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Thread: I brought home another e23... Now there are THREE! But this one I couldn't resist~

  1. #76
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    I have to drive the car to Chico Sunday to get the hood a guy pulled for me before he moves, so I'll try it then.
    --Jay3->Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    84 €735i manual, 88 528e/i
    Motronic 1 and 1.3 wiring
    Transmission & Diff gearing sheet

  2. #77
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jay535is View Post
    I have to drive the car to Chico Sunday to get the hood a guy pulled for me before he moves, so I'll try it then.
    Appreciate it!

  3. #78
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    The E30 needed shift kit, steering rack, x-brace, right strut, tune up, top replacement and hasn't been driven in years. Guys former mechanic installed the new bilstein with the coarse nut on top for the fine threads, buggered it all up so that was the first thing then the steering rack replacement and since I had rebuilt the right strut, did the left adding the top spring rubbers as needed. Couldn't get one rotor off so that strut needed the floor jack to put back in place. Finding other stuff wrong with the car but maybe it will be worth it.

    When I got started on this job, the first 3 hours were brutal, sore, worn out and such but with a few more days and the soreness is now more of a feeling of actually doing some work, not pain. Guess I'll have the car on the ground tomorrow and get on that shift linkage when I put the car in a different position. Sway bar links in the rear, too.

    Overall, after a couple days it feels good to do this work. Haven't needed to wrench my rides in a while but both need some attention. With this cooler than normal August I might get to them. I do need to move both of them as the light bulbs over the cars are both dead. Second one waited a couple months after the first one so the garage is dark at night, take a flashlight and plug in the fluorescent lamps.

    Dave, that e23 sure does look good. Keep up the good work and let us know if your grunts and groans or the cars noises subside as you do more.
    Last edited by 8991XJ; 08-23-2017 at 08:03 PM.

  4. #79
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    Those pics of the side...sure would look good with some tint on the side marker lenses. I did this on my E28 to excellent effect. The markers just fade into the bumper surround. Did the front turns, too. Lights are bright enough to shine through.

  5. #80
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    Quote Originally Posted by 8991XJ View Post
    Those pics of the side...sure would look good with some tint on the side marker lenses. I did this on my E28 to excellent effect. The markers just fade into the bumper surround. Did the front turns, too. Lights are bright enough to shine through.
    Man, ^ that's a ton of work Kieth, new driver??? Also understand the "good" pain, good feeling to know I can still wrench on the cars even in non ideal environments... Thanks for the compliment on the car, still have a ways to go but slowly getting there, I'm going with euro bumpers F/R (have a sexy Pfeba spoiler for the front but now the car may be to low for it) and although like the idea of tinted turn indicators I'm still a fan of the original but we'll see how it all looks when the bumpers go on.

  6. #81
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    So, after much effort in getting the car to run really well, early last week it decided to develop a bad miss, chased it for a week, trouble shooting everything from electrical to fuel issues, turns out it was a loose plug that had slightly backed out and wasn't firing correctly, the first thing I checked were the plugs but... I didn't pull them all, just a 3 random plugs to get an idea of their condition, lesson learned, next time pull all 6!!! replaced a few more parts with new because I was at my wits end chasing the miss but those parts were at or near their service life anyway and now it's running really well again.

    Also finally got around to doing the rear subframe bushings and the rest of the front suspension, the steering arm was going bad, and the tie rods and the center link were shot, really bad and no other way to describe it other than woah, look out!!!. Steering is now much tighter, and car tracks straight and doesn't wander like it did, and it's amazing how much of a difference rear subframe bushings make, sooo much better.


    Got a staggered set of Hartge wheels on it, 7.5 & 8.5 with 225-50-16 tires, only things left now are the rear shocks/springs (not really diggin that rear end up so high) and diff mount, hopefully this weekend, car is in for a front end alignment and hopefully I'll get to enjoy it without having any more issues.


    e23.jpeg

  7. #82
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    looks great on those wheels. I agree on the rear ride height!
    Mike
    93 M5 3.8 Sterling Silver/Black (euro)
    94 M5 Touring Madeiraschwarz/Black
    80 745i (project)
    83 735i / 5 speed (euro)
    86 745i

  8. #83
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    Dave, that is looking super clean.
    I love it/hate it when the answer to a maddening problem ends up being dead simple like that!
    I agree, a 1" drop in back will bring it all together.
    --Jay3->Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    84 €735i manual, 88 528e/i
    Motronic 1 and 1.3 wiring
    Transmission & Diff gearing sheet

  9. #84
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    Thanks ^^, and yes, that drove me crazy for a week+, but had a good laugh after I figured it out... I'm hoping to get the the rear shocks this weekend, put up cleaner images when I do.

