Vlad: The Zinno '87 535is

[GaAlpinaOwner]

I have that exhaust and with the headers it will sound sweet. I had to paint my muffler to the end pipe - could not take the chrome look . I had M5 tips welded to the ends really looks sweet.
Car is looking great ...

[tig]

Wooo-hoo! I dropped Vlad off at my suspension guy (Byron at Tru-Line of Bellevue) on Monday. Picked him up today with a brand new suspension.



I am extremely pleased with the ride. I was worried the car would become too harsh with the Sport shocks and H&R Springs, but it is still very pliant and does not have any 'slammed' feel. I suspect the biggest reason is the 16" rims and tires.

I love the new look. Much sportier. I was hoping I'd have a bit more rear to front rake, but am totally happy.

The steering slop is mostly gone. I am a bit disappointed that I still have some on-center play, and "turn in delay". I'm confusedbecause I assumed the new tie-rods would address this. What did I miss? The center-link? Steering box? What else could be causing on-center numbness?

[tig]

Before:



After:

[tig]

Thanks for taking the time to go into such detail on this thread with pictures. It makes it easy for those of us who need to do the same things to our cars.

You are welcome. Pictures are worth 1000s of words and I appreciate it when other post great pictures. So I try to over-index on doing that myself.

[wkohler]

When these cars were new, the on-center numbness was a complaint from the automotive press. That said, you get used to it and I would prefer to be driving at autobahn speeds and not die if I had to sneeze. I also appreciate not having to replace a rack very often either.

Stock, the car should have a 1/2" rake measured from the sill. I would imagine the K-Mac strut mounts raised the car slightly in front, but I think it looks nice. I know you don't like the style 8s, but I think they suit the car well.

[tig]

When these cars were new, the on-center numbness was a complaint from the automotive press. That said, you get used to it and I would prefer to be driving at autobahn speeds and not die if I had to sneeze. I also appreciate not having to replace a rack very often either.

Stock, the car should have a 1/2" rake measured from the sill. I would imagine the K-Mac strut mounts raised the car slightly in front, but I think it looks nice. I know you don't like the style 8s, but I think they suit the car well.

Thanks. The 8s are growing on me. My biggest beef is that the PO didn't take good enough care.of them.

[unt0uchable]

Vlad is looking excellent with the new setup! Makes me even more excited about getting my own Zinno in the driveway. This thread will definitely be my handbook to making it show worthy.
Thanks for sharing! I'll keep watching....

[fastcrs]

This girl sure looks great! Makes me want to tear back into mine....

[OcCoupe]

Vlad is coming along quite nicely, I'm very excited to see how he looks after the euro bumper conversion. What are your plans for the interior? Well done!

[tig]

Vlad is coming along quite nicely, I'm very excited to see how he looks after the euro bumper conversion. What are your plans for the interior? Well done!

Thanks!

I am planning on finding a set of black E34 Sport seats. I want to do a red/black treatment. I've always wanted a car with a red/black interior....just for funzies.

I'll do black leather on the dash, center console, window sills, etc... with red stitching. Then red door inserts.

The seats will be red in the center sections and black on the outer.

Or maybe I'll just leave it as is :-)

[tig]

I think I mentioned this before, but I picked up a 'new' exhaust from Spence's parts car. It includes a set of Bavarian Auto ceramic coated headers and a Ireland Engineering exhaust. Has maybe just a couple thousand miles on the setup.

While waiting for some PB Blaster to do the job on my M30B35 project I took a little soap & water to the exhaust.

It's going to look great. I plan on painting the muffler black though, because I would prefer for the tips to stand out a bit more and I'm not a fan of shiny mufflers.

[tig]

According to Kyle, my 'new' Bavarian Auto headers are ceramic coated.

That coating is scratched in a few places, and there's some surface rust.

Should I be concerned about effective heat dissipation or just not worry about it? I know nothing about these things and really just want to know as much as possible.

The local coating place says they'd charge $220 to ceramic coat a set of headers like this, and that's $220 I do not want to spend. But I hate being penny-wise and pound-foolish.


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[winfred]

its jethot 1200, eventually it'll look like this and doesn't really matter to the function as the part that counts on top, remains to keep the heat out of the engine compartment


i think they are cooler running then the stock manifolds

if you want hot try uncoated snakes, like standing next to a house fire, i did mine with a special powdercoat from ohio custom coatings that seems to work fairly well


by far the finest powder i've applied and my gun may not be optimal, i laid it on too thick on the front (first one i did) and it busted in cooking

[Justin_FL]

The factory stuff wasn't coated on cars like the M5 or M6. But BMW saw fit to include heat shields on the strut tower to protect the brake lines and stuff.

I guess if you don't see the rusty spots when looking down from the top of the engine bay you will be OK from a cosmetic perspective. But it is certainly easier to do it now rather than later if you want to make to mo' pretty. As Winfred says no matter how nice you make exhaust parts they eventually look ugly sooner or later but function fine.

[tig]

When these cars were new, the on-center numbness was a complaint from the automotive press. That said, you get used to it and I would prefer to be driving at autobahn speeds and not die if I had to sneeze. I also appreciate not having to replace a rack very often either.

Thanks Chris.

I think I have more than "on-center numbness". I have "on-center and several inches to left & right of-center numbness".

