The White Wonder: Build Log

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joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

Hello e28 friends. As we’re in the time of corona, I now find myself with enough free time to make a substantive first posting with a nice amount of pictures to keep you all entertained while we’re hunkered down. This post will also serve as a way to record what I’ve actually done on my current ride, in the past 1.5 years, and maybe offer some information to you guys as you work on your various projects.

By way of background, I’ve been into e28s and older BMWs for some time. My father was very much into BMWs in the 1980s when I was a kid, having owned an e21, two e23s and two e28s at various points during the 80s and early 90s. His affection for these cars definitely wore off on me. I was lucky to get as a hand-me-down my his white ’84 528e in 1997.

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The car was wonderful. But it was an auto, so of course I was pining for a 5 speed. Just before heading to law school, in 2003 I got a delphin grey ’88 super eta with a 5 speed.

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The car was a blast, but wouldn’t last long. In March 2005 a guy in a Honda ran a stop sign and I t-boned him. The super eta was no more.

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But I still had my ’84 that I would use daily until May of 2006 when I was able to get a pretty clean ’87 white on pacific blue 535is, 5 speed. Here’s a back side shot of it during my first move back to California after law school.

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The prior owner put on a lot of go fast bits, including Mille Miglia wheels, HR lowering springs, Bilstein sport shocks, e28 M5 front brakes/calipers and rear 540 brakes/calipers, e32 750 MC, stainless steel brake lines, the larger ST sway bars, 3:73 diff, Billy Boat exhaust, Z3 SSK, and Dinan chip. The car had a crack free dash and euro headlights too. The car did need work, and from 2007 to 2008 I replaced the bottom end, had the head rebuilt, put in a new clutch, swapped in an M5 steering gear box, and had the pedal box repaired.

While addressing the mechanics of the car, I also purchased euro bumpers, valance, and signals from Australia in 2007. I spent about $315 with shipping. I finally installed them a year later, after smashing into a dog at 80 mph on the freeway and then a month later getting rear ended by a Chevy Suburban.

Here’s after the dog encounter.

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And here’s after the euro bumpers went in.

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I also bought a LaDue Hartge spoiler in or around ’08, which I didn’t end up installing until after I made another move to the Seattle area in 2014.

The spoiler going on.

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Spoiler installed! Made a dramatic visual difference, especially as I had an early shallow chin euro valance on the car. The car also felt less "floaty" at speed.

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I also bought a set of staggered style 32s from a mye28 member, which only needed slight straightening. The car has 235s in the front and 255s in the back. This is pretty much the exterior of the car today.

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And after moving back to California.

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Up to this point, I relied on shops to undertake most major repairs, and I was content to do the small easier tasks. The last thing I had a shop do was install aluminum e31 lower control arms, and new upper control arms with the Moosehead bushings.

I stopped using shops in 2018, as I had invested in tools, now had a house with a garage, and my e28 was only driven once or twice a month. Also I have a vision for this car, and to have a shop do every possible thing on the car is cost prohibitive, and it’s not likely to get done at all relying on somebody else. I figured it was time to get going on this project on my own.

I first started with a smaller project of retrofitting LED brake lights and rear lights. I wanted LEDs for the obvious improvement of over the stock lighting. But I also wanted to maintain the stock appearance of the tail and brake lights. I further wanted to add a foglight in the factory location.

I found on R3Vlimted.com a company called VLEDS in Bellingham, WA. They advertise various LED bulbs for most applications. I bought their V6 extreme red bulbs for the brakes. These were not plug and play as their website indicates, as they assume the e28 has a socket which their LED harness could plug into.

To make it work, I requested their 7440 bulb connector. I then purchased two 7440 pigtails from Amazon. To wire them in, I cut the positive wire for the brake light from the rear light wiring harness. I then crimped that to the positive on the pigtail, and wired a new ground. The VLEDS blub then plugged right in. The actual bulb housing then securely plugged into the factor bulb socket for the brake lights.

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I retained the incandescent bulb for the high mount light to maintain full cruise control functionality. I also added their LED license plate lights. I did the jumper wire trick in the trunk check control module to avoid the bulb out warnings on the check control panel. I also bought VLEDS 1156 taillight bulbs, which plug right into the factor bulb holder with no modification. The brake lights worked, and they’re absurdly bright. The added bonus was no more annoying radio shutdown when I hit the brakes. The taillights and license plate light were also nice and bright.
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Here’s a comparison of the taillights, with the LED on the left and incandescent on the right.

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And here’s a side-by-side comparison with the taillights of my 2007 Mercedes E350.

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All these photos were taken with my phone, and they don’t entirely capture the quality of the LEDs. They are very bright and clear. Much improved over stock.


With the success of the lighting project, I now was ready to tackle something larger. I wanted to replace my interior carpet, as the original carpet in my car was thrashed with brake fluid that had leaked out of the clutch master cylinder on the driver side. It had all sorts of other stains too. Of course, mission creep started instantly, as I figured if I’m taking out the carpet, I might as well redo my stereo wiring, as it had a terrible alternator whine. And if the carpet was out, now would be the time to lay down modern sound deadening. It would also be a good time to relocate the battery to the trunk and run the battery cable inside, as I had previously purchased a M5 trunk carpet set ready to use.

With my initial project parameters set, I purchased a clean early style pacific blue carpet on eBay. It had no tears, only a bunch of old coffee stains. I used some powder laundry detergent, a plastic brush, and a garden hose to clean it up.

I didn’t take any before shots, but the carpet looks like new after cleaning.

