MyE28.com

Heres's a current rundown of the car:

Initial purchase @ ~201,000 on 5/1/14
Currently @ 209,933 (9/4/15)
1986 BMW 535iA - 6/13/86 build date
Arktisblau/Pearlbeige
3rd owner

On-going Maintenance Log
-Fix warm idle surge @ 201k; new O2 sensor, new ICV hose, ICV from '87 parts car - still a bit of a surge, but much improved
-Fix intermittent starter issue - removed starter relay completely when I did the 5-speed swap
-Brake bomb replacement @ 201k
-Fix intermittent brake light short, blows Fuse 12 - DONE when I removed stock radio and amp
-Baseline oil change to 15w-50, Mobil1 + new Mann Filter @ 203k
-Fix speedometer error caused by PO odo gear replacement + lube gears @ 204k
-Brakes - Centric rotors w/ Wagner ceramic pads @ 204k
-Power antenna mast - replaced with fixed mast from '91 Miata @ 204k
-RMS replacement @ 204k
-Oil change to 10w-40 Castol High Mileage @ 204k due to RMS replacement and upcoming winter
-Replace heater valve from '87 parts car @ 206k
-Replace center link, idler arm, tie rods @ 209k
-Fix front struts due to rust failure @ 210k - installed IE coilover sleeves/perches

Current Modifications:
-G265/6 transmission from E30 M3
-16x7 Style 29 from '00 528i w/ 205/55-16 General Altimax HP tires and eBay hub centering rings
-Borla cat-back exhaust (installed PO)
-Cut OEM springs (installed by PO)
-No-name front strut tower bar (installed by PO)
-Radio - Kenwood KMM-108U digital media receiver (who listens to CD's anymore?)
-E34 burled wood shift knob
-Pearl Beige 'is' sport seats
-Bilstein Sport shocks front/rear
-IE front coilover sleeve kit, used rear eBay sleeves from previous project
-Summit Racing 7" springs, 400 lb/in front, 300 lb/in rear

To-Do list for 2015:
-Paint and install 'is' trunk from parts car


List of timeline-undetermined projects:
-Paint - I want to go with the original Arktisblau, which I'm becoming more of a fan of vs. the Royalblau I fell in love w/ on my '87 535is parts car, and would require less PITA prep to be done right.


The Original Version:
I guess it's time to get to documenting my '86 build, and how I got here in the first place. I'm open to any comments/responses/suggestions/constructive criticism, and the like

My E28 hunt started a few years ago, when I started looking at ratty examples for my next project. I was young, dumb, and nearing the end of my '80 GMC Sierra 5.3 swap. My best friend of 15 years has spent most of that time yakking my ear off about BMWs, and growing up one my idol cars has always been the E28 M5. So, not seeing myself affording a good, driving example, I aimed a little lower at the 535is sort.

I found an '87 535is for cheap in September '13. Royalblau over Pearl Beige. "But wait, this build is about an '86 right?" Well, I'll get to that in a sec. The 535is was low mileage (118k), and had been sitting for a while. The PO said a year, but based on the amount of filth inside and out, and the expired registration sticker from 2009, I think it was more like 5 or 6 years. But I figured what the heck, bought the '87 anyway (well, more like pulled it out of the ground...first clue as to where this is going), got the engine running w/ new plugs, oil/filter, fuel filter and fresh gas and a battery - and sat on the build over the winter, as the GMC occupied my 1-car garage for a rear-end rebuild. Meanwhile, I amassed some parts for a 5-speed swap.

After I brought it home, and gave the exterior a good cleaning:




Fast forward to March. The '87 started right up after sitting since October, and I drove it into the garage.



I started tearing into it. Found these rust holes, which in addition to the rust I already knew about (trunk, fenders) and general shadiness of the chassis/suspension (which I was blindly willing to fix up), led me to give up on this particular chassis, and part out the car, keeping the motor and 'is' goodies for a future swap.





This came out w/ the bumper shock...


After the part-out started, the I punched through the rust on the driver-side rocker seam (on the inside, no pics) and revealed the driver's floor had separated from the rocker panels, further dooming the car (guess I made the right choice, eh?)

