What did you do to your E24 today?

[francoid]

So, as I went into the trunk and the tail lights to splice a brake signal, I had the bad surprise (well, maybe not a surprise) to find the tail light assembly in very poor state. Dirt, cracks I had not seen on the lenses, etc. One more job to do... The cleaning is done, but there's still a lot to do.

What have people used to stabilize/repair cracks in lenses? Is Super Glue a reasonable option?

[miike87]

Last week evenings:

• rear ABS-Rings (no longer available since three weeks ago!)
• rear ABS-Sensors (still were good but impossible to extract without destroying due rust)
• rear wheel bearings (just in case as I got everything off anyway)
• rear connection rods
• rear sway bar bearings
• handbreake lines (jacket broken on both at the last fixing point)
• front connection rods
• front sway bar bearings (still on order as the realy early M635 got 19 mm sway bars. early M635 got 21 mm, late 25 mm. ETK tells you 25 mm always...)
• front door bolts added. the paint shop lost three out of six on each side...
• found the washing pump leaking...

So quite a nice job every evening after work

[nick88highline]

This time last week I spent two days replacing the radiator with an all aluminium one from Wizard, replacing all the coolant hoses (I only replaced them 14 years ago) for no obvious reason as they were absolutely fine, replaced the water pump, thermostat and engine mounts. Not an easy job. And I fell into my inspection pit.
"If it ain't broke don't fix it" does NOT apply to me. I fix things before they break.

[DRPM635CSi]

This time last week I spent two days replacing the radiator with an all aluminium one from Wizard, replacing all the coolant hoses (I only replaced them 14 years ago)

That's nuthin' laddie! I just replaced a heater hose in my 740iL a couple of weeks ago after 24 years when I saw a tiny minor split in the outer sheath near the hose clamp. Sheeesh, they don't make stuff to last anymore! It's a crime I tell ya.

[wattsmonkey]

This time last week I spent two days replacing the radiator with an all aluminium one from Wizard,

That sounds cool! How much was it? Any pics?

Thanks,

Rob

[olympia57]

Got around to refitting the newly polished and painted 16 inch Style 5's.
I'm a lot happier with the final look of the wheels .I had only just repainted them in MB Brilliant Silver but it was flat and grey even with three coats of lacquer.
This time I used Wurth silver wheel lacquer which has a nice heavier flake allowing it to sparkle although it does require 2K lacquer on top to give depth and protection.
The polished surfaces can yet be improved by wet sanding them and re polishing ,very easy to do when wheels are mounted.
I'm so glad I stuck with the 16's as the car rides beautifully on the rougher roads down here .
Still the poor cousin to the RC090 but perhaps a worthy alternative .

Polished 16 inch style 5's

DSCF8817 - Copy - Copy.JPG (1.61 MiB) Viewed 9590 times

[sharkfan]

Those 16's look great; as my 15" tyres on my 635CSi near the end of their life I am deliberating on a set of those 16's over the restored set of 17" style 5's I have that are stored in boxes.

[francoid]

Sharkfan, in my opinion for an M car going 17" makes sense but for non M cars 16" is the more natural size. Just an opinion :)

[DRPM635CSi]

Sharkfan, in my opinion for an M car going 17" makes sense but for non M cars 16" is the more natural size. Just an opinion :)

An opinion I would wholeheartedly agree with just FWIW, from someone with an ///M on 17's. For the record, going from 16 up to 17 does make a marked difference in right quality with these cars & their vintage suspension. Increasing the width is also not a good idea as it can cause nasty tramlining depending on tyre choice.

I got the narrowest 8" winter wheel version of the 1988 ALPINA's for my car, fitted with 235 rubber and then had to completely rebuild all the shock absorbers by Bilstein to get back a reasonable ride quality after going to 17" wheels. 16's are definitely the natively correct size wheel. 17's are period-correct too since ALPINA most notably did fit them to new cars, but they're the exception I would say.

[olympia57]

Those 16's look great; as my 15" tyres on my 635CSi near the end of their life I am deliberating on a set of those 16's over the restored set of 17" style 5's I have that are stored in boxes.

There you go Kevin .
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... 99-223-391
As the crow flies ,probably closer to you than I am ... and all four for the cost of a set of centre caps !
Don

[wattsmonkey]

I finally fitted the boot trim. Needless to say, I pushed the bootlid over centre and wished I'd performed Brucey's fix like I meant to ages ago.

Forgot about torsion spring induced bad mood during something I haven't done much of at all, namely GOING FOR A DRIVE! New viscous fan and Heath-Robinson exhaust heat shield, plus synching throttle bodies appear to have cured throttle sticking open, although I am ashamed to admit I've got a bit nervous after dramatic sticking open in the hot weather we had back in July.

