Pretty car!
Mr. Johnson's 1970 2800 CS - Update 09/28/2025
- Thread starter wkohler
- Start date
Now it's the beginning of August and I've got less than two weeks before I'm driving 750 miles in a car I've put about 20 miles on after it sat for 15 years. Also, it's missing some parts and doesn't have AC. Then it's going to be judged the next day. I'm nuts.
I have driven so many cars to summer events without AC, so the AC was a want more than a need. I figured it's important to see if the blowers and whatnot work. If there's a problem there then I'll table the AC and just not worry about it for now. I've got 6 working windows! I'm crossing the desert at night anyway.
First thing I did was put the heater blower in. This is the same one that was in the car when I got it. I pressure washed out the detritus and sanitized it, then lubricated it and let it sit for almost 3 years. I cleaned it up again and installed that without the grille just to test it. It worked! No noise. Neat. Let's turn on the AC and see what happens there. I switched it on, heard the changeover relay click but that was it. Great. I spent some time researching this. I had power at the fuse and with the wiring diagram, it was clear that I couldn't determine much without getting involved in something I was not excited to delve into.
One of the leads was missing off of the back of the temperature switch, but that wasn't the issue. I had to dig deeper. On the fan switch side, I had power going into the resistor, but no power coming back to it. Hmm what's this?
This black/grey wire was wrapped in electrical tape and was just sitting outside the connector block. What a weird way of keeping the AC blower from working. Wonder why this was done. Awful lot of work for something that could have been done a lot easier. I decided now I need to reconnect this and be ready for anything. I did just that. I hooked it back up and turned the blower on. It just worked. Now I'm wondering how long it works for. What is going to happen? What are the chances that there was nothing wrong and this was done for another reason? The theory I had was that this was used to turn on the auxiliary fan but they didn't want the AC blower coming on. Seems nuts, but I think this was done then it was later changed to a dedicated switch. The rodents ate most of the wiring on that. Must be nice.
Now that all of this works, I installed the heater blower for real. Have to do the wiper transmission and motor first, but I have no idea where it ended up. It was in the same place for over two years but I moved it to where I thought it would be safer. Then I couldn't find it. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
I had a customer car come in so I had to move the coupe. I had a little surprise.
Very impressed with the quality of these new Walloth and Nesch muffler hangers. I found the pair of genuine ones that were previously on the car and installed those. sfdon clued me in to the error of purchasing these so I'll buy some more from a different source. Anyway, back to work.
The first thing I did on the project was remove the radiator again. I'm so good at it, I need to stay on top of my game. I had several pieces of my design in stock already, from the condenser, a Spal 16" fan and various fittings. My first plan was to install the drier in the stock location. One problem with this is that I don't have the original bracket. Or maybe I do. Somewhere. I made a trip to pick up a slough of parts with the car and after all of this time, I still haven't inventoried them so I really don't know all that's actually there. Good chance the bracket is there somewhere. Or not.
Anyway, I bought a selection of receiver/drier brackets. I bought the short drier and soon discovered that my "plan" was a failure as the short drier doesn't fit in the standard brackets. I exchanged the drier for the tall one and then discovered that this is a terrible idea.
Wow, that's so dumb! Of course, it would almost be okay if the bracket held the drier closer to the inner fender, not out in no mans land like it does, but it's just so...busy.
New plan! Let's look behind the headlight.
I used an existing fastener for the original condenser bracket.
For the condenser, I used a 15x20, which is the same size I put in E28s. I made brackets which I riveted to the condenser which matched up to the existing brackets in the car. I attached the fan using a Spal mounting kit. I actually used scraps left over from previous jobs for the straps and it worked out perfectly.
The inline fuse holder held a ceramic fuse but it didn't hold it well and the fan did not work consistently. I had to replace it with a blade fuse holder and then it was rock solid. I do wish I could have gotten a high side charge port fitting with the charge port on the side, but clocking the fittings as I did gives plenty of room for connecting the hose..
