Technical Articles and Step by Step Procedures
Disclaimer
: These articles and procedures are examples of how and what can be done. These all assume the use of proper tools and the M535i SIG and I take no reponsiblity for any incorrect information posted on this page. If you are not comfortable in undertaking any automotive repair, take your car to a qualified BMW mechanic. Otherwise use this information at your own risk. If you run into any specific problems please email me through the link at the bottom of the page and I will try to assist you as best I can. If you have suggestions for improvements or corrections to procedures or other relative information please email them to me through the link at the bottom of the page.Installing a rear spoiler looks easy, but is easy to mess up. What you want to do is drill once, and then install. You really don't want to have to make the holes oval. What I did was I took a large sheet of paper, enough to span the whole width of the car. Then fit is to the underside of the spoiler and punched the studs through the paper. Then cut out the indent for the roundel. After doing this, I looked a car that had the rear spoiler on, measured the distance from the top of the roundel to the bottom of the rear spoiler, where it sits over the top of the roundel. Once I had this measured I was then able to lightly stick the paper to the car. To put it in the proper place you use the measurement that I described earlier. Once it is positioned use the holes in the paper to act as a guide to where to drill.
The other way to do it is less precise, but if you have done it a couple of times it is easier and faster. What you do is paint the bottom of the studs in a color other than that of your car's. Once this is done, position the spoiler over the trunk lid and then slowly lower onto the studs. When the studs contact the paint they will leave a little dab of paint. You then drill on the different color dab.
I would suggest drilling from the ouside in, so that you don't have to sand down any burs. Make sure to prime and paint the new holes and try to use some super duty double sided adheasive so he spoiler is also stuck to the trunk and there is less chance of water getting into the car. I personnally would suggest the first method just because it is harder to screw up. The second method is easily screwed up if never done before.
Written by Rob Anderson '00This procedure took me 2.5 hours, first time doing it, and including numerous breaks (even a 20 minute dinner break). You do NOT need to drain the coolant. Only if you really can get your hand around the back of the intake manifold and around the back hose, then you just need to remove that one hose (it goes from the heater valve to the engine head or block).
Again, this is a much better way to replace the starter, and you don't need a machined thin wall socket. You CANNOT get a socket in to those bolts to begin with so DON'T even try.
I'd like to thank Erick Baumeister who first told me of this little trick.You can install the US ECU in a Euro car. The only problem is if you have the Euro car with the 218 bhp motor, there is no O2 sensor. The US ECU takes readings from the O2 sensor in the exhaust to calculate how rich or lean the car is running at that time and then modifies how much fuel is entering the motor. The Euro ECU does not have this input. Therefore when you stick the US ECU into a Euro car, there will be no O2 sensor reading. The car will run on the US ECU without an O2 sensor, but the chip in the US ECU is programmed so that if the O2 sensor fails or is disconnected, or not connected at all, the car will run at full rich. This will foul your plugs and also give you poor emissions.
From the info that I have on Euro ECUs I find that the chip in them is pretty much maxed out as it is. I would suggest leaving the Euro ECU in the car and if you want to play with your mixture for better fuel economy, use the adjuster screw on the underside of the airflow meter to change the air fuel ratio. With this said, be careful of how much you play with it as the car may take poorly to the adjustments. It is better left to a professional or an experienced home mechanic. I have performed this procedure on my father's Euro M635csi and I found that the car prefers to run a little on the rich side. Most BMWs do, so I would not mess with it too much.
Written by Rob Anderson '00To remove the tank, remove the fuel lines from the filler plate underneath the access in the floor of the trunk. Also remove the electrical connectors from the fuel pump and level sender. Open up the fuel filler door in the side of the car, remove the filler cap, and pull out the rubber piece that surrounds the filler neck. Now you can see 3 small lines hose clamped to 3 small metal and fragile looking pipes which are part of the tank. These 3 lines are difficult to remove. If you are replacing your tank, you don't have to be gentle about pulling them off. I think I ended up cutting the line off of one particularly stubborn pipe because it looked like there was enough line left over to reattach to the new tank.
If you haven't run the car until it is almost out of gas, I highly recommend draining most of the gas out of the tank. There is a drain plug on the right front lower corner of the tank which uses a crush washer to seal. I think it took a 5mm allen wrench to remove the plug. Try to keep the drained gas out of the nice cars. Save it for the Oldsmobuick and the lawnmower
DO I NEED TO REMIND ANYONE OF THE DANGERS OF AN OPEN DRAIN PAN FULL OF GASOLINE? HOW ABOUT THE EXPLOSION HAZARD OF A CLOSED METAL CONTAINER FULL OF GAS VAPOR?
Before loosening any bolts, put your flor jack under the tank to keep it from ventilating your skull. I believe there are three bolts holding the tank off the ground. One bolt may be partially abscured by the exhaust so you may have to loosen or remove hangars to get to it. I had to move my exhaust a couple inches to drop the tank. You may also have to remove the right side swaybar bracket. There was a bent metal clip under the swaybar bolt in my car which was blocking the tank. Remove the bolts and lower the tank. Installation is the reverse! This would be a good time to replace all those dried out fuel lines in the back half of the car.
