My Long E34 Build Thread

[Knums]

So my '89 535i 5 speed started life in August of 1988 in Dingolfing, Germany along with who knows how many other 5 speeds, i know 1,168 were made in 1989. Then someone bought it, and sold it, and bought it. All these previous owners, accumulated about 300k miles on the stock m30, and the decided he did not want that old motor so he swapped a stock m30 with about 80k miles and he drove it a bit to about 85k miles. The 300k some miles have defenatly shown on the body and interior.
65% of the trim is missing or broken. The cosole and dash looks like it was ripped out with complete disregard to the fasteners and the instruments, they are all cracked, ripped, and broken. Also somewhere along the lines of its life the wheels were swapped out to 1000 Mille Maglia, and now they have pretty good curb rash on three of them and the tires are absolutely shot, two have a slow leak all of the suspension parts need to be replaced, i have a fiew pieces from a 735i that im going to try to swap out soon.
The car came with a "full" interior, moat of the parts were there but half the dash was in pieces 80% of the screws were who knows where they ran off to. Center console leather is ripped and destroyed. HVAC 8-support fastening mounts are broken new one coming from @ZenitramNaes thanks for that!
The PO installed a short throw shifter but i want to get a custom dark wood grain shift knob from Nostalgic Grains but the current shift knob is glued and threaded, there is only a small rotating piece at the bottom of the knob that rotates and i can not break it loose. Not my biggest worry right now, but i like all the little things that really make the car interesting. My seats have 300+k miles on them, they are shot, but verry soft and comfortable.
The worst part is the carpets. The passenger door weather stripping seals shrunk and came off their mounts and water got in there and soaked the carpet foam, and just chilled there for a few years, its amazing how long they stay wet for, but there is just some topical rust on the rear passenger floor pan that i can sand down and repaint. The front floor pans are a different story. Drivers side floor pan is perfect. The passenger side however is done for. There is rust that formed in front of the door and inward about 5 inches and goes from about half way into the kick panel and back about 10 inches. Im guessing someone jacked it up under the floor pan and pushed the rust up and through, so mow there is a split in the frame/body right behined the wheel, spraying up all the road crap up into the cabin. Luckly the carpet foam soaked most of the wetness up and prevented structural rust. All there is, is just a little topical rust. But i plan to have the front floor panel rust cut out and have a new sheet of metal welded in and for the parts i cant replace i hope to have covered up and protected from further rusting and rotting.
When i got the car it "ran" according to the seller. When the delivery guy picked it up he had to jump start the car to get it on the trailer and when getting it off and into my garage. But it did start after being jumped and ran smooth other than some trouble getting it into gear becuase the clutch slave cylinder is spent, im not to worried about it now becuase from what ive seen it looks fairly easy, and it still gets in and out of gears but with a little bit of struggle. But the motor could not start and barely ran on its own power. So we charged the battey core and found out that our problem was the alternator so we replaced that. But at the time we did not know the motor was from an e32 so we ordered the alt for an e34 and there was a bit of a struggle getting the alt in, but its in. Now it starts and drives on its own power.
Lastly, there is a tad bit of rust behined the rear driver wheel on the body that should just "buff out" lol

Due to the picture size limit i can not upload pictures directly to the forum so check the link below for all of the progress.
Pictures > http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/kn...?sort=3&page=1

[E38740iMD]

Another M30 build. Might as well subcribe. We are a last of a dying breed. If you need any ideas. Check out my build

[Knums]

Another M30 build. Might as well subcribe. We are a last of a dying breed. If you need any ideas. Check out my build

Yup! Glad to be part of the group. Hopefully i can get more people into it. Ill check out your build, i need as many ideas as i can.

[V1990]

Big Six. Welcome to the club.

I'll be watching!

[stoney85]

Watching as well.

