the seat below where the strut attaches, squeezed the strut down, and then pivoted the clamped strut up to where it attached.

I haven't sat in the seats to try them out yet -- still working on the Leatherique treatment -- but I'm already liking the fact that the seat back doesn't just flop down. Get it done, Stuart!

davintosh wrote:Get it done, Stuart!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...it's on my list of things to do. Since no one else drives my car, the seat position never gets changed so it's been a low priority.

Dropped off my M technic bumpers to get painted. Anxious and excited.

Today I didn't do something just for my E28; I did it for myself!

I just ordered a pair of 67" Race Ramps and Ramp X-Tenders. They'll save a lot of back-breaking work getting my cars up on jackstands in my tight garage. After 50 years of working on cars, I'm really looking forward to these. From now on oil changes will be a pleasure.

I bought the two-piece ramps, which allow you to remove the "incline" portion once your car is up in the air; this allows better access while working under the car.

The "Ramp X-Tenders" allow a very low car to be driven up onto the ramps without interference. I don't think I need these yet; both my BMWs are lowered but not THAT much. However I decided to buy them as an added safety measure, after recently having the air dams on both cars refinished. Plus they'll eliminate worries about this with any low cars in my future.

I bought mine from Summit (free shipping); they''ll be here in a few days. Here they are on the RR website:

https://raceramps.com/car-ramps/garage- ... ace-ramps/

https://raceramps.com/car-ramps/garage- ... /xtenders/

Installed the Mark D chip. Works great. Smoother power delivery, idles better, better 80-90 acceleration. Also raised my ideal shifting RPM. Another satisfied customer