A Sherman Schwartz story. (e28 content)

[budski]

so progress? well didn't get my timing bits in and had to leave the shop early so the heads didn't get finished, plus my buddy decided since I was focusing on so many details that he must polish my heads so he started...



basically getting rid of all the casting marks and making it look pretty since I'm doing a lot of detail stuff under the hood this time.

I did have a little time so I decided to get the torch to attack those broken water pump bolts.



the method was going to be heating it up and using wax to get sucked down in the threads, but it turned out the heat was more than enough to back them all out... pretty nice to not have to work at it.

after that I threw the alternator and starter on, both will get replaced with cleaner ones down the road but I've been getting nickle and dime'd to death on shipping parts that its eating away at my funds.



I did get home to one package, not the timing stuff I needed but something to at least keep me busy tonight.



the garage is a mess and I couldn't find my clamps to wrap the manifolds, so instead I decided to put on the gold tape. This was a bit tricky because it is $2 a foot and I bought just enough to do the whole fire wall. decided to start on the flattest point first and work my way out.



now this stuff isn't like vinyl, doesn't stretch at all so I have to take my time to make it the best I could. I will say next time the engine is out I'll do it all over but with everything off the firewall. I did have a fellow rival house member stop by and snap a photo...



I will say I need to take advantage next time the car is moved out and give it a good clean.

I did get it all done minus the panel that covers the wiper and blower motors, I have to take it and bead blast it to get it clean enough. I'm about 99% happy with it.



also had a little time and threw on the coil



Looks like I'm staying on schedule and hope to be driving the car next week if everything works out right. 25 days till its suppose to be ready for his first show!

[budski]

and more progress, which is always nice to see huge amounts. sorry a head of time for the poor quality photos as I didn't have the iphone around to take them today.

first of was the valves, just a cut to mate to the seat. It didn't need much at all aside from a clean surface. Its done buy having the valve rotating and putting against a spinning grinding stone



to show the difference (uncut on the left, recut on the right)



and a little off the top to offset the valve seating deeper



next was the cut the seats, getting the machine dialed in on the first one again only taking a little off for a clean seal.



just one small pass and it's looking good.



next was lapping, didn't get a photo of the actual process but here is a photo from online.



basically you put a dye on the head and a gritty compound on the valve and drop it in and rotate it back and forth, the end result should be no dye where the valve seats. Everything what looking good till I got to my dead cylinder and got this



see the dye left? turns out the worn out guides caused the valve to move creating the seat to be oval shaped instead of the perfect circle its suppose to be. So it wasn't a burn exhaust valve but just worn components that cause my loss of compression and gave the result of a burnt valve when I was diagnosing it.

Lucky though it wasnt too far gone that it could be salvaged by grinding away more.

no dye this time!



that being said the head could finally start being assembled, so first were fresh valve seals.



then the springs went back in



and finally the cam



tomorrow should be getting the rocker and rocker shafts in and I hope start the final assembly on the engine. The current goal is to get the engine back in the car by the weekend!

[jrc]

The little things are a PITA but it's so satisfying to see it all come together. Keep up the good work!

[budski]

so I've been a bit busy spending time with the wife to keep her happy and having to take care of the house. Hope to get my ass back to finish the engine assembly this week and shooting for the goal of putting back in the car in 7 days. I did find a few things today though, first by starting off with degreasing the worn shift linkage and power steering pump that was the cause of one of my worst leaks on a high pressure line (new washer and banjo bolts getting ordered).



did pick up my new bushings to get rid of that 400k shifter slop, one for the actual shifter, one for the linkage, and one (no photo) that mounts to the trans that I'll do after it gets cleaned up.



the one on the linkage was easy to get out since it was worn, just a flat head to push it out.



getting in was a bit tricky since the new one was stiff, but a simple clamp did the trick



getting the plastic one out was PIA to get out but after a bit of work it came out



after that it was cake and snapped back together.



cant wait to get it back in the car to see what it feels like.

[budski]

It's not too often that you see people bringing a motor back to life like this instead of replacing it. I can't wait to see what you're capable of using this dedication in the wheel, stance area.

-Aron

I've wondered the same, their not that expensive to rebuild and spending money in the right places opens up a lot of opportunity for power. I do look forward to the progress that's about to come with the next round of parts and this summer with the bags and wheel hopefully going on.

[OpelWagenGT]

It's not too often that you see people bringing a motor back to life like this instead of replacing it. I can't wait to see what you're capable of using this dedication in the wheel, stance area.

-Aron

[budski]

Awesome work!! This is exactly what I want to do! I was just going to suggest picking up a spare M30, but you were thinking the same. Maybe an M30 turbo build.?.?.?.

I'm going to pick up an E28 in the next few months, most likely a 528e as a project/daily. I have an E36 M3 for when I want to go fast. I would absolutely love to bag an E28 ($$$$), but I will likely settle on coilovers and a full suspension refresh like you did.

I'd say do it, these cars are surprising cheap to work on. I have maybe $1500 total in the car as of right now. I will be doing bags this summer once the car is roadworthy again and start looking at boost after that, of course that means I'll start spending some serious money.

[Vaders]

Awesome work!! This is exactly what I want to do! I was just going to suggest picking up a spare M30, but you were thinking the same. Maybe an M30 turbo build.?.?.?.

I'm going to pick up an E28 in the next few months, most likely a 528e as a project/daily. I have an E36 M3 for when I want to go fast. I would absolutely love to bag an E28 ($$$$), but I will likely settle on coilovers and a full suspension refresh like you did.

[budski]

congrats...that's some serious rebuilt! great job!

thanks, I really wish I could go deeper into the build but my pockets aren't that deep right now. I'm thinking of picking up a second engine this fall to do a full build but that's last on the long list of parts.


just finished another order of parts, keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the last of it that's needed to put the engine back in next weekend. 30 left days to go!

[xispaki]

congrats...that's some serious rebuilt! great job!

[budski]

so the last two nights I've been doing minor things like cleaning up some wiring, putting a new glovebox handle on, trying to get the interior to look decent... pretty boring stuff. But I was finally able to make it back to the machine shop to get back to work on the heads with a fellow RHG member.

first was to press the old worn out valve guides which came out much easier than the rocker bars.



and pressed the new ones in just as easy.



now these are undersized to the valve so we had to take a little out, BMW says the max spec is .030 and no target spec so we went with a .003 to keep it tighter.



just made it in one pass



with a little extra time I decided to figure out what to do with the valve cover, first was just a coat of the matte black I used on the block. I wasn't happy so I threw in a little red.



and did the fuel rail to match.



the goal is to have the engine and car ready to go back together next weekend and back on the road the following week.

[E28stoff]

good looking e28, the e34 rear bumper is really cool. Nice work

[budski]

Oh hey it's my old car!

I put 25K miles on it in 6 months between St. Louis and Louisiana.

an some how it held together...lol

[Rion]

Oh hey it's my old car!

I put 25K miles on it in 6 months between St. Louis and Louisiana.

[budski]

Good work, keep it up! I plan on doing the same with my 5, run it for a bit then really get stuck in.

Thanks, I'm really itching to get into the good stuff (bags,wheels,blower,etc) but for now its just getting it safe and reliable. Bolting replacement parts is fun but I'm itching to start welding.

I like the E34 bumper. I wanna put an E34 front on my e28

I considered doing the front but the fitment was much harder and looks goofy with the grill. I'm sure with time you could make it fit right.



in other news the new rocker and valve guides came in, hope to make it back out to the shop thurs to cut new valve seats and reassemble the heads. If I'm lucky get my timing bits in and have the engine assembled by next week.