95maxrider's Rally-x '88 E28 build- caged, head swap and more

[irish44j]

not really.....pavement is hard, but it doesn't have sharp edges and the abrasive surface of gravel. Nor are you driving it as hard on the street as you are on course (e.g. spinning the tires and sliding around turns)

[95maxrider]

not really.....pavement is hard, but it doesn't have sharp edges and the abrasive surface of gravel. Nor are you driving it as hard on the street as you are on course (e.g. spinning the tires and sliding around turns)

BTW, those pics are all of one of the front tires. I don't think the rear looks like that. Your first sentence sounds right, but the second one certainly isn't ;)

[irish44j]

so you guys gonna come hang out at hyperfest next weekend?

[95maxrider]

ABS sensor problems

A few months back I had the front sway bar end link mounts reinforced on the struts by my mechanic, and when I got the car back he told me something happened to the ABS wire on the front of the car (driver's side). It sounded like the wires were only barely attached, and when he went to do his work, they came apart. The story didn't quite make sense, but either way, this is what it looked like when I got it back:





And so for the last two rally-x events I've been running without ABS, and while I can stay out of ABS most of the time, there were a couple of times I really could have used it, and I lost time without it.

So I picked up a used sensor from south26 on here and got to installing it





But unfortunately, even after disconnecting the battery overnight to let the ABS module reset, I'm still getting the ABS light come on after I drive the car ~50', and ABS is inoperative. I'm kind of at a loss as to how I should approach this problem. I've read that other people have had the same problem, but haven't come across a solid solution. Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated!

[willworkfore30s]

I can't tell you how to fix your issue but I can possibly set your mind at ease regarding your mechanic. When I was changing my front springs my ABS sensor fell apart in my hands and looked exactly like yours did in the pictures. That joint is apparently under some stress and after 20+ years of rotating and flipping back and forth with the wheels, I guess they just get weak.

[95maxrider]

Blacking out the tail lights and other leaks

Like most E28s, my car was blessed with the chrome accents in the tail lights, and they don't exactly match with all the blacking out of other trim I've done, so it was time to tackle two projects at once. What was the other project? Water leaking into the trunk around the tail light seal.

I took out the lights and inspected the original insulating foam, and it had seen better days. I read a thread on here talking about a 3M product that is great at sealing things, and is likely the same stuff used to seal around the tail lights on my I30 and many other cars. Enter: 3M Strip-Calk.



We applied this liberally to both the lights and the body, and from what I can tell, it makes a good seal.







So after much cleaning, taping, sanding, and painting, I ended up with this:





Hooray!

===============================================

On another note, we tracked down another water leak a while ago, and it turns out the large puddles of water on the floor are coming from the lower window seals on the doors.

This part:






It clearly needs to be replaced, but I'm not sure which part is which in looking at the Real OEM diagrams.

For the front, I think I need part #5

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=4073&mospid=47228&btnr=41_0570&hg=41&fg=40

And for the rear, I think I need #4

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=4073&mospid=47228&btnr=41_0670&hg=41&fg=45

Are those the correct parts? Is there anything else I should replace in there while I have everything apart? Are there any tips on how to best do the job?

[95maxrider]

I can't tell you how to fix your issue but I can possibly set your mind at ease regarding your mechanic. When I was changing my front springs my ABS sensor fell apart in my hands and looked exactly like yours did in the pictures. That joint is apparently under some stress and after 20+ years of rotating and flipping back and forth with the wheels, I guess they just get weak.

I know these things are brittle, but what happened to the other 4" of wire? It looks like it was simply cut off....?

[95maxrider]

Fixing the axles

A few weeks ago while under the car trying to fix the ABS issue I discovered the DS rear outer axle boot was ripped and was spewing out grease, so I wanted to get that fixed before the next race.

After looking at the price of new axles on Pelican and the reviews of the $60 remans at parts stores, I decided to just get the boot kits from Pelican and rebuild mine. Four $15 kits ain't so bad. Unfortunately, they decided to only send two, so now we'll have to take the axles out again sometime to do the inner boots. I decided to replace both outer boots since they were in much worse shape than the inners.

Thankfully I have good friends who were willing to lend a hand with the job, so I went the Patrick's place and Josh came out too. Bobby (the co-owner) was nowhere to be seen Before doing the work I had Patrick drive the car around and he picked up on a clunk coming from the rear end when getting on and off the throttle at low speeds. In his semi-professional opinion, the whine I'm hearing from the rear end on the highway is my diff and not the carrier bearing on the driveshaft, so I was worried that the clunk might also be coming from the diff. Apparently some diffs whine and some don't, and there's nothing you can really do about it except shut up and take it. So naturally, I'm going to install more sound deadening and carpet this weekend, because it is damn near unbearable.

