My 1995 540i 6-speed resto

[a777fan]

Stumbled on this thread and just wanted to say that I absolutely love it! I'm glad this car found such an awesome owner. I'm out in Bothell, but am in Seattle often. I'll keep my eyes open for this beauty

Agreed, great job on the car. Bigern79, I'm in north Kirkland not too far from you. I've got a 540i 6-speed swap.

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Thanks guys! We should meet up after I get it back on the road. It will still be a work in progress, but would be nice to meet some like minded locals.




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[dannyzabolotny]

Indeedy nice n’ tight now. I hear there is also a kit for the engine side? Angry A** or somesuch?

Did you sell the e32? I think you mentioned it somewhere, but if so, your thread hasn’t been updated?

Yep, I did sell the E32. Part of that has been funding the fun new stuff for the E34, so it's working out nicely.

And yes, Angry Ass Solutions has the engine side throttle bushings, they're pretty nice from what I've seen. I don't have em on my car yet, but a lot of my local E34 buddies have them and love them.

[bigperm206]

Thanks guys! We should meet up after I get it back on the road. It will still be a work in progress, but would be nice to meet some like minded locals.




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A meet up sounds good. Don't worry, these cars are always a work in progress.

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[Red Shirt KRT]

The more I see these silver/white interiors the more I want them.

[a777fan]

The more I see these silver/white interiors the more I want them.

Yeah. Its by far my fave combo in these guys. Heck of a pain to keep not dirty though.


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[a777fan]

Turned my attention to mechanical stuff, primarily because i want to put the short shift kit in.

I picked up the UUC Evo3 a few months back, and have been waiting to finish up most of the interior before installing. I’ve seen guys do this with the exhaust on, but after looking at how easy it is to drop the cats on this thing, i just zipped em off.

The trans was pretty filthy. At first I thought it might be the output seal, but after some poking apparently the 420 is notorious for leaking at the selector shaft seal.

Video of the nasty-ness:

https://youtu.be/t1bAFcvyXGY

Took off all the bracketry and cleaned it up.

Dirty:


Clean:




Video of the clean tranny:
https://youtu.be/NkdbH4b8wVI

Only took like 6 cans of brakleen. Lol.

Should be ready for the ss kit install once the correct DSSR gets here. UUCs website is a little confusing on what the correct DSSR length for the 540i six speed is. I ended up with the 205mm length. The car needs a 215mm length. I’ll have to send the 205 back and get them to ship the 215.

—————-

Different subject. Back when I bought the car, the previous owner showed me a video of him doing a burnout. Both wheels hooked up, which got me pumped that the car had an LSD. I took a minute to look at the tag on the diff today and...




NO S!!!

I then did the spin test with the back wheels off the ground, and both wheels turn in the same direction when you apply a force to one of them, which is a trademark of an LSD. Now I am just confused, as I don’t know what the heck is in there.

Thoughts and opinions welcome!

[moroza]

Can you raise just one wheel, put the trans in neutral, and turn that wheel by hand? Diff could've been modified to LSD with an incorrect tag.

What's that lower bracket brace thing?

Do you remember which set of holes the 540i CSB uses?

Am I reading that number right, as S5459A? That crosses to an E30 master, but there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding interchangeability.

[a777fan]

Can you raise just one wheel, put the trans in neutral, and turn that wheel by hand? Diff could've been modified to LSD with an incorrect tag.

What's that lower bracket brace thing?

Do you remember which set of holes the 540i CSB uses?


Am I reading that number right, as S5459A? That crosses to an E30 master, but there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding interchangeability.

I’ll give that test a shot when i let the car down after this current adventure.

Lower bracket brace thing? Which one? The one with the rubbers is an exhaust bracket.

I’ll snap a pic of the csb when I’m out at the car. I’ll also confirm those numbers for ya.


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[Sir Montalbon]

My understanding is that you can take the LSD "part" out of a LSD diff and put it into an open diff, thus converting it to LSD. I read about this a few years ago and it is the plan for my open diff, whenever I get around to it. Maybe this is how your car was done?

Interested in what you discover.

[a777fan]

My understanding is that you can take the LSD "part" out of a LSD diff and put it into an open diff, thus converting it to LSD. I read about this a few years ago and it is the plan for my open diff, whenever I get around to it. Maybe this is how your car was done?

Interested in what you discover.

Yeah. We’ll see what morozas suggestion results in. Btw moroza- how do i interpret the results you laid out. Does that mean its an LSD or an open?

