Meet Hans, 1 of 1 '95 540i/6, "Mauritiusblau Metallic"

[staystackin]

So, now that the car has been delivered - here's a quick video of that awesome moment.

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

It's been staying at my brother's job since then. He works at a BMW Indy shop in North Jersey called AutoCouture motoring. There, the car has begun it's next phase of mechanicals to get it right. We are one pesky fuel line away from completely new OEM fuel and brake lines. The brakes received stainless lines, new rotors and pads before the body shop. With all the hard lines replaced and the master replaced as well, we decided it would be foolish not to refinish the e31 calipers so those are going to be rebuilt with a kit of seals from stop-tech. The calipers will be gloss black with white BMW letting. A nice subtle oem+ touch behind the shiny wheels that have been done in heavy silver, polished lips, gold bolts, and body color trim rings. I think it's time for a new exhaust while we're doing this as well. I currently have a Y pipe setup, but I think an X pipe and dual 2.5's all the way back is a better idea. Open to suggestions, I'd also consider a period correct billy boat or other.

The best part of all this, is that my brother is the one working on my car. It's a really awesome thing, knowing its just he and I. A lot of it is "paying someone to do it" but if I have to be, there's no way I'd rather do it. Complete transparency and trustworthy, quality work, there's nothing better. We share an attention to OEM+ detail.

Here's a quick vid of him pulling his e90m3 into the shop. He's really done it right, swapped in a fox red interior, ohlins suspension, bbs rsII flat face step lip staggered 19s, late model trunk/lights, it's a lot like a modern version of the 540 in a weird way. that's an intoxicatingly fun car to drive....


Photos!

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
that's my brother, Sam.
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress. Fuel lines and brake lines by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
we got an indoor car cover for it - so soft and stretchy - it's actually for an e46 coupe but it fits pretty damn good!

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr



At the vintage down in North Carolina recently, I drove the e91 down and while I was there I bought some navy blue dinan adjustably sway bars from Justin Murray - great dude, really really nicely done red m-sport, thanks justin! Also, I saw the first other Mauritius Blau car in person. An e31 imported from Japan with a factory MK motorsports kit - so so so nice. Here's a few shots of that too because it's drool worthy
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
CRUSTY
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
CRISPY
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress. Fuel lines and brake lines by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress. Fuel lines and brake lines by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress. Fuel lines and brake lines by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress. Fuel lines and brake lines by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress. Fuel lines and brake lines by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

[Smith Jason]

Looks really good. One day I shall paint mine and do some of this. My M5 is the same colour as your car. Pretty much just straight up OEM for me.

Great job and attention to detail. Love it and look forward to the "finished" product. Although they are never actually finished.

[staystackin]

Well, it turns out all of the lines were available new and OEM except for one. So we had to custom bend one of the main fuel lines, quite a process. However, now the car has a complete new brake and fuel system including fuel pump, filter, gas tank, lines, hardware, all of it all of it. Brakes too, all new hard lines, soft lines, the front e31 calipers rebuilt and refinished. There's not a drop of old brake fluid or fuel left in the car, it's a damn good feeling. We've been back at the wheels, all of them are sanded and polished now. WOO. My brother will be torquing the bolts and mounting the tires over the next day or two. I can't wait to see the wheels on the car it's going to be the BEST.

I brought down one of the euro m5 seats and we test fit that... We're going to need to swap the seat harness from my seats to these, and move the memory module from one seat to the other as they're from a RHD car with an earlier model year. Hoping that's not tooooo tricky.

The dinan sways have been installed, my brother had to do some custom mount solution for the rear as they don't mount quite the same as the OEM sway bar... if anyone has any info on the proper dinan rear sway bar mounts please do share. Thanks

I've just about finished buying all the little doodads and bits for the interior swap, maybe... I still need to buy the inner door seal gaskets that are half interior color, they're still available new and I'll probably go that route. It's almost interior swap time. I'm aiming to have the car finished up and clear bra'd so I can drive it to MPACT out in the poconos this august. fingers crossed.

photos

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

interesting fabric inside the euro m5 sport seats
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

freshly refinished calipers so SHINY (that's a reflection in the photo)
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
Oz futura restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
Oz futura restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

sucks those rotors look so rough, they were brand new before the car went to the body shop. DOH

E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
E34 restoration progress by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

need to fill that up with the proper tools



More soon!!
-Wes

[GazM3]

Gee that’s one big upgrade.

