my first bmw project car

[bones]

ive got around 1000 miles on the car since i got it running.its a 1989 525-I with 246,000 miles on the odometer,i paid $800 dollars for it.it was blowing steam out the exhaust and pumping oil out between the head and block.i tore it down and found that six of the head bolts had little to no torque on them.i am still amazed that when i removed the head there was still honing crosshatch evident on all cylinders and nor ridge at the top of any cylinder.the valve guides and stems were all still within tolerance and none of the faces were burned,just slightly pitted.i had our local machinist regrind seats and valves,installed new stem seals and put it all back together myself.new parts-upper and lower gasket sets,water pump,head bolts,cam belt and tensioner,re soldered the tps switch,replaced the air bellows,replaced 9 capacitors on the instrument cluster and all of the light bulbs in the cluster and the obc.total parts cost from bavarian auto was about $460 dollars,also they never made a single mistake on the parts,everything they shipped fit and worked perfectly.this car is freaking amazing,it drives tight and smooth,allmost no rattles and everything works.my only mistake was that i didnt replace the cam,crank and idler sprokets cause the new belt is having no fun riding on quarter million mile sprokets,makes alot of noise.all the sprokets would have cost is about $135 so i will replace these soon.anyway i understand why so many of you are so loyal to the E-34,what a great german automobile.the auto transmission shift profile is performance oriented the way it upshifts and downshifts.its a great road car but ive got to say it is underpowered,but the rest of the car is so right it makes up for it.o yea,it passed smog in california and is getting approx 25 miles per gallon at 70 miles per hour.i know this is long and boring but i just had to do it. bones

[winfred]

the new belt usually hums a little while till it gets polished by the pulleys

[Dr. evil]

great story man!

do you remember what color the back of the instument cluster was? blue maybe

[Evan]

right on... that's the way to do it!

[bones]

great story man!

do you remember what color the back of the instument cluster was? blue maybe
there is alot of people having problems with these clusters,i did replace 9 caps,all of them exceded the voltage and microfarad rating.an egghead at work said it would be ok to exceed the values,build costs are the only reason for installing minimally rated capacitors.i also touched the iron to every pin connection that the wire harnesses connect to.i use a pin point iron and simply reflow the solder joint,i think this made the biggest difference in falsing and reliability.dont be freaked by this pc board,its a single layer board and as long as you dont use to much heat you wont damage the foil traces.this is the original cluster and when i started only the economy meter and speedo worked.the fuel quanity is stable and accurate and all other functions are perfect.

[Dr. evil]

there is alot of people having problems with these clusters,i did replace 9 caps,all of them exceded the voltage and microfarad rating.an egghead at work said it would be ok to exceed the values,build costs are the only reason for installing minimally rated capacitors.i also touched the iron to every pin connection that the wire harnesses connect to.i use a pin point iron and simply reflow the solder joint,i think this made the biggest difference in falsing and reliability.dont be freaked by this pc board,its a single layer board and as long as you dont use to much heat you wont damage the foil traces.this is the original cluster and when i started only the economy meter and speedo worked.the fuel quanity is stable and accurate and all other functions are perfect.


ahh i was wondering if it was okay to exceed the farad rating. i was looking for some caps, micro and only could find pico.

my board has 5 caps as opposed to your 9 Gray Board.

[bones]

ahh i was wondering if it was okay to exceed the farad rating. i was looking for some caps, micro and only could find pico.

my board has 5 caps as opposed to your 9 Gray Board.
if you dont have a solder sucker be sure to use copper solder wick,it works faster with less heat.also when you install the caps you will expose them to more heat than they will ever encounter in service.the trick is to install the legs and then heat the foil only with the iron,the solder will flow and adhere to the capacitor legs and transmit less heat to the cap.do it in one step,try not to go back and heat it again cause the cap will act as a heat sink and its really hard on them. bones

[M20Turbo]

Congratulations! Sounds like you did a great job and had fun in the process, whats next?