E34 535i

Author
Discussion

strangehighways

479 posts

164 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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That is a superb car for a daily, nice one! I have had similar cars in the past for the commute including an E34 540 Auto and an E38 740. It must be so nice to waft along to work in that.

MJK 24

5,648 posts

235 months

Sunday 14th January 2018
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Lovely old car.

How much power did the 3.5 produce? I drove one many moons ago and it really motored along!

Look forward to updates. Lots of older BMW content here at the moment!

e28525e

462 posts

140 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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Great car and great work. I've had a few E34's including an Alpina B10 3.5 and 540i/6 which I supercharged. Awesome cars.

Regarding the tappy head, it will no doubt just be the valve clearances - don't try to make it too quiet though, they are naturally ticky.

One thing I must stress is to make sure the banjo bolts on the oil spray bar are tight, if not it will starve the end of the cam of oil and will kill the camshaft. Check this sooner rather than later! You can re-install the old ones with loctite (new crush washers of course) or buy new bolts from BMW which are an updated part with loctite already on them.

MJK 24, this has the later lower compression B35 with 208bhp/225lbft


Edited by e28525e on Monday 15th January 07:12

shalmaneser

5,930 posts

194 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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Sorry to break it to you - but that's not a V8!

D4MJT

1,253 posts

157 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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shalmaneser said:


Sorry to break it to you - but that's not a V8!
The OP hasn’t stated anywhere that it is?

RC1807

12,482 posts

167 months

Monday 15th January 2018
quotequote all
shalmaneser said:
Sorry to break it to you - but that's not a V8!
Read the OP again readit

ORIGINAL POST: said:
Spurred on by r129sl's many threads I've turned my back on modern cars and have decided to run an e34 as a daily.

I've had one before, a tourer with a 3 litre V8.

This time I've bagged an Island Green 1989 535i.

JakeT

5,406 posts

119 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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olly22n is back too!

So much yes, especially after the other 535i you had. Love me an E34. The Old M30 is a charming unit, too. What sort of spec has it got?

JakeT

5,406 posts

119 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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That's a nice spec you've got there. The Climate making it much more usable as a daily. Dark Green and Tan interiors are one of my favourites, too.

skylarking808

778 posts

85 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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Great daily driver, and suitably subtle/classy.

Would get something similar if I needed a four door (and LPG it haha).

J4CKO

41,286 posts

199 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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Lovely, remember having a go at one in my Golf GTI, it pulled away, sort of lolloped off with a big plume of grey smoke, certainly shifted though.

lost in espace

6,136 posts

206 months

Monday 15th January 2018
quotequote all
Now that is a proper bonnet!

shalmaneser

5,930 posts

194 months

Monday 15th January 2018
quotequote all
RC1807 said:
shalmaneser said:
Sorry to break it to you - but that's not a V8!
Read the OP again readit

ORIGINAL POST: said:
Spurred on by r129sl's many threads I've turned my back on modern cars and have decided to run an e34 as a daily.

I've had one before, a tourer with a 3 litre V8.

This time I've bagged an Island Green 1989 535i.
Ooops!

Apologies OP!

W00DY

15,467 posts

225 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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Oooh, very nice. thumbup

Looking forward to seeing you improve it.

MorganP104

2,605 posts

129 months

Monday 15th January 2018
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MJK 24 said:
Lovely old car.

How much power did the 3.5 produce? I drove one many moons ago and it really motored along!

Look forward to updates. Lots of older BMW content here at the moment!
Maybe surprisingly, the M30 SOHC 6-pot in the 535i only developed 208bhp, but the examples I've driven (and been driven in) have felt considerably meatier than the raw figures would suggest.

ETA: Back in the day, I owned an E34 525i (in Jewish Racing Gold), which was plenty quick enough, but the 535i was in a different league altogether.

E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
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It's always nice that an E34 has found a home to be re-loved; there are so few on the rpad now and fewer still that are really getting the attention they deserve.

The 535i, for me, is the grand old lady of the 5 Series with the ubiquitous name defining power and necessary pace, for despite the larger engines, bigger and more confusing turbo-charged monikers, the original 535i's with the M30 engine have the powerplant that will outlast all the rest.

The list of work you've detailed isn't insurmountable but I would urge caution with the guibo you suspect to be responsible for the 80mph shimmy; I had an E34 with the exact problem and it was not the bearing, it was simply the ancient tyres you also mention. In my case I bought the wheels and tyres for the rare wheels and was running down the tread on the old tyres but once new rubber was fitted the shimmy completely vanished.

Good luck with your new steed; it's a beautiful colour and excellent spec.

minimoog

6,856 posts

218 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
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E24man said:
The list of work you've detailed isn't insurmountable but I would urge caution with the guibo you suspect to be responsible for the 80mph shimmy; I had an E34 with the exact problem and it was not the bearing,
New control arms sorted the shimmy on my old 540. It was forever blighted by the recirc ball steering though, but they're on V8s only I think.

Not to pour cold water but I did find the constant supply of niggles on the E34 as the years advance to be a bit wearing. Things like 'the wiper mech might need attention' can turn out to be far from trivial. Moving to an LS felt like a weight off tbh.

Diesel Meister

2,044 posts

200 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
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E34 with M30 equals winning - peak bimmer chassis engineering excellence plus old school barrel-chested 12v sixy goodness.

Superb.


minimoog

6,856 posts

218 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
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olly22n said:
It's not a shimmy, its a vibration.
Oops I conflated the two adjacent lines as one.

Hope you get it suitably fettled. Still miss looking at mine on the drive.

Crook

6,714 posts

223 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
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Great work Olly thumbup !!!

Such a nice engine to wind round the clock and what a smell, that distinctive BMW 6 pot.
Followed a white 535i once at an enjoyable pace down roads he knew ( thankfully knowing the cameras...) and I could breath it in through my air vents. They all smell the same! Glorious.

E24man

6,654 posts

178 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
I should have said vibration, sorry. The lower speed shimmy around 25-30mph is well known to be fixed by control arms and steering links and appears through the steering wheel from the front wheels; the vibration comes from the rear of the car for a 5mph zone around 70-75mph and appears from the rear of the car, and is generally older rear tyres that have flattened and hardened with age.