How hard can it be? m20b20 Touring in CA

[Shock(/\)ave]

It may be obvious from the title that I have no idea what I'm doing and decided to jump into the deep end

Yeah! It's great to see this thread posted! :D

I just jumped into the deep end with my E28 528e - I've been working to get it to pass a safety inspection, and am now down to chasing an inoperative speedometer. More bloody gauge cluster issues! Argh!!!

I plan for this to be my daily driver, so I'll go with longterm goals first, though some are only long term because budget.

That car made a great daily driver while we had it.

Raise ride height, I'd like as much as 6.5 inches of clearance--I've already ripped the exhaust off once x.x

Impressive! Most impressive... ;D

Mud Flaps

You'll need to go aftermarket on those due to the skirts.

Shifter bushings

That was on the list of projects that we never got to, and it would definitely add to the overall driving experience.

Replace hubcap because the surface of I-880 is like driving repeatedly into brick walls and it fell off

Replace fog light blank, or get fog lights :D

The only time I managed to pop a fog light blank out was when I unexpectedly encountered a gradually increasing snow drift in our driveway. Were you aiming for potholes? :p

Limited slip diff

Hell yes.

Maybe an engine and tranny swap wayyy down the line. I'd like to keep the front light, but the dream setup is about 8 seconds 0-60 with an i6, flat engine, or diesel, and a dogleg 5 speed so I can lock out 1--ideally super short for bay area traffic--and R and drive it like four corners during fun time. OD would probably be necessary to daily that setup though.

You can find S50/52 motors easily there for very reasonable money.

App with CA BAR to try to avoid 4.5K+ in lab testing to register

Holy crap that's ridiculous, especially considering they could just look up the results of another car they tested at some point in the past!

Gauges are a bit sticky

GARGH!!!

Could you please elaborate on this issue for me? After I stop twitching I'll see if I can help you sort it out.

Reattach driver side tweeter to door

Potholes again? They just press in, so it shouldn't take you long to reattach it.

Brakes (at least soon, I think it's starting to squeak)

The rotors and pads should have a ton of meat left on them, so you might have picked up a stone or something similar.

You should definitely find the source of the brake fluid leak and fix that before you get air into the system. My 528e has just about no brakes left when I bought it, and it was extremely low on fluid (which was full of air and black). I had it bled, but when the A.B.S. kicked in the other day I think a lot more air was pumped into the system, and it needed more fluid again (and needs another quick bleed).

Protect jack storage area from further rust

Could you post a picture of the rust when you get the chance?

Do something about tear on drivers seat before it gets worse

It's torn? It was a bit worn when I last saw it, but there were no tears anywhere. :(

I'd source a set of sport seats for the car given how nice the rest of the interior is. We were looking for them the entire time we had the car, and missed out on two different pairs of them over the years; they should be a lot easier to find in California.

We ended up finding sports seats bolted to another touring, and thought it'd be prudent buy the entire car. :)

Check driveshaft rubber

Great idea.

Spark plugs and injectors maybe?

The plugs were changed this summer, but I don't think the injectors have ever been cleaned (and I would suggest sending them out for cleaning instead of replacement as it's a lot cheaper).

Pedigree: I've done brakes on a couple different cars, changed trans and diff fluid, took months to get the heads off my old car, and got a car off blocks--only dropped it once, so yeah I'm basically clueless and have a ton to do :SOS: Forsure not trying to break more than I can fix with this one.

These cars have incredible support and a great community - you'll do just fine. :D

It really mostly seems like nobody is actually sure how it works.

This is so typical of bureaucracy: there are so many different rules and overlap from so many different government agencies nobody you talk to follows the same process.

I would use that to your advantage and find the right person / testing location / office to make that happen. A rural county might be a good place to try if you run into too many problems locally.

Ultimately you need the forms approved and the car registered, and any route you take that gets you there is a good one. ;)

[Chalk]

Absolutely gorgeous touring! Great purchase, and good luck with CA emissions! I'm definitely happy I moved back to Oregon.


