Danny's 1983 533i Thread

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dannyzabolotny
Posts: 1
Joined: Jun 08, 2019 2:56 AM
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Danny's 1983 533i Thread

Post by dannyzabolotny »

Hey all!

I've been a member of this fine forum since 2019, but mostly as a lurker. Finally, all of the pieces have fallen into place and I have an E28 of my own!

For some context, I've primarily owned newer BMW's like the E34, E39, E46, and E36, with a few random E38/E53 thrown in. I've worked on E28's plenty at my shop, and my good friend Dane has owned a 1986 528e for a while, so owning an E28 was an eventual goal of mine. Going to 5er Fest in 2021 solidified me wanting one, but things didn't quite line up until recently, and now I'm the proud owner of a 533i.

This particular E28 is an 01/1983 build 533i. It started its life in Colorado, then moved to Portland, then to Phoenix, and then to Tucson, where I bought it. I saw the listing for it on Facebook marketplace a few weeks back and had been trying to get in touch with the seller, unsuccessfully. I almost gave up on it when I finally got a response back on Sunday, so then Dane and I rushed down to Tucson in a semi-sketchy manual X5, cash in hand.

What appealed to me was that it had a black interior, was a 5-speed, had Euro bumpers and headlights already, IS spoiler, and style 8 wheels from an E31. Oh and the AC actually works halfway decent, believe it or not, having been professionally converted to R134 a few years back. Of course the battery was completely dead in this 533i, so I borrowed the battery from the X5 in order to test drive it. The car came with a thick stack of service records going all the way back to 1984, along with a clean title, so it was a no-brainer. I made the seller an offer, he accepted, cash was exchanged, and we were on our merry way to Phoenix with the E28.

It made the drive back home uneventfully, other than having no brake lights, right turn signals, or speedometer. On the bright side, it does have a working odometer which shows 277k miles. It needs a wash pretty badly, it's sat for a while.

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The driver's seat has a bit of duct tape magic and the dash is cracked as you'd expect from any E28 that's lived a long time in Arizona. The rest of the interior is in pretty good shape though, so that's nice.

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The trunk has the all-important toolkit, which doesn't look to have ever been used.

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Tons of little parts, a Bentley manual, a Haynes manual, and fluids were found in the trunk when I cleaned it out the other day.

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I also found out from service records (and Mr. Kohler) that it had a B34 engine put in at some point, though you'd never be able to tell with how poorly it runs. It came with some neat polaroids of that:

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It'll get you from A to B but it won't be pleased about it, with lots of stalling and a surging idle. With that, it was time to do some maintenance, starting with a smoke test to find vacuum leaks:

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Yikes! I ordered a new intake boot and ICV hoses so hopefully that'll make the engine run better. The spark plugs are pretty past it as well:

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While I'm in there I'll do a valve adjustment and a valve cover gasket, since it needs both desperately. While waiting for parts, I moved onto figuring out why the front passenger door decided to lock itself shut... fun fact, these early 533i's don't have a lock rod on the front passenger door, and the door handle was broken off, so I couldn't just yank the door open from inside. I ended up pulling the passenger seat through the back door, and then removing the door panel from inside, which was surprisingly easy. With access to the door's innards, I was able to manually unlock it and open the door for the first time since buying the car. I checked the door lock actuator and found it to be working in both directions, but it wasn't unlocking the door fully due to a missing lock rod grommet. With a new grommet in place, the lock works flawlessly. I finished things off with a new inner door handle, so now the front passenger door can open from both inside *and* outside. Still need to replace the inner door handle on the passenger rear door as well.

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And one final picture I snapped while running an errand.

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The to-do list is a mile long, but I enjoy fixing things. Working on an E28 is very relaxing compared to the mess that is modern BMW's.
tschultz
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Re: Danny's 1983 533i Thread

Post by tschultz »

Great find and nice work so far!

Always convinced I need to do the euro conversion after I see photos without the US bumpers!
muleskinner
Posts: 1339
Joined: Sep 08, 2007 11:17 AM
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Re: Danny's 1983 533i Thread

Post by muleskinner »

Cool. Look forward to seeing the progress.
Panici
Posts: 217
Joined: Aug 07, 2014 2:04 AM
Location: Canada

Re: Danny's 1983 533i Thread

Post by Panici »

dannyzabolotny wrote: Sep 22, 2022 2:48 AMWorking on an E28 is very relaxing compared to the mess that is modern BMW's.
Totally agree.

Looks like you have a great starting point.
What wheels are those? Interesting design and seems to work on the E28.
BDKawey
Posts: 1325
Joined: Sep 15, 2011 11:05 PM
Location: Carrollton, Ohio

Re: Danny's 1983 533i Thread

Post by BDKawey »

Panici wrote: Sep 27, 2022 11:54 AM
dannyzabolotny wrote: Sep 22, 2022 2:48 AMWorking on an E28 is very relaxing compared to the mess that is modern BMW's.
Totally agree.

Looks like you have a great starting point.
What wheels are those? Interesting design and seems to work on the E28.
style 8. https://www.bmwcarwheels.com/bmw/style-8
Nebraska_e28
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Re: Danny's 1983 533i Thread

Post by Nebraska_e28 »

Congrats on your purchase!
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