My Cirrus 535i/5 Project thread-

[danespann]

Super happy to see this car is still alive. Can't wait to see what you do with it this time around.

[Jcbe34]

So the car was transported up to my friends house in GA this weekend and I went down to check it out. Got it transported to his house for a couple reasons:

1. He has a large garage. I live in the downtown area of a "small" town outside of Charlotte and have been trying to get permits and all sorted to build a basic pre-fab garage for almost a year now... It's been terrible. I keep trying to tell myself that I don't need to buy any project cars until the garage is sorted- but here we are! Good news is- as of two weeks ago I have the garage permit in hand, now its a matter of getting the installation/build scheduled. I'm hoping to have it completed by winter
2. When I left the Atlanta area, I left a large portion of my tools/spare parts with him. So in addition to not having secure space to store/work on the car right now, I also don't have many of my tools. If I do embark on a rebuild of this car, the first phase is going to be getting it running/functional by making a couple weekend trips back down to Atlanta.

Anyways- the car... Here's the breakdown:

• Runs awful. The car was sitting for 6 years or so, maybe it has bad gas or a clogged fuel filter. Starts everytime and idles smooth, but doesn't respond to throttle. I only had a little bit of time, but tried cleaning AFM and IAC with no luck
• Tires are 2010 date code, wrong sizes and falling apart. I need to look back into what I was running at the time but I think 235 or 245/40 fronts (on 17x9.5) and 255 or 265/35 rears (on 18x11). This is currently the biggest reason that the car is a non-driver.
• Body is rough. It definitely looks like its been sitting in a heavily trafficked garage for quite some time, with boxes sitting on top of it- lots of scratches, gouges and dents from storage alone. In addition to that, the car was definitely run into the ground when it was driving. The M-sport bumper is obviously completely destroyed and the rear bumper is shattered as well. Paint has generally held up pretty well, but there are lots of chips and flaking areas... Most notably on sharp edges. Don't know if that's my fault or what. Side skirt was jacked up on an paint is flaking off as a result
• Wheels are faded and dirty- but otherwise completely undamaged... What a relief! This was the biggest reason that I bought the car without hesitation and really glad they'll be easy to refurbish. Definitely going to need to be torn down and refinished, probably need new hardware, but thats all fun stuff. Centercap logos are missing- replacements may be difficult to locate
• Interior- dirty but not terrible. Its a cirrus/indigo car, which I'm actually a big fan of. Seats need a re-dye and door panels obviously suck, but carpet looks pretty good. I'd love to find a set of indigo e30 sport seats, but a re-dye and clean up would look pretty nice.
• Suspension- My coilovers are still on it. I had some Moosehead control arms on it, which are now in the trunk. The GC camber plates are set to MIN camber, but the car definitely has 2.5°+ of front camber- I think someone put some e32 arms on it or something
• The trunk is full of parts, including a dressed M30 head which is extremely clean and looks to be very nicely packed/wrapped. I'll have to pull it out and see whats up with in next time down

As I said, didn't have much time to really get into it, this is just what I gathered during the couple of hours I had to poke around. Still don't have a solid plan for the car, but feels good to have it in my possession... No idea what I'm going to do with it

[dannyzabolotny]

My only question is, who buys a car as nice as that one was, and then just runs it into the ground??? I wonder how many times it changed owners after you sold it.

[theBMWbeast]

Don't sell nice cars cheap. I'm happy prices for these cars are starting to appreciate, and out of the hands of no good owners. This looks like a great starting point to get it back to full glory

[a777fan]

Glad to see it back in your hands. Was not around for your original ownership experience, but man that was painful going back and seeing what it looked like when you let it go v. What it looks like now.

Need some interior pics!!

[Pink120]

Well, well, well