1991 Brokatrot Metallic 520i

[henfjel]

I can't remember the brand, but I bought it at a local automotive store. We found a close match to the wheel and I went for it! I thinks it came out great

[henfjel]

Well, quite a few things have happened the last year or so!
I finally got around to install the clutch and brake pedal bushings i ordered from Garagistic! WHAT a difference it made. I had a squeek in my brake pedal that drove me mad for soo long, and this took care of it. No more squeeking, and absolutely NO side to side slack. Very precise pedal action. Recommended upgrade!

I also replaced rear brake pads and discs, and I actually had to replace the rear right caliper. It was seizing up, so I temporarily replaced it with another used one with a good piston. Sadly no pics of that or the pedal bushings.

I can't remember if I posted it before, but I got a hold of a replica cleaning cloth that were in the tool kit of these cars, as the real ones are very hard to find these days. But all of a sudden an original one turned up in a local yard! These are very rare and hard to get, so this is the icing of my cars tool kit, that is almost complete now!



I have also aquired all parts I need for a clutch replacement now. Just have to find time and a place with a lifter to do it.
Clutch kit from Sachs, a few bushings and other small items, new engine mounts and center bearing. I also got the E60 545i shifter that acts as a short shifter in the E34. Looking forward to getting it in the car! I also got the delrin bushings for the shifter mechanism from Garagistic, so this is gonna be a non-slack shifter.
I also got new sway bar links for the front. The ones I replaced a couple of years ago had the boots go bad on all four joints, so the dealer agreed to send me new ones from Lemförder! Great! Should last a while longer.







Also managed to get a hold of OEM trim that sits against the back seat from the boot, pre cut to fit a ski bag. Looks much neater. Just need the trim now.


Quite a difference. The one on the bottom is the one I cut myself.



A few small details got done as well, replaced the cover above the fuel rail. The old one had the silver paint worn off by the front. Also got a new hood isolation pad, that doesn't sag. I assume it was the culprit of the paint wear on the fuel rail cover.


New one next to the old.


The new one in place. Needs a good clean.



And then, I finally found something I've been on the lookout for since I got the car.
M5 shift surround! Looks so much better. It has a couple of small dings, and it needs re-covering. But that will be done later. One of the best interior upgrades I've done so far!




Front suspension was renewed, made quite the difference!



Did a proper cleaning of the windows on the inside of the car, as they were becoming quite foggy. I haven't gotten around to do a proper inside clean this winter, and I think I'll wait until it gets warmer outside.
But I did get around to replace the window gliders. The driver side window was very slow, and now it is all lubed up and fast as it should be.





Now we are back to today, and I gave the car a proper clean. No pictures of that, but it was needed. But it is sad to see the few rust spots the car has. I have a good bit to go over once the spring sets in. I need to get to it before it gets serious. One of the jacking points has already rustet through, so that will be replaced.

After the was I took care of a small detail. On the left side of the trunk there is of course a trim, but in my car there has been a bracket sticking out since I bought it. I've been looking to take care of this. I noticed it was a little bent, so I bent it back and pulled the trim forward. A quick check on RealOEM showed that the fastener was supposed to be the same as the one that holds the panel that covers the jack.
Didn't have a spare one, so I took the one from the jack side. Will buy a few so I have a couple of spares just in case. I think it turned out well! It's all in the details.

[henfjel]

So, this happened:




Took a little brake from working today, to check my Facebook feed, and a 525ix touring showed up on a local E34 group. A guy was parting it out just a few minutes from me, so I decided to head over to get some stuff. He is delivering it to the wreckers tomorrow.
Checked the options list via the VIN before I left, so I knew what I was getting into, and the goodies weren't far apart!
OEM HiFi-speakers, heated drivers side door lock, CD-changer, headlight washers, interior lights with map lights and rear power windows, just to name a few.
I got all of this and drivers side seat belt (mine lacks the "button" to keep the "buckle" from falling down between the door and the b-pillar), fuel tank sender (need to replace mine), owners manual in Danish (not very different from Norwegian), front velour floor mats (nice to have some spares), and quite a few screws and clips.
All of this for about 60$! I'd call that a steal.

