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

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This intrigues me...

Hopefully, in a good way!

[kneums]

Hopefully, in a good way!

In a very good way

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So just a little update, not many pictures as I didn't feel the need to take many..

Got the car started in 2 cranks, which is a miraculous 18 less cranks than when I bought it! She still runs a little rich on start up, but I believe it has some toxic 2 year old gas in it, and it hasn't been actually driven on the road since 2 Januarys ago. I imagine it will clear up with a fresh tank of gas and some actual pulls on the engine, instead of just backing up 10 feet and bringing it forward 10 feet every other week.

I started developing some slight rust on the hood where the bed liner was peeling so I ended up sanding all of the hood and hitting it with 2 cans of rustoleum self etching primer. I figure I can always just hit it with more primer when I go to paint the car.. Besides the hood, the majority of the time was spent sanding the interior. I sanded down the whole backseat and was working on getting the floor. I also removed my inner-fan-turbine and the rest of the dash electronics. I removed my glove box and the panel under the steering wheel (which broke anyways).



Next in store is some more sanding in the interior, I'm currently deciding if I wanted to remove the door cards or not, since
1. I don't know what the plain door looks like
2. I'm not sure if I'll have access to it's doorhandles if I do. Care to elaborate or share some pics guys?
3. Followed by primer to all the interior, which is most likely going to be painted a battleship gray similar to this.
4. Sanding exterior -> Primer -> Paint

5. Getting insurance to touch a homebrew racecar build. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

6-> After the car is painted and insured, I want to put the next bit of money into a good pair of racing seats, my heart says brides, but my wallet says no. Coils, Harnesses, Rollcage, Flares, etc.. and eventually some nicer wheels as I'm sure my bronze style5s will get old.


For added bonus, I mocked this up from some S&G.



My goal is H20i 2016, and I'm right on track.

[Robitussin]

There was a pretty sick e32 at a car show i went to that had a german WWII plane paint scheme, should work well on your car.

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There was a pretty sick e32 at a car show i went to that had a german WWII plane paint scheme, should work well on your car.

The squared up body styles really lend well to the darkened colors, imo. I have the hood primered in almost a forrest-green gray and I like the shade but want a little more green to it .

The shark nose is one of those things where it can look really good and really terrible depending on how you do it. Not pictured in the mockup but I'm tossing around the idea of only having the shark mouth on the driver's side with some more 'fun' aerial markings on the passenger. Like this plane which uses bomb icons to show it's kill count. I feel like something like that could be really interesting to have on there.

I'd love to get some type of WW2 pin up painted on, I'm a fairly decent artist, but drawing people is not exactly my specialty. There was a guy around here who retired but used to paint planes in those types of liveries, maybe I can get him to do something. Oh well, I'm just excited it's running!

[Absorbantnut]

This thing is a fuel pump dampner. I know that early model m20s had them in e30s.


I like the build so far, and how even though you find more problems you don't give up! Keep it up fam

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This thing is a fuel pump dampner. I know that early model m20s had them in e30s.


I like the build so far, and how even though you find more problems you don't give up! Keep it up fam

Thanks for pointing it out! I still never knew what it was, just that it fucked my fuel pressure and delivery.

The guy i bought my style 5s off of parts out mainly e28s and e30s with the m20 engine and he was telling me that BMW put them in, but the cars seem to run better if your life is directly too it.

So it's been running pretty smooth, the m20 is incredibly easy to work on with minimal tools, they just seem to be very picky on about how much air and fuel they want compared to how much they get.


Would you have any idea why I have a cold start issue? Takes a couple cranks to start, runs loud and very rich until it's burned the fuel off. I think it's flooding my 6th injector, but can't be sure. It honestly doesn't matter since this thing won't be driven in below 50 degrees weather anyways, but would be nice to sort that out soon.

Oh and I love your rusted e30. I was at the point with that if I removed the carpet and it was rusted to shit, I would cut my losses, rust it and run it like that. Luckily, this thing, despite all the issues, have very little rust! lol

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Not a big update really, didn't have time to do much.

Went to pick a part in search of some e34 bumpers/taurus side skirts and e34 brakes but couldn't luck out at all, better luck next time. My buddy did manage to pick up 2 Porsche 944 seats for like $60 for his beater, so that's cool I guess.

I did this at like 3 AM and half asleep. Hopefully I can get the sheet metal sometime this next month to cut it and remove my door cards.

Random thing here but undergoing dental surgery so I can't really afford to put the money into the BMW at the time. So if I have any updates it will be most likely dealing with stuff I can fab for under $50 at the moment.. Hopefully going to get some paint down on the interior, shave more of my dash and go from there.

So here is the mock up, I don't have the pic but it's cut and fitted onto the door, looks pretty even while put up next to the car.
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'bout time for that weekly update.

Most of you guys know that this car, although it ran, wasn't running smooth. Well, it all changed this weekend..

