HustleRussell's old 525i Touring (E34)
Discussion
This should be a productive weekend. I had it on the four post ramp today, torqued everything up, checked the ride heights and set the geometry. Everything came up spot on and matched up with BMW's figures for a Touring on sport suspension.
To do it by the book, I took BMW's recommendation of balasting the car with 180kg. Also in shot- my new windscreen
New Hella inserts
To do it by the book, I took BMW's recommendation of balasting the car with 180kg. Also in shot- my new windscreen
New Hella inserts
With the geometry done I spent most of yesterday fettling the panel gaps around the bonnet and front wings. The offside front wing was new OEM and a used OEM bonnet have been used. Finally the replacement 'narrow kidney' pre facelift bonnet looks like it belongs on there. I'm pleased with my decision to go to narrow grille and I think I'm going to be even more pleased with it when the new headlights, grilles and facia go on. I managed to fit the nearside sill cover too, although ran out of clips to do the offside one
I quickly put the rear lights on, mostly so that I could jet wash the dust off the car without getting water in everything.
The long weekend was very handy but I'm probably not going to get much else done until next weekend now. So near, yet so far...
I quickly put the rear lights on, mostly so that I could jet wash the dust off the car without getting water in everything.
The long weekend was very handy but I'm probably not going to get much else done until next weekend now. So near, yet so far...
Great thread. The car looks fantastic in techno, and the 16" balloons really sets it off. Had me looking for E34 in the classifieds, none in reasonable nick to be had in Sweden atm. Such classic and good looking cars both as a limousine and touring. Buddy of mine used to have an early 3.8 M5 Touring in Techno.
Found this absolute peach a few months back, but at almost £6000 for a '94 520 150 hp it was not to be. But it was a one owner car with under 38000 miles on it. Edit, under 20.000 miles as it turns out.
Found this absolute peach a few months back, but at almost £6000 for a '94 520 150 hp it was not to be. But it was a one owner car with under 38000 miles on it. Edit, under 20.000 miles as it turns out.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Wednesday 15th June 16:28
I had the painter blow in some areas under the bonnet. The bonnet had to come off again to do it- no biggie, the bonnet can be released from its pins and removed without having to redo all the panel gaps etc etc.
The painter finished machine polishing all of the panels yesterday and I went in to the workshop to have a look and give him a hand re-fitting the bonnet. The crowning moment in the completion of the bodywork.
We lifted the bonnet to the front of the car and upended it to get it in position for the pins to go back in... but it started to overbalance. It didn't stop. In slow motion the bonnet flipped over forwards and fell to the floor with a solid clunk.
f
ked it. I could almost puke.
That's a killer - I feel your pain.
I went through a very similar incident with the resto of my E34. You just have to swear profusely/punch someone in the throat and get straight back into it.
The work you've done so far is great and there will inevitably be set backs with projects of this size.
Chin up.
I went through a very similar incident with the resto of my E34. You just have to swear profusely/punch someone in the throat and get straight back into it.
The work you've done so far is great and there will inevitably be set backs with projects of this size.
Chin up.
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
After the bonnet calamity the bonnet was repaired, re-sprayed and refitted.
I put it's 'face' on yesterday- new headlights, new grilles, new front bumper mouldings, the nice purple nosecone was refitted and new chrome 'nostril' trims... I think it looks great, I'm very happy with the pre-facelift look and everything lines up nicely. I think I have figured out why my headlight washers never worked and fixed it, although I won't know for sure until the headlights have their bulbs / holders on
After the bonnet calamity the bonnet was repaired, re-sprayed and refitted.
I put it's 'face' on yesterday- new headlights, new grilles, new front bumper mouldings, the nice purple nosecone was refitted and new chrome 'nostril' trims... I think it looks great, I'm very happy with the pre-facelift look and everything lines up nicely. I think I have figured out why my headlight washers never worked and fixed it, although I won't know for sure until the headlights have their bulbs / holders on
olly22n said:
Did you ever get this finished?
The short answer is no, to my shame.The long answer;
I was in no hurry to get it finished in time for the winter salt. I wasted winter ‘16/17 messing around changing my stopgap car and doing stuff on friend’s cars. Then in January I decided that I’d go racing again in Caterhams. That should’ve given me new impetus to finish my BMW but it didn’t quite work out that way.