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Thanks! I'm really hoping I can avoid having to "move" to get it registered.

- Chalk

[MortyCrock]

Absolutely gorgeous touring! Great purchase, and good luck with CA emissions! I'm definitely happy I moved back to Oregon.


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[Chalk]

Could you elaborate on this a little? I was told it's basically impossible to legally register a touring in CA because of the expensive lab testing (heard it was $7-10k) but that could be false.

Good luck, hope it all works out!

It really mostly seems like nobody is actually sure how it works. DMV is still asking for things their website says I don't need (EPA and DOT certificate). An importer told me the 25 year rule is a myth and you still have to make a car federally compliant regardless of age. First the BAR refs agreed with CARB that lab testing is the only way, but when I called back to ask if they could work with me to get the car setup proper before testing they said to bring it to them because they might be able to negate the testing entirely.

So I think everyone's mileage probably varies on this, but the importer did say there are loopholes before the car is in DMV's system.

- Chalk

[CubbyChowder]

- App with CA BAR to try to avoid 4.5K+ in lab testing to register

Could you elaborate on this a little? I was told it's basically impossible to legally register a touring in CA because of the expensive lab testing (heard it was $7-10k) but that could be false.

Good luck, hope it all works out!

[Chalk]

It may be obvious from the title that I have no idea what I'm doing and decided to jump into the deep end I bought this car through some awesome sellers on this forum and am eternally grateful for how helpful they've been.

Now, however, I need to get the car registered and have a bunch of little projects along the way to get it in tip top shape--though an incredible amount of legwork on that was done by the previous owner. I'm learning as I go so feel free to point out when I have no idea what I'm talking about :P



I plan for this to be my daily driver, so I'll go with longterm goals first, though some are only long term because budget.
- Raise ride height, I'd like as much as 6.5 inches of clearance--I've already ripped the exhaust off once x.x
- Box for sub
- Led interior lights
- Mud Flaps
- Shifter bushings
- Replace hubcap because the surface of I-880 is like driving repeatedly into brick walls and it fell off
- Replace fog light blank, or get fog lights :D
- Manual steering rack with quicker ratio
- Limited slip diff
- Cupholders
- Maybe an engine and tranny swap wayyy down the line. I'd like to keep the front light, but the dream setup is about 8 seconds 0-60 with an i6, flat engine, or diesel, and a dogleg 5 speed so I can lock out 1--ideally super short for bay area traffic--and R and drive it like four corners during fun time. OD would probably be necessary to daily that setup though.



Short term there's quite a bit going on.
- App with CA BAR to try to avoid 4.5K+ in lab testing to register
- Gauges are a bit sticky
- Install fuel filler hose cover
- Reattach driver side tweeter to door
- Fire extinguisher
- Figure out why the brake fluid is leaking so fast
- Adjust parking brake
- Sort out high speed vibration
- Brakes (at least soon, I think it's starting to squeak)
- Replace rusted out jackstand
- Protect jack storage area from further rust
- Change thermostat, car is running at 1/4 on temp gauge unless sitting in traffic.
- Do something about tear on drivers seat before it gets worse


On the way back from Fremont because the shippers truck broke down

Things I was told I should do:
- Check driveshaft rubber
- Flexdisc?
- Center bearing?
- Fan viscous coupling, but also I don't understand why switching to an electric fan is so frowned upon
- Timing belt
- Water pump
- Spark plugs and injectors maybe?



Already done:
- Battery tie down
- Valve Adjustment
- Got gauges working with tons of help from the sellers
- Might have fixed oil leak if it was coming from valve cover gasket


The Touring and I basically had the same expression when it became obvious just how much I need learn

Pedigree: I've done brakes on a couple different cars, changed trans and diff fluid, took months to get the heads off my old car, and got a car off blocks--only dropped it once, so yeah I'm basically clueless and have a ton to do :SOS: Forsure not trying to break more than I can fix with this one.

- Chalk