Now that I'm satisfied the electrical portion of the installation is doing it's thing, let's suck it down. I let it suck for an hour, closed the gauges and let it sit overnight.
I like to keep my workbench just so. Well-organized. Can find anything I need in two seconds. Honest.
Well, we passed the test. It held overnight, so let's charge it.
I'd say that works. 117º F outside, about 95º F in the shop with the car idling.
Now we have AC, yay. I tidied up and added a few plugs where the existing holes in the inner fender are, like for the drier and pulse-dampener.
Now, I'm going to leave in 3 days, I better get to this driving thing!
I also drove a big loop of freeway at night while a friend followed me.
I put a good number of miles on it. I feel comfortable. All I need to do now is put everything together under the hood.
I made quite the mistake putting the wiper stuff back together. I had the big washer plated and completely forgot to install it. What a maroon. That's fixed now though. I put my original washer tank in, I hooked up the pump and the damn thing worked! It's empty, but I'm still impressed by that. I made the cowl seal from an E34 hood seal. I felt bad cutting it up, but I've never met anyone that needed one and I needed one for this. I put the wipers in the trunk as I didn't want to lose one on my first trip!
So, this photo was taken at 12:30 on August 12. In 9 hours, I am leaving for Monterey. Not easy to relax. Anxiety setting in. Man there's a lot of stuff in this car.
I have driven so many cars to summer events without AC, so the AC was a want more than a need. I figured it's important to see if the blowers and whatnot work. If there's a problem there then I'll table the AC and just not worry about it for now. I've got 6 working windows! I'm crossing the desert at night anyway.
First thing I did was put the heater blower in. This is the same one that was in the car when I got it. I pressure washed out the detritus and sanitized it, then lubricated it and let it sit for almost 3 years. I cleaned it up again and installed that without the grille just to test it. It worked! No noise. Neat. Let's turn on the AC and see what happens there. I switched it on, heard the changeover relay click but that was it. Great. I spent some time researching this. I had power at the fuse and with the wiring diagram, it was clear that I couldn't determine much without getting involved in something I was not excited to delve into.
One of the leads was missing off of the back of the temperature switch, but that wasn't the issue. I had to dig deeper. On the fan switch side, I had power going into the resistor, but no power coming back to it. Hmm what's this?
This black/grey wire was wrapped in electrical tape and was just sitting outside the connector block. What a weird way of keeping the AC blower from working. Wonder why this was done. Awful lot of work for something that could have been done a lot easier. I decided now I need to reconnect this and be ready for anything. I did just that. I hooked it back up and turned the blower on. It just worked. Now I'm wondering how long it works for. What is going to happen? What are the chances that there was nothing wrong and this was done for another reason? The theory I had was that this was used to turn on the auxiliary fan but they didn't want the AC blower coming on. Seems nuts, but I think this was done then it was later changed to a dedicated switch. The rodents ate most of the wiring on that. Must be nice.
Now that all of this works, I installed the heater blower for real. Have to do the wiper transmission and motor first, but I have no idea where it ended up. It was in the same place for over two years but I moved it to where I thought it would be safer. Then I couldn't find it. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
I had a customer car come in so I had to move the coupe. I had a little surprise.
Very impressed with the quality of these new Walloth and Nesch muffler hangers. I found the pair of genuine ones that were previously on the car and installed those. sfdon clued me in to the error of purchasing these so I'll buy some more from a different source. Anyway, back to work.
The first thing I did on the project was remove the radiator again. I'm so good at it, I need to stay on top of my game. I had several pieces of my design in stock already, from the condenser, a Spal 16" fan and various fittings. My first plan was to install the drier in the stock location. One problem with this is that I don't have the original bracket. Or maybe I do. Somewhere. I made a trip to pick up a slough of parts with the car and after all of this time, I still haven't inventoried them so I really don't know all that's actually there. Good chance the bracket is there somewhere. Or not.
