Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - Progression

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vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - December Update

Post by vinceg101 »

Ricky535 wrote:Are you going to change the engine management ? Alpha -N or megasquirt :lol:
No, the only thing I'm doing is removing the existing 061 ECU and Johnson Box (with attached O2 Sensor input) and replacing it with another unadulterated 061. In other words returning to strict stock configuration.
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - December Update

Post by vinceg101 »

Happy New Year, Y’All!

Well this week marks the one year anniversary of me starting this project. This past Monday was almost to the day the day I started draining all the fluids, put her up on the jack-stands and starting dismantling everything. It has been a busy week where I was finally able to focus on the M535i and get some big accomplishments made. Namely getting the Engine and Transmission back into the car and putting its’ feet back on Terra Firma.
First off, it takes a village; more to the point, it takes a village of some very generous friends and car nuts. The kind of nuts that seem to populate this community and boy am I glad to know them. Greg Macrum (Corner Carver) freely gave up an entire afternoon this past Wednesday to help up us install the Front Struts and Engine (completely voluntary I might add; he said “I think it would be fun”). He showed up to buy some parts from Ralph and ended up pressing himself into service. Also up was my long-time friend and confidant Phil (maskedman) jumping in when and wherever needed. Last but not least my hangar-mate Ralph (Ralph in SoCal) has been a well-head of knowledge and the mentor I so desperately needed. He also has seemed to jump into this project just when this it needed him the most.
Anyway, to recap the week:

Monday 26th:
-Picked-up and miscellaneous loose ends: Torqued the new Flywheel bolts along with all the remaining nuts and bolts on the block before it goes in the car.
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Next big item was installing the Clutch Kit: New Sachs Clutch, Pressure Plate and Throw-out Bearing:
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Installed the Fork, Spring and Throw-out Bearing into the Bellhousing:
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Next up was to install the Bellhousing onto the back of the block; Installing the Clutch Slave Cylinder to hold the Fork in place (especially to the novice like myself). Ralph stopped by later and insisted we dry-fit the Transmission to make sure we got everything aligned and we didn’t have any interference issues. That proved to be an ordeal (the trans and Bellhousing were a snug fit) and were we glad we ironed it out before trying to do it on our backs under the car in a day or so. With all that, the block was all set for installation.
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Tuesday 27th:

One big lingering item I had deal with prior to the engine going in was to remove the existing Hood Insulation. I had been putting this off for some time and with the engine install scheduled the next day, it was now or never (although I could have removed the hood altogether to employ a proper adhesive removal, which is what I did in the end only after the engine went in. Oh well).
Removing the insulation itself is easy; you can almost tear it off with your fingers.
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The adhesive that is left behind proves to be the challenge; you really need to remove it all in order to ensure proper adhesion of the new insulation. After several hours of scraping with plastic razor blades, flat plastic scrapers and Scotch-Brite soaked in copious amounts of 3M Adhesive Remover, I was only able to get to this point:
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Upon closer inspection, some surface rust was discovered and will have to be dealt with:
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Now that the hood is off the car, I can lay it flat and really go at the remaining adhesive. Then properly sand down that rust and seal it up with Rust-Stop and new paint.

Front Strut Assembly:
While I was dealing with the Front Subframe and Steering Box, Ralph jumped in and put together the Front Struts in preparation of getting this car back on its’ feet. Everything was there ready to be assembled so it only took Ralph about an hour.
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Final product ready to go back on the car, which Phil and I did the next morning:
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Front Subframe & Steering Gear:
While Ralph was dealing with the Struts, I was wrestling with the Subframe and Steering Gear. A lack of hardware (well, hardware I couldn’t find at the moment only to magically materialize the next morning) prevented me from locking down the new Reman’d Steering Gear and Idler Arm on the Subframe. It was all ready to go onto the car, it would just have to wait until the next day.