Anyway, in my subsequent search for a good shell, I missed out on a nice 130k-mile '87 528e 5-speed that I found through a friend. An 'e' would certainly help out in my daily 100-mile commute, and while it would have been a lot of work to put the M30 in there (not to mention, negate the reason I bought the 535 in the first place) it did open the possibility of an M50/M52 swap in the future, as my friend is planning an LSx swap on his E39 528i. As a matter of fact, here she was, posing with the E39 in question:





Alas, the e didn't pan out, probably because it was not meant to be. But it did renew my faith (and search) for a decent E28 shell, perhaps needing some mechanical work, as I'm more versed in that than body work.

Fast forward to late April, I came across this '86 535i on Craigslist. Arktisblau over Pearl Beige. It was cheap, so I figured if the body was maybe salvageable enough then I could swap what I needed to, and make 1 car out of the 2. Well, it turns out that this particular 535i has had all the rust repair done already, the right way. Cha-ching. The interior, while not mint (cracked dash), was extremely clean for its age/mileage and smelled wonderfully of old leather (the '87 parts car smelled like doo-doo before I cleaned it). The PO had already updated the 200k-mile motor with fresh cooling hoses, coolant temp sensors, valve adjustment. New axles recently. Rebuilt tranny. Skid plate to protect the lows against New England roads. New tires. All electrics work. Pearl Beige interior matches my 'is' sport seats. Car had fresh door and trunk seals. In short, a lot of the PITA niggles that come with an old car were mostly taken care of.

The downsides were that the steering has a clunk in it (could be cracked steering box mount or tie rod), it's automatic (I already have the 5-speed parts), and the paint needs help. In addition, the idle had a surge when warm, and the brake bomb needed replacement. There were a lot of positives about this car so I bought it, and drove it 40 miles home.




After brake bomb replacement:


PO included 2 studded snows on 3rd-gen Camaro wheels. Been thinking about either finding another 2 to round out the set, or putting them on to use the E28 for light winter duty (around town only). Don't know yet..


So far, I've been really enjoying commuting in the car, mostly because it rides like an old German car should and it rides a hell of a lot better than my '94 Miata autocrosser. It has returned 23-24 mpg on my mostly-highway commute, not too bad I think.

i'm in for progress pics!

PM sent.

Kyle in NO wrote:PM sent.

Didn't get your PM...

The last of the 535is parts car went in the trailer on Saturday, which cleared room for starting the 5-speed swap on the '86...woohoo!

What's coming out:
-BMW-reman 4HP22-EH w/ ~70k miles on it

What's going in:
-G265/6 from an E30 M3
-M5 clutch
-Stock 21-lb resurfaced flywheel - debating whether or not to take any weight out of it, it's not going to be a sports car.
-I've got new clutch master/slave cylinders in transit in case the used ones don't pan out (I love FCP's return policy!), along with a new RMS and shifter boot. Everything else is already here. I'm also going to bring my shifter into work and cut some delrin bushings and install them.

While the '86 is in the garage I'm going to take the opportunity to do brakes, and also track down the source of the front-end clunk (happens when turning @ low/no speed). Last time I was underneath, I checked the steering box mount for cracks, and found none, so maybe it's a tie rod. I'm also going to track down tires for the Style 29's and hopefully get those mounted by mid-September

Have had some time here and there to work on the '86. Over the last couple of weeks..

-Got the exhaust, ATF lines, and associated bruhaha removed in preparation for the 5-speed swap
-Disassembled half the interior to remove the wiring/shifter. Going to go and clean up the instrument cluster while I'm in there - needle is on 10 mph slow, and replacement gears need re-greasing
-Removed the trans (sans converter)
-Got stopped in my tracks when removing the converter. Gotta find the right wrenches to tackle this beast.

Finally out!



I found out that the Style 29's still have tires - yay! I need to go pick those up in Middletown (on my way home from work) but dang, I just keep driving the Miata to work and they won't fit

I also took a fixed-mast antenna from a junkyard Miata that I had laying around and fitted it to the E28. My power antenna would only go up part way, and I didn't have great reception, so hopefully this'll fix it

The transmission is in! Sort of...