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I also found a battery tray on Amazon, Allstar ALL76100, that would fit nicely under the M5 battery cover.

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Once I got both, I began to assess really how I’d make this all happen. In adding the battery to the trunk, I now decided I was going to sound deaden the trunk as well. A few years back I purchased a set of rear headrests and hardware that I planned on installing. Since I was working in the trunk, it would be easy to at least install the headrest hardware. That would require also relocating the aftermarket amp that was screwed into the rear trunk bulkhead.

The trunk also suffered from gas vapor syndrome, and since I planned on working in the trunk, surely there’d be no harm in adding something else to the project list. I was further concerned with a spark source in the trunk in the form of a car battery and fuel vapor build up. I sourced some cloth braided fuel lines from eBay UK to replace all the lines from fuel filler neck to the fuel expansion tank in the trunk. I purchased all the clamps online as well.


I started the actual work in earnest, by inspecting my fuel tank neck to ensure there was no rust. It looked good to me.

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I also removed 30 plus years of dirt that had accumulated on the fuel tank.

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I then swapped in the new lines, and cleaned up the expansion tank. I also swapped in a new rubber cover in the fuel filler door area from an e12. My original was dry rotted and crumbling apart. I had to cut the e12 item a bit for it to fit.

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New lines in.
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Old lines out.

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The new rubber cover.


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I then paid a mobile welder to weld in the box for me.

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Once the box was welded in, I began inspecting the entire trunk for rust before I was going to lay down the sound deadening material. The trunk was very clean with only surface rust in a few places.

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However, there was more noticeable corrosion around trunk seal near the rear tail panel. Enter mission creep again. I decided to pull the trunk seal, strip all the paint where I saw rust, treat the rust and repaint.

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Stripping, treating and painting done.
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I likewise did spot rust treatment on the other spots in the trunk as well. I also re-wrapped the wire harness coming into the trunk with some split loom, as the original harness tape disintegrated entirely.

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I further took down the amp off the rear bulkhead. Looking at it, there was a jumble of RCAs, poor crimping, and remnants of the original wiring harness for the car audio.

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Now it was time to paint the tray and welds. I found a vendor on Amazon that sold their version of BMW’s alpine white. After priming and painting, it came out well.


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Once painting was done, I laid down the sound deadening material. I used Thermo-Tec, which went down without issue.

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With the trunk sound deadening pretty much done, I moved on to the interior. I began by laying a different sound material under the rear bench and rear bulkhead that I found on eBay. It was cheaper than Thermo-Tec, and slightly thicker. There was no brand on it, but it looked like a generic HVAC type material.

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While laying down the material, I found out why my rear defrost never worked. Looks like someone got a little zealous taking out the rear parcel shelf at some point in the car’s life and tore the leads off the rear glass.

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At this juncture, I began to plan what my new audio would encompass. I had never really been into car audio, and found it to be a bit intimidating at first. I knew I wanted it to be loud enough, clear with some bass. The set-up I had at this point was a mishmash of items the PO left, and replacement pieces I installed. The car was running a Dual XPA4100 4 channel amp, rated at 50 RMS per channel at 4 ohm. I had a single 5 1/4 inch Infinity Kappa in one of the rear housings (the other was in a box), a stock speaker and tweeter in the other rear housing, a 4x6 inch coaxial Infinity Kappa in the driver footwell, and a custom enclosed 6 inch speaker in the passenger footwell installed by the PO. The front tweeters weren’t working at all. I had a 6.5 200 watt self amplified bazooka tube under the right rear passenger seat. My head unit was a 2005 year Clarion DXZ745, that had a separate interface box to allow for limited use of an iPod.

My plan was to re-use my Dual amp, as I thought it sounded decent, and mount it under the left rear passenger seat along with a passive crossover network. As far as the speakers and crossovers, I had to educate myself on exactly what I should get, as I really had no clue. I wasn’t going to break the bank on some competition style audio set up. Again I just wanted clarity and some bass. After reading up, I settled on Audiopipe CRX-203 Passive 2 way crossovers. I purchased Pioneer TS-T15 3/4 inch tweeters for the rear, rated at 40 RMS watts at 4 Ohm. I planeed to put both Infinity Kappa 5020cs 5 1/4 inch speakers in the rear speaker housings, each rated at 75 RMS watts at 2 Ohm. For the front speakers, I purchased Kicker KSC40 4 inch two-way speakers, rated at 75 RMS watts at 4 Ohm. Finally, for the front tweeters I bought Focal TWU1.5, 1 1/2 inch rated at 15 RMS watts at 4 Ohm. I also bought all new speaker wire and terminals, as the current setup used the original speaker wire harness.

Once I actually laid out my amp and crossover setup on cardboard, I found my initial plan wouldn’t fit under the rear seat. I decided to mount a set of crossovers to the rear bench support, and then place the second group of crossovers next to the amp. These items would be mounted on a 3/4 inch board. Covering them with speaker cabinet fabric was pretty straightforward after learning how to do it from the car audio forums.

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The audio portion of this project required me to learn the appropriate gauge of power wire to use, how to crimp and properly strip wire, as well as heatshrink. I invested in some additional tools from Amazon, including a heat gun, wire strippers for larger gauge wire, and a handheld hydraulic crimper for the larger gauge wire. I also bought a heavy duty wire crimping tool from Harbor Freight.

I did some preliminary placement of the amp, crossovers, and sub.

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I also determined where my ground point would be for the amp. I used the factory ground location under the left rear seat.

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New 8 AWG compared to the original amp ground.