Wednesday 28th:
Front Subframe & Steering Gear Installation:
So this proved to be challenging even for three of us, four of us at times. Lining up the splines of the both the Steering Column shaft and output shaft on the box through the Swivel Joint and pounding it all together while trying to bolt the Subframe up onto the frame rails took all of us at key times.
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With that bolted up in place, Greg and Ralph got busy installing the Upper and Lower Control Arms to anchor the Struts to Subframe. Moosehead UCA’s in Lemfoerder arms and Lemfoerder E31 850i LCA’s were on deck:
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Engine Installation:
With all that securely bolted up in place (no torquing yet), it was time this car got to feel solid ground again and we got to the main event. We raised up the front, dropped the jack-stands out and let her back on the concrete. After unlatching the Hood Struts and lashing it back to wide open, we were ready.
Now here is where the pictures run out. I did have a video camera set up to record this whole thing but it wasn’t cooperating and it didn’t record a damned thing. Oh well, suffice it to say, it went surprisingly smoothly with nary a hitch. We wheeled the stand in, tilted the block back, lowered it into the Transmission Tunnel then aligned it up to the Motor Mount points on the Subframe and dropped into place. Easy-Peasy; even Greg was surprised it went that smooth.
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Start to finish from wheeling the engine stand in place was about 20 minutes. It took all four of us to comfortably accomplish it, but hey that’s what friends are for. I joked that we were way ahead of the game because it was still daylight out when we finished. We cleaned up and SOS’d the rest of the afternoon.

Thursday 29th:
Gear Shifter Assembly:
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The car had an Auto Solutions Short Shift Kit installed back when it was converted from automatic to a 5 speed manual. Truth be told, I have hated this shifter since first time I drove this car. It was way too notchy for my tastes and I could never smoothly shift this thing; I longed for a smoother solution. Research and opinions brought back using a stock shifter from a Z3 1.9L (E36); it is pretty much a direct replacement and offers a stock short shift solution.
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Assembly was pretty quick and easy: press fit the plastic retainer bearing/ring into the bottom of the shifter hole in the sheet metal, lube up the end of the plastic ball on the Shifter, insert Shifter into bearing/ring. Then install the retaining C-clip ring at the top of the plastic ball; be sure not to press too tightly as it will bind the ball. Place it just so it makes contact with the ball but doesn’t allow any upward movement when you pull on the Shifter.
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If you have saved your hunk of original insulation foam, the next step is almost not worth mentioning other than you now place this foam over the Shifter so it lands up against the sheet metal console. Figuring out the orientation is easy as it has indents and shapes permanently embedded into it from being pressed in place for the last 30 years. There are a few tabs on the top of the Transmission tunnel that key you in as to the orientation of this foam (their indents are easy to recognize on the foam). Likewise you will see the indent for Reverse Light Sensor wire so you know which side of the Shifter it should land on.
Install the rubber boot, making sure you have the Shifter oriented in the correct position. There is a small hole in the top bellow for the Reverse Light Sensor wire to slip through. You will have to carefully make this hole a little wider to fit the plastic terminal connector on the end of this wire. Fish this through the hole, feed the bottom of it through the foam center hole and let it hang down out the bottom of the console. Use a little lube of sorts (grease, soap, window cleaner, etc.) to make the boot slip down over the Shifter; it’s a tight fit. Make sure you have your hardware to connect it all to the Transmission and the new tab brackets on the Transmission itself.
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I test fitted the Shifter Linkage Rod; this was the existing rod I pulled out of the original Auto Solutions setup (at least I am pretty sure this was the correct rod, after I had it re-plated). Turns out with the shorter Shifter and position, this rod wasn’t going to work. Luckily Ralph had one that would work; too bad I didn’t have the chance to re-plate this one, but it was pretty clean anyway (no pic of this one). With it all assembled, we were off and running.
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(Unfortunately, my day was cut short due to my having to deal with end of year accounting I wasn’t expecting. Ralph, Phil and I agreed to meet the next day after my morning meeting to finish the Shifter Assembly and install the Transmission).

