TGreene's Calypso 525i/5 DD

[TGreene]

In June of last year I had a rusted 530i/5 in the driveway with a bad engine and a M60B40 on an engine stand in the garage. Browsing craigslist as always, I came across a really good looking Calypsorot '95 525i 5-Speed about an hour away in Maryland for $3,000. I called the guy up and set up an appointment, knowing that I would most likely walk away.

I met up with him and it was clear that he did not know much about cars. He had just bought it a few months prior and had already ruined the 2nd gear from poor shifting. He told me that he had been warned by his friends about owning a BMW and when he took it to a shop to get an estimate on fixing the transmission he regretted not listening to their advice.

The car had other problems too. The driver's door brake was ripped out. Lots of little interior trim parts were missing. The seats were twisted. The hood was bad. It had angle eye headlights. The driver's fender and the rear quarter panel had significant dents. The rear seats were torn up. The list goes on.

But, it was Calypso and the paint looked decent. After DDing an Islandgrun with bad paint for a year, I had come to value a cleaner canvas and I made him an offer. He wanted to cancel the insurance quick and to get on with his life so we made a deal a few days later.

I parted rushed a part out of the rusted 530i/5 to make room for the new 525i/5 and then bailed down to Florida to visit my brother. When I came back I got to work getting ready to DD.

http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/16569/2904462230098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2904462230098465743QpeWvO)

http://inlinethumb27.webshots.com/46298/2999466430098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2999466430098465743TwTPvI)

http://inlinethumb63.webshots.com/47294/2894761670098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2894761670098465743CVyeua)

The door panel fell off one day. Great!

http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/47257/2623050970098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2623050970098465743lnexjp)

Where the door brake should be:

http://inlinethumb15.webshots.com/19790/2819344300098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2819344300098465743WgBbff)

The PO had disconnected the passenger window motor since the window had come off of the track. I ended up suspecting bent regulator arms so I installed another known working regulator while I was at it.

http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/47403/2780702940098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2780702940098465743DwPfsR)

http://inlinethumb38.webshots.com/49125/2798153270098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2798153270098465743qXkStf)

Next I swapped over the front suspension from the '92 Islandgrun which was Vogtland springs and Bilstein Sport struts:

http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/49369/2940980270098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2940980270098465743wgntGv)

http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/47554/2861853830098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2861853830098465743oHyAJp)

The rideheight with 16'' Style 5s:

http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/40566/2480697190098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2480697190098465743CRQtNp)

http://inlinethumb45.webshots.com/47596/2320691140098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2320691140098465743zryGBq)



Pulling out the interior to clean it:

http://inlinethumb61.webshots.com/10236/2158398280098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2158398280098465743qrbcho)

http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/24682/2268361770098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2268361770098465743GnbBbM)

And replaced the cabin air filter since it was relatively accessible:

http://inlinethumb14.webshots.com/50253/2235874910098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2235874910098465743BUMwNZ)

http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/33962/2382896510098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2382896510098465743yMQNhD)

http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/48532/2633462970098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2633462970098465743TBnkDE)

http://inlinethumb20.webshots.com/47315/2855834110098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2855834110098465743hoqqvT)

http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/32139/2347857920098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2347857920098465743WKlQPs)

http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/46996/2917823980098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2917823980098465743ccYoMw)

Cleaning stuff:

http://inlinethumb39.webshots.com/50150/2489549430098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2489549430098465743DczlJL)

Reassembly:

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/48169/2058601860098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2058601860098465743hhNnsS)

http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/39388/2829959820098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2829959820098465743UDmGOc)

Before:

http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/47713/2424947390098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2424947390098465743hKRalV)

After:

http://inlinethumb39.webshots.com/48998/2058248140098465743S600x600Q85.jpg (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2058248140098465743yzyLuJ)

[Steve547i]

Calypso is the best color. Good luck with it.

[e34DD]

Looks nice..Love the Color..

[cmgreensr]

Looks like a nice place to start Trevor. Just remember that door panels are highly overrated!

[bhch142]

How did you clean all the nasty crumbs and grit out of the seat buttons?

[E34ührer]

Man that looks like a nice 525. Calypso that isn't faded....WOW.

[Matt Z]

Any plans to put the M60B40 in?

[TGreene]

How did you clean all the nasty crumbs and grit out of the seat buttons?

I took them apart and took them inside to clean them with soap and water.

The side trim is held on by two torx screws and a little tac under the seat and then the buttons pop right out of it.


Any plans to put the M60B40 in?

No, I would stay I6 if I swapped it and this is a DD so I don't think power is the goal. I have the M5 to waste money on.

[cincyE34]

Nice car, and it cleaned up good! Its also the best color on E34's!

[e34Croak]

Sweet! Damn, you've already put in a lot of work on that thing. Nicely done



In before a noob not realizing who you are makes fun of those angel eyes. ;)

[staystackin]

n1ce ang1e eyez br0


But seriously, awesome job cleaning up that interior man!

[Psykick5]

You make me want to take apart my entire interior and clean it! How long did it take you?

If I did it I'd probably do in stages.

[e34DD]

Im coming over want to help me clean my Touring LOL.


Looks Great!!!!!!

[rotaryboots]

I'd trade my island grün for a calypso. The search continues for style 5's.

Great car.

[TGreene]

I feel like a need to update the thread a bit but I don't have my pictures. Jamie (JamieNL) and I did a lot of work a month or two ago. We ripped out the angel eyes and replaced them with some ellipsoids.

We made a trip to the junkyard and got lucky and found a '94 that had decent paint. The hood and front bumpers were trashed (My hood is very dented and the front bumper is very faded) but the driver's fender and door were worth taking. Swapping out the fenders got rid of a large dent that would even cause rubbing. However, when replacing the fender the bumper had to come off, and the bumper was bolted onto both fenders from the inside to keep them snug. The holes this created in the front bumper will not do so I am looking for a matching replacement. Some of the original bumper guides are torn so I need to set it all back to how it should be. Also at the junkyard I snagged some rear upper seatbelt covers and installed them.

We installed the rear headrests and E32 rear center storage console from Joel. The combination of the headrests and the storage console make a huge different IMO. You can see the headrests in this picture, as well as the E39 M Parallels that I drove down to Richmond for and the 20MM spacers it has up front:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/1aecced3.jpg

I also fixed the passenger seat twist.

The car did not pass Virginia state inspection because of a missing fog light and a broken stud on the passenger side upper strut mount. I have been driving it with a failed inspection sticker for a few weeks. (What a rebel!)

I also just snagged an M5 rear bumper cover off of eBay, and was given a set of 20MM spacers for Christmas by my family for the rear.

Short term list is now:

* Valve cover gasket, spark plugs and spark plug boots.
* Replace the valve cover gasket
* Fix a slow leak in the front right tire
* Remove the Navy sticker left by one of the previous owners on the back windshield
* Fix the radio wiring as the speakers come in and out
* Replace the front struts with something not as harsh and Bilstein Sports
* Properly mount the front and rear bumper covers using new supports

Long term list:

* Paint and install M5 rear bumper - maybe get my hands on a front and go for a two-toned look
* Narrow hood and grill conversion (Die, wide hoods!)
* Replace the transmission with a good unit, and install new drivetrain mounts and parts
* Oxygen sensors, intake gaskets, clean ICV etc.
* 3.23 LSD

Something that is also significant to this thread is that my Islandgrun 525i/5, which although is a hideous car on the outside(rust, faded paint, dents all over), runs very well with many recently installed parts and was just recently totalled* when it was hit while parked. The damage is cosmetic and my sister-in-law will continue to use it as a beater until she can find a car she likes, but it means that I will be parting the car within the next few months. (I put in the asterisk because they have sent me a check for the full value of the car minus the $750 to buy it back, but I am under the impression that the state of the title will not change, and the car will remain street legal)

The Islandgun has almost all of the parts that I would need to make the Calypso a really solid car:

New Engine mounts
New Transmission Mounts
ZF Transmission with 20k on the flex disc and CSB
Great fog lights
New upper strut mounts
New Oxygen sensors

This is good and bad, because it means that I will be putting off repairing a lot of things on this car. I don't want to spend money now on parts that I know I will have my hands on soon enough.

[yongElayne]

Just remember that door panels are highly overrated
http://www.jimjam.info/03.jpghttp://www.jimjam.info/14.jpg
http://www.bookunion.org/7.jpg

[upallnight]

I'd trade my island grün for a calypso. The search continues for style 5's.

Great car.

I have a set of Style 5

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp346/upallnight_03/DSC00038.jpg

All 4 are in similar conditions as this one

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp346/upallnight_03/DSC00039.jpg

Comes with the center caps as well as the special tool to remove the center cap.

$250.00 plus shipping.

[ShapeShifter]

^not style 5's.

Very nice work! Your gonna make a great mechanic somday ;-)
LMK know if you want to sell the billie sports.

Happy New Year!

[upallnight]

Happy New Year to you too. What do you want to give me for the billie sports?

[Trasportador]

I have to give it to you TGreene, you really are a serious trooper. Looks good, congrats on the purchase. Didn't you pick up an M5 recently as well?