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Now it was time to do the real heavy lifting and pull the carpet. I started by disassembling the driver side kick panel, glove box, and center console. In doing so, I saw the rats nest of after market stereo wiring and RCAs. There is really a lot of space if the wiring is done more efficiently.

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Then everything started to come out. A lot of cutting and pulling was required to pull the carpet under the HVAC box and between the firewall, but I got it out.


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As you can see, the original carpet was pretty well damaged. All the brake fluid had eaten up the foam, as well as the material for the dead pedal.

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Otherwise, the sheet metal underneath the carpet was in great shape. I was really worried there’d be a massive hole or something. Even where the brake fluid pooled, there was no real damage to the sheet metal. Only the paint and tar material were unsettled.

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I cleaned up the flooring, removed the floor vent ducting, and applied some paint by hand on the driver side. I figured since I’d place the sound material above on top, it didn’t matter how pretty the paint was.

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I then laid down the sound deadening material extensively.

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I also did the doors.
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I added new water barriers to all the doors later.

My ECU was precariously hanging under the dash by a single screw. Not really sure how that happened. I cut another 3/4 inch piece of board so I could secure the ECU as well as the iPod interface.


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With the interior coming along, I ran the RCAs along the right side of the car. These were 17-foot generic cables off Amazon that received decent reviews.

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The battery cables were next. For the car battery, I purchased 4 AWG from Temco off Amazon. I essentially mirrored the M5 cable routing, with the exception that instead of exiting the interior under the driver seat, I continued to route it under the driver seat, and bolted it to the rear most seat support. I then continued the cable along the left side and up through the firewall, exiting where the brake bomb wiring entered the engine compartment. I wrapped the cable in 1/2 inch split wire loom tubing.

I also ran the car audio power cable parallel to the car battery cable with the exception that it stopped over the driveshaft tunnel near the amp. The amp specs called for 8 AWG.

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In the trunk, I placed two fuse blocks that would connect to the battery. The larger one is for the car and is made by Fastronix. The smaller is a generic fuse for the car audio.

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I bought an acid mat the for the battery tray, and made all my terminal connections for the trunk

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I purchased a power bus bar also from Fastronix to place in the engine bay. I attached it to a 1/4 inch piece of Home Depot brand steel, and secured that to the sheet metal just under the expansion tank. I used various rubber pads and bolts I purchased from OSH.

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Routing the battery cable through the engine bay was a messy affair, as my brake booster leaked like crazy. I’ll discuss my remedy of that later. With the cable in the engine bay and the power bus bar mounted, I made the new terminal connections for the cable. I also made a new terminal connection for the power cable that runs to the starter. I also pulled off all the wiring for the fuse box. The original ring terminals for those wires easily screwed into the provided connections on the power bus bar.

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Now the battery was placed in the trunk. After a test start, the car fired right up with no problems, fires, or explosions.

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I made some adjustments as far as the ground cable length in the trunk. I also had a trickle charger that I hardwired to the battery terminals. I bought a generic battery vent tube from O’Riellys. I ran both the vent tube and charger wire out the trunk through the grommet leftover for the right rear parking light for the US bumpers. Both exited out the bottom of the trunk flooring. Now when the car is parked, I can plug the trickle charger underneath the car. When not used, the charging wire can discreetly be pushed out of sight.


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Mission creep again. I purchased a United Auto Security keyless entry system almost a decade ago but didn’t install it. As the interior was apart, it was time to install it. The system adds keyless entry, auto locking after the car has started, basic alarm function, in addition to some other features. All the features can be enabled or disabled depending on what you want. I only made one modification. The factory wiring diagram has the keyless entry flashing the parking lights instead of the turn signals. I wired it to turn the signals when locking and unlocking.

I started with a gang of wires.


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But I pared it down to what was needed to operate the computer for the keyless entry.

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Then it went in with little fuss.

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I stealthily connected and hid the wiring harness.

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The siren was installed just above the car horn.

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More mission creep. My instrument cluster has always been unreliable. I replaced the cluster circuit board twice during my ownership. That would always fix issues temporarily until they returned. My car was currently suffering from an inoperative tach and temp gauge. I planned to remedy this finally without buying another circuit board. But if I was dissembling the cluster, I thought I’d better do those other mods I wanted.

There was a group buy for the digital oil temp and pressure gauge for the instrument cluster here on mye28. I missed that but directly contacted Ronald who makes the kit. He still had them in Psi/°F, and he shipped one over with no issue.


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I also decided to add the rear foglight, and wanted the appropriate cluster indicator. I found a euro spec indicator in Greece on eBay.

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As for the tach and temp gauge issue, my best educated guess after reading posts here and elsewhere was that the batteries were dead. I wanted a more permanent solution than batteries that would keep dying out. The cluster requires 3 volts to operate correctly. After more internet research and browsing I found a 12 volt to 3 volt converter for about $5.00 on Amazon. I figured it was worth a shot, not much more than batteries, and far less than buying a new circuit board at $250 or so.

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With everything purchased for the cluster, I disassembled it, and soldered the wiring for the step down converter. I drilled a hole in the back of the cluster housing to allow for a connection to the converter, which would sit in the dash behind the cluster.

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I tapped into an unused constant 12 volt connection at, I believe, C302 per the ETM.


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The step down converter was wired and showed 3.05 volts, which should work for the cluster voltage.

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I reassembled the rest of the cluster and installed the oil/temp gauge. I also put in new bulbs and bought a new coding plug.

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All closed up and ready to go back in. Bulb for the rear fog light is at the bottom right of the cluster. I also polished the front of the cluster to reduce the 30 plus years of scratches and marks.

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I tidied up some of the wiring with Tesa tape. The connection for the step down converter is the red and yellow wiring.


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Testing showed step down converter worked and everything was running properly.


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For the rear foglight, I looked at a wiring diagram from m42club.com for an e30. (http://m42club.com/writeups/lighting/re ... 051109.pdf) The basic principles applied here with a trunk mounted battery. I bought some cheap relays from Amazon, and some mounting brackets that could be formed and cut. The car already had a euro foglight switch. I tapped into the cigarette lighter 12 volt for the switch, used some flag terminals to fit in the foglight plug. I then ran the wire all the way to the trunk for the relay. I spliced into the wire heading into the trunk for the dashboard light indicator.


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I used a fused line running from the fuse block for the car audio. I then made a new single connection for all the grounds for the LED brake lights, relay, and new fog light.

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I then bought another pigtail for a 7440 bulb to connect another VLEDS V6 extreme red bulb. I also replaced the reverse light bulbs with some OXILAM white 1156 bulbs.

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I continued progressing with the car audio, including finalizing the placement of the amp and crossover network.
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The rear fog light indicator is on in this picture.

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The rear fog light is on.

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Rear speakers were put in place.
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Last edited by joema on Apr 05, 2020 12:03 AM, edited 2 times in total.
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

Continued:


I further began to get into wiring the head unit. I opted for an ISO harness connector on the car side to make future radio changes easier.

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I bought a Clarion generic ISO connector but added some inline fuses to match the original Clarion harness specs.

Here’s the old harness.

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Now the new harness with fuses.

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And a comparison shot of the two.

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A connection is made.

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Once I got the radio wired in, I decided to do a test run to check my speaker and amp wiring. Testing revealed that my amp was shot. Not sure if the damage occurred when I took it out of the trunk or was moving it around to store it, but it was done. After shopping around, newer, smaller, and more powerful amps were plentiful and affordable. I picked up a new amp on sale at Sonicelectronix.com. For $180 I got a Massive Audio EX44 4 channel amp, with 100 RMS per channel at 4 Ohm. The old Dual went in the dustbin with little fanfare.

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The Massive Audio went in a lot more neatly than the Dual, and I was able to tidy up the install making it appear a little cleaner and somewhat professional.


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I finished up the sound deadening by adding some jute padding and then placed some Second Skin Luxury Liner Foam down.

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Then the new carpet went in. The early style carpet doesn’t have built in padding for the dead pedal, so I fabricated my own dead pedal to place behind the carpet. It’s a single piece of 1/4 inch steel sandwiched between two 3/4 inch pieces of wood and fastened by some sheet metal screws. I then covered the side of the dead pedal where the carpet rests with some left over Second Skin foam.


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I also got my sensors for the oil temp and pressure. I fabricated a wiring harness that exited on the passenger side to the engine and hooked up to the sensors. Everything worked.


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I did an oil change in preparation of the new temp sensor.

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Old versus new pressure sensor.

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Wiring harness exiting with the main harness


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New pressure sensor installed. This sensor retains the stock pressure light as well as provides pressure readings.

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The wiring harness continues down to the temp sensor.


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Now we have readings in the cluster.

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Christmas 2018 rolled around and I was gifted a new head unit. A Kenwood Excelon KDC-X702. It’s a lot more modern than the old Clarion, with Bluetooth, USB connections, and most of the other modern features. It also looks pretty good in the interior.


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I wanted as OEM look for the Bluetooth mic so I opted not to use the clip on style mic supplied by Kenwood. I purchased an e46 Bluetooth mic, and an after market Bluetooth mic from enfigcarstereo.com that fits into the e46 housing. I relocated the sunroof switch to the left of the car stereo. I fabricated a new wire harness for the switch that included the plug-in wire for the Bluetooth mic and ran it up the A-pillar on the driver side. I then modified the old sunroof hole in the ceiling to fit the mic plate. Mic is clear and in HD.



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I purchased a double USB plate made by Kramer from markertek.com. I cut a hole in the glove box for the plate. I ran some USB extension cables to the head unit. I also cleaned up my RCAs under the dash, and mounted my car alarm shock sensor next to the ECU, as I no longer needed the Clarion iPod interface box.

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The connections waiting for the Kenwood.


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A new ISO harness for the head unit side.


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I bought two pacific blue rear speaker covers and risers from a non-premium audio car all the way from Australia. I used these to fit the larger front speakers. The driver side riser had to be trimmed down a bit to fit past the hood release hatch. Front tweeters also went in.

G’day, mate!

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Head unit up and running.


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Finally, I replaced the front parking/turn signal lights with VLEDS amber LED 1157 bulbs. For the rear turn signals I used OXILAM amber 1156 bulbs. I swapped out the factor flasher relay for a Dewhel LED relay to avoid the hyper flashing. I also bought some LED fog lights that light yellow when on, but are clear otherwise.


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The last bit of mission creep set in, as I added the “comfort blinker” 3 flash relay using Audi/VW PN 000 998 229A 227A. The mye28 post discussing it is found here: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=97267. I tucked the relay in the wiring just behind the cluster.

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Everything in the interior was pretty much done. The carpet looks nice and new. The seats are still old and tired. Kind of funny how much work I did, yet the visual impact after being done was kind of meh. After all this interior work, I think I can take a stab at recovering these on my own.


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The trunk was pretty much done, but I added some metal tabs to secure the M5 trunk bits.


