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Thread: 95 540i sport budget build thread

  1. #1
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    95 540i sport budget build thread

    I've posted on here a little bit, thought I would try my hand at a build thread. I have had an e34 540i 6 before, it was a jdm model from 94 with a swapped 6 speed. It was a great daily driver. I loved it. Well a neighbor bugged me about selling it for a year, and I finally caved this spring and let it go.

    The e34 is the perfect size for hauling kids around, and with the v8, 6speed, and sporting chassis, just makes the perfect all around daily driver in my opinion. I do think these are special cars from Bmws Golden age, and are worth saving.

    About a month ago, I came across a rough looking 95 540i 6speed with sport package, and was seduced by the black color and the sport seats. So for the entry price of $2k, I bought it along with a set of style 42 wheels and a spare hood that was straight, but white. Clear coat was failing on the roof and trunk, and someone had moneyed with the hvac and put in a manual heater valve. Gotta pop the hod and turn the valve to get heat. Lol. Also transmission had a gnarly grind in first and third.
    How she looked when I picked her up...
    20180818_103657.jpg

    Sorry lookin thing with the big 7 series wheels and hanky hood.

    I'm very excited to get this thing back to a daily driver condition. So here we go...

    First up was paint, I toyed with the idea of just doing the trunk and roof, and hood, but that quickly snowballed into a full repaint.
    20180826_114828.jpg
    20180901_222312.jpg
    IMG_20180903_203808.jpg
    IMG_20180908_224516.jpg

    Lookin better...
    Last edited by summitp; 09-22-2018 at 08:27 PM.

  2. #2
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    Couple more paint pics... Hood not lookin so white anymore. I painted this in my garage, and the hoot and other bits out in the driveway. I used Omni paint and upol clear coat.
    20180909_100001.jpg
    20180909_095954.jpg

    Next was transmission. I bought a low mile 87k mile 420g from a wrecked 02 m5 off m5board.com, and ordered up a new luk 265mm clutch. Rest of the parts arrived today to do the rear main seal, Coolant passage, and exhaust rings etc. Aim to have trams in the car tomorrow. We'll see. Family stuff frequently holds up work.
    Trans was well packaged to say the least. What a hassle to get it out.
    20180917_223925.jpg

    Old one is out of the car.
    20180917_214854.jpg

    I don't want to buy a new dmf, so going to to hit the sriction surface with a little 180 grit and the da. My special torx socket just shower up today.
    IMG_20180917_232426.jpg
    Last edited by summitp; 09-22-2018 at 08:48 PM.

  3. #3
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    1995 530i E34 M62 Swap
    Make sure you do the valve cover gaskets and when you do to have a torque wrench or you might end up with something like this


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  4. #4
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    Yeah, dluy noted, and I did those on my last one, also had the covers powder coated. The valve covers do not appear to be leaking currently, so I am going to let them be for now.
    I recently refreshed the intake and valve covers on my Porsche 928 that just sold. So I love some intake and valve cover porn...
    20180405_204426.jpg
    IMG_20180407_225644.jpg
    IMG_7204.JPG
    Last edited by summitp; 09-22-2018 at 08:46 PM.

  5. #5
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    Ooo those look nice, porsche engines are almost always a work of art


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  6. #6
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    Yeah those last model S4 vis look great all cleaned up. I also recently had the intake for my 89 944 turbo cleaned up and powder coated.
    20180519_140957.jpg
    20180403_225416.jpg

  7. #7
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    Back to the e34 action. Here is the one I sold in the spring. Great car. LOVED IT!
    20170809_203536.jpg

    So got into the oil pan on this one, and found 5 oil pump bolts, and one of the mounting nuts was straight up missing. Not in the pan, not where it was supposed to be. Wtf?
    So got that all fixed up and as it should be. Rather surprising that the motor ran as well as it did. Idles nice and smooth, quiet, pulls hard, etc...
    20180921_234640.jpg

    But dirty in there, but with 165k on it, whatever, get it back together...
    20180921_234711.jpg

    Hammered out a rock impact to the pan as well. Poor car. Jeez.
    IMG_20180922_003732.jpg

    And, 8 new spark plugs... Was happy to see no oil whatsoever in the plug holes, and no leaks down the sides of the valve covers. And no tell tale smell of oil burning. So out with the old plugs and in with the new.
    20180920_221136.jpg
    Last edited by summitp; 09-22-2018 at 09:03 PM.

