UPDATE 27/5/2025
Done a few things the past weeks:
- found out part of why there was water leakage, the tube that the rubber drainage hose attaches to on the sunroof is completely rotten off
- saw some cool cars at Ivo's HQ in Franeker, unfortunately they were closed as it was a sunday
- painted the 'new' rear left door which had the most rust, looks pretty good without polishing yet
old door
'new' door
painted
and assembled (just needed to transfer the shadowline trim)
UPDATE 6/5/2025
Still loads to be done, but because of the good weather I thought I'd take her out for some pics.
Done in the past few weeks:
- injectors cleaned and rebuilt
- 325i intake fitted with new gaskets (and cleaned the bottom end from all the 40 year old grease)
- 325i throttle body fitted
- 173 DME fitted
- some more rust work
- rear pitman & stabilizer links replaced
- voltage gauge & temp gauge fitted
also, if anybody can help me with the following stuff:
- I got a LED temp gauge the has a +, - and two cables, when I connect one of the cables to one of the blue temp sensor's (i'm guessing thats the DME temp sensor) contacts, it shows me a reading that seems realistic (about the same as measuring the temp on the thermostat rubber hose), if I connect the gauge to the blue contact and ground it to the thermostat housing, I get no reading. Anybody fitted a third party temp gauge to the original temp sensor?
- The engine's already got a 885 head and I plan on making it a bit more powerful, I've already fitted the larger b25 intake and throttle body as well as the 173 DME, now I can definitely feel some difference but it's not world-changing. can I try to find a chip for this setup or would it be a better idea to add the inner double valve springs and a different camshaft (and replace the head gasket while the heads needs to come off for this anyway) also, is there anyway to adjust the shift points because it seems that it really wants to rev out but full throttle seems to shift a bit early still.
stock:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kz9T95yfHwg
B25 intake, TB and 173 DME:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eMvnqgoASWs
Still
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UPDATE 31/3/2025
Did a bunch of stuff since my last post:
- replaced the rusty wheel arch
- fixed some more rust spots
- put blue lowering springs on the bilsteins, bilsteins are M-tech front, B8 rear
- removed all the GAS/LPG stuff from the engine
- redid the shadowline rear lights with plastidip, look like new now!
- LED registration plate lights
- keyless entry
- replaced the wiper relay, all modes except for the normal speed one are working now
- tried to fix the tacho rev counter by checking the wiring, trying out different clusters, but nothing worked..
- replaced braking fluid
I just ordered a M20B25 manifold, throttle body, 173 ECU and the gaskets, wonder how that will work out, I also need to check if I already have double valve springs.
TO DO before driving it this summer:
- new doors
- figure out the tach
- interior deep clean
- find what's leaking, seems to be the door or the door rubber on top where water is seeping in
- get it properly aligned at the shop
- finish the bumpers
lots of wires and hoses of the LPG installation
before
during
after
it just seems I fucked up the clearcoat, it's not shiny at all, so I'll try polishing it out, otherwise respay the panel again
how it stands now
""
Hi all, I'm Ziggy from the Netherlands and I've been following the forums for the past year or so and last October I tied the knot and got myself a e28 525e shadowline edition for a very decent price, it definitely has some rust and minor problems but I bought it as a project summer car to learn from as I have had no previous wrenching experience, I did do some stuff to a peugeot 205 and drive a saab 9-3 daily.
the Peugeot, sold now
The saab 9-3, 2.0t 2002 coupe
My plan is to drive it upcoming summer, then next winter take the engine out to replace the camshaft, valve springs and intake with a m20b25 one for some more power and fix the rust in the engine bay. Anybody has experience with a super eta stroker built with an automatic gearbox?
TODO list:
- replace chrome tail light with shadowline one on the right side
- replace tail light gaskets
- replace trunk gasket
- brake pads front & rear
- tow bar removal
- suspension arms front replacement
- steering arms replacement
- sunroof crank replacement
- timing belt replacement
- valve adjustment
- coolant flush/renew
- oil flush/renew
- spark plugs renew
- filters renew
- bilstein shocks/lowering springs
- door replacements
- sunroof replacement
- bumper replacement
- keyless entry system
- fix MPG/odometer
- fix rev counter
- rust in different spots
- fit heat plate for right front suspension arm bearing
- paint brake calipers
- renew brake fluid
- renew brake dust covers
- get a proper alignment at the shop
- new tires
FUTURE PLANS:
- install a 325i camshaft, intake, computer etc and refresh my 885 head+gasket with double valve springs
picking up the e28
interior inspection after a 3 hour drive home, we put it on a trailer as it seemed that the head gasket was blown as it heated up pretty quickly, after all there wasnt just enough coolant in the system.
rust inspection
three out of the four doors are gonna need replacing
some suspension rubbers were worn out so...
replaced most of them
while at it, I painted some parts here and there
and replaced the pads front and rear
also I found some more rust, this one has gone all the way through, the previous owner has done some welding on the car but no good sealing it seems
the old steering wheel lining was torn so I replaced the wheel with a better one
sunroof crank was broken, so replaced it....
...and found some more rust, I'll probably be replacing the sunroof as it seems tricky to repair these corners
overview of the office
the trunk was leaking somewhere so i replaced the tail light gaskets and the trunk gasket, while the old one was out I fixed some rust spots
the e90 or whatever wheels were on here had 225 tires that touched...
..so I got some style 5 7Jx16" rims, yes these are the narrower model that you don't see that often.
put some temporary 205/55 16" winter tires on
while having the car on the lift, it was time for some identifying, it has a 3.46 diff and I found out it has a 885 head, aka Super Eta!
rear (and front) bumper are gonna need replacing
while the bumper was off I could do some rust removal, anyone knows how to clean the shadowline taillights?
on to the engine side of things, I want to do a full refresh to drive it at least upcoming summer, first of all, headgasket seems to be ok
replaced camseal
timing belt and all accessory belts, as well as waterpump and tensioner
new fan clutch while we're at it
and replace the breather hose as it was torn, I also flushed the oil system and added new oil & filter and did the same for the coolant system. I adjusted the valves, replaced head cover gasket, replaced the thermostat and some other things.
I've just installed m-tech bilsteins with lowering springs so it sits nicely and fills the wheelwells, I'll keep you updated!