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I also ran an additional LED light to the underside of the rear parcel shelf for some extra light by tapping into the factory trunk wiring.


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I also bought a black replica trunk cover from eBay. I’m still on the hunt for a black tool kit tray and rear bulkhead covering. If any of you guys have these and are willing to part with them, let me know.


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With all the new sound deadening in, the car is substantially quieter. Before it was quite boomy with the exhaust, in addition to tire and wind noise. With the sound deadening, everything now has a more pleasant muted feel to it. Not too quiet, but quiet enough. The doors also close with a more substantial “chunck” than before. The stereo is much louder and clearer now. I’m assuming that’s a result of setting up the audio correctly and new sound deadening. The bazooka tube also seems a lot more bassy.

In the engine bay I cleaned up the battery tray location that was covered in dirt and grim. I thought there’d be a lot of rust but it was almost all caked on dirt. Where there was rust it was mostly on the surface. I stripped the paint where necessary, put some rust treatment, and applied some paint to clean the area up.

Before:


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During:


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After:

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Doing this interior project definitely improved my DIY skills. Now emboldened, my next planned project was to ditch the factory brake booster for a vacuum swap. I also planned at the same time to put in a pedal bracket at the same time, as I’d be pulling off the booster which is attached to the pedal bracket assembly. I began assembling my parts, including a B35 intake manifold with vacuum port, a new old stock pedal bracket. I also purchased a Roth bracket David Pepin here on mye28.


At this point, I my goal was to slowly accumulate some additional parts before actually taking the project on. However, either my cold start injector or a fuel line started gushing out fuel one day in July 2019.

All the fuel under the car ready to light up! Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

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Curiously, that fuel stain would be on that parking spot for over 6 more months. The car going home on a tow.


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I decided to replace all the fuel lines, put new fuel injectors in, and at least swap in the B35 manifold to get me a step closer to the vacuum conversion.

I decided to ditch the cold start injector and buy a B35 fuel rail of eBay. Because the manifold was coming out, I figured I might as well replace my starter given it would be easy to access and my starter was not very confidence inspiring. I would replace it with a B35 unit.

I cleaned up the intake manifold and put some new paint on.


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I cleaned, stripped, and painted the fuel rail. I bought some remaned CAtuned fuel injectors. I also bought some Bosch connectors to replace some of the damaged fuel injector connectors and other sensors on the engine.

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Swapping the manifold was pretty straightforward. The only hiccup was removing the starter bolt furthest from the block. It was fused in there pretty good, and it took an impact wrench to break it loose.


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Old and the new


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Some of the new fuel lines.


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The evil starter bolt gone and old starter removed.
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B35 starter is definitely smaller and easier to bolt down than the old item.


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I added a ring terminal for the connection to the starter from the wiring harness.

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The B35 manifold had one fewer vacuum ports for the various vacuum lines that connect on the bottom of the manifold. I went to O'Reilly’s and bought the necessary part, along with some extra vacuum line. All was well thereafter.

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Plugs for the brake booster port.

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With the new clean manifold and injectors, the car definitely feels faster and more responsive. Also probably because I replaced all those vacuum lines, so there are no more leaks. The new starter fires up with a nice kick, more of a metallic "ziff" sound versus the old "uushh uussh" starting sound.


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Now onto Christmas 2019 and I had some vacation time to use for to finish up the booster swap. Since I swapped the manifold, I also purchased an extra pedal assembly, an e30 Girling booster, a Gates 528e pressure power steering line, 528e resevoir, various hoses and clamps, and BenGerman clutch over-center spring. The new clutch pedal bracket I purchased was designed for the newer style stop light switch. I bought a new one of those and a used pigtail off eBay. I was pretty much set.

I cleaned up the Girling booster and pedals I’d be using in preparation. Then I preliminarily set up the pedals.

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Newer style stop light switch.


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The BenGerman clutch over-center spring.

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I jumped in and started tearing out all the booster stuff. It was messy, but satisfying to get rid of all that.

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Power steering fluid poisoning my flowerbed.

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Gates power steering hose. I also purchased new banjo bolts, as the original were difficult to thread in.


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You can see how the original on the bottom seems to have some of its threading worn down.


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The staging area


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I took the big leap and pulled the steering column and pedal assembly. I made sure to put some plastic down so as not to not ruin my new carpet.

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Prior to taking the column out, I used to get this annoying squeaky sound from the column when driving. Pretty sure it’s because when the pedal bracket was welded previously, the shop missed that bolt and bushing pictured here.


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See here how it’s missing from the column.


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Pedal assembly out. Original pedal assembly and new one getting ready to go in.


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The new pedal assembly went in with the Roth bracket and BenGerman spring.


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As I now had space, I could clearly see where I routed the battery cable into the engine bay the prior summer. I wrapped the cable in 1/2 inch split wire loom tubing, routed it parallel to the rubber horn wiring, and bolted it down where the hard power steering lines previously secured to the chassis frame. The power steering reservoir bracket was from a non-e28 car, so I had adapt it. If I find an e28 one, I’ll swap it out later.

Out with the old booster, and in with the vacuum booster. I was able to do all this without removing the MC or disconnecting the hard lines.



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Here you can see the newly wrapped battery cable and its routing.


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My ABS connector crumbled apart. I wired in these generic waterproof connections from Amazon.



