Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461 
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 26, 2021 21:26:07 GMT
|
Evening  18 years ago when I was an apprentice mechanic my boss had an E28 M535i which he would let me use to go and get the bacon rolls on a Saturday morning. I loved that car and ever since then have wanted an E28. In those 18 years I’ve had in excess of 50 cars but never an E28. They’ve just sort of fallen by the wayside a little, however a few weeks ago I made the decision to hand my company car back. I barely use it and it costs me around £250 a month in company car tax. That meant I needed to find a new “daily”. I always have a few different cars that I search for every so often and the E28 is one of them. There are never many for sale and generally the ones that are out there fall into two categories. Really effing expensive or absolutely rotten & really effing expensive! However on this occasion I spotted one that I hadn’t seen advertised before. It was over on Car and Classic. A well written advert with plenty of pictures and it wasn’t rotten, or really effing expensive! I messaged the owner and got plenty more info and a load more pictures showing every angle of the car. We chatted for a few days, videos of the car were sent etc and then we agreed a deal. This was all done via phone calls and text because the car was in Glasgow and I live in Surrey! So today was the day. My Brother and I flew up to Glasgow first thing this morning, Glenn (the owner) picked us up from the airport and drove us the 30 miles back to his house where the car was waiting As we pulled up to his house I was grinning from ear to ear. It looked brilliant and I couldn’t wait to jump in and drive it home! Glenn ran through everything with me, made sure I was happy with it all and then off we went. Now it’s been a few years since I’ve driven anything this old so it was a bit of a shock to the system initially but within half an hour or so I was more than happy with everything. Anyway, here it is. My brother took this just before we left. I forgot to take a “first fill up” picture as it was absolutely pouring with rain and blowing a gale so I just wanted to get back in the car haha!  We left Glenns house around 1pm and I walked through the front door around 9.15pm. We stopped a couple of times to go to the toilet and get food so all in all it wasn’t a bad drive back. The car does need a couple of bits sorting which we’re a little annoying but I’ll go through those tomorrow. For now I’m off to sleep! |
| |
Last Edit: Oct 19, 2022 14:40:50 GMT by Sammo
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
|
|
Now that I’m feeling a little more awake I can run through the things I noticed on the loooonnnggg drive home! First things first, it’s absolutely gutless. Now I’m aware that this particular model was never designed to be quick but I’m sure it’s meant to have a little more poke than it’s actually got. Secondly it really seems to struggle to maintain a constant speed. I was trying to hover around 70mph most of the way back but the car would just seem to let the power tail off so I was suddenly doing 60mph again. I would then have to accelerate harder which would then make the gearbox kick down, get me back to 70mph and shortly after the whole process would start again! The steering is a bit wooly. Again, I’m aware this is an old car with a steering box but there is some free play there. I’m hoping to get a look underneath at some point so I can see if it’s the various balljoints on the steering mechanism or if it’s the steering box itself. It’s not the end of the world but it would be nice to get it sorted. The temp and MPG gauges don’t work. I’ve read up on this and it’s possibly the SI board on the cluster that’s given up. There are repair kits available for this so I might give that a go. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, which considering this car is 36 years old isn’t bad at all. I’ll keep this updated as I go along and if anyone wants to offer advice / suggestions then please feel free |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 27, 2021 11:03:08 GMT
|
Now obviously there’s an order in which to do things to one’s car. First and most importantly is of course to adorn it with one’s social club errrrrr adornments.   |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 27, 2021 13:19:02 GMT
|
|
it looks like a smashing car
my estate has 57bhp and will maintain motorway speeds, these have 125bhp ? it must be something chronic / obvious
|
| |
Last Edit: Oct 27, 2021 13:19:42 GMT by darrenh
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 27, 2021 17:17:05 GMT
|
it looks like a smashing car my estate has 57bhp and will maintain motorway speeds, these have 125bhp ? it must be something chronic / obvious I was having a look over it today and still can’t find anything blindingly obvious that could be causing the lack of power. The only thing I could spot was that the HT leads have been routed under one of the coolant pipes rather than over it and they’re pressing against it. I guess that could possibly cause the leads to get hot but I don’t think that’s the issue. |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blocked/part blocked fuel filter  |
| |
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 10:01:25 GMT
|
Blocked/part blocked fuel filter It had a new fuel filter quite recently. |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 10:27:04 GMT
|
Blocked/part blocked fuel filter It had a new fuel filter quite recently. blocked breather on fuel tank? do these have a mechanical injector pump like older 2002's? |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 10:30:53 GMT
|
|
Great looking car for its age, didnt these have ridiculous gearing which earned them the "e" badge?
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 11:41:25 GMT
|
|
Lovely looking car, colour is superb! I love my e28, need to get it out of hibernation some time. Cant beat driving it! Looks like you have got a cracker there, I'm sure it wont take long to fix the niggles and youll be driving happy!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 12:19:08 GMT
|
|
Hi there
I suspect you may have a blocked exhaust, usually the rear silencer.