[E34nication]

Great work Trevor. Love the attention to detail.

[TGreene]

The front of the car has been plagued front the start. First I removed the angle eyes and put in some ellipsoids while at the same time replacing the broken headlight surrounds. Then I replaced the driver's fender. Now, time for the fogs and getting the front bumper to fit as it should.

Here is a bolt that was used to hold the bumper cover up to the fender rather than just buy the rubber bumper guides that this bumper cover does not have:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/e6edc8ea.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/c6b16625.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/fe28dedc.jpg

After a bit of a battle with the rusted bolt, here it is along with the damage to the bumper cover that it left:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/5e10d1e6.jpg

On to the fogs!

My brother and I are working on finishing the garage so my work station is the bumper cover sitting on top of a trash can. Here are fogs from parts cars with some brackets from junkyards. Mixing and matching to get a good passenger's side projector fog ready to go in.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/0593304f.jpg

The previous owner put in the other type of fog light (spacing on the name of them) and had spliced in the other wiring, so I had to change it back. Luckily I had all of the necessary connectors:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/bdbc67ff.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/05d97df1.jpg

Alright, on to the front struts. As mentioned above, I broke off one of the studs on the passenger's side upper strut mount and it caused me to fail the state's inspection. Also, the Bilstein Sports were not cutting it for me. I once thought that I could handle the harshest ride possible, but apologizing to my passengers on sectioned highway with Vogtlands, Bilstein Sports and 18'' wheels was getting annoying. I pulled the entire front strut assemblings from a 110k mile 540i in the junkyard. I headed over to Jamie's house.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/19d045ca.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/f5513e5f.jpg

The front struts were not leaking. This is a video of how they performed. I don't know how to consider them. What are your thoughts?

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/th_606e58e3.jpg (http://s1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/?action=view&current=606e58e3.mp4)

The brake lines were looking rough so we swapped in the lines from the junkyard set and used the power bleeder to make it a five minute job. I am thinking that stainless steel lines are going to be ordered soon.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/ebd74483.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/9d7365f7.jpg

We did the sway bar end links while we were at it. Cory can testify to their condition since she was the one that first saw them when these same ones were on my Islandgrun 525i in Raleigh (I swapped them over with the front suspension to this car when I got it).

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/c07bf932.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/f6cd9ad8.jpg

With the front wheel off Jamie quickly figured that the slow leak was coming from a plug in the tire. Some spit confirmed it:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/4a39d4e9.jpg

I put on the ACS Type IIs that have been in the garage for over a year. Having been recently balanced, driving with them on made it clear that the M-Pars were not. Symptoms that I thought were due to bad front steering parts are now totally gone. The car has no shimmys and it feels great.

As it sits now, the car has the ACS up front and the M-Pars still on the rear. I still have to swap in the driver's side strut from the 540i, too, so it is a bit of a frankenstein at the moment. Soon it will all be uniform with the ACS on the rear with the 20MM spacers installed and with a nice new state inspection sticker. The to-do-list is getting shorter.

[jfj707]

Amazing the difference that good wheels/tires can make. Great update.

[TGreene]

Spent another hour or two out enjoying the weather today.

I need to vacuum again and the floor mats are keeping the interior down, but overall it is a great car to get into:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/659fec0d.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/1429fefe.jpg

Door gaskets are being jerks.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/b75fc4c7.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/4bcb771b.jpg

Since I was taking pictures, here is another of the E34 center console and the rear headrests that I got from Joel. Thanks again, Joel. They really make the car what it should have been from the factory.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/b453fe5e.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/8e72cc17.jpg

Using some junkyard gaskets I replaced the bad sections and made some spacers to set them all right again.

After pulling up on the gasket's sill covers you can see the seam. A little bit of pulling and it comes right apart.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/68775fc6.jpg

Starting at the top, I made sure to push the gaskets back in as hard as possible. I would work from the top down to the left, then from the top down to the right. Soon you are left with nice tight gaskets aside from a bit of a gap that needs to be filled:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/4fe39609.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/e4afffac.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/706ee645.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/45ad0011.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/0fbe1411.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/7934c527.jpg

Fun with knives!

The OBC started to dim a few months ago. Now it is so bad that it appears dead during the day. I went to the old parts bin and got another one.

The radio has to come out before you can access to OBC's release lever.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/8c3dbe79.jpg

Now the OBC has been replaced the radio is back in.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/33a5ba25.jpg

[e34DD]

car looking great!!!!!!!!! great work.

[JamieNL]

Nafolk 2.0 ! ! ! :lol3

[TGreene]

Maybe 20MM on the ACS is a bit too much...

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/33635a09.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/d8462155.jpg

[sbeckman7]

Awesome car Trev, looks really clean. Assuming you've driven a 535/5, does this feel any faster?

[TGreene]

Awesome car Trev, looks really clean. Assuming you've driven a 535/5, does this feel any faster?

Hah - no. The 535i is a great car. This one is fun to rev high but it is not the same. Fuel economy aside, I would way rather have this be M30 powered.

[sbeckman7]

Hah - no. The 535i is a great car. This one is fun to rev high but it is not the same. Fuel economy aside, I would way rather have this be M30 powered.

...Then why isn't it? :devillook

[TGreene]

...Then why isn't it? :devillook

This is just such a practical combination. The car is still tons of fun to drive, and now that I also have a 540i/6 I don't know if I am totally sold on the extra power of the 535i or the 540i over this when you have to sacrifice the few dollars a day of fuel.

[clevertd]

What's the offset on the ACS'? Et13? I'm sure it's mentioned in here somewhere but I'm on my phone. 10mm on my et13 18x8 Mpar looked great to me.

[Psykick5]

How the hell did you get your radio out? I can't figure mine out!

Ooooo and I see turbines on avus blue in the background of a few of those pictures :D

[TGreene]

What's the offset on the ACS'? Et13? I'm sure it's mentioned in here somewhere but I'm on my phone. 10mm on my et13 18x8 Mpar looked great to me.

Yeah it is ET13. I would use 10s if I had them. For now, I am not too concerned about the bit of poke. It is not so bad that it would be noticeable if you were looking for it. At least I hope not.


How the hell did you get your radio out? I can't figure mine out!

Ooooo and I see turbines on avus blue in the background of a few of those pictures :D

Mine is aftermarket so I just slipped some thin kitchen knives into the sides to depress those little tabs and it fulls forward. For the stock radio, you have to flip open the small square covers on the sides that cover up the two small allen head bolts. Loosen them up and the radio will get loose enough to pull straight out.

It is Macao blue, not Avus =p

[Psykick5]

Mine is aftermarket so I just slipped some thin kitchen knives into the sides to depress those little tabs and it fulls forward. For the stock radio, you have to flip open the small square covers on the sides that cover up the two small allen head bolts. Loosen them up and the radio will get loose enough to pull straight out.

It is Macao blue, not Avus =p

Mine is aftermarket too, that's why I could never figure it out. Let me go grab some kitchen knives :D

[Brake_L8]

It usually takes two per side of the radio. There are two tabs (top and bottom) per side that you have to pop. If you can't fit that many knives in the dash ;) then alternate between the sides and it'll wiggle out.

[Psykick5]

It usually takes two per side of the radio. There are two tabs (top and bottom) per side that you have to pop. If you can't fit that many knives in the dash ;) then alternate between the sides and it'll wiggle out.

I'll try it when it's light out :D

[TGreene]

I drove down to Richmond yesterday to pick up a good Getrag 250 from Clay (357i). I walked in and his E36 sedan had a child seat in the back and a FI LSx up front.

This bad boy had been carrying a log of parts recently.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/9f359de8.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/5bd1b5be.jpg

[Skip535i]

Nice, Trevor! I need to get hooked up with you NoVa guys sometime. Wrenchfest???

[84318i]

Very nice save man!

I too hate the door seals seals, LOL at cutting an extra piece to fill in the gap! Do they just SHRINK that much over time?!

Also, how exactly are you supposed to remove/replace the bumper trim lights w/o damaging them? I always have problems with the metal tab stretching or bending the wrong way and then they never stay on there right? How do you do it w/o removing the bumper/trim itself? :)

[Skip535i]

How do you do it w/o removing the bumper/trim itself? :)

Euro trim is a permanent solution ;)

[TGreene]

I took off work on Tuesday to drop out the busted transmission and put in the one I got from Clay on Sunday.

The car up in my second home; Jamie's garage.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/1691002a.jpg

I prefer dropping the exhaust as a single unit. I am pretty decent at getting it out and back in by myself while using a floor jack as a rolling helper. The only casualty was one of the studs from an exhaust manifold. I soaked the 02 sensor with penetrating fluid but had no luck getting it out. We had no 22mm wrench and the 7/8th had just enough play to slip. I will be swapping out the exhaust with the one from the Islandgrun that I am parting out soon. That exhaust already has a ~5k mile 02 sensor installed and is generally better condition. This will be the 3rd car that that particular exhaust has been installed on =p

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/3dba8a88.jpg

How do these trans mounts look?