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As I attempted to test mount the MC on the booster, the push rod fell out. I didn’t see how I could get it to stay put. Because I’m dealing with brakes, I didn’t feel safe doing some sort of half-baked repair on this booster. Plus it only cost me $60 in the first place. I ordered a brand new 528e ATE booster from autohausaz.com for about $200. Not too much for some peace of mind while driving. The ATE booster also went in a lot easier than the Girling unit. The Girling unit seemed wider, but it could’ve been my imagination.


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I wrapped it up during install to avoid any scratches.


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Now I had to deal with the heater control valve. After thinking about it a bit, I decided to mimic to a degree what BMW with the 528e when it mounted the heater control valve off the booster. I went to Lowes and got some 1/4 inch aluminum plate. I would reuse the mounting bracket for the heater control valve, turn it upside down and mount it to the aluminum plate.


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After some trial and error, I found the right dimensions in order to mount the heater control valve with minimal modification to the hoses, and wire connection.

Too far to the left!


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That’s better.


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I then mocked up how I was going to run the coolant lines to the back of the engine.


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Finishing up the power steering return lines.

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Getting closer.

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Final product.

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I cleaned up the wiring terminals for the booster. I thought it would trigger a one of the lights in the cluster, as the ETM shows they are connected. But no error lights at all.

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In the valley of the hoses.

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Another shot of the battery cable making its way to the bus bar.

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During this project I saw that all the protective sheathing on the cable from the starter to the alternator had disintegrated.

That looks dangerous!


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Yes, that is dangerous!


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If you have an original cable like me, you might want to make sure it doesn’t look like this:


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So another project was added to the list. I had left over 4 AWG Temco wire from the battery project. I prepared a new wire with terminals and a 12 AWG wire that connects to the wiring harness, and, I believe, the diagnostic port.

BMW’s original next to my homemade replacement.


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I disassembled the original wiring harness that housed the original cable between the alternator and starter, and used some more 1/2 inch split loom to create a new harness like the original.


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After some test fitting, I found some protective covers from Fastronix that fit perfectly at the alternator terminal.


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Back at the starter.


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I put everything back together, and it was better than new. I also took this opportunity to clean up some of the terminal connectors from the fuse box to the bus bar.

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The vacuum booster works perfectly, although a little less sensitive than the factory m30 booster setup. Best of all, no more power steering fluid everywhere! I would definitely recommend this swap.


After all this, I went back and bought some rear speakers with the correct impedance, as the Infinity Kappas were 2 Ohm, and everything else in the system is 4 Ohm. I bought some Massive Audio 5.25 inch speakers rated at 130 rms.


Next up I’m going to go back and clean up some of my audio install. I think my bazooka tube has an internal issue with the amp, as I can hear it hum for short periods when the car has just turned off. I’m probably going to buy a newer self amplified subwoofer enclosure that has a smaller foot print. I’m also going to run a new 4 AWG for the car audio, and have a fused power distribution block under the rear bench for the amp and subwoofer amp.

Then I’d like to do a full suspension rebuild, and a coilover install. I’m now trying my suspension skills on this one before I dig in on the e28.



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That’s it for now.

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Last edited by joema on Apr 05, 2020 12:09 AM, edited 2 times in total.
Dale3783
Posts: 439
Joined: Oct 26, 2016 10:01 PM
Location: Miami, FL

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by Dale3783 »

Wow! What a post. Great job. Car looks great
muleskinner
Posts: 1339
Joined: Sep 08, 2007 11:17 AM
Location: John Graham ATL

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by muleskinner »

Incredible, detailed craftsmanship. It took me an hour to read/scroll through, and an hour well spent.
Conanblau
Posts: 221
Joined: Aug 29, 2007 10:06 PM
Location: BC, Canada

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by Conanblau »

Great efforts, keep the updates coming! :popcorn:
JJS21
Posts: 34
Joined: Oct 03, 2010 12:08 PM
Location: pittsburgh

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by JJS21 »

Keep up the good work!
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

Thanks everyone. The car still has plenty of warts to remedy. Hopefully there will be a lot more to update in the near future.
Mdreamer
Posts: 526
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by Mdreamer »

WOW! I'm giving you a standing applause!
jayjaya29
Posts: 188
Joined: Jul 30, 2014 12:53 AM
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by jayjaya29 »

Awesome thread! Thanks for taking the time to write it up. Will be referencing this thread in the future.
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

Thanks for the further replies. I thought I’d add a list of most of the parts used, along with part numbers I have and some links. I also added a couple of photos in my original posts for clarity.

Lighting

Brake and rear fog light - VLEDS V6 TRITON RED 7443 7440 https://www.vleds.com/v6-triton-kit-r-7443.html

Taillights - VLEDS RED 50 LED 1156 https://www.vleds.com/1156-50-r.html

Front turn/parking lights - VLEDS HIGH VISIBILITY AMBER 50 LED 1157 https://www.vleds.com/1157-50-hv-amber.html

Pigtails for brake lights and fog lights - TOMALL 7440 pigtail https://www.amazon.com/TOMALL-Sockets-F ... B073WVYVQV

LED turn signal flasher - Dewhel 3-Pin CF-14 Electronic Flasher Relay https://www.amazon.com/Dewhel-Electroni ... B0783MGVVW

Reverse lights - OXLIAM 1156-LED Bulbs Reverse-Light white

Rear turn signals - OXILAM 1156-LED Bulbs Amber Yellow

Front fog lights - Calais LED H3 yellow fog light https://www.amazon.com/Calais-Extremely ... B01CTMT01G

Relays for rear fog light - Genssi relays https://www.amazon.com/Genssi-Light-Rel ... B005HFYE1O

