Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post your photos and videos here!
knunger
Posts: 744
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Tucson,AZ.

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by knunger »

Yeah, and I'll bet Maytag has had more loving attention and care than all of those other cars combined...
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Adam W in MN wrote:
Adam W in MN wrote:Looks great! Did you consider installing rear headrests while you were doing all the prep for the seating project, why or why not?
Bumping my question
Sorry I missed this question!

I did. In fact I have a set of headrests that I acquired from another member that are in such a condition that they need to be refinished. I also have a rear-headrest 'kit'.

Those parts were originally purchased for Vlad. Then I realized the PO installed Vlad's audio amplifier in such a location that the rear headrest mounts interfered. So I punted on that idea.

Now those parts are nominally for Minerva and I don't know the final interior plans for Minerva yet, so I'm holding out. I have enough of the tartan fabric and leather to have my guy do the headrests for this car someday. Unlikely at this point.
oldskool
Posts: 12001
Joined: Jul 13, 2008 3:46 PM
Location: coastal north carolina
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by oldskool »

Sitting on a park bench. . . eyeing Charlie’s work with fad intent . . .
Adam W in MN
Posts: 5052
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Don't waste my motherf***in' time!
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by Adam W in MN »

Thanks Charlie. I did them on my e12 for that euro look that many of us are after, but then I started to admire the simple horizontal surface, unbroken by big head cushions, in standard e12 and e28 rear seats. I guess I want it to be configurable but absent that, I’ll probably hold off from rushing to add them to any future cars. Especially considering I almost never have rear seat passengers so I needed rear headrests.... why?

That’s just a small sample of my odd logic.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Adam W in MN wrote:Thanks Charlie. I did them on my e12 for that euro look that many of us are after, but then I started to admire the simple horizontal surface, unbroken by big head cushions, in standard e12 and e28 rear seats. I guess I want it to be configurable but absent that, I’ll probably hold off from rushing to add them to any future cars. Especially considering I almost never have rear seat passengers so I needed rear headrests.... why?

That’s just a small sample of my odd logic.
Your logic matches mine. You are a smart man.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Maytag is back on summer wheels. RZ FTW.

Image

Maytag is also now sporting Vlad's old plates, now that Vlad has been titled and registered in Utah. Go Sounders!

Image
George Hanson
Posts: 248
Joined: Sep 27, 2011 6:59 PM
Location: NYC

Re:

Post by George Hanson »

cek wrote:Before:
Image

After:
Image

After that:
Image
Awesome! Look forward to following...
George Hanson
Posts: 248
Joined: Sep 27, 2011 6:59 PM
Location: NYC

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by George Hanson »

cek wrote:Image
What an amazing transformation.

These are the proper wheels for this automobile, look great.

Love what you did with the interior.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Re:

Post by cek »

George Hanson wrote:
cek wrote:Before:
Image

After:
Image

After that:
Image
Awesome! Look forward to following...
:-)

And after THAT:

Image
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Re:

Post by cek »

Full Maytag engine bay evolution:

Before:
Image

After:
Image

After that:
Image

And after the 2.9L e2i weirdo motor build:
Image
boomvader
Posts: 92
Joined: May 22, 2019 4:05 PM
Location: Asheville, NC

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by boomvader »

Charlie, finally finished reading up on all 3 of your build threads. Nice work! Thanks for documenting in such detail. I've learned a lot.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

boomvader wrote:Charlie, finally finished reading up on all 3 of your build threads. Nice work! Thanks for documenting in such detail. I've learned a lot.
Congrats. Thanks. I'm sorry. I hope you remember more than I have.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

I put my Kienzle MCR 1016BT in before the drive to 5erWest. This is a really great mechless head unit if you can find one. No line level outs, but powers the stock speakers in Maytag quite well. Bluetooth works perfectly. The orange SD card was just there to test.
Image

Maytag kicked ass to and from 5erWest and on 5erDrive. Even with the stock Eta exhaust and no tune (stock 360 ECU) the 145whp/163wtq allowed me to not fall too far behind Chris in Joel's S52 powered '82. I had to push all-out to do so, but it was fun. I'm excited to get a real exhaust and a tune on this thing.

The new seats felt great too.

However, I'm not as pleased with the Spax suspension. I now understand why people say they are too soft. With four people in the car driving around Saturday night the springs would regularly "clunk" as they rebounded. Then, during 5erDrive on Mt Hood, i had the same experience with just me and CJ in the car.