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/c0eeb382.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/646f2465.jpg

The pressure plate looked decent. I had a spare clutch disc from Clay with tons of life on it but no clutch alignment tool so I did not want to drop the old clutch disc out. Oh well, all the bolts are broken loose for next time, right? =p

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/211522ad.jpg

I checked out the flex disc and CSB. Both looked fine. I swapped the reverse switches since they were different for some reason, and I installed a new throwout bearing that I had lying around since the existing one was showing its age. I did not worry about any of the shifter linkage bushings. The shifter is not tight but I like it that way. It is incredibly smooth with the new Redline MTL.

I started at 9AM and had the car rolled out of the garage at midnight. I was not rushing and took off three hours to go work. The only issue was that the clutch pedal was clearly not bled all of the way once I pulled it out. It drove around the block but the pedal had to be all of the way to the floor to shift. I left it parked outside and today after work we bled it. The Motive Power Bleeder pays for itself every time you use it. It is absolutely one of my favorite tools. Here we have it hooked up at 13PSI letting it sit so we know there are no leaks:


http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/431cdcef.jpg

[Sam Son]

car looks great Trevor

[TGreene]

car looks great Trevor

Thanks, Mike. Your car was the first '95 with a parchment interior that I got to see up close. That is why I have one now. I love it. The car feels so clean and looks great with the gathered leather door panels.

The CEL came on. I have yet to stomp test it but I am curious what it is. I will be doing the oil, oil filter, spark plugs, spark plug boots and the valve cover gasket tomorrow with my brother. I will also install the fuel filter if we have time.

[Steve547i]

Looking great!

[TGreene]

Very nice save man!

I too hate the door seals seals, LOL at cutting an extra piece to fill in the gap! Do they just SHRINK that much over time?!

Yeah. I have heard that even the new ones will come from the supplier shrunk.



Also, how exactly are you supposed to remove/replace the bumper trim lights w/o damaging them? I always have problems with the metal tab stretching or bending the wrong way and then they never stay on there right? How do you do it w/o removing the bumper/trim itself? :)

I pry them out and then if that metal tab bends and they sit loosely in their slot, I pop them back out and squeese the metal tab tight again with some pliers. It has worked every time so far.

And yes, Eurotrim would solve the entire problem =p


Looking great!

Thanks Steve.

We are not hearing enough about your car around here these days.

[NedMW]

I like your style Greene, always enjoy your threads! Best of luck my brother!

[E34Marc415]

Wish I had the time and money to give my baby this kind of love. Nice work! Looks great! Calypso...... :buttrock

[TGreene]

While I had the black 540i/6, this car did not get any attention. Now that the 540i/6 has moved on to a new home, back to the garage!

The exhaust has been obnoxiously loud. I thought it was aftermarket but it turns out that it just had some small leaks. I swapped in the exhaust from the Islandgrun 525i that Jamie and I just parted out. The car was my DD and it passed emissions inspect easily and had an 02 sensor with only a few thousand miles on it was a no brainer.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/8a019903.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/ec0c3a1f.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/9fca08b3.jpg

I had to change out one of the exhaust manifolds also since one of the studs broke off when I was removing the exhaust last time to install the replacement transmission.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/0edbd7ee.jpg

Some anti-seize and new exhaust gaskets.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/d24fc377.jpg

I found a small leak from what looks like the rear main seal of the transmission, and another small leak on the differential that looks to be coming from the passenger's side half-axel. I would not bother with the differential though - who cares about an open diff? =p

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/bcc13645.jpg

The car is much quieter now - absolutely worth the effort!

The problems that now have risen to the top of the to-do-list are:

Spongy clutch pedal - The engagement of the clutch is taking about 5x the normal amount of pedal travel. I have bled the system using the Motive power bleeder so I know it is not the fluid at fault. I have to suspect the master and slave cylinders. I will replace both of them. As a maintenance item it is worth it anyway - who knows when the original parts will fail and leave you unable to drive the car?

Poor idle - The engine is idling around 600RPM and does not feel as smooth as it should be. With the clutch master and slave cylinders, I will order new intake/misc gaskets. I will clean the ICV and check for vacuum leaks while I am in there.


Wish I had the time and money to give my baby this kind of love. Nice work! Looks great! Calypso...... :buttrock

Money factors in way less than time and effort. I have not had to spend much on the car so far. Many of the parts I have needed I have been able to get from my parts cars or buy used from other members here.

[TGreene]

I ordered a new master and slave cylinder from AutohuasAZ to try and remedy the spongy clutch pedal.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/fd8b08ac.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/b309940e.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/4fe3fba7.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/69f038c1.jpg

I was using the Motive power bleeder, just like I have done a half-dozen times before, and started to pressurize the system to 15psi to check for leaks and make sure that it would hold.

At 12psi I start to hear fluid start gushing onto the floor and I know that the slave cyinder has blown. I release the pressure, drop under the car and see that the hydraulic fluid is flowing through the holes in the bellhousing. I was very upset.

I removed the new and dead slave cylinder and put on the original one. I took it to 10PSI and checked for leaks and all seemed alright and I started to try and bleed. Soon enough though, I knew there must be a problem because air was still coming out even after half a liter was sitting in the collection pan. I double checked everything and tried again. I could not find a problem and decided that I might just need to be patient, but after keeping the reservoir and power bleeder topped off, and ending up going through more than 1.5 liters of fluid, I took a break. I disconnected the power bleeder and right before walking inside, I decided to pump the pedal by hand a few times just to see if I could figure anything out. I did it a few times and again heard fluid start falling to the floor. The original slave blew.

I was very upset and confused. Jamie came over the next day and we talked about what might be the issue. He saw that the car was in gear and that might have caused some kind of issue but neither of us could really think of how it would. Was the master somehow building up too much pressure and causing the slaves to blow? I could not figure it out. I bought two new ones and the car sat up in the garage for a few days while I waited for them to delivered.

When they got here I installed them again. The master is a serious pain. I was really having to try hard not to break windows after fiddling around in such a tight space and having a terrible time getting bolt threads to catch.

Once it was all back together I had my brother help me bleed the clutch the old fashioned way and it all worked fine. It was not to be able to roll the car out of the garage.

Yesterday I took off the ACS to start refinishing them myself. I put on the staggered throwing stars with a 20mm spacer in the rear and I think they look great. After putting them on I was very glad that I did not break any windows.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/4dcf7fe7.jpg

[rlfv5erie5]

Never knew there was another calypso red e34 in my neck of the woods!! Nice build!!! Wish my paint was in that condition -__-

[Sneezy]

So what was the issue? The bleeder over-pressurizing?

[TGreene]

So what was the issue? The bleeder over-pressurizing?

I really don't know. I've gone to 15psi on three other cars and never had an issue. I am under the impression that 15psi is not too much for the brake/clutch systems. Could the car being in gear harm it somehow? I can't think of how it would.

I would have said it was a bad slave cylinder, but blowing both the new slave and then the original? Could a bad cylinder cause both slaves to over-extend the plungers and blow the seals?

These are questions for better minds to answer. I bought another pair and turned the wrench.

[Sneezy]

Well 15 psi certainly isn't enough to do it. Being in gear would not matter.

Now I want to know.

[TGreene]

Not only was installing the new clutch parts a major pain, but I am very much not satisfied with how they feel. There are two main problems. The first is that the friction zone is way too wide and not consistent. I think I have narrowed it down to the throwout lever clip not being installed properly. I have ordered a new one as well as all of the transmission seals I could think of. Time to drop it again!

The second problem with the clutch pedal is the feel of the master cylinder - at least I think it is the master. It is not as smooth as I would like. Right now the system has some Dot3/4 brake fluid from Autozone since I ran out of ATE Blue when the parts exploded last time. I have bought some more ATE Super Fancy Pants so hopefully that will effect the feel of the pedal.

A little soap and water the other evenning:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/bde677a9.jpg

The front suspension was making some noise. I somehow double up the upper spring pads last time I was in there. Dumb.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/9ecf0cc1.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/5d8eec7c.jpg

Prepping the hood to be swapped with the parts car the next time I am over there. I removed the hood insulation, and then the windshield washer sprayers.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/f2239840.jpg

Some lame old man's automatic, but still worth a picture:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/1a8f2d70.jpg

I spent an hour washing some parts last night. Some orange degreaser in a spray bottle and a very stiff-bristled toilet brush from the grocery store really did wonders:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/dbbb469f.jpg

I spray painted the two spare fans I have to see how I like them. The rest of the stuff I started to coat with the engine detailer I bought from Autogeek.net. Even after 12 hours the plastic is still very shiny. I will rub it down and hopefully it will turn out to be some healthy looking plastic. I am doing all of this to be ready to install it all when I am finishing doing the intake gaskets, cleaning the ICV/MAF, and replacing the vacuum lines in the next week or two.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/41e6ccfc.jpg

[Sam Son]

wow looking good trev

[Danni540]

Very clean E34! Love Calypsorot. Used to be one in me street for many years while I was growing up.

[NedMW]

Love the attention to detail, keep us posted about how that detailer works out.