Tonight my buddy came over and we crushed a lot of to-do's...1 week until departure to Ocean City!

Pic Cliffs:







-Got the flexplate off (not pictured)
-Installed a new rear main seal (also not pictured)
-Installed the flywheel (stock resurfaced), clutch disc, pressure plate (used M5 items)
-Installed the bellhousing on the trans, with a new TO bearing. Re-used the slave I got with the pedals and driveshaft, it seems to be in good shape. Don't worry, I have replacements on hand. Attached that beast to the M30. Allllright...
-Got the mounts mocked up (no hardware, picking that up tomorrow) and new crossmember bolted in - my buddy works for FCP and informed me that this was the last '85 crossmember left new in the country. There's a lot of hardware that this car does not deserve, along with the M3 trans, M5 clutch (which I know is the same, but...), and the unobtanium crossmember.
-Went to install the shifter, and a little lightbulb went off as soon as I put it up to the chassis - it's too long. I vaguely remembered a thread that talks about using the aluminum console with the G265, which needs to be shortened. I'll throw something together quickly at work - I'm thinking of drilling a new hole in the console and lopping off the rest, then making inserts from delrin to locate everything all nice and snug.

So, we decided to call it a night...minus the hardware for the crossmember and the guibo, everything is ready to go back together. After replacing brakes as my last task, I should be driving by Monday night. I'm also gonna take the time to grease the speedo gears (they make a little noise) and right the speedo needle (currently reads 10 mph too slow)

Lastly, tonight I had a little moment of realization - it's been a little over a year since I started on my E28 journey. I bought the 535is parts car en route to my buddy's wedding in NH the weekend after Labor Day 2013. Immediately I started amassing parts for a 5-speed, including the G265 because "that was what was around at the time". Can't believe I'm this close to a driving 5-speed 535i...

Last couple pics...current state of affairs on the brakes, and interior

Got to work this morning, and immediately started brainstorming...



I made some notes in Sharpie last night, which allowed me to determine that 2.875" needed to come out of the front of the console. I decided to make 2 brackets, and drill holes in the console to bolt everything back together. I measured the inner pocket of the console and drew a quick sketch and then threw something together in CAD, using my best skills in WAG engineering:



After that, I embarked on machining the part on the mill in our lab (read: not kept up w/) during my lunch break. I then thought to make one of them a threaded hole, so I had these prototypes:



Now, while we have a toolroom at work, work-related things came up and before I was able to sneak down there for their expertise/tooling on milling the 45-degree chamfer, they went home for the weekend. I found a chamfer mill that I thought might work, and ended up with a bit of a stepped lip instead of a smooth chamfer. While it looked like it would work, it did not do down to the bottom, and I was running out of time and didn't feel like re-chucking the part in the vise.

Then, in a stroke of genius (at 4:27 pm) I found some aluminum prototype tools that didn't work out, which were already machined flat and within .040" of where I needed to be. Chucked them up, went over them real quick, out the door by 4:32

They had the benefit of being countersunk already, so I just needed to run them through w/ a #7 drill. Here's a shot of how they looked before and after I drilled them out:


Got straight to work with the hacksaw when I got home. Here's my "hold on to your butts" shot


Getting there...


Drilled a hole in the console near the shift cup


Mocked it up to drill the second hole in the smaller piece



Went HAM on it...



Great success (almost) - I need 2" long #10's and some nuts, will pick some up in the morning.

Then decided to mock it up in the car...



My custom rear mounting solution...



That's all I have for tonight. Have a wedding to go to tomorrow into Sunday, so when I'm not running errands (the lady is a bridesmaid, so she's MIA for the day) I'll probably get to pedals/wiring/cluster repair, or as much as I can get to before I have to leave for the wedding...

Didn't have as much time as I thought, only got the pedals in this morning.



I also picked up the Style 29's. Pretty good condition considering they were on a DD for 8 years. I have the center caps too. Tires are still in good condition but they're 225/55-16's, so they won't fit - my current setup with the Style 10's (215/60-15) already scrapes due to the cut springs. Plus, 205/55-16's will fit better on the wheels (these are a tad pinched) so I have some on order w/ Tire Rack that I will pick up at their distribution center on Monday. I also have hubcentric rings that will go on the car with the wheels.

Here's after giving them a quick once over, I'll have to do another pass when I get the tires mounted and on the car.

Wrong driveshaft...fack. Its too long, and the holes for the guibo don't line up.

I cannot remember if it was from an '85 535i or 635csi, but either or, it shoulda been the right one. And I should have checked on that before I decided to take everything apart. Big bummer.

So the big push to get the car done is now done for, I'm just gonna take the Miata down to MD on Thursday. But good news, I put new brakes on all around, got the new tires mounted on the wheels, and the shifter is bolted in.

So, found out that the driveshaft was most likely from a 533i, which makes sense since a 260 has a longer shaft and a 533i would have had a smaller bolt circle guibo. But the seller made it right and gave me the correct shaft from the '85 he was parting last year, and it fits nice - just needs an adjustment on the slip collar, which is to be expected. New guibo and bolts are on. And I buttoned up the shifter, so scratched that off the list.

I then moved on to clutch hydraulics. The fitting on the hard line is too far gone - threads are buggered and so is the hex. So I'm gonna replace them and maybe fab a new hard line w/ the 3/16" line I have around. Also have the bubble flare tool, thank god. Fittings are "in stock" at Autozone, not my first choice, but nothing better is available as fast.

With that I then moved on to my electrical issues w/ the cluster. The C1 (blue) connection was loose, so that restored my indicators on the cluster and the cluster lighting, but didn't fix my hyperflash on the RH signal circuit only. Both F+R turn lights were illuminating, but the connection on the front housing is bad, so thats why it wasn't flashing properly.

My list of things to take care of before tomorrow:

-Driveshaft adjustment
-Clutch hydraulics - new hard line + fittings, new master/slave (both are already off the car)
-Button up the front end brace/sway bar
-Bolt exhaust back on
-Wheels on, car on the ground
-Replace brake bomb o-ring (an oops from my May replacement, surprised it didn't leak, much)
-Fire it up
-Shakedown

Still seems doable. I'll burn through the night if I have to. I'll probably wait till I get down to MD to give it a good detail.

Didn't get the car ready for OCMD, but it was good because I can now take my time and diagnose the numerous faults I've encountered so far...

1) The clutch hard line that I fabbed was leaking. It turns out the tool that I bought to double flare the lines (a Mastercool set from Eastwood, the cheaper less-effective alternative to their $$$ jig tool) isn't very good with flaring SS line, for good reason - it's a hand tool and SS is freaking hard stuff. Luckily I had some regular 3/16" hard line left over from when I did the brake lines on my Jeep Cherokee a couple years ago, which worked fine. So I got the hard line back in w/ some new fittings, and set on bleeding the clutch. Once I figured out that I needed to pump the slave a few times, bleeding went without a hitch.

2) Next, with the clutch bled, I decided to put the Style 29's on and put 'er on the ground.



NOTE: I forgot to mention this earlier, but I bought Centric rotors from RockAuto, and the front rotor set screw holes don't line up. The rears do. This made installing the front wheels a little more difficult, but still manageable.

3) With the car on the ground, I went to crank the car, and nothing. Not even on the momentary switch that the PO wired up b/c (I think) the starter relay was on the fritz with the auto trans when I bought the car. Rewiring the NSS on the range sensor connector didn't solve it...tried it according to Bentley's, and Dave Kan's guide. Nothing. So I went straight to the relay, and wired pins 30 and 87 (thick black and black/yellow) together. Nothing. I took out the wiring altogether and plugged the single black/yellow w/ black connector into the column itself. Still nothing, but I got the 'crank signal sent' indicator on the dashboard. Next, I checked C101, and had no continuity. Cleaned pin 8 and still nothing. Just for S&G's, I checked the starter and saw a black/yellow wire hanging there. Connected it, and it cranked. No idea why, unless I misread the diagrams and pin 8 is the output to the starter, not the input from the column. Regardless, I got it to start, and...