So I was trying to diagnose this miss, checked all my grounds, sprayed ether, checked vac hoses, sparkplugs, distributor, etc.. literally went over everything possible, couldn't find it. Then for shits n' gigs, decided to light up a black and mild and blow the smoke through one the air hoses, and clear as day, there it was:

To those who know the older BMWs, you know there is a small white line running to the intake manifold that runs down to the 'cabin air filter/temp guage' or whatever, right? Well, I have that line routed to the top of my intake and capped the side of the manifold. I saw some smoke coming from below the brake booster (about where this vac line goes). Reached down and felt some wire-loom, pulled it out from the vac line and would you look at that. It was taped to the firewall. An open vac line, taped to the first wall.

So in a last desperate attempt, I covered it in some tape and tried starting it. Man, it started up strong as hell, probably strongest it's ever been, and instead of pulsating at idle where it would sound like it's accelerated then would stop, it was smooth, sounded like a normal engine for once. I was ecstatic! The miss and throttle delay were gone, just like that, I couldn't believe it.

Since I don't have any HVAC unit in the car, I just pulled the cabin air temp line, cause I don't need it. Now I have this neat maneuver, I call it the "Roundabout". Only until I get some caps for the holes.

So in true 'expire-garage-werks' manner, I through the expired CA plate on it and ripped it up and down a back road. That eta ran like a bat out of hell, pulled strong and shifted very well. I feel like there may be some modification to it since, for the 'economy' model, that shit is fast. Did a 0-45 pull and it was well under 5seconds to 45, so i don't know how this car has a 0-60 of 11 seconds?

So now, since I know the thing runs, I am back to refinishing my style 5s, will probably do that during this dental surgery period as I don't have to spend any money at the time. Sorry that most of these updates were hastily written and in a sense of [it runs, now it doesn't, fuck this engine, want a 5.0. nah never mind, runs but with a miss, doesn't run, etc..] Just happy to be apart of S/W and post up my progress as I go, glad some people are interested in this car too. It's being built on hopes and dreams, so it's a pretty neat thing I suppose.

I am probably going to be working on more interion next, since I want to shave the doors and dash and build a switch panel for the center console. Hopefully going to get some interior paint down before July (keep in mind, i can only work on this thing one day a week) since it's stored at a friends house and schedules conflict non stop.

So as far as the BMW goes...


"It runs, proved you all* wrong."



ALL: I have a ton of "MURICA OR NOTHIN" friends, thats who is the all, not you guys of S/W.






//Unrelated:
Spent Saturday driving two states over to look at a Plymouth Valiant that my friend is looking at getting, so he might end up buying that, which is pretty cool. That and Mother's Day is why the biggest accomplishment this weekend was making the BMW smoke a blunt and removing an air hose, but go figure. Hopefully I can get more exciting updates soon!



Update:
changed the fuel filter, got fuel in my eye, couldn't see all day.

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Well, this weekend sucked.

Spent the majority of my Friday night diagnosing engine problems that were previously not there. It seems that the car has been getting vandalized while over there, not sure who, just want it out.

I had spark plugs missing, gas lines up hooked, cold start valve cut, etc. Fixed it all and back to square one. Goal now is to get it painted and out of there. Insurance won't cover it until it's all 'one color' so it got primered this weekend.


So yeah, goal now is to get it insured and out of there. Not much to add on to this really, so have some primered pictures.




Oh I guess this is cool, went to pick a part and finally got roundels..


And as she is currently sitting..


I know the color scheme I want as do a few others, but I'd like to keep it a surprise as it's changed from my last thought.

[SnazzyQ]

Where do you live where the insurance wont cover your car if its not one color?

Also the car is pretty cool

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Where do you live where the insurance wont cover your car if its not one color?

Also the car is pretty cool

PA, they said the style of car is on a 'likely to be stolen' list, since it's easier to steal an 80s bmw vs a 2000+ model. So they say having it painted makes it's less likely?

I don't know, they just won't put it on, but I got a decent quote so I am trying to appease them so I can remove it from the shed.

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Well, this is upsetting.

Spent 6 months trying to nurse this baby back to health, got somewhere, then nothing.

I was working on it one day, and the short story is:

Went to start it, wouldn't turn over, thought maybe air in the gas line, cranked it through and it finally started. Heard what sounded like a pop, or something like a twig snapping. Car immediately shut off, and wouldn't start.

No start, no spark, no gas being sent forward. Replaced the spark plugs, lines, fuel pumps, ecu, relays and fuses, and nothing. The car has bled me dry, can't get it started. Took it to a mechanic where they suggested a motor swap/replacement motor which would cost me far more than what I paid for the damn thing.

The e28 is unfortunately dead, I just got some dental work and some personal issues I need to finance and can no longer keep this. Going to the scrap in a few weeks, if anyone wants something, let me know. Not sure if it's in working order or not.

Sorry to disappoint, will be saving up to get me back into something JDM (pref a TA22).

[SnazzyQ]

Oh well sometimes you just gotta call it quits i guess.

Also you better get a TA22 fgt

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Oh well sometimes you just gotta call it quits i guess.

Also you better get a TA22 fgt

oh believe me, i love the old toyotas, definitely want a 76 celica. Just have to recoup some money!

I also noticed, I grew kind of bored of the 4door sedan look, which is partly why I'm not extremely devastated of losing this.
All of my friends have 70s muscle-y cars (valiant, cuda, roadrunner) but I don't like americans, so the Celica is perfect.