The HiFi-speakers will come in handy if I ever get around doing Luke's (from G.A.S.) 10 channel network upgrade, and the heated door lock will be sooo neat in the cold norwegian winter. The rear power windows will also be a nice upgrade, and I'll fill one more blank hole in my center console. And with the headlight washers I now can patch together one whole working set! Neat. And I'll sell the door tweeters and set of map lights as I already have one set of each, so maybe I'll get close to breaking even.

No pics of the power window motors/mechanism, heated door lock ++, but I didn't feel like bringing everything in the house and onto my kitchen table.. Might shoot som pics of the rest tomorrow!

[modmatt]

Really cool deal you got there - especially since that parts car even featured the super rare egg whip-option

What is the thing lying between the door tweeters? Is it an OEM hands-free microphone??

[henfjel]

LOL, the egg whip. Super rare, especially in the E34

That is indeed a OEM hands free microphone. The parts car was delivered with a car phone, but it was lost before the last owner got it. I decided to take it with me since it's a part I've never seen before, and I might be able to wire it in with my Alpine headunit, which is currently missing a microphone for use with the bluetooth hands free.

[E38740iMD]

Wish I could get my hands on one of those micro-phones...

Whats an egg whip option?

[Dustn525]

I can't find a part # for that microphone anywhere! Have you put it to use yet? The numbers on the sticker don't bring anything up.

[henfjel]

Lol, the egg whip is a reference to the vintage hand mixer in one of the photos, that are sadly gone now... Photobucket 😡
Haven't gotten around to testing the mic yet.. I'll let you guys know! @E38740iMD, I'll let you know if I ever find another one.

In other news I got myself a new E34, a 525ix! Check out my new thread
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...rblau-Metallic

[henfjel]

So, not a lot of exciting things has happened to this car since I got the 525ix, but there has been some activity.

In the summer of 2017 I got some parts intended for this car.
New oil pan gasket, since I had a leak as well as new filter and spark plugs. And I got the lower door trims since my door are rusted and the trim is broken in several places. As well as a spark plug interval sticker, the damper ring for the fuel filter and rear door handle gasket. The door trim is still in the parts bin.








Also got some new engine mounts, the difference between old and new are quite shocking! Second last shot is after new mounts. The oil pan gasket was replaced some time after this, a long with filter and oil, and spark plugs. A rear door handle gasket was also replaced at some point.




Also have some shots of the trunk after a clean.











Then in august 2017 i bought the 525ix.
The ix is now my daily driver (see my other thread for that story), but it was not without challenges. About one month after my last post in this thread the 520i's inspection expired and I had the ix up and running, and this car was put in storage for the winter 2017/2018. Or so I thought. After just a week on the road, the ix had a timing chain guide failure, which required at least a head and timing rebuild. Since I had to take the engine apart I also decided to go much deeper into the ix than I had initially planned at that point.
I had to throw the 520i together for an inspection so that I had a car for the following months while rebuilding the ix engine. And the 520i was granted an approved inspection for another two years, so it served as my daily driver up to november 2019.
During this time I spent all my car fixing time on the ix so the state of the 520i deteriorated quite a bit, with only the bare necessary maintenance being done; oil and filter changes at regular intervals and pressing issues that showed up during the two years.

Had to replace the front exhaust mount as it was basically gone. I also patched up some small holes in my rear muffler with some exhaust tape. Which worked wonders for a while, at least it got me through inspection.


Fixed a headlight problem.


Restored some plastic just for fun.



In the fall of 2018 I found myself some OEM BMW roof racks, with ski mounts. Quite cool. With original keys and everything, in perfect condition.


I also realized how the wheel bolt tool is supposed to be mounted.
Here is how I have always had it.


Here it is mounted properly. I never saw that rubber grommet up there. Genius.



I also inspected my leaking heater core. Hoping that it is just the o rings.



And I did my last oil change to date in the fall of 2018.


One year later the ix was finished just as the inspection for this car expired.

After that two things have happened. I removed the trailer hitch to get it painted and restored so I can put it on the 525ix. That process revealed some fun stuff. My previous quick fix of the rear muffler failed (no surprise..) and the exhaust leak got huge and melted parts of the inner bumper structure. I had heard that the blow from the exhaust had become worse but I didn't think it had gotten this far haha.