Friday 30th:
Transmission Installation:
So my meeting went way too long (started at 10am and was supposed to finish by noon; it didn’t break until 2. This didn’t put me at the hangar until closer to 3:30pm. Sigh). Ralph and Phil got started without me and worked on the Shifter Linkage and had the car back on the jack-stands in my absence. As soon as I got there, they were lifting the Transmission onto the floor jack and we jumped on it with installing the Shifter Assembly in first.
Again, a pretty smooth endeavor: Phil on the floor jack and Ralph and I under the car maneuvering the Transmission into place then bolting it into place on the Bellhousing. Once that was done, we hooked up the Shifter Linkage and installed the Cross Brace with the Transmission Bushings.
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I wasn’t planning on going back up the hangar Saturday or today, but I had to clean up and organize after that hectic week. Yesterday was mostly just that: cleaning, putting tools away, and re-organizing all the remaining assembly parts. I also re-installed all the fender & front grille protection in preparation for a lot of leaning-over work hooking up the various systems. Today was about the New Year which my wife and I spent hiking this morning and then cleaning the house. Fun times.
I kind of hate to ruin this momentum, but tomorrow it's back to work (regular work, not this kind of fun stuff). Next weekend starts back in on the remaining Front Suspension and checking the Clutch to double-check its’ operation.
wkohler
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by wkohler »

Well that's a pretty big chunk of progress there. Must feel great.

I'd be interested in that autosolutions shifter if you're looking to part with it. :)
cek
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by cek »

Nice work as always Vince. You're making great progress.

I noted in this:

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That there's no steering box re-enforcement dowel from Ed? Are you sure you don't want one in there?

www.mwrench.com
http://www.mwrench.com/download/steeringfix.pdf
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

wkohler wrote:Well that's a pretty big chunk of progress there. Must feel great.

I'd be interested in that autosolutions shifter if you're looking to part with it. :)
YES, it feels f'ing great actually. Of course there are miles to go before I sleep, but things should fall into place pretty quickly at this point.
The Shfiter has officially been marked with your name; anytime you need it let me know.
cek wrote:Nice work as always Vince. You're making great progress.

I noted in this:

That there's no steering box re-enforcement dowel from Ed? Are you sure you don't want one in there?
I realized I never shot a close up of how I addressed this. This Subframe is a transplant from an M6 Doug Park parted about 3 years ago. Its' mount was actually in-tact and unscathed so I opted to have an additional gusset plate welded on one of the open ends. If you zoom in to the mount you can see the back side has been closed off. For a mount that wasn't damaged, this is (or should be) an acceptable reinforcing method.
The welder (Aero Welding) did so such a good and clean weld, you could hardly tell it's an add on and didn't look like it came from BMW that way. In fact, as we all know, this is the way BMW should have designed it from the get-go. Aero also took the extra effort to re-flow the welds across the existing joints and painted the whole thing; not necessary as I then went and had the whole Subframe powdercoated after that, but a nice touch just the same.
Last edited by vinceg101 on Jan 02, 2017 2:54 PM, edited 1 time in total.
maybeillbuyit
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by maybeillbuyit »

Vince, beautiful work. Really great pictures. I love this thread! Must be awesome to have all that expert help. I'm looking forward to the first start up video.
dsmith
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by dsmith »

Beautiful! I showed this to my wife, so she knows I'm sane.
Corner Carver
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - December Update

Post by Corner Carver »

vinceg101 wrote: he said “I think it would be fun”).
And it was! :D I've been working too hard lately. It was necessary therapy! I needed an afternoon with kindred spirits (similarly ill ;) ). Besides, there's something pretty special about spending the day shoulders deep in a 30yo German sedan and NOT getting grubby! LOL I'm glad I could lend a hand. :D
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