Anyway, I bought a selection of receiver/drier brackets. I bought the short drier and soon discovered that my "plan" was a failure as the short drier doesn't fit in the standard brackets. I exchanged the drier for the tall one and then discovered that this is a terrible idea.
Wow, that's so dumb! Of course, it would almost be okay if the bracket held the drier closer to the inner fender, not out in no mans land like it does, but it's just so...busy.
New plan! Let's look behind the headlight.
I used an existing fastener for the original condenser bracket.
For the condenser, I used a 15x20, which is the same size I put in E28s. I made brackets which I riveted to the condenser which matched up to the existing brackets in the car. I attached the fan using a Spal mounting kit. I actually used scraps left over from previous jobs for the straps and it worked out perfectly.
The inline fuse holder held a ceramic fuse but it didn't hold it well and the fan did not work consistently. I had to replace it with a blade fuse holder and then it was rock solid. I do wish I could have gotten a high side charge port fitting with the charge port on the side, but clocking the fittings as I did gives plenty of room for connecting the hose..
Now that I'm satisfied the electrical portion of the installation is doing it's thing, let's suck it down. I let it suck for an hour, closed the gauges and let it sit overnight.
I like to keep my workbench just so. Well-organized. Can find anything I need in two seconds. Honest.
Well, we passed the test. It held overnight, so let's charge it.
I'd say that works. 117º F outside, about 95º F in the shop with the car idling.
Now we have AC, yay. I tidied up and added a few plugs where the existing holes in the inner fender are, like for the drier and pulse-dampener.
Now, I'm going to leave in 3 days, I better get to this driving thing!
I also drove a big loop of freeway at night while a friend followed me.
I put a good number of miles on it. I feel comfortable. All I need to do now is put everything together under the hood.
I made quite the mistake putting the wiper stuff back together. I had the big washer plated and completely forgot to install it. What a maroon. That's fixed now though. I put my original washer tank in, I hooked up the pump and the damn thing worked! It's empty, but I'm still impressed by that. I made the cowl seal from an E34 hood seal. I felt bad cutting it up, but I've never met anyone that needed one and I needed one for this. I put the wipers in the trunk as I didn't want to lose one on my first trip!
So, this photo was taken at 12:30 on August 12. In 9 hours, I am leaving for Monterey. Not easy to relax. Anxiety setting in. Man there's a lot of stuff in this car.
Attachments
That seal for firewall is available-
BTS has one that is pretty good.
Never Walloth.
BTS has one that is pretty good.
Never Walloth.
Why was temp gauge so high?
117* in phoenix!
Right? So much for the "tariffs won't cause inflation", and the "suppliers will eat the tariffs" fantasies of a few months ago....
you are spot on Scott - the problem is with those arguments from the president - the only group that can eat tariffs are manufacturers or governments supporting sales from their countries. companies like BTS or W+N cannot do that as they are resellers, not manufacturers (for the most part).
I think there may be a ground issue with that gauge since the fuel gauge reads low and the temp reads high. It was certainly cause for concern but I was satisfied after a lot of infrared thermometer use.
Correct. And from what I have experienced, W-N goes out of their way to clearly identify the parts and tariff categories, but it appears that how tariffs are applied by US Customs is pretty random. Remains to be seen if any sort of redress is possible. UPS says they have a 3+ month backlog of tariff corrections...
Back to August 12th. Car is all packed to leave. Lots of stuff in the car. Fingers crossed.
Hit the road around 9:30pm. Things are going okay. I'm quite comfortable with my air conditioning. I am simply amazed at how quiet all of the seals are.
Stopped for some fuel at the border. Unfortunately, they didn't sell the Kirkland Signature fuel here. I was relegated to the plebeian fuels until 6am. I also lose time at the fuel stops as people want to talk about the car. Unfortunately for my schedule, I like talking about the car.
Trip was smooth sailing. Other than several multi-lane closures on the 210, nothing really to write home about traffic-wise. The clock works!
