Goodbye Nina... say hello to Veronica

[MC Hammered]

It took me a long time before I made up my mind to put Nina up for sale, but as the boys at Gutenparts said so well "Life is too short, drive them while you can!" so I had to let go of one car to obtain another.

The buyer flew in from Edmonton to pick her up on Friday and to be honest it was hard to see and hear her drive away.





So now what?

Well... When I saw this car as a teen in a copy of Car & Driver magazine I dreamed that one day I would own one and it would be the car I would retire in. Unfortunately that small dream did get buried as time past by, reality and bills set in and only recently did it resurface to haunt my dreams.

The relapse was triggered when I missed out on a turbocharged e34 535i as it was sold 2 hours before I got to view it. Now I am not normally effected by such circumstances, but for some reason I got really depressed that I couldn't get to see that car and have a chance at obtaining it.

As a result I started poking around and the search for an M5 began, not just any M5, it had to be an e34 M5. The last M car with a handbuilt s38 engine for a heart.



So I was fortunate to find one in very good condition and owned by an local enthusiast. She isn't perfect, but she does have all the qualities to be a diamond in the rough and the best part is the low mileage engine! Only 125000km (77000 miles) clocked on the odometer!

My brother and I went to go do an inspection on Saturday, everything looked good, the road test was great so I brought her home.

This is Veronica




The interior is in very good shape and there is no damage to any of the seats.






My favourite thing to see... a 300kph speedo and 90L gas tank!!



The door cards are in good shape. I bit of shrinkage due to their age but this is something I can fix.






Here is Veronica with her 400awhp stepsister Stephanie



I like to have my engine bay clean so I decided to shampoo the engine with some p21s. With the warm engine the steam cleaning just breaks down any buildup.





Then it bugged me she was dirty so I decided to give her a quick detail and I am glad I did as there is not much a driver likes to see than a clean cockpit





While going through the rear seat I found a couple of souveniers left from the owner when Veronica was in Japan



There is a short list of items to replace some broken bits and a longer list of things to do cosmetically in order to satisfy my OCD level of ownership and I will post updates when available.

Here she is after a quick shower.

[cornflakecwl]

Very nice!!! Get those door cards fixed up and the interior will look much better. Not a fan of those particular ACS wheels, but that's just me. Car looks great, congrats!!

[95Olympic525i]

Wow, nice bro. Clean and low mileage. Hope she's good to ya, congratulations!

[jbondbmw]

Wow, very nice M5! Looks super clean. You can eat of that engine. Love the steering wheel.

[MC Hammered]

Very nice!!! Get those door cards fixed up and the interior will look much better. Not a fan of those particular ACS wheels, but that's just me. Car looks great, congrats!!

Do you know of any links to DIY to fix the doorcards? I was hoping to peel the leather off, recondition the material and glue it back on to make them look better.

I was torn between these ACS and a getting a set of e31 MK Motorsport Mk1 and decided to keep the ACS for now. The reason is they are originals and the sizes I have found to be a bit more rare, they are 18x9 and 18x10.

[Sir Montalbon]

Nice!

Welcome to e34land

[richinvan]

Hey I know you... :P

[e34Croak]

Nice steering wheel.

[zubbie]

What's going on with the exhaust? Single pipe?

Wide grill conversion also I see. and manual sports seats!

[cornflakecwl]

Do you know of any links to DIY to fix the doorcards? I was hoping to peel the leather off, recondition the material and glue it back on to make them look better.

I was torn between these ACS and a getting a set of e31 MK Motorsport Mk1 and decided to keep the ACS for now. The reason is they are originals and the sizes I have found to be a bit more rare, they are 18x9 and 18x10.

With a quick serach here is a very recent one:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ght=door+panel There are at least a couple more as well.

I don't blame you on the wheels, just not my thing that's all. WHeels are such a subjective thing on a car. Redardless, the car is sweet and I am jelly, always wanted one for myself!

[MC Hammered]

What's going on with the exhaust? Single pipe?

Wide grill conversion also I see. and manual sports seats!

