Attention Jimoreno!

I have just found an 82 528e with a bad engine and a dreadful 3 speed auto for 300 bucks.The body and interior are in very good shape. Would it be feesible to buy this car and swap my engine and trans[5 speedmanual] into it. I've done this sort of thing with a honda before,just wondering if there are any major roadblocks concerning the difference in model year that you know of. I have decided my body is too tweaked for my taste,its drivable, just a little scary! I guess thats what happens when you jump these cars over railroad tracks and pull boats with them![none of that stuff was done by me] Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanx in advance!!!!

In case there is any confusion, i currently own the 86 528e that I have talked about previously in this forum.

Wow, I feel special now! Well, since they are both 528e's there should be no problem doing this. You'll need to swap the pedal bracket, driveshaft, tranny mounts and support and also a muffler support bracket. I'm not sure if in the 528e there is a separate clutch reservoir or if it's the same one. If it is, swap it from the newer car also. The other thing to look for is disabling the automatic tranny electrics in the console and also wiring the reverse lights. Go here and read all about it as I have not performed this kind of "surgery"!
Good Luck!

That sounds tooo crazy of a taskkkk and unless your going to do it yourself its not going to be worth it and risky... I wanted to with my 535i found one manual and wanted to and my transmission mechanic said to expensive and risky to mess with a bmw that old

Originally Posted by Narbeh07

That sounds tooo crazy of a taskkkk and unless your going to do it yourself its not going to be worth it and risky... I wanted to with my 535i found one manual and wanted to and my transmission mechanic said to expensive and risky to mess with a bmw that old

Its never risky to mess with these old cars. They are so cheap to begin with what does it matter? PLUS when you get them going they are a blast!

I say go for it. BUT my concern is this: I think some things were changed on the e28's in 86. I am not sure if the 82 had ABS, and I think some of the electronics and engine mangement stuff was different. You have to remember that 82 was the first year the e28 was brought over here (at least I think this is correct. I think 81 was the last year of the e12, correct me if I am wrong) There were changes made throughout its production cycle. The oldest e28 I owned was an 85. Other than those crap metric wheels the car was identical to the 86 528e my father used to own. Oh and it had an M30 motor in it too....

It may be better to pick up the old 82, take the interior out of it, and then look for an 86 to 88 e28 with a straight body. They are out there. Remember when restoring old cars the most important aspect of it is the body/frame. If all of that is good everything else is just a matter of bolting it on and swapping it out.

Its all up to you. This is going to take some work, and it is going to frustrate the heck out of you at times. You have to rEALLY want this type of a car, like I do, to go through with it...


Good Luck!

Well I called the guy up and he said he still had the car. I drove 30 miles to find he was talking about an E34 he still had. He had since sold the 528e! The car [E34] had been sitting for ten years with a blown head gasket. He said 20 people called about the old one. But I was only the second one to inquire about the E34. I told him I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole! Even for $500 it was a lot of work. I'll keep looking, maybe for another complete working car, I really want a 535i anyway. For now my e28 is only an "a to b" car. I have my E46 for fun. but thanks for the info!!! Oh yeah, I finally got those control arms in the mail. I'll put those on sometime this week.

I just got another 1986 528e for $500 bucks, including delivery! Yay! It is without a head or radiator[I bought it from a scrap guy who already took them for the aluminum].But it only has 112k on it and its a 5 speed and looks great except for the roof is oxidized. So needless to say, I'm gonna have a lot of parts for sale soon if anyone is interested.