What did you do to your E28 today?

[Coldswede]

Took the 528e out for the first drive of the season! It feels so light and responsive after the X5 all winter.

Also took the M7 out for some exercise. That car is going to get me in trouble yet.

[12valves]

I attempted to remove the left parking brake cable, which needs to be replaced. I have done this on e21s and e30s. The metal nose on the flexible section of conduit always rusts to the tube. E28 is no different in that respect, but shamefully the end of the tube is hidden directly above the subframe. I tried to rip it out by hitching it to my e24 and driving away, but it wanted to drag the whole car along. Too bad I didn't have new parking brake cables on hand three years ago when I had the subframe out

[RonW]

Replaced the windshield wiper linkage for the second time. When the original one broke I had it welded about a year ago. It broke again, so I installed a replacement I had lying around. It turned out my car didn't have the rubber grommets (part # 61 61 1 353 754) that isolate the linkage from the body, so I'm going without them for the time being. I'll install them when they show up.

[1st 5er]

Drove DB to F&F7.

[NINA85]

It's been mildly warm up here in Connecticut. Past few days I have been in the garage trying to get Lena road worthy again.

265/5 Cleaned, painted, installed
Shift console Cleaned, painted, installed
Shift lever cleaned, lubricated installed (now I need a new shift knob, looking at custom wood and new leather shift boot)
Blaupunkt Nevada 168 from my 535i installed and working (finally pulled out the wife's CD after 3 years)

Next up after lunch:

Install drive shaft
Rear differential

[dhdrums]

Finished getting the pinstripe off.

Also received and installed the intake elbow to replace this one:

Much Better:

And finally sourced the short which killed the engine and wouldn't allow it to start when I turned the headlights on. It is the wire that goes from the top of the terminal connector to the fuse box.

[JSmoove]

What did you use to remove the pin striping?

[dhdrums]

What did you use to remove the pin striping?

I used this:

AES Industries 4" Smart Eraser Pad

Includes 4" Smart Eraser and 1/4" Drill Adaptor Arbor
Developed to dramatically reduce time spent on the removal of Pinstripes, Adhesive, Decals and Double Faced Tape
Molded rubber with 5/16"-24 thread arbor
Max RPM: 4,000
Instructions included. Made In USA
Price: $13.57
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00488 ... _123950170

It worked really well just using it on my drill. I'd recommend it. You just need to apply even pressure, take your time, and don't spend too long on in one spot (It'll go through the paint). Also it leaves a residue. But the residue came off. I just washed my car and then used a wet rag and went over the area again until it was gone.

[garageboy]

One day when I finally crush this car... I'm really gonna miss my workbench...

This time it was taking off the winter wheels and putting on the summer wheels...

[jhall]

I put on a set of H&R springs and Bilstein HD's I had sitting around on my shelf from other cars. I just reused the old front strut bearings and I almost immediately developed a clunk on the pass. side. Placed an order for new mounts/ bearings and also a set of the e90 perches, I figure I'll give it a shot and see how i like it. Also I pulled a good set of front Bilstein sports off when I put in the HD's, but after reading on here I'll probably throw the front sports back in and just go HD's in the rear. I held out for a long time just wanting to stay stock suspension but the parts store shocks the PO put on the rear finally gave out and I figured maybe I'd give this a try see how I like it. Now I just want to mess with it more. I will give the PO credit on one thing though, he did an expert job on buying tires. There's zero rubbing issues how it sits now. When the time comes to replace I'll probably just go with another set in the exact same size.

[davintosh]

Brought it home.

Last week I put the fuel pump back together and had it running great. I drove it to work once, then my youngest son drove it to school & back a few times, then my eldest son drove it an hour south to my daughter's house on Saturday, but it died about a block from his destination. Hmmm. It sat there until Tuesday when he & I went down to do some troubleshooting; it would crank just fine and fire occasionally but just wouldn't stay running. We checked the fuel pump relay and the pump -- both tested fine and seemed to be doing their respective jobs. I changed the fuel filter just in case all the futzing around had dislodged some crap that ended up plugging it up. Checked for spark and found that the distributor cap had a crack in it, so I swapped in my spare from the trunk kit. Still wouldn't start. Crap. So we headed home.

About half way back I had an epiphany & asked my son if he had put gas in the car. Nope. The gas gauge showed it was nearly full, so he didn't bother. Crap crap. I had glanced at the fuel gauge when I first tried starting the car and assumed he had put gas in it. The tank appeared to be about half full when I put the pump back in it, and when I drove it on Monday had noticed the gauge showed about 3/4 full, but didn't think much of it because the gauge (or rather the fuel level sending unit) would stick once in a while. The tank had run dry on his trip to Vermillion while the gauge showed full.

