Figured now would be a good time to start documenting the progress Ive made with my newly acquired 740i sport shorty. Like most of you, Ive always had a soft spot for the E38, particularly the sport. But, it wasn't until recently, while browsing for BMW parts on Craiglist, that I realized how obtainable they've become. I own a rare, Interlagos Blue E90 M3 thats 1 of 16 like it and I had been considering getting a daily to preserve the M from the daily use, specifically the abuse from lousy, careless parkers here in Ft Lauderdale. I dont like the idea of parking an M car, they're designed to be driven but I quickly got annoyed with the minor dings and scratches put in by other people.
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So my search was on for the right E38 for me! I searched far and wide as I always do, exhausting all the search engines. I came across a few that I inquired about but one particular one stuck out. IT was out of NJ, silver on silver with a good pit of maintenance, including timing chains and guides. I went back forth on whether to buy it or spend a little more on another as the guy selling it was a complete prick to start with. We ended up striking a deal and I made the purchase and sent a truck to bring down here to Florida. Here are some pictures from the ad as well as some pictures the previous owner sent me. Its a very clean car for the most part...
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The previous owner did a bunch of work:
Timing Chain and Guides
ABS Module
Rear Shocks
New rear tail light-leaking and shorted out amp- New amp
Alternator
Battery
Water Pump and Oring
GPS Cd
And a few others
It even has a working phone and power folding mirrors!
You guys get the idea! Pretty clean car for 17 yrs old and from up north. Naturally, I expected the worse when it arrived. You're buying a 17 yr old BMW for 5k, you'd be delusional to think it'll be perfect! So I had it sent right to my shop for an inspection. Turns out, the person who did the TCG job didnt seal the upper timing covers properly and they were leaking pretty bad. Also, needed all new brakes lines, thrust arm bushings, tires, alignment and brakes.
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I had the shop due the minimum to get it on the road safely and Ill take care of the rest. They ran all new brake lines, put a nice set of barely used Pilot Sport AS3s, new thrust arms and aligned it. I drove it a few weeks with the minor things left to address. Recently, I started tackling the other items. First up was the brakes! I shopped around and considered doing the 750 upgrade but Im not hot rodding this thing and didn't feel the need to do that and having to deal with the complicated bleeding process. So I ended up with the following:
ECS Geomet coated drilled/slotted rotors
Stainless Rotor mounting bolts
Akebono Euro pads- No a big fan
Pad Sensors
Mahle Speed sensors-Since I was in there
Before:
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After:
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I realize I could have spent some time and painted the calipers and clean the fender wells but I was doing this in the parking garage of my apartment and Im headed into my busy season. Ill be doing a full detail of these areas after the new year when my life returns to normal. Important thing was getting them done. After the install, I properly bedded the pads, a couple of times. I wish I had read more about the Akebono's and their rather poor initial bite. I don't need high performance brakes but I really dont like these pads. Akebono's were always a suggested pad and Ive used them on several applications, but these just don't give the peddle feel I want. Ill probably swap them out for Hawks or something that has better initial bite. I don't care about brake dust as my cars get cleaned weekly and my commute is less than 5 miles each way to work.
Next up, this past weekend was the dreaded upper timing cover gaskets, valve cover gaskets and spark plugs since I was there. The most frustrating part of owning a car this old isn't the repairs themselves, but the lack of care and knowledge of the previous "mechanics" that did work prior. The caliper slides were caked with dried antisieze making them a bitch to get out. The upper timing covers had epoxy in the corner, pictures below, and were leaking because the mechanic didn't know about properly seating the gasket, his fix was gobs of epoxy. My dad and I spent a good part of Saturday working on this frustrating job. ITs frustrating due to the lack of space and the bolts being covered in oil, making it hard to grab when they're to lose for a ratchet to extract. Once we got everything out, getting the timing cover seated proved a challenge until we came up with a working plan. We took pictures of the bolts location to make reinstall easier and we are glad we did. What we did find was the Vanos solenoid was heavily marred, assuming they use pliers or something previously. I wish I had a new one to install but its functional.