[wattsmonkey]

Those wheels look amazing on the car Don: perfect. 16s my absolute preference on the M: ride is good, even with the thicker ARBs fitted (22mm front, 16mm rear).

[RossDinan6]

Reinstalled the instrument cluster. The speedometer had been bouncing around and pegging less and less intermittently. Usually fixed with a smack to the dash. Well, last week the cluster face fell off and landed in my lap.

Over the weekend: Out with the cluster. Clean up the glue joint, that looks like a previous repair. Glue back together. Let dry.

Today: Inspect the wiring and connectors. Tighten up the connectors in the blau speed plug. Install the cluster and test drive.

So far so good, steady gauge and functioning cruise. Time will tell if it is a permanent fix.

Has anyone reverse engineered the cluster, or is there a schematic for it someplace? Sure would be easier to troubleshoot with a diagram.

Ross
'84 633 with a bit of boost.

[nick88highline]

This time last week I spent two days replacing the radiator with an all aluminium one from Wizard,

That sounds cool! How much was it? Any pics?

Thanks,

Rob

It cost around about $650 as the transmission oil cooler was extra. Shipping, import taxes and so on were extra.







It's considerably larger than the OEM radiator in all but height. It keeps the temps lower than before, so I may be able to switch to a larger water pump pulley. As for fitting it...that's another story for another day.

[francoid]

Wow, what is this? Where did you get it from???

[nick88highline]

Wow, what is this? Where did you get it from???

It's an all aluminium radiator from Wizard Cooling based in NY state.

[wattsmonkey]

Thank you for those pics, that's a work of angular art! I am really struggling with under-bonnet temperatures in the m, although I took it to work today with no problems.

[francoid]

Sorry for being dense, is this actually custom made to fit your car? I am very intrigued, looking forward to that full story

[nick88highline]

Sorry for being dense, is this actually custom made to fit your car? I am very intrigued, looking forward to that full story

They make an "off-the-shelf" all aluminium radiator for manual cars, the 635 and the M6, but mine is an automatic, so I asked them to add an oil cooler, so it's kind of custom. I'm not really ready to release the full story, but PM me for any details.

[baders]

The oil cooler is integral to the unit ? That is different to mine. Edit;ahhh, transmission oil cooler.

I also ordered a Wizard but am yet to install it in the conversion project. I figured that the S38B36 deserved much better cooling than the E24 radiator. I'd be interested in hearing that story.

[francoid]

Oh yes :)

[donkii]

My day in the garage is finally over.
Replaced the fuel tank today together with pre-pump, fuel pump, filter and hoses. Took forever since I'm just a happy amateur, but if this will be something that I have to do again, I will most certainly have a helping hand nearby since it wasn't easy at all doing it alone.

However, the car runs as it should again I ended up with around 3kg of rust from the inside of the tank... Wonder why the car didn't run as it should


Well, have a nice evening and pray that you never, ever, will have to replace the fuel tank

[baders]

Nice photography donkii.

Today, the disease took hold. After looking at the underside of my car up on the hoist, I ordered Ireland Engineering 25/19mm sway bar kit and Lemforder ali lower control arms, tie rods, and pitman arms for the rear.

Somebody help me

[dwcains]

This time last week I spent two days replacing the radiator with an all aluminium one from Wizard,

It cost around about $650 as the transmission oil cooler was extra. Shipping, import taxes and so on were extra.







It's considerably larger than the OEM radiator in all but height. It keeps the temps lower than before, so I may be able to switch to a larger water pump pulley. As for fitting it...that's another story for another day.

Are you able to remove the fan without pulling the radiator first, in case you needed to change a belt, for example?

[yodman]

Well, today I will be picking my car up from the exhaust shop, with some fresh pipe welded behind the cat. For now, we will try a straight pipe setup, and it will be mildly loud, but the cat will help. Resonators and a muffler will come along later, or maybe I'll go full Billy Boat.

A clip may come tonight once I pick her up.

I also had time to walk under the car as it was on the hoist yesterday planning out the new exhaust.

108k miles is nice and low, but still high for suspension components. I discovered she has new Bilstein HDs all around, along with the original springs. She rides wonderfully.

However, the sway bar links are pretty well perished front and rear, the rear dogbones (pitmans) are torn up, and that's about it.

I discovered an oil pan leak that's been lurking for some time, due to the buildup around the area. Will need to do that.

Also discovered I need a fan clutch, as the car heats up sitting still, but cools right down at speed.