1988 535is + parts i have laying around... BUILD THREAD

[Rye.well]

This is my e28 build thread.
This is for my own records to keep track of what happens with the car. feel free to follow along.

1988 535is
Royal blau metallic
manual
150k+

I bought it from a cool older gentleman in CT that used it as his beater/daily. i got it very cheap because it has a shit ton of rust, otherwise it was great running and driving example, albeit very sloppy.
the plan was to clean it up and enjoy it, but I'm getting pretty far away from that goal now. i have no idea where this thread will go.



AS PURCHASED:









My Previous vehicles and projects for shits and giggles:











Where I'm at with the car currently.










I've had this seat laying around so I'm going to throw it in and weld up a bracket.




also got rid of the 3.4 and scored a 3.73 LSD, and just swapped the e30 cover for the e28 cover.




designed and 3d printed a gauge cluster for some old ones i had laying around.





also i put up an old ford 8.8 rear axle/diff on craigslist and somebody offered me a set of corvette salad shooters, so i said okay.
not the wheels i want but for now they're free and good enough.

16x8.5 square (guy said 9.5, he obviously measured the total width including the bead )
sorry for the instagram photos i have been documenting poorly.




I'm having them sandblasted and powder coated for free, selling the old wheels will cover the adapter cost, and then i just need tires. not sure if i want to go meaty or stretched with these. give me a suggestion.

i am an industrial designer so I'm toying with the idea of making turbofans for these, i know its an odd choice, but might be interesting. here are some cad mockups/renders of what that might look like.
i had to build the salad shooters in cad from looking at pictures so might not be 100% accurate, but close enough.







most recently i burned, and then pressed out the rear subframe bushings on my bearing press to make way for the poly bushings. and gave it a quick coat of undercoater.
(i also have new stock bushings, which seem pretty decent. However i think this is the one part of the car where polyurethane will work better.) the only other polyurethane I'm going to run is for the sway bar bushings






let me know what you think. this is my first time on here, but I've been a member of a few other forums so i know somebody is going to flame me for "ruining" a good car. what i haven't shown here is the 10+ hours i have into grinding out and welding up rust holes. i will take more pictures of that when i can. Also the paint looks decent in those original photos i took, however they're misleading. the clear coat is coming off everywhere and there are spots of surface rust. There are also about 5 baseball sized holes in the floorpan, and the gas pedal was about to fall off its rusting mount. Im glad i took it apart to this extent, and would like to give it a full respray inside and out. for now i want to get it mechanically perfect.

[Rye.well]

nobody seems interested in my car... no worries. update...

Scored a couple of tires. Barely used Yokohama Advan A048 195/50 R16





Wheels come back from powder coat on Wednesday. I'm going to hand mount/stretch them and mock them up.
Then I'm going to order the adapters to the exact spec that i need.

I also mounted my old wheel/QR... more of the "parts i have laying around"





Thats all Folks.

[ScottWL38]

The gauge cluster looks pretty nice - maybe a black vinyl wrap? I always wanted to replace my ash tray with a cluster, but I'm thinking the space is too small. The stock interior, from the pictures, looked to be in pretty good shape. Not sure I'm liking the wheel and offset, but I'm a grumpy old man who still thinks 16" wheels are the shit so take my opinion with a grain of road salt. What are you thinking for shocks and springs? Any worries about having the tires hit the body?

These cars look great in dark blue. Build what you want, what you like, and I'm just happy another one has the rust cut out and isn't headed for the scrap yard to be turned into a refrigerator.

[Rye.well]

The gauge cluster looks pretty nice - maybe a black vinyl wrap? I always wanted to replace my ash tray with a cluster, but I'm thinking the space is too small. The stock interior, from the pictures, looked to be in pretty good shape. Not sure I'm liking the wheel and offset, but I'm a grumpy old man who still thinks 16" wheels are the shit so take my opinion with a grain of road salt. What are you thinking for shocks and springs? Any worries about having the tires hit the body?