  10. #85
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    Man, just when you think you have your 38 year old (key words here!) car running well something else decides to let you know how much attention these cars need until things get FULLY sorted out!!!

    I've been driving the car daily to really sake it down and then use it occasionally, after many weeks of tweaking it was running well, only a few things left that haven't either been changed or repaired -Monday I went out of town for a few days for work, left the car at an off airport parking, came back last night to find a note on the windshield, fluid leaking... There were remnits of a puddle just under and behind the dirvers fog light- I knew it was the radiator, the top rad hose neck fell apart a while ago and I was able to get the hose on and tight, was planning on getting to it later- Wrong...

    I fired the car up and watched the top hose, as pressure was building it started to bubble at the plastic core, nothing major and hose was fine... Released the cap a notch, drove to a gas station, bought some bottled water and limped home, stopping once after about 10 minutes to check water level, temp gauge was fine/normal.

    This morning, I pulled the radiator, and installed the known good unit from the euro car I parted out, (733 is a manual, euro was an auto...) but no choice and not that big a deal, I capped off the 2 auto trans fittings, bled the block and proceeded to fill/bleed the system- car front slightly elevated, bleed screw open, heater going, Zerex G05 50/50 mix, everything good, topped it off and let it idle,... noticed temp gauge was climing, this car usually runs at 1/4 to just over 1/4 no matter what, verifid by heat gun- even with the extreme heat we've had and in traffic it never gets much over 1/4 on the gauge. It started to climb, got to 1/2 and that got my attention, watching it close it kept climing, as it inched past the 1/2 mark I shut it down, rechecked everything and fired it up again, temp kept climing, thinking I still had air in the system I let it cool down, and all I could think about then was something much more serious, (head gasket was my initial thought but oil looked good and car ran cool on the way home last night) came back outside and saw the top radiator hose collapsed, don't think it could have gotten any tighter... Felt better, knew it was an air bubble/pocket- Uncapped the overflow tank cap and it wouldd'n come off, easily anyway, came appart in my hand as I pulled it off, snagged the cap of the other car and everything is now good in the e23 universe- for now anyways...

    I'm going to look into an aluminum radiator, I remember someone bought a Griffin aluminum from Summit, was cheap, like under $200, it's actually very close in dimentions and an easy bolt in but they had trouble with the hose neck size- think that'd be an easy thing to get around, anyone have any input on this???
    Last edited by kojo96; 09-28-2017 at 04:41 PM.

  11. #86
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    I'd say thats a fine idea, I wish I had some real info.
    I'm glad my car has what was a like new radiator that I pulled from a euro 732 at the yard, and sold to the PO before I bought the car...
    --Jay3->Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    84 €735i manual, 88 528e/i
    Motronic 1 and 1.3 wiring
    Transmission & Diff gearing sheet

  12. #87
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    i've got a good manual trans radiator out of my 728 if you need one.
    Mike
    93 M5 3.8 Sterling Silver/Black (euro)
    94 M5 Touring Madeiraschwarz/Black
    80 745i (project)
    83 735i / 5 speed (euro)
    86 745i

  13. #88
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    Hey Mike, I do... I'll send a PM- Thanks!