4) It will not idle. It took a few cranks to get it going, and it chugged to life (no smoke though) and then wouldn't hold idle. It would eventually stall and die. I can get it to rev easily, but once it returns to the idle circuit, it just dies. I'm still figuring it out.

I still have a couple more things to do, which involve throwing the car back up into the air...I need to remove the last remnants of the cooling lines and find a good place to tie down the O2 sensor wire - previously it was on the auto trans crossmember, which is now MIA.

On the upside, I snagged a set of 15" Style 5's finally. I'll use the tires from the Style 10's and sell the Style 10's, since I never really cared for them. The 5's need some light refinishing, so I will decide if I want to return to stock finish, or do something cool with them (nothing yolostance, don't worry). I also snagged the side repeaters and may retrofit them to my car

But back to wheels, I think I have an addiction...this is the 6th set of wheels that I have around the house that are not currently mounted to any of my cars..and I still need another set for snow tires that will go on my SO's Mazda3

Finally, a shot of the car on the ground because I drove it out of the garage under its own power for the first time today



The bad news is that it was still incredibly hard to start. I'll have to figure that one out, but it does eventually start. Its cold idle is still crappy, but it doesn't stall anymore. And it's only confined to the warm-up cycle, once the car warms up it starts to smooth out. Still diagnosing that.

Here's the carnage that the swap has left in my garage...



Oh yeah, and I get to deal with this next:



From my botched RMS replacement job. Everything I put in is coming back out - hopefully this doesn't take 6 weeks to repair...

Bentley's Idle Troubleshooting indicates that the source of my poor cold idle could be my leaky RMS. I've got the car up in the air and have started the disassembly process. Hoping to bang it out this week.

But back to the car...I got it up in the air...


Then got sick of my workspaces being so cluttered, so I got rid of the doors from the '87 parts car...


...and started to organize my parts stash.




Back to the car though, I ordered the best $18 keyless entry that eBay had to offer on Friday, and it arrived today. I'm doing the RMS before I install it, though.

Leaking RMS can cause an idle problem?!?!

cek wrote:Leaking RMS can cause an idle problem?!?!

Apparently. We'll see if that is the case here, but in the troubleshooting table they mention that if your valve cover gasket, or front/rear crank seals are leaking, it could cause idle issues. I suppose they can cause a vaccum leak since not all of the seal is submerged in oil. The leak in my RMS is pretty bad, the picture above is how much came out while I was backing out of the garage...and it was cold 15w-50 that was in the crankcase too.

I didn't know that there was a spacer on the RealOEM diagram, nor did I know there was a carrier/gasket until I sat down to the repair, so it could be that the seal is riding on the groove in the shaft caused by the 200k mile RMS, or the RTV that I had on hand because I didn't have a gasket (yeah, that'll be fun to remove). Regardless, the seal is being replaced again with a spacer and proper gasket.

Time to wrap up the saga on the swap...

The RMS carrier was not tightened down. I immediately saw the leak when I poured some oil down the hatch, so I tightened it up and the leak stopped. This was with some thinner oil that I had laying around from previous cars that I wasn't going to use in any of my current ones, so it was a good tester. I left it for a few days it leaked nothing. So on went the clutch, trans, exhaust, and subframe brace. The sway bar went on too but read more later...

I put it on the ground, put in some 10W-40 (Castrol GTX High Mileage) and cranked. Fired up almost immediately on the second try (I guess the fuel pump needed time to prime?) and settled into its smooth cold idle. I guess the RMS leak really was the culprit, although I did have a slight exhaust leak before and is not there anymore. The slight surge at warm idle is still there, which still sucks, but it's probably more of an old M30 thing than it is a problem, so it's comforting to know that the engine is back to its old self.

My girlfriend shot this on the potato phone as I was about to head out on the shakedown run:


I took it around the block. I love the whir of the G265. The car feels completely different. The shifter is no Miata shifter, but it still feels pretty direct. I took a turn down a neighborhood street, and heard the distinct sound of the front swaybar leaving the car and dragging on the ground.