Good work man

[Thunderstorm]

looks great. mine is the same colours.
what did you use to get the carpet so good?

[jfs356]

This is one great thread, love the details and pics. You have a nice E34.

[TGreene]

Very clean E34! Love Calypsorot. Used to be one in me street for many years while I was growing up.

Calypsorot is the reason why I bought the car =p


looks great. mine is the same colours.
what did you use to get the carpet so good?

Just some household carpet shampoo and a stiff bristled brush. Soak it up with a shop vacuum and/or towels.


Love the attention to detail, keep us posted about how that detailer works out.

Good work man

The detailing spray is pretty good stuff. I was sold on it because they claimed it would not attract things floating around in the air as much. We will see about that, but wish a quick wipe of a towel it has about the perfect amount of shine to it. I will throw up pictures later.

After a year of being my DD, it is time that the engine got some attention beyond oil, filters and a valve cover gasket.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/55f2cf95.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/71ec76e6.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/8594ee40.jpg

While I have access to everything I will poke around and see what hoses and other little misc. parts need replacing. I might want to splurge and get all of the air temp and coolant temp sensors too.

Off to clean and inspect!

[NedMW]

The m50 is possibly the easiest engine to work on ever. Except the oil pan is a drag...

[1 SihK bImr]

Excellent job Trevor. The car has come a long way. Very nice.

[TGreene]

I did a lot of poking around and decided to replace quite a bit. I spent about two hours behind this computer searching through realOEM and pelicanparts.com to figure out what I wanted. I got a lot of help from one of LouieD's posts about vacuum lines that I will be referencing when I post up about installing those. So while I wait I clean, and at this point I am wondering why I did not just pull the engine!

Carb cleaner from the auto parts store makes really short work of the gunked up ICV and TB. I find cleaning these up to be especially satisfying.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/aef1a24b.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/31315e10.jpg

The airbox was taken inside and disassembled to be thoroughly cleaned.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/cd5e52cc.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/edb3f94a.jpg

Notice the difference between the airbox parts in this first picture versus the second. Believe it or not the finish will stay like that for days until you wipe it off. I don't feel like a chump for buying that detailing spray.

I decided to add a valve cover gasket to the list of new parts eventhough I did it only a few thousand miles ago. The dirty valve cover would really be holding the engine bay back so I am going to paint it after a good scrubbing and sanding.

There is a good bit of built up gunk still up in the head, but the cams look to be in good shape. M50s are pretty sweet.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/10a45639.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/09b9df2d.jpg


The m50 is possibly the easiest engine to work on ever. Except the oil pan is a drag...

I was thinking the exact same thing. In the garage I had the fan on, Pandora playing through the speakers, and tons of room in the engine bay. It has been great these past few days working on this car.


Excellent job Trevor. The car has come a long way. Very nice.

Thanks man, how is yours doing? Is that paint still immaculate?

[1 SihK bImr]

Thanks man, how is yours doing? Is that paint still immaculate?

It is! The hood and trunk will need to be repainted soon though. But that'll have to wait until I get the suspension up to my liking.

[TGreene]

Christmas in July for the M50:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/d5c05b5d.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/4a152582.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/bbe0a075.jpg

Knock Sensors
Coolant Temp Sensor
Engine Temp Sensor
Air Intake Temp Sensor
Breather Hoses
Vacuum Lines
New connectors with new O-rings
Intake Gaskets
Valve Cover Gasket
Spark Plugs

Cleaner ICV with new hose:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/091d980a.jpg

Intake side is mostly finished:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/25d4fea3.jpg

I spent about two hours degreasing, scraping and sanding the valve cover. It is not perfect, but it works. It looks better, but more important to me than that is being able to spot any new oil leaks, should any occur.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/8b0b17b4.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/beefee7e.jpg

It is running much healthier now. It still has a hunting idle sometimes, but I am hoping that the ECU is just doing some adjusting. When the idle is not fluctuating it is sitting at 800-900, a few hundred RPM higher than before. Although there is still lifter tick, a more significant tick has gone away which I believe was from a loose spark plug (although they all seemed to be tight enough).

Short of a little cleaning, I do believe this engine is sorted. On to round two with the transmission!

[MazDuh]

That car has come a long way. I have noticed a trend of "why was this fixed with this??" E34's lately. Good to see you've made it right.

[TGreene]

I had time today to black out the chrome trim on the passenger side. It came out very well.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/264b115f.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/66a1004e.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/264b115f.jpg

It makes a huge difference, I am very happy about it.

[Brake_L8]

Plastidip? It looks great!

[TGreene]

There are a few places that need a touch-up because I went too heavy with one of the coats, but it will be fine after I let it totally dry and give it a really light sanding.

I just used some Rustoleom high-temp grill paint that I had on hand.

[shu328]

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/431cdcef.jpg

Three things:

First off ... sub'd! The calypso is coming a LONG way and I'm amazed at the amount of dedication to resurrecting such a beautiful car. Very well done, sir.

Second -- can you maybe elaborate on your process for cleaning up the interior carpeting? (tools, products, general procedure). I plan on doing this while at the same time giving my seats a Leatherique cleaning & conditioning treatment. My main question is how you cleaned up the carpets so well ... using a carpet extractor or no?

Third -- please identify that black touring in the pic above... I must get in touch with this owner!! Would be great to duplicate that shadowline + tint combination b/c it looks awesome in that picture!

[TGreene]

Three things:

First off ... sub'd! The calypso is coming a LONG way and I'm amazed at the amount of dedication to resurrecting such a beautiful car. Very well done, sir.

Second -- can you maybe elaborate on your process for cleaning up the interior carpeting? (tools, products, general procedure). I plan on doing this while at the same time giving my seats a Leatherique cleaning & conditioning treatment. My main question is how you cleaned up the carpets so well ... using a carpet extractor or no?

Third -- please identify that black touring in the pic above... I must get in touch with this owner!! Would be great to duplicate that shadowline + tint combination b/c it looks awesome in that picture!

Thanks, I am enjoying the car a lot.

When I was cleaning the carpet I used Bissel carpet cleaner and a Bissel rug cleaner. After a good vacuum, I had the Bissel carpet cleaner mixed with water in a spray bottle. I sprayed it on and scrubbed it with a stiff brissled toilet brush. After that I used the carpet cleaner to vacuum the moisture back up. The carpet cleaner's vacuum head was about eight inches wide though, so it did not make a seal and therefore did not pick up the water, where the carpet was contoured. I used paper towels to soak up the moisture in those places. In the future when I do the same thing I will use a shop vac to soak up the dirty water out of the carpet.

The owner of that touring is my friend Jamie (JamieNL). He bought the car from GGray though, so if you want to know more about the tinting then you should PM GGray. It is a great car.


Spongy clutch pedal - The engagement of the clutch is taking about 5x the normal amount of pedal travel. I have bled the system using the Motive power bleeder so I know it is not the fluid at fault. I have to suspect the master and slave cylinders. I will replace both of them. As a maintenance item it is worth it anyway - who knows when the original parts will fail and leave you unable to drive the car?

Even after replacing the clutch master and slave cylinders, the pedal feel was still not good. The friction zone was still too long and too vague. It felt like it changed its position on the travel of the clutch pedal each time you shifted. I felt like some rookie each time I shifted.

Also, there was a very obnoxious rattling noise that sounded like I had a piece of plastic tied to a string hanging off of the undercarriage. It was intermittent and sometimes would not show its face for days, but when it did it was violent. Being unable to find anything wrong underneath the car and having so many issues with the clutch, I started imagining that it could be the clutch release fork retaining clip. Maybe it had fallen off or broken and was stuck in the bell housing, being bounced around by the flywheel/presure plate every so often?

Too much thinking and not enough dropping of the transmission left me stuck in traffic waiting for a tow truck. I was sitting at a light and the clutch pedal went soft. It still had pressure and would come back up, but it was not contacting the release lever. I had the car towed to JamieNL's house since my garage (read: My parents garage =p) opens up to a hill and if it can't move under its own power, it is not getting in there.

The next morning I got to work and dropped the transmission out. You can see that old Getrag in the back of the M5, which has been a work horse more often than not.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/f5eae3a0.jpg

Cleaned up with a pressure washer.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/67f8d111.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/1b7f5964.jpg

I had the input shaft, output shaft and selector rod seal on hand since resealing the trans was on the to-do-list anyway. I did not have the right sized socket to blast off the output flange and I had the car in somebody else's garage, so I was not going to lollygag and go spend an afternoon hunting for one. That seal did not get replaced. And neither did the input shaft seal since Pelican sent me one for a ZF trans eventhough it was labelled as for the 525i from '91-'95. I found this out AFTER putting a pin hole in the existing seal in an effort to pry it out. Once I realized I had no seal to replace it with, I plugged the pin hole with some gasket sealant and did a little prayer dance. I will check for leaks next time I am under the car, but I am pretty confident that it will be fine.

