My Personal E28
-Love affair w/ a e28 Part 1-
What is it about a e28 that get’s me going? I guess it started when I was in high school. I remember my dad bringing home an e28 with sweet red leather interior. We grew up dirt poor so I knew my dad had to have found it super cheap and the car needed work. But in reality it didn’t need much. All it required & needed was minor work and it was sold shortly after for a profit & that helped the family pay the bills and keep us going. But that stuck with me ever since.
I’ve owned and built so many e30’s that to this day it surprises me how long it took for me to own a e28. Needless to say after building numerous e30’s and selling a few I was on the hunt for a e28. In late of 2014 I found this car on Craigslist in the bay area, CA. Going out to look at it and talking to the owner it was a 1 owner car. The family did not want the Man to drive any longer. Too old they said. I felt remorse for him but who I was kidding it was going home with me and that it did. The original miles on the speedo was 86K / Auto 528e. Interior was minty with a good solid dash, no rust anywhere but dents and scrapes on the outside.
Fast forward to 2015 after driving the car off and on. The suspension was suffering horribly. I couldn’t take it any longer. Stripping the rear subframe, all of the control arms, and much much more. It was all replaced with E28 M5 aluminum arms, CAtuned Poly bushings, CAtuned Stainless brake lines, E34 M5 brakes front & rear and our CAtuned coilovers. It was better then ever.
I ended up driving this sexy machine till 2016 when the automatic transmission finally took a crap and dropped 2nd gear. And yes I could have replaced the auto easily but who are you kidding?! It’s not what any real car guy or girl wants. It’s great in traffic but no fun. I parked the car and started to take it apart.
Let’s also state I have been collecting parts for the re-build since the day I bought it. Changing plans all along. Moving things around and telling myself it will all be better in the end and best there is. I really enjoyed the car. Moving from one set of wheels to another. One steering wheel to another.
The motor, transmission, driveline, etc was all pulled out in preparation for car to be fully gutted. Restoration was under way. I proceeded to pull the glass out. Removing all of the exterior trim, fenders, bumpers, lights, doors and more. This was going to be fully redone along with a color change.
Fresh paint is always exciting!
Here it is in beautiful Henna Red.
Power Plant? I know what you are thinking!? What are you planning to run for a power plant? Well it will be boosted and will have plenty of go fast goods with some unexpected twists. We started putting together the motor and here are some pictures for you to look over.
Have to support the added power so with that in mind I’ve already started to prepare for the upgrades. A Custom set of Chromoly axles. We will also be running a Wavetrack differential and all new Poly bushings front & rear. We have the CAtuned 24V E28 mount kit ready just need to finish the motor build.
And for the other fun part: Tad dah….
Engine specs:
- Machined and prepped block / Clean and magnaflux block / Deck block surface
- Mahle PowerPak 9.0:1 pistons (2618 forged, .2mm overbore)
- VAC coated rod bearings (STD)
- VAC coated main bearings (STD)
- Bore and hone to 86.6mm using torque plate and 3-stage hone process
- File fit piston rings
- Painted block black
Specs are listed below:
-Piston skirts: 3.4077-3.4078”
-Piston-to-wall clearance: .0025-.0027” (spec is .0020-.0028”)
-Top ring gaps: .021”
-Second ring gaps: .023”
-Oil rings: .015”
-Main bearing bores: 2.5594” across all (spec is 2.5591-2.5598”)
***Cylinder taper and out-of-round measured and confirmed to be 0
- Cylinder head Pressure checked / Glass blasted / surfaced
- Supertech Double valve springs
- Supertech valves & retainers
- Custom Turbo Camshaft
Thanks for looking over part 1 of my E28 build. I hope you like what I have cooking up and with loads more in store you just have to wait for another update. Part 2 will have boost parts, Interior bits, Exterior bits and more. Stay tuned.
Igor Polishchuk
-CAtuned founder
Added an assortment of pictures for you:
