Old BMWs are like crack...e34 530i Daily Driver(for now...)

About a month or so ago I picked up a new daily driver after selling both the volvo I had and my jeep commander which was an absolute pile of poop and needed several thousand dollars and more time than I have thrown at it to keep it running. So after bidding my goodbyes to these two vehicles I started one of my favorite activities....car shopping of course! The kind where you actually WILL be purchasing a car and not thinking about how bad you want every third car you look at on Craigslist. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money and didn't really have any requirements other than it have a manual tranny. Driving primarily slush boxes for nearly two years kills your soul and I needed to bring it back to life with a man pedal.

I looked at all types of cars, another e30, e36s, MR2 turbos, 944, P71, old Imprezas etc. Then I started noticing v8 e34s with manual trannies and I thought that one would be worth a drive at the very least. So I went and drove this 530i and made the decision to buy it. Oxford Green, tan leather, newer engine, tons of recent maintenance. and most importantly a 3.0 v8 backed by a 5 speed manual. The car has most of the records since it was purchased, had the window sticker and a picture to original buyer took of the car the day he took it home in his driveway. Pretty cool.

I am trying to keep most of my car money directed towards my e30 but I have been doing some small things to the e34 here and there. Someday I think an LS1/t56 might be in the cards as I think it would be the perfect combo for this car. Although the m60s are damn awesome engines.

Ok on with some pics...one of the first things I did besides cleaning the hell out of the interior was took the 530i emblem off.

Some random pics of the car in general:

The car phone was super cool until the novelty wore off (about 2 days) and I really wanted the storage space in the console so I took the phone out.

Next thing is I plastidipped the kidneys grills black. Always a huge improvement in my opion!

The ground from chassis to hood had gotten chopped in half by the hood at some point so I dug up some terminals and fixed that little issue real quick. Picture below is a mock up, wire was replaced and the angle of the terminals was slightly changed.

Still working on another small project, nearly finished. I wanted to update the look of the interior a little bit. As much as I love some wood grain, it got removed and painted gun metal. Really made the interior look about 10 years newer, at least! Now just need a shift knob that isnt wood grain...

Besides those things I have installed some audio equipment I had laying around as this thing had an awful sound system. Fixed the drivers side window. And getting everything cleaned up. Put some fresh Rotella in it. Got a pair of new emblems too.

There are many small projects to come, as well as some mods. Plans now are for springs/shocks, tint, the intake manifold/tb/etc off the 4.0 v8 and a retune, a custom intake I am designing and probably a mild exhaust. Also HID lights and fogs. Hopefully I can stop there for now and concentrate on the e30, but knowing me I will be throwing money at both left and right now!

Cool project! That car looks like it's in good shape. Of course, you're a masochist for subjecting yourself to the maintenance of two old BMW's, but maybe that's what revs your engine ;)

P.S. I like the gunmetal paint idea for the wood grain trim. Never thought of that before... it looks pretty sweet!

In reply to Winston:

Thanks! Haha, it is in remarkable condition save for several small dents from a hail storm, must have been damn big hail. But I have been thinking about just buying another one as a parts car that has a super clean body, taking all the body panels and parting the rest. I am going to wrap the car anyways, so color wouldn't even matter.

Yeah, I tend to like things high maintenance, finicky and expensive unfortunately this also extends to my love life but thats for another thread haha

The wood grain came out really well, I was surprised really. Here is another pic taken in better light. Its just duplicolor gunmetal wheel paint, I had tons of it. Put several coats of clear coat on it as well. Can't wait to slap the last door panel in!

Any thoughts on changing wheels? Updating from those mesh wheels may also modernize it a bit. I have no idea how BMW bolt circles/spacing/etc translate, but I think these would look really sharp on yours:

In reply to Mitchell:

I cannot believe I forgot that! Planning on doing 18 M Parallels like so:

Nice touch with the painted interior. And yes, get the M parallels!

v8, 5 spd, luxo-barge...very nice!

