Project E34 535i Restoration

[Bogracer]

Johnboy Mac said:

Bogracer said:

Nice one.

Well I thought I was crazy, I was in Sytners having my modern daily BMW serviced. A chap had brought an E30 318i as a £1,000 run around for his holiday home, the service manager said he was a wealthy customer and he had decided the he liked the car so much that he had told them to restore iIt - £30,000 and counting!

Wow 30k!

An underrated E30, the 318i. I presume it has the lovely M10 engine but never 30k's worth. Anyway Bogracer, that will allow you to justify spending an extra 5k on your machine - you'll have twice the car at half the cost!

Edited by Johnboy Mac on Wednesday 25th January 17:57

You could get a nice E30 M3 or a 325i Sport. But as my first car was a very leggy E30 316i, which had 283,000 on the clock when I sold it as a rough MOT failure some nutter restored that and brought it round to show me! I loved that car thrashed within an inch of it's life everywhere never once broke down. Those M10 engines are incredible. So I have a soft spot, you could by a very very good one for £5,000!

[Bogracer]

Bogracer said:

You could get a nice E30 M3 or a 325i Sport. But as my first car was a very leggy E30 316i, which had 283,000 on the clock when I sold it as a rough MOT failure some nutter restored that and brought it round to show me! I loved that car thrashed within an inch of it's life everywhere never once broke down. Those M10 engines are incredible. So I have a soft spot, you could buy a very very good one for £5,000!

[E38Ross]

Bogracer said:

You could get a nice E30 M3 or a 325i Sport. But as my first car was a very leggy E30 316i, which had 283,000 on the clock when I sold it as a rough MOT failure some nutter restored that and brought it round to show me! I loved that car thrashed within an inch of it's life everywhere never once broke down. Those M10 engines are incredible. So I have a soft spot, you could by a very very good one for £5,000!

yup, my old E21 (still going strong) had the M10 in it, not that fast but boy it still took the punishment after almost 30 years of service. probably bmws toughest ever engine after the M30 (or is the M10 tougher?)

[Bogracer]

E38Ross said:

Bogracer said:

You could get a nice E30 M3 or a 325i Sport. But as my first car was a very leggy E30 316i, which had 283,000 on the clock when I sold it as a rough MOT failure some nutter restored that and brought it round to show me! I loved that car thrashed within an inch of it's life everywhere never once broke down. Those M10 engines are incredible. So I have a soft spot, you could by a very very good one for £5,000!

yup, my old E21 (still going strong) had the M10 in it, not that fast but boy it still took the punishment after almost 30 years of service. probably bmws toughest ever engine after the M30 (or is the M10 tougher?)

The M30 is I believe essentially an extended M10, so the same deal. They used to use M10 blocks, from scrapped cars with high mileages to build turboed F1 engines with up to 1000BHP!

[Bogracer]

A few more pictures of the progress.

The limited slip diff has been stripped, the casing powered coated as I was not happy with the finish. It needed shot blasting to get the rust off it. So all new seals and bearings, gaskets and bolts.

The rear of the car has had the sub frame stripped and painted, new copper brake pipes, drive shafts stripped and reassembled with new bolts and locking pins and gaiters. Braided brake hoses, new brake callipers, backplates, disks and pads, new shocks, new springs, bushes and top mounts. Trailing arms stripped and reassembled.

New A/C compressor fitted.

Edited by Bogracer on Wednesday 1st February 23:06

Edited by Bogracer on Wednesday 1st February 23:07

[Johnboy Mac]

Looking very good. Ment to ask, what tyres are you fitting out of interest?

[Bogracer]

Johnboy Mac said:

Looking very good. Ment to ask, what tyres are you fitting out of interest?

The tyres on it are good with plenty of tread, it should have Uniroyal Rallye's as the unused spare, it fitted are good Goodyear NCT's.

[Johnboy Mac]

I'd be very tempted to fit a new set considering that you have refreshed everything else. Check for a date stamp on the tyres, maybe older than you think.

[Bogracer]

Johnboy Mac said:

I'd be very tempted to fit a new set considering that you have refreshed everything else. Check for a date stamp on the tyres, maybe older than you think.

What's an acceptable age range on tyres do you think?

[Johnboy Mac]

Bogracer said:

What's an acceptable age range on tyres do you think?

Five or six years from what I understand. Look for the date stamp & inspect the spare it maybe the original.

Actually have a look here. http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

[Bogracer]

Johnboy Mac said:

Bogracer said:

What's an acceptable age range on tyres do you think?

Five or six years from what I understand. Look for the date stamp & inspect the spare it maybe the original.

Actually have a look here. http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

Scary. Might invest in some new rubber then. The spare I have no intention of using it.

[Bogracer]

Finished and on the road. And as your would expect drives amazingly!

[E38Ross]

now you just need the paint work detailed

get some interior and exterior shots up too would you!

well done, and congrats!

[Bogracer]

I will get some shots of the whole car. Cheers

[Huff]

Yes ,yes you should! - it looks like a lovely job as I commented much earlier, and I'm very glad to see it so complete

It's a thread that's convinced me to do similar to my e34 540 soon... 'cos frankly of the things I could & would pay for, some rather more blatantly expensive - of teh alternatives I've driven somehow there is still nothing out there comes close to such Pfünfer fun all-round

[Bogracer]

Running costs aside a two cylinder Fiat Panda is £10,000!!!

[E38Ross]

Bogracer said:

Running costs aside a two cylinder Fiat Panda is £10,000!!!

now come on, where are these whole car and interior shots!!

[Bogracer]

Working on it

[Bogracer]

The first 250 have passed under her wheels. Popped her up on the ramps for a 'running in' check over. All the new belts need tightening up as the pullys polished and the belt stretched a little. Doubled checked the geometry as the suspension settles. Adjusted the power steering. Checked for leaks. Retorqued all the bolts and fastenings.

The bespoke Bilstine set up (costing more that the car!) is wonderful, firm without being crashy, lovely and fluid with amazing turn in. The LSD has dramatically improved the traction and the balance of the car. I am glad I went down the original LSD route as its perfectly set up for car, with just the right amount of slip to avoid pushing the car to understeer.

On the motorway I am getting 28 MPG, which is big improvement.

In many ways it drives better than my new 5 series feeling more analogue rather than a simulation of driving.

[E38Ross]

28mpg from a 535i... That must have meant within the speed limit

I'd found the 535i to he tolerable on a run but shocking around town. But as said, it had done 230k miles.

Well done!