Another BMW E28 - This Time From Australia

[Frode D]

Amazing work on the car. I really like the upgraded interior and the wheels, wouldn't change a thing!

[epearce]

Friday afternoon just gone was the moment of truth. I hadn't had it out of the shed since mid April. It was great to back behind the wheel of it, and it now felt so tight in the front end. Went to a spot not to far away from where I live that I scoped out in the winter and took a few quick snaps. For not being cleaned since the start of the year it still looked shiny









Now that I new it drove well, it needed a wheel alignment. So I did that at work the following morning.





Followed by an oil and filter change.



Now its covered back over and ready to enjoy in the warmer months ahead. With nothing major planned to do on it for a few months i'll be lost without tinkering away on it.



Apologies for so many photos in the last few posts! Thanks for taking a look.

[epearce]

So to continue where I left off.



I wanted to replace every wearing part (minus steering box) with high quality parts, but also upgrade where possible. Spent hours researching which way to go with certain things.

Adjustable front sway bar links, 13mm AKG bump steering spacers, powerflex black upper and lower control bushes and powerflex black front and rear sway bar bushes were the upgrades I went with. The aim was to make it as firm as possible.







Also went with e32/e34 aluminium lower control arms.



I had some spare time, so I mirror polished both arms. Took about 5 hours each arm..





Painted everything.





Then fitted the powerflex bushes to the control arms.





By now everything was ready to fit (centre tie rod and sway bar bushes not pictured)





It was a bit of a challenge getting the control arms into the chassis/subframe, they were such a tight fit. Had a few other minor issues along the way as well with interference and parts touching that shouldnt, but they were easy fixes.





After a month or longer of every spare night spent working on this part of the upgrade it was a massive relief to finally have it back down on the ground with the wheels on and ready to drive.

[epearce]

The next part is the part I've been eager for.



Replacing all the front suspension and steering components. Basically the only wearing parts left on the car.

First step was to remove it all, the only hard part was popping the ball joint out of the pitman arm.



All the bushes were shot and ball joint boots torn.







The next step was waiting for all the new parts to arrive. Next update in a couple of days!

[epearce]

Its about time I continued with this update.

The rain has finally gone, driveway dried up and the e28 is back together at at last.

The reason I couldn't drive it for most of the 6 months..



Went through all my photos tonight to try and remind me what I have actually done to the car in the last 6 months.

So here is what I've been up to:

First up was trying to make the interior look more appeasing and get rid of the faded material in the door trims and parcel shelf. Ideally I'd like a full black interior, but trying to find one of those here isn't easy. So instead I found some black material that matches the seats and got to work.











Still need to take some in car photos, but I'm happy with the results!

I could never get my Innovate guages to program, finally figured out the software issue with my laptop and set all the presets on both gauges to how I wanted them.



Removed the rocker cover and rechecked valve clearances for piece of mind, also wired tied the camshaft spray bar bolts to avoid any possibility of them coming loose again.



Replaced the worn alternator adjustment bracket and cog, also upgrade the rubber bushes to delrin.





My rear badges weren't in the best of condition with the chrome showing its age and the roundel wasn't even the correct one. So they were all replaced with genuine new ones.

[Jimmy_HR32]

Amazing work, love the whole style.

[delvin]

Those seats look amazing in there brotha! New wheel looks great as well, I'm partial to the wood but man that renown wheel looks really good.

Great work and hopefully you can get that thing out for a drive soon

[AtlantisTouring]

Oh man, what a build. So nice!

[epearce]

Love your interior, especially the all black seats and the new wheel fits perfectly. Imho the cloth on the dashboard looks strange though.

Thanks mate! Agree the dash mat isnt the best, but beats looking at a cracked dash.

This thing is pure inspiration! Please keep the updates coming!

Thanks so much!

[CBREEZ]

This thing is pure inspiration! Please keep the updates coming!

[trm-]

Love your interior, especially the all black seats and the new wheel fits perfectly. Imho the cloth on the dashboard looks strange though.

[epearce]

It's October already, it was April when I last drove this. The combination of having the wettest Autumn and Winter and now Spring in a very long time and a crap grass driveway means no way of getting this out of the shed. I'm hoping it drys up soon!

I have achieved a bit during this time, but I'll save most of that for when I finish what I am doing at the moment.

The most exciting mod in the last few months is probably what I fitted on the weekend.



As much as I love the vintage Momo Indy I don't think it suits the style of the interior anymore. So I brought a Renown USA Dark 100 in genuine leather. It arrived super quick and the quality is that of a current BMW leather wheel if not better. Very impressed.









I think it ties in well with the black factory Recaros.

Let me know what you think!

[epearce]

You come in here, post pictures of badass seats then leave with out a single interior shot? You tease you

I did want to post photos of the interior. But i haven't taken any yet. Soon my friend!

[delvin]

You come in here, post pictures of badass seats then leave with out a single interior shot? You tease you

[epearce]

My BBS center Hex's have always annoyed me. The 30 year old clearcoat has gone cloudy and started to peel, mixed with battle scars and scratches. So i started the long process of fixing them.





Starting with p180 wet and dry I removed the clear along with the machining marks, then all the scratches.



Then continued hand sanding through all the grades up to p2500





















Then the best part. Buffing wheel on my drill using some Purple Polish.



The results were breathtaking.







Now to continue on the other three.