I bit off more than I can chew: An E28 Build

[Expire]

Saw this thing floating around cl for awhile. Glad someone is going to save it. If you get those dials and adapters I have some 17" 5x130 type A's il be listing soon.

Didn't see your post the other day, as far as his ad on CL. it wasn't worth the 2k he was asking, and they knew it cause I low balled him pretty hard due to the cold start problem, he was like "let me call my dad..." came back out, went up 100 from my price and we settled at $50 up from my price as long as I paid title fees. lol

Edit: I'll have to learn a little bit more about wheel fitment, but I don't think 17" wheels look good on the E28, I have (I think) 17's on it now and it looks sort of like a 'donk'. Maybe once lowered and tucked, but I'm looking to get relatively low with having to camber, I'll just let the weight of the car adjust it naturally. I wanna close up my fender gap and be on 15's, 16's at the most.

[Expire]

Had a pretty positive and negative past few nights, so just an update, I ordered new spark plugs, wires, vacuum hoses, intake gaskets, and finally diagnosed the problem with my engine missing. There is a slight fuel starve when opening throttle, so that's pretty much the major update on this thing so far, I still don't regret buying it.. lol

So anyways, onto the bad part of this weekend. I'm sure I will catch a lot of dislike and anger for what's about to come next, and that's fine.

So we were going to redo the carpeting, and started taking out the seats, ran into quite a few errors.. First, we found 4 dead squirrells underneath the rear bench seats.. with that came chewed apart seats from underneath, and since the leather was never treated, broke off like it was plastic. I figured, ok, it's not so bad, how could this get any worse, right? Start pulling the carpet, the entire underneath was flooded, like an inch and a half of water just hanging out in the floorboards, surprisingly, it didn't rust it too bad. My whole carpet was ruined, there was no reviving it, we tried to wetvac the water from the foam, no dice.


At this point, I'm only about a grand in on this project and was pretty discouraged, just mad in general. My goal of building an immaculate show car was over, ended in one night. In my mind the amount to replace seats, floor boards, re carpet, and everything would be worth more than what the car would ever be. It just seemed to get worse and worse as we disassembled the console and found the world's SHITTIEST wiring, we've ever seen. At this point, I was beyond over this car, it was becoming more of a headache. That's when my buddy, being as resourceful as he is started questioning my intent, such as what I wanted to do with it, would it be all season, long term goals, etc etc.


my main specifications were that I wanted a car that I could drive in the summer, get good mpg, be fun, and be nice enough to take to shows and not feel like an outcast or that I didn't belong.*
*Which is how I felt with my eclipse, lowered and blacked out, never really felt like it was show worthy.

Based on the ideas I gave him, he started pulling up tons of cars that matched this style. The major one he pulled up that I loved was a video called "The tanked out 240" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ZQQirT78Q

Just the whole "not caring" aspect but yet it still seems relatively nice and unique really drew me into the idea my buddy threw at me. He said, why don't you just paint it, cage it, put 2 racing seats in it, and have a 4door 2 seater. (Brought on by the fact he drifted it in his driveway to spin it 180 to back into the garage.)

So that's where it started, we took everything out, the seats, the rear window shelf, all of the carpet, and will soo be cutting the bench seat shelf to level out the back.


Obviously I want something a little nicer than the 240, so I am most likely going to repaint it white, cage it, toss some brides in, remove the radio, vents, center console.

Long term goals: Found a turbo laying in my basement from an Evo9, maybe run forced induction on an ETA? I've heard it done before, but not really sure if it would blow my engine.

TL: DR;
Started to redo the carpet, everything was screwed, nothing is really salvageable, deciding to gut the interior, throw 2 brides in, and just having a lot of fun in the car. Because that's what it eventually was going to become, a fun car that I could be proud of for building. Stay tuned, I guess!

[Expire]

Had an hour at work while waiting for a client so I mapped this up, it's just a basic idea, eventually I wanna do a more detailed wireframe of the 528e to draw on that way i can have a better idea of what I'm doing..