I got to the Costco in Santa Maria at 5:50am and was able to get some Kirkland Signature premium fuel. I also took a nap as I was pretty tired. Back on the road. Here's an important photo.
Our accommodations this year were...interesting. What was also interesting is it was Polaris 2800 Central. Chris' E3 2800 was on the street. I felt like I was part of a thing here.
It seemed to take quite a while to unload the car, clean up after the trip and get ready for judging the next day. I was very tired. Interestingly, I didn't get much if any sleep. We got to the event bright and early in the morning. The Polaris 2800 brigade strikes again. If that golf cart wasn't in the way, this would have that look like a 1990s album cover.
Behind all the anxiety, I was excited to have the car on the fairway. I figured I had already accomplished something just with having this car back on the road and a successful 750 mile trip in one shot. Of course, I've had cars judged before but I have never entered anything in Preservation class. I thought the car would be a good entry for this given it had original paint, trim and interior. While it has some wear, it still presents quite well.
I was quite fortunate to get some help getting the car ready for judging. I was judging the E9 class, so I couldn't be at the car during the judges meeting. I'm thankful for their help getting grass off the tires and giving other areas a once over. I had the only car in the class with clean tires. I figured that had to count for something!
Here we are lined up with other entrants in the class. Looked pretty good, I thought.
We had five E9s to judge and that took a while. I couldn't just break away from that to be there for having my own car judged. My car was judged after my assignment was completed. I figured the story of the car was something the judges would care about in this class. Usually, it's just cleanliness. I mean at the end of the day, it's a 55-year-old car with original Polaris paint. When do you see that? Unfortunately a license plate light that worked in the morning didn't work during the judging (then worked that evening just to rub it in). I'm also sure that basically everything I did under the hood to make the car work counted against me. That and the distance I drove to the event never came up.
Needless to say, I didn't win anything. The E31 won first in the class, Lisa's 1600 won second place and the E30 cabriolet won third. I still haven't been able to get any feedback or thoughts as to what the deficiencies were so that's pretty frustrating.
At least it looked cool sitting there.
I thought this was interesting. Every car on the right was a winner. I guess I failed, but that's nothing new. At least I get to drive my car home. I'm happy with that.
The drive home was uneventful. I made good time, leaving after Pebble Beach. I made it home around 5:30am on Monday. I was happy to make it home safely. Despite the lack of success from the awards perspective, the trip was a success and I felt good about that.
Hit the road around 9:30pm. Things are going okay. I'm quite comfortable with my air conditioning. I am simply amazed at how quiet all of the seals are.
Stopped for some fuel at the border. Unfortunately, they didn't sell the Kirkland Signature fuel here. I was relegated to the plebeian fuels until 6am. I also lose time at the fuel stops as people want to talk about the car. Unfortunately for my schedule, I like talking about the car.
Trip was smooth sailing. Other than several multi-lane closures on the 210, nothing really to write home about traffic-wise. The clock works!
I got to the Costco in Santa Maria at 5:50am and was able to get some Kirkland Signature premium fuel. I also took a nap as I was pretty tired. Back on the road. Here's an important photo.
Our accommodations this year were...interesting. What was also interesting is it was Polaris 2800 Central. Chris' E3 2800 was on the street. I felt like I was part of a thing here.
It seemed to take quite a while to unload the car, clean up after the trip and get ready for judging the next day. I was very tired. Interestingly, I didn't get much if any sleep. We got to the event bright and early in the morning. The Polaris 2800 brigade strikes again. If that golf cart wasn't in the way, this would have that look like a 1990s album cover.
Behind all the anxiety, I was excited to have the car on the fairway. I figured I had already accomplished something just with having this car back on the road and a successful 750 mile trip in one shot. Of course, I've had cars judged before but I have never entered anything in Preservation class. I thought the car would be a good entry for this given it had original paint, trim and interior. While it has some wear, it still presents quite well.
I was quite fortunate to get some help getting the car ready for judging. I was judging the E9 class, so I couldn't be at the car during the judges meeting. I'm thankful for their help getting grass off the tires and giving other areas a once over. I had the only car in the class with clean tires. I figured that had to count for something!
Here we are lined up with other entrants in the class. Looked pretty good, I thought.
We had five E9s to judge and that took a while. I couldn't just break away from that to be there for having my own car judged. My car was judged after my assignment was completed. I figured the story of the car was something the judges would care about in this class. Usually, it's just cleanliness. I mean at the end of the day, it's a 55-year-old car with original Polaris paint. When do you see that? Unfortunately a license plate light that worked in the morning didn't work during the judging (then worked that evening just to rub it in). I'm also sure that basically everything I did under the hood to make the car work counted against me. That and the distance I drove to the event never came up.
Needless to say, I didn't win anything. The E31 won first in the class, Lisa's 1600 won second place and the E30 cabriolet won third. I still haven't been able to get any feedback or thoughts as to what the deficiencies were so that's pretty frustrating.
At least it looked cool sitting there.
I thought this was interesting. Every car on the right was a winner. I guess I failed, but that's nothing new. At least I get to drive my car home. I'm happy with that.
The drive home was uneventful. I made good time, leaving after Pebble Beach. I made it home around 5:30am on Monday. I was happy to make it home safely. Despite the lack of success from the awards perspective, the trip was a success and I felt good about that.
Chris, Your coupe is a winner to everyone here!
Chris K., you've already won, and in more significant ways than a judged event. Don't judge me, man. 
I so enjoyed reading this tale of preparation for a deadline. You accomplished some pretty significant repairs/fixes/renovations in the final hours before a deadline to depart on an adventure. Many of us have done same, and it is very rewarding. Congratulations! I especially noted that your commentary seemed to be "inner voice speaking", so cool! Mike
Miketdgray
Well-Known Member
Very excellent… as someone who has pulled a couple of these last minute attempts at a car show… you did wonderfully. Kudos man. Kudos.
Thanks for the comments! As I've said many times, I'm beyond thrilled to own this car and being able to actually drive it on a successful ~1,500 mile trip, while nerve-racking at first, was really a huge win for me. My frustration with the lack of results on the judging front is just with the lack of information. Is it a fools errand to have the car judged in preservation? At this point, I only have conjecture, so I'm not stressing about it. My goal for the car is to try to maintain it as best I can and if having a car that works and one that can be successful in preservation, so be it. Maybe I could relax a bit more. Probably not.
So, this should be the last significant update up to this point and after this one, we should be caught up.
As well as the trip to Monterey and back went, there was one rather frustrating issue. Oil consumption. I smartly brought a case of oil with me (6 quarts - I'm not insane) and I'd have to add a quart at every fuel stop. I also had quite a bit of oil leakage out of the oil cap. I wasn't sure how much of the oil was going out the tailpipe and how much was leaking but I decided I needed to look at the seal on the oil cap. I swore I had replaced it, so I was thinking that there was a tab issue or a valve cover issue. So let me just pop that seal out and have a look.
Well, this doesn't seem to be coming out. Hmm. It was at this point I realized I didn't replace this. About 20 min later, I had this.
I keep new oil caps in stock. I hate this because I remove the seal and end up with a real muffin stump problem (Seinfeld: Season 8, Episode 21). I get stuck with a new cap I can't use because new seal but can't throw away because its a new cap. So, I pulled the seal out, put it in the old cap and put it back on the engine after a thorough cleaning and adding a quart of oil.
Of course, now the question is whether or not this fixed anything.
