New e34 owner intro

[jmenacker]

I just downloaded some choice PDF files -- thank you very much AE!

This is our 5th BMW auto but 1st e34. So far its been very well received at the house.









I've been monkeying around with a couple of e24s and e30s for the past few years. My son's e24 got wrecked and we came across an e34 while searching for a replacement. The outside of the car was in decent shape and there was a respectable set of service records covering the past 15 years. After opening the hood my eyeballs went and my mind was made up to buy the car. Insurance settlement from an okay 6er was $1K more than purchase price of a nicer 5er!

We purchased the car about a week ago. So far service has been limited to putting gas in.

Now the lady of the house wants one too.

Best regards,

Joe M in WV

[slocar]

Looks great!

One question though: why was it repainted? Accident or just bad paint? (In case you're wondering how I know, your badge is in the wrong spot)

[attack eagle]

check the FPR hose... they rot out from the heat. $2 at autozone is well spent if it looks crumbly.

[jmenacker]

Looks great!

One question though: why was it repainted? Accident or just bad paint? (In case you're wondering how I know, your badge is in the wrong spot)

The car has 159K on it. It isn't too surprising that its been resprayed here and there. So far I haven't been able to find any rustiness though. Perhaps I'll have to just look harder.

Joe M in WV

[slocar]

The car has 159K on it. It isn't too surprising that its been resprayed here and there. So far I haven't been able to find any rustiness though. Perhaps I'll have to just look harder.

Joe M in WV

Bottoms of doors under the trim pieces/moldings. That's where they usually rust.

[jmenacker]

check the FPR hose... they rot out from the heat. $2 at autozone is well spent if it looks crumbly.

Thanks for reminding me. Usually replacement of all vacuum lines is the first maintenance task on newly acquired M30 engines. Replacing 15+ year old fuel lines is a sensible choice.

This '90 M30 is both quite familiar and strange to me at the same time. Hopefully there won't be too many surprises.

Joe M in WV

[jmenacker]

Bottoms of doors under the trim pieces/moldings. That's where they usually rust.

Yeah, I noticed the moldings were missing. The bottom edge of the doors seem to be without rot though. I seem to recall reading that door bottoms are the achilles heel of the e34.

Joe M in WV

[e34freak1993]

Welcome to the e34 section.

[attack eagle]

I just noticed it has the inverted cup style headlight protectors... first time i've seen them on a car and not just in a catalog.

In any case, welcome, looks like a solid car, will there be any modding?

and oh yeah, when you get a chance, read thru the FAQ and the DIY section... knowledge is power (and savings!)!

[jmenacker]

I just noticed it has the inverted cup style headlight protectors... first time i've seen them on a car and not just in a catalog.

In any case, welcome, looks like a solid car, will there be any modding?

and oh yeah, when you get a chance, read thru the FAQ and the DIY section... knowledge is power (and savings!)!

The PO replaced both sets of headlights due to pitting about five years ago. After that he started using the plastic protectors. This is the second set on the car. Definitely a lot cheaper than going through headlight assemblies.

No mods on the car. After loosing many buckets of dollars on modding cars and selling them for 1/2 of invested price, I've switched to looking for clean stock models and focusing on maintenance. Of course, my son is already asking about springs, shocks and sway bars . . . He's welcome to go for it but I'm going to be doing a lot more watching and a lot less wrenching this time. We do have a set of 16" OZ Fittipaldi 5 spoke wheels left over from the e24. I'm in no rush to change anything just yet though.

I'll definitely be going through the FAQs and DIYs. Thanks all for the welcome.

Best regards,

Joe M in WV

[Analog]

I like it.

First shot is great.