Love the new wheels.

Is is it difficult to do the fabric removal off the front seats. I’ve got some sport seats I was thinking of adding the headed pads into.

[staystackin]

Gee that’s one big upgrade.

Love the new wheels.

Is is it difficult to do the fabric removal off the front seats. I’ve got some sport seats I was thinking of adding the headed pads into.

Thanks! The wheels have actually been on the car for years already, just getting an update now that the car is so fresh and clean.

I haven't had to remove any fabric from any front seats, so I can't really answer your question. I'm told it isn't so bad though. I need to swap the leather off of my current rear seat and install the fabric from the euro m5 (it shipped without the seat foam to save space/weight).

I'm open to hear about anybody else experience with removal of the fabric from the rear seats lol

-Wes

[Red Shirt KRT]

I always thought the dark m cloth was the best looking. This light m cloth really looks good though.

[staystackin]

Awesome update, THE WHEELS ARE ON!! I drove the car *around the block* for the first time since 2016 thanksgiving. I've not driven it since the e32 750 Diff, the poly bushings, the DUDMD engine chip, rebuilt brakes, dinan sways, etc etc. I still don't have a clear bra on the car, nor do I have proper collectors insurance yet, so I kept it short but wow. felt SO GOOOOOD. Very excited

My goal is to have the interior swap completed for MPACT in August. Hoping that's possible. The headliner/pillar re-wrap is probably the hardest part of it.... Swapping door card inserts from the grey early model panels that came with the seats into the black late model panels I bought will also be interesting....


Here's some photos

The wheels are complete! by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
The wheels are complete! by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
The wheels are complete! by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr
The wheels are complete! by WestonHelmsley, on Flickr

[sugaki]

Looks amazing! One thing I noticed is the fender side markers look reversed?

[tantumaude]

I love it! Yes, it does look like they've been swapped side-to-side.

[GazM3]

Love it.
The wheels really suit the colour and are a nice fit, filling the guards without making them look too big.

[Jcbe34]

Looks incredibly good, nice job! Interested to see how it goes with the interior, the door car insert swap does sound like it may be tricky

I'll have to check this thing out sometime when I'm up that way.

[atl530i]

Looks incredibly good, nice job! Interested to see how it goes with the interior, the door car insert swap does sound like it may be tricky

I'll have to check this thing out sometime when I'm up that way.

I did mine. I used adhesive promoter and 3m double sided tape and it worked really well. I haven't had issues of the inserts pulling away in the 11 months they've been installed.

[UnrulyGrace]

I did mine. I used adhesive promoter and 3m double sided tape and it worked really well. I haven't had issues of the inserts pulling away in the 11 months they've been installed.

What adhesive promoter did you use? I have to rewrap the inserts completely.

[staystackin]

oooooof justin yeah. those manual seats <3

Thanks Jonathan!

[ThePrez]

Wow, what a awesome build! Read all 17 pages. Love everything about it so far. Paint and wheels are fantastic. Shoot, with all the time and money you spent. I would also like for me to be buried with my car when I pass too..

How's the interior coming along?

[Eero]

Magnificent job Wes!

E

That car cover, where i can get one? Thanks.

[Smith Jason]

Haven't looked at this one in a while. Makes me want to do similar with mine (regarding the paint and bodywork). The fuels lines, brakes line etc. Great job and attention to detail. Eero, look up in the thread pics the part number (from BMW) is in one of the pictures. I need one too for winter storage.

[Eero]

Damn, cant find one here. Its for E90? Ebay sellers say 3series 06-12.

[staystackin]

Damn, cant find one here. Its for E90? Ebay sellers say 3series 06-12.

I believe it's actually an e46 sedan part number. It's an indoor only cover though, soft fabric. Fits almost perfect and pretty good for sure.

Car is being polished and XPEL clear bra'd currently, when it returns in the next day or so the interior progress continues. Dash swap is up :x, and head liner removal

[de Witt]

That car cover, where i can get one? Thanks.

pn I have is 110421547 and cross references with E46 and E9x

I believe it's actually an e46 sedan part number. It's an indoor only cover though, soft fabric. Fits almost perfect and pretty good for sure.