Exhaust came that way from the previous owner and I want to change the muffler as there is a small hole in it and it buzzes at idle.

Any recommendations for a twintip muffler? I was just going to use a Magnaflow Race as the existing OEM setup still looks good from underneath. I might swap it all out if I can find a good price on an aftermarket setup, but I rather put the $$$ towards other things right now.

The car was in an accident when it was in Japan so the new hood and wide grill was put on when the repair was done. I will probably replace the black kidneys with chrome ones as I like a tiny bit of bling on my cars.

With a quick serach here is a very recent one:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ght=door+panel There are at least a couple more as well.

I don't blame you on the wheels, just not my thing that's all. WHeels are such a subjective thing on a car. Redardless, the car is sweet and I am jelly, always wanted one for myself!

Thanks for the help as I see there is quite a bit of information here, I just have to go dig for it.

One problem I will have is the lower part of the door cards are leather and not vinyl, so I will have to find a way to make the leather soft again before trying to stretch and peel it off.

I want to get all of the interior fixes done before summer is over as working in the garage in Winter sucks.

[T444E]

If that's ZM's old E30, I sold him the front bumper and valence

[NbAmTwE]

Looks like a nice example M5 to me
more info on the audi!?

[ninjastyle]

thats lush! the wide grill makes it.

[gdaE34]

Nice find! Door panels are wonky, but fixable. I would pay some attention to that bolster wear on the front seats as well. And fix the tint job.. Other than that, sweet ride! I'm jealous.

[Schneider]

Congrats! That e30 was very sweet looking though. Audi has slicks on?

[e28Jay]

Congrats on the beauty. I would have a hard time selling that e30 too. Gorgeous.

[e28Jay]

Congrats on the beauty. I would have a hard time selling that e30 too. Gorgeous.

[NikosX]

Good looking car. Sucks about the accident tho. If the repair was done well then maybe it'd be easy to return to narrow should you ever want to.

Congratulations on the miles. Feels great to wring out a healthy s38 that you know won't blow up.

[ARMAN]

wooow i'd trade e30 vert fo that too, congrats and have fun

[camaroguy]

MMMMMMM Extended leather and manual sport seats....awesome!

[MC Hammered]

If that's ZM's old E30, I sold him the front bumper and valence

That is the same e30 and I had a lot of fun owning it, but it rains a bit too much in Vancouver to truly enjoy her with the top down.

Looks like a nice example M5 to me
more info on the audi!?

You can see more details here: http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/va...477410693.html

Nice find! Door panels are wonky, but fixable. I would pay some attention to that bolster wear on the front seats as well. And fix the tint job.. Other than that, sweet ride! I'm jealous.

I hope the door panels can be fixed, might take a while to do as I would prefer to have the original leather panels.

The seat bolster have a tiny bit of surface wear but I have ordered black dye and will be redoing all of the seats, center console pieces and doorcards at the same time.

The tint is coming off and a nice smoke color ceramic tint will be put in its place.

Congrats! That e30 was very sweet looking though. Audi has slicks on?

Those are Falken Azenis 615 tires. Super sticky and priced well.

Good looking car. Sucks about the accident tho. If the repair was done well then maybe it'd be easy to return to narrow should you ever want to.

Congratulations on the miles. Feels great to wring out a healthy s38 that you know won't blow up.

Going back to narrow would mean I have to get a new hood, paint, etc and I hope I don't ever get into a situation that will force me to decide what to do.

I did find out I am limited to muffler choices due to the 3" inlet requirement and will have to stick with a Magnaflow single tip muffler as I have to get the car inspected within a week. All dual tip options have the tips spaced too far apart and I can't wait for a Supersprint to arrive.

[e34moneypit]

Hahaha Levent's car with Garrett's parts.


M5 is freakin awesome. Welcome to the fracas!

[Belarc]

That M5 is practically my dream car, very nice man very nice!

[95Olympic525i]

You are driving practically my dream car, very nice man very nice!

Point taken lol. This has been an epidemic lately