One quart of Redline MTL and a few ounces of normal ATF to fill it up.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/c0a9da64.jpg

Ready to go back in with it all greased up as per the Bentley with a new release fork pivot pin and retaining clip.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/dd46402f.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/e6535889.jpg

After putting it all together I drove it around the block. The clutch pedal feels great - exactly how it should feel. It is buttery smooth and has a consistent engagement.

Safely back home - downtime was a bit less than 24 hours.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/acfe3406.jpg

[Sneezy]

Looking good, Trevor.

Query, if I may, why the few ounces of ATF in the mix?

[TGreene]

Because I only had 1QT of Redline MTL Hah!

[Sneezy]

:rofl2

Love it. Here I am thinking I had missed some super secret intertube formula for making 20 year old German gearboxes shiny new again.

[waferman]

HA! Great thread, keep it going. I've had crap new parts from autohausaz before also. For my 320i, the clutch slave is very hard to bleed and it took a long time to get the air out this last time. That was FAG I believe, new from autohausaz. The pressure plate that I bought from them went soft quick, part of a sachs clutch kit. On my E28, a coolant temp sensor was bad out of the box. But then again when you don't buy BMW parts, I've come to expect this kind of hit-or-miss stuff. From rubber suspention bushing failures to trunk gaskets that are multi-piece and tear apart :(

[TGreene]

Yesterday I was cruising out east to sign over the title of an E24 I bought and I was having a great time. The car was smooth on the highway, shifting very well and the A/C was blowing cold. I was thinking of how proud of the car I was when I saw the temperature needle jump to the red in a split second. I immediately saw a widened shoulder, pulled the car over, shut it off and popped the hood. There was a little bit of coolant at the radiator cap, but none leaking from the hoses and no evidence or a rupture. The belts looked fine and when I was driving I did not hear any noise from the water pump. My guess is that the thermostat closed up and was not letting the coolant through, which would be consistent with a few drops escpaping from the radiator cap due to the added pressure.

Today I will compression test the old M50. If the numbers are good then I will order a thermostat and water pump (The hoses and radiator seem to be in fine condition, so I am not going to spend another few hunded on those). If the numbers are not good.. S52? =p

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/e5e8d9aa.jpg


HA! Great thread, keep it going. I've had crap new parts from autohausaz before also. For my 320i, the clutch slave is very hard to bleed and it took a long time to get the air out this last time. That was FAG I believe, new from autohausaz. The pressure plate that I bought from them went soft quick, part of a sachs clutch kit. On my E28, a coolant temp sensor was bad out of the box. But then again when you don't buy BMW parts, I've come to expect this kind of hit-or-miss stuff. From rubber suspention bushing failures to trunk gaskets that are multi-piece and tear apart :(

Well their customer service has been very good so far. I bought a MAF and ended up not using it and they let me send it back two or three weeks after I had bought it. I was grateful for that.

Compression test time.

I checked the underside of the fuse box cover and pulled out the fuse pump fuse and ran the car out of gas.

The coil packs are out. Spark plugs are next to come out.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/d7890753.jpg

I wedged a screwdriver in the throttle cable bracket to keep it open. With the compression tester screwed into the spark plug hole on cylinder #1, I cranked over the engine about 8-9 times. 90psi =(

I did all six cylinders, and then checked cylinder #1 another two times...

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/6a8be458.jpg

Now I have to think of whether I want an OBD1 M52, an S50, or just stuff in the M54B30 rotating assembly. I don't plan on keeping the car for too long because I much prefer the S38 to any of the engines I would put in this bad boy, but doing an interesting swap is more fun than just a headgasket. I will need to price things out. Decisions, decisions...

[jphjones]

It is always the case that when you finnaly start to feel proud about your 525 M50 work and you want to have some fun with her, she starts to miss all of the attention under the hood. ;) Have you made any decisions of what you will do with her?

Note: when restoring/investing in a 525 ensure an emaculate cooling system, its cheap enough change that stuff first (fluid/flush, major hoses, pump and thermostat) even if there arn't problems.

We both did everything but engine rebuilds on these things (however Im still waiting on my 5 speed conversion). In the last year I've had her, most prices are autohausAZ...

Battery$111.99Water pump$53.99Belt tensioner$47.48Idler pully (offset mounting)$24.60Idler pully (a/c)$17.20Oxygen sensor$77.27Hood strut$27.16Touchup paint$30.95thrust arm left$71.62thrust arm right$71.62Front strut$70.00Front strut$70.00Tie rods$37.76Exhaust bracket$8.16Halogen bulbs$10.26Valve cover$10.35$7.53$6.28$19.68Rad hoses$7.87$8.34Window motor -LF$50.00Window reg and motor -RF$50.00Front Rotors$110.18belts$10.41$16.10Collant level sensor$23.25Spark plugs$30.42oil service number 2 - plus wipers and dumb stuff$80.00oil service number 1$61.30sensor service - (had no tools got screwed)$307.88throttle position sensorfuel filter$12.15brake pad$37.65wear sensor$5.68cabin air filter$12.60sway bar link front$18.88back$22.80brake pad anti rattle clip$8.82ICV hoses$13.49$9.44Intake manifold gaskets$16.50Throttle body gasket$5.41Breather Hose Connector; Front of Valve Cover with O-Ring $6.63Seafoam treatments$10.00Transmission Pan Gaskets$20.00Transmission fluid$20.00Trans filter$10.00Trans fill cap$20.00Front emblem - buy oem or it lasts a month$10.00Air Temperature Sensor/Thermostat$14.27Air Intake Boot$6.63Headliner/sunroof fabric/glue~$40

Almost $2k

[TGreene]

I have been putting around town in the M5 so this car has just been sitting while I make up my mind. Most of my car time has been spent on the parts car.

I am leaning towards replacing the engine with a lower mileage one. I am confident that I could do a HG but I think it would end up being about the same amount of time to put in a running engine with good compression numbers. A high mileage M50 does not bother me, but if I am doing just about the same amount of work, why not?

I looked into a local S50 but I was not willing to meet his asking price.

[longwayhome23]

If you'll forgive an uneducated question, I'd like to understand something. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg question. I always thought that one of the primary dangers of overheating was that you could blow the head gasket. It seems here that the overheat happened because you need a new head gasket. So if there was no prior overheat, why did the HG go? Do they just go with age as part of the normal course of things, like the endless valve cover gasket replacements on the V8s? Which is the chicken and which is the egg- HG failure or overheating?

[TGreene]

If you'll forgive an uneducated question, I'd like to understand something. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg question. I always thought that one of the primary dangers of overheating was that you could blow the head gasket. It seems here that the overheat happened because you need a new head gasket. So if there was no prior overheat, why did the HG go? Do they just go with age as part of the normal course of things, like the endless valve cover gasket replacements on the V8s? Which is the chicken and which is the egg- HG failure or overheating?

I overheated before testing for compression. I did the compression test after I was towed home. Whether or not this overheating caused the lower compression I don't know because I had never compression tested it before.

After all it could end up being something else. I won't know until I pull the head.

As for chicken or egg, it is possible for the HG to wear out with time but as far as I have learned, normally they go after an overheating that caused the iron block and aluminum head to expand at different rates.

[Brake_L8]

Bummer man. At least the original motor got a good long life - wasn't it at 230k+?

Let me know if you want help with anything. I'm going to be doing the same compression testing on the Miata this weekend and perhaps a motor pull/swap on it.

[TGreene]

Bummer man. At least the original motor got a good long life - wasn't it at 230k+?

Let me know if you want help with anything. I'm going to be doing the same compression testing on the Miata this weekend and perhaps a motor pull/swap on it.

If I remember it is sitting at 238k. If it is the original HG, that is TON of use. After all, HGs in the long run are wear items. I would be able to keep this engine going if I really wanted to, but the alternative of a lower mileage engine just makes more sense to me at the moment.

I will give you a call for help if and when I swap engines. Give me a call if you need help with whatever sissy engine is in the Miata =p. I have the engine hoist here and a compression tester as well.

[Sneezy]

gah

Must not try to buy another car.

[bdejong11129]

Dude, I think you need an intervention. :-) The last time you were here you were changing struts on a different E34. Now I see you have this one, an M5 and some other post you were king about an E24.... You need AA for buying cars.

I agree that if you can find a good used engine that it may be the best route. I have done both repairs to existing and full engine replacements and sometimes its just easier to swap it out all at once. Good luck on finding one, of I see a good donor car in my area I will let you know.

Brian

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

[bdejong11129]

Showing a 1993 M50 in the Greensboro area for 400.00 still in the car.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

[TGreene]

I have bought a thermostat and water pump to install. I will try and flush out the radiator when I have it all apart.

The car has been pulled into the garage to shield it from falling acorns and I should be able to do some more work this weekend.


Well 15 psi certainly isn't enough to do it. Being in gear would not matter.

Now I want to know.

Regarding the two blown slave cylinders, I was reading through some threads and saw AHenry warn a potentional slave cylinder installed to make sure that the push rod contacts the throwout lever inside of the bellhousing.

I must have installed both of the slave cyinders improperly. I did not consider the chance that they would not line up. I guess I paid for my ignorance with $100 worth of parts and a few hours of frustration.