I had a decent tank from a garage kept 528e which happened to be sitting in my driveway. Upon tremoval of the 528e tanks, I found a litle surface corrosion but nothing that caused great concern. The Maximillian price of $220US for a new tank is very good so I suggest buying a new tank instead of throwing a rusty disaster-waiting-to-happen into your car.
Written by Ed Walters '00First lets start out by saying that the car has two separate gear ratios, that can be changed independently of one another: the tranny ratios and the diff ratios.
For the tranny side of the equation, there are three different trannies used in E28s. First we will concentrate on the two overdrive units. These are the Getrag 260 and 265. The 265 has a removable bell housing and is used in only the '85 model year cars. BMW upgraded to the 260 which has a one piece case, but shares the internals. The 260 parts are stronger and use the following ratios.
First - 3.83These are the ratios for all US spec E28s save M5. Lets look at the third tranny. This is a close ratio, Getrag 262. This tranny has completely different ratios than the overdrive trannies. This tranny has a removable bell housing and often a dogleg first gear. This is a weaker design than the overdrive tranny but has its benefits in the ratios.
First - 3.72Notice the close ratio tranny put 5 ratios in place of the wide ratios 4 and does away with overdrive. In order for BMW to keep the same high speed capability and derivability the differential ratio is different between cars fitted with the close ratio and the overdrive gearbox.
All US spec 535i 's' and 533i came with a 3.25 diff ratio. This diff ratio is always coupled with the overdrive tranny, worldwide. If the car was equipped with a close ratio tranny than the diff ratio was changed to 3.07. This was in order to keep the same speed capability but also maximize acceleration. If a 3.25 diff is fitted to a close ratio equipped car it is like driving an overdrive car without fifth gear. Swapping in a 3.73 into an overdrive equipped car is like having the close ratio/3.07 combination on the highway. The benefit of the close ratio tranny is that acceleration in the upper gears is like having a low differential ratio, but first and second gear do not become stump pullers.
Written by Rob Anderson '00I personally have a 3.73 in my car with the 260 trans. I find that it is great for cruising around 75-80, but above that you get the car on cam. Then it has less derivability. What you need to figure out is what is the cruising speed you will be doing. Lets say on average you will be doing 100 mph. You will have a .81 5th gear. Now I will go through the step by step calculations of how to calculate rpm in a given gear with a given tire diameter, and a given diff ratio.
First we find the circumfrence with respect to miles for the tire size you have. So, the stock car came with 200/60 390s. So here is how you calculate the circumfrence.
Aspect ratio, in this case 60 and divide it by 100, you get .6.The taller you gear the car, aka the lower the number, the slower off the line the car will be. There will be no loss of top speed if you use a 3.73 because our cars can only hit top speed in 4th gear with a 3.25. Now if you put in a 3.73 you will hit a higher top speed but in fifth gear. The reason why it is higher is because you are multiplying rear axle torque by a greater factor therefore pushing the car through the air with greater force. Off the line you will get better acceleration the lower the gear, aka the higher the number. But you will have less fuel economy up top. The best fuel economy occurs right before the car comes on cam. In a stock 535i it comes on cam at approx. 3250. If you gear the car so that you highest cruising speed is at 3250 than you will get them most fuel economy. You do not want to have you top speed occur there though.
Written by Rob Anderson '00You are going to need to get the proper allen sockets that fit into the large hex bolts in the diff. The reason why I say allen sockets is because I have bent many an allen wrench doing this job.
Jack the car up on the diff and place jackstands under the rear subframe. Then lower the car onto the jackstands. Then use the allen socket to break loose the filler bolt. Make sure to do this first because if you can't get it out you don't have a diff without fluid. Once you have this out, remove the drain plug and let the fluid drain. My suggestion would be to not jack up the car very hi so that you can get the most oil out of the car. Once you have emptied it all out, then lower the car all the way back down and let the rest drain.
Jack up just the left rear. Place the drain plug back in and tighten it. Using a long tube, insert one end into the diff and then have a friend pour the fluid into the other end of the tube. Read your capacities section of the owner's manual and it will tell you how much should go in. Another way to do this is fill it until it starts to come out of the filler opening. This has been set at the correct hieght so that it will overflow when you start putting in too much fluid. Then tighten up the filler plug and lower the car down and you are done.
I recommend using Redline oil in the diff and also if you have a limited slip I would also suggest using GM limited slip additive. This works with the limited slip clutches to help prolong the life of the clutches.
Written by Rob Anderson '00Jack the car up on the front subframe and put the jackstands under the frame rails. You have to then remove the front wheels, making sure to loosen the lug nuts before taking the car off the ground. Once that has been done, using the open end of the 17mm combination wrench, find the 2 notches in the ball joint, on the ball joint side. See Diagram
Do this at both ends of the link and installation is the reverse of removal. Make sure to have the nuts nice and tight and then lower the car down and torque the lug nuts.
