My South African E28 Project.

[lordicon232]

Hi,

I am from South Africa and I was raised on BMW's, as such I have always had a love for them. The E28 was only in production in South Africa from '85 to '89 and as such they are not easy to find. With that in mind I bought a 1988 BMW E28 528i about 4 weeks ago to be my daily driver ... . The car needs allot of TLC so I thought I would do a build thread.

When I bought the car there was allot of problems with it.

1. break master cylinder was leaking out power steering liquid.
2. The handbrake lever is broken and not working.
3. The driver side lock is not working and as such cant lock the car.
4. Car has not been serviced in a while.
5. Clutch hydraulics is problematic as Clutch is low to the floor.
6. The paint on the car is badly warn seems like it has been standing in the sun allot.
7. The inside of the car is really dirty.
8. Only the speedometer is working on the instrument cluster.
9. There are a few cosmetic issues with the car.
10. Dashboard is badly cracked.









So after I picked up the car and drove it straight to a mechanic. This is a list of repairs:

1. Master brake cylinder.
2. Replaced gearbox mounts as one was torn and the other was missing!
3. Fixed steering rack as it was loose.
4. Fixed driver door lock.
5. Serviced the car.
6. Skimmed the brakes and installed new pads.

Thanks to the master brake cylinder these repairs cost me half of what I paid for the car.

First thing is first new wheels and mags: (17" scorpion with stretched tires)






Managed to find some BMW stickers for my mags, I think it looks much better:




My neighbour has some ibach springs that should fit my car that I want to buy from him. This should fix the ride hight. (UPDATE: these springs are from a E30 so they wont fit )

I also need to take the instrument cluster so I can try to fix it or have it repaired.

I bought a second hand dashboard that only has 2 cracks as mine has 20. It is from a E12 with the upgraded E28 interior. I hope this will fit???



Finally found a handbrake and installed it





Removed the crappy diamond CD player and the stupid tweeter that was glued to the top of the dash with prestic...



I bought new front suspension:

Inner Tierods a set of 2
Outer tierods a set of 2
2 x Stabiliser link
2 x Upper ball joint arm
2 x Lower ball joint arm
Center rod



Installed it last weekend, got some help from a BMW mechanic I know.







We also installed a new slave clutch cylinder as the clutch was down on the floor. This did not fix it though.

Barely finished before the daylight ran out only to realize that the parts place had given me to right side lower control arms. In my rush to get this done I installed it before I realized it was wring.

So got some more parts and fixed it on thursday Car runs much better now.

Also replaced the clutch master cylinder, this was a bitch! But it has now fixed the clutch !!!

Installed a new gear lever yesterday.



I have also ordered some part here and there that I am waiting for, including a Nardi leather steering wheel.

Next up is the interior, new carpet and new foam for the seats. I want to dynamat the floor and the doors. The door panels are in good condition there are just some broken connectors that needs replacing. I have ordered new internal door handles and trim.

Any advice/comments will be appreciated as I don't actually know all that much about cars. But the idea here was to learn something new and have some fun in the process.

[lordicon232]

Some small updates:

Tried to fix the instrument cluster myself by replacing the batteries, but it didnt work. :cry:




Took the car to get the upholstery redone!! Should get the car back early next week, Can't wait!!!

[rice4life]

Damn, this is pretty cool! Is this a build?

If so, get it moved to the builds thread section.

Good luck with the cluster!

[lordicon232]

Thanks, how do I get it moved?

[lordicon232]

More updates, found a HUB for the steering wheel tat fits. Bought a Alpine head unit. Baught some cup holders and a BMW license disk holder.



The new door handles also arrived this morning.



Went to upholstery guys this morning and ripped out all the old speaker cabling and installed new cabling so they can hide them under the new carpet.

[lordicon232]

Got the car back, has the new black carpets. :joy:












I have also repaired the first door. Replaced the inside door handle. Replaced all the clips for the door pannel. New door handle trim.


Before:


After:


Will do some more tomorrow.

[rice4life]

Contact an admin about getting it moved. The car is starting to look new again

[lordicon232]

Some more updates, finished all the door pannels :joy: They look much better now.

I have also been applying dubben to the leather seats and they also looking better. I am currently looking for some replacement seats as mine are a bit used up. Would be nice to find some E24 or E30 Reccaro seats.

Before:


After:


I also installed some upgrades for the pedals.

[lordicon232]

So I have had some sound installed in the car looks amazing!!











New electric aerial:



Also had a alarm installed :joy:

[lordicon232]

Been a while since I updated this. Lots of small things happening.

Installed a grid to protect the sub:


Installed red LED's in front footwells:


Changed the LED's in the boot to red so they match:


Got a Nardi wheel still need to get a hub as the one I have dont fit right:


Has a misfire so had to change the plugs. Cleaned the intake up to the manifold:


All the rubber hoses in the car needs to b e replaced as they are falling apart:


Car runs much better now, no more cold start problem.

Changed the oil as it was as thick as syrup! Car is still leaking allot of liquids:


Thanks to master mechanic Nikhil for all his help over the weekend!! :praise:

[dejongeyanj]

The new door handles also arrived this morning.

[lordicon232]

I have moved this to the build threads section:

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65227