[Photo Pictorial] Dinan E28 M5 Rear Suspension Restoration (1988 BMW M5)

I was fortunate to have this Dinan equipped 1988 BMW M5 come into my shop for some light restoration work. This E28 is a US spec M5, that spent its life in the midwest. The car was well used and had about 200,000 miles on it. Although it was still in very good condition it was starting to suffer from some minor issues due to the age and milage. Mainly the fuel tank was leaking fuel and the parking brake was not operational due to seized cables. The owner of the car had just recently purchased it and wanted me to address these items. A full restoration was not in his budget, so we came up with a plan of attack that would address these issues for him, getting as much work done as possible within his budget.
I started to disassembling the car and taking it down to the bare body underneath. All of the original and rare Dinan parts will be saved and re-used. After the disassembly I modified the rear subframe to allow for adjustability for the rear camber and toe. This was done by elongating the control arm mounting bolt holes, and welding in special guides for the new eccentric bolts. Once this was done, and all of the old suspension bushings were removed I sent the control arms, subframe, sway bar and springs to be powder coated. Everything was done in a semi gloss black except for the Dinan parts that went back to the original blue.
I performed some light rust repair on the rear subframe mounts. Rust encapsulator was applied to the underside of the car before a new coat of undercoating was applied.
The car was reassembled with all new OEM bushings from BMW, with the exception of the subframe bushings. New OEM wheel bearings were installed along with new parking brake cables, shoes and hardware. A new fuel tank was acquired from BMW and installed with new pumps and sensors. All the rubber fuel hose was replaced at the same time.
I recondition and refurbished the remaining parts. The rear diff was cleaned, painted and resealed. All of the heat shields underneath the car were replaced with brand new items.
The Dinan suspension eliminates the factory self leveling suspension, which was done some time ago. But the pump, and valve body were left in the trunk, along with the various lines and sensors under the car. I removed all the lines, sensors and valve unit from the car for good to clean the look up. I also replaced the shocks for the Dinan suspension with some Bilstein HD replacement units.
Overall the project turned out great. Both the owner and I were very pleased with the results. Please keep an eye on my channel as this car will be coming back into my shop here in the future for more work. I think that the next round of work will be focused on the legendary S38. We will be addressing the timing chain, adding euro headers and camshafts along with a Miller MAF conversion. Don't worry, I will be filming all the work that will be performed this time!
Hit me up in the comments section if you have any questions on the work that I performed to the car. I will answer all questions.
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#E28 #E28M5 #M5 #BMWM5 #BMWE28M5 #BMW #BMWM #BMWMOTORSPORT #BMWE28
#Dinan #1988M5 #mpower #s38 #s38B35 #m88 #autotechnick

[@Omanic71]

Wow, great job.

[@AutoTechNick]

🙏 Thank you.

[@matthewkaiser358]

Thanks!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thank you very much!!!

[@gregmooradian3711]

That was an amazing job you did! Wish there were more mechanics like you out there!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thank you! 🙏 I am currently restoring another E28 M5. But this other restoration will be in much greater detail and a deeper scope of work. Keep a eye out for a series of build videos that will follow the status of the project…

[@muisphil]

Great result on a nice car! Good job

[@AutoTechNick]

🙏 Thank you!

[@mikkelpedersen03]

Very Nice: Great job👍

[@AutoTechNick]

Thanks!

[@user-jd8tt6we2x]

Отличная машина получилась! Жаль, что бампера для американского рынка. Они не красивые. Нужен обвес оригинальный, обязательно!

[@AutoTechNick]

Thank you! I agree. The bumpers for the North American Cars are terrible. Fortunately, the owner of this car has collected the needed parts to perform a Euro Bumper conversion! ~ Nick

[@johnmerz6146]

Could you save my 1986 e28 535i?

[@AutoTechNick]

Usually all cars can be saved. It just depends on how much time, money and effort that you are able to put into it.