1981 528i

Specifications and equipment
Year:  1981 Mileage when purchased:  108,000 Mileage Current:  122,xxx Exterior:  Saphire Blau Metallic Interior:  Navy leather w/navy carpet and door panels Drive:  Rear wheel (of course, its a BMW!) Diff:  3.45, non-LSD Modifications when purchased:  none
Engine:  2.8 liter, straight 6
Transmission:  5speed manual

Some Background Info

I purchased my car through the Roundel (BMW Car Club) classifieds in Dec of 2000. It had been sitting the better part of 18 months only having been started and driven in the parking lot a few times. The previous owner was the 2nd, having owned the car since '86 I believe. The first owner bought it in Colorado I think. The car came with a maintenance journel from the 2nd owner. It has a fair amount of info in it, including notes on a clutch replacement at around 80K, alternator, and alot of other maintenance records. While not the best notes to go by, its better than nothing. The pictures to the right are from the first day I brought the car home. It was the week after Christmas. If you look closely on the front view, you can see oil stains on the edges of the hoods. I never did find out where that oil was coming from. It was driven approximately 4 hours south by some friends of the family (kind of) who picked it up from the guy I bought it from. My wife and I met them at a rest stop about 60 miles from our house and drove it the rest of the way home. The brakes were shot (as I later found out when I replaced both front calipers) and it was dangerously low on oil (the oil pressure light came on during acceleration from a stop). And the exhaust was rotted and loud (I already knew about this). The (original to the car) shocks were shot. But the old girl made it. Since all I had to go by were pictures emailed to me of the car, I essentially bought the car sight unseen since we didn't pick it up in person from the previous owner. One thing that was advertised by the previous owner was that the car came with a complete toolkit. This is a bit of a rarity with a BMW this old.

Replacement parts/repairs

New waterpump and coolant system flush Tranny and rear-end oil replaced with Redline products New/used tires all the way around, 195/65/14's (OE is 195/70/14 so my speedometer is slightly off New cap and rotor New fuel hoses, in engine compartment, and by (new) filter and pump New combo relay (runs fuel pump and other stuff) New battery New vacuum hoses New belts New turn signal relay (was clicking superfast like a strobe light) New spark plugs (twice so far) New cat-back, Bosal exhaust New brake rotors and pads, fluid flush w/ATE Super Blu Used Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires mounted on steel wheels (sold now that the car isn't driven in snow)

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