So today my youngest son & I drove down there with a gallon gas can; it started on the first try after I put about a half-gallon in the tank.

Anybody got a working fuel level sending unit for sale?

[1st 5er]

My wife and I made a 7 hour round trip to pick up one for our first grandchild that is of driving age, an '87 535is 5 speed.

[a]

My wife and I made a 7 hour round trip to pick up one for our first grandchild that is of driving age, an '87 535is 5 speed.

would you adopt me Gramps?

I'm gonna try for a sticker on the last super e. M5 Boysen muffler grafted onto the resonator sounds bad ass.

[1st 5er]

My wife and I made a 7 hour round trip to pick up one for our first grandchild that is of driving age, an '87 535is 5 speed.

would you adopt me Gramps?

Thanks for the ... but with #15 in the oven...

[a]

15 Grandkids? You patriarch you. Thats freaken awesome Sherman. Just one morphed me from the world's oldest teenager into Pops The newest one is going to be a yr old in 2 weeks. I'm waaay better at being grandfather, than I was at being just a father.

[1st 5er]

. I'm waaay better at being grandfather, than I was at being just a father.

Me too!!! And, it's much more fun.

Wonder why we don't get to do that part first?

[LeiseyJr]

Car is leaking pretty bad I think through the sunroof and rear windshield seal. WIth my invaluable skills learned from my school's engineering program, I used the fix all.

I also patched my bike tube with that; lets see if I have to push it home tomorrow...

[12valves]

Put the wheels back on so I could go to the racetrack and attempt some drifting.
http://www.hyakushiki.net/m50swap/528drf.avi

[RonW]

Installed new wiper drive bushings on both my E28s. These are rubber grommets that fit into the holes below the windshield the linkage sticks through to connect to the wiper arms. This is something everyone should check, because theses bushings are probably shot, in which case your wiper linkage is loose and could break. You need two of them. Part # 61 61 1 353 754. Used on most BMWs from the 2002 through the E38.

[RonW]

Fixed a couple of wiring harness failures. The wires to the side marker lights tend to fail, and I fixed one. This is about the fifth time I've fixed one of these wires. Also, splice S315 (see the ETM) failed so that my license plate lights wouldn't turn on. I pulled the splice cover, and all the wires came out separately in a cloud of copper oxide. I'm surprised anything powered through that spliced worked at all. I stripped the wires and soldered them back together, and put the cover back on, so now the lights work again.

For a while I thought that body rust would be what killed this car, but now I'm thinking the wiring harness will fall apart in a hundred hidden places and the car will just stop working one day.

[tig]

Whew. Busy day.

Finished rebuild of the 3.25LSD.

Installed the following on Maytag:
- repainted parcel shelf.
- rear window
- new trunk seal gasket
- rear seat

I'm hoping Julie isn't too mad at me for ignoring her all day so I can spend tomorrow installing the LSD. Haha.

[RonW]

Car is leaking pretty bad I think through the sunroof and rear windshield seal. WIth my invaluable skills learned from my school's engineering program, I used the fix all.

I also patched my bike tube with that; lets see if I have to push it home tomorrow...

The silver car cover on my 535is is held together with about 8 feet of that stuff.

[1st 5er]

Snob got Billy Sports because...

[juan c.]

Replaced the reverse switch on the Getrag. Not a fun job.

[e28Sean]

Tried to drive it. Ran like poo. Swore a bit. Tried to fix it. Tried to drive it again; still ran like poo. Booked it in for a fixin'.

As a follow up... The cause of the running like poo" condition:

[Mike W.]

Tried to drive it. Ran like poo. Swore a bit. Tried to fix it. Tried to drive it again; still ran like poo. Booked it in for a fixin'.

As a follow up... The cause of the running like poo" condition:

Running poor? It ran at all?

[bkbimmer]

I drove the living shit out of it and took several thousand miles of life off of the tires

[e28Sean]

Running poor? It ran at all?

I was equally shocked, believe me!

[davintosh]

I finally put the lighted window switches in it, after taking way too long to take all seven apart to clean the contacts. First thing I discovered was that the lighted switches have two alignment pegs on the back side vs. one on the originals. A side cutter and a razor blade made quick work of that peg though, and they matched up perfectly with the sockets. Only one dead bulb in the whole lot; it ended up in the overhead console for the sunroof.
One bonus was that it got my rear windows working again. Woot!

[kzolee]

Replaced the intake elbow. Had some slight signs of wear.