In line fuse wire for fog light relay - https://www.amazon.com/circuit-Adapter- ... B07FT7J2CS

Mounting bracket for fog light relay - https://www.amazon.com/Black-Backstrap- ... B01D3FO5HW

Comfort blinker - Audi/VW part number 000 998 229A 227A


Manifold swap

Manifold gaskets (x6) – BMW part number 11611726016

Bosch fuel injector terminal repair kit - BMW part number 1287013003 (also works for other terminals on the wiring harness)

Throttle body gasket - BMW part number 13541270894

Vacuum connector to allow additional connections to B35 manifold vacuum ports - American Grease Stick 3/16 Inch Hard Vacuum F-Connector available at O’Reilly’s Auto

For the unused vacuum ports on the B35 manifold - Holley Rubber Vacuum caps of various sizes also at O’Reilly’s

Generic 3/16 inch vacuum hose

BMW genuine hose clamps - BMW part number 07129952104

Continental 5/16 inch SAE j30R9 fuel line

CAtuned M30 remanufactured injectors set - https://catuned.com/rebuilt-injector-set

B35 starter - Bosch SR441X Starter


Cluster rebuild

Coding plug per my car’s VIN - BMW part number 62111377665

Digital oil cluster gauge links: http://ns.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=131799, http://www.claasi.de/tip001400.php

Pressure sender - VDO 150 psi Pressure Sender Thread: M12 x 1.5

Temperature sender for drain plug - VDO 300F/150C Temperature Sender 6-24V with .250 in. Spade Connection and M12x1.5 Thread

Step down converter to power cluster circuit board - SMAKN DC/DC Converter 12V Step Down to 3V/3A Power Supply Module

Covering for wiring harness for sending units in engine bay - Black braided sleeve https://www.amazon.com/25ft-Expandable- ... B073YLYBJF


Battery relocation and trunk

Battery cable - TEMCo WC0150-30 ft 4 Gauge AWG https://www.amazon.com/TEMCo-WC0150-30- ... B00LIB4V3C

Alpine white paint - Harpy Motors Alpine White III https://www.amazon.com/Harpy-Motors-199 ... B079KWKXVT

Power bus bar in engine bay - Fastronix 3/8 inch 4 Stud Power Distribution Block with Cover https://www.amazon.com/Fastronix-Power- ... B078VGKC8T

Battery box for trunk - https://www.amazon.com/Allstar-ALL76100 ... B006K8V3NE

Battery cable trunk fuse - Fastronix Hi-Amp Master Fuse Kit, part number #500-040 http://www.fastronixsolutions.com/Circu ... %20kit.htm

3/8 inch battery lugs

M5 replica trunk cover - https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-e28-5er-M- ... 1438.l2649

Trunk LED lighting - https://www.amazon.com/YIJINSHENG-Inter ... B076YK84NY

8x13 mm cloth braided fuel hose for evaporator tank


Interior

1/4 inch heat shield insulation, sound deadening material

Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro Closed Cell Sound Insulation Foam 3/8 inch

1/2 inch automotive jute

3M 3 inch Velcro tape

Kraftex double sided carpet tape

Keyless entry – United Auto Security: https://www.ebay.com/itm/KEYLESS-ENTRY- ... SwHYpZ8Aeh


Brake booster conversion

ATE Power Brake Booster - BMW part number 34331157416

Booster firewall foam/gasket - BMW part number 35111150370

Vacuum booster hose check valve between manifold and booster - BMW part number 34331151532

Vacuum hose connector at booster - BMW part number 34331113652

Vacuum hose from manifold to booster 12x19mm - BMW part number 34331115926

Power steering reservoir - BMW part number 32 41 6 851 217

Gates high-pressure hose from pump to steering gear, includes metal seal rings - Gates part number 352225. Note, I couldn’t find a new hose from BMW. Looks like it’s NLA.

Continental hose from reservoir to pump - BMW part number 32411131524

Contitech reinforced hose from steering gear to reservoir - BMW part number 32411131545

High pressure hose steering banjo bolts - BMW part number 32416783886

Power steering hose clamps - 12-22 mm BMW part number 07129952107, and 18-24 mm, BMW part number 07129952109

Newer style stop light switch - BMW part number 61318360420. I used WVE brand part number 1S6960, which is half the price of the genuine BMW part.

Pedal Bracket - BMW part number 35111157728. When I bought mine at least, it was still available new.

Brake pedal retaining spring - BMW part number 35211152371

ABS connector repair - https://www.amazon.com/HIGHROCK-Waterpr ... B016NV1PVW

BenGerman clutch over-center spring: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=149057

Roth bracket: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=103670

Terminal cover for alternator cable – Fastronix large stud terminal cover, part number 404-111 https://www.amazon.com/Fastronix-Stud-T ... B017E086AO


Heater control relocation

Continental 3/4 inch heater/coolant hose - part number H0304, available at AutoZone

Generic 3/4 inch hose clamps

Dorman 3/4 inch 90 Degree Heater Hose Elbow - part number 47063, available at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts

1/4 inch aluminum


Audio

Kenwood Excelon KDC-X702 head unit

Kicker KSC40 front foot well speakers

Focal TWU1.5 front tweeters

Massive Audio Mk5, 5.25 inch rear shelf speakers

Pioneer TS-T15 0.75 inch rear shelf tweeters

Massive Audio EX44 amplifier

Bazooka Tube BTA6100 subwoofer (for now)

Audiopipe CRX-203 passive crossovers (x4)

