Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
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adawil2002
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Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by adawil2002 »

First a little introduction. I'm a BMW guy to the core, have been since 8 years old when I saw the Alexander Calder CSL at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh at a Calder Retrospective exhibit, this was back when it was just a painted race car and nothing more than that. Fast forward to now. I'm currently the President of the Pine Tree Chapter of the BMW CCA, the chapter covers all of Maine, which is where I live. I now own 6 BMWs and two prewar cars, listed in my signature. I'm fairly well known in vintage BMW circles and regular contributor to the 2002FAQ & E9 Coupe Forum. I'm a regular attendee and participant at The Vintage in NC, The Greenwich Concours de'Elegance, The Vintage at Saratoga, Lime Rock Historics and The Boston Cup. OK enough of that, on to the M5.

Now the previous owner did not take care of the car at all aside from driving it. Mike Miller found the car and let Mario know about it, it was pretty neglected. The transmission was shot, the paint was tired and it was in need of some minor rust repair yet solid underneath. The interior, luckily, was in decent shape, so it made it's way to VSR.

So back in early January I purchased the M5 from Mario Langston at Vintage Sports & Restoration (VSR). I had been asking about the car for about a year. In December 2015 he put together an ala carte restoration list, which was very reasonable. Then Mario made me an offer I could not refuse. The deal was his cost for what he had in it and included a new crack free dash. So I sent him a check for $6,600.

Now my plan was to restore the M5 over 3 years to spread the bills out to an affordable amount. I let Mario know this which he was OK with. Every winter for the past 3 years I've been restoring Athena my '73 3.0 CSi with the final push being this winter 2015/2016. I have plans to restore Vern my '73 Tii over 2016/2017 having the M5 ready for the 2018 driving season made perfect sense.

About 3 weeks ago I received a call from Mario, he had located a transmission for the M5! Instead of having the tired 280 rebuilt, there was a bolt in replacement from an 1988 M6 he was parting out. So the M5 project began. The goal was to get the car running and driving. It needed to have the fuel system overhauled, so that tank was pulled, cleaned and resealed, new fuel lines and new fuel pumps and filters. Mario let me know once the fuel hit the rail the car started right up.

I'm headed to VSR on Wednesday February 17th for my bi-weekly visit to check on the progress of Athena and the M5. I'll update the picture link in my signature.

Here's the picture link: https://goo.gl/photos/F1He3tBJBY7rxU3C7
Last edited by adawil2002 on Feb 18, 2016 10:57 AM, edited 2 times in total.
Blue Shadow
Posts: 10195
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: SE PA

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by Blue Shadow »

I got sigs turned off. Can't see the link.


Some sigs are just too big and I don't need to scroll by the same e28 time and time again.
dsmith
Posts: 2362
Joined: Jan 20, 2012 12:52 AM
Location: Charleston, SC

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by dsmith »

Cactus should be feeling pretty good right about now.

Good luck with your restoration.
adawil2002
Posts: 205
Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by adawil2002 »

If anyone is interested. This is where the cars live. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... rew+Wilson

These are the cars. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... rew+Wilson
davintosh
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by davintosh »

Welcome! Sounds like quite the stable; would love to see more photos, especially of the e9 Coupe.

BTW, the link in your sig for the KisselKar is broken. Looks to have had some of the url replaced by dots. I was able to find it anyway though; here's the correct url: http://starship.org/Annie/Adventures/2008/Herman/

I especially liked the video of the engine running. Very cool! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHG4xgAmYYQ
Cactus
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by Cactus »

You have an enormously pretty garage.
Pattonky
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Location: Richmond, KY

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by Pattonky »

Fabulous garage and stable. What will you be driving at vintage this year Andrew? I will be a first time attendee and I hope to bring my M5.
adawil2002
Posts: 205
Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by adawil2002 »

Pattonky wrote:Fabulous garage and stable. What will you be driving at vintage this year Andrew? I will be a first time attendee and I hope to bring my M5.
Driving Vern the '73Tii. Athena went the past 2 years and the M5 won't be done by the event this year.
Pattonky
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by Pattonky »

I wish I had the tough decisions that you have in picking which car to take=)
vinceg101
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by vinceg101 »

Welcome, Andrew!
Glad you found us and look forward to watching your progress with the M5.
PM'd.
MicahO
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by MicahO »

Outstanding cars and garage - I'm looking forward to watching the progress!

(Your garage reminds me how frustrating it is that our local building code limits accessory buildings to 1200sqft :( )
adawil2002
Posts: 205
Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by adawil2002 »

MicahO wrote:Outstanding cars and garage - I'm looking forward to watching the progress!

