1988 535is Ohio. 5/4/23 zender skirts and hood insulation

[tig]

Not my cup of cognac, but good on you for having a vision and executing it. Well done!

[BDKawey]

Not my cup of cognac, but good on you for having a vision and executing it. Well done!

thank you! goal is to be all reversible and keep it nice. which is why I went straight to air to preserve fenders and the pan.

[BDKawey]

photos from cars and coffee this past weekend (photos not by me). this ride height is a little lower than what I drive at. call it the parking lot/rolling low preset.
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aired out
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need to polish the bumpers, cloudiness is the worst part of the exterior other than chipping shadowline around the windshield
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[BDKawey]

yesterday treated her with an oil change, fresh fuel filter and rear sway bar links. threw the roof rack on for a show next weekend and took some family photos. I got a 3D printed front plate filler from https://racegerman.com/collections/e28- ... ate-filler. it looks good, a perfectionist might want to sand it because it looks like a 3d printed part. you can see it in the photos but if anyone's interested I'll get a better photo. ive seen other places offer this piece but race german might be the only ones still offering with the "BMW" text. maybe only a matter of time before they're asked to cut it out.

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[Panici]

What are the limiting factors to getting the thing laid out on the ground?

I'm guessing your oil pan/subframe is touching in the front, but looks like the rear is pretty high?

Is it just not possible with the E28 suspension design?

[BDKawey]

What are the limiting factors to getting the thing laid out on the ground?

I'm guessing your oil pan/subframe is touching in the front, but looks like the rear is pretty high?

Is it just not possible with the E28 suspension design?

on this particular setup its limited by the wheel offset and tire size. so it bottoms out on the tire.

the rusty car used to be bagged on 16s and it would sit on the control arms. so ultimately I imagine that would be as low as any unmodified car could go in the front. rears can go pretty low and im not sure what would stop it, again in my car is airs out on to the tire. my rear arches are rolled but maybe could get rolled just a little more, they're thick panels

[Panici]

on this particular setup its limited by the wheel offset and tire size. so it bottoms out on the tire.

So you would need to tub the rear wheelwells on this setup to go lower?

the rusty car used to be bagged on 16s and it would sit on the control arms. so ultimately I imagine that would be as low as any unmodified car could go in the front.

I'm trying to picture this. It would be the inner mounting points for the control arms you are speaking about?
Would be looking at custom arms and/or moved pickup points in that case?

[BDKawey]

on this particular setup its limited by the wheel offset and tire size. so it bottoms out on the tire.

So you would need to tub the rear wheelwells on this setup to go lower?

the rusty car used to be bagged on 16s and it would sit on the control arms. so ultimately I imagine that would be as low as any unmodified car could go in the front.

I'm trying to picture this. It would be the inner mounting points for the control arms you are speaking about?
Would be looking at custom arms and/or moved pickup points in that case?

tubbing wouldnt solve the rear problem because thats more for inner side clearance while retaining the stock body lines. this bottoms out on the lip of the quarter panel so if I wanted to go lower I could roll/pull the quarters more, do smaller (stretched) tires, or should some higher offset wheels.

and yes the inner part of the control arm where it mounts to the subframe. rusty car was actually grinding the arms down because I used to be able to air it out while moving and touch them, in that case as they ground down that allowed it to go lower.

you could raise that mounting point on the arm in theory but that would just mess up geometry.

[Panici]

tubbing wouldnt solve the rear problem because thats more for inner side clearance while retaining the stock body lines. this bottoms out on the lip of the quarter panel so if I wanted to go lower I could roll/pull the quarters more, do smaller (stretched) tires, or should some higher offset wheels.

Got it, assuming more negative camber isn't easily achieved (or wouldn't help with the aggressive wheel setup).

and yes the inner part of the control arm where it mounts to the subframe. rusty car was actually grinding the arms down because I used to be able to air it out while moving and touch them, in that case as they ground down that allowed it to go lower.
you could raise that mounting point on the arm in theory but that would just mess up geometry.

Haha self-clearancing

I'm not well-versed in suspension, but if you moved both mounting points up (and kept arm length the same) that would retain stock geometry no?

