I've been excited about this pickup, especially having lost my old unintentional ratrod M5 so unexpectedly (https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...o-thread/page9). But then I moved across country over the winter, and until seeing John's recent thread, lacked the motivation to start a new thread on these lonely pages. We'll see how this goes, and hopefully it's a mix of self-fulfillment and future helpful references. I'm now based in Austin, Texas, and Angry Ass Solutions is following me here.
The Replacement
(Scroll for the instant-gratification pics)
I had dozens and dozens of hours into my last M5. Along with a close lifelong friend, we saved that car from a certain junkyard/part-out fate in 2012-13 (until May of last year...), and I had touched, fiddled with, replaced, or upgraded basically every subsystem on the car. I note this not seeking pity, but explaining my state of mind when left with an unsalvageable original M5. My day job had never been busier at the same time, so there was no bandwidth on any level for another project - as bad as I wanted to pull the refreshed S38 out and drop it in a slicktop Touring.
The replacement had to be a significant step forward, ideally less of a 250k+ mile project, something that appealed to me more than the last M5, and something that had the chops to both function as an Angry Ass part show car and clean date night or in-law ferrying family car. Easy peasy, right?
Throughout this community, some (I would argue, most) of the most interesting and equipped collectors have no social media or online presence. That is exactly the type of gentleman from whom I bought this car.
Federalized the hard way about a decade ago (not my first federalized Euro: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ue-in-CO/page6), a friend of a friend produced basically my dream E34 M5 from seemingly nowhere, less than 90 miles south of my damn house.
- 1992 M5, Euro
- 108,000 miles (not KM)
- Diamond Black with contrasting lowers
- Dark M Cloth upholstery, with manual front seats (!) and a special order two seat rear (!!!)
- Very stock - aka, not ruined by another's questionable taste (not counting some stick-on German ricer mods that easily came off)
I don't mind admitting I had to beg and borrow to buy this car in the short timeframe it was available to me, but the past 8 or 9 months have proven to me that the purchase was totally worth it. Even driving it home, I had the opposite experience of almost every other used car I have bought: most of it worked a lot better than I thought. By the time I stopped for dinner a bit north on the drive home, after a fully-warmed up WOT pull or two, I was shaking with excitement when I took this crappy cell shot in a mall lot.
The work begins
My baseline for the car (which immediately sat at my house idle for several weeks, unfortunately) was encouraging:
- A healthy driveline in need of little beyond a vacuum system refresh and noisy SAP removal (later proven by a clean bill of health from Blackstone, and passed emissions)
- Solid paint and very little rust. I didn't need original paint on this car, although it's likely most of it is original. The rear bumper lower trim is not painted in a contrasting color, strangely - something I will rectify when I get some other areas touched up in the future
- Ice cold R12 (!!!) and otherwise fully-functioning IHKA, thank the gods
- Functioning subsystems like cruise, radio (an ugly head unit that will be replaced), windows, interior features
- Aside from a purple rear deck and some holes in the driver side bolster, a very solid interior that, if garaged appropriately like I plan to, will hold up well over time
- A knackered suspension (like EVERY used BMW I have bought), but EDC and SLS still in place at least. Blown accumulators yield a stiff rear, and stink-bug stance with stock front ride height. Gross. Strangely, non-vented 300mm rear rotors and calipers were installed
Proving that in *most non-CA states, a clean-running M5 3.8 has no issues passing emissions, this car "fast passed" Colorado emissions on the first attempt.
As winter was coming, I made space in my tiny '40s single-bay garage for the car to protect it from the weather (particularly hail). Then the car was off to another buddy, a newish but fast friend in the detailing world with a high-mile, well-kept, survivor 540/6. Though overmuch time had to be spent on German ricer badge removal adhesive (there were 10 separate areas, including the rear M5 emblem, which was misaligned and had to come off), even a quick polish yielded encouraging results.
I was pleased to see the clear tails are OEM. After this detail, which ended up being only a baseline because of all the badge adhesive and limited time, the car again sat (but this time indoors!) until it got closer to my moving timeline to Texas. For what seemed like once in my life, the timing of things naturally worked out: Angry Ass was making a company debut at Texfest, a Texas...fest... for old BMWs, go figure. The venue was less than an hour from my move destination of Austin, so I arranged to drive the new M5 down for the meet, and then leave it on in-law's property and fly back to CO to continue working on my move. This way I could give the car a 1,000 mile shakedown before winter set in, and have one less car to move down to Texas.
I had a decent little list to tackle before the drive, and thankfully, completed most of it in my driveway in the sun (but not all). I didn't leave it all for the last minute as I normally do, but a bad eBay buy did come back to haunt me.