If you wonder how this is possible, here is why. While removing the tow hitch I hack sawed the rear muffler off, since it has to be replaced anyway. Look at that hole. That is where the exhaust mount used to be.


And look at that pile of soot that came out.



So what is next for this car?
It has now been sitting since november 2019.
The plan is to get rid of it. But the question is how much I can get for it. I would like to bring it back to former glory before I sell it to make it more likely to be saved and looked after by a potential buyer, but I know that will also take a lot of work and a good bit of money. The market for these cars in Norway is dried up, there are rarely more than 5-7 cars for sale in the classifieds at any given time and the prices are high. So the potential reward can be decent if done right.

I have two options:
1: If the rust is not too bad; repair the sills and other small rust issues the car has, use it as welding practice. Fix most of the other problems it has so that it can have a valid inspection and be nice and driveable. This way I can get much more for it, but It will of course demand time and funds.
2: If the rust is so bad that I cannot be bothered to fix it myself; sell it as it is. I won't get that much for it, compared to option no. 1 but I save funds and time.

So the first thing to happen is to open up the sill I temporarily fixed to see the extent of the damage. After that I can make a decision.
If I am to fix it, it needs a lot of work:
- Rust repair
- Minor paint repair in several places
- Front suspension need new everything
- Rear suspension need new trailing arm bushings and new shocks (springs and other bushings are new)
- New rear muffler
- New brake pads and discs in the front
- New parking brake cables
- New shocks and springs in the front, as well as top mounts and rubbers
- New right high beam
- New clutch (might skip this one if I will fix it myself, the old one works even though it is way past it)
- Various outside trim
- New heater core (or hopefully just new o rings)
- Some basic maintenance; oil filter, coolant, belts, spark plugs.

There are more small things, but this is all that must be done for it to be in good condition.

It's a big decision to make.
But I have a 525ix to work on and a classic Ford as well. We will have to see once I open up the sills! If they are manageable to fix the rest is reasonably easy work once all the parts are bought.

[a777fan]

Nice meaty post!

Curious about your plastic restoration and the steps involved. The cowl/wipers look great!

I had a laugh about your jack tool placement. Took me forever to figure out where everything went after I got my car. Once you figure it out it makes perfect sense, but until then, it can be quite a mystery!

[henfjel]

Nice meaty post!

Curious about your plastic restoration and the steps involved. The cowl/wipers look great!

I had a laugh about your jack tool placement. Took me forever to figure out where everything went after I got my car. Once you figure it out it makes perfect sense, but until then, it can be quite a mystery!

Thank you! I've been fixing the images in this thread which have been down since Photobucket switched to a paid subscription. It tok hours to replace all the pictures. So I though it was worth to bring it back with all I had!

I used a product called Owatrol Polytrol, not sure if it is available in the US. https://owatrol-international.com/no...-polytrol.html
It is very good, you just clean that ever you need to apply it to to a grease free surface and apply with a foam applicator or microfiber cloth. Then you leave it on for a while and wipe off the excess. Repeat if needed. It is by far the best product I've tried for this purpose.

Haha! I had too. The way I had it was the way it always was in my dads car so I assumed that was how it was supposed to be.

[a777fan]

Awesome. Thanks. Looks like amazon sells it here, and I have just placed an order!

[henfjel]

Perfect! I hope you will be as satisfied as me. In my experience, getting the parts as clean as possible before applying is the most important. I hope you'll post some pictures in your thread once you get it tried out!

[sbeckman7]

Super nice to have more pics in here! Love the color and great car

[henfjel]

Thank you! I've always liked picture heavy threads so its a joy to post more!

[henfjel]

Today we parted ways after 9 years together.

After looking closer at the sills I decided to sell it as it sits. Today a very nice gentleman came and took her away. He intends to fix her up, so hopefully she goes to a good home.
And I got to free up some funds for my 525ix. I got 1800 for it so that is a nice sum to throw at another great E34.

Bye!

[a777fan]

Congrats on the choice. It can be hard to part ways!