Well, I had some time to work on the 528 this weekend, and made some progress, but not as much as I would’ve liked. I got the thing jacked up as best as possible with the equipment I had and got underneath hoping to replace some of the worn parts on the shift linkage. Alas, it wasn’t going to happen this weekend; the driveshaft is in the way, almost completely obscuring and blocking access to the parts that need to be replaced.
I’ve done some reading since then and found out that pulling the driveshaft and replacing the guibo (or flexible connector) isn’t that big a job — should only take a couple of hours — but I’ll likely wait until the weather is better before moving ahead.
While I was under there I replaced what was left of the exhaust pipe…
… with the brand-spankin’ new unit that was delivered last week.
Not much left of the old one, eh? Funny thing was that the pipe had a hole facing upward, and a corresponding black smudge all around the driveshaft. The delivery of the new muffler was a surprise in three ways; one, that it was delivered on Tuesday, a mere two days after it was ordered, and that it had nothing covering it at all — just the bare muffler & pipe with the UPS sticker stuck to it. There was some padding on the outlet end, but that was it. Unfortunately, the gasket I ordered at the same time wasn’t delivered until Friday. Oh well.
The muffler went on pretty easily, and oh what a difference it makes on the car! So much quieter, and it even runs better with it on. I’m guessing that it’s got something to do with having the proper amount of back pressure, but no matter; it makes the car all the more enjoyable to drive. Now, instead of hearing the roar from the nonexistent tailpipe, all you hear when you step on it is the loud growl of the engine. It seems faster & smoother than before. So much fun and smooth to drive fast, it’s only a matter of time that I find myself in trouble.
While under there, I inspected some of the other stuff and found that I’ll need to replace or at least fix the CV boot. Most of the other boots are in good shape, but the left rear… Not so much.
Tonight I took the front bumper off to see what the problem was that caused it to be off kilter…
It came off pretty easily, and with the bumper out of the way, the cause was pretty obvious.
It either hit or was hit by something pretty sharply at some point. Strangely though, the aluminum bumper wasn’t damaged much at all. The bracket that attached the bumper to the shock absorber was bent a bit though…
(it's not supposed to have that crack next to the bolt, nor that funny bend.)
… And the torsion applied to the bumper also tore the threads from the the spot where the bumper shocks mount to the frame; here’s the right side, the way it’s supposed to look…
And here’s the left side, the way it’s not supposed to look.
Note the missing parts. I think it’ll be pretty easy to substitute something to hold the bumper in place, which is a good thing, because otherwise it’d mean replacing the mount, which would be levels of magnitude more difficult.
That’s about it; other than the breaker switch I replaced to get the power windows working again, and the seatbelt receiver for the driver’s seat that actually fits the buckle in the car. Apparently they changed the seat belt buckle design pretty drastically between 1984 and 1988. Bryce and I made a second trip to Ewe Pullet for more parts last Thursday. This time we grabbed the seat belt buckle, the controls for the heat & defrost, and door sill strips. I need to make another trip out this week to grab a replacement bracket for the front bumper and the plastic bumper cover that fits over the top on the right side.
A week ago I was able to get the new seat mounted on the driver’s side, after figuring out why the front elevator on it wouldn’t work; turned out to be a connector that had come unplugged. Too easy! While mounting the seat, one of the rear mounting bolts stripped the threads in the floor, so eventually I’ll need to do something with that. I still haven’t wired it up yet — the console needs some work — and still haven’t put the passenger seat or the rear bench & back in. They need to be cleaned up a bit still, and I’d like to get the recliner mechanism working on the passenger seat first. It’ll probably need a cover as well because the leather is in such rough shape.
With all that I’ve done so far, it almost makes me wish that I’d waited a little while to find a cleaner example of the e28. Maybe someday I’ll trade up to a 535i, or maybe an e34 or e39 540! That 282hp V8 is just calling my name!