  8. #8
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    While the driveshaft is out, make sure to inspect guibo, center bearing, maybe see what you can see as far as the differential mounts go. This doesn’t seem to be your first rodeo though. Black is the best color for a 540i in my mind, mean and menacing. Excited to see where this goes.

  9. #9
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    Guibo is good, appears to have been recently replaced, same with csb. Aftermarket solid trans mounts have been installed as well, along with a uuc dual sheer selecting rod. Whoop!
    Just finished folding laundry. Gonna head down and make some progress in a few.

  10. #10
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    I refreshed this thing last year, along with this cruiser...
    20170714_191424.jpg
    20170903_145742.jpg

    Current cruiser project. Bought it to practice painting... And it looks like it. Ha.
    20180812_172450.jpg

    Bimmers Porsches and cruisers are my jam.
    Last edited by summitp; 09-23-2018 at 03:00 AM.

  11. #11
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    Very cool. I am in the process of putting a sterling silver 540i6 back together. It came with some bent valves and a transmission with a bad 3rd gear synchro. Seems to be a common issue with the 420g. Definitely worth saving.

    95 540i6 M Sport - 95 525it S52/OBD2 - 433k E36 328i5 - X5D that hit a pothole - IG: @justinmurray95

  12. #12
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    I saw your thread. Dig it. Save em all, in 10 years it will be very hard to find decent ones.
    I'm not sure why, but I like this e34 board better than most other car boards. There are fancy ones like the calypsorot thread, and there are beater ones with people getting good advice, it's good. And e34 are good.
    Last edited by summitp; 09-22-2018 at 11:17 PM.

  13. #13
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    Got some work done.
    Replaced the rear main, replaced the pilot bearing.
    Sanded the flywheel, but it still shows some hot spots. Whatever. We'll see how it goes. Looks much better than before, and it wasn't slipping before.
    IMG_20180922_223932.jpg
    IMG_20180922_223957.jpg
    IMG_20180922_224104.jpg
    IMG_20180923_000234.jpg

    Got the flywheel bolted back up, and pulled the old starter out. Found a new remanded bosch one locally for $50 so I grabbed it. Cleaning up the heat shield.
    Trans in tomorrow?

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by summitp View Post
    I've posted on here a little bit, thought I would try my hand at a build thread.
    The e34 is the perfect size for hauling kids around, and with the v8, 6speed, and sporting chassis, just makes the perfect all around daily driver in my opinion. I do think these are special cars from Bmws Golden age, and are worth saving.
    Cool thread, and I agree. If I had somewhere to work on a side project car I'd be on the l hunt for a 540 as well. For now though I'm just learning on a simpler 6cyl daily driver
    Quote Originally Posted by summitp View Post
    I saw your thread. Dig it. Save em all, in 10 years it will be very hard to find decent ones.
    I'm not sure why, but I like this e34 board better than most other car boards. There are fancy ones like the calypsorot thread, and there are beater ones with people getting good advice, it's good. And e34 are good.
    Same :-)
    Last edited by fo3; 09-23-2018 at 05:29 AM.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by summitp View Post
    I saw your thread. Dig it. Save em all, in 10 years it will be very hard to find decent ones.
    I'm not sure why, but I like this e34 board better than most other car boards. There are fancy ones like the calypsorot thread, and there are beater ones with people getting good advice, it's good. And e34 are good.
    This subforum has been great since I joined. There has been a lot of good information posted over the years. I plan on saving mine, it's one of three in this color combo so it's worth saving. I have my M Sport that I have been working on for a while now too (still not all the way done).

