1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Document your Sixer project here.

Moderators: GRNSHRK, ron, bfons

Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

Some more photos.
5.PNG
5.PNG (616.59 KiB) Viewed 9626 times
7.PNG
7.PNG (610.17 KiB) Viewed 9626 times
8.PNG
8.PNG (231.78 KiB) Viewed 9626 times
9.PNG
9.PNG (139.6 KiB) Viewed 9626 times
Pitting in the metal was very minor. I was worried I would need to use bondo. However the primer filled it all in perfectly fine and the first patch is done. I'll be working on the rest of the body all month.
1984 633i Auto
User avatar
hornhospital
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 2929
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:46 pm
Location: Silverhill, AL
Contact:

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by hornhospital »

Nothing wrong with spray cans if it's done right. Prep is everything.
Ken Kanne
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
songzunhuang
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:04 am
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Contact:

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by songzunhuang »

hornhospital wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:27 am Nothing wrong with spray cans if it's done right. Prep is everything.
Gotta keep it protected. I've noticed that when I use a spray can, it looks ok for a while but then it starts to check and crack. I tried a spray can for a few years but I finally got around to fixing the paint with a 2 part catalyzed paint and of course, it's held up very well. Anyway, good luck and we look forward to seeing the day when this ride is as good as new.
-----
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

songzunhuang wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 6:33 am
hornhospital wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:27 am Nothing wrong with spray cans if it's done right. Prep is everything.
Gotta keep it protected. I've noticed that when I use a spray can, it looks ok for a while but then it starts to check and crack. I tried a spray can for a few years but I finally got around to fixing the paint with a 2 part catalyzed paint and of course, it's held up very well. Anyway, good luck and we look forward to seeing the day when this ride is as good as new.
That's what I figured will happen, this is short term for now. As long as I can keep the metal in good shape, I can get a better paint job when I am ready. I love driving the car, so she can look ugly for a bit.

The first issue of the year has come. I've noticed for a few weeks my power steering reservoir is getting low every few days. Even one time being empty. (I noticed when the steering was whining loudly.)I could not for the life of me find any hose leaking, I just went around and tighten all the clamps.

Well today I did a underbelly inspection because I am planning to replace the suspension, and low and behold I check out the the driver side and notice ATF fluid that looks like it is dripping on the control arm. I look up towards my brake booster only to find this:
10.PNG
10.PNG (986.1 KiB) Viewed 9545 times
I don't know why I didn't reach and feel the brake booster before, but it is leaking. I will have to find a kit and rebuild.
1984 633i Auto
User avatar
86_6series
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1069
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:08 pm
Location: West Nyack, NY

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by 86_6series »

86-635CSi
96-MB C220 SOLD
98-740i
71-Continental MK3
songzunhuang
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:04 am
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Contact:

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by songzunhuang »

86_6series wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:33 pm Only one place to go to.

http://bigcoupe.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=28245
Yes, Jay is your man! I just did this on my car and you can see all the trials and tribulations on my project record (page 31). Also, I upgraded to an aluminum part to avoid messing with the removal and install of the seal. It's not so bad of a job. Just create the special tool (I did it for $8) and then patiently work through the steps.
Last edited by songzunhuang on Wed Jul 22, 2020 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-----
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

Wow, that's absolutely perfect. Thanks guys!

I checked out the aluminum part, I am sold on that. I was reading the tutorial and was starting to dread the plastic part. 40 years old plastic.. it sounds like a headache in the making. #-o

I'll shoot him a message and see if he has any kits and the aluminum part in stock and I guess I am rebuilding a booster next week. :)
1984 633i Auto
songzunhuang
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:04 am
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Contact:

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by songzunhuang »

Doctorbeer wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2020 1:29 am Wow, that's absolutely perfect. Thanks guys!