[Sneezy]

Wouldn't it just be easier to dump the car cheap to somebody who already has a good engine to put in it? Somebody that doesn't live to awfully far away, that you have dealt with quite a bit in the past/

Wouldn't it?

[TGreene]

I can't tell if you are kidding or not. I will have to sell it before I leave town anyway. I have already passed on a local and cheap S52 because I don't want this car to end up as a long-term car.

[Sneezy]

We should talk. I have to make a decision soon regarding the current daily and this may be a good alternative to dumping money into it.

[TGreene]

I have no pictures to show progress but I will keep track of my progress with the car.

While the car was down I decided to finally install the replacement door that has been sitting in the garage for over six months. I had taken this door off of a car before learning the better way to do it, so instead of just popping it up off of the hinges I unbolted the four bolts that secure the hingers to the door itself. That made installation a disaster. Without thinking, I was too hasty with the first closing of the door and it scrapped the fender. Although I have since aligned it, the paint on the front of the door and on the fender is now rubbed off in places. That is a rookie mistake that I should not be making and I was really upset at myself for it.

As for the car overheating, I have done some work to the cooling system. I installed a new thermostat and water pump. The old pump had a bit of play in the shaft but nothing terrible. I replaced the plastic thermostat housing with a metal one. I pulled out the radiator and flushed it with water from a garder hose and then distilled water. With access to more of the engine bay I was able to get a bit more cleaning done down below the radiator support.

I have only driven the car around the neighborhood but I have been unable to recreate the overheating. I have AAA now so I will be taking it around town knowing that I can get a tow back if the needle gives me trouble.

I have both a pressure tester for the cooling system and a leakdown tester, but I prefer to live on the wild side =p

[cddallara]

Whatever happened with the e24?

[TGreene]

I have not even gotten around to trying to get it to run.

It is super rusted out though. It is much worse than I would have thought. I need to get this car sorted out before I think about the E24.

[GuidoE12]

As for the car overheating, I have done some work to the cooling system. I installed a new thermostat and water pump. The old pump had a bit of play in the shaft but nothing terrible. I replaced the plastic thermostat housing with a metal one. I pulled out the radiator and flushed it with water from a garder hose and then distilled water. With access to more of the engine bay I was able to get a bit more cleaning done down below the radiator support.

I have only driven the car around the neighborhood but I have been unable to recreate the overheating. I have AAA now so I will be taking it around town knowing that I can get a tow back if the needle gives me trouble.

I have both a pressure tester for the cooling system and a leakdown tester, but I prefer to live on the wild side =p
Trevor, if you found corrosion on the block water passages when you replaced the water pump, a simple way to sort it out is to flush the circuit with oxalic acid. This element combines very easily with iron oxides, forming water-soluble oxalates that can later be flushed out.

Most probably you will find the anhydrous acid (a powder), in this case an adequate dilution should be a cup of tea on a bucket of water. Once you’ve prepared the acid, fill the circuit and let it sit overnight, then flush the circuit again until water comes out clean. Since it is a weak acid, there’s no risk of damaging any internal parts. If you use warm water it will greatly help the process. Just make sure to pour the acid on the water, not the other way round!

Hope you find it useful

Regards
Guido

[TGreene]

Wow Guido - good advice, thanks. I will make a note of that and use it in the future.

I said this after doing all of the intake gaskets and sensors back in July:


It is running much healthier now. It still has a hunting idle sometimes, but I am hoping that the ECU is just doing some adjusting. When the idle is not fluctuating it is sitting at 800-900, a few hundred RPM higher than before. Although there is still lifter tick, a more significant tick has gone away which I believe was from a loose spark plug (although they all seemed to be tight enough).

Short of a little cleaning, I do believe this engine is sorted. On to round two with the transmission!

The hunting idle has been bothering me so I wanted to figure it out. I pulled off the intake manifold to get at the ICV (CEL was on, Peake tool gave me back the ICV).

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/36FF5FBA-FC29-4F04-AA4C-39B016921C93-293-0000008A3FBBB8B0.jpg

Casualty:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/A5B52C3B-31FB-4612-AE3C-F3EB7C178AFD-293-0000008A46CE2CBB.jpg

Here is the source of the problem. The rubber gasket was pinched into the connectors. I used a pick to set it right, reinstalled it all and the car is now idling very well at 700RPM.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/B84D023E-4B09-412A-94FD-B6C6CD29F186-293-0000008A49D29D34.jpg

Although I can't get it to overheat, it is still blowing smoke out of the exhaust. It smells rich like fuel rather than sweet like coolant. I am still going to have to finally cave in and do the rational thing - leakdown test on Sunday when I get back in town.

[TGreene]

Although I can't get it to overheat, it is still blowing smoke out of the exhaust. It smells rich like fuel rather than sweet like coolant. I am still going to have to finally cave in and do the rational thing - leakdown test on Sunday when I get back in town.

Still have not leakdown tested it but I decided to slap the bumper on it, give it a jump and take it out for a spin. I let it warm up then beat on it for a total of about 20 minutes. The rear wheels were rubbing a bit with the 20mm spacers and 9'' wide M-Systems but aside from that the car drove very well. I brought it back and the idle was sitting at a smooth 700RPM. No smoke was coming out of the exhaust. The temp guage was steady at midnight. I pulled the fuel pump fuse, let it die, and compression tested it again. All cylinders 165-175PSI including cylinder #1. I double and tripple checked cylinder #1. The first was 170PSI. After doing the others I came back and it gave me 160 and 165. The battery was dying so I will take those numbers.

Crazy world. Seems like this engine will last a bit more than the 238k it has on it.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/B95041F7-8BE9-4775-BC3E-536C17CBEFCD-119-000000163540DBE3.jpg

[Sneezy]

lulz

It's a trap. It's going to wait until you are 100 miles from home.

[TGreene]

After the last tow I went and joined AAA. Platinum status!

[Sneezy]

oooo Mr. Moneybags getting all fancy with the 200 mile radius towing.

;)

[sbeckman7]

oooo Mr. Moneybags getting all fancy with the 200 mile radius towing.

;)

It's underrated :)

[Sneezy]

Oh I know. Use it once and it pays for itself. I less than three AAA.

[TGreene]

Death by one thousand cuts.

I spent some time working on the car a bit today. It has been sitting in a sad state while I juggle too many projects.

Some new parts came in:

Grommets for the brake fluid reservoir
A new dipstick
One of the TB coolant hoses
Floor mat anchors
Driver's door handle cover and gasket

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/5A1869F1-29A1-4A78-A804-6AC3ABAD64CF-2983-000002D32211A75A.jpg

I started work on the car by reattaching the brake booster that we took off when trying to troubleshoot braking issues on my brother's M-Sport.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/F5F30207-F42E-4F5E-A524-E76F66956380-2983-000002D31B1C7CA5.jpg

I cleaned out the brake fluid reservoir and level sender while I had it out. I dried it out with compressed air before reinstalling it. Replacing the master cylinder / reservoir grommets is very easy by the way. The reservoir just pops on so don't hesitate if you see yours leaking. Simple job.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/CB0F8B74-FAFB-4B1F-A86C-A84AECE435C5-2983-000002D31E8F6514.jpg

The reservoir installed along with the new dipstick. Now that dirt on the aux. water pump bracket is starting to bother me...

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/A3D9CC97-EB77-424E-8922-2E5EB8709859-2983-000002D324D60E49.jpg

I was suprised how much I enjoyed looking at the new dipstick:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/021FE849-1580-41A5-AB4E-C50D54D98E12-2983-000002D327B2AA28.jpg

When I pulled the intake manifold off last time to figure out the hunting idle, I noticed that this hose was slit. It is one of the hoses that runs coolant to the throttle body. I am thinking that maybe a slow leak of coolant over time out of this guy caused me to loose enough coolant to overheat that day. Who knows. It is replaced now.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/C76A3C7F-0672-4B9D-AFC6-09B40773D8ED-2983-000002D331F83320.jpg

Since I messed with the master cylinder I bled all of the brakes with ATE Blue.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/79EFBB4F-78A0-4C0D-8D0C-A610A1FBBB6D-1011-00000093EF12D681.jpg

The right rear was fine and then I got to the left rear and no fluid would come out. The Motive Power Bleeder was holding pressure at 13psi. I unscrewed the bleeder screw more and more and soon the fluid was coming out. I grabbed a bleeder screw from a spare set of brakes from one of the parts cars and threw it on. Lucky for me I did not have to deal with a bad caliper or God forbid having a clogged hardline running over the rear trailing arm.

Ugly rear rotors, but they work.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/D2242F19-9ECE-49E1-B2BC-8C261022BAA4-1011-00000093FFB5BF6D.jpg

I got a lot of air to come out of the right rear. Other than that, within a few seconds of loosening each bleed screw the color would change from a dirty red to a nice blue. I have yet to drive it but I expect that the brakes will be nice and healthy.