As mentioned I put in new tie-rods, idler arm bushing, but but did not replace the center-link. I've also verified the 32mm nut connecting the steering column is tight.

This (E34) article suggests it may be the steering box itself. I had the tech inspect the box mount and he did not report anything amiss.

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Trouble/Steeringplay.htm

[tig]

Stock, the car should have a 1/2" rake measured from the sill. I would imagine the K-Mac strut mounts raised the car slightly in front, but I think it looks nice. I know you don't like the style 8s, but I think they suit the car well.

I measured the rake and it's about 1/8", if that.

I am happy that the front is not slammed (and I agree it is the K-Mac mounts that kept it that way). I want to explore what it would take to add about 1/2" of height to the back. With the whole family in the car (4 people including my 230lb 17 year old son) I get some significant tire rub on big bumps.

With just me in the car (99% of the time) I'm not getting any tire rubbing, so lifting the rear 1/2" would be mostly for cosmetic reasons.

[leadphut]

The tinting and shadowlining really transform the car. Nice taste Sir!

Now consider painting the silver portion of the bumpers black - as the M5's have.

[wkohler]

With the Bilstein sports, just move the spring perch up a notch or two. With a lift, it can be done without removing the shock/spring assembly using a pedestal stand and a pry-bar. It's kinda scary, but takes about ten minutes. Or, the safer bet is to just remove the shock and spring, compress the spring, and raise the perch.

[tig]

With the Bilstein sports, just move the spring perch up a notch or two. With a lift, it can be done without removing the shock/spring assembly using a pedestal stand and a pry-bar. It's kinda scary, but takes about ten minutes. Or, the safer bet is to just remove the shock and spring, compress the spring, and raise the perch.

Just got off the phone with my tech. He said the same thing. He's confident we can find 1/2" in there.

He also told me he didn't have time to adjust the steering box before I picked the car up on Friday. I didn't get to talk to him when I picked it up, but had a note that he had things to discuss. They ran out of time and decided it was better to get me the car back before the long weekend (I was pressing). He's confident that the slop will be gone once it's adjusted.

I also couldn't understand why he didn't re-install my strut brace. He explained that he needs to modify it to fit the K-Mac mount and didn't have time for that either.

[tig]

The tinting and shadowlining really transform the car. Nice taste Sir!

Now consider painting the silver portion of the bumpers black - as the M5's have.

Thanks. I love the tinted/shadowline look.

On the bumpers: As I've said, I'm not wasting any time/effort on them...they will be replaced with Euro bumpers asap.

[GaAlpinaOwner]

I think I mentioned this before, but I picked up a 'new' exhaust from Spence's parts car. It includes a set of Bavarian Auto ceramic coated headers and a Ireland Engineering exhaust. Has maybe just a couple thousand miles on the setup.

While waiting for some PB Blaster to do the job on my M30B35 project I took a little soap & water to the exhaust.

It's going to look great. I plan on painting the muffler black though, because I would prefer for the tips to stand out a bit more and I'm not a fan of shiny mufflers.

smart guys think alike....

[GaAlpinaOwner]

The tinting and shadowlining really transform the car. Nice taste Sir!

Now consider painting the silver portion of the bumpers black - as the M5's have.

Thanks. I love the tinted/shadowline look.

On the bumpers: As I've said, I'm not wasting any time/effort on them...they will be replaced with Euro bumpers asap.

consider painting the tops/the Chrome of the euro bumpers.....that would make this car stand out especially since you are going shadowline no chrome!

[leadphut]

The tinting and shadowlining really transform the car. Nice taste Sir!

Now consider painting the silver portion of the bumpers black - as the M5's have.

Thanks. I love the tinted/shadowline look.

On the bumpers: As I've said, I'm not wasting any time/effort on them...they will be replaced with Euro bumpers asap.

Ah, right. Disregard.

To complete your shadowline, you'll want the M5 lockstrips for the front/rear windows.

[tig]

Took Vlad into the suspension guy to have the steering box adjusted, strut mount installed, and rear lifted.

OMFG! So THIS is how an E28's steering is supposed to feel? Why didn't someone tell me? Chris, I think you lied about the on center numbness because this car's steering now feels direct and spot on.

And the new ride height is just perfect. Pics tell all.

[tig]

As I bought it:


Last week:


After:

[TheLazyDog]

I must say, I really like your home and workspace. And LOVE keeping up with you and this car!

[tig]

Goal for today is to

1) get the air dam touched up.
2) repaint the rockers.
3) Paint the muffler on the new exhaust and get it installed (sans headers).

[tig]

While waiting for the primer on the air dam to dry I took care of the muffler.

I may decide to paint between the muffler and tips later, but I wanted to see how it looked on the car first.

These little air tools make quick work of sanding.





I had used this on a muffler before and it worked well.

[tig]

Much better. I'll let it dry and then buff it a bit. I suspect the color's a bit off, but nobody but me will ever notice . The air damn will be disposed of when the euro bumpers go on anyway...



Before:


After:

[tig]

Oops. No exhaust install today. For some reason I thought the existing exhaust bolted together at the cat like the header setup does and that I could just pull the old exhaust out and use the new one with the manifolds.

I also don't have new brass 8mm nuts...they are ordered.

Next week...

Will spraying PB blaster on the manifold nuts now start to loosen them up for a week from now?