I checked out the aluminum part, I am sold on that. I was reading the tutorial and was starting to dread the plastic part. 40 years old plastic.. it sounds like a headache in the making. #-o

I'll shoot him a message and see if he has any kits and the aluminum part in stock and I guess I am rebuilding a booster next week. :)
I'm not sure if Jay has the aluminum part. In case he doesn't, I got mine from [email protected]. The guys name is "Bill".
I got all the other rings and seals from Jay.

I should also mention that when I replaced my part, I was surprised at how sturdy the plastic piece was. It didn't look the worse for wear and didn't feel that brittle. Maybe being sealed away in an enclosure with no UV rays and constant lubrication helped its' longevity. Of course this is all subjective. Like you, I didn't want to chance it.
-----
Song Huang
1984 633CSi
Last 7 of VIN: 6997383
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

Thanks for the email, I did find their site too earlier this week. Jay did not have the aluminum part. So I may give them a try to see if they have any in stock.

I did a bit more reading on the subject, and a lot of people say leaking from the front is either the oring around the cup, or the shaft seal. I found a replacement o-ring for 1 dollar. I figured I'd give that a shot, if it turns out to be the shaft seal I'll go ahead and order the aluminum cup and replace it all like originally planned. Worst case is I delay fixing the leak by a week or so waiting for the parts and I have to remove the booster a second time.

I plan to give this a shot Wednesday, then the rest of the week I will be doing the entire front suspension.
1984 633i Auto
User avatar
sansouci
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 1850
Joined: Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:52 pm
Location: Southampton NY

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by sansouci »

+1 for Jay
+1 for Bill @ maxlumens

I used a rebuilt ATE brake master cylinder at the same time. The first rebuilt unit leaked so the rebuilder replaced it on an exchange basis.
Sansouci
84 E24 633Csi Auto, Bronzit/PearlBeige 6997510
93 E32 740il M60 Auto, Alpenweis/Ultramarine
60 528i M30 5-speed Green/Beige (crushed)
71 240Z 4-speed White/Blue (rusty & sold)
65 396 Chevelle 4-speed, Marina Blue/Black (stolen)
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

Last couple of weeks have been busy. I ended up doing the entire front suspension, and steering with the exception of the tie rods because I bought the tie rod ends, and the rods were so rusted that it would be impossible to get the old ends out without damaging the rods. So I ordered some whole rods and those are set to install this weekend. So everything is nice and smooth with the exception of a small wiggle in the steering, but I am suspecting that it is the tie rods, since everything is all nice and tight and the old rods are all loose... every part in the front was made in 1987, so it was due for a change.

Now for the fun task this week. I am working on the AC blower. My system is still R12, but it cools despite it's age. I am in a bit of a jam though in terms of figuring out this AC Blower setup. It received a new transitor on the blower unit and diode on my speed control which the NPN transitor and diode popped because I mistakenly wiggled and shorted something out(2N5302 NPN & 1N4007), but the layout has me puzzled because even if the fan is set to off(or what is normally off for the heater motor), the AC blower will continue to spin at a low setting. This was the case before changing out the diode.

The unit I pulled from the evaporator housing had a 10k resistor jumping between the transistor. It looked original, but I don't know what it's really suppose to do. The newer units you can buy don't have this resistor, and just have the thermal switch. When removed, nothing changes and the AC blower still spins at a low speed when set to off.

Another thing is checking the temperature of the unit, it is still having current run through it despite the AC switch being off. Meaning it's still getting hot, being outside of the unit it only gets to around 55 C. It still has me concerned. Is this normal for it to have a current through it still?

