MyE28.com

Hey guys, purchased my first E28. My E30 needs a new engine, and needs a bunch of other stuff so I decided on just storing it for now to restore in the future.
Planning on using this thread to document everything I do/get done on the car.
So the car is a 1983 528e 5 Speed. This one was too good of condition to pass up, and the price was great too. It's Baltic Blue over Beige. It was stored in a garage by a rich old couple in Greenwich so the paint looks brand new. It blows my mind due to how old the car is. I am the third owner, the second owner only had it for a few months. It has the brochure, and all the original manuals. The interior is in great shape too, seats have wear and some cracks but I really don't mind this as I sort of like the "patina." The dash also has minimal cracking. It even has the original stereo. The wheels are bottlecaps, but they are white. Are they like this from the factory? Or did the a previous owner paint it?
It has minimal rust, the only locations are under the hood, theres a small area, and in the trunk there are 2 tiny 2mm holes, which leads me to my concerns...
The front passenger foot well and the passenger foot well right behind were wet. But I am not sure where the water could be coming from. If anyone has an idea on how to find out, let me know please. The trunk was moist but not really wet, and has some slight surface rust and these 2 tiny holes underneath the spare wheel. It also smelled sort of musty. So I am not sure where this is coming from, I am assuming the tail light gaskets but I am not sure. Another thing were the windows. The power switches sort of worked in the beginning of the test drive, but then they started working on and off. Not sure what could be wrong, and how I would go about fixing this.
I am going back to pick the car up on Sunday (can't wait), and drive it back down 2 hours.



Only have a few pictures right now. I'll post better pics, and pictures of the problems on Sunday when I get the car!

The wheels aren’t white, they’re oxidized silver.

Kyle in NO wrote:The wheels aren’t white, they’re oxidized silver.

Wow, didn't know that.

Re: water leaks

For me the passenger floor dampness was due to a poor windshield install. But also get some weed-eater line and run it down all 4 drain holes in the sunroof. Run it through until you see the other end.

For the trunk, first thing is to check the tail light gaskets. Driving in the rain will suck water into the trunk. Any crack in the tail light will draw water in. And obviously the trunk gasket.

Congratulations and welcome!

tuffode wrote:

Kyle in NO wrote:The wheels aren’t white, they’re oxidized silver.

Wow, didn't know that.

Actually, they're white now. The factory silver paint was applied over a white basecoat and has evidently worn off. You can see this even on pristine wheels when you look at the inboard side -- they're often white and unpainted.

topher800 wrote:Re: water leaks

For me the passenger floor dampness was due to a poor windshield install. But also get some weed-eater line and run it down all 4 drain holes in the sunroof. Run it through until you see the other end.

For the trunk, first thing is to check the tail light gaskets. Driving in the rain will suck water into the trunk. Any crack in the tail light will draw water in. And obviously the trunk gasket.

Thanks for the info, hopefully it’s just the sunroof drainholes and not windshield.

Shawn D. wrote:Congratulations and welcome!

Actually, they're white now. The factory silver paint was applied over a white basecoat and has evidently worn off. You can see this even on pristine wheels when you look at the inboard side -- they're often white and unpainted.

Thanks!
I like the way they look white, so is it fine if I leave the wheels like that, or do I need to paint them to prevent further damage?

The first thing to do is to replace the timing belt. It looks beautiful. How is it underneath? Welcome

a wrote:The first thing to do is to replace the timing belt. It looks beautiful. How is it underneath? Welcome

Thank you! The previous owner had gotten it replaced a few months ago, so I don't have to worry about that. It's very straight, and there's not rust underneath. It's in great condition. I'll try posting pics on Sunday.

Congratulations and condolences.

After driving an e28, you'll never look at another car the same again, and that's both a good thing and a bad thing.

duggi wrote:Congratulations and condolences.

After driving an e28, you'll never look at another car the same again, and that's both a good thing and a bad thing.

Thanks. I’ll find out if thats true shortly

Nice! Looks just like mine

Zeta wrote:Nice! Looks just like mine

Yeah, they are very similar. Thanks!

Is that your wallet on the passenger side seat? You'll probably want to keep it out and ready to open up frequently

Congrats and good luck with your new car.

tuffode wrote:The trunk was moist but not really wet, and has some slight surface rust and these 2 tiny holes underneath the spare wheel. It also smelled sort of musty. So I am not sure where this is coming from, I am assuming the tail light gaskets but I am not sure. \

That's enough for water to get in, for sure. Check around the license plate lamps too.

Looks like a nice car, how did you find it? Even after purchasing mine, I still keep up with local listings and never saw that one.

John SCB wrote:Is that your wallet on the passenger side seat? You'll probably want to keep it out and ready to open up frequently

Congrats and good luck with your new car.

, thank you!