Also, my new spark plugs, wires, intake gaskets and vaccum lines. I got the 528 hooked up to a diagnostic and there is a slight problem with the fuel injection which would explain it starving for fuel when moving. I believe I may have some air leaks through out some cracked hoses as well. Either way, it's only bee a few weeks and I'm further than where I started, so no complaints there.

[AMGwheelwhore]

Don't do a "tanked out" e28, its been done 100 times before. Keep it classy and simple. I brought back a rough e28 last winter: http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=52730 should give you some decent ideas.

[Expire]

Don't do a "tanked out" e28, its been done 100 times before. Keep it classy and simple. I brought back a rough e28 last winter: http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=52730 should give you some decent ideas.

When did I say it was gonna be tanked out?
EDIT: Drunk when i wrote the previous post with the tanked out 240, lol my b. No I'm not tanking it out.

I'm doing a white e28, but stripping my interior, removing the back seat, caging the rear. That's far from tanked out...

[R2dmax]

When did I say it was gonna be tanked out?
EDIT: Drunk when i wrote the previous post with the tanked out 240, lol my b. No I'm not tanking it out.

I'm doing a white e28, but stripping my interior, removing the back seat, caging the rear. That's far from tanked out...

I was thinking "you DID indicate you were going "Tanked out", but glad to see you're doing a clean Drift-ish (I guess) look. In for more!

[Expire]

I was thinking "you DID indicate you were going "Tanked out", but glad to see you're doing a clean Drift-ish (I guess) look. In for more!

Haha yeah, any weekend I go to work on my car, we down quite a bit of rum in the process, from friday-sunday, so when I come back to my apartment, I'm pretty dazed out hahah

Yeah I just want something that people don't really have, at least around here. In Pittsburgh, there aren't many modded cars, there's quite a few, but they're the typical sti, lancer, ss, etc etc, I've never seen an earlier than e30 until I got my 28. it looks like trash right now, but people start at the store when i drive in. I've gotten more compliments on my beat up 80's bmw than my 08 clean eclipse. go figure. lol

Essentially it's gonna look pretty race inspired, won't be dailyed, it's just a show and weekend toy. So I could care less about the "race inspired cosmetic enhancement" approach. Because I'm making the best out of a few bad situations I've encountered with it. I'm sure a lot of people would have trashed it after they saw some of the wiring, or found out the floor boards had ruse due to a leaking elephant hose. But I'm persevering through it, slowly but surely.

[Expire]

Bumping with a question, hopefully one of you will be able to answer.

Realistically, what exactly are my options to ditching the e28 American diving boards? I know they have euro kits, but if I don't want to go full euro conversion is my only other option the bumper tuck? I tucked a decent amount, but if I tuck anymore I have gaps on the sides where the bumper protrudes. Has anyone just tucked and painted and it ending up looking good? Can I run a lip spoiler with the diving boards, something similar to the alpina style? Any ideas? Let me know.

[bostongreene36]

Just saying this based off a quick search, I dont see a reason you couldn't run a alpina style lip with the diving board. Another option is you could remove the bumper all together and shave the holes. great work on the car btw!

[Robitussin]

If you're willing to put some work into it, you could chop the bumper up like Riley stair did on his car.

http://www.stanceworks.com/2013/02/as-long-as-its-black-riley-stairs-1986-bmw-e28-535i/

And this company makes a fiberglass kit that doesn't look too bad

http://dtmfiberwerkz.com/access/euro-style-front-bumper-p-350.html

And i'm sure you can run a lip with the stock bumpers, it just may not look quite as good as it would with euro bumpers.

[Expire]

If you're willing to put some work into it, you could chop the bumper up like Riley stair did on his car.

http://www.stanceworks.com/2013/02/as-long-as-its-black-riley-stairs-1986-bmw-e28-535i/

And this company makes a fiberglass kit that doesn't look too bad

http://dtmfiberwerkz.com/access/euro-style-front-bumper-p-350.html

And i'm sure you can run a lip with the stock bumpers, it just may not look quite as good as it would with euro bumpers.

From the looks of it, that fiberglass one might be right up my alley. If I had a better shot of Rileys and a diy / how to, I'd look into it. Has anyone just up and tucked/painted it?

[Expire]

Finally have an update!