I am thinking it may be a fault with the AC switch itself, but my problem with that is it's just a plain old switch. There isn't much that can go wrong with it.
14.PNG
14.PNG (159.52 KiB) Viewed 9309 times
1984 633i Auto
User avatar
hornhospital
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Posts: 2929
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:46 pm
Location: Silverhill, AL
Contact:

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by hornhospital »

The fan running slowly is normal. There is no "off" position. It was one of the multitude of rules the U.S government put into place in the name of "safety". The fan running at low speed is to make sure there is air circulation any time the ignition is on. U.S. cars had the same setup as to the forced air circulation. If the key is on the fan runs.
Ken Kanne
'84 633CSi "Sylvia"; '85 635CSi "Katja";'85 325e "Hazel Ann"; '95 M3 "Ashlyn"
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

hornhospital wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2020 3:32 am The fan running slowly is normal. There is no "off" position. It was one of the multitude of rules the U.S government put into place in the name of "safety". The fan running at low speed is to make sure there is air circulation any time the ignition is on. U.S. cars had the same setup as to the forced air circulation. If the key is on the fan runs.
Awesome, that's exactly what I needed to know. Thank you!
1984 633i Auto
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

So to continue from what I've been working on last week. Since I had the entire bottom dash out. I decided to re-harness everything. A lot of the old cloth tape was either gone, or falling apart. Some of it was in okay condition and just needed to be secured at the end with some fresh tape. The PO took a lot of lazy shortcuts.
Found all sorts of goodies removing the center console. Paper clips, lost nuts and bolts!
Found all sorts of goodies removing the center console. Paper clips, lost nuts and bolts!
15.PNG (1.12 MiB) Viewed 9088 times
For example, the radio is not original. The installation of the new radio was done very sloppy. He used electrical tape to sort of hold the wires together. Also for some reason, the supplement power wire he installed went through the brake well hole. (Or maybe it was the clutch hole, it's like a rubber gasket was removed.) So I ordered a butt connector kit, and I will be redoing those connections right, I also took the time removing the supplement power wire, and route it correctly through the existing harness, and through the conduit under the dash. This makes it clean looking and you don't have a random wire hanging in the engine bay.

There was also a 10 A fuse at the connector to the radio. This didn't make sense to me as there is also a 10 A fuse in the engine bay installed for this wire. So I just removed it. I don't know what the thought process was to install two fuses on the same line... :x
I took this before I filled it in with some black silicone rubber!
I took this before I filled it in with some black silicone rubber!
18.PNG (464.65 KiB) Viewed 9088 times
There was a 10A fuse at the end where it now has connectors. Why?
There was a 10A fuse at the end where it now has connectors. Why?
17.PNG (440.57 KiB) Viewed 9088 times

Now, I did find a mystery, and I cannot find this wire in my electrical sheets. It's a red wire with a connector under the dash near the electrical board. It does fit in one of the sockets, but I do not know where this red wire goes to. Everything on the car seems to run fine, so it's definitely not a critical wire, unless it use to be and it was cut and spliced somewhere else in the harness... who knows.
Anyone know what this wire is?
Anyone know what this wire is?
16.PNG (1.25 MiB) Viewed 9088 times
Does anyone know what this could be?
1984 633i Auto
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

Hmm, well fixing the AC is turning out to be a little bit more problematic than I had expected. After a few transistors popped on the fan control speed(replaced just to have them pop again), I've been diagnosing all the wiring and even the rebuilt AC transistor unit. When switched to the heater, no heat is produced at the speed control.

I then turned to the AC motor. I plug my meter into it, resistance when not moving is 0. That's good. I begin turning it by hand slowly, resistance jumped up into the millions of ohms. The Bentley book does not have any testing steps other than testing voltage for the motor. I am not an expert on the motors, but I am pretty sure motors aren't suppose to have that much resistance. This would explain why the AC transistor popped as well.

I may cut it out of the casing and attempt to lube the motor, but my feeling is it is shot and will need to be replaced.

Follow up: I tested my heater motor, resistance is around 2k to 35 k. By comparison, the AC motor is pulling 800k to 34 million
1984 633i Auto
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

Well I spent the week trouble shooting the AC electrics with no solution in sight. The new motor works, the blower switch that activates at full speed, and the AC transistor unit no longer get hot, but the blower switch unit eats transistors like candy. My only guess is the pot on the unit is fried, even though I measured ohms through it's entire range and it checks out, there has to be something else causing the transistors to fry in seconds and even slightly melted the plastic housing.