For a nice mean sound, cut off the 1 billion lbs muffler and run pipes back to the bumper with tips of your choosing. It will sound awesome under acceleration and "tame" under cruise. Here's mine before I added the pipes all the way to the bumper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvPsq6YFGq0

I forgot to mention to check the oil pump nuts when you do your first oil change. They are easy to get to.

I like this. Nice work!

I got a chance to take one of those on a long distance road trip many moons ago. Appears to be a clone of your car save color- the one we had was black. MAN that was a nice car. Excellent purchase.

At some point I need a V8 sedan in my life. These are on the short list. Nice example you got there.

Thanks for the comments everybody. One thing that I have really been liking about this car is that it handles like something much much smaller. I didn't fully realize this until it busted loose on a higher speed corner and it slid very, very predictably and straightened out without any drama. With a little suspension work I think it could be made to handle very well!

The engine is great, very smooth and a joy to drive. I would like more power, but I have not been known to be happy with the amount of power any car has haha, Gotta love small displacement V8s. Gas mileage, not steller haha. Average about 15-16 combined, can get closer to 19 average if I keep my foot out of it. Still better mileage than my last DD so I am happy with it.

In reply to Strike_Zero:

Oh hell yes, that's the sound I am looking for! It already sounds mean under acceleration but that brings the volume up to a good level.

Aaahhh I am going to have to write down to check the nuts next time I change the oil. I just did an oil change a few days ago.

Good lord those are sexy!

If you had told me a couple of years ago I would own two BMWs I wouldn't have believed you. I have always been more of a japanese car guy but my brief ownership of an e30 a couple years ago turned me. I have another e30, but that one won't be done for a while so I wanted something else that I found to have an indefinable quality about it that makes it great to drive and found it in an e34. Doesn't hurt that they are beautiful cars a little closer to the ground with a nice set of wheels.

Got all the trim finished, also put in a new window master switch but I have one problem. The brand new lights shine the color they should, red. Not orange like the ones replaced and every other light on my dash. So looks like I need to replace all the lights now because this will drive me nuts.

Also installed a nicer set of speakers up front than the ones I had previously installed. Just did a ghetto install and cut hole in the oem kick panel, mounted the speaker and laid a little silicone for an air tight rattle free install.

The shift knob needs to go asap, also kind of want the euro m5 shifter surround with the little storage compartments. Like this...

owning two e34's i think the bang for the buck is overlooked on these cars. just like my beloved e24's. i have the 530 and the 540 one with a stick one auto. i am in the middle of rebuilding a m30 engine now and i think its a really cool engine which when done i am putting in one of my e24s.

as far as painting over the woodgrain i dont like it but that comes down to taste. the 5s have just enough to make a statement but not overdone i feel with the woodgrain but like i said it comes down to taste

In reply to cutter67:

Oooh I love 6 series, I have always had a thing for them. I wish I'd had bought a nice 6 series back when I was looking at them as a teenager about 10 years ago. Back when you could get a super clean one for next to nothing.

I wouldnt mind adding a 6 series to the group, but will probably get an 8 series if I buy any additional BMW.

Yeah the woodgrain is definitely personal preference. I think more than anything I am tired of looking at wood grain, I have owned so many cars with wood grain it was getting old.

Got back in the car today after about three hours of not having driven it and it started right but was running like E36 M3. Low idle, wanted to die and didn't want to rev. Wonderful surprise, went back inside for the day and decided to worry about it tomorrow. I was going to put the coil covers and check for oil down there as I heard these like to blow VC gaskets. The engine bay is filthy as all hell and needs to be cleaned after this is taken care of so I have a fighting chance at seeing any new leaks lol

Yesterday I replaced the old, super filthy cone filter with a new K&N filter, engine breathed a lot easier with a new filter on her. Well that is until today...

I'm pretty sure the MAF on those is REALLY sensitive to contamination from oiled filters. I'd clean it and see if that helps your problem. Alternatively, unplug the MAF (car off), and then start it and see if it runs better in the "limp home" mode.