    95 540i6 M Sport - 95 525it S52/OBD2 - 433k E36 328i5 - X5D that hit a pothole - IG: @justinmurray95

  16. #16
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    What's the goal for the car, power adders?

  17. #17
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    Just want to make it a daily driver, run the miles up. I drove the 928 a lot this summer, put about 4k on it. It just sold, so have been switching it up between the cruiser and the 944 turbo, but that car is not reliable enough for a daily (and I don't want to run the miles up on it) and the cruiser is an expensive daily at 14mpg uphill, downhill, fully loaded, empty. The 540i is sort of the perfect all arounder. So the goal is a reliable daily driver that is fun to drive, and fits the family easily.

  18. #18
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    well my pic taking faltered towards the end, but I did get it all back together and it is running again. Actually drove it to work as a shake down test. Ran great. No more exhaust leak, (new seal rings everywhere) and I also learned why people remove the rear bumper for exhaust install. Luckily bumper removal on these things is a piece of cake. Also, the cheapskate sandpaper resurface job on the dual mass flywheel seems to work ok. No slippage today stompin on it going through the gears getting on the freeway. I'm callin it good.

    I did have a near disaster. Total bonehead rookie move, and I got really lucky.
    I was installing a new slave cylinder in the bellhousing, and I bolted it up, and then set up checking operation, and when I pushed the clutch pedal down, I felt a pop, and clutch brake fluid began leaking out of the bellhousing. I nearly sh*t my pants. I unbolted the cylinder, and quickly reached my fingers in the hole, and was able to retrieve the pushrod, and barbed washer that holds it together, and the spring was still in the cylinder. But looking at it, I thought, man there must be a piston or something from the slave still missing in the bellhousing somewhere. I cursed a whole bunch, and hunted around for my copper flexy magnet recovery tool, and after about 15 minutes of looking for it and cursing how stupid I am, I finally found it, and on the first try, was able to snag the steel slave cylinder piston, and pulled it out. Installed the old gnarly lookin slave cylinder (which was working fine before) and decided what the hell, and fired it up, no rattling, no sounds from the bellhousing. Transmission shifted well. All good. Phew. Man I got so lucky, and I am so dumb. I was rushing, and didn't have the pushrod of the slave lined up in the clutch fork. SO DUMB. Sometimes you get lucky after you are dumb. I love my copper magnet picker upper thingy.
    Anyway, car ran great on the way to work this morning. Yay.
    I did take a few pics yesterday.
    oh, the buggers at LUK included the wrong clutch alignment tool, not even close, luckily, my old Porsche 944 uses about the same size internal diameter on the pilot bearing. A bit of tape to make the friction disc part of the tool larger, and went for it. All good.

    IMG_20180923_150658.jpg
    20180924_082359.jpg

    First time she's seen the light of day in like 3 weeks.
    Last edited by summitp; 09-24-2018 at 11:30 AM.

  19. #19
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    save em all!! awesome.
    - Hans - Mauritiusblau Metallic - Ultimate Klasse - Progress Thread: LINK



  20. #20
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    Gonna head north of town tomorrow to grab some remaining trim bits off a parts car, but it's getting better... I put the trim around the windows back on, debated shadow lining it, but opted to polish the chrome and remove the remaining plastidip from the sill pieces.

    As she sits today...
    20180926_101536.jpg

  21. #21
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    Pics were lacking tonight, but the work was pretty boring. That said, details make the difference between a ho-hum car, and a complete, nice car.

    First, I installed a new timing chain tensioner. That was quite easy once I figured out the trick to keep the piston in the sleeve for installation.

    Then I rewired the heated windshield washer jets, and put the hood insulation back in with retaining pins in EVERY hole that should have one.