(Your garage reminds me how frustrating it is that our local building code limits accessory buildings to 1200sqft :( )
Here only limit is budget and land use coverage, even at 1700 sq. ft. we are far below the limit (7500 under roofs). I've also priced out a second smaller garage for two to 3 cars if I add another lift. I have a space problem not a car problem. :D
Adam W in MN
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by Adam W in MN »

Nice cars, garage, and the addition of the M5. Does the M5's odometer picture really show 57k on it?
adawil2002
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Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by adawil2002 »

Adam W in MN wrote:Nice cars, garage, and the addition of the M5. Does the M5's odometer picture really show 57k on it?
Yes, not sure when the odo stopped working though. Fixing the odo is on the to do list when the dash is replaced.
Chimi-Changa
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by Chimi-Changa »

Welcome to the e28 clubhouse Andrew! And congrats on acquiring an M cinco.
stuartinmn
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by stuartinmn »

I'm a regular on the Garage Journal forum, but somehow missed the pictures of your place - very nice!

edit: now that I looked at the second link with the pictures of the cars, I see I responded to it. Guess my memory isn't what it used to be. :)
adawil2002
Posts: 205
Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration

Post by adawil2002 »

Spent the day at VSR today visiting Athena, the 3.0 CSi who's almost done. David Rose of Hitting Redline, BMW CCA & BMW NA promotional videos did a shoot of her in progress for a Real Drivers video to be finished later this year. He's been shooting Athena at various events since 2012.

I was also able to take more pictures of the M5 since it was a nice sunny day. Saved a lot of money with using the 280 transmission and exhaust from the parted out M6.

Paid the invoice for: Parts and labor to get car running and driving.
6 rebuilt injectors, 2 new fuel pumps, new fuel lines & filters, new clutch, R&R transmission, replaced faulty AFM, new spark plugs and assorted other bits, pieces and cleaning I won't detail here.

I have yet to drive the car or hear it run, the exhaust hadn't been installed and it hasn't been registered yet..

Project time line has been accelerated from May 2018 to May 2017.

I've updated the photos with the newer photos at the top. https://goo.gl/photos/F1He3tBJBY7rxU3C7
adawil2002
Posts: 205
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by adawil2002 »

Trying to decide on a Maine vanity plate when the time comes, car is named Rodney. Here are what I have come up with so far. Here's a link to the Maine BMV vanity plate availability checker. Suggestions welcome as long as they can be approved. https://www1.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/b ... elect_type

Lobster
BMW CCA
BMWCCA
MPRESD
MPRES5
E28
E28 M5
BMW E28
ADW BMW
HND BLT
YENDOR
RODKNE

Chickadee
BMW CCA
BMWCCA
HAND BLT
MPRESD
AUTOBHN
E28
E28 M5
1988 BMW
BLCKBRT
YENDOR
RODKNEE

Antique
RODNEY
cek
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by cek »

Sub. Scribed!
Karl Grau
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by Karl Grau »

I'm not into personalized plates all that much but I do have a German one on the car. I used the city code for Berlin (where I was born) to make 'Bad 1988'. I like it because it could have been an actual issued plate.


Image
wkohler
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by wkohler »

I'd stay away from the hand sandwich and the obvious ones like E28 M5 or M5 or whatever.

"FirstM5" is available on the chickadee thingy but it looks stupid since the F is over the bird and it looked like IRSTM5. Could be good though if you plan to use extra-legal speeds and whatnot.

I tried these with the Lobster plate.

"S38" is available.
I'm sure people say Lobstah up there, so maybe "M Powah" (also available).
"My E28" is a local favorite around here and apparently not popular there as it's available too.
"Zealot" is available. If you don't get that one...
Image

Interestingly, "256hp" isn't available. Even more interestingly, "191kw" isn't available either. Neither is "Sample."
"S5S5S5" shows available, but they probably would say no if anyone with half a brain looked at it. Same with "D0D0D0"

I'm also interested in how you chose a name for the car. What reveals the name to you? Do you come up with a list of possible names or do you look at it and go, "It's got 57,000 miles, so definitely a Rodney?"
adawil2002
Posts: 205
Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by adawil2002 »

Came up with the name from a couple of friends named Rodney, one was a weightlifter and professional wrestler I knew when I was working at WWF/WWE for 11 years and the other is a friend who owns an E28 M5 and has been very helpful over the years, most recently with advice about my M5. The car is also a bit of a hot rod. So to me the name Rodney just seems a fitting name, fits the car better than Walter or just calling it The M5.
rmiddendorf
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Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by rmiddendorf »

Great story and intro Andrew! Apparently I was late to this thread.

I'm glad I read this because I was going to accelerate the clutch and timing jobs on mine as it would be cool to have them both at The Vintage at the same time. Perhaps in 2017 then.

I'm honored that I could assist you with some of this and look forward to assisting more if possible. The last year has been a real turning point for me because I've gone from just taking from the community to being a resource. I'm glad I can finally give back.

The plate should be HAND BLT.
MicahO
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Location: Warwick, NY

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by MicahO »

For your plate:

MIDNDORF
adawil2002
Posts: 205
Joined: Oct 23, 2014 8:55 AM
Location: Brunswick, Maine

Re: Andrew Wilson's 1988 M5 Restoration Thread

Post by adawil2002 »

MicahO wrote:For your plate:

MIDNDORF
I like that.
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