I was at the junkyard yesterday getting fuel pumps for an E32 750il I am trying to get running and grabbed some stuff for the 525i. I oversold a tail light so I had replace one I scavenged from this car. I also got guide rail for the driver's window. After swapping out the old driver's door due to a bad door-brake, I noticed that the window would pop on its way down. I tracked it to this rail not being secured to the bottom front of the door.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/2AD108C5-E62E-4090-BB40-4826EFDA0D49-1011-000000940AB380FC.jpg

There is a black circular grommet that fits over an access hole on the front of the door.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/EDC97BE4-188D-4814-813C-0D9AED848B43-1011-000000941500EE88.jpg

I unbolted the torx screw that holds that rail into the door and saw that the screw had popped through and taken some of the sheet metal with it:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/94D6F8F8-FC2A-4D8F-9A80-C2E321DD942C-1011-0000009411331EA9.jpg

I grabbed two washers and was able to put one on either side of the torn up metal surface inside before bolted that torx screw back into the bottom of the window rail. It works well so far.

The door handle cover to replace the one that I broke when swapping the door lock onto the new door:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/E06AB466-E3CE-4D3F-AB8D-DE3CFE3E0A84-1011-000000941910EA6B.jpg

You can see here a crack I also found in the door handle mechanism. I really don't wan't to deal with replacing that so I am hoping it won't result in any noticeable change in the feel of the door handle.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/3A328D75-6EC6-4AF8-AD49-16CE73A34537-1011-000000941BFD6958.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/6FED608D-2276-4247-BFB9-04451F1403EB-1011-000000941F9B61F0.jpg

[Leonator134]

Cool beans!!

[Steve547i]

Excellent work

[TGreene]

This thread has been long overdue for some updates.

First off, I did not drive the car for a long time and the battery died. It died enough to mess with the EWS2. The car would not start and Steve was nice enough to send me a spare Red label DME that he had. I cut the green wire #66 and it fired right up!

Second - an oil change! I decided to figure out the low oil level warning that was always on. With the oil drained out, I disconnected the harness going to the sensor and then unbolted the sensor from the pan:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/6F0AD7E3-68B8-454C-80A5-35A41D4C5DFC-9365-0000070B952C83E0.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/1C00D64D-1D0D-4F08-9DFF-AA2A51FCA2BA-9365-0000070B8E186C0D.jpg

I tried to clean it the best I could with carb cleaned. Lots of oily gunk came out.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/764A01D1-5321-4732-AC09-C25672EFD6AC-9365-0000070B89EE1D21.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/B082956B-4D7B-4A83-B8B5-6FF7AEE412EF-9365-0000070B90E2BC1E.jpg

(Spoiler alert - did not solve the problem)

I took a bunch of other pictures while I was down there since I knew I would be posting the car up for sale soon.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/7F238298-CC39-4C88-8A79-ABCDF8351F58-9365-0000070BACF96047.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/4ABD4143-0F90-4245-9FF8-8AF58409CD96-9365-0000070BB0F910DD.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/B5879E6A-A3B9-4821-BF54-8F75629FB202-9365-0000070BB512C8CE.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/7782B067-938B-4418-9819-A6722EFD6538-9365-0000070BB7CDE043.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/4847CB72-E97F-4DCF-940C-ED6262926930-9365-0000070BBFF3E366.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/704A2F92-6CAD-40F1-ACFF-7506E3B88243-5242-0000047076AC6138.jpg


http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/47873516-C017-4E15-BD17-79F1B87BE8FA-5242-0000047080E5BB79.jpg

So then I put up a hasty for sale ad, just like I told myself I never would, and took some pictures the next day after a quick wash with soap and water. Here are some good ones:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/A6AE8EAF-C718-4315-8B2C-49006832F770-9365-0000070FF1082F56.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/6CCA5BF7-A887-4D17-9D35-21E8D26A49FC-9365-0000070FF84C3A84.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/7298B6CC-DD5C-4A0D-95F0-7B9A89502316-9365-0000070FFBD93A8C.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/FB1D256A-B057-46F9-8298-F316C460D701-9365-0000070FFEA0D572.jpg

I had some spare time and did not want to do anything substantial so I put an hour or two into cleaning up the trunk. It was really dusty back there and I also found evidence of an accident.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/59A02C6E-BA07-4D5A-A857-A9D29987D22A-7709-0000052CB5D8207E.jpg


http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/4A1EE032-E41C-42CA-BB2D-E1FC5A2844DF-7709-0000052CB92EF8E4.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/B55040FB-B6B1-4881-BE5E-1098031EB34B-5242-000004708EEEE12A.jpg

I used a sponge damp with warm water to clean it up and of course I did not take any pictures =p

Found another thing I would like to replace:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/51082C10-0338-4DE7-B2B2-635A4E98894B-7709-0000052CC8619670.jpg

With this steelie, I think I might have a full set of 4 now! Sweet. Time for some sweet peels with the open diff.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/242193C4-2332-4AAF-86C0-A2D029ECFDB0-7709-0000052CBFFCBFB4.jpg

While you are in there... Dirty rear corner lights got some attention.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/A391910E-2DD9-498E-ABB7-E5A447EA7303-7709-0000052CCB0653FB.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/104357FB-15CC-4F8E-82C2-7EF32185FE38-7709-0000052CD39C8402.jpg

Today I installed the fog light that I had been putting off. I found it in the junkyard when I went to hang out with Pat up near Baltimore. It is in good condition and I am upset because now they look uneven lol

Bumper off:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/2ED2A54E-CDC6-4636-AEF8-362F10A14BF3-9365-000007077BB1C377.jpg

I bolted the new fog on and went to put in the temp sensor. It was not fitting into the bracket. I decided to force it. The mount could not withstand my brute force. Neither could my palm. I took this picture at least 5 minutes after the fact =p

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/90E547F6-7525-47FC-AC43-3662A436502B-9365-000007077FA8C32A.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/77B5D652-BA5D-4A87-800A-CFAA7D67814C-9365-00000707829E3162.jpg

So I glued it on. I know it is terrible, but this bumper cover is not long for this world anyway - not with those holes in the corners from the previous owner. It would have had an M-Sport bumper a year ago if I were not such a cheap bastard.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/F0755E85-67CB-4560-ADE4-859B835AA52A-9365-000007078664601B.jpg

Now for some serious business - The car did not pass the emissions requirements in our county. It is running rich. My back-up plan if the car does not sell is to give it to my cousin who does not have to worry about emissions, but it is still something I want to figure out.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/B88357DF-C2D4-4AC1-8962-9189D7FCB839-9365-000007118108D2C3.jpg

So I am going to make a short list of things I want to do to the car before I run out of time at the end of January:

Rich mixture - Fix it and get the car to pass emissions inspection
Low idle - The car idles around 700rpm. I thought it was good but have since been hearing of people with M50s running a bit higher. Maybe related to running rich?
Brakes - Install from 540i calipers and rotors, finish bleeding the brakes.
Wheel Bearings - Car is making a very low rumble/grinding noise up front that changes with turning.
Engine Mounts - Some of the car's behavior when shifting or braking makes me think they need changing.

Wish me luck.

[bfp9]

Wow - just throwing it out there, but with all the work you are putting in and the money you keep dumping into it, why not just keep it and drive the piss out of it? I know you have your M5, but this seems like an awesome car to keep and daily drive. Unless of course money is tight or you have some sweet plans for the M5 that would require the money from the sale of this car, then thats okay!

[TGreene]

I leave for boot camp Feb 10th. I would keep it if I were not leaving or if I had a place to store it. Asking my parents to let the M5 and spare engine stay with them is already pushing it.

[ShapeShifter]

Funny it left a B print in your hand.
Hope we can do one more yard trip before you go off to serve the country.

[TGreene]

Maybe if things go well, I can bring the M5 out and we put the arguments to rest.

Most agree it would be a driver's race, though - pretty sure I would lose =p

[ShapeShifter]

Sounds like a fun day.

[bfp9]

I leave for boot camp Feb 10th. I would keep it if I were not leaving or if I had a place to store it. Asking my parents to let the M5 and spare engine stay with them is already pushing it.
Army? Congrats on boot camp. Just went through it this past summer - not bad at all. Pretty fun actually if you keep your mouth shut and do as you are told.

[ShapeShifter]

I'll buy lunch win or loose.

[TGreene]

Army? Congrats on boot camp. Just went through it this past summer - not bad at all. Pretty fun actually if you keep your mouth shut and do as you are told.

Navy, so nothing to lose sleep over.

[bfp9]

navy, so nothing to lose sleep over.
mos?

[TGreene]

Beach bum.

[bfp9]

Beach bum.
:rofl2:rofl2 love it.

[5mall5nail5]

I like this car a ton!

[tak7]

Nice car and work.

[bdejong11129]

mos?

Some future Marines bitch...

Disclaimer-this is my opinion and yours may vary.

[ShapeShifter]

Well well well, look who it is....
How you been Brian?

[AndrewH]

Didn't know you were going into the Navy man, all the best. Where's your basic going to be located?

[TGreene]

Up in Great Lakes, IL. The Navy consolidated recruit training a few years ago so it is all up there now.