One of my favorite events is the BMW CCA San Diego chapter's show at Spanish Landing. I've been attending this since 2008 when it was the Jack Cavanaugh Memorial Clean Car Contest. Always a great event, with significant competition and an auction at the end benefitting a local charity. Since Covid, it morphed into a people's choice car show called Bimmers by the Bay and it moved from May to the end of July. This year, they changed the name to Picnic by the Bay because of a cease and desist from another BMW group on the east coast that used it once fifteen years ago and haven't since. Then they moved the event to the Sunday after Monterey Car Week. Also the same day as the San Marino Motor Classic, which is a neat show as well, but for me, I'll generally always go to support this one.
This left me with some questions as to what car to bring. I have plenty of other cars I could drive but I had the coupe in the shop and had just replaced the oil cap seal. Also, I have a coupe with AC that works and what's a trip to San Diego and back? Plus, what better way to see if this seal made a difference?
So, off to San Diego.
Stopped at the usual stop in Alpine, CA.
So, on the way there, I used about the same amount of oil but at least it wasn't leaking.
I got into town and stayed at my friend Darin's house. Quite warm in San Diego.
The next morning, I first went in search of some Kirkland Signature premium fuel. After that, I headed down to Spanish Landing for the show. Once I got there and checked in they said I had to use the hazard lights while I drove into the park. I suggested that this might be an issue and asked to not do that, but rules are rules.
As I got to where I was directed to park, I tried to turn off the hazard lights and sure enough, that wasn't happening. Fortunately, no fewer than 14 people brought the fact they were on to my attention as I was unplugging the relay, so they obviously work well in warning passers-by. I was thrilled to make my journey home without turn signals.
Anyway, the show was quite well-attended and as part of registering you're given a people's choice ballot and of course, the classes were confusing and the majority of those were weighted towards newer BMWs, and to their credit that appears to be the majority of what showed up. You could vote for any car for any class as long as it fit the criteria. I photographed every car there (a fun new thing I tried when I realized I didn't have to change film and have it developed), but here's a few we'd be interested in:
The owner of this car was very excited to get a YOM blue plate on it. He had two early E24 steering wheels for sale (which is what the paper on the windshield advertises).
@HB Chris 2800 looking beautiful next to a "71" 2002 "shitbox edition" in what the owner called "Taiga." Lots of room on the left side for the car that never showed up.
Gorgeous Ceylon CSi in the parking lot.
And of course, my 2800 CS:
That E28 M5 was the only E28 there! What the heck?
So, at the end of the day, they had an auction and then did the awards.
Gary Collins won the "Factory Fresh" category with his stunning E34 M5. This class was for stock, original cars.
And Fred Larimer won the "Das No Roofs" category with his E30 Cabriolet
Then the class for cars older than 1980, they called "The Elders." Before announcing the winner, the emcee said that "this car received over twenty votes in four different categories, but we decided to give it this one." Then he proceeded to call the car a 2500 and no one had any idea what was going on until he said my name.
Whoa, no way.
It's hard to read. Sorry. So, I'm pretty happy that people seemed to see what I see in the car so that was fun.
After packing the car back up including a couple large boxes of books that a friend in Berkeley had sent along to Monterey, then one of our friends took to his house north of San Diego, then handed off to Gary to bring to me at the show, I took another photo of it. Not great with the lighting but I do this every year.
Off to Phoenix. Things were going swimmingly. Then things got really humid.
I am not in a good mood right now. But it did dry out.
It was pretty damn hot, so I am hoping that helps.
Approaching El Centro (The Center), it started getting wet again. Ooof.
Then it got really rough. Visibility got really low. Everyone is using their flashers - except me because I don't have any.
I am not handling this well. I am trying to stay calm and think about my options. I have to see some radar and see what's going on here. As water is rushing across the highway, I'm thankful I have the rain professor tires, but what the hell am I going to do to protect this car?!
I ended up in virtually zero visibility and made my way to the mall. I was able to duck into the loading dock at the Best Buy and I waited there for about 35 minutes while the meat of the storm passed. It was a cell coming up from Mexico and it was not very wide. Thankfully it did not extend to the dunes which would surely destroy the car with the blowing sand. Thankfully, I could see the highway from where I was at which meant the worst was beyond me, so I got back on the highway. I soon reached the edge of the storm and continued on to Yuma.
