Rust

Found a little rust earlier. I've stripped and treated it here.

There was also some around the license plate lights. These are common areas for rust, and the rust on the end is because there was a small ding on the back that had been painted over. Pretty minor stuff considering the age. I'm expecting to find more on the floorboards, and if that is all I find then I'm doing pretty well.

Also got a big shipment of parts. Decided I'd list the price for the parts when they arrive, rather than when I install them. I got:

• Rear control arm bushings
• Differential mount
• Transmission mounts
• Motor mounts
• Trunk seal
• Front and rear emblems
• Subframe bushings (had these in my parts bin from the e24 so didn't need to order them)

Cost: $370

Total: $3251

Cleaned up

Well, I spent about 3 hours and got the passenger side all spiffed up. The roof is still a mess, and the water spots on the trunk and hood will take a while, and I haven't addressed the driver's side at all, but the difference is huge. Tons of rubbing compound, polishing, and finally wax, and it really needed it.

It will never be better than a 10 yard paint job, but at least it's shiny and free of oxidation now. I also have the e38 wheels mounted. Need to get a 3mm spacer for the front as the wheel weights on the inside of the rims touch the struts, until then I have 2mm washers behind the wheels, but don't trust them enough to drive the car off the island.

I got a shipment of parts from BMA and installed the new throttle position sensor. That has improved the performance under full throttle, as there is less of a dip now. Once I put the O2 sensor it that should fix that. Might need to have the injectors flushed though, not sure.

Cost: $275

Total: $2881

A Little Love

Couldn't resist getting this:

Got one for the 318is too.

Cost: $20

Factory Radio

Got the Factory CD33 radio installed and the iPod working with it. Using the Dice Silverline adapter, and the cables I got from the junk yard on Saturday. Took a while to get it wired up, and the new radio is deeper than the old ones, so it was a tight fit, but now I have iPod support. Right now I have a glove box full of the wiring, as the adapter is intended to wire all the way from the trunk, I'll have to come up with something creating there, might actually wire it back to the trunk, who knows.

Score!

Went down to B&R wrecking to check out the CD changer cable to a Z3. I have a CD33 head unit, and a Dice adapter, just need the cables. Got them, the car I pulled them out of had a CD33 head unit, so hopefully it will work with the iPod adapter.

However, while I was there I found a set of e46 sport manual seats and also got the Z3 shifter lever.

Here they are test-mounted in the car. Turns out the front holes line up perfectly. The rears are too far back so they are only test mounted at this point.
The seat belts even clip into the new mounts perfectly. On the e28 the rear holes are lower then the front ones, but I have washers to compensate for that. Also, as mounted they are probably just a hair off center, a little too close to the center console with too much gap on the outside. Not sure if I'll do a custom mount or just drill holes in the back of the rails and leave as is.

Huuuuge improvement over stock. No slop, tons of adjustment, and they look mint. Seems frivolous but I've found a firm seat really improves the connection to the car and the feel of solidity.

Also in this pic you can see there is a slight tilt to the passenger seat. Just a matter of shimming with washers. I did that on the driver's seat and it's perfectly level.

I also found an Autozone on the way back and picked up the $20 cheap-o shift knob I've been using in the 318is. I like it because it's weighted, and clean. The knob that was on the car was in pretty poor shape, and when I went to remove it, it became clear it had been glued on, so I had to cut it off. Apparently it came loose at some point so they just glued it on.

The Bentley manual from Amazon ($40) also arrived today, as well as a mint set of e38 style 5 16" wheels ($250 delivered, I'll cover those when I install them). Since I already have a set of SP8000 tires in the correct size for them, they are a perfect fit. However, I won't mount them till I get the suspension sorted out and a proper alignment done, as the alignment is currently waaay out of spec.

While inspecting the underside of the car I did also notice that there has been some welding on the steering box mount. This is a common failure item on this car. I'll have to see if it's still solid. If not I'll have to drop the front subframe and get it welded and reinforced. A little labor intensive but a pretty cheap job if it needs it.

Cost: $545

Coolant fix

The coolant level warning light had been on since I got the car. I'd checked and the level was fine, figured I'd replace the sensor. Turns out it was just corroded contacts. Cleaned them off and no more issue. I am still getting various brake light issues, definitely related to corrosion on the contacts, just need to clean them a little more thoroughly.