- Hang 17x8 forged M Systems with new Michelin PS4S rubber - M Pars belong on wide grills, change my mind
- Install MSI Racing bullet nose studs (85mm rear, 95mm front) and yellow "NASCAR pit nuts"
- Install Angry Ass Solutions Street Brake front upgrade
- Install 300x20mm vented rear rotors and calipers
- Bleed with Motul RBF
- Install Angry Ass Solutions SAP-replacement tensioner (toss OEM SAP into garbage)
- Oil and filter change, with the Motul 300V 5W-40 Angry Ass has been testing for awhile now. Captured an oil sample for Blackstone
Go figure that the one component I sourced from eBay used, let me down. I didn't notice until the last minute that one of the rear 300mm vented calipers had a chopped off bleed screw. This was the day before I was due to leave, on a weekend, but I was soon bailed out by another buddy - with a caliper taken off my old M5, no less! I had to pull the caliper off my old car, install it on the new car, and bleed (twice, of course) in 20F snow and ice, all outdoors.
But it was worth it. The car didn't miss a beat in the 900 mile trip down, or in the Hill Country windy roads for the Texfest meet that Angry Ass enjoyed so much. The car is a lot better put together, quieter, more refined, and faster than my old M5. If it had a sixth gear and no sunroof, I'd want to be buried in it.
More to come as I'm now semi-settled (though lacking a dedicated wrenching space) in Austin, and have lots of plans that dovetail with Angry Ass development in 2020. Radwood Austin is next, followed by a company debut at The Vintage in N.C. Stay tuned - and as a parting offering, here are a few decent photos of Texfest day trips. Once I can sort the ride height appropriately, a casual full shoot is sorely needed!
the 3.8 is a weapon with torque everywhere. looking forward to following progress on these "lonely" pages.
As a footnote where does all the E34 enthusiasts loiter on the internet these days?
BMW’s
90 E34 M5
84 E24 M635csi standalone ecu with coil on plug
94 E34 540i/6 SC 5-17psi Flex fuel/standalone ecu
97 Z3 2.8
97 E36 M3 euro SC still u/c
OTHERS
11 Audi S5 APR stg2
19 Volkswagen Amarok V6
Very nice,I'm hoping I find one of these in someone's garage buried under a bunch of junk.
Excellent. Was sad to see the old one go, and thoroughly enjoyed your last thread. Looking forward to this one. Such a beautiful color too!
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Heck yes! I loved your old M5, and this one is definitely a worthy replacement— especially to showcase all the cool stuff you guys make. I live in Arizona but I'll gladly be making the drive over to Radwood Austin in my newly-acquired 530it.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
It's no 540.
I own mostly junk. Except the Porsche, that's kind of cool.
All the motorcycles are trash which you can read about at
http://oneguytwowheels.blogspot.com/
I'll update it eventually
Thansk
Hey Brent!
You're words are too kind! I'm glad my build thread got the spark going and motivated you to make a new thread! Let's liven up this unfrequented website!
As for the car, congrats on the pick up! The Diamond Black with the contrasting lowers look smart! Can't wait to see how it'll turn out with all the Angry Ass parts on it. But please show off that interior! I definitely want to see it as well.
THIS.^ I couldn't agree more. Too often we see cars be transformed into balls-to-the-wall racekor wannabe on the streets for that Instagram clout. But what they don't show you is how terrible of a life you live trying to drive the damn thing at 30mph.
I'm glad you're also going for this type of build... Should be pretty easy peasy
Definitely, looking forward for more posts!
GazM3, I'd say most of us active users are on Facebook and are in this group: Bimmerforums.com E34 Crew
Come join the madness!
Regards,
John
It really took me by surprise, and my driving habits are changing. I never preferred the low-end of the V8s, the 3.8 does a lot to close that gap compared to the 3.6.
I think John is right, all of the activity has gone to Facebook for some horrible reason. I haven't had an account since 2009.
Ha! This was more like the odd car out in a meticulous collection, and had been taken care of. But hidden gems do exist!
Cheers, and thank you! I miss the old car everyday. This thread will be less "WTF is this", and more of a build, thankfully
Cheers, Danny! We will see you at Radwood, then. I'm watching your new Touring thread, as well. I like where you are going with that thing already.
More than I could afford, pal.
I'm onboard with you, John! And thank you. It's funny, when I bought old M5, it was opportunistic and I was still an E36 guy
By the time I crashed it, and bought this one, the E34 M5 had become a dream car just like for you.
Interior photos will be forthcoming, I owe everybody that!
We're totally in accord, and eventual full builds we do are fully intent on usability first, just with improved ability and breadth of skill in every possible area. Plus, these are not natural racekors, as good as they handle on track. My last M5 was so ratty and high mileage, I was going down a harder-core road with it because it could never be a show car or truly nice daily. I gotta be a lot more careful with this one, LOL.
