Not that I’m going to do it, but this was my random thought process this morning:
1. Need to replace the head shield for the spark plug wires on the E28, it is mostly rotted away.
2. Heat shield is part of the exhaust manifold gasket. OK. Well then....
3. Headers would be cool to do since I’m taking the exhaust manifold off. Off to mye28.com for some research.
4. Well, to no one’s surprise the exhaust manifold is REALLY hard to get off on 30 year old car unless you pull the engine.
5. If I’m going to pull the engine, it has 270k+ miles, so I might as well replace some things while it is out.
6. If I’m going to replace some things, might was well do a B35 swap, I’ll come out with more power and it is basically* a drop in replacement. (* No, it isn’t.)
So.....
What I’m going to do is none of it. Screw the heat shield for now. I just put new wires in, and I drive it less than 5,000 miles a year. They will be fine.
(Also, as I’m proof reading my post, I realized this may be my first click-bait post since I put the trigger words “engine swap” in the title. Sorry.)