I've decided I'm going to put the H&Rs that are currently on Minerva on this car. Minerva will get something else...

Oh, and Maytag loves gravel roads.
Image
Bonsaibacker
Posts: 929
Joined: Oct 26, 2017 3:36 PM
Location: Palatka FL

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by Bonsaibacker »

#meanttobedriven
#alwaysmorework
#e28allday

Glad to see it gets as much love as the others!
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Forgot to note that the AC quit just as we got on the gravel road. So we were without AC (90 degree day) the rest of the trip.

I have a feeling I sprung a big leak in the AC core because there's nothing noticeable in the engine bay.
Smileyboy
Posts: 123
Joined: Oct 19, 2018 8:23 PM
Location: Portland, Or

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by Smileyboy »

After all the sound stuff, how is th envois level in the cabin?
cek wrote: Jun 08, 2018 10:47 AM Tuesday, I had just enough time to get about half the sound deadener in. This is harder work than I thought.

On Minerva I'm doing the spray on sound deadener (see @occoupe's E9 thread). But for this car, I was not prepared to do the prep work required to paint (and I suck at paint) the interior, and I was curious how this stuff works. I know there's some risk to using dyanamat-like product (it's possible for moisture to get under it), but I took care to ensure it was installed correctly.

I bought two brands of 80mil Dynamat clone on Amazon. Both are made in the CCCP. Far cheaper than Dynamat and the customer reviews were all very positive. As far as I can tell both products are the same except for sheet size and one has a logo.

This stuff comes in small sheets which worked well for the rear. I should have saved some of it for parts of the front.
Image

On Amazon: Kilmat 80 mil 36 sqft Car Sound Deadening Mat

This stuff comes in big sheets which worked very well for the front part of the car.
Image

On Amazon: Siless Sound Deadening mat 80mil 36 sqft - Sound Deadener Mat

It'll be interesting to see/hear how it works...
Image
Image

I would have gotten more done, but we had tickets to the opening night of Hunchback at the 5th Ave Theater. It was better than I thought it would be. I think they have a hit on their hands and y'all can expect to see this make it to Broadway. But what do I know about musicals... I mostly go because it's a great date with Julie.
Image

Wednesday, and I mean almost all of Wednesday, was spent finishing the sound deadener and installing new foam.
ImageMaytag Interior Upgrade by Tig, on Flickr
ImageMaytag Interior Upgrade by Tig, on Flickr
ImageMaytag Interior Upgrade by Tig, on Flickr
ImageMaytag Interior Upgrade by Tig, on Flickr

The original, disgusting, Maytag Bearl Peige carpet was the 'new style' with attached foam. That foam is pretty thick in places (like almost 2" under the dead pedal). The new, georgous, Anthracite carpet is the 'old style' without foam. To make it fit you need to build up foam because the OE foam pieces are NLA. I bought this product based on recommendations. Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro:
Image
Second Skin Insulation Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro MLV Mass Loaded Vinyl Closed Cell Foam Sound Deadener - 9 sqft Sheet

I bought 4 sheets. I only needed 3. See below for why you may need 4 if you do this.

I used the old carpet as a template.
Image
Image

I asked the company if gluing this stuff down was required. They said it is not. I chose not to glue it, except in a few places because I want it easily removable and I'm pretty sure it's not moving anywhere.
Image

There's actually 3 layers of the stuff in places here. The middle layer is actually small pieces of scrap that I pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle to fill in the space around the heater duct.
Image
Image

On the passenger side, I just used the original foam from the original carpet as it had easily pulled away from the carpet. Fits perfectly. Also explains why 3 sheets of LLP was enough in my case.
Image

The new carpet went in easy. I was able to insert additional foam under a few places to build up (especially the dead pedal) and it now feels OE under all parts of it. The center tunnel is a bit thicker than OE, but I not enough to impact how the sides reach the sills.
Image
Image
Image

I did a test fit of the center console to ensure the thickness didn't impact anything. It is definitely tighter than OE, but the bolts all reach.
Image

It really warms my heart to see this interior come together! I really hated that PB.

Next up... heaters...
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Maytag has the quietest interior of all my E28s, by far. Part of this is the factory muffled M20B27, of course.

I think it all worked.