Written by Rob Anderson '00First and least likely to cause steering slop is that the tie rods, center link and idler arm in the steering are exceedingly shot. I doubt this or the car would shimmy badly, but you may not feel that because of the second and or third problem.
Second would be that the steering box itself is worn. Many times the power steering fluid isn't replace or is replaced with the wrong stuff. Our cars use ATF(Automatic Transmission Fluid) in the power steering. I have seen more than once a shop put in Power Steering Fluid in the power steering system. This is not good and causes the box and other parts to wear. A temp. fix would be to tighten the adjustment screw on the top of the box and that should eliminate some of the play. If you have a huge amount of play, this could be caused by the box. With this much play I doubt you would be able to feel if the steering arms where shimmying. The way to check to see how much play your box really has is to have a friend turn the steering wheel, only the amount of the play and see if the input to the box is moving. If so, is the output, or pitman arm moving. If not there is your problem.
Third cause. This is also to do with the box and comes in now. The reason why I tell you to check to see if the input to the steering box is moving is because the steering column is actually 2 pieces. These are held together using a large nut, and that nut actually loosens over time. All you would have to do is tighten it up.
Fourth and final. This is the worst and this should be check immediately. This is a grave situation which faces our cars. The mount that holds the steering box to the sub frame actually breaks!!! Yes I said breaks!! It slowly goes until it lets go all together and you loose all steering. BMW had a little known recall/suggested fix that the put out in the early '90s. There is one large long bolt that holds in the steering box. This bolt was inherently weak on the E28 and other cars. They have since upgraded the strength and have superseded the part number. If this is the problem on your car you will need to take it to an experienced mechanic who will be able to weld the brackets back on to the front subframe and reinforce them.
Written by Rob Anderson '00You must jack the car up by the differential and then place the jackstands under the rear subframe. Safety first. Then use the 13mm wrenches to remove the bolt that holds the link to the U shaped clamp on the trailing arm. Then pull the link off of the swaybar. To install the new link I would suggest using a mixture of soap and water and rubbing it in the rubber bushing. This makes it easier to push on to the swaybar. Then bolt the bottom of the link back into the U shaped clamp and torque to 16-18 ft pounds.
Written by Rob Anderson '00If you measured the width of the wheel, for example an 8 inch wheel. You then find the mid-point of that which would be 4 inches from the edge. The the hub on the wheel, where the wheel bolts to the car, is 4 inches from both edges of the wheel you have a 0 offset. This means that you have 4 inches off of the hub, or towards the outside of the car, and 4 inches inside the hub, or towards the inside of the car.
If we look at American cars for a second, as the offset number increases, the further off the hub the wheel sits, on an AMERICAN CAR. BMWs are the opposite. We have what is considered to be negative offset. This is because as you increase the offset number value on a BMW, the further inside the hub the wheel sits. That is why our offset is measured in ET. That takes into account the negative.
Now for an example. We will use my Hartge wheels. In the rear I run 16x8.5 wheels. The offset is ET25. This means that the wheel sits 25mm further inside the hub than an offset of ET0. So, that means that instead of having 4.25 inches on either side of the hub, I have approx. 5.25 inches inside the hub and 3.25 outside the hub. Now on the front I run 16x7.5 wheels. The offset is ET15. This means that the wheels sits 15mm further insider the hub than an offset of ET0. So, instead of having 3.75 inches on either side of the wheel, I have approx. 4.25 inches inside the hub and 3.25 outside the hub. Now you ask how does this effect the fitment on the car.
Well on a BMW there is generally more room on the inside of the hub than on the outside. The fender well is a finite width, unless you modify it, and the hub sits a specific distance from the outside of the fender well and the inside. The higher offset number you have, the further towards the center of the car the wheel sits, so therefore the less chance of having the tire rub on the outside fender. But for example I tried putting my 16x8.5 wheels on the front of my car. The problem I found was that I cannot bolt the wheel to the hub because the strut tube hits the inside of the tire. So on the front there is only so much distance between the hub and the strut tube. This is what generally governs front offset. In the rear though, the clearance on the fender is what governs offset. Depending on the width of the wheel and the offset, you may or may not have to use a spacer. What a spacer does is change the offset number to what you want. So if I had a wheel with an ET35 I could use a 10mm spacer to get the wheel back to an ET25. But if you get a wheel with too low an ET number than you may have to mill the hub of the wheel down to get the correct offset.
Written by Rob Anderson '00BMW started back in the late '60s and early '70s denoting their bodies with an E and then a number. They also have denoted their motors by an M and then a number, or in special cases an S and then a number.
Here is how the E worksAs for the motors BMW started with the original 4 cylider and has gone from there.
M10 - Four cylinder found in 2002 and 320i