Project E34 535i Restoration

[Zwolf]

Bogracer said:

I reckon the car will owe me £6,000. I paid £1000 for the car (a very lucky eBay purchase) £3,000ish in OEM parts, £2,000 in labour, plus my time. It has every potential to reach £10,000 like you suggest. Some of us gladly pay £600 a month for a car we will never actually own and going spiritual, it's a good feeling doing a rescue. I have a Facebook page with the car which I will pass on if I ever sell.

Edited by Bogracer on Sunday 8th January 12:02

Excellent, thanks. About where I expected without a full respray in the equation. A proper glass out respray would bumpo it up to five figures.

Keep up the good work, this is far more interesting than finding out someone's decided to lease a new XYZ for £600pm as you say. The difference being that once completed, you could keep the E34 for another decade/150k miles, which makes it cheap as anything again overall.

[CarbonM5]

One decent mod I did to my old one was to put polyutherane washers between the rear axle beam bush and mounting plate.It really tightened the rear axle up and cost next to nothing.

[Bogracer]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Love this.

I wish I had the knowledge/ability (and money) to do this myself. Have just been trying to keep up with rust and fixing stuff as it breaks on my 900 turbo.

I have always loved e34s and would love one as a daily driver but think it's probably a bit long in the tooth to run every day. When this one is mint will you use it every day? I would worry about rust, other idiot drivers, etc...

I do these cars to improve my skills, I can do the bits and bobs some stuff you just need ramps and in truth if you buy all the parts and get the garage to blitz it takes a fraction of the time. I have got quite good at assessing cars, there are loads of shiny horrors about that look great, but the mechanics are tired and aged, even cars with full service history. I work the other way round.

I use all my cars and from experience its worse and a shame not to use them, most of the problems with this car was due to lack of use. I won't use it everyday I am not precious though, I am planning a big trip around Europe in May.

E34's do make good daily drivers as they are a surprisingly simple tough car, if looked after can shrug of insane mileage's. I was quite tempted by a very good 525tds with a mere 289,000 miles under its wheels. The smaller engined one's get overlooked like the 520i, some bargain gems do pop up and are more than likely a manual. Rot is the thing, they do last well mine is rot free, I am having the car professionally waxoiled now the suspension is off. E39's are also brilliant, £1,500 will get you something nice in either vintage. Bigger engined manual cars are desirable drivers cars so fetch a premium.

I have always wanted a SAAB 900 Turbo, it's on my extensive list.

Thanks for you interest and support

[Bogracer]

CarbonM5 said:

One decent mod I did to my old one was to put polyutherane washers between the rear axle beam bush and mounting plate.It really tightened the rear axle up and cost next to nothing.

A really good mod make perfect sense.

[E38Ross]

instead of waxoyl look at bilt hamber treatment, it's far superior.

[Bogracer]

E38Ross said:

instead of waxoyl look at bilt hamber treatment, it's far superior.

Just Googled it, some excellent reveiws for the product. Many thanks.

[E38Ross]

Bogracer said:

E38Ross said:

instead of waxoyl look at bilt hamber treatment, it's far superior.

Just Googled it, some excellent reveiws for the product. Many thanks.

dynax UB is what you want for the main underseal. if possible use all of their stuff for rust removal too; it's cracking stuff.

for the hard to reach areas they do dynax S50 which comes with a long spray extension.

if you're doing the rest of the car properly, may as well do the rust prevention properly too.

cheers

[Bogracer]

E38Ross said:

Bogracer said:

E38Ross said:

instead of waxoyl look at bilt hamber treatment, it's far superior.

Just Googled it, some excellent reveiws for the product. Many thanks.

dynax UB is what you want for the main underseal. if possible use all of their stuff for rust removal too; it's cracking stuff.

for the hard to reach areas they do dynax S50 which comes with a long spray extension.

if you're doing the rest of the car properly, may as well do the rust prevention properly too.

cheers

Indeed indeed, thanks for the advice

[r4_rick]

Really enjoyed reading this thread, just out of interest any views on what would be a better daily driver (low weekday miles for the wife, fun for me at weekend)

530i SE E34 for £950 105k miles (with some budget to refresh suspension)

OR

530i Sport E39 for £3350, 124k miles

Both cars are manual

Regards
Rick

[E38Ross]

E39.

the E34's are brilliant cars but the 3.0 V8 is NOT the engine to have. as good as the E34 is, the E39 is the better car for a daily.

all IMO of course. i've driven 3 E34s (a 12v 525i, a 24v 525i and a 535i) and an E39 530i (admittedly this was for only a few miles).

of the E34s i loved the 535i the most, though if i had to live with the fuel bills i'd pick the 525i (i'd certainly have this over the 3.0 V8), but i'd still take a nice E39 530i.

depends on your overall budget and how long you plan to keep the car to be honest.

