Ownership Log: 1985 Lapis Blue Over Black Leather M20B27 528e

[Shock(/\)ave]

With winter fast approaching and currently only my E34 M5 available for daily duties, a car which has never seen salt (I intend to keep it that way) and has high performance summer tires on it, I needed to find a good car quickly. I decided to widen my search parameters for a project car to include cars I wouldn't normally even consider to make that happen.

I ended up finding a great all season daily driver candidate with a reputation for near indestructibility and efficiency: a 1985 E28 528e in a lovely lapis blue over pearl beige vinyl comfort interior. The body on this car is in very good condition compared to any E28s I've seen locally short of garage queen M5s and fully restored show cars, and I'd like to keep it as nice as possible despite my need to drive it in the winter. There's a reason there are just about no E28s left on the road in my area: they disintegrate quickly here.

The car was imported into Canada from Florida back in 1999, when it was retired from daily driver duties and used as a summer cruiser. Currently the heater isn't working, and the brakes were in need of bleeding when I bought it, but it's otherwise mechanically outstanding. The transmission shifts smoothly, and the motor in this car is the quietest M20 I've heard. There is evidence of some repaint, but no accident damage, and the typical rust prone areas such as the base of the windshield and around the strut towers are in great condition.













Having read in-period reviews of the model, I've learned that the E28 was quite visually dated even when it was new, especially when compared with rivals from Audi and Mercedes-Benz. I think that makes them the better buy today, as you get very classic styling with a much more comparably modern interior and drivetrain. If this car impresses and serves us well, it will be treated to a european headlight swap... and potentially european bumpers (and a moonroof if I can find one that's reasonably priced).











While I appreciate the styling of the interiors of most classic cars, I can confidently state that this (along with the E24) is the oldest BMW I'd be really comfortable owning. I don't like the true 1970's interiors at all, and I have no desire to fiddle with carburetors or kugelfischers.

Here are a few pictures of the body condition:













This car is in such nice condition, and was so reasonably priced, that we might keep it around and look for a second project car to restore and sell on. :)

[Roadrunner]

More details about the car:

Type code 4083
Type 528 E (USA)
E series E28
Series 5
Type LIM
Steering LL
Doors 4
Engine M20
Displacement 2.70
Power 0
Drive HECK
Transmission AUT
Colour LAPISBLAU (173)
Upholstery (0165)
Prod.date 1985-04-01

Vehicle options
S458 Electr. front seat adjustment
S551 On-board computer II with remote control

I looked up the upholstery code, and it looks like it's actually vinyl, not leather. :p

[Roadrunner]

It's still hard to get used to the way the hood opens on this car compared to an E30. It seems so... wrong. ;) It's also interesting to see the similarities and differences in styling between the different generations of cars. The two cars in the picture above are only 3 years apart in age!

Ah, the trunk looked deceptively clean in that picture. Good thing we knew what we were getting ourselves into when we bought this car, since the PO was not aware of any rust in the trunk. Shall we take a look under the carpet?



Well, despite all of the surface rust, at least there didn't appear to be any rust holes. I have to assume that having an air freshener in the trunk is not a great sign, though it wasn't immediately apparent why it was needed.



Once I started poking around, I found water trapped under the whole mess of flaking rust and the deteriorating adhesive / insulation combo in a couple of spots:



We took out the rest of the trunk carpeting to get a better look at the rust and to figure out where the water could be leaking in. There was a huge sponge on the passenger's side of the trunk under the carpeting.



It looks like water had been leaking through the trunk gasket, antenna and the taillights. The PO had the trunk gasket replaced, but it doesn't appear that they fixed the rust that was caused by the leak, so that's going to need to be re-done. The other issues were never fixed.

You can kind of see the beads of water dripping down where the sponge had been. I'm sure those wires under the sponge are not important.



The spare tire well was one of the least rusty spots! My other half explained that this was an encouraging sign, since the rust was caused by trunk leaks, not perforation from underneath the car, which is typically more terminal.



We removed the fibreboard backing in the trunk since I figured I might as well uncover all of the rust and deal with it. Sure enough:



I volunteered to handle the rust treatment, since I didn't want my SO's eyeballs to pop out or his head to explode (a very real possibility based on how much he hates rust).