GoNoles wrote: That's enough for water to get in, for sure. Check around the license plate lamps too.

Looks like a nice car, how did you find it? Even after purchasing mine, I still keep up with local listings and never saw that one.

Thanks, for sure I'll check there.

I found it on Craigslist, it was actually in Connecticut where you are. The asking was a bit high which is why you might not have payed attention to it, but he came down quite a bit. I posted a WTB on some forums but all of the examples were either way too high of a price, or they were projects which I wasn't really looking to do.

Nice find. Welcome to the insanity.

cek wrote:Nice find. Welcome to the insanity.

Thanks! I just checked out your E28s and the 911. What a great garage, hopefully mine can look like that someday haha.

Hi,

Nice find.

Check the sealing grommets on the air vent covers on the C-pillars. They can let water into the trunk if the are perished / missing. The main stealers still carry these for not a lot of $.

Replaced mine on the Zobelbraun Eta last year.

Regards,

Mick

Ordnator wrote:Hi,

Nice find.

Check the sealing grommets on the air vent covers on the C-pillars. They can let water into the trunk if the are perished / missing. The main stealers still carry these for not a lot of $.

Replaced mine on the Zobelbraun Eta last year.

Regards,

Mick

Thanks. For sure, I'll check that out and see if that's the problem. Still have to wait 2 more days to pick up the car, waiting is so hard

Ordnator wrote:Hi,

Nice find.

Check the sealing grommets on the air vent covers on the C-pillars. They can let water into the trunk if the are perished / missing. The main stealers still carry these for not a lot of $.

Replaced mine on the Zobelbraun Eta last year.

Regards,

Mick

For sure, I'll check that out and see if that's the problem.Thanks.
Still have to wait 2 more days to pick up the car, waiting

Finally picked it up today, drove it down two and a half hours back to NJ. It drove great.
It's dark now, so I can't post more pics today. I'll post some detailed shots sometime tomorrow.

Niiiiice!

awesome! looks like a great one, glad to have another e28 in NJ. when i bought mine i also had water on my foot wells and the trunk, for the foot wells it turned out to be the sunroof drain holes. easy fix, but the trunk... let me tell you... it took me a VERY LONG TIME to find where the water was coming in from. i replaced the trunk seal, tail lights gaskets, licence plate lights, antenna grommets, c-pillar grommets, etc. pretty much everything you could think off. the frustration lead me to one day lock myself inside the trunk with a flashlight and had my GF pour like 50 buckets of water (i dont have a hose, lol) until i finally saw the damn leak, the water was coming in from one hole of the screws that hold the bumper plastic cover center piece. put a bit of good'ol silicone around it and VIOLA! dry trunk ever since.

Washed and waxed the car today. Got it registered, and transferred the plates from my E30. Didn't get time to do much else. Going to take a look at the leaks, and also use some trim restorer on all the black rubber and plastic bits tomorrow!

e28Sean wrote:Niiiiice!

Thanks!

simonm11 wrote:awesome! looks like a great one, glad to have another e28 in NJ. when i bought mine i also had water on my foot wells and the trunk, for the foot wells it turned out to be the sunroof drain holes. easy fix, but the trunk... let me tell you... it took me a VERY LONG TIME to find where the water was coming in from. i replaced the trunk seal, tail lights gaskets, licence plate lights, antenna grommets, c-pillar grommets, etc. pretty much everything you could think off. the frustration lead me to one day lock myself inside the trunk with a flashlight and had my GF pour like 50 buckets of water (i dont have a hose, lol) until i finally saw the damn leak, the water was coming in from one hole of the screws that hold the bumper plastic cover center piece. put a bit of good'ol silicone around it and VIOLA! dry trunk ever since.

Cool, you're in NJ. Maybe I'll see you around sometime .
That sounds interesting, haven't gotten around to checking the sunroof drains. But when I was washing the car today, I opened the trunk and I saw a tiny bit of water landing on the mats, so I'm assuming its the trunk seal. Not 100% sure yet though. Also the trunk has a bit of mold in the carpet, which I'm going to try to get rid of

Just came back from a drive, here are some pictures I took on a one lane bridge.
I love the way the blue plates look on the car.

Heh. I had those same style blue license plates back when I lived in the Dirty Jerz.

Got it up on a lift today. Not too bad.
Has a slight coolant leak, as well as a small oil leak. Gonna have to take a closer look to figure out the exact cause. And still need to get a new starter. It had been replaced by some cheap off-brand starter. The exhaust had also been replaced with an aftermarket solution, which is why the rust is so bad on it.

So I checked the sunroof drains, and both the front ones are clogged
Tried unclogging with this weed wacker line, but it's too thin. Going to try getting something a bit thicker to do the job.
Also I made room in the garage to keep the car. Need to find more room to bring in the e30 too!