    Then I switched to the interior, I had the door panels off so I greased all the window tracks, and put the panels back on and cleaned them, first with diluted simple green, then some vinyl leather treatment stuff. I used new clips on the inside of the armrest (the black plastic one in the middle, and also replaced any broken push clips around the perimeter of the door panel. Looking forward to opening the door with the handle (and a clean one at that!) tomorrow.
    Last edited by summitp; 09-27-2018 at 01:26 AM.

  22. #22
    moroza's Avatar
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  23. #23
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    details. My ebay oem Hella fog lights showed up yesterday, $45 each for genuine Hella seemed like an ok deal to me. Both work, one fog bulb was bad, so will be replaced today. Fiddled around with the external temperature sensor for a while, and could not get it to snap into the bumper skin. The bumber skin was only $65 DELIVERED! So the sensor doesn't fit, whatever. The fogs complete the front end of the car, and it is really starting look much better. I've been driving now 4 days this week, and the car does not seem to be showing any odd behavior. It tracks straight, engine starts right up every time, idles very smoothly, and pulls hard all the way up to redline. Wednesday night I did install a new timing chain tensioner for peace of mind, and this morning saw a great opportunity to run it through the gears, and she pulls hard, smooth, sounds good, and ran it up to red in 2nd, 3rd, and in 4th went up to around 110mph before backing off. I'm am very happy to be back in the 540i daily drivin world.

    On the interior, I got the door panels all cleaned up and installed and looking proper. It's not much fun wrestling with the leather/vinyl around the edges of the door panels and trying to glue them to stay put. I also yanked off the steering wheel and re centered it. Now my srs light is on. Sweet. Any easy tips to get that cleared? Or do I actually need to find someone with a peake tool?

    Next on the agenda is the seats. Drivers side sport seat has the dreaded seat twist, and the leather is separating in the outer upper bolster. So pull it apart this weekend maybe. I've done the cable housing shortening trick before without much drama. I should probably swap the alternator in my 944 turbo first though, so I can drive that while the bimmer is down. I'd like to get new leather for the drivers side, the leather at the base also looks a little funky, like someone dumped some leather dye on it or something. Hopefully the last rollout of $ for this car for a while. I will get a quote from my upholstery guy to recover the seat in leather, and add a seat heater to the drivers seat, as it doesn't currently have one and this car will be sleeping outside all winter. The passenger side seat really looks very good. Like really good. There is one twisted cable issue that I will fix, but otherwise going to leave that one alone.

    I'll get some interior pics today so you can see what it looks like.
    Last edited by summitp; 09-28-2018 at 10:18 AM.

  24. #24
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    Well no interior pics yet. Spent a little time setting the glove box aligintment. Its still off a bit...
    I also have had a flurry of ccm and lkm messages. A parts car I checked out the other day had the ccm and lkm still in there so I grabbed them. No more messages. All good.
    Got a couple exterior trim pieces and some Alpine type r component speakers.
    I installed the kick panel on the driver's side and hooked up the gong, all good over there now too.
    On the paint, it went down pretty well, but I do have a few runs in the clear coat. So I tried my hand at getting them out. I put a little bit of electrical tape on the corners of a razor blade and began scraping the run to knock it down level with the rest of the paint. I was pretty nervous about taking a razor blade to the paint, but it seemed to work pretty well. So cut it down flat with the blade, then wet sand with 2k grit, then buff and polish. On the two I finished,it actually worked! Check it out...
    IMG_20180930_190101.jpgIMG_20180930_191114.jpg
    Last edited by summitp; 10-01-2018 at 12:39 AM.

  25. #25
    moroza's Avatar
    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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    I've fixed a few saggy gloveboxes by stacking washers between the latch plate and the dash pad.

    Paint looks good but putting the chrome window trim on maybe a bit premature? Or did you just mask those off?
    Last edited by moroza; 10-01-2018 at 12:59 AM.

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