The first step was removing as much of the insulation as possible, scraping off the flaking layers of rust with a screwdriver or scraper, and cleaning up the rust with a wire brush.



The only problem: my arms are not long enough to reach the back of the trunk. The solution:



Due to the extent of the rust, we're planning on coating the entire trunk floor in POR-15 so that we never have to worry about it rusting again, and then painting over that in body colour. I gave the entire trunk floor a preliminary wash with cleaner degreaser, then sprayed down the stubborn adhesive areas with some citrus based tar remover. Once I get all of that insulation off, I'll be able to properly start the 3-step POR-15 process.



New spare tire hold down and butterfly nut to replace the old, rusty ones, courtesy of an E39 in our local scrap yard:



While I was hanging out in the trunk, great progress was being made on the brakes and heater... more on that soon! :)

[Shock(/\)ave]

It's still hard to get used to the way the hood opens on this car compared to an E30. It seems so... wrong. ;)

Apparently at the time BMW claimed that was done to save weight. I don't buy that, though. I think it was a cost saving measure. :|

It's also interesting to see the similarities and differences in styling between the different generations of cars. The two cars in the picture above are only 3 years apart in age!

I definitely think the styling of the E28 looks much older than anything else in our driveway.

Good thing we knew what we were getting ourselves into when we bought this car, since the PO was not aware of any rust in the trunk.

That trunk rust almost kept me from buying the car until I realized it was all surface rust which had literally never been touched by anyone.

Given the nature of what was wrong with the car when we bought it, I'm inclined to believe the sellers didn't know it was there; most people - even many people who buy classic cars - just aren't that observant, knowledgeable, or particular about their cars.

I volunteered to handle the rust treatment, since I didn't want my SO's eyeballs to pop out or his head to explode (a very real possibility based on how much he hates rust).

I hate the feeling of helplessness as an otherwise great car succumbs to rust before your eyes:

My first car was a 1988 CRX Si handed down from my dad, the first owner, which started rusting within 6 months after my dad brought it home from the Honda dealership. Nothing we tried could stop that car from rusting, and I felt helpless watching an otherwise great car rot despite my efforts to save it. :(

That was a long time ago now, and I've learned a lot since then.

After having dealt with rust on many different cars, I know how much effort is involved in fixing rust correctly, and without a welder and the skills to use one I won't buy a car if it's got rust that can't be properly dealt with with replacement panels and surface treatment.

Having you tackle the worst of the rust is a huge help. You're still new to this and tackle any problem with a great attitude of increasingly confident optimism; if the cars I buy have any rust I've made sure it's manageable, so you aren't going to have to face any hopeless situations like I have, and your positive attitude will help us both power through the job. I just have to make sure we avoid bringing home anything we can't handle, until we have our garage, a welder, and start getting more ambitious... :D

The main reason I wasn't interested in E28s was due to their typically terminal rust issues in our climate, but this car isn't rusty where it normally would be, and I think we can protect it from getting any worse (and eventually start improving it, too). It looks like the trunk leaks weren't caught or fixed for many years, because the trunk rust is by far the worst rust on the entire car.

Due to the extent of the rust, we're planning on coating the entire trunk floor in POR-15 so that we never have to worry about it rusting again, and then painting over that in body colour. I gave the entire trunk floor a preliminary wash with cleaner degreaser, then sprayed down the stubborn adhesive areas with some citrus based tar remover. Once I get all of that insulation off, I'll be able to properly start the 3-step POR-15 process.

It's a shame there's so much pitting. Not much we can do about that, either, other than fill it in with spot putty after the POR-15 treatment before we paint it. That's a lot of work for a trunk floor, though. If this were an M5 I'd be tempted to cut out that floor and weld in a new one, but I already have my ideal (E34) M5, and it's completely free of rust.

With this car I'm going to learn to relax, let you tackle the worst of it, and see what the end result looks like. We can even add a carpet layer back on top of the floor if the rust is permanently dealt with... or just be happy with the result of a proper POR-15 coating and enjoy the car. :o

At least the underside of the trunk floor looks new. :p

[Shock(/\)ave]

While I was hanging out in the trunk, great progress was being made on the brakes and heater... more on that soon! :)

[I'll have to update this post later with more pictures.]

