What did you do to your E28 today?

[Mike W.]

A working Low coolant switch can save you a head gasket. I have had 528e s for 20yrs and have never had a head off.

Indeed, it's a great feature. On the other hand mine was so neglected when I bought it both the low coolant and low oil LEDs were burnt out on the check panel.

[e28Sean]

A working Low coolant switch can save you a head gasket. I have had 528e s for 20yrs and have never had a head off.

... Which is why I intend to fit a replacement sender in the near future. I'm no worse off than I was this morning, it's just failed closed instead of failed open now, and therefore less annoying.

I'll be sure to post here when I fit the replacement, so y'all get off my back about it. :p

[davintosh]

Not today, but Wednesday, while driving to the airport at ~5 am, we hit a marder (or some similar nocturnal critter) on the autobahn while moving along at about 120 kph. It went under the car, right down the middle, and made a fair bit of noise as it did. When I stopped & looked under the car I saw a bit of hair, and noticed the absence of my tow hook covers. Dang. The zip ties didn't even help. Unfortunately I had no time to hunt for them. Double dang. I didn't notice any other damage to the airdam; just hoping it's ok. I'll know more when we return next Wednesday.

[dsmith]

Finished most of the interior, moisture barriers, poverty spec door panels, glove box, door sills etc. Finally got to put a few miles on it and fresh gas before snow/rain. Personally, I love the manual steering box. Even with sticky 225 tires it is barely noticable around town. Very similar to an early 911. Feels very smooth and linear on center and turning. I was afraid it would have a large dead spot on center, but it feels better than any level of worn power box. Maybe I got lucky with this box.

I must say, I have an unhealthy love for the manual windows.

[davintosh]

Installed a keyless remote in it. My car now has boopity boops.

[a]

Davintosh. I larfed over Horton hears the Who. 2 childhood icons in one cartoon. Startling to buckle to spousal pressure to rid the premises of dead or dying super Es. Final straw was her driving home 30 miles in the 88 with a blown front brake line. She was pissed. I think she performed this act so she could give me hell for having to. All this came about because some old lady T boned her Camry. Last Sunday, Daughter and Sil took Marina to buy a new car. We were in agreement about a Camry that wasn't grey and was a 4 cylinder. She did well and brought home a nice metallic blue SE. Marina's hassles with insurance co. have convinced us to seek a house/cars insurance. Insurance adjusters don't see my stash of iron as the height of industrial art that I captured. they want to see more manicured white bread Ward and June types . 4 super E s in various states of decomposition are in the wind. 20 yrs of foolin and they put you on the ramp truck to paraphrase Bobby Dylan

[e28Sean]

My car now has boopity boops.

HAHAHAHA! Awesome. It's nice to have boopityboops, isn't it?

[davintosh]

Drove it ~250 kilometers south for this car show thing they have going on in Genève. Judging by the number of people crowding into the place, it must be a big deal. Saw a few shiny objects. Quite a few actually.

My favorite booth at the show was the Morgans. The want is great with these machines; they look like they would be a blast.



There was a lot of activity in the BMW booth, but there was about as much excitement there as in the Kia booth; not much. After moving on to the Mercedes booth, I realized I didn't snap a single photo of a BMW in their booth; I have an I8 that AC Schnitzer had on display, and a couple of cars in Alpina's booth, but... BMW just left me feeling a bit empty.

[Federico]

Replaced my noisy old hubs with the FAG units:



A curious fact: my 528i had Non-ABS hubs mated to big, meaty dust rings which interfered with the new FAGs. Had to replace those rings with new ones.

The best part: my 55 mph shimmy is finally gone
Maybe my worn hubs were not centering the wheels right? dunno; I feel like having champagne now

[OcCoupe]

Replaced the shifter bushing. Now I don't feel like I'm shifting the queen Mary.

[oldskool]

The Queen misses your gentlemanly nudges I'm sure.

[OcCoupe]

The Queen misses your gentlemanly nudges I'm sure.

My loins ache when I think of you.

[davintosh]

Get a room...



Last week I drove the car to the airport; we flew to Holland for several days, and left the car parked in long-term parking. When we got back, it started without hesitation. Then on Thursday of this week we drove the car to the train station, left it in the parking lot for the day, and when we got back it again started without hesitation. Drove it home, parked it overnight, went out to go somewhere the next morning, and... nothing. I guess the rear door didn't shut completely, and drained the battery. Cool.

Jump started the car, ran a couple errands (keeping the engine running when I stopped, even though a couple Germans gave me the evil eye) then drove it for a bit to charge the battery. I needed some gas before finishing my errands, so I stopped at the gas station. While filling, a guy pulled up to the pump ahead of me and whistled when he saw my car; "Shön auto!" Then when I went to leave, the car wouldn't start. Had to ask the same guy if he'd help me jump start it.

Humility drives an old car.

I also washed it yesterday. I think the neighborhood marder is in love with it. Almost every morning I go out and find fresh muddy marder paw prints on it. It's also crapped on the trunk and the roof, and I'm not sure what it does, but the crap is smeared all over. Totally disgusting. I have an idea for a trap for the blasted critter though...