Weekend Update: Saturday 1/7 & Sunday 1/8:
Time is running short so I am all in for full weekends again on this project (I got permission from the wife).
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Brake Calipers:
Saturday was picking up where I left off last weekend after organizing and psyching up. First up was getting the rear end up off the wheel ramps so I could get at to removing the Rear Brake Calipers. These are being replaced with new reman’d 540i units (the current ones are older 735i calipers; virtually the same except for the rebuild kits).
With them off I can clean the rear Wheel Wells and Axle properly (to satisfy my OCD beast) before installing the new units. That comes later, for then it was time to start assembling the Calipers.
I had the fronts and rears re-plated Yellow Zinc and sitting in a box for the last 4 months:
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And here’s the bag of rebuild kits and hardware:
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I forget what a PITA rebuilding Brake Calipers can be; no matter how many times I’ve done it, the first one or two are a steep re-learning curve. Oddly enough, the instructions on the ATE Re-Build Kit are the most helpful (whodathunkit). The only thing I have learned is to buy extra Re-Built Kits because you always end up tearing one of the boots (I confess I did, but only one this time).
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Per the ATE instructions, slip the boot over the Caliper Piston (top down works best) remembering to apply a liberal amount of brake fluid to lube up the boot. You will have to pry the top of the boot out of the lip channel and slide it down all the way to the bottom of the Caliper:
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The trick here is to leave the bottom hanging off the Piston. Then hold the Piston over the Caliper well and tilting the Piston and boot, lay the bottom of the boot into the to internal lip (do the backside against the caliper first as it is really hard to squeeze this in later). Then roll and walk the boot into the lip, this will take some back and forth and will be frustrating as it keeps popping out of the lip (a third hand is sometimes helpful to hold the Caliper still). Just when you are ready to throw the whole thing against the wall, it will miraculously slip into place. Carefully place the Piston squarely into the well and apply a little bit of pressure to seat it (it’s only going to go in about an 1/8” before the pressure stops it):
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Using the big-assed C-clamp, depress the Piston down into the cylinder well until the boot can be stretched upwards:
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Then walk the top of the boot lip up into the groove along the top of the Piston:
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Voila, you’re done. Repeat four times. Next assemble the Caliper Carriers: screw in new Guide Pins with Locktite:
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Install new rubber Guide Pin Bushings into the Caliper, grease up the Pins with Sta-Lube thoroughly and assemble the two together:
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After that, install new Brake Pads of your choice with a liberal amount of Anti-Squeal compound, install the Brake Wear Sensor Wire to one of each of the front and rear (front=driver’s, rear=passenger’s), Bleeder Valves & Caps, and then Anti-Rattle Clips.
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All that is left to mount the Calipers onto the Struts, and connect the Brake Lines and Brake Wear Sensors:
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Note: you will need to depress the Caliper Piston completely down in order to install the assembly onto the Brake Rotors and Struts. So do this before installing the Brake Pads.

Driveshaft:
Since I was keeping the original Driveshaft and not trade it in for a rebuilt one, I am going ahead and replacing the Center Bearing and related components & hardware. This meant I had to disassemble it and pull those components out.
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First work the shaft locking collar loose; this is a hollow flange with a splined plastic sleeve that locks into place. Take a pair of Channel-locks or other pipe wrench and grab a hold of the collar then start rotating the wrench to un-screw the collar forwards towards the Center Bearing:
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Once it is off the screw threads, slide the collar up the Driveshaft splined spindle and pull the two sections of the Driveshaft apart:
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To remove the old Center Mount you first need to remove the large circlip that is sitting down in a well at the base of the splined spindle (sorry no photo). The correct sized and configured Snap Ring Pliers are the only tool for this. Next remove the old Center Mount by taking a screwdriver and hammer to slide it off the shaft:
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This leaves a small pile of parts, all of which should be replaced:
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Next you need to remove the actual Center Bearing itself along with the Dust Shield behind it. A good sized pair of Bearing Pullers makes short order this:
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After that, thoroughly clean it all and re-paint the Driveshaft itself. Waiting on new parts this week; Pelican had it all in stock except the two Dust Shields which are coming from BMW. Once those are here, re-assembly opposite disassembly and it’s ready to go back in.

