Bringing back an E9.

[mgpdoc]

This is coming alone so nicely.
Love the updates

[mpower5266]

Sorry its been a crazy few weeks, and its going to get crazier. We have had nothing but rain for the last month it seems, we took a weekend to go to the mountains (deals gap), and I am about to leave for a 12 day work trip. My dad got the engine buttoned back up and gave it a quick clean with the steamer.

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He finished the assembly and drove it around a little bit, and zero leaks. That was a big win. Since the weather has been awful he decided to go ahead and work on the AC. We sourced a new style compressor and an adapter mount made for an e28. The mount needed a little shaving but we made it work.

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We hooked everything up inside the car when we did the interior, but we needed a couple of hoses. Thankfully we are set up to make them at home.

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And installed.

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He left it on the vac pump over night and will check for leaks this morning. It is going to be really nice having AC for the ride to the Vintage in September.

[gnmzl]

What great progress have I missed, I love how the nardi just looks at home, especially with the correct armrests. And great job on the maintenance stuff as well!

[KDAWG97M3]

Awesome....I am in atlanta and hope to see this specimen..great job,

[Yezzz]

No car is complete without cup holders. Also, that Nardi is looking great!

[mpower5266]

Small updates, but after putting some miles on the car(about 100-200 or so) we found some things to address. Most importantly, cars and coffee runs were difficult without a cup holder so we ordered a cup holder from Patina handle...

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Ok, maybe not the most important thing. The last time I drove the car, I made an effort to get it up to interstate speeds(70-80) and it felt fine but the temp was a touch high. We did some investigating and notice the fan clutch was weak, and decided to just overhaul the whole cooling system.

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Since we had access to the condenser, it seemed like a good time to replace it.

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Well, we mostly had access..
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With everything removed from the front of the engine, the oil leak issue was pretty obvious...

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So the cover was removed and the brittle old seal was replaced.

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As of now, we are just waiting on parts. All new coolant hoses, belts, Ac condenser, parts for ac lines(we arent getting it going at this time but just to a point where it wont have to be torn down again when we do), water pump, timing chain tensioner, etc etc. I am sure I am forgetting some parts. While is down we figure it would be a good time for a valve adjustment.

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We will also give the engine a good steam cleaning but we should have a leak free(by bmw standards) properly cooled engine when it is all said and done.

On a more fun note, the floor mats came in over the weekend. I am very impressed with the fit and finish of these Cocomats, I will probably order some for my other cars.

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[mpower5266]

A couple of boring updates. We changed out the plug wires.

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We also made a gasket for the trunk emblem. It is common to close the trunk by pushing on the emblem and they can rub the paint underneath.

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And we finally found some tan armrests for the doors.

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I also took it out Saturday for a little cruise with my wife. The nardi is perfect, and I can sit in a more comfortable position.

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[mpower5266]

Yeah, this works.

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[mpower5266]

Extremely small but important update. I have have two people drive behind the car and tell me how low the rear brake lights are. My buddy was following me Saturday in his M2 and over lunch mentioned that during the day the brakes are really hard to see. The other person that has brought this up was my dad after he followed me out to the hanger. So a few weeks ago he ordered a simple LED strip and yesterday wired it into the headliner.

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Its not period correct, but it disappears when it is off. Most importantly it is extremely bright. I want to keep the classic look of the car but I dont want to lose it due to someone texting. I will probably wire one up in the 02 as well, or wire in a vintage rear fog as a third brake light.

We also got this jewelry piece in the mail yesterday.

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Hopefully I will have some install pics this afternoon.

[mpower5266]

Saturday I took the E9 to its first cars and coffee. It ran great and was a huge hit. I parked, and by the time I got out of the car, I was in 3 conversations. I didnt get a chance to take any pictures or really even walk around. I ducked out a little early and grabbed some BBQ with my buddy.

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I wanted to drive around for a bit more after lunch but people have been drinking gas around here so the e9 was running a little low. On the way back to the shop I noticed people pumping gas at a station so I stopped... They had gas!!!

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Since the tank was full, I cruised around for a bit and put some real miles on the car for the first time. The Italian tune ups seem to be helping a lot, its running, starting and smelling better. My inlaws had their anniversary this weekend, and we had the twins baptized by my wifes preacher grandma, so my brother in-law was in town. I stopped by and showed them the car and snapped a quick pick while I was there.

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The nardi wheel and coco mats should be in soon but its running like a top now. It such a good car.

[gnmzl]

Looking beautiful, sorry to hear about the bad news.

[mpower5266]

I didn't do much this weekend, we had a friends bday and mothers day. I wasnt allowed to do too much car/shop related stuff. We did get the seat belt holders in.

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These are just simple leather straps that are held on to the headrest with velcro. The seat belt is always were I want it, but it could break free in the case of an accident. I thought it was a pretty good solution.

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We also adjusted the rear brakes so I took it on a little drive to test it out Sunday afternoon. I got some pretty awful news about a friend Sunday morning, it was nice to clear my head a little. Its also really hard to find a good shady spot for photos around town since the tornado, this was the best I could do.

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It will hopefully make its cars and coffee debut, this coming Saturday.

[mpower5266]

So small e9 update. Last Friday I drove it to my house for the first time and gave it a bit of a clean up.

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Saturday my dad and I drove it most of the morning to a couple of car shows. It was mainly a drive to see if anything else needed fixing. It ran great but the passenger rear brake felt like it was hanging up, so we put it on the lift to adjust that. While it was up we gave the engine a good steam clean to try to locate some leaks.

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We also addressed the seat belt issue. As you can see, the drivers seat belts are just limp strips of nylon that extend from the back seat area. They adjust at the buckle but they are a huge pain.

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So my dad located some inertia reel set ups, and built some brackets. Its a pretty slick and reversible option.

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They are mounted to the oem mount so they should be as safe as the oem belts. Which I assume were added as an after thought and were not really safe to begin with.

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They are much more comfortable and certainly more convenient. Now we just need to come up with some sort of mount or guide that we can attach to the headrest to keep the belts in place. Something removable of course.

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[mpower5266]

Small update over the weekend. Friday I drove the car to the gas station and put $25 in it. It almost got backed into by a drunk idiot while we were there but that another story. We drove it around a little and there was no gas smell, so we will fill it next time. It looked great sitting in the driveway when we got back.

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Sunday my dad wanted to drive it a bit so I followed him over to the airport in my M3 so I could swap it for the 02. It made for a pretty good pic.

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He and I cruised around for a little bit together. I had trouble keeping up with him in the 02.

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The e9's temp never got past 1/4 and the heat wasnt working. We decided to dump the coolant and check the tstat. We also did an oil change while we were at it. My dad put mobil 1 in it not too long ago but we decided to switch it over to something better formulated for vintage cars and that had VDDP in it, so its going to run Valvoline VR-1.

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I went home while the car cooled enough to drain the coolant, but my dad sent a photo of the tstat later in the evening.

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That explains the gauge issue. We went ahead and ordered a new tstat, gaskets, coolant, and a temp sender. I am hoping that will fix it and Ill be able to take it to cars and coffee next weekend.

[mpower5266]

She's absolutely stunning man. Excellent work!

Thanks man.

Nothing like testing your freshly rebuild car than by panic braking for a near collision. I wouldve probably had a heart attack at that point.

Perhaps the "gun holder" is an actual glovebox?

Car is looking absolutely stunning!

Yea, my heart rate was up for sure. The gun holder is actually a door that covers the fuses and hood release, but something classy like a Walther PPK would certainly fit. Haha.