It Begins....the E34 535iT project (56k warning)

[Mr Project]

Hi, I'm Mr. Project, and some of you might remember me from such internet forums as this one, a couple years ago. I used to have a '91 535i, but I sold it a year or so ago to a local friend.

It used to look like this:


A few months later, he decided he really needed a minivan (boo) so he sold it to another friend. About a month ago, on a quiet Saturday morning, I got a phone call from that second friend....he had just been rear-ended by a drunk driver.



I instantly knew this was the opportunity I have been waiting for and trying to arrange for years....I also happened to know of a 525iT locally with a blown tranny, owned by a mechanic friend of mine. Well, yesterday I managed to talk him out of the car for a reasonable sum. It's been sitting for 5 years in the back of his lot, so it is FILTHY. The paint is also in pretty sad shape. This is after a solid 30 minutes with my 2500 psi power washer:






As you can see, it's far from perfect, but it's all there. The broken headlights/grill won't be a problem, as the front end of the 535i is perfect and even has my old euro ellipsoids that I'll be swapping over.

I've wanted to do a project like this for a long time...I always loved my 535i, but I haul a lot of crap around pretty frequently, and who doesn't love the classic lines of the E34 Touring? I've always thought the big, torquey M30, combined with the 5-speed manual tranny, made for the best combination of performance and low operating cost of any E34 drivetrain, and combining that with the Touring body is my personal 'realistic' E34 dream car.

So, this is the plan for the final output:
1992 BMW 535iT
M30B35 engine
5-speed manual tranny
3.46 LSD rear axle
Sachs kit (this is still up in the air)
M5T sways (19/25mm)
Euro ellipsoids

[Mr Project]

6/22/06 Progress

Today I got the Touring towed to the house, so I have both cars at my 'shop', I did a little cleaning on the Touring, and got the front end disassembled:

From this:



To this:



It'll be a little while before my next update since I have some 'around the house' projects I need to do this weekend. But I promise regular updates and as many pics as imageshack will let me host.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Why don't you turbo that M30 while you're in there? That would make for a sweet touring. Nice project, should be a cool car when you're done.

[Mr Project]

Yeah, a turbo might eventually be in the plan, butfor the moment I have to be careful about how much $$ I spend on this. I'm also restoring a 40-year old Corvair and that's my 'real' project I want to focus on this year. This will just be the DD.

[Grim Reaper]

Awesome project you got there!

Take tons of pics and keep us posted on the progress.

[Dark Helmet]

you do realize that this again puts you at "three" project cars... right?????

although the natural course of this should reduce it to 2....

and yes yes, turbo, ftw!

[xatlas0]

Awesome! Please, keep up updated. It is good to see some real hot rodding going on, not just "hey, where can I get M5 bumpers for cheap" and other superficial things of that ilk.

[Mojo325is]

hehehe.....

[e39dream]

kick ass! good for you- the resurrection of a bimmer always touches my heart I'd like to start a project like this next summer, only with a sedan as the desired daily driver.

[Chigga]

nice project!

are your turbo Swedes Saabs or Volvos?

[flyeryan]

Mr. Project-
Your PM box is full. I'd like your doors from the 535 if possible. Please PM me.

thanks,
Ryan

[Mr Project]

are your turbo Swedes Saabs or Volvos?

Yes. A '93 9000 CSE with a 3" turbo-back and a little extra boost, and my daily beater, a 418,000 km-young 744T.

[E34N]

Nice... please keep us updated..

(subscribed!!! )

[LJSE34]

that's a great idea, I want one too!

[Goat128]

touring... what better place to but some nos bottles

[forsaken]

[QUOTE=Goat128]touring... what better place to but some nos bottles[/QUOTE5

Not to get off track.. but call it nitrous... Nos is a company and it sounds F&F to call it that.

But yeah, i love the project! lets get this german grocery getter into a bad ass turn key beast!

[AndrewH]

How about I send you my U.S. ellipsoids and you send me the 2 Euro Smiley lights??

[jfranke]

Cool project! I wish I had the time/money to do something like that.

Good luck

[Mr Project]

Today's progress...the important this is that I got the window installed in the house...just had a little time to strip the Touring down some more.

[HE53]

I've been watching... figured I'd post. Lemme know if you need a hand with something one day.. I wouldn't mind coming up and checking it out.

[tempestv8]

Wow, how do you remember where all the bits and pieces are when you need to put it all back together again!

Awesome project. Keep the photos coming!

[e39dream]

the pics will help when it comes time to rebuild, but once you take a car apart like that it doesnt require a ton of thought to put it back- like riding a bike.

[Mr Project]

Yeah, you can see a few green masking tape tags on the harness, I usually make tags for the harness to help me re-route it, and I ziploc baggie the nuts and bolts into general areas and label them. It's not as exact as it sounds, but it helps.

But like E39 said, once you've done something like this a few times, you get a 'feel' for how things go back together and it's not a big deal, just really time-consuming.

After a couple more hours today, I'm ready to pull the M50 out of the Touring. It looks like I'll have some time off from work to focus on this project in a couple weeks, so hopefully I'll be able to make some real headway on it then. Right now I'm limited to a couple hours at a time.

[Dark Helmet]

I'm working late every night this week... GAAAH!

no time for wrenching.

[Dark Helmet]

Yes. A '93 9000 CSE with a 3" turbo-back and a little extra boost, and my daily beater, a 418,000 km-young 744T.

you forgot that the 744 was a 4.5spd manual car.