Car is being polished and XPEL clear bra'd currently, when it returns in the next day or so the interior progress continues. Dash swap is up :x, and head liner removal

Great work, nice to see an E34 in good hands. That GT500 in the shop, looks brutal and sexy, wew

[staystackin]

Been a lot going on with this car the past month. I kicked it into gear and finally am almost done with the interior swap. I started by wire wheeling the floor boards, so I could put down some POR 15 in areas of surface rust. One small spot when grinded at, fell through the floor - that sucked. I didn't quite realize it until I was putting the POR15 on and noticed it dripped through. It's pretty clear, but I was a little ignorant. I decided it was a small enough spot to address after this warm season. The car's going to live inside anyway. So for now we applied a thick layer of gorilla tape inside, and some seam sealer from the bottom. Next winter I'll pull the rear carpet again and fix it with some cutting and welding properly.

Another fun thing I learned is that the trim set I bought doesn't fit my glovebox I bought. The euro trim I got is from an earlier model m5 than my 1995 late model glovebox. I have the late model top dash, but now I realized I needed to buy the glovebox and side trim from an earlier car and everything would fit right in. I'm just waiting on the shipment of the glovebox and that will be fully sorted.

I've had the A,B,C, pillars, rear deck lid, and headliner/sunroofpanel/switchpanel all wrapped in grey suede. Very excited for that. I brought a headrest down and we color matched it perfectly with the seats now. Grey "oh sh*t" handles and OEM grey visors are on hand ready to go in hopefully tonight.

The door panels I got unfortunately were dyed parchment and not OEM black like they were advertised to be when I bought on eBay. My fault is that I merely checked that the shipment came and was black door panels and didn't remove them for closer inspection back when I bought them. For now they are "good enough" but when I can find a good set of MINT OEM black '95 door panels I will swap them in with a quickness.... feel free to send me leads of those

Swapping the seat from right hand drive proved quite a task but ultimately is definitely possible. I had to remove the wiring harness from my original drivers tan sport seat and install that in the drivers seat of the euro set. So the euro set does actually switch sides, I also then relocated the side of the seat switches and seatbelt. Ultimately choosing to use the seatbelt, and switches from my original seat. I did this to ensure that all I was switching was the seat itself and motors, leaving as much OEM as possible in hopes of not disturbing the memory system. It worked! The euro seat had the motors in place for memory so eveything worked great upon initial install testing the motors and such, I noticed e34 seat twist happening so I stopped and will fix that. This means I haven't tested the memory function yet specifically, but I'm pretty confident it will work as it did previously. So far no red flags to indicate otherwise at least.

I realized the electric rear sunshade retrofit kit I bought isn't going to work for my project because it is for cars without a third brake light and I definitely want to keep my third brake light intact. I've already lined up a deal selling it to a fellow e34 restoration nut though so all is well in the universe. I just need to buy another rear center console piece now because that piece has the switch for the sunshade and needs to go with that as a kit.



So, after I fix this seat twist, swap this glovebox, install this suede headliner/trim, purchase and install the rear center console, I will be having the euro seat covers for the rears swapped onto my original seats (remove tan leather, install euro cover) and then I'm SET. were gonna change some fluids and then I can Cristen the car with new floor mats and a new steering wheel. boo YAH'


edit: nice, the glovebox just came in. tonight's gonna be a good night in the shop.

[BleedsBlue]

Looking forward to seeing all this work in person @ Vintage

[staystackin]

Well it's certainly been a while since I've posted here. It seems like the Facebook groups have taken over the forums but I really like how you can keep all things together in one place here.

With all the self isolation mandates as of late, I had a bunch of free time on my hands, a bunch of new e34 parts, and my brother was into the idea of filming the process....... so here's my first crack at a YouTube episode of a portion of this e34 build.


We installed ground control coil overs, e31 LCA, Moosehead spherical UCA bushings in new OEM arms..... well, I could type it all out but there's this rad 13 minute video I just made so.... here it is!

[BleedsBlue]

That was awesome! Nicely done.

Mooseheads do require washers on our cars, just FYI.

[a777fan]

Good stuff! Looking forward to watching the progress.

Such a nice color.