Anyways, the point of all that is the clunk from the rear was actually coming from the PS axle. When Josh took it apart and tried to reassemble it, the bearings wouldn't all go back into the carrier thingy. He did some filing work, but I don't think that did much. Eventually, and I'm not sure how, it went back together and seemed to rotate more freely. IIRC the grease in that boot was much nastier than the grease in the ripped DS boot. Now I'm curious to see how bad the inner joint is for that axle. So for once, we solved a problem we didn't intend to, which is much nicer than the usual finding more problems while simultaneously not fixing anything.

Anyways...





Obligatory jacking off picture


Ahhh...


Well, it's half-nice


This is what the PS inner looks like


And the PS outer before we replaced it


So...who thinks we need new pitman arms?


Big thanks to Patrick for offering up his garage, lift and time, and thanks to Josh for all the help!

[95maxrider]

Big sway bars!!!

Holy shit, it actually happened!! The car has some properly sized sway bars!

After months of searching, I came across a set of used sway bars that were just right. Let me recap:

First idea- Get the ST 25/19mm set. Oh, but wait, it's no longer being produced and nobody seems to be selling used ones.

Second idea- Buy a used set of M5 bars and figure out a way to mount the front one. Oh wait, the guy who sold me the set lied and they turned out to be from an E12 or something and weren't even close to fitting the E28.

Third idea- Buy a new set of Whiteline 24/18 bars. Oh wait, they're out of stock and not sure when they're getting more.

Fourth idea- Just freaking get the medium ST set that's still supposedly available. Oh wait, the rear bar is only 0.5mm larger than stock. That's not worth $180.

And yet a few weeks ago the clouds parted and I got a PM from a gent on myE28 who had the perfect set: 22mm ST adjustable front bar and a 18mm M5 rear bar. Hooray! Those are respectable increases over the stock 19/15.5mm bars.

On to the install!

Patrick noticed the upper bolt for the DS FSB end link (about 2 months old) was very loose, so he snugged it up, but aside from that the install went pretty well. Pics!

New bars


Rear installed with new PowerFlex bushings


The front bar came with poly bushings that were slightly worn but still stiff, so I reused them to save the $50 for the new PowerFlex bushings I bought just in case.


Installed!


Dear god, these transform the car. All that slop and wallow I was complaining about is all but gone. It's not quite as nice to drive as it was on the lowering springs and stock bars, but it's close. I can't wait to get more seat time and really feel what the bars do, but for now, let's just say they were worth the wait. Now let's all pray I don't rip off the frame mounts! :-D

[Eric]

My friend with a 535is said the same thing when upgrading to M5 sways, glad the upgrade helped!

I just upgraded my front upper and lower control arms with spherical bearing ones. Brake shudder is gone, brake dive is gone, I'm constantly turning in too early as the slop is gone. Great upgrade and I sure hope it lasts longer than my last set with 750 bushings!

[95maxrider]

My friend with a 535is said the same thing when upgrading to M5 sways, glad the upgrade helped!

I just upgraded my front upper and lower control arms with spherical bearing ones. Brake shudder is gone, brake dive is gone, I'm constantly turning in too early as the slop is gone. Great upgrade and I sure hope it lasts longer than my last set with 750 bushings!

I'm curious about your upgraded control arms. Do they ever make noise? Do they need to be greased? Got a link? They sound sweet.

Oh- So how do people here feel about cutting a coil on the front springs? The front sits higher than is needed, and I wouldn't mind a higher spring rate and lower center of gravity to go along with the better looks. Thoughts?

[JCarp90]

Cutting coils just seems sketchy to me, but after if it's a dead coil, fuck it.

:D

[95maxrider]

Cutting coils just seems sketchy to me, but after if it's a dead coil, fuck it.

:D

Yeah, I know, I've never been a huge fan of cutting coils. But if lowering springs are too low, coilovers too expensive, and the spring rate is too soft, I don't think I have another option.

What do you mean by dead coil?

[irish44j]

Obligatory jacking off picture

lulz....classic.

[irish44j]

I'm curious about your upgraded control arms. Do they ever make noise? Do they need to be greased? Got a link? They sound sweet.

Oh- So how do people here feel about cutting a coil on the front springs? The front sits higher than is needed, and I wouldn't mind a higher spring rate and lower center of gravity to go along with the better looks. Thoughts?

We have cut springs on the LeMons ETA and it's fine. Metric Mechanic (THE authority in BMW tuning in this country, IMO), even has a published "how to" on it. Nothing wrong with cutting springs as long as you do the calculations correctly and cut the right amount to get a rate that works with the shocks.

Cut springs get a bad rap because morons cut off 4 coils to slam it (thereby making them not seat well and having too high of a rate for the stock shocks).

In short, nothing wrong with cutting springs if you do it right.