The seller mentioned the car needed new brake pads before I came to look the car over, and that I could drive the car home if I took it easy. After test driving it, I discovered the brakes were frighteningly bad. Pushing the brake pedal to the floor caused slight braking which pulled badly to the left. The emergency brake worked really well, though, and I ended up very cautiously driving the car home primarily with the emergency brake. :o

My hunch was that the brake fluid was ancient and in urgent need of bleeding, and I was right: the front pads and rotors are new, and the rears are at about 50%, but the brake fluid reservoir was empty, the system was full of air, and the fluid extremely nasty. The brake fluid reservoir is wobbly, and the gasket it attaches to needs replacement, but I don't see any evidence of brake fluid leaking from that area.



After bleeding every corner but the driver's front with help from my lovely assistant mechanic, I noticed the bleed nipple on that caliper was an 8 mm instead of the 7 mm on the other calipers, and it stuck out further as well. The bleed nipple promptly sheared off right at the caliper, preventing me from bleeding that corner. I'll bet the bleed nipple was replaced by an idiot 'mechanic' with a nipple of the wrong size, and just forced in for the next person to deal with.

A replacement caliper will probably be cheaper than fixing this issue, so I've added that to the project list.

On a positive note, the brakes have been restored to near normal functionality! There's a slight pulling to the right, likely due to air still trapped in the driver's side caliper, but overall the brakes feel strong and the pedal is very firm. I'm not sure where all of the air entered the system, though, as I couldn't find any leaks anywhere, and the brake lines look new.

These cars have an odd climate control system, with a separate blower fan for the heater and air conditioner, and separate air channels for cooling and heating as well.

When we bought the car the heater fan wasn't working, which definitely isn't ideal for a car we're going to be driving in freezing temperatures. I checked the fuses in the fuse box, and none were burnt, so I removed the panel under the windshield in the engine bay covering the heater blower fan. The fan spun easily by hand, and didn't appear worn at all. Not what I was expecting!

I returned to the fuse box, and carefully inspected fuses # 6 and 14... and fuse # 14 had scorched blackened ends and melted plastic (which means the fuses in the car were changed at some point with inferior parts store plastic fuses instead of the proper ceramic type - a full fuse box overhaul is now on my list of projects for this car) even though it wasn't blown. After cleaning up the fuse and terminals with a brass brush, the heater fan worked! :)

I still need to make sure the car actually gets heat through the heater valve, but I'm pretty encouraged so far.

[E30 Wagen]

Lapis has to be my favorite blue BMW color.

[bostonvert]

Was asking about a tread on the e28 in the touring tread

Great car, they are awesome to daily and feel quite modern to drive and very comfy. North American e28's look so luxurious compared to mine inside, I will post some pictures when I have time.

Check the wheels wells, they can collect massive piles of dirt and grime, if you clean them out and treat them they should stay rust free. Rear subframe bushings can be bad but are a huge job to replace without a lift. other then that they are pretty bulletproof.

pretty brave to winter daily this, I find that insane even in Belgium with all the salt! Please report again on the state of corrosion in the spring, anxious to see the difference!

[Powling]

Just curious - I thought that with historic plates in Ontario you weren't allowed to use the car for anything other than car shows and general weekend summer fun use...or am I wrong? I remember researching it a while ago and I could have sworn there was an annual KM limit you couldn't go over.

Or has my coffee not kicked in yet?

[Shock(/\)ave]

Lapis has to be my favorite blue BMW color.

That's honestly why I ultimately bought the car. It's a stunning colour, and I even like the cream interior because of it - and I really don't like tan interiors.

Great car, they are awesome to daily and feel quite modern to drive and very comfy. North American e28's look so luxurious compared to mine inside, I will post some pictures when I have time.

I'd love to see pictures of yours. This car is a base model for the American market: I've seen several (very rusty) 533i and 535i examples for sale locally that have leather sports seats among other rare upgrades, though this car does have all of the power options and the onboard computer.

Check the wheels wells, they can collect massive piles of dirt and grime, if you clean them out and treat them they should stay rust free. Rear subframe bushings can be bad but are a huge job to replace without a lift. other then that they are pretty bulletproof.

We're going to be removing both bumpers and both front fenders for POR-15 rust prevention treatment before the car sees any salt. We'll make sure the wheel wells are properly cleaned and treated.

pretty brave to winter daily this, I find that insane even in Belgium with all the salt! Please report again on the state of corrosion in the spring, anxious to see the difference!

