i have 2 528e's one is a 1987 and the other is a 1988 528e and one is almost mint condition and the other is rather beat up. the almost mint one needs a tranni swap and the beat up one has the tranni the mint one needs. i had started the project but found myself barking into a tree i couldent handle and would hopefully like to trade the 2 cars as a project for one decent shape running 528e. the 1988 is currently my daily driver and has some issues but overall runs good and the 1987 did drive to where it is now but the bad trans is haf out and it will need to be towed it did seem to run very well thogh when i drove it over.
How about buying some beer and pizza and trying to have a local wrenchfest to get you back on the road ? You never know how much help you might actually get when you threaten to get rid of your E28's.