In reply to Nathan JansenvanDoorn:

Good looking out, definitely going to have to remember that in the future. This time the problem was more due to the fact that I am an idiot than any mechanical failure, lol.

I removed the engine cover, for good this time as I hate plastic covers all over engines, and removed the coils and while there was some oil down there suggesting a VC oil leak, not enough to cause any problems. This was further supported by looking at the plugs. So the next thing I started checking is for vacuum leaks. While doing this I noticed a small canister where the nipple to connect a vacuum line was completely broken off. I removed the canister and ran the part number, it was the emissions vacuum control canister. Confident I found the problem I went about fixing it. Rather than buy a new canister I ghetto plastic welded the nipple back on and replaced the vacuum lines with some new ones I had laying around. Start the car up, same thing, but worse. So I went inside to think for a while.

When suddenly it occurred to me, could I just be really low on gas and have parked on just enough of a hill that it is unable to pick anything up? Why this would be throwing codes, I had no idea. But before doing a smoke test. unplugging the MAF or anything else I figured that I should probably put some gas in it and give it a go. Poured two gallons and started the car. didn't take long for fuel pressure to build and the car to be running like a top. Wow. I cannot believe that the solution was really that simple and I was over thinking it so much. I usually don't let my cars get that low on gas and the gas light had just come on before i parked the car, but I guess it was parked on enough of a hill that the pick up in the tank wasn't able to get any gas flowing into it. Going to refresh the top end with all new gaskets anyways, might as well try my best to avoid any future problems. Also gives me an excuse to put a 4.0 intake/tb/etc on the car! :)

When you do the 4.0L intake, change out the bolts on the PCV plate on the back.

From memory, M6 - 1mm x 20mm cap screws.

If you have to change it out later, it will be easier than those torx thingies . . .

Strike_Zero wrote: When you do the 4.0L intake, change out the bolts on the PCV plate on the back. From memory, M6 - 1mm x 20mm cap screws. If you have to change it out later, it will be easier than those torx thingies . . .

Aahh, thanks for the tip. I have been replacing Torx screws EVERYWHERE because they use them on just about every piece of the car lol so annoying.

Strike_Zero wrote: When you do the 4.0L intake, change out the bolts on the PCV plate on the back. From memory, M6 - 1mm x 20mm cap screws. If you have to change it out later, it will be easier than those torx thingies . . .

Aahh, thanks for the tip. I have been replacing Torx screws EVERYWHERE because they use them on just about every piece of the car lol so annoying.

Did you put the MAF from the 4.0 on as well? Word on the street is that its bigger too.

Thanks,

Josh

Got a little more work done so far today. I bought the master switch because the drivers window was inopp. so I made the assumption that was my problem. Before the switch even arrived I had taken the door panel off and noticed first that the window motor was unplugged. What the hell? So I keep looking and turns out the plastic slider clip had broken and rather than go buy a $3 part somebody had just raised the window and unplugged the motor. I put the new master switch in anyways, lets call it preventative maintenance.

Also the glovebox was not closing correctly, a little inspection and I noticed the hinge was missing a screw. Problem solved.

It's what people do when stuff stops working . . .

Mine still has the 2.5L/3.0L MAF (toldja they strangled this motor)

I kept getting a CEL with the 4.0L MAF. However, I may have gotten a bum MAF from the Pull-a-Part yard when raided that E32 for parts.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=522285

In reply to Strike_Zero:

Thank you so much for the link, at best the information I have found about this in my own search has been fragmented. Its nice to see one that lays out everything needed and has plenty of pretty pictures to stare at! I am hoping this German auto salvage yard thats kind of close to me has everything I need. I would like to bust this out within the next couple of days. I am not going to bother with the MAF for now, not that desperate to squeeze every last pony out of the engine, yet.

Hopefully I can talk to a buddy about getting a few dyno pulls in at his employer for free before and after I do this. It would be nice to see actual numbers. I am sure some other m60 folks would appreciate that as well!

Thanks again!