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Thread: 540i/6 #788 project /6's

  1. #1
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    540i/6 #788 project /6's

    Hi,

    Just put my e34 inside for winter storage and thought that I could write a small introduction to the car to have a thread where I can keep track of the progress and modifications that will happen to it whenever spring will come next year, hopefully early but we never know in Sweden.

    The car had been well documented by previous owners until last year when it was sold and then went under the radar. I contacted the owner via Facebook and tried to make a deal happen. The car was located far away from where I live but the owner assured me that the car was in perfect condition with lots of work done to it in the last year. He was planing to sell it but was on vacation for a few weeks so we decided that I would pay him a small deposit to make sure the deal would be there when he returned. After seeing a few pictures that he promised gave a fair image of the cars shape I sent him the money.

    A few weeks and two or three phone calls later I got a weird feeling about it and surely enough when I arrived after a 4 hour train ride the owner showed up with a shit box. The fender had signs of a smaller impact that made the side skirt stick out funny and made the front spoiler sit out of position. The interior was really nasty and both seats had bad twist in them. The lights front and back had a bunch of cracks and the gearbox made a terrible stabbing sound going up to 3rd and 4th gear. The owner was so blatant to the situation telling me that the sound came from a cheap SSK and that the car was exactly how he said it was, "perfect condition"...

    I managed to negotiate the price somewhat, not nearly enough given the condition and what it would cost me to make it worth what he wanted but it was one of eight M-sport 540i/6's ever brought in to Sweden and I was dead set on this specific model so I just paid him and tried to focus on that I had bought my dream car and that I would bring it back to presentable shape. I felt like I saved it and that it was worth paying to much just to get it away from its bad owner.

    So, I did not have room in my budget for new transmission and paint touch up so after I made the 5hr drive back(kept temp and made no problems) the car was stored in my garage over the summer. I started my search for a 420g but they are very rear so it took some time. I actually bought one last year with the intention of swapping it into my 540ia but I sold it, but I got lucky and found another one taken from an e39 M5 with only 7000km. After buying the tranny I removed the front spoiler and grill and brought it to a painter with a new fender as well for a respray and to fix all the cracks it had on it.

    I did not manage to find more funds or time during the fall so I brought it to a barn for storage when the temperature dropped.

    First priority when I bring it home will be to swap the transmission and then I will treat it to a full service and inspect the cooling and then try to find a 3.15 LSD and somehow find an Amaretta interior. The wheels will also be restored to its original paint.

    The two photos shows the car when it was brought to its storage and the third is a picture of the car I have found online from a previous owner.

    Happy to own an e34 with v8 and a stick, I plan to keep this car for a very long time and eventually build an m60b44.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Kannackas; 12-05-2017 at 10:20 AM.

  2. #2
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    '95 540i/6
    Beautiful car. The 540i/6 is an amazing vehicle. The manual transmission makes this car. The only reason I purchased mine was the V8 & manual.

    If and when the time comes, build yourself an M62 4.4L with M60B40 heads, cams and timing chains. More power, no weak M62 timing guide.

  3. #3
    moroza's Avatar
    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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  4. #4
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    The synchronizers are failing so there is a grinding noise when going up in 3rd and 4th like I said, and these are not easy to rebuild so thats why I'm replacing it with a newer one. I have read of many others with this issue.

    Amaretta is the same as M hurricane fabric. The door handles are genuine but retrofitted and was put in by a previous owner who bought them from Germany, I like them.
    Last edited by Kannackas; 11-21-2017 at 05:45 PM.

  5. #5
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    Piling up on stuff to install after winter. Used Hella front lights that I will restore, sport mirrors that'll get painted and new bolts and studs for the RC's after they get restored in BBS silver.

    IMG_0112.jpg

    IMG_0110.jpg

    I went deep and managed to find a company that had one last legitimately rebuilt steering box from the 850csi and talked them into selling it to me, should arrive soon but its not going to get installed in a while. I don't believe it's completely bolt on and will need some working around but it should be doable to get that box working in my car, and as the ratio is much sharper I could only imagine that it will be awesome.

    Still no luck on finding a LSD. Only the ones on Ebay for 800€ or more and that's not including shipping, a little pricey.

  6. #6
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    I have a spare e32 large case lsd 3.15 but shipping from Australia would be very expensive.
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    94 E34 540i/6 SC 5-17psi Flex fuel/standalone ecu
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  7. #7
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    I have no idea what it would cost to ship it, what would you want for it with shipping excluded? I have a few months of winter left, hopefully something shows up locally before I'm getting the car back on the road. Kinda blew my budget on the CSi-box but I didn't think that opportunity would find me again so I jumped on it.

  8. #8
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    IMG_0122.jpg

    This arrived a few days ago. I know its not the same design that I have in my car, but comparing them on Realoem it looks like its the same design as the ones fitted to the m5's, and should be able to bolt onto my car since all e34's boxes are interchangeable? Changing transmission and finding a LSD is the priority but I thought that I could see what others here thinks about the CSi-box in the meantime so I can figure out how to approach that later.

    Btw, can I change the name of the thread somehow, don't know how the last "/6's" got there.
    Last edited by Kannackas; 12-17-2017 at 07:23 AM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kannackas View Post
    IMG_0122.jpg

    This arrived a few days ago. I know its not the same design that I have in my car, but comparing them on Realoem it looks like its the same design as the ones fitted to the m5's, and should be able to bolt onto my car since all e34's boxes are interchangeable? Changing transmission and finding a LSD is the priority but I thought that I could see what others here thinks about the CSi-box in the meantime so I can figure out how to approach that later.

    Btw, can I change the name of the thread somehow, don't know how the last "/6's" got there.
    All E34s are not interchangeable. L6 to L6 yes, V8 to V8 yes, but no interchanging between the two types due to exhaust header clearance. No idea about the E31.

  10. #10
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    I thought that the US/Canadian M-sports/M540i's came with the M5 box since they have the same ratio or did those cars have a custom box then? If not then it should mean that I could fit the e31-box in my V8 car too since that box is the same as the M5's.

    Edit: I searched some more and its not the same box like I thought. But the mounting points are in the same place and they are the same size so it seems like its worth a shot. I will find out for sure when I try to get it in there obviously.
    Last edited by Kannackas; 12-17-2017 at 04:03 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kannackas View Post
    I thought that the US/Canadian M-sports/M540i's came with the M5 box since they have the same ratio or did those cars have a custom box then? If not then it should mean that I could fit the e31-box in my V8 car too since that box is the same as the M5's.

    Edit: I searched some more and its not the same box like I thought. But the mounting points are in the same place and they are the same size so it seems like its worth a shot. I will find out for sure when I try to get it in there obviously.
    IIRC, the Msports/M540s have the same box as the regular 540. NA M5 is a bit hard to compare to the 540 for ratio since they were available in different years.
    I'm sure it will physically fit, I'm just concerned about clearance. Good luck, I'll be interested to hear whether I wasted my $$ getting a new 540 one last month.
    Last edited by tantumaude; 12-17-2017 at 08:59 PM.

  12. #12
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    Finding a LSD from the e32 750 has proven to be impossible and now I contemplate to just buy the spool that fits the 210 case and transplant it into my existing diff. I know that the ones from the same time period will bolt in but to have more to choose from I wonder if its possible to buy a spool from the e60 m5, its the cheapest ones I could find and looks similar to the older ones.

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