Oh yes, about that. When I re-installed the swaybar bushing mounts, I couldn't get them to tighten down - both bolts would skip towards the top. They look a little buggered up and I don't know how good the threads are on the chassis side. So for now I'll just disconnect the sway bar - my commute is all highway anyway - and I'll figure out a fix for it. And the car really needs a good clean/detail. Badly. And the center caps put on the Style 29s. And a good cleaning, did I mention that already?

I also took my first stab at the installing the eBay keyless entry using some of the write ups here, but the kit-included instructions are not complete (as in, the wire colors for the actual door lock controls are not specified...lol China) and as far as I know, the brain box just clicks to give you the illusion it's working (prodding it with my multimeter doesn't reveal any voltage change). So we'll see if I can get it to work, if it actually works.

Tomorrow she hits the road...

Tonight I broke out my special end link removal tool


Bolts were way rusted on, and I didn't have time for that ish.

Much better, but there's carnage...easily refinished though...


Decided that my 40-mile back road route to work will be a good shakedown...haha

Made it to work without any hiccups...50-mile highway drive instead of backroads, didn't leave in time. I missed driving this instead of the Miata, although that car needs some serious TLC now that I deferred some repairs that were supposed to have been done upon completion of the 535 in September. Looking back to 8/26 when I took the 535 off the road, the Miata had 121,500 miles on it, it's currently sitting at 126,200 in well-deserved rest in my garage.

Been really enjoying the drive to/from work the past couple days. She's running good without any major hiccups, she cruises nice and smooth at 70:



But alas, I woke up to this in the morning, so to keep it as rust-free as I can, I called the Jetta to action to take me to work (which got its snow tires put back on last night)

Been driving the Bimmer to work the last few days. Yesterday, the clutch really started to act up, but I thought it was because I had no return spring installed (#19 below). I got home last night and investigated and found that the over-center spring (#22 below) had popped off its ridge and was rubbing on the hydraulic line for the clutch, moving the nipple (hehe). I don't know if it was because I installed it wrong or not. I removed it and found that the rod end had bent, either from improper installation or it was like that when I got it. It's something I can live without for the near future, so I left it off, buttoned everything back together and planned to take it to work today.




This morning, I went out to start the car, and it wouldn't crank. Figured I ran the battery down enough and it was ~25 degrees out this morning so I thought the battery was weak. So I grabbed my SO's Mazda3, got the jumpers, and still nothing. I hooked up the momentary switch to the diagnostic ports and it started. Got to work, and the ign. switch still wouldn't crank, so I think I knocked a wire loose under the dash when I was working under there. I hope.

And I noticed again that heat went out after extended periods of running higher-RPM, but the heat immediately returns when I slow down for the stoplights on Rt. 9, so my heater valve is on its way out. Yay!

One of my co-workers refers to this car as the Trouble-U

Looking back on some of my other pics of this incident, I believe this wire is my culprit...whoops, gotta fix this during lunch

Fixed that ignition switch wiring...that yellow/black wire wasn't the culprit, I had forgotten I took the connector straight from pin 30 on the starter relay (when it had Automatic wiring) and plugged it straight into the column a la manual cars. That said wire got bumped off the column when I took the panel off. I fixed it in the parking lot at lunch while shooting the breeze with my boss.

A few fix-its remain from the swap:
-I have a couple return springs from the parts car and the auto pedal box, so I am going to once again take the panel off and see if any of them are suited for a clutch return spring - I'm still having to bring the pedal back with my foot, but it is much better than before
-Remember I removed the front sway bar. I've gotta re-tap the brackets and get some new bolts in there. If not, I gotta come up with something else. Oh and I need new endlinks too.
-I should really source a manual TPS
-The front strut bar needs to go back on

Moving on from that, in addition to the TLC my Miata needs (timing belt/water pump, cooling system refresh, lifters need cleaning) I am going to start putting together the next projects for this car, in two different areas:

Suspension
-The front end is a bit loose, I would like to refresh the front end and install new tie rods and drag link. The thrust arms look to be recently done, so I'll check my records from the PO
-I have the Bilstein rear shocks and front struts from my 118k-mile 535is parts car. They may work, they may not. I'd like to throw them in with the cut springs that are in the '86 right now and test their viability. The rears are encouraging - they seem to rebound decently but that's not 100% telling that they'll be good in the car. I haven't tested the fronts yet
-Once the Billies are in and tested, I will source either some lowering springs (H&Rs, Spax) or do a homebrew coilover similar to the builds I've done on my Miata. I have some pretty rusty front strut housings from the parts car, so part of it will entail how well they clean up