That said, Maytag also has the most hand-me-downs in terms of interior trim pieces and thus has the most creaks and rattles. Someday I will address that. E.g. missing tabs on front door toppers notoriously cause those pieces to move around and make noise.
BoogerEater
Posts: 50
Joined: Jul 07, 2020 1:12 PM
Location: 90501

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by BoogerEater »

Very nice build, your passion for these cars is appreciated.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Yesterday, I dove into fixing two things on Maytag. 1) The air conditioning compressor stopped working last year on our return trip from 5erWest and 2) a buzz that comes from the center console after the car is turned off; likely the battery drain culprit.

I have two choices for fixing the AC in this car. One is to install the R12->R134 kit a friend has been making for E28s. The other is to fix the compressor and keep using R12. I have a local guy who still does R12 service (he's awesome) and R12 just works better.

Either way, I needed to evacuate the R12 in the system. Kevin from Rick's came by Friday and did it. Almost all R12 that he put in last summer is still in the system proving the seals are good.
Image

Based on consulting with Kevin and the fact that my system is "tight" I decided to keep the R12 system in tact and have the compressor rebuilt. Jay Stratton provides this service and reports are he does great work. So out it came.
Image

Image

Jay also restores the horsehair on parking brake boots. So I'm sending this for Minerva.
Image

Taking the consoles of these cars apart is always a job. You get better at it over time because there's a certain order to things, and many parts are fragile; if you do it wrong you'll eff stuff up. Some parts, like the driver's kick panel, are super annoying to put back on. As a result I find I procrastinate on doing stuff in there longer than other areas.
Image

I've discovered the buzz is coming from the head unit. I can only hear it when the battery is putting out full voltage (+13.7V). If the voltage is low, there's no buzz. I tried two head units (both Klienzle) and they both do it. I've reproduced the buzz by directly connecting the always-on power input to my battery with charger attached. Da Fuq? But if I power the headunit with my bench power supply it won't buzz, even at 14+V.. Anyone else have head units that buzz like this.

I've decided to do something I've never done in earnest, mostly because it seems like a pain in the ass: Use an ammeter to actually track down the battery drain. Wish me luck.
athayer187
Posts: 1621
Joined: May 10, 2006 11:27 AM
Location: Cheshire, CT

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by athayer187 »

Ground loop? Can you ground the head unit directly to the chassis?
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

athayer187 wrote: Aug 24, 2020 5:49 AM Ground loop? Can you ground the head unit directly to the chassis?
I'm going to try that.

In the meantime I got the multimeter out...

Image

70ma is not horrible, but is still high. I started checking fuses. Fuse 4 was showing 50-60ma...

Image

Fuse 4 is power antenna, power seats, and cig lighter... Unplugging the (inop; POS) remote unlock unit gave me 10ma back. But what could be pulling 50ma?

Turns out power window switches will plug into power seat lumbar plugs. And power window switches are lighted. And they draw 50-60ma each.
Image

The driver's side had a lighted window switch in it. A quick refurbishment of two tired switches into one and ...
Image

Image

Much better. 100ma is still technically too high, but I've never actually measured an E28 before, so what do I know.

Meanwhile, so I can drive & test...
Image

Curious if anyone notices what's odd about this pic?
Zengineer
Posts: 59
Joined: May 01, 2006 7:22 PM
Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by Zengineer »

First off, I love your builds cek. Vlad has inspired me for years to get another E28! It took a long time for me, but here I am once again.

Lets see, odd about the last photo...

- Is that your circuit breaker to the left of the radio? That seems like a much better placement than on mine!
- 39.5 L/100km is terrible fuel economy
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by cek »

Zengineer wrote: Aug 25, 2020 12:42 AM - Is that your circuit breaker to the left of the radio? That seems like a much better placement than on mine!
Glad I helped corrupt you.

No, that turns on/off the power antenna. I got tired of breaking antennas, which I never use.

Keep looking...
Zengineer
Posts: 59
Joined: May 01, 2006 7:22 PM
Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
Contact:

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by Zengineer »

Is the rubber shift boot installed upside down?
jayjaya29
Posts: 188
Joined: Jul 30, 2014 12:53 AM
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Maytag: The Alpine '87 529i

Post by jayjaya29 »

cek wrote: Aug 25, 2020 12:04 AM Curious if anyone notices what's odd about this pic?
Your shoelace is untied.
Post Reply