DKMUS Universal brand ISO Car Radio Wire harness, male connector

Speaker adapter plate to allow 4 inch round speaker to fit in 4x6 front speaker housing - Scosche Sa464 4-Inch X 6-Inch Speaker Adapters

Postta RCA cables

14 awg speaker wire

e46 Bluetooth mic cover/plate - BMW part number 51448250108

Enfigcar Stereo Bluetooth mic that fits e46 mic cover – Enfig part number Enfig MIC-BM1. Link: https://enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_MIC_BM1.html

Kramer double USB plate: https://www.markertek.com/product/kr-wu ... sert-black


Some tools and miscellaneous parts used that were helpful

Hydraulic crimper for larger terminals/lugs: https://www.amazon.com/Yescom-Hydraulic ... B00KS4R3PI

Larger wire stripper: https://www.amazon.com/rmsdeal77-Steel- ... B00LV3SKWA

Roller for sound deadening: https://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10005-Dy ... B00020CASS

Genesis GHG1500A heat gun

Harbor Freight brand, Pittsburgh 9-1/2 in. Wire Crimping Tool

Battery cable clamp under front driver seat: https://www.amazon.com/LOKMAN-Stainless ... B01HPE188Q

Titanium step drill bits

Various colored wiring, 12 to 16 AWG

Dorman 86634 Black 1/2 inch split loom

Black zip/cable tie mounts self-adhesive clips 25mm x 25mm

Various ring terminals, U-terminals, blade terminals, closed end crimps

Various butt connectors

Tesa tape

Electrical tape

Solder

Heat shrink tubing of various sizes
thugginrobby
Posts: 515
Joined: Feb 20, 2017 4:56 AM
Location: CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by thugginrobby »

What wires did you extend to relocate the sunroof switch?
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

There are five wires in total on the connector that attaches to the back of the sunroof switch. In my car, there were two brown wires, two black wires, and a single green/blue wire. I cut all five to splice in the extended wiring, leaving enough of the original wiring on the connector to crimp in the new wires. I matched the new wires for the extension with the factory gauge wiring per the ETM. I used 14 awg for the green wire, 16 awg for the two brown wires, and 14 awg for the two black wires. I crimped the new wiring with regular butt connectors at the sunroof switch connector and back at the sunroof motor. I wrapped it all in Tesa tape.
Adam W in MN
Posts: 5052
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Don't waste my motherf***in' time!
Contact:

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by Adam W in MN »

Incredible post, thanks
thugginrobby
Posts: 515
Joined: Feb 20, 2017 4:56 AM
Location: CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by thugginrobby »

joema wrote:There are five wires in total on the connector that attaches to the back of the sunroof switch. In my car, there were two brown wires, two black wires, and a single green/blue wire. I cut all five to splice in the extended wiring, leaving enough of the original wiring on the connector to crimp in the new wires. I matched the new wires for the extension with the factory gauge wiring per the ETM. I used 14 awg for the green wire, 16 awg for the two brown wires, and 14 awg for the two black wires. I crimped the new wiring with regular butt connectors at the sunroof switch connector and back at the sunroof motor. I wrapped it all in Tesa tape.
Nice! Looking to do this in my IS, but looked at the wiring and wanted to see how you did it. Do you happen to have any pictures of the wires?
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

I looked through my pics and I don't have any of the sunroof wiring before I cut into it. But, if you take out your sunroof switch, you should be able to pull the connector and factory wiring out a bit. That's what I did to cut it and splice in the extension wiring. It's fairly straightforward. The most time consuming part of it all was running the wiring to the center console, as you have to remove the sun visors so you can pull down the black vinyl ceiling cover to give room so you can run the wiring to the A-pillar. Then snake it down the A-pillar and down under the dash. Then you have to remove the kick panel so you can navigate the wiring past everything that's between the A-pillar and the center console. Because my instrument cluster was already out, I was able to pass the wiring through all the factory wires back there, and it looked fairly at home with the harness tape. But, taking the cluster out isn't necessary to get this done.
stuartinmn
Posts: 9380
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Minneapolis

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by stuartinmn »

Wow! I think you need to include more photos. ;) Very informative post.
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

I got a photo for ya! UPS guys are still working with their masks on and I got this delivered today.

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The top is for the early valance. I might use that for now, as I have the early/shallow valance. The bottom, interestingly, is for the later valance M20 cars. Before I bought it, I had only seen the M30 engine trays. I expect to buy the later/deeper valance to use with the larger tray, but I think I'll keep my eye out for a M30 specific one so as to avoid cutting this M20 tray. Would be a shame to cut it if there aren't many around. Anyone into plastics? Maybe these can be copied.
cek
Posts: 9206
Joined: Mar 18, 2013 6:25 PM
Location: Durango
Contact:

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by cek »

Except for the part where you apparently moved from WA to CA, this thread is awesome! Bummed I didn't see it before. Great work.

Alpine E28s are THE BEST.
joema
Posts: 31
Joined: Apr 09, 2014 12:51 AM
Location: Lakewood, CA

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by joema »

cek wrote: Jun 24, 2020 8:53 PM Except for the part where you apparently moved from WA to CA, this thread is awesome! Bummed I didn't see it before. Great work.

Alpine E28s are THE BEST.
Thanks a lot! I used your Maytag build as a primer for my interior tear down.
Zeuropa
Posts: 107
Joined: Mar 12, 2016 10:22 AM
Location: Denver, CO

Re: The White Wonder: Build Log

Post by Zeuropa »

Awesome thread! Very well done. Looking forward to future posts. :popcorn:
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