Engine
-Although I trust the PO, I'm going to check valve clearances and the oil sprayer bolts while I'm at it.
-The head gasket is leaking oil. I will try tightening down the head bolts and see if that takes care of it. I can do that when I have the VC off for the valves/sprayer bolts.
-I'm interested in a M1.3 swap on my current B34 in anticipation of a B35 build. I'm quite inspired by cek's build to take the B34 from my parts car and build it into a B35
-The plan is to disassemble the 118k-mile parts motor - it ran well when I pulled it - and do an inventory/deep clean of parts that will carry over to the B35. Then I will source the B35 parts either independently or from a parts car. The local pick-n-pull has E34's come in from time to time, so I can patiently wait over several months to piece everything together.

I'm really tempted to pick up a parts E34 535i and go a similar route that I did with my 535is - keep what I need, and part the rest out. I fear that if I do that my very patient GF will leave me and take the dog with her But it does make the financial hit of the build a lot less

I also have an is front airdam and rear trunk/spoiler that need to be painted Arktisblau and put on the car. I may try some weekend projects here and there on the paint/bodywork of the car, but I'm going to leave that until spring at the very earliest. The PB sport seats can go in at any time, I just haven't blocked it out yet.

Liking this thread. Keep it up, please.

1,000 miles into the swap, I'm happy to report no major mechanical maladies. I'm gonna continue daily driving it through as much of the winter of the winter as I can. Good news is that it started this morning in 15-degree weather, so I'm not terribly concerned, yet. It's a little grouchy on cold startups, but it starts nonetheless.

An interesting tidbit about the car I found out: my car's build date is 1-day shy of exactly 9 months before my birth date. So the car is literally the exact same age as I am (depending on who you ask ).

Referring to my post above about the clutch return spring (#19 on the parts diagram). There's no parts listing on RealOEM or etk.cc for the part number, and no mounting on the pedals for it so I don't know what it's referring to. There's no way to mount one anyway, so I have just left it be. The clutch going to the floor problem (as it's been explained to me - a slight mis-alignment of the pedal causes a valve for the self-adjustment to bleed pressure) hasn't been much of an issue thankfully. Also my heater valve seems to have remedied itself - it was starting to show signs of failure (no heat at speed), but I'm finding it will still produce good heat at 70 mph (if I bumped it up to 80 or so, it loses temperature) so I should be OK for now.

I've started clearing out the garage and I moved the parts motor over next to my work bench so I can put it on the engine stand and start the tear down. I was working on the Miata as well in order to get it tucked away for the winter. I don't have any pics of the garage right now because it's embarassingly small and cluttered.

Whoops, spoke too soon. Coolant light came on during my drive home. I was reminded by the fact that the PO had told me something about having cracked the heater valve housing. I made it home fine, and opened the hood to find some coolant residue on the heater hoses, and a little puddle on the block under the starter. There's a little bit of seepage coming from the hose ends, it probably only comes out when the engine is at speed. The car doesn't leave a coolant puddle either.

If this problem has persisted since I bought the car, I'm surprised it took me this long (7 months/5k miles) for me to lose enough coolant to trigger the light.

I think coupled with the heater valve maladies I had been having before, I think I'll go with the patented cek heater hose bypass for the remainder of the winter.

Now for some ACTUAL eye candy...my boss brought his new DD to work today

Hey Steve,

I have a used working heater valve if you need one-

Chimi-Changa wrote:Hey Steve,

I have a used working heater valve if you need one-

Thanks! I kept the one from my '87 parts car - don't know if it works, but I'll give it a try anyway. But right now I've got a more pressing issue (non-start )

So, this is the nut holds the through-bolt that the clutch and brake pedal pivot on. It came off this morning as I pulled into work. I thought for a second that I had the dreaded cracked pedal bracket. Thank goodness for the intact BMW tool kit