Cheers - mike
|
| |
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 15:46:08 GMT
|
So today I wanted to get on with a couple of jobs. Nothing to help the running of the car of course! Much more important than that! Sorting out the choonz  When I collected the car on Tuesday the first question I asked was “does the radio work?”, to which Glenn replied, “yes”. Great, that’ll at least mean my brother and I won’t have to chat the whole way back haha. Now the radio did work, however it kept turning the volume down, shutting off one of the two speakers at random and losing radio signal. Thankfully Glenn had very kindly left a selection of cassettes in the car so as and when the reception vanished we could chuck a cassette in and listen to Queens Greatest Hits, The Eagles Greatest Hits and Dire Straits Greatest Hits at varying volumes and sometimes even out of both speakers! This situation was just about acceptable for the drive home, however it wasn’t going to work as a daily radio. Luckily I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to car radios so I had three or four to choose from. Seeing as this is a daily I figured it made sense to use the radio with Bluetooth so I could still receive calls etc. So this is what was fitted when I collected the car. One of Pioneers finest creations!  A quick yank on the cassette hole and the entire radio and cage came out as one Now I’m not sure who wired this in but it would appear they used a pair of scissors and some duct tape along with a random selection of crimp terminals!  Off I trotted you Halfords to buy an ISO adaptor and in no time at all it was looking more presentable. Actually when I say no time at all I mean quite a bit of time. As well as figuring out which wire did what I also had to figure out how to wire in the electric aerial, but I got there in the end. With the wiring done I wanted to take a look at the dash facia panel. It wasn’t sitting flush with the dash and looked terrible.  Once I’d undone the bolts holding it in I could see why. The locating lugs had been snapped off and replaced with two strips of metal. It was actually a decent job but the strips of metal had been fitted with button head screws that were pushing against the dash causing the facia to sit a bit wonky! I removed the button head screws, counter sunk the plastic slightly and refitted the strips using some small counter sunk Allen key bolts I had.    With that done I fitted it back into the car and managed to get it sitting almost flush with the dash! I was happy enough with it to then fit the radio.  With that fitted I then remembered I had an Amazon Alexa Auto sitting in a box somewhere. After some hunting I found it and hooked that up too. Now I have digital radio and Amazon Music Unlimited in the car. Despite the radio being a bit modern I don’t think it looks too out of place!  I have done more than just this today. I’ll put up another update in a bit |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 28, 2021 16:11:03 GMT
|
|
|
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 29, 2021 22:42:29 GMT
|
|
I remember fuel pumps being a curse word for failing on these. If I remember correctly my M30 version had an in tank pick up pump then a high pressure pump bolted under the car behind a rear wheel. It could be that your running issues are related to a blocked or faulty pump maybe.
My mate used to embarrass me on roundabouts with one of these, he could keep the tail out quite competently despite the auto and being down on power compared to my 525i. I seem to remember a mod could be done to the inlet manifold to realise some extra grunt, as these 'economy' (teehee) versions were somewhat strangled. Ultimately sticking an M30 from a 28 or a 35 was the thing to do back in the day, but we're not exactly swimming in cheap M30s these days.
You've a lovely car there, definitely a keeper.
|
| |
Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lovely looking car.
Hope you get all the niggles sorted, and get to keep your arms and legs.
£50.00 is a lot of cash for that clip.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nice e28! As a fellow owner I can relate to the woeful performance. When my 520i auto was a complete car it was terrible at maintaining 70mph, I was always having to floor it to maintain speed, a manual conversion will help it out massively. But if you’re not doing loads of motorway miles they’re a nice urban/b road cruiser.
Good to hear yours is a clean solid example but when you get free couple of hours it’s worth checking the rear beam mount points. You’ll need to drop the rear beam to see that part of the body, they’re notorious for rot in this area so it’s definitely worth checking it out. Also it’s worth polybushing the rear beam, makes a big difference without effecting comfort.
As for the steering it’s worth changing everything up front, track rod ends, centre control linkage, idle bush, suspension arms, discs and pads. Make sure to clean the hub face before fitting the disc to minimise runout. You can also adjust the preload on the steering box. But once done the difference is night and day.
I’m halfway through my e28 project and know these like the back of my hand now. If you need any advise just shout and if you’re in need of any parts I might be able to help.
Happy motoring.
|
| |
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 30, 2021 10:24:18 GMT
|
Lovely looking car. Hope you get all the niggles sorted, and get to keep your arms and legs. £50.00 is a lot of cash for that clip. Yes, it’s extortionate for what it is but I don’t fancy having to cable tie the glovebox shut every time I need to open it  |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
Sammo
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,461
Club RR Member Number: 103
|
|
Oct 30, 2021 10:28:36 GMT
|
Nice e28! As a fellow owner I can relate to the woeful performance. When my 520i auto was a complete car it was terrible at maintaining 70mph, I was always having to floor it to maintain speed, a manual conversion will help it out massively. But if you’re not doing loads of motorway miles they’re a nice urban/b road cruiser. Good to hear yours is a clean solid example but when you get free couple of hours it’s worth checking the rear beam mount points. You’ll need to drop the rear beam to see that part of the body, they’re notorious for rot in this area so it’s definitely worth checking it out. Also it’s worth polybushing the rear beam, makes a big difference without effecting comfort. As for the steering it’s worth changing everything up front, track rod ends, centre control linkage, idle bush, suspension arms, discs and pads. Make sure to clean the hub face before fitting the disc to minimise runout. You can also adjust the preload on the steering box. But once done the difference is night and day. I’m halfway through my e28 project and know these like the back of my hand now. If you need any advise just shout and if you’re in need of any parts I might be able to help. Happy motoring. I’m already on the look out for all the steering parts. The centre bare only seems to be available in LHD although I’ve read conflicting reports that they will still be fine on a RHD. I’m probably going to put the E34 front calipers on this so I’ll be replacing the discs and pads anyway. The rear end has been stripped and poly bushed already so I’m all set there, and according to the previous owner all the mounting points are rock solid which is why he bought it in the first place. If you happen to have a glovebox catch kicking around then that would be great haha! |
| |
Follow Me On Instagram - @parttimecartinkerer
|
|
|
|
A new latch is on order (for £50ish!!!!) and then I’ll be able to safely store my gloves again!
