Starting this thread to keep track of maintenance and modifications during my ownership. I'm terrible at taking photos while working on the car, but I'll post what I have and try to be more picture conscience moving forward.
My love for the E34 started a little over 2 years ago when I purchased a 94 525i. Over that time I learned a lot and with the help of my friends at Soley Bimmer, I was able to properly maintain the car while adding some modifications to increase my driving experience. After refreshing the suspension and adding coilovers and bigger sway bars, it just wasn't enough for me.
Thus my search for a 540/6 began. I contacted several owners looking to sell their cars, but none of them really impressed me until I saw this particular car on Craigslist. The biggest turnoff was the mileage, but after speaking to the owner I was willing to take the next step and have a PPI done along with a compression test. CA Tuned in Sacramento inspected the car and the results were better than expected. The car needed very little so, I contacted the seller, made him an offer, and flew up to pick up the car.
As soon as I arrived at the airport, the previous owner was waiting with the car. He surprised me with a trunk full of parts, including a 3.64 LSD I have yet to install. After a brief look I paid him and drove the car to a local muffler shop, where I had the muffler deleted and had some nice dual wall tips added. IMO it sounds amazing.
One of my best friends made the journey with me and we took the scenic drive back down to Laguna. We drove through Carmel and Big Sur, down through Santa Barbara and LA before making it home after 9+ hours of driving. Such a great drive!
Since taking ownership I have added an afe dry flow air filter, windshield washer reservoir and cap, ZHP shift knob, E60 SSK, a beautifully redone M-Tech II steering wheel, CA Tuned coilovers, AKG bump steer kit, and I reconditioned the leather with Leatherique.
I have a good idea of where I want to go with this car so, stay tuned as I will add to this thread as I further my progress.
Really a beautiful car. Calypso is the definitely the best color out there.
95 E34 553i6 LS TR6060 Project
93 E34 525iA Beater with no heaterVANOS kicked in yo!
That is a great looking car.
Beautiful!
Looks really nice!
I'm personally not a fan of that colour, but your car looks immaculate, credit to the previous owner, and now credit to you!
Love those steering wheels, but an airbag delete?
Look forward to seeing where this goes!
Lol "respect your elders". I've got one of those stickers around somewhere. Congrats on a clean looking ride
Nice ride sir!✋🙌
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1994 e36 325i convertible, 5 spd samoablau metallic-just acquired
1994 e34 525i schwarz II auto
1985 Nissan 300zx 5spd
1991 e34 535i calypsorot metallic 5spd-SOLD
Very Nice
Lovely. That 3.64 lsd will kill your gas mileage.
Some Places remain unknown because no one has ventured forth. Others remain so because no one has ever come back......
Gorgeous, particularly on minty M-Pars.
I also spy aluminum LCAs, are they M5 or E31?
I highly recommend Mooseheads if your upper (thrust) bushings need fixin'.
Cool, your setup (coilovers, big sways, etc) will definitely benefit from them. I think one way to check if they are M5 (bushing) or E31 is to twist the arm by hand (while it's all bolted up). If it deflects and returns to neutral, it's the M5 bushing; if it "stays" where you move it, it's the E31 bearing.
How is the ride/crashiness w/ the coilovers and your specific spring rates?
I love the ride, its smooth yet I have incredible feel/feedback from the road. The crash is minimal, only slightly noticeable when going over large speed bumps. Front spring rate is 10/560 and the rear is 8/448. This is the first set of coilovers I've had the pleasure of running so, I don't have much to compare them with, but I think they're great.
So awesome, color combo and motor! Looks really clean and seems like your taking excellent care of it. That wheel is pure sex, in fact almost everything you've done to it so far is.
by the way, how does the muffler delete sound? any drone?
Nice. I'm not 100% satisfied with the drop from the H&Rs, but the ride is so good (w/ full length Billies, not Sports) that I'll have a hard time justifying the extra $1-2k for coilovers just for an extra 0.5-1" of drop.
Roughly what did the CATuned units run you? I bet this thing corners w/ authority and flat as a pancake, do you have front and rear sways?
The coilovers replaced Dinan springs and full length Bilsteins, and its a night and day difference. These coils ran me ~$1,500 and that included them welding the fronts and new wheel bearings. It has Dinan sways front and rear, identical to Racing Dynamic sways, and it really handles corners well with very little body roll.
There she is! That's my old car. Looks great on the coilovers and I'm sure it sounds great with the new exhaust - those were the two things I had hoped to do. Man I can't possibly think of a better buyer, and I'm stoked to see where you take her from here.
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