E34 535i turbo from DownUnder

[circuit.heart]

Wildman. That repaint is incredible considering it looks like you just did it outside at home.

[a777fan]

yeah... really nice work and determination. And it does look great after the respray.

absolutely love the plate too.

[Neeek]

Wildman. That repaint is incredible considering it looks like you just did it outside at home.

I did all the prep at home. Was going to paint it in the garage, but didn't really enough room so I handed it to a friend. So the base/clear was done in the booth. Nearly one year on, it still looks mint!

[fo3]

Awesome update. Did you use the same fake stretchy suede from spotlight that I used for my headliner?
Are you on the facebook e34 enthusiast australia group?

[Neeek]

Awesome update. Did you use the same fake stretchy suede from spotlight that I used for my headliner?
Are you on the facebook e34 enthusiast australia group?

LOL! Yes and yes! Hello, Paul.

[fo3]

LOL! Yes and yes! Hello, Paul.

I wasn't on there when you turboed it so I wasn't sure until I saw the pic of the cat guts, then I worked it out. I didn't know anyone followed my info about the stretchy fake suede from spotlight. On the roll it looks too fake, but after stretching, gluing down and brushing it looks pretty good.

*Definitely going to have to pick your brains about turbo fitting on a RHD car with the steering rack in the way if I go that route. Most people deem it too hard but this old thread inspired me years ago.

[Neeek]

Your headliner gave the idea for the suede actually... I went searching for old posts and found that.

In terms of turbo'ing the car and it being RHD, it's a bit of a pain, but perfectly doable. Of course, mine is an M30, so M50 is slightly different. But the basics are that you'll need to re-do the AC lines if you want to keep the AC. Getting past the steering box is a non issue with my manifold, everything clears nicely. Where we run into potential issues is with the downpipe. Some have raised the engine up about an inch using spacers which gives you room to run a full 3" dump pipe through, but I went with stock mounts and got the exhaust shop to handle that problem. Here's a look at the downpipe all undressed:



It's a 3" from the turbo, then goes down to 2.5" to clear the firewall and steering shaft. Connects to a two-bolt flange on the exhaust at the firewall, which then immediately steps back up to 3" for the rest of the exhaust. It's not ideal, but I can't say I've ever complained that it restricts things. Would be a massive pain in the bum to fabricate yourself, which is why I got the exhaust shop to do it all for me. Then did a fine job, and it works just fine.

But yeah, PM me on Facebook if you want to talk turbos. I know what I did wrong, and what I'd do differently if I had another crack at it.

[q20v]

Hats off to you for all the hard work. Amazing stuff in this thread!! Keep up the great work!

[Neeek]

Two more years between updates! Still have this thing, still loving it. To bring you up to speed:

I made an office chair:



I ditched the clutch fan and went with a thermofan from my hoard of car parts - this is one from a 2009 Volvo XC70 with the small fan removed and the hole left behind filled with the bottom of a bucket:



Really, a bucket. Not joking:



Someone was 3D printing gauge pods so i got one of those and wrapped it in the old door car material:



This is a plastic bumper lip from Ukraine. It's excellent:



Except I now scraped on EVERYTHING and so ditched the Eibach Sports for a set of Pros:



Then I bought another German shitbox and moved house:



(the new one is on the left btw...)

Then I sold a German shitbox:



.... actually it's not a shitbox, that E55 was an EPIC vehicle...

And here's another shot of the other shitbox, which is also not a shitbox at all. In fact it's probably the best car I've ever owned:



Anyway, the AC compressor died on the BMW so I took the chance to upgrade to a Sanden unit with LC Wylie's kit:



Then I reverse J'd the reverse J on my driver's wiper:





Then I did a massive suspension/steering refresh on the car and took very few photos, so here's one:



I replaced the idler arm, tie rod ends, steering drag link, sway bar end links and strut tops (front) and out the back I did strut tops, Bilstein B8s, dog bones, sway bar bushings, rotors and pads. Oh, and I also got an exhaust shop to replace the centre muffler which had many holes in it.

Then it was time to ditch the Kenwood head unit and reaplce it with something that didn't look shit:



Finally, a guy was selling blue electric sports seats an hour or so away from me. Turns out they were in fact Indigo! So that worked out cheaper than a retrim for my ones.



And we're up to date again!

[dannyzabolotny]

Wow, finding a set of blue sport seats in Australia, that's crazy luck. I can't imagine there are too many of those on the entire continent!

[a777fan]

Haha. Looks like you have ‘the disease’ just like a lot of the rest of us. Bravo for being able to let go of the e55. I hear nothing but great things about them.