[BDKawey]

tubbing wouldnt solve the rear problem because thats more for inner side clearance while retaining the stock body lines. this bottoms out on the lip of the quarter panel so if I wanted to go lower I could roll/pull the quarters more, do smaller (stretched) tires, or should some higher offset wheels.

Got it, assuming more negative camber isn't easily achieved (or wouldn't help with the aggressive wheel setup).

and yes the inner part of the control arm where it mounts to the subframe. rusty car was actually grinding the arms down because I used to be able to air it out while moving and touch them, in that case as they ground down that allowed it to go lower.
you could raise that mounting point on the arm in theory but that would just mess up geometry.

Haha self-clearancing

I'm not well-versed in suspension, but if you moved both mounting points up (and kept arm length the same) that would retain stock geometry no?

yeah you could go more negative camber, you'd need to weld in the eccentric tabs with bolts on the trailing arm mounts. I did that back in the day on tetanus.

and Im not well verse to know exactly what would happen, obviously things are already getting screwy when you're extremely lowing a car. you're essentially changing the one side mounting point when you lower it but modding the frame could do some more wild stuff.

this was tetanus at its lowest, small tires on 16" wheels, should be sitting on the control arms.
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[Dimm6]

I noticed that when you first posted pictures of the car there was a weird bend in the front spoiler. After you wrapped it and did what you did with the car I see the bend is hardly there. I have the same problem with my spoiler and I’m wondering what you did to straighten it out. I assumed it had to do with the metal frame that supports the spoiler behind it. Maybe that’s bent? Any help as to what you did is appreciated. Your car came out perfect. Red is a killer color on e28 and e24.

[BDKawey]

I noticed that when you first posted pictures of the car there was a weird bend in the front spoiler. After you wrapped it and did what you did with the car I see the bend is hardly there. I have the same problem with my spoiler and I’m wondering what you did to straighten it out. I assumed it had to do with the metal frame that supports the spoiler behind it. Maybe that’s bent? Any help as to what you did is appreciated. Your car came out perfect. Red is a killer color on e28 and e24.

these air dams are so thick that we used a soldering gun to melt the cracks back together, front and back. and then finished it with some fiber glass as well as body filler. Extremely pleased with how it came out. maybe hard to tell in the one picture but it was pretty beat but still in one piece with nothing missing.
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

finished and ready for some primer
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this is from page one when we fixed the airdam. the metal bracket to mount them supports it along where it touches the actual bumper and then just a few spots along it. unless its really mangled the spoilers can get weird and cut/twisted and the brackets still be fine.

[BDKawey]

picked up an mtech wheel that needs a few stitches pulled back together.
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rolled 200k over the weekend
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picked up a thule fairing for a 20 dollar bill
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
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and got to park next to a buddy's zino m3 to finally see how the wrap color compares. just a touch brighter.
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[BDKawey]

anyone here have a rear valance with US bumpers and trim? I picked up this original 3 piece zender rear valance from a friend locally and I'll either make it work or just sit on it for a bit. these were obviously intended to work simply with the euro bumper but I plan to see if I can get it looking half decent while:

a) not cutting up the actual spoiler its self, perhaps focusing on trimming the bumper trim since those are readily available.
b) not drilling any holes into the body, since if I went euro bumpers in the future chances are I'd tweak the mounting to get it perfect.

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

scouring the internet as far as I can tell these want to sit parallel to the body line there where the US trim used to sit. which at that point it puts it so high that the bumper shocks would want to go straight through the valance.

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

I found this picture on an old for sale ad here on mye28. seller stated it had been cut up to fit the US bumpers and as you can see it has all the US specific tabs and mounts. if I have to cut this one up that bad to be satisfied then I may as well spend ±300 bucks and get a fiberglass replica.
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I found this photo of a bbs valance that if you notice the sides, they're either trimmed or made factory to sit around the black US side trim. which if I did chose that route, could be a solution but then it would never look good with euro bumpers.
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I know this has been done but little to no info written out.

thoughts? concerns? hate mail?

thanks!

