My '86 535i

[Stevo12]

Well for the first time in 2 months, the front wheels have touched the ground. It kind of sucks that it's taken me this long to do this, but hey hey what can I do (see what I did there?).

To be honest, I'm not out of the woods entirely yet. The rear shocks and springs still need to be changed out. I got the fronts in over the last 2 days - that's how much time I've had - the left one went in last night, and the right one in tonight. I've got the Style 5's loaded up with Town Fair Tire's finest Mastercraft MC-440 road burners, courtesy of the unloved Style 10's that were on the car when I bought it.

I don't have pictures sadly (too dark), but I can confirm that the IE coilovers and 7" long 400 lb/in springs give me the lows that allow me to be once again accepted by car enthusiasts. In fact, without the collars adjusted (they're spun about 3/4 of the way down) it's TOO low. So, up it will go when I get closer to getting the car roadworthy again.

My goal for the rest of the week - heat and humidity willing - is to get the rear shocks in w/ sleeves and 7" 300 lb/in springs. Then I'd be ready for the road.

Except for the battery. I forgot to disconnect it when I decided I was going to push off fixing the car until September. So it was as dead as a doornail and I don't think it's coming back. It's been on a charger since Saturday and it's only holding 6.5-7 volts. Which is pretty ironic, considering that on SATURDAY I went with a buddy to go pick up his E39 that's been in storage for the past 4 months and is now selling. Same thing, he left the battery connected all summer not thinking it would be in storage at his folks' place for as long as it was. The battery wouldn't even take a jump, so Autozone's finest had to go in. Got home from that debacle and thought about the E28's battery and about 10 seconds later had egg on my face when my voltmeter wouldn't even register.

So, while the battery looked pretty new - and miraculously I found the receipt where it was purchased (Walmart) - it's about 2 years past the 3-year free replacement period. So I feel slightly better that the battery was just flat-out old. Still doesn't excuse the abuse I put it through. Lesson learned.

Once those tasks are completed and the car is driving again, I would like to pull it into the garage for a weekend and do a once-over on the drivetrain. Then I'll see how I feel about the car. Besides, fall is prime weather for an E28 with non-functioning A/C.

[tig]

Progress is progress. Cheering you on!

[Stevo12]

Appreciate the support, Charlie!

[Owndapwn]

Gareth takes a look at the RF strut tube and peels off a couple flakes and says that doesn't look too good.

Those flakes were probably the magic that was holding it together. Tell him he broke it and has to bring the beer next time.

[Stevo12]

Got everything buttoned up, and took it for a drive around the neighborhood. Except for an off-idle stumble that wasn't there before (old fuel?) the car drives fine again.

The 400/300 coilovers with Bilstein sports feels different (duh) and I'll get a more informed opinion as I start putting miles on the car. Sure better than the cut springs - and it turned out that the right rear shock was blown - zero compression and rebound. PSA: don't cut your stock springs.

Along my drive, I stopped over to snap some pics:







With those out of the way, I think this might be the end of the line for me with the car. Despite the new suspenders, I'm just not sure I'm in love with it anymore. It's a great piece of eye candy - I got butterflies seeing other E28s out on the road while mine was down, and still love how mine looks - but driving it around today just didn't spark the flame.

[Stevo12]

Closing this one out. I sold it last week to someone who I was proud to hand off the car to. He's got the history with BMW and E28's, and that he's passing it on to his twin boys is really cool - it was fun to watch them climb all over the car and fake-drive it when the family came to see it. I hope it provides them with the same kinds of memories that we all had growing up around interesting cars.

My next project isn't exciting to you guys, and it's not a BMW, but I'm excited to start on it - it's a '92 VW GTI that will be getting the VR6 drivetrain from a '97 Jetta, along with some other enhancements. It should be a cool little car when it's done. I hope the future affords me a time to delve back into these cars as it was really a pleasure owning this 535i. What I'm really hoping is to find and strip down a 528e and take it Lemons racing one of these days but I'm taking it one step at a time.