I checked my grounds, I ended up even snapping a ground bolt and had to spend an hour or so slowly working the end out to replace it. I took my harness apart at the splices and measured for any high resistances to the blower control unit all the way to the fuse box. All are 0 ohms.

My last ditch effort is I bought the larger TIP3055 transistors found in the blower fix found on this site, I was using a similar unit and maybe for some reason it's not able to be used for this application.

I think I will put the new motor in, and the AC transistor and get my trim all back together. At least I can have AC on full blast.
19.PNG
19.PNG (229.86 KiB) Viewed 8904 times
I didn't really do a walk through on rebuilding the AC transistor. It's pretty straight forward. In order to get a better attachment of the heatsink, I used a small drill to drill into the pegs, then used JB weld to fill them in, before it hardens, use some electronic screws and screw them into the JB weld. That should give you a sturdy unit.

In other areas, I was going to change the o-ring in my brake booster, but I had a bottle of AT-205 re-seal. Generally, I use this on exterior seals and gaskets in order to clean them up. Some people say it helps with small leaks in engines, transmissions, etc. So I figured, why not give it a shot. I filled my reservoir up, added a tablespoon or 2 of the re-seal in, took the car for a 40 minute drive. I checked yesterday morning and to my surprise, the reservoir still had fluid in it. In fact, it looks like no loss at all. This afternoon, checked it. Still full at the same levels.

I hate taking shortcuts and trying what some people call 'snake oil', but it worked so far. We'll see if my entire hydraulic system blows up. I will flush it completely with fresh ATF.

Next week, I will be rebuilding my struts if the parts get here on time for the holidays, the rubber mounts are cracked. I also got some pretty Zimmermann rotors for the front and new brake pads. :)
Attachments
21.PNG
21.PNG (281.57 KiB) Viewed 8904 times
1984 633i Auto
Doctorbeer
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:57 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: 1984 633i: Saved from the barn

Post by Doctorbeer »

It's been a pretty busy week. I finally managed to get a new ignition switch. The first one I received wasn't even the correct one! Even though they had the picture of the switch, the correct part number, they ended up sending me one from a E30. Even the package had the part number I ordered on the sticker... so someone screwed up. After waiting a week ordering another one from a different seller, I finally got it!

I ended up going with a switch from a 1985 635i. The only difference from the original is that the wire for the buzzer is not there. Not an issue as I've always hated that buzzer!

Installation was a breeze though! I thought I was going to have to pull the entire steering column apart, removing security screws, etc. All I had to do was take the bottom steering column down, take the steering wheel off, all the switches, and just wiggle the old switch out! Then you do the same for the new switch, bend the wires 90 degrees, wiggle it gently into place.
Just wiggle it in!
Just wiggle it in!
25.PNG (386.88 KiB) Viewed 8774 times
Old Switch
Old Switch
26.PNG (481.54 KiB) Viewed 8774 times
After that, I rebuilt my window wiper motor and all the bushings for the wipers. All was easy, I used electronic cleaner to dissolve the old grease and wiped out as much as I could. I used red and tacky to repack it. All smooth and good to go now. Since I had to take out the metal pieces that surround the blower motor in order to get the wiper assembly out. I decided to sand them and repaint them all, they were a bit rusted and needed to be refreshed.
Wiper motor, old grease.
Wiper motor, old grease.
28.PNG (448.57 KiB) Viewed 8774 times
Blower motor cover freshly painted.
Blower motor cover freshly painted.
27.PNG (843.05 KiB) Viewed 8774 times
I went with a matte black since I had a spare can of it laying around. It turned out very nice. I added a strip of rubber foam. It should be good looking.

To end today, I took apart and rebuilt my accelerator petal with fresh bushings and a new spring. The only difficult part was getting the new bushings in for the spring. It's not much, but having new bushings and a spring makes it feel so nice and smooth action compared to the chunkiness from before. The brake petal bushings are rotted or missing, and that will be my next target when I get the energy to hang up side down again.
1984 633i Auto
Post Reply