I got to Yuma and decided after this experience, I am going to Texas Roadhouse and I'm going to have a steak.
How about that ribeye?
I filled the car with fuel, added some oil and set off for home. Fortunately, the rest of the trip was uneventful.
After I got back home, it took some serious work to get all this dirt out of the crevices and seals. It cleaned up well in the end and I think it being so hot outside has to have helped.
Now, this is one of those times where I go man, maybe I should have left the next day. Perhaps it was foolhardy of me to do my usual leave after the event. Well, yeah, I sure felt like an idiot until I saw this the next day:
It's not I-8 in this photo, but it's close enough and there were a bunch of downed power poles along I-8 and lots of flooding there too, so, uhhh, whew. That storm continued into AZ and there were even overturned semis, so I'm thankful that I did not wait to come back.
As of now, the car is cleaned up, it's sitting safely in my garage and I'll take it out sometime soon for some local event I'm sure. One thing that was really interesting though, is that it hardly used any oil on the trip home from Yuma. I wonder what happened there. I guess I'll continue to monitor that for now. The car runs really, really well. It feels strong for an M30B28.
I'll make an effort to be more timely in my future updates.
So, this should be the last significant update up to this point and after this one, we should be caught up.
As well as the trip to Monterey and back went, there was one rather frustrating issue. Oil consumption. I smartly brought a case of oil with me (6 quarts - I'm not insane) and I'd have to add a quart at every fuel stop. I also had quite a bit of oil leakage out of the oil cap. I wasn't sure how much of the oil was going out the tailpipe and how much was leaking but I decided I needed to look at the seal on the oil cap. I swore I had replaced it, so I was thinking that there was a tab issue or a valve cover issue. So let me just pop that seal out and have a look.
Well, this doesn't seem to be coming out. Hmm. It was at this point I realized I didn't replace this. About 20 min later, I had this.
I keep new oil caps in stock. I hate this because I remove the seal and end up with a real muffin stump problem (Seinfeld: Season 8, Episode 21). I get stuck with a new cap I can't use because new seal but can't throw away because its a new cap. So, I pulled the seal out, put it in the old cap and put it back on the engine after a thorough cleaning and adding a quart of oil.
Of course, now the question is whether or not this fixed anything.
One of my favorite events is the BMW CCA San Diego chapter's show at Spanish Landing. I've been attending this since 2008 when it was the Jack Cavanaugh Memorial Clean Car Contest. Always a great event, with significant competition and an auction at the end benefitting a local charity. Since Covid, it morphed into a people's choice car show called Bimmers by the Bay and it moved from May to the end of July. This year, they changed the name to Picnic by the Bay because of a cease and desist from another BMW group on the east coast that used it once fifteen years ago and haven't since. Then they moved the event to the Sunday after Monterey Car Week. Also the same day as the San Marino Motor Classic, which is a neat show as well, but for me, I'll generally always go to support this one.
This left me with some questions as to what car to bring. I have plenty of other cars I could drive but I had the coupe in the shop and had just replaced the oil cap seal. Also, I have a coupe with AC that works and what's a trip to San Diego and back? Plus, what better way to see if this seal made a difference?
So, off to San Diego.
Stopped at the usual stop in Alpine, CA.
So, on the way there, I used about the same amount of oil but at least it wasn't leaking.
I got into town and stayed at my friend Darin's house. Quite warm in San Diego.
The next morning, I first went in search of some Kirkland Signature premium fuel. After that, I headed down to Spanish Landing for the show. Once I got there and checked in they said I had to use the hazard lights while I drove into the park. I suggested that this might be an issue and asked to not do that, but rules are rules.
As I got to where I was directed to park, I tried to turn off the hazard lights and sure enough, that wasn't happening. Fortunately, no fewer than 14 people brought the fact they were on to my attention as I was unplugging the relay, so they obviously work well in warning passers-by. I was thrilled to make my journey home without turn signals.