Tail light fix

The left rear blinker was out, and I'd noticed periodic bulb warning lights. Normally this is corroded contacts. Sure enough the contacts were very corroded, so I took both tail lenses out and cleaned the contacts with a dremel wire wheel. Fixed it right up, no more phantom bulb warning lights.

Next on the list is the coolant level sensor and a complete coolant system flush. There are some small sparkles in the coolant, so possibly the water pump is going out, I'll see if they persist after the flush.

Parts on the way

First round of parts orders.
eBay owners manual: $15
Bentley off Amazon: $40
Intake boot: $17
Couple of hoses: $10
Spark plugs: $30
Brake reservoir cap: $30
Idler arm bushing: $19

Next round will be all the engine rubber bits, like motor mounts, etc...

Cost: $161

Total: $2361

Seat Test

Wanted to determine what seat would fit in the car, so I pulled one of the e90 seats out of the 318is and dropped it into the passenger side. Looks good. More importantly it has plenty of height adjustment to work in this car. It only has one bolt holding it in place, it's just there to test. But it's convinced me that I'll put these seats in the car once I find suitable e46 seats for the 318is.

I'm sure I'll eventually want e46 seats in both cars, but I can reuse these till then.

Steering wheel

Popped the Momo wheel out of my 318is just to see if the e30 hub would fit and how the wheel would feel in the 535is, to see if it's an upgrade I'll want to do down the road. (what with the Queen Mary stock wheel and all).

We'll see how it feels, though this is low on the priority list of upgrades.

Looks like it's going to take a LOT of elbow grease to get the paint looking decent. Spent about 2.5hrs on it this morning and only got the hood and trunk done, and the hood still has significant water-looking stains that need to be buffed out.

The upshot is that I haven't gotten it on a lift yet, but checked at it looks like the car already has Bilstein HD or sport shocks, and it sits lower than I think the stock car does, but the springs look factory, so it probably has M-tech springs or something. Swaybars are stock though.

Given that, I'll probably leave the springs and shocks as is, just take car of the rubber bits, better wheels/tires, and some bigger swaybars.

Arrival

Got tired of my e90, and loved my e30 318is, so I decided to get an e28 as a long-distance car. Found an 88 535is in Oregon, solid car, good shape. Hasn't been abused but hasn't been restored either. 230k miles, got it for $2200. Here she is on arrival:

The only unexpected item is that the paint is in poor shape. It's been resprayed, and not well, but the upshot is that it appears they used good paint, just didn't prep well. It's peeling in some spots, but mostly is just chalky and faded. I knew that with enough elbow grease it could be shined up. I couldn't resist, when I got home to do a test patch, buffed up the corner of the hood.

The difference is pretty huge, but it took a little more effort than I expected, so it's obvious doing the whole car is going to be a full-day job. Can't wait.

So, based on a quick evaluation and a little drive time, here is what I can tell the car needs so far:

• Shift linkage is completely worn out, lots of slop in the shifter
• Alignment is out, pulls to the right
• Has a pretty decent size oil leak
• Needs some tuning to get the idle right, and has a flat spot in the torque curve, this is probably just a matter of tuning it right
• Wheels need balancing, but the tires are pretty old so that could be the cause
• Some shudder on acceleration and the rear end is a little squirrelly, definitely subframe bushings, possibly some driveline stuff as well, I'll have to get under there to be sure
• OBC light is out
• Upper strut bushings are worn out, but the overall suspension is pretty tight, seems the big items were replaced, but other items were missed. Fixing those should really tighten it up
• Seat leather is in good condition, but the driver's seat cushions are worn, and there is a lot of slop in the passenger seat. I'd always planned on replacing the seats, so this isn't really a concern.
• I'm told it runs a little hotter than normal when stopped, this is likely the fan clutch.
• The top of the brake reservoir cap is broken, will need to replace and flush the system as I'm sure it's absorbed a fair amount of water.

Other than that it's really sold, 99% stock, and hasn't been abused. No sign of rust, and everything I can find works.

Cost: $2200