Electrical:
Ralph was lending a hand with some interior wiring issues: firstly removing the old Viper alarm wiring from under the steering wheel (a large octopus-like mass of wiring) and repairing all the cut wire and spliced wires the hack-installers butchered (pics to follow).
The other item was reviewing the ECU and Feedback Emissions Compliance Controller (aka Johnson Box). Since I am returning this car to factory Euro exhaust specs, a Catalytic Converter is not being installed at this time. This means I will have to either keep my original 061 ECU & J-Box with attached O2 Sensor and make a hole for it in the new exhaust system somewhere down-stream or remove the J-Box all-together. Obviously the latter is preferable for a performance standpoint but it would make it more difficult to comply with California SMOG regulations later down the road if they ever decide this car needs to comply again. The issues with the former solution weren’t so simple since the EU exhaust is a two pipe system all the way down through the Front and Rear Mufflers. I would have had to cut the down-pipes and create an X-pipe component wherein the O2 Sensor would have to go. Otherwise the O2 Sensor is only going to read off one bank of cylinders, likely screwing up the whole fuel mixture.
Here is the setup above the Glove Box:
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Johnson Box care of Valentine Research (yes the very same guy that brings you radar detectors):
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We were hoping that when they Federalized the car they merely spliced the J-Box into directly into the ECU so we could just keep the whole assembly intact and store it for the future (I have a spare 061 ECU so this was an ideal plan). But they didn’t. Instead they spliced the 8 wires from the Valentine into the Main Wire Harness Connector at the ECU, cutting many very short in the process:
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So now we are going to have to unwrap the Main Wire Harness, cut the damaged and shortened wires (removing the other ends from Connector), splice in new wire grafts and reconnect into the Connector, then re-tape the Harness. The upside is I can keep my existing known good ECU; not so great news is this means most of a day working on the Harness to make this work. This will likely be next weekend’s endeavor or spread over the next few.

Front Suspension:
After getting the Brake Calipers mounted, I tackled installing the rest of the Steering Controls: Tie Rods, Center Link and Pitman Arm. All that was pretty straight-forward to mount onto the Front Subframe and Front Struts. Everything on waiting to be torqued:
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That was about all I had time for. I’m down to the major systems now so I kind of need to complete each one each weekend from here on out. More next week.
cek
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by cek »

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ElGuappo
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by ElGuappo »

^^ Agreed. I'm not worthy.
Sorry about the harness thing, but its really not so bad to take it apart, clean it up, solder and retape.
The real bitch is extending a 179 harness by 18", that 50+ wires...x2!
leadphut
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by leadphut »

new parts are pretty. car looks great!
dsmith
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by dsmith »

Now don't do something stupid, like drive it!

If you have an extra bolt, when you are done, I see where it goes...
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

dsmith wrote:Now don't do something stupid, like drive it!
HA!
dsmith wrote:If you have an extra bolt, when you are done, I see where it goes...
There are likely many bolts missing in some of these photos; I have to go over every connection to double check. But just which one do you see?
dsmith
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by dsmith »

vinceg101 wrote: But just which one do you see?
Trans stiffener. Long bolt, I believe. Could be wrong.
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

dsmith wrote:
vinceg101 wrote: But just which one do you see?
Trans stiffener. Long bolt, I believe. Could be wrong.
I think you are, I reviewed all the bolts and don't appear to missing any. At least since that photo was taken. Thanks for the heads up though.
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

Weekend Update: Saturday 1/14 & Sunday 1/15:

Sometimes updating this thread takes as much effort as the actual work itself. But it is therapeutic and I enjoy relating my experiences in hopes that it helps others.
The work is progressing hot and heavy (finally) as I am checking off systems. This past weekend I was focused on finalizing one system:

HYDRAULIC SYSTEM:
It was time to install the last of the components in hopes to get the system closed up, starting with the Power Steering Pump. The pump has been sitting on a shelf since I assembled it last month along with a box full of hoses and High Pressure Lines. First up was installing the PSP onto the bottom of the Alternator Bracket, along with all new hardware & components:
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Then it was hooking up the High Pressure Hoses from the Accumulator (Bomb), Fluid Reservoir, Steering Gear Box, and the Cooling Lines. The Accumulator and one of the lines went in a while back as well as the Cooling Lines. A certain amount of the hoses went in previously also:
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One or two of the High Pressure Lines were new from BMW but I bought three that Antony (buzzbomb) had remade with new hoses and crimped ends with some recycled fittings. I couldn’t control the process otherwise I would have had the fittings and hard pipes re-plated to match the orginals. But these look well made so I’m not complaining. Besides, they will likely be a damned sight better than the 30 year old leaking versions they replaced.
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I also completed the installation of the Hydraulic Fluid Cooling loop by installing the hard pipe loop in the front nose. The hardest part of the whole procedure was connecting the loop and the two hard return and supply pipes that are bolted to the frame rail together with small sections of hoses. The two lengths of 12x18mm hose are only about 2” long but it is a bit of challenge getting them on there with the hose clamps while crammed up against the front nose frame.
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(Sorry, thought I had photos of the Cooler loop in the nose; I will take a few pics of it next weekend showing those blessed little hose sections)

With that done I went ahead and closed up a few loose ends namely the Brake Fluid Reservoir and Oil Filter Housing. I wasn’t planning on installing the latter, but I kind of had to in order to figure out the alignment of the High Pressure Supply Line to the PSP. I will save hooking up the Oil Cooler Lines to the Oil Filter Head until after the Alternator goes in.
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ABS PUMP REBUILD:
With all that done, I returned reassembling the ABS Pump that I had left half done so I could get the Engine and Transmission installed. So I had all the parts cleaned and a few items re-plated. Turns out they could not re-plate the pump body itself; the plating process involves flowing the zinc coating through all the openings to get to all the surfaces. Since the two halves of the pump body of are sealed with small channels through them, they wouldn’t be able to do the plating process correctly. So my compromise was to clean the pump body and seal it.
Reassembly was a simple reverse process of the tear-down:
First reassemble each of the four pistons:
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Next install the really small O-rings into the top half of the pump. It is a good idea to place in the white plastic rings at the same time. Then press the pistons down into the holes through the O-rings:
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And don't forget the O-Ring gaskets on on the other half of the pump body:
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Set that aside and focus on getting the pump cylinder installed back into the pump body. Remember that small spring loaded piston and ball bearing that pumps up inside the shaft opening?
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Now it was time to find a way to depress that little cylinder; turns out it is under quite a bit of pressure from the two springs. The cylinder has to be completely depressed in order to get the pump shaft into the hole. After some experimentation, I came up with modifying this piece of copper pipe by cutting the end into spiked tip and flattening and bending the tip:
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It took a bit but it worked. Kind of needed a third hand at times, but I eventually slipped the pump shaft down past the cylinder. (Okay it took several attempts where that little cylinder popped out and I had to chase the spring and ball bearing across the bench). To keep from losing your progress once you get them together, quickly install the two long case screws through the pump and into the pump body to lock them together:
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Then take the lower half of the pump body, flip it over and slip to the two pump body halves together. Careful to keep the pistons aligned and in place, press them together while making sure the wires are clear the case bolt holes. Install the six case screws with Loctite and tighten them down.
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Now install the band clamp around the pump cylinder to connect the electrical Fuse Block and pump together. I had to employ C-clamp to squeeze the connector on the end of the band clamp into the Fuse Block (you could use another set of hands to do the same thing if available). Remember to feed the red power wire up through the back slot in the Fuse Block.
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Now you are done with reassembly and ready to install it back into the Engine Bay:
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Set the ABS Pump into the front fender well, secure it down to mounting points and start reconnecting the Brake Lines back into the pump. This time I was sure not to cross-thread the lines:
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BRAKE SYSTEM:
Not a whole lot here except installing the Rear Brake Calipers (after I cleaned the rear wheel wells, of course). I finished out the Front Calipers also (Anti-Rattle Clips) as well as installing all the UUC Stainless Steel Brake Lines:
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That closed up the Hydraulic and Brake System. All that is left is to fill and bleed everything.
Next week is on to Fuel and Electrical.
cek
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by cek »

vinceg101 wrote:But it is therapeutic and I enjoy relating my experiences in hopes that it helps others.
It is therapeutic for me ass well. And I know the ABS stuff will help me. Don't stop, please.
maybeillbuyit
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by maybeillbuyit »

