Posted by Boston Baked Bimmer on October 05, 2002 at 18:50:23 from 207.172.11.233
Gents,
I have a California 79' 528i. I LOVE it. My wife loves it. The body and interior are immaculate. The car was completely redone about 30K ago and everything works perfectly. My only lament is the 4-speed. The car overheated in August Boston traffic. The head cracked as evidenced by a watery milky goo on the dipstick only 200 miles after an oil change. I priced a head at between 500 and 850 dollars and quickly decided that a parts car was the way to go; all those reserve parts for the same price, plus I might even get some upgrades. For $700 I bought an 81' 528i that the seller had put a rebuilt 3-liter in just a few years ago. It came with over $3,000 worth of various engine and suspension receipts. I thought great, more power and an overdrive 5-speed to boot. He was selling it because the floors were more rotted than he wanted to deal with. After throwing a brand new battery in it we got it to start, and I drove it 70 miles home. It drove great and seemed a little more peppy. There was a slight vibration/buzz from the motor through the middle part of the rev. The seller said his mechanic thought it was time to adjust the valves, so I thought it just may be a little valve slop. The engine also bucks/hiccups once or twice low in rev cycle, ie: leaving a light in second. I bought a feeler gauge today and hope adjusting the valves will cure those two problems. I also just checked the compression with a fairly cheap gauge and the pressures were 130-135-122-127-123-122, all lower than the 145-155 the manual reverences and certainly lower than the 160 I hear about on this board. Last but not least, the head has 77' stamped on it, which makes sense since it is a 3-liter.
Here is the question, except for the 5-speed, have I bought the WRONG parts car? It has lowish compression, it has the older and more crack prone head, and according to the manual only makes a couple of horsepower more! Would I be better off with an 80-81 E-12 with a 5-speed? I have also seen some early eighties 733/735s that run well for less than $700. I like the idea of another whole 528i car to cannibalize, yet for the same work I could have a 3.3 or even 3.5 under the hood? Does anyone want my parts car, will deliver as far south as Virginia? Many thanks to you fellow E-12 devotees.
Dick