Thomas' BMW 1981 528i

No frills here, not entirely stock, but may as well be.

• The seats are black leatherette and they look great. They've always been covered with sheepskins. No rips, slight wear, very comfortable.
• Instrument cluster is from an earlier 530i e12. Speedo goes to 140 MPH - neat! Unfortunately the clear lens is fractured on the right side. The speedo and odometer are inoperative.
• Steering wheel is a reduced diameter wood trimmed Momo. Nice feel that complements the 528i steering ratio for a more aggressive touch.
• Five speed shifter has a newly fitted short shift kit. It's a little tight at first, but feels right after running through the gears a couple times.
• Remainder of the interior fabric is somewhat worn. Headliner is intact, carpet is there but nothing to brag about.
• Radio is an older aftermarket brand that sports AM, FM and cassette. Speakers are stock or similar to stock. Not all speakers have speaker grills.
• The ignition has a problem. Have to turn the switch on, then momentarily throw a toggle to engage the starter. The seller thinks it's just a minor connection problem. Whatever, it does work.
• Front power windows work, rear switches do not. Sorry, I did not check the sunroof.

The interior is nothing to look at. Doesn't matter much, the value of this car is elsewhere.

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There are two areas where this car shines. Suspension is one of them.

• The front and rear are fitted with an off-the-shelf Dinan performance package.
• Springs are stiffer and about an inch shorter than stock.
• Beilstein struts and shocks at all four corners.
• Wheels are 16 X 8 with MEATY rubber. (See Below)

I drove my 1981 528i to see this car. Mine is a stock suspension. Comfortable, conservative. Driving this car was . . . well, you'll have to read further.

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• Two piece construction, 16X8 aftermarket wheels
• Polished outer rim (needs to be buffed again)
• Neat inner spoke pattern, classic style for this era car.
• Two of the four caps are present, and they need replacing as well.
• Tires are 215-55-16 in front, 225-50-16 rears

The wheels are nice, not great but a good addition to this car. The tires are a conglomeration of brands. The rear tires rub the fenders during off-the-line heroics as the car is lowered and tires are oversized. Remedy is to roll the fenders or reduce the tire size, or both.

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Not much to say here except they are stock.

• Brakes work, but pull to the right during light actuation. They brake straight when applied hard.

The seller and I talked about upgrading to the 750i brake system. It is something that the next owner can do if they choose. In my opinion, yea, they would only help, especially for how fast this car is.
Huh? It's Fast? . . . read on.

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The BMW M30 engine is like Chevy's small block V8. Manufactured in many different flavors for different vehicles and ratings. This one however, is a bit of a monster.

• European vintage, 3.2 liter M30. Compression ratio is 9.5:1.
• New (not rebuilt) cylinder head from Spain. Rumor is: this head has thicker walls between exhaust ports and cooling passages which reduces greatly the chances of a cracked head and better dimensional stability.
• Stronger performance valve springs, matched set with the performance cam.
• Schrick Cam -- 3/4 Full performance. After the motor warms up and the motor idles properly, it's very cool to listen to the distinct lope of a performance cam in a 528i.
• The crank and rod bearings were renewed.
• Pistons remained untouched - shame he did not rebuild the entire motor. It may not increase the performance, but it would have increased its life. Right now, the motor burns about one quart of oil per every 1000 miles.
• Cylinder head exhausts were slightly ported out by a professional shop. Ports were not polished
• Engine electronics are existing stock 528i computer, ignition control module, distributor, spark plugs and wires.
• before we started the motor I pulled spark plugs numbers 5 and 6. They were black from too much fuel with some white powder on the outer tip of the grounded electrode. I quried Thomas about his driving habits. he says "Just around town. No long trips". So I suspect the carbon powder is because he usually drives while the motor is warming up and therefore fuel rich. (sorry, I should have snapped a pic of the plugs.)

Thomas says the pro shop that did much of the work estimates the output of this engine around 225 horsepower. It's not an S38 power plant, but it is not as finicky nor as expensive to maintain either. Look at the engine, it's just an e12!

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Discussions about stuff that I didn't know where to put.

• Transmission and transaxle are running with synthetic oil
• A second fuel regulator was added in series with the existing regulator - ??? I wonder if he meant to have it parallel with the existing regulator to increase the fuel rail pressure?
• High beam head lights are super high-power for extreme brightness.
• New alternator, water pump and radiator. (New meaning less than 10,000 miles old.)

There is evidence that Thomas tried to maintain the critical things. He says the oil has never gone below a quart (BTW: it looks like it needs to be changed) and the motor never got REALLY hot.

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Custom and purely high-flow from head to rear.

• Custom headers (I should have got a picture) made from two sets of three runners using 1-3/4 equal length tubes that flow into to primary outlets, they run into one massive 2-1/2 exhaust tube.
• Oxygen sensor is located on this first single massive tube, in front of the CAT.
• Three-way Catalytic converter is an aftermarket unit used primarily for the Corvette or Camaro. Strictly high-flow system, but NOT removable.
• Massive tube after the CAT goes STRAIGHT back to the performance muffler. No upstream resonator in this system.
• Cylindrical aftermarket muffler located about where the stock unit should be.
• A simple cylindrical exhaust is seen from the back. Certainly not stock.
• This car has passed every smog test. Thomas takes it to a testing-only place where they do the visual (passes the headers) and measurements.

The exhaust was fabricated by a local muffler/speed shop. They look like they knew what they were doing. The sound is louder than stock and has the low-pitched throaty-ness of a '70 'Cuda but not overbearing at all. Very nice job. As you can see from the picture, the exhaust residue collects on the car around the tailpipe. Another indication that the engine burns oil.

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Let me qualify myself first by saying that I not only own a 528i, but have owned a 5 speed 535i. I'm very familiar with the abundance of torque present in the 3.5 liter motors as well as the feel when pushing either engine over the 6000 rpm mark.

My white 528i

• The motor started right up with the first attempt. It ran a little rough until it warmed up.
• BMW recommends driving the car slowly around the block before jumping on the high way. That's what we did, and when I gunned her from a standing start for the first time, two things were immediately apparent. First; this car has much more power than I had originally estimated, and second; the rear tires rub badly on the fenders during hard acceleration.
• Thomas pointed me to some open roads that had some giant slaloms. Since the speedometer is inoperative, I can only estimate my speed around 90 MPH at one point. I started up a long hill and took the motor up through 6500 RPM in second and 5000 in third gears. It easily handled it and was still pulling HARD and very smooth. It was a beautiful thing.
• The HP estimate of 225 is very believable. My 535i had 182 HP and seemed to have more bottom end torque. This car has MASSIVE amounts more top end HP. If I wanted to, I could chirp the tires with any gear. Thomas said when the car was first modified, a race car driver friend took the car up to the 140MPH mark on the speedometer, and it still had a little more left. Yes, I believe it.
• There is a slight shimmy that could be felt in the steering wheel when turning slightly to the right.
• The handling was good, but not as impressive as I had hoped. Maybe because it was just a 20 minute test drive, and I had not yet bonded with this machine, but my 535i seemed to handle better,- well, smoother anyway. My 6 series with 235-50-16 setup seemed to handle way better than this car. I don’t know - maybe because my 6 has nice sticky meats that retail for over $250 each and these tires were more nominal? I would have to take her out on a familiar road for an apples-apples thingy.
• The Momo steering wheel is great around town and casual driving. Especially functional when maneuvering in the city streets. For high-speed spirited runs though, I think I'd prefer the stock. Thomas has an "M5" wheel too. He doesn't like the bigger foamy-grippy feel that it has.
• The brakes are a little scary. They work, but initially pull to the right. Very mild shimmy. Probably just needs servicing.

This is a Hot Rod e12. It's nothing that your wife or girl friend will appreciate. But it has lots of "Guy" potential. If you're thinking about running a car on the track either just for fun or with the BMWCCA, then this is a great candidate. If you choose to run the track, the car still needs some attention, so expect to tune or upgrade the suspension and brakes.

Thomas dumped a lot of cash into this car when he was having his hot rod addiction. He did a lot of work 8 years or so ago. It would have benefited from the bi-weekly rinse to remove the salt. A simple tarp would have helped too, but that's all water under the bridge. The car's worth is less than the sum of it's parts, so if you'd like a fast e12 for a good price, here she is.

I drove 90 miles from Simi to Laguna Beach to see this car, and I'm glad I did. The test drive was worth the 180 round trip. This car can be driven anywhere right now. Hmmm, . . . if I were to deliver this to someone in, say Bend, Oregon . . . well it's just a thought.

Unfortunately, the car is not registered and needs a smog inspection. I suggested to Thomas that his chances of selling the car would increase if he did these. Many will pay the extra just to avoid the hassle.

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The owner/seller is Thomas Aquinas of Laguna Beach, Ca. Thomas is originally from Connecticut. While attending U.CONN one summer, he visited southern California. He went back to graduate but was hooked on the Golden State. Today he is a Holistic Message therapist. At least that’s what he does so he can continue surfing. Yep, Thomas is a surf bum. His other car is a VW bus and the e12 is just sitting.

So if you have immediate need for a hot rod e12, call Thomas. His number is (949) 510-1767
If you have a future need for aches and pains that need to be rubbed out, then call Thomas. His number is (949) 510-1767

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