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If you look hard enough, you can see the gob of epoxy in the bottom corner
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FILTHY FREAKIN JOB!!!
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And that brings us here to today. I also got the windows tinted pretty dark as I wanted to get as much heat out as possible to preserve the rather clean interior. I also did the windshield. I had planned to do a paint correction after the timing cover job but I was beat and didn't want to spend another 3 hours on the car, at least. So it'll have to wait. The car looks great from 10 ft but when you get close it's marred and scratched, and not up to my standards. Im rather OCD about cleanliness so getting the oil leaks one was very important so I can clean the underside. Overall, Im surprised as to how much I love this car. I don't miss the M nearly as much as I would have thought. Getting 23mpg on the highway, while comfortably cruising at 85 mph with AC on full tilt and seat heaters on to aid my sore back, was the nail in the coffin. What an absolutely perfect car BMW made. Ill continue to add to this as things progress. There are a few things I want to address like the paint, blown DSP subs, etc but I am very content with where Ive brought this E38 in 1.5 months. And thank you to everyone who has contributed to this forum and posted DIYs, it's a life saver for people like me!
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Last edited by EnVe46; 10-02-2018 at 12:16 PM.
Looks great in the photos! Nice E90 too, I was eyeing one of those a couple weeks ago. Too many cars already though. 3 hours for upper timiing cover gaskets is a pretty good clip. Enjoy the ride!
Thanks! I wish that job only took my 3 hours! Didn't have a long enough 32mm socket for the Vanos solenoid, that was one trip to the store, then the online store, wont use names, sent me 2 passenger side valve cover gaskets, that was another trip. It ended up being closer to 5 hours! But it was 5 hours turning wrenches with my dad which is something I value waaaay more than much else
Kudos to you EnVe, you will remember fondly the time spent with your Dad, long after the wheels have gone.
Nice rides, btw.
Not much of an update, been driving it a ton lately. Can honestly say I love this car! I do have a weird thump coming from the rear and doesn’t seem to happen all the time. It’s when I’m stopped, not moving so doing some research says it’s could be the vent tube and charcoal canister causing the gas tank to implode slightly. Anyone have anything like this?!
Nice car and beautiful blue on that M. The E38 is really a fantastic car that BMW made.
Hopefully those gaskets work for you for a good amount of time, but I've come to skim all rubber engine gaskets with Gray RTV. Not blobbing it, just skim it. They seal great and stay sealed without a bit of seepage. My engine is oil free even 40k miles after doing my timing chain guides.
So next time you do valve covers, timing covers, oil pan, etc, skim it with a good RTV. You'll never have to do it again (for a long time).
'98 740il | 9/97 build | schwarz 2 | sandbeige | 5AT | 270k
'04 330i ZHP sedan | Mystic blue | Alcantara | 6MT | 120k
'00 540i sport | Titanium silver | Black | 5AT | 152k
'85 Mustang GT convertible | Medium charcoal metallic | Gray | 5MT | 216k | one owner, all original
mods: m-pars | Bilsteins & B&G springs | ValentineOne | StealthOne
retrofits: full nav | MKIV | bluetooth TCU | BM53 w/ AUX input | video module w/ AV input & backup cam | oem sirius xm | xenon | shades | PDC | rain sensor | BMW DWS TPMS | lighted door handles | front seat heaters | heated steering wheel | euro rear fog lights | ski pass | folding mirrors
Last edited by haynes740; 10-19-2018 at 07:28 PM.
That's a tricky one, not sure what racer2086 thinks about that, he is way more experienced than I am. But there were a few unsuccessful attempts for valley pan replacements on this forum.
Mine went well, no issues. I did only use the factory "gasket" but higher than factory spec torque (12Nm vs 10Nm) + Loctite 242 on the studs. I have no leak with approx 4K miles in it.
Good luck with that!
I can tell you I won’t be doing those timing cover gaskets again! Hahaha that was a brutal job for something so small. Valve covers are a ton easier. Hopefully mine last awhile although I need to do passenger side and maybe this will be a good test between methods and see.
The blue on the M is Interlagos. Started in the E46s Competition. Had one of those as well. Favorite color blue bmw has made!
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