These cars look great in dark blue. Build what you want, what you like, and I'm just happy another one has the rust cut out and isn't headed for the scrap yard to be turned into a refrigerator.

i have a dark black chopped carbon fiber material that I'm going to reprint the cluster in. I also took out the entire interior and re-dyed every piece in the factory color, so it should looks great when its back together.

as for they wheels, They ARE 16", so you should like that, but they will not sit how the tires are placed currently. (the wheels sitting next to the car was a joke, the hub was in the way with the suspension uncompressed so i couldn't place them where they will actually sit.) they will be flush when mounted, and the tires will have a very mild stretch nothing crazy, i just want them to sit nicely with the fenders. still deciding on suspension, perhaps a ground control kit. any suggestions?

Also i could maybe design and print you a cluster in the ash tray location if its big enough.(for a small fee+shipping) let me know if you're interested.

[Spen]

Looks like you have a lot of skills and I like the Dogecoin humor too! Such fitment. Enjoy your E28, surely you will be reaching for the keys a lot, they are such great cars. P.S. nice skills and work so far without a doubt!

[Rye.well]

Looks like you have a lot of skills and I like the Dogecoin humor too! Such fitment. Enjoy your E28, surely you will be reaching for the keys a lot, they are such great cars. P.S. nice skills and work so far without a doubt!

Thank you! and for the small period i drove this car in its dilapidated state, i loved it. This chassis has a lot of character for sure.

[the_illermiller]

Hey, more ID folks! Who are you with in the Boston area?

Looks like a fun project and damn dude, you've got some skills. What was that honda moto project? Monoshock looks custom!

[Rye.well]

Hey, more ID folks! Who are you with in the Boston area?

Looks like a fun project and damn dude, you've got some skills. What was that honda moto project? Monoshock looks custom!

Just graduated Wentworth Industrial Design, looking for a job currently, which is why this will be a slow project with minimal budget for now ha. where do you work?

[Rye.well]

Small update... i just drove to new jersey and back for these. stole them for a couple hundred bucks. they are in desperate need of refinishing but should work well on the car.

16" Gotti J55a 2 piece 5x130 porsche spec. 16x8.5 and 16x7.5





im going to refinish them to their original glory. like so...







I think these below are 16", obviously g1001's and looks to be on air suspension, but gives an idea.







what does the forum think? full polish, gold centers, or maybe a nice silver powder coat center?

[Rye.well]

Hey, more ID folks! Who are you with in the Boston area?

Looks like a fun project and damn dude, you've got some skills. What was that honda moto project? Monoshock looks custom!

and yes that is a Honda cb360 (1974 if my memory serves me right) with an r6 monoshock conversion, and fzr600 front and rear suspension/brakes/wheels. it just needs to be wired up and completed but i've set it aside to work on the e28. It was a fun project to put together and test my fabrication skills on.

[tig]

Awesome thread. Nice work. Keep going.

This is winning, btw:

[wkohler]

I took that photo of that poster hanging in my parents' garage. lol

Awesome thread. Nice work. Keep going.

This is winning, btw:

[NickT]

I like an e28 with salad cutters but the others are period and will look awesome. Gold centres and polished lips will look the business.

[Rye.well]

I took that photo of that poster hanging in my parents' garage. lol

haha the inter webs are crazy man.

[Rye.well]

I like an e28 with salad cutters but the others are period and will look awesome. Gold centres and polished lips will look the business.

agreed. started stripping the paint, its a bitch. update soon.

[Nebraska_e28]

Very cool build!

How much for the poster?

Could you make an e23 gauge cluster if given dimensions?

[Rye.well]

Very cool build!

How much for the poster?

Could you make an e23 gauge cluster if given dimensions?

Yes I can definitely make you one. Give me tight dimensions and a quick sketch of what you want, how many gauges etc. you can contact me/text me at 860-978-61sixone so we don’t clog up the forum.

[LeiseyJr]

How is this going?