[BDKawey]

Pulled my bumpers off to remove the failed anodized finish and give them a sand and polish, was met with a little surprise. I dont remember it even remotely looking like this when I had the bumpers out for the wrap last winter. this was the drivers side and the passenger side had some but not nearly this bad.

solution was to clean it up the best I could with some long carbide burrs and POR15 everything in there. was not a fun or easy job but I'm pleased with the results. I did both the passenger and driver rear bumper mount. middle was as clean as could be.

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

bumpers mid Strip, was not a fun job either. seemed like oven cleaner helped soften the anodizing and then I used an orbital sander. after that wet sanded to 3000 grit.

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I also ceramic coated them with jax wax. hopefully I wont have to actually polish them much if at all. they're fully back together since taking this picture but I'll get some photos after I get them on.
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[Mdreamer]

That looks really good!

[BDKawey]

That looks really good!

thanks! photos coming. still sitting on jack stands. car is getting:

-gutted cat because it fell apart.
-transmission mount bushings.
-an engine mount.
-new o2/bung.
-exhaust hangers.
-painting this cheap autozone catback that rusted and looks horrible.
-new tires.

[e281985]

The bumpers look great!

[BDKawey]

only 2 photos I have right now but I wanted to get something up to show them. super glad I did this. front looks amazing. rear had some harsh pitting that I didnt really work all the way through but still looks good unless you're inches from it.

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[tseohs]

Really comes together with polished bumpers and wheels. Looks so sharp.

[Mdreamer]

Everything looks very good from my vantage point.

[BDKawey]

thanks yall.

I was finally able to source some original zender skirts, they're on the way and I'm hoping to have them wrapped and installed for an event early next month. may be an ambitious goal depending on how soon they get here.

[BDKawey]

finally! original zender side skirts acquired and installed. i'll have some more photos soon, especially after some shows coming up here the next 2 weekends. did everything I could to mount these nicely because I wasnt thrilled about drilling holes in the car. I first installed them with self tappers, then drilled them out, primered the holes, and then did an rtv'd riv nut to help keep everything dry. then installed the skirts with machine screws and double sided tape.

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I also spent some time cleaning up under the hood, foam was in horrible shape. this was not a fun job to do. but I can confirm if you buy the middle foam section (I bought from pelican parts) it will come with all 3 sections. I also replaced the long strip at the top. fair note, nail it the first time because these things are stickyyy.

photo from the PO:
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during and after:
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Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[BDKawey]

third best bmw at slammedenuff ohio in columbus yesterday. this coming friday morning a friend and I are tripping the car to jersey for the weekend. will be a thousand mile weekend roughly.

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[Mdreamer]

third best bmw at slammedenuff ohio in columbus yesterday. this coming friday morning a friend and I are tripping the car to jersey for the weekend. will be a thousand mile weekend roughly.

Congratulations! How did the road trip go?

[BDKawey]

road trip went great! only issues encountered were a stuck throttle body for a second after I romped on it, which I thought I fixed with cable bushings but I guess not. and then 2 melted fuses after sitting in traffic to get into the event. so over all not bad.

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I say I was about as prepared as I could be aside from not really having any spare parts. stole a full sized spare off tetanus to bring. this is after the weekend so it got a little messy. (jack unphotod). I brought a jumpbox, jack/stands a big socketcase and a packed toolbag and impact. the onboard air is super handy to have too.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[thugginrobby]

Sell me the rear zender if you don’t use it, please

[BDKawey]

Sell me the rear zender if you don’t use it, please

I'll keep you in mind. I'm sure it will be a few years before I cross that bridge. long term plan is probably save up some money and give it a silver respray and decide if I want to go with the euro aesthetic or not.

[BDKawey]

I should have done this awhile ago because it was so satisfying.

before photo of the passenger side. all the wheel wells were this grimy and oily. this was just after wetting it.
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after front (opposite side)
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after rear (no before photos bc I suck)
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And we were about due for some pads
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[BDKawey]

Bored the other day and did this. little super glue to hold all the layers of cardboard back together. got tired of seeing it every time I got in the trunk.

before
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during lol
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after
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much better
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anyone have a solution for this? sticky velcro?
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