Project E34 535i Restoration

[Bogracer]

Collecting a load of stuff from from the bead blasting and powder coaters. I spent ages masking off gasket faces with plywood cutouts hopefully it should be a nice job.

Edited by Bogracer on Thursday 19th January 17:47

[Bogracer]

Stripped down the AC pump to font it quite corroded inside, repairable but the danger is that the rust contaminates the system knackering bearings, filters and seals. So I have ordered a brand new OEM pump, better safe than sorry. Also the good news the system is the new type changed in 1992 with the legal Eco refrigerant. Phew.

[Bogracer]

Vroomer said:

Mighty impressed BR.

Is this your job, or are you doing it evenings/weekends?

I have done/doing bits and bobs myself, sourced all the OEM parts from Germany, the running around, the diff, powder coating, I had a bespoke stainless steel exhaust made, the major work I have entrusted to my excellent local garage, a ramp makes life so much easier, so do the right tools and experience. I reckon two to three days labour. Birmingham is great for car restoration, loads of really good friendly specialist engineering firms. It's amazing how long the bitting and bobbing takes, finding the right nuts and bolts to replace everyone with new toughened ones, which can sap your garages time, and could double the bill! Seized bolts can now just be cut off making the strip down really quick.

I could do it all myself, but we would be waiting until next year, I run a business and have two children under the age of 5, which take up most of my time. I just want to get on and enjoy the car.

Edited by Bogracer on Friday 20th January 23:20

[Bogracer]

Pingman said:

We'll i'll be dammed, I admired this car on eBay for a while and ummed and aarrred about travelling all the way to Scotland to look at it and now you own it

Yes, it was a lucky Ebay purchase. I thought if it makes it back from Glasgow!

[Bogracer]

bmthnick1981 said:

If you're still looking for another there is a low mileage manual one on ebay at the moment;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1988-BMW-5-SERIES-535-SE...

Thanks for that I did look at it, white is not my favourite colour!

[Bogracer]

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!

[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!

[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

[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.

[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?

[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!

[Bogracer]

I will get some shots of the whole car. Cheers

[Bogracer]

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

[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.

[Bogracer]

It's a manual car which makes a big difference. 28 mpg was normal driving, driving steady 70 - 80 mph 32 mpg. Around town 19 - 22 mpg.

Now that car has bedded in and been checked, I did an angry 110 mile round trip run at night on A and B roads up to Derbyshire. To really get the final set up on the suspension right. The courners thread together even at well at over 100, and bumps a pretty much all frequencies don't upset it's line. I think I am going to invest in some thicker anti roll bars which should smooth out the break away. Possibly M5 spec, to control the on the limit roll.

The new brakes are great, the braided flexi hoses give a lovely feel to the brakes.

The aim was always to create a fine driving 535i, how I remember them new, but even better.
At the time this was the car that made Jaguars and Mercedes feel hopelessly old by dynamic comparison.

[Bogracer]

Just had a happy experience, the newly rebuild limited slip differential was making a swishing noise, I was hoping it was the new brakes bedding in. On the ramps it was clearly the diff.

Got it up on the ramps again today and it turned out to be the dust seals rubbing on the powder coating on the casing. It's quietened down to a whisper over the last 500 miles. So all is well.

Apart from the central locking is now on the blink, so a complete check over, it will be something simple.