I just got in from swapping the wheels to the square E34 M-Systems and I gave the car a drive. Apparently the front tires on the other M-Systems were causing the noise that I thought was the wheel bearing, so those are off of the to-do-list.

I brought it back and the car was warmed up and I was doing some troubleshooting of the MAF and 02 sensor to figure out why it was running rich. After about 15 minutes of idling I noticed the temp needle start to move. I shut it down and checked the oil cap and found some evidence of coolant in the oil. I will stop working on the car and adjust the price of it. If it does not sell by the end of January I will part it.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/86288061-4767-4DA1-9718-9FB3FDC828E2-10108-0000077ECF8C96D3.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/A5A94DE6-0D17-4E12-944E-704970F4EE4E-10108-0000077ED6581C82.jpg

[Leonator134]

Damn, man sorry it's givin' ya trouble! Great looking car though, you've dont great work to it. Good luck in the service as well!

[TGreene]

It is not giving me trouble. It has nearly 240k on what I would presume is the original head gasket. It just needs some attention and I no longer have the time to give it.

[bfp9]

Jeez man, what luck! One thing after another! Although I'm guessing you will be able to get your money's worth parting that thing out worst comes to worst.

[bfp9]

Jeez man, what luck! One thing after another! Although I'm guessing you will be able to get your money's worth parting that thing out worst comes to worst.

[AndrewH]

Depending on the last time you drove it, how hard you drove it (were you just bro diddlying around town?) and how long you were driving it today, that is quite normal for this time of year.

[TGreene]

I just took it out for 10 miles, but I would think that would be long enough for things to burn off. I am going to be pissed off at myself if I go get it really hot then find out that it looks fine again. I would lose all credibility =p

[AndrewH]

I just took it out for 10 miles, but I would think that would be long enough for things to burn off. I am going to be pissed off at myself if I go get it really hot then find out that it looks fine again. I would lose all credibility =p

It's most likely fine bro Namith.

[thatonedood]

+1. Same thing happens to my 323. Lots of short trips.

[TGreene]

I will double check it tonight after I run some errands.

[5mall5nail5]

trev check the dipstick not the oil cap. wipe the cap off. drive it, and see if it comes back. its the oil you need to worry about. the filler cap is not the first place coolant shows up.

[NedMW]

Haha Trevor, doing nearly the same things to your calypso as I am to mine; door shenanigans and oil changes...

[TGreene]

trev check the dipstick not the oil cap. wipe the cap off. drive it, and see if it comes back. its the oil you need to worry about. the filler cap is not the first place coolant shows up.

Will do.


Haha Trevor, doing nearly the same things to your calypso as I am to mine; door shenanigans and oil changes...

Hah - these doors are terrible.

[TGreene]

I have continued to use the car as my daily driver and after some good strong runs, the dipstick oil is clean. I still need to clean the cap and then check it again, but it all looks good. Now I am embarrassed that I acted so rashly - especially when Jon told me not a month ago the exact same thing when I checked the oil on my M5 after it had sat for a few days.

So after I humbled, calmed and collected I went back out to the car. Back to the failed emissions. With the engine idling, I had disconnected both the MAF and the 02 sensor one at a time. Each time I could see a difference in the way the car ran, so I figured that both were working. While brooding over the engine bay, I noticed that I had made a terrible mistake. I had forgotten to replace two of the intake manifold nuts. The two left-most studs were nutless! I remember now that I had lost them when pulling the manifold to fix the hunting idle ICV issue, I just never replaced them!

I drove up to the parts car and snagged them, installed them, and was very pleased to see the RPM change (dropped to ~600) and the engine feel much smoother and more powerful. I know it was not a placebo effect because not only did the idle change, but that little vibration/rumble from 1-2krpm is all but gone! I am both embarrassed that I could make such a mistake, and excited that maybe I have found something that caused the failed emissions. Maybe cylinders one and two were running lean and confusing the 02 sensor.

I had the car hot from driving all day and had just found this mistake I had made so I dropped by the service station on the way home. In line for the emissions test, I saw the temp needle start to move. Once I was sure that it was on its way to 3/4ths, I put the car in gear and drove off towards home. Within two hundred feet of being on the road the needle was right back at 12 o'clock. I took it home and tested the main cooling fan with some rolled up paper. It was strong, so no problems there. I had just replaced the water pump, thermostat and flushed out the radiator, so I was a bit confused. I decided to bleed the system.

Once the car had cooled down, I removed the bleed screw and turned the car on. It took a long time, even with revving it, for coolant to start coming out. Once it was coming out steady, I screwed the bleed screw back in - breaking the head off of it of course - and then took it off to run more errands. When I got home the car was absolutely up to operating temperature and I let it idle. 20 minutes went by and the needle did not budge. Maybe it was just air in the system. I will try and force and overheat as best I can in the next few days.

While I let it idle, I changed the color of the head unit's display:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/53B21AE8-993A-4CBC-9E69-1491AAB8D593-12110-00000881E0B55A63.jpg

The new idle RPM after replacing those missing bolts:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/0D68720B-F094-4903-BDB3-DF24FB0381F8-12110-00000881DB04EBDF.jpg

Bleeding the coolant:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/335DFBC5-1C0A-4C33-8A81-FCD86F694DAA-12110-00000881B019FFBC.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/DFBA4C94-1BC1-4143-BD3B-D1402EE12ECC-12110-00000881B5CCCAD4.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/DF91F78C-73DF-4A4D-903F-AFB8B6B8602A-12110-00000881B9C165C6.jpg

Doing some cleaning while waiting for the engine to cool down:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/83316355-CABE-443B-A385-E8D3E97415F3-12110-00000881CBFEF598.jpg

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/25F417CF-5FE5-4746-93B9-945FC040F6A7-12110-00000881BD3C133B.jpg

Out running errands:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/E101888E-FCB1-491A-8687-93AE3B2680E5-12110-00000881C81BE953.jpg

[thatonedood]

http://i.qkme.me/360y1e.jpg

[m60b30530i]

haha ! I did the same thing with my 320i, after doing my intake gaskets. For a couple of days it ran good then started to idle very poorly, sprayed some carb cleaner around and to my surprise missed two intake manifold bolts ! lol

purrs like a old cat now :)

[TGreene]

All the cooling system needed was a little bleeding. Everything is fine now. The car however did not pass emissions inspection even after finding that vacuum leak.

Somebody came by to look at it and we agreed on a price for a sale with the M-Pars off of my other E34. I did not want to sell the car but I don't have the space to keep it.

I made a list of everything I wanted to tidy up before he drove it away. Before we signed the bill of sale and exchanged the cash, we walked around the car with this list I had made. When I have finished the list I will call him and he will come drive it away:

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/Calypso%20Red%20E34%20525i%205-Speed%20Manual/C9BAA895-C2DF-4605-8061-9DEAD84F0371-2211-000001FEE3959C75.jpg

[Sneezy]

:(

[NikosX]

Wow. Cars for sale as is where is. No way man.

[TGreene]

This is stuff that I insisted on doing. He would have bought it either way, but I feel that it reflects poorly on me to sell the car on with a few 5 minutes jobs sitting around waiting to be done. I just finished up another cup-of-coffee-length-session and can cross out four items on the list. It feels good.

Oh, and as a result of the sale, the M5 will get most of my attention now - as it should have been getting from the start.

[93FIM5]

This is stuff that I insisted on doing. He would have bought it either way, but I feel that it reflects poorly on me to sell the car on with a few 5 minutes jobs sitting around waiting to be done. I just finished up another cup-of-coffee-length-session and can cross out four items on the list. It feels good.

Oh, and as a result of the sale, the M5 will get most of my attention now - as it should have been getting from the start.

Exactly how you should sell a car Trev and reflects well on you, the M5 better be getting the second most attention.

[Sneezy]

Send me the M5, I will keep it warm for you.

[TGreene]

I will be leaving it here for my brother to use a back-up car for when his 540i needs to get put up on stands. Otherwise I would seriously consider it - better to be driven than sit.

Check out how well this lower windshield trim piece came out. You can compare it to the driver's side that I have not touched.

http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l637/trevorcgreene/B6C87E02-2FEF-4F96-8F9D-F0538D9AAC84-2291-000002031E60B74F.jpg

[Brake_L8]

Wow, Trevor... that looks great.

If your brother needs help keeping both E34s in driving order, well, I'm right down the street :)

[TGreene]

I finished the to-do-list and the new owner drove the car away an hour or two ago. The car looked really good leaving the neighborhood. It sold with the M-Pars that I had on the M5 so now I will have to find another set. Those wheels are just too good not to have.

I did a lot of work to the car and wish that I could have kept it. It was worth more to me in utility value than the cash I sold it for. Oh well, I am sure that the new owner will be happy and now I can focus on the M5.


Wow, Trevor... that looks great.

If your brother needs help keeping both E34s in driving order, well, I'm right down the street :)

I expect my brother to spend a lot of time with his 540i up on jackstands, so the M5 should be driven plenty. If I feel like the car needs it, I will send you a message and make sure the keys are in it when you get there =p