[Chimi-Changa]

You switched your aviator picture thingy? - did we gets to vote on it or anything and I missed?

How do we know it's really you?

[davintosh]

You switched your aviator picture thingy? - did we gets to vote on it or anything and I missed?

Yes, a few months ago, and no.

How do we know it's really you?

It's really me.

[tig]

Humility drives an old car.

Truth.

[wally]

Fitted an experimental GPS / cellphone mounting surface to my E28. It's just a plastic slab that clamps onto the cowling lip under the center vents and over the radio. Intent is easy on/off and leave no traces. Details at https://www.flickr.com/photos/by_wally/ ... ed-public/

[WVe28]

Swapped front and rear strut tower bars on the car I'm bringing to Vintage, replaced dog bones, installed H&R sport springs, replaced rear windshield lockstrip and rebuilt an exploded parking brake.

Busy day.

I also discovered my CV boots are all opened up and I have about an inch of easy back and forth play in them. How concerning is this? No vibrations at all but I really didn't budget time or money towards replacing half shafts this month. These should be fine for a few days of spirited driving, no?

[e28Sean]

Deep cleaned my floor mats.

[davintosh]

My wife & I had a four-day weekend off, so we drove it to München, kind of a homecoming for it I guess. Anyway the trip was about 450 kilometers each way, and was interesting... We took the interesting way there, through Switzerland, hopped on a ferry to cross Lake Konstanz, spent the night at a place overlooking the lake, then drove the rest of the way through heavy snow on Friday.

Saturday was a little surreal, driving the M535i to the BMW Museum, parking it in the garage below the BMW Welt, then seeing a near twin of it inside the museum. Well, kind of the twin; the one inside looks nicer than mine, a lot nicer. It also has the original wheels and a sunroof but mine doesn't. And mine has the headlight wipers, and the one inside doesn't. And...




Tomorrow is a national holiday here in Deutschland, so while driving back today the autobahn was relatively quiet for a Sunday; there were a few stretches where I was able to open it up, and went a bit over 200kph on a couple of occasions. About an hour away from home, while going about 190, the car went over a slightly rougher than usual patch of pavement, and the Motoröl light on the check panel came on, accompanied by the CHECK on the instrument cluster. The oil pressure light wasn't on, so I figured it wasn't a show-stopper, so I slowed to a more reasonable speed, and stopped at the next exit to check things out. Oil level was good, and when I started it back up, the light was off. I think it was just tired and wanted me to slow down. It's actually done that once before, so I'm thinking the connector might be loose, and the bump set the warning lights off. Another thing to check out.

Anyway, it was a fun weekend, good to have some time away from the dorm, and great to finally make it to Munich. And the drive home wasn't bad.

More Museum & Welt pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thornton_ ... 182986342/

[Federico]

Went to add some water to the coolant and my 2-year-old genuine cap came apart, pieces flying everywhere.
The cover rusted from the inside and the rivet went right through.
Thank you very much BMW, that's real nice

subefotoscertificity.com

[1st 5er]

... The cover rusted from the inside...

Something there does not add up,
if proper coolant was being used.

[Federico]

The part that rusted is the yellowed cap. I do have decent coolant in there but it doesn't matter much, because the rusted parts are exposed to the vented steam.

[garageboy]

The part that rusted is the yellowed cap. I do have decent coolant in there but it doesn't matter much, because the rusted parts are exposed to the vented steam.

What is "decent coolant"? What else is in there besides coolant?

[Federico]

The part that rusted is the yellowed cap. I do have decent coolant in there but it doesn't matter much, because the rusted parts are exposed to the vented steam.

What is "decent coolant"? What else is in there besides coolant?

It's filled with "Total glacelf", a glycol based organic antifreeze and rust inhibitor. I've mixed it in the correct ratio (33%) and it looks like it should after 2 years: slightly darker and without any cloudiness.

[jca]

Recently painted and installed one of those fiberglass rear spoilers for sale on ebay for about $100. Pleased with the workmanship. Came painted satin black, so all I had to do was shoot the body colored inset bronzitbeige. If I had it to do over again I would just shoot the inset with adhesion promoter rather than use primer before the color coat. Think that the finish would have been smoother that way. Drilled only two screw holds for mounting, but added 3M molding adhesive tape to batten it down well. Trunk lid must be sprung a bit because the spoiler doesn't sit perfectly flush. Looks fine to me, however. Cheers, John

[nik77356]

Had this made. Going to install it this afternoon.

[davintosh]

Had a slightly eventful drive on Thursday & Friday; about 950 kilometers from here to my wife's sister's place in Holland, then on to Zeebrugge to drop the car off at the port for shipping to the US. Maybe I'll tell the full tale someday, but suffice it to say, Friday was not a banner day, but it could've been worse. Looking forward to seeing the car again in Maryland.

[tig]

Had this made.

Where? Thanks.

[1st 5er]

Looking forward to seeing the car again in Maryland.

When?