[Zwolf]

E38Ross said:

The E34's are brilliant cars but the 3.0 V8 is NOT the engine to have.

Agreed, but don't forget that an E34 530i could also have an M30 six.

[Bogracer]

They are both great cars in their own right.

I would go for the E39 530i Sport, the E34 530i is a bit in the middle not really fast or frugal, the straight six version I take it?
The E39 530i Sport is a magnificent car.

If you just prefer the lighter E34, later 525i 24 valve, 540i V8 or 535i if you are after the pace.

I hope this helps.

r4_rick said:

Really enjoyed reading this thread, just out of interest any views on what would be a better daily driver (low weekday miles for the wife, fun for me at weekend)

530i SE E34 for £950 105k miles (with some budget to refresh suspension)

OR

530i Sport E39 for £3350, 124k miles

Both cars are manual

Regards
Rick

[r4_rick]

Thanks, the E34, i assumed, as it's on an F plate would be a Six cylinder...

Interesting point about the 525i 24v though, will open the search to include that and see what is about.

[r4_rick]

ooh, just found a 95M plate 525i SE, so that will be the multivalve.

Assuming it's a genuine car are they better than the 12V 3 Litre ?

Thanks Rick

[E38Ross]

i'd have one over a 3.0 M30. if fuel economy isn't an issue, i'd have a 3.5 M30 over the 2.5 24v though.

basically, i wouldn't choose a 3.0 E34. the 525i 24v is a great car.

[NiceCupOfTea]

What's so bad about the 3.0 V8? I thought it was basically a smaller capacity 4.0 (same engine as in the 540 - forget the engine code). I know they are both Nikasil engines, but other than that...? I thought the 3.5 was a bit long in the tooth?

Nearly bought a e34 540 manual touring last year but rang up too late

[E38Ross]

the 3.0 V8 has less torque than the 3.5 straight 6 (M30), similar power output....so far so good.

however, it has the fuel economy of a V8, and the complexity of a V8 and higher service costs to boot. it's also less reliable than the 3.5 M30 (but then, what isn't, to be fair).

the 3.5 is only long in the tooth because it does have poor fuel economy, everything else about it is great. i think it also has more low down grunt than the 3.0 V8 which suits the bigger E34 too. the V8 does have more power than the 525i 24v, but at the sacrifice of a LOT of fuel economy.

[Zwolf]

NiceCupOfTea said:

What's so bad about the 3.0 V8? I thought it was basically a smaller capacity 4.0 (same engine as in the 540 - forget the engine code). I know they are both Nikasil engines, but other than that...? I thought the 3.5 was a bit long in the tooth?

From one who bought an E34 530i M60 V8:

olly22n said:

cronic thirst for its rather leisurely progress. (OBC is currently sitting on 7.2mpg)

It offers no better economy or lower maintenance costs than the 540i, but much less performance. The 535i M30 six is certainly an old engine design (back to 1967 I think), but it offers similar power to the 530i V8, but being a six is noticeable smoother and sweeter about the whole process and again, no worse in terms of fuel consumption.

It's also a much simpler design of engine that generally runs to much higher mileages without developing expensive little issues as it goes about it. As with Ross, I'd go 535i or 540i but the six cylinder 530i or 525i 24v are also good bets. The 525i in practice feels no slower than the V8 530i, but with better economy into the bargain.

Buyers when new seem to have shared that opinion as the M60 B30 was a rather short-lived engine in late E32s and E34s with a short stint in early E38s before being superseded in practice by the 728i. Once it grew to become the M62 B35 (E38 735i/E39 535i), it was much better and more popular a choice.

[Bogracer]

There is not really a bad car in the bunch, the V8's offer woofle, the smaller engines fuel economy, the 535i bags of silky M30 'big six' character going way back to the sixties and are a classic BMW sounding engine.

Simple, strong and old school.

I think the trick is finding a good car these days, be prepared to put some refresh money into it and enjoy one of the useable greats. My preference will always be the 535i manual or the M5.

[Bogracer]

Does anyone know of another good 535i, 540i or 525i 24v manual for sale, looks like I am going to have to restore another for one of my friends?

Edited by Bogracer on Sunday 15th January 16:50