Instead, running out of time for the start of the season, I hurriedly booked it in for an MOT and reassembled the car just enough that it could be considered roadworthy. I’d use it to pick up the trailer and Caterham and then it’d become a rolling restoration.
However it was the Caterham that demanded all of my attention in 2017; It had engine trouble from the very start and on top of the usual race car fettling and setup work went through a complete engine, gearbox, a couple of crashes and many many fibreglass wings over the course of the season.
My ‘stopgap’ car developed an oil leak which in the space of a week caused it to lose enough oil that oil pressure was lost and the top end was toast. From then on the BMW was not only my tow car but my daily too.
So the venerable BMW was abruptly and prematurely pressed into service a year ago this Friday and has since done 12,000 miles including towing the Caterham to all corners of the country (and Zandvoort!) with various bits of exterior and interior trim missing without so much as a wash
There are no pictures because on the surface it looks worse now than it did before I started and that is something I am not proud of.
I can take some consolation from the fact that underneath the dirt the paint should still shine, the corrosion was dealt with and all the work I did on the suspension, steering and brakes was worthwhile. I’m happy with my LSD, steering box, springs, dampers, roll bar upgrades and my choice of wheels / tyre size, but as yet the car is visibly unfinished.
With the Caterham and the stopgap car now gone and the days hopefully getting longer and warmer I hope to make some long overdue progress soon.
olly22n said:
Good to hear its still around. This thread was one of the driving factors behind me getting my e34.
Great! How is it?olly22n said:
where did your hella inserts come from btw?
I looked up the part numbers on RealOEM and then found the inserts on eBay. I think I spent about £220 in total on them. I had to replace all of the plastic stakes that hold them in and one of the brackets for the headlight level adjustment too as none of the 20 year old plastic was fit for re-use, although that lot wasn't expensive. JakeT said:
Better to use a car than to let it sit. Make sure not to run this out of oil too. 
Life always gets in the way when it comes to a project car anyway, and as long as it's used right and looked after no harm done! How's it handled the (ab)use since it's been pressed back into service?
Thanks, yeah I have to remind myself of that. Now that the Caterham is gone, the weather is getting warmer and the days are getting longer I'll hopefully be able to motivate myself for the final push. Life always gets in the way when it comes to a project car anyway, and as long as it's used right and looked after no harm done! How's it handled the (ab)use since it's been pressed back into service?
Believe it or not the headlining and pillar trims have been with an upholsterer for well over a year. They needed recovering but the guy I took them to is even more disorganised than I am
This thread coming back up actually spurred me into action on this, I paid the guy a visit and I should have them all back in the next week or so. The first drive from the garage to the MOT station was a harrowing experience, at the first corner it became apparent that something was horribly wrong with the steering; there was about fifteen degrees of free play at the wheel in both directions (which if you think about it is an awful lot). It was all over the road. Moving it around the workshop it'd been fine and it passed the MOT so it was a bit odd. I tried adjusting the grub screw on the steering box but there wasn't any slack to take up. I thought the low mileage M5 steering box I had bought was a dud. It turned out that the pinch bolt on the drop arm wasn't properly tightened. It wasn't 'loose' at all, I wouldn't have attempted to tighten it more, but I enlisted the help of my Dad who is a proper mechanic and much braver than I when it comes to tightening things up. He got about an eighth of a turn on it and it totally fixed the problem.
Once that was dealt with I could enjoy my M5 steering box, LSD (which not only works but actually makes less gear noise than the open diff it replaced!) and the lower profile tyres (tyre profile = good, Michelins = meh, will likely replace with Continental Premium Contact 2s).
I replaced all the hydraulic oil when the car was in its hibernation, the clutch fluid was kinda manky which in retrospect was probably an advance warning as the slave cylinder shat itself over Christmas. Again I would guess it was original so good innings at 140k for one. £61 for a replacement from BMW. I had to fix it after work one night so the workshop was off limits, fortunately Dad has an inspection pit in his garage. I nursed the car there one night with the clutch completely ineffective. The journey was ok but driving the car into the garage and over the inspection pit with no clutch was scary!
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