Otherwise, you are correct, i’ll have to pop open the diff cover to really find out. Should probably think about replacing all the rubber back there while I’m at it ....


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[drewusmaximus]

Welded Diff perhaps? One way to tell is if the tires chirp as you make a slow turn i.e., making a sharp turn in a parking lot.

[a777fan]

I’ll have to look up what a ‘welded’ diff actually means, but my initial take is that both rear wheels would be forced to turn all the time. I can definitely stop one of the wheels with my hand as I am turning the other one.


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[drewusmaximus]

I’ll have to look up what a ‘welded’ diff actually means, but my initial take is that both rear wheels would be forced to turn all the time. I can definitely stop one of the wheels with my hand as I am turning the other one.


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Quite a bit of youngsters these days weld their open differential to be able to slide the rear (drift). The downfall is, both wheels constantly turn, hence the chirp during a turn and additional stress to the axle, unlike LSD. In your case, it seems a PO in the past swapped out the internals and added the LSD.

When I lifted up my rear, I spun one wheel and the other spun in the opposite direction (open diff) .

[a777fan]

Ah! Got it.

Sorry to hear about your open diff!


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[a777fan]

Parts box arrived today!

New seat lower foam:



Manufacturing dates of oct 18 all over em. Nice n squishy!

New center vent, as I snapped some tabs putting the original back in. Had to come from germany!



This suckers been sitting on a shelf since ‘94!


Kinda cool

Also got some new juice for the tranny:




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[moroza]

You bought seat internal foam made in October '18 for a seat that's been out of production since AOL was mailing floppy disks? How on earth...

If the wheels spin together but you can stop one with your hand, you appear to have a very worn LSD.

[a777fan]

You bought seat internal foam made in October '18 for a seat that's been out of production since AOL was mailing floppy disks? How on earth...

If the wheels spin together but you can stop one with your hand, you appear to have a very worn LSD.

Yep! I was surprised too. BMW must have ordered another batch at some point?

On the LSD. Sweet. Just like everything else in this car

Can the clutch packs be rebuilt? Or should I just start looking for a new one?


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[moroza]

They can be rebuilt with new clutches (apparently shared with some Porsches), and customized in a lot of ways. Talk to wanganstyle.

[a777fan]

They can be rebuilt with new clutches (apparently shared with some Porsches), and customized in a lot of ways. Talk to wanganstyle.

Thx!


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[a777fan]

Installed the HVAC temp sensor fan today, and it spins!

https://youtu.be/Fry0QY6oHKc

That little guy spins for what seems like about 20min after you turn the ignition off. I haven’t been able to locate any E34 Specific info on whether or not thats to spec, but E39s seem to leave the fan on for ~16minutes after key off.

Installed my new dash vent. Think the dash is a little warped.



Wrapped up by starting to attack the exploded door check. Got the door card off. I’ve got a few panel pin holders to re-attach.



And then the carnage. This is what it looked like after I bent all the steel back out.



Going to cut it all out with a dremel disk then add in the re-enforcement plates from koala mtr sports.


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[moroza]

20 minutes is too long. I had a battery drain that was caused by the temp sensor fan staying on too long (indefinitely, it appeared). A known good IHKR module fixed it, but as that one was in use, I kept the original module and instead rewired it to use an ignition-hot fuse (F47 IIRC) instead of a battery-hot. As far as I'm concerned, there is no need for the climate control to be powered when the car is off.

[moroza]

Have you gotten around to installing the seat foam? Can you report if the new stuff is softer, firmer, or otherwise different from the quarter-century-old?

[T444E]

Howdy everyone...

Long time lurker, first time poster. I’ve wanted to nab one of these for a few years now and finally got the chance last weekend. It’s my first BMW, and it going to need a little bit of love to really shine again. Rather than typing out the cars backstory and attempt to capture its current condition with crappy out of focus pictures, I decided a shaky hand held out of focus video would be much clearer!

I’m excited to be here and learn about these guys as I start to tear this thing apart and hopefully bring it back to some of its former glory.

https://youtu.be/Hl29ptHOv_Q




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Nice R32

[T444E]

I’d agree if they wern’t sport seats. They seem to be ‘hens teeth’ rare. Would love to hear from anyone that has a great set for sale though!


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I put an ax through a set of nice heated tan sport seats a few years ago because E34 owners are too cheap to pay $200 for a nice set with no seat twist and working heat

[a777fan]

Nice R32

Thx! And bummer about the sport seats u had.


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