Happy to be considered insane!

This car really only has one weakness - rust - and if we can protect it properly it'll be with us for some time.

Just curious - I thought that with historic plates in Ontario you weren't allowed to use the car for anything other than car shows and general weekend summer fun use...or am I wrong? I remember researching it a while ago and I could have sworn there was an annual KM limit you couldn't go over.

Or has my coffee not kicked in yet?

You can also use the car for parts runs, to take it to the mechanic, and so on.

The historic plates are the previous owner's which are on the way back to them now.

[Powling]

Ahh gotcha! Makes sense

[Roadrunner]

Lapis has to be my favorite blue BMW color.

It really is a pretty colour. The pinstripe is growing on me, too.

Great car, they are awesome to daily and feel quite modern to drive and very comfy. North American e28's look so luxurious compared to mine inside, I will post some pictures when I have time.

I'd love to see pictures of your E28! :)

Please report again on the state of corrosion in the spring, anxious to see the difference!

Will do!

Just curious - I thought that with historic plates in Ontario you weren't allowed to use the car for anything other than car shows and general weekend summer fun use...or am I wrong? I remember researching it a while ago and I could have sworn there was an annual KM limit you couldn't go over.

Or has my coffee not kicked in yet?

It made my head hurt every time I tried to research the historic plate thing, so here's what I found to hopefully save someone else from having to look it up:

The only info on the Service Ontario page is that the licence plate sticker costs $18 per year instead of $120 if you live in Southern Ontario.

Okay, so what are the actual requirements / restrictions for a historic vehicle? From the Ontario Highway Traffic Act:

“historic vehicle” means, despite the definition in subsection 7 (1.1) of the Act, a motor vehicle that,

(a) is at least 30 years old,

(b) is operated on a highway in parades, for purposes of exhibition, tours or similar functions organized by a properly constituted automobile club or for purposes of repair, testing or demonstration for sale,

(c) is substantially unchanged or unmodified from the original manufacturer’s product, and

(d) does not have attached to it year-of-manufacture plates

:zzz: ... :yawn: ... Hey, you asked! ;)

(b) and (c) seem open to interpretation, but I gave up on trying to figure it out after realizing that hot rodding enthusiast forums were the most credible sources of information.

I think the annual km limit you're remembering might have been for classic car / collector car insurance.

In any case, we're back to regular plates at the moment.

We've been working on the E28 for the last couple of weekends. It's a good thing we a lot done before this happened: :shock:



I kept working on the trunk. I finally finished removing all of the weird adhesive and fuzz and peeling back all of the flaky layers of rust. There was one patch of tar (exactly like the sound deadening tar under the carpet in an E30) that I thought was hiding more rust, so I peeled it off.



After several rounds of cleaner degreaser, we treated the trunk with rust converter. We're going to need respirators before we can completely paint the trunk in POR-15.

I cleaned out inside the doors which were filled with sludge:



...and my SO sprayed inside all of the doors with Corrosion Free 3000, which he's found to be the best rust prevention spray treatment on the market - it's easy to work with and doesn't run which is a bonus. He also used it to treat the wheel well lips, rear valence, rear bumper mounts, wiper arm bases. He's still going to do the front valence and the hood before we take it somewhere to get oil sprayed in the areas we can't reach without access to a lift.

I prepped the bottoms of the doors and painted them with POR-15. I was happy that I managed to finish the job without POR-15 dripping on my face and before my hands became frozen solid. :up: I found some rust under the gaskets on the passenger side doors that needed to be taken care of, but overall the doors are in great shape and we want to keep them that way! My SO gave the bottoms of the doors a coating of Corrosion Free once the POR-15 had dried for good measure, and painted POR-15 on any other rusty or rust-prone areas including the grill mounting points, hood vent openings, bumper mounting points, and valence.

Driving at night, it was sooooo nice to have the heater working at last! Ah, the things you would never get to fully appreciate if you drove boring-ass reliable newer cars all the time. :p



Sure, it has its quirks, like thinking it's still in neutral while in motion (oh, and the speedometer is also not functioning... we're working on it!):



But I think it's going to be a great car. :)