Hello, I'm thinking about buying a no-rust 1987 E28 535i for < $1000. The engine is leaking oil (nothing through the tailpipe, I believe) and I'm thinking about swapping in a manual transmission. The car has about 130k miles under its belt and spent a fair amount of its life in storage. I like the idea of keeping these older cars on the road but I can't afford a money pit. Opinions are welcome.
Go to www.mye28.com and ask. It's a far more active and knowledgeable forum than this one. My input is, buy it if you have $3000 to spend on a good daily driver. We figure there's a "$2000 Rule" where you'll spend about that much on any E28 you buy for stuff that probably needs to be done. This one could quite likely be as simple as a leaking oil pressure switch (very common, at the back of the head) fixable for under $10. It might be a leaking pan gasket, which is a bit of a PITA to do, but very straightforward. The M30 engine is damn near indestructible. They rarely fail under 250-300k miles. With the $1000 initial investment, you'll be right at $3000, which is about average for a decent 535i.
I second C.R.'s suggestion. Go to MyE28.com, which has probably all the info you'll ever need, or will certainly point you to where you can get it. -Rod