  14. #89
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    Finally got around to replacing the rear shocks on the car, pulled the rears apart and they were shot... I decided at the last minute to use the Spax Sport shocks I found recently, I had pulled the Bilsteins out and had everything ready to go but decided to try these- Fully adjustable with just a screwdriver, 14 settings and I decided to run them on 7 clicks, no height adjustment but after measuring them against the bilstein sports they were about .5” inch shorter... Install was straight forward but ran into one snag- the bottom bolt holes on the Spax were smaller than the original - It's always something with this car but I'm learning as I go the difference between the early and late cars, off to Lowes for some grade 8 bolts/washers and nuts-
    Finished product is pretty nice, stance is pretty good, the car has about a 1.25" rake back to front and I like it, that was the goal the entire time. The car drives completely different, the rear is about as firm as the front, might be a little too firm for me but I'll play around with the settings till I find a good match to the front, it's super easy adjusting these shocks, get under the rear behind the tires and with a long reach flat blade adjust as needed.
    A few images of the finished product.

    Also, big thank you to Mottati for the radiator! And it was a pleasure seeing you again and all the eye candy!!! Especially the M7!!! Yes folks, there's another M7 prowling the streets in N CA!! Beatuiful car and looks and sounds so good with all those valves!!! You should put up images when you have a chance, many will drool, and some may get inspired to follow in your footsteps.

    thumbnail (4).jpgthumbnail.jpgthumbnail (5).jpgthumbnail (1).jpgthumbnail (2).jpg

  15. #90
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    Great to see you yesterday, car looks great. Even better with the rear suspension done. Also thanks for the idea on the early expansion tank. That will tick one item off my list of things to wrap up. I need to organize my pics and make up a thread next slow day in the office.
    Mike
    93 M5 3.8 Sterling Silver/Black (euro)
    94 M5 Touring Madeiraschwarz/Black
    80 745i (project)
    83 735i / 5 speed (euro)
    86 745i

  16. #91
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    Thats awesome man, when did you find those Spax?
    Looks aggressive, and the tire gap is excellent from front to back.
    --Jay3->Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    84 €735i manual, 88 528e/i
    Motronic 1 and 1.3 wiring
    Transmission & Diff gearing sheet

  17. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jay535is View Post
    Thats awesome man, when did you find those Spax?
    Looks aggressive, and the tire gap is excellent from front to back.
    Thanks... Car feels so much better, in every way now... Found the Spaxs on Ebay- I was a little back and forth on them but the price was right, both for under the cost of 1 Bilstein HD- Glad I decided to try them, I'm going to dial them back a notch at a time till I find the ride I'm after.
    Car is almost done... Only a few things left to do on it. Bumpers and lights next, should really finish off the car.

  18. #93
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    Sweet! as much as I like the custom Bilsteins and Dinan rear on my car, damn its harsh and I feel like I'm beating up my car every day I'm driving it...
    It would be great to have the threaded body Spax to do simple coilovers for this chassis...
    --Jay3->Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    84 €735i manual, 88 528e/i
    Motronic 1 and 1.3 wiring
    Transmission & Diff gearing sheet

  19. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jay535is View Post
    Sweet! as much as I like the custom Bilsteins and Dinan rear on my car, damn its harsh and I feel like I'm beating up my car every day I'm driving it...
    It would be great to have the threaded body Spax to do simple coilovers for this chassis...
    Agree, but NLA.. Before the car got lowered in the rear it actually rode very well, not harsh at all, front was firm but now it is somewhat harsh, interesting to see how it does with softer settings and lower in the rear. On lowest setting I could push down the piston and pull it out, at 7 clicks I cannot in either direction, have to invert and use body to push down, big difference, I'll do single adjustments and see how it goes.
    Last edited by kojo96; 10-02-2017 at 04:53 PM.

  20. #95
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    Cant wait to take a ride, side by side and compare sometime.
    --Jay3->Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    84 €735i manual, 88 528e/i
    Motronic 1 and 1.3 wiring
    Transmission & Diff gearing sheet

  21. #96
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    Sounds like a plan, anytime... Maybe on my next run up to sac.

  22. #97
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    Coming along nicely!
    alpinweiß on anthrazit buffalo 1984 745i, 2014 Fiesta ST, 1984 635csi 1986 635csi 1987 L6 1999 M coupe 2002 M3 1995 325i 1976 200​2, 2001 996 TT 1994 850 T5 wagon 1998 GTi VR6 1983 scirocco

  23. #98
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    Quote Originally Posted by Freshbread View Post
    Coming along nicely!
    Thanks, think nex on the list are the bumpers and lights.

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