Sounds like a big project to get it up to scratch

[Knums]

I fooled around a bit today. Tried to figure out why my right high beam doesn't work... still no idea. I know it is not the bulb, and that's whats scares me. I hope its a fuse, i checked what i could but i am getting a fuse tester soon and hopefully a new fuse. last thing i want to do is play with wiring.
Also i figured out that my heater motor fuse in M.I.A. so ill hopefully be getting a new one if those tomorrow. Also my 5 pin heater motor control module (sword) plug was fried so i got a new one of those, tomorrow i will be getting wire adapters for that so that there is a connection there and the sword works.
I played around in the trunk to check out the reverse lights. I found a red wire that connects a blue circular thing surrounding a wire with a male plug on it... what this does? I have no idea. The bulbs are fine they just don't light up. More wiring fun.
Also today i got new chrome trimming for the grill only to find that every single clip is broken on the grill so i ordered one of those.
I also ordered a brake light bulb that turned out to be the wrong bulb lol buying a new one of those and sending the other bulb back.
Soon to be in the mail is a new clutch cylinder once i get the lights all figured out.
Pics - http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/kn...?sort=3&page=1

[Knums]

Replaced my tie rods and tie rod links. Tie rods were a b***h to get out, took me about an hour on each with a tie rod tool and a hammer. The old tie rods were very old and stuck in there pretty good. When i was under there i found out my passenger floor board is pretty well warped and rusted.
I jerry rigged some plugs for my sword plug and im putting that back together once it comes down off the jacks as the weight of the car on the jacks is causing the frame to band and the door is stuck shut.
A while back i got a washer fluid reservoir cap and the was a hook on is but no where to secure the cap down, so i drilled a hole on the reservoir and zip tied it down.
Ordered a new grill and chrome grill trims, and put that together.
Pics > http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/kn...?sort=3&page=1

[Knums]

Its been a while since ive updated this build thread between school and having no funds to put into the car i havent been able to do anything to it. School is now out and i have a summer job so i will be getting money with all the time i could ask for now, hopefully this build should make some good progress this summer.

What ive done since 10/14/14:
- Cleaned and undercoated inner fender walls to prevent any rusting
- New clutch slave and master cylinder
- Cleaned and undercoated interior floor
- Replaced water pump and thermosta along with thermostat housing and cover and sensors also all the engine bay cooling system hoses
- Replaced headliner fabric
- Replaced rear brake pads and sensors
- Restored black trim on front bumper
- Restored air intake plastics for a new look
- Restored headlight surrounds
- Seafoamed the pistons and lifters lessened the tick but could still use a tune up
- Replaced rear pitman arms
- Undercoated rear end
- Got clear red/clear tails from abrham motorsports
- Fiberglassed hole in rear bumper
- Cleaned up engine bay a little
- Removed old destroyed hood liner
- Replaced front lower control arms and thrust arms
- Took carpet and center console/dash pieces from junkyard car and new hood shocks

Current project(s) as of 6/27/15:
- Heater core

Future projects when funds become available:
- Shock to strut conversion to install Broadway Static coilovers because 3 of my struts are blown lol
- Replace the rest of the bushing that havent been replaced yet

I dont have as many pictures as i would like but here are some.
http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/kn...?sort=3&page=1

And yes i have alot of stickers in my rear window because stickers make my car faster.

[H0lladay]

Saw that you had your carpet out, mine could use a major cleaning too. How hard was it getting it out, seats too? And where'd you get the "break necks, kill egos" sticker?

[Knums]

Saw that you had your carpet out, mine could use a major cleaning too. How hard was it getting it out, seats too? And where'd you get the "break necks, kill egos" sticker?

The carpet in the rear came out easy. All you have to do is remove the lower rear seat, driver and passenger seat. and remove the center console, the hardest part of this is getting the seats out, you have to slide the seats forward to access the bolts then once they are out you need to slide the seat back again so you can rotate them forward and this is where it gets tricky because they get hung up on the front seat rail mounts and the roof so you have to wiggle them and force them out. Once they are out and the center console, there is one screw by the ebrake unscrew that and just pull the carpet out. The front half tho is a different story because the carpet goes under the dash all the way through so i just opted to cut up high and around the heater core so the cuts cant be seen, i also took the metal rod out of the gas pedal so i didnt have to make a cut there, if you dont want to cut your carpet i would suggest cleaning it in the car unless the foam under siding is wet because this will cause mold and rusting.
The sticker i got from flipzco.com