Anyway, the show was quite well-attended and as part of registering you're given a people's choice ballot and of course, the classes were confusing and the majority of those were weighted towards newer BMWs, and to their credit that appears to be the majority of what showed up. You could vote for any car for any class as long as it fit the criteria. I photographed every car there (a fun new thing I tried when I realized I didn't have to change film and have it developed), but here's a few we'd be interested in:
The owner of this car was very excited to get a YOM blue plate on it. He had two early E24 steering wheels for sale (which is what the paper on the windshield advertises).
@HB Chris 2800 looking beautiful next to a "71" 2002 "shitbox edition" in what the owner called "Taiga." Lots of room on the left side for the car that never showed up.
Gorgeous Ceylon CSi in the parking lot.
And of course, my 2800 CS:
That E28 M5 was the only E28 there! What the heck?
So, at the end of the day, they had an auction and then did the awards.
Gary Collins won the "Factory Fresh" category with his stunning E34 M5. This class was for stock, original cars.
And Fred Larimer won the "Das No Roofs" category with his E30 Cabriolet
Then the class for cars older than 1980, they called "The Elders." Before announcing the winner, the emcee said that "this car received over twenty votes in four different categories, but we decided to give it this one." Then he proceeded to call the car a 2500 and no one had any idea what was going on until he said my name.
Whoa, no way.
It's hard to read. Sorry. So, I'm pretty happy that people seemed to see what I see in the car so that was fun.
After packing the car back up including a couple large boxes of books that a friend in Berkeley had sent along to Monterey, then one of our friends took to his house north of San Diego, then handed off to Gary to bring to me at the show, I took another photo of it. Not great with the lighting but I do this every year.
Off to Phoenix. Things were going swimmingly. Then things got really humid.
I am not in a good mood right now. But it did dry out.
It was pretty damn hot, so I am hoping that helps.
Approaching El Centro (The Center), it started getting wet again. Ooof.
Then it got really rough. Visibility got really low. Everyone is using their flashers - except me because I don't have any.
I am not handling this well. I am trying to stay calm and think about my options. I have to see some radar and see what's going on here. As water is rushing across the highway, I'm thankful I have the rain professor tires, but what the hell am I going to do to protect this car?!
I ended up in virtually zero visibility and made my way to the mall. I was able to duck into the loading dock at the Best Buy and I waited there for about 35 minutes while the meat of the storm passed. It was a cell coming up from Mexico and it was not very wide. Thankfully it did not extend to the dunes which would surely destroy the car with the blowing sand. Thankfully, I could see the highway from where I was at which meant the worst was beyond me, so I got back on the highway. I soon reached the edge of the storm and continued on to Yuma.
I got to Yuma and decided after this experience, I am going to Texas Roadhouse and I'm going to have a steak.
How about that ribeye?
I filled the car with fuel, added some oil and set off for home. Fortunately, the rest of the trip was uneventful.
After I got back home, it took some serious work to get all this dirt out of the crevices and seals. It cleaned up well in the end and I think it being so hot outside has to have helped.
Now, this is one of those times where I go man, maybe I should have left the next day. Perhaps it was foolhardy of me to do my usual leave after the event. Well, yeah, I sure felt like an idiot until I saw this the next day:
It's not I-8 in this photo, but it's close enough and there were a bunch of downed power poles along I-8 and lots of flooding there too, so, uhhh, whew. That storm continued into AZ and there were even overturned semis, so I'm thankful that I did not wait to come back.
As of now, the car is cleaned up, it's sitting safely in my garage and I'll take it out sometime soon for some local event I'm sure. One thing that was really interesting though, is that it hardly used any oil on the trip home from Yuma. I wonder what happened there. I guess I'll continue to monitor that for now. The car runs really, really well. It feels strong for an M30B28.
I'll make an effort to be more timely in my future updates.