This is really great. I love ZINC
stuartinmn
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by stuartinmn »

vinceg101 wrote:Weekend Update: Saturday 1/7 & Sunday 1/8:

Johnson Box care of Valentine Research (yes the very same guy that brings you radar detectors):

We were hoping that when they Federalized the car they merely spliced the J-Box into directly into the ECU so we could just keep the whole assembly intact and store it for the future (I have a spare 061 ECU so this was an ideal plan). But they didn’t. Instead they spliced the 8 wires from the Valentine into the Main Wire Harness Connector at the ECU, cutting many very short in the process:
It's always interesting to me how grey market cars were Federalized by the different companies back then - each one had their own methods. On my M535i, I only discovered a couple years ago that while there was a Johnson Box installed, it apparently had never actually been connected to anything - the wires from the box were just run up inside the factory harness, with the unconnected ends hidden from view, so it that it looked legitimate. I'm not sure how it passed emissions testing back then, but somehow it must have.
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

stuartinmn wrote:
vinceg101 wrote:Weekend Update: Saturday 1/7 & Sunday 1/8:

Johnson Box care of Valentine Research (yes the very same guy that brings you radar detectors):

We were hoping that when they Federalized the car they merely spliced the J-Box into directly into the ECU so we could just keep the whole assembly intact and store it for the future (I have a spare 061 ECU so this was an ideal plan). But they didn’t. Instead they spliced the 8 wires from the Valentine into the Main Wire Harness Connector at the ECU, cutting many very short in the process:
It's always interesting to me how grey market cars were Federalized by the different companies back then - each one had their own methods. On my M535i, I only discovered a couple years ago that while there was a Johnson Box installed, it apparently had never actually been connected to anything - the wires from the box were just run up inside the factory harness, with the unconnected ends hidden from view, so it that it looked legitimate. I'm not sure how it passed emissions testing back then, but somehow it must have.
Ralph and I were really hoping to find the shortcuts that so many people have mentioned, but alas, whomever did this car actually knew what to do and followed through with it. With the exception of the Charcoal Canister; here they grabbed a Mercedes part off their shelf, hack-welded a mounting bracket onto the bracket next to the Fuse Box and then never connected the breather lines from the trunk. It was there for pure visuals. Come to think of it, their retrofit for the Turn Signals was pretty much a hack job too. So maybe I take that back, maybe the only guy who knew what he was doing was the guy in charge of the J-Box and O2 Sensor.
ovide
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by ovide »

How the hell did I miss this thread!?!?
I'm stunned! You and I are gonna talk in March dude.
It better be driving down to Sandyeggo on it's own!
vinceg101
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by vinceg101 »

ovide wrote:How the hell did I miss this thread!?!?
I'm stunned! You and I are gonna talk in March dude.
It better be driving down to Sandyeggo on it's own!
Indeed, how did you?
I always look forward to our talks. Don't forget my other Turn Signal; we can make it the final piece of the puzzle right their in Darin's driveway.
Well, that certainly is the plan. I have been punching down dates in the calendar and it looks like the revised Road Test date is 2/25/17. Maybe a week earlier if the sequence of things goes my way.
Adam W in MN
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by Adam W in MN »

This is like watching the James May "Reassembler" videos.
ovide
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Re: 1985 Arktisblau M535i Renovation - New Year's Update

Post by ovide »

vinceg101 wrote:
ovide wrote:How the hell did I miss this thread!?!?
I'm stunned! You and I are gonna talk in March dude.
It better be driving down to Sandyeggo on it's own!
Indeed, how did you?
I always look forward to our talks. Don't forget my other Turn Signal; we can make it the final piece of the puzzle right their in Darin's driveway.
Well, that certainly is the plan. I have been punching down dates in the calendar and it looks like the revised Road Test date is 2/25/17. Maybe a week earlier if the sequence of things goes my way.
I will wrench along with you on the driveway with a nice cocktail on the porch!

You need this calender to punch down your dates!
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