So recently I went pretty MIA while trying to figure out the M20 engine.. I got in contact with a BMW Tech (who also owns 4 e30s and 2 e28s) through a friend, who was able to help me out remotely. First things first was the PO put this thing (as a hose extender) in line with the fuel regulator.


I believe he was using to extend the hose coming from tank since it was too short, because that was a better solution than running a new hose? ........



My solution was to remove it, and loosen the bolt that locked the hose in place by the afm, and you know... pull it through a little bit more..


Surprisingly, this made a world of difference to the e28.. It started up in 2 cranks, instead of the usual 20. I also didn't need to feed it gas through the throttle, the fuel injection was able to send it through with out worries.

Next was checking the volts on my AFM, so removed the cover, busted my knickle on the throttle, and seemed to stay steady at 11.8 - 12.1, so right around where it should be. It also looks surprisingly brand new..

http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/TheWutangShogun/media/83%20E28%20Bimmer/D284AF39-A2B4-4270-87FD-48503EE758DD_zpsdnayvfjq.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

After running for 20 minutes, the plastic T-Fitting burst up by the IAC, so I had to run down to autozone and pick up a brass one, while that was all disassembled I hit the IAC with some carb cleaner.


At this point, the engine rand the carb cleaner a little rough, but after that, it was smooth, sounded very strong. It was about 11PM at the time and we tossed an old CA plate on it to test drive it. There was a loud banging hitting the floor boards so my buddy and I took turns banging the exhaust off the frame to see if it made the same sound.. Turns out to be a driver's side wheel bearing, so I guess that's next. Then I can finally do what I want to do with it...

How she's sitting now


Overall, I have some pretty bad anxiety and this little mishap threw me into a pretty big fit haha, it taught me to not sweat the small stuff, some bigger and better things coming. It ended up being a fun night with some friends haha


As far as color scheme, I **** to say it, but I don't think i'll honestly be happy with a white car, just not my style, so I'm gonna toss around a view ideas and go from here.

[Expire]

Well, it's been a couple weeks and I think it's time to for an update..

For starters, this E28 has officially ruined my relationship, lol girlfriend didn't like me working on it in my free time and I didn't like her living in my apartment and screwing a mutual friend in my bed while I was at work. oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So back to the fun stuff, I got all new vac lines in an sealed off any air leaks I can find, this baby is running pretty strong. Which is great to finally hear.

I spent all day yesterday driving to and from Ohio to pick up some Style 5s that needed refurbished. I figured the 15in would be better to run than 17in ASA's that need the fenders rolled hard.

The trip was pretty fun, fit all 4 wheels w/ tires in my eclipse with me + 2 friends.


I've been washing and cleaning them all day, centercaps are pretty good condition all around and I've been sanding down a ton of grime.

Most likely going to get a nickel colored paint and respray them then maybe a polish.


So I guess, what happens next.. The car needs a paint, so my next mod/thing to do is either buy a rollcage or buy the paint. Will most likely get the cage first since it's too cold in PA to paint in my garage lol


So yeah, that's pretty much been what's going on.. I guess hopefully I'll have more updates in the future.

Peace!

[Expire]

Been a while, so I guess it's time for an update.

Behind the scenes, I have been fixing air leaks, replacing idle control parts, and working on the fuel delivery and am pretty proud to say that it's running fairly well now. Just need an Cold Start Valve so it doesn't take 3 cranks to start it cold and it's solid.

So, let's see, I have been stripping the car and fixing leaks over the past couple weeks and finally have the backseat, ghetto sound system + wires, and top shelf removed..


I started to clean out the sunroof rails, accidentally pulled the headliner open and discovered quite a large amount of mold. So the headliner has been removed as well.


Then the rest of the night was spent sanding the insides and boozing haha. Hopefully as it goes along, I'll have more exciting updated, painting the interior is up next, finish the style 5s, then finally painting the exterior. The car is pretty rust and body wise and doesn't seem to need any major body work. I am currently talking to a guy who can hook me up the e34 Brake swap upgrade, and I'll be going from there.

Sorry I don't have very exciting updates yet, just trying to move along !

[kneums]

This intrigues me...