Hey Brent,
Can't wait to see pics of that interior! Very pretty M5. I will be at the Vintage so I will stop by your booth or find you if you don't have a booth. I just bought a crusty M5 so I will be ordering parts from you guys soon. Still looking over what I will need for my S38.
95 540i6 M Sport - 95 525it S52/OBD2 - 433k E36 328i5 - X5D that hit a pothole - IG: @justinmurray95
Always have wanted an M5, can’t wait to see where you take this with the big 3.8. Loved your thread,and the other guys at AngryAss!
O o
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Diamond black looks sharp. Eagerly awaiting interior photos...
Cheers, Justin! I'm eager to see your M5T build - and I can't tell you how happy we'll be to contribute even a small piece of it! Let us know how we might help, and we always offer discounts in exchange for good coverage and reviews.
We're actually sponsoring Vintage this year, so our logo and site link will appear on the site soon. We'll have at least 2x M5s with goodies under our massive aluminum German tent, with products and drinky-poos. I think you'll find us
Cheers and thank you!
I don't see much Diamond black, but I'm really taken by how grey and sparkly it is, LOL. Did I miss a build thread for your new Touring, or are you still in an early phase? I would have loved to buy your B44 Touring, but the timing was no good for me.
This thread will be awesome for sure- solid purchase!!
E34 forums needs more revamped activity.
I just moved to the UK (Any England Members out there?) and am looking for a 3.8 to eventually purchase. Debating shipping my 540i/6 over in the meantime.
No thread until it's photo-worthy, but since you asked, here's a teaser.
picture 3715.jpg
Not much of an update today, but at least a quick, proper photoshoot to show the car in its current "winter" state after a decent wash. By spring I'm hoping to have a permanent garage spot for it.
This shoot pretty much hides the stinkbug stance and front fender gap, but this first sideshot shows it a bit. The car needs to come up half an inch at the rear (it should once I remove the bottomed-out SLS), and drop closer to an inch up front (lowering springs will do the trick for now).
It me! My wife takes all of the nice car photos, btw.
These next two aren't glamor shots - I just see things that need fixing, but again these are good baselines.
Particularly when lowered, the factory rear suspension of these M5s make you choose between acceptable negative camber, and acceptable toe settings. While the rear will come up and partially ameliorate the situation, I still want to add additional adjustment plates to the rear subframe. This will help avoid extreme camber under compression, and help that 235 section Michelin PS4S (w/ 15mm spacer) fill the rear arches better.
In contrast, I have a set of Ground Control street camber plates to go along with the front lowering springs, because I want -2 to -2.5 front camber. My front MSI Hardware studs have 20mm of thread left, so likely 15mm spacers for the front wheels at that point (a setup I ran on my last M5 pre-KW).
Oh yes - and the rear bumper lower trim needs painting to match the rest of the car. I'm worried it's Sebringgrau when it should be Granitsilber, but we'll see.
M-Confetti Club
This was a sunset shoot, and I hadn't given the interior a sufficient clean (plus I have a different steering wheel to go in), so these interior shots are quick and dirty. But I had to give the people something!
I can't recommend manual sport seats enough. I love saving weight, and I hate seat twist. I adapted Recaro SRDs (basically, 20 Jahre/E30M Evo seats) in my last M5, fulfilling a teenage dream, but honestly I prefer these "regular" manual sport seats in every category aside from looks.
I love the look of the M cloth, obviously, but to me the best features in this interior are the manual seats and 4 seat configuration, not the upholstery. M cloth will be more temperature-neutral and the bolsters are grippier than leather, but leather is certainly more durable and easier to clean. Given the rear breadbox and the upholstery, this will never be a cargo or dog backseat for me, which is a new challenge
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It looks even better with Nakedstars. Exterior is gorgeous.
Interior esthetics aren't my cup of tea - that would be leather, chrome, and wood - but for function, it's spot-on, very purposeful. As much as I like the look and smell of leather, I wish for cloth on my seats. Do armrests fit sport seats? How about comfort seat backs with map pockets?
Manual comforts have one weakness: failure-prone and expensive gas struts keeping the seatback from falling when adjusted. Do sports have the same issue?
Id be drooling over having that interior in my car haha! Especially those sport seats!
Armrests should fit a sport seat with no issues... the mounting holes are already there on the seat frame. I'll be helping a friend retrofit a set of armrests in his M-Sport, so I will report back on that.
I've spent a considerable amount of time in sport seats and while I used to really want a set, I'm all about the comfort seats nowadays. At my ripe old age of 27, I like the couch-like feel of them. They hold well enough for the occasional fun runs, but for the 95% of driving which is boring A to B driving, the comfort seats rule.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Haha YES! I'm glad my designation for the M Hurricane interior is getting some traction here!
Love the interior Brent! Jelly of the breadbox as I still would love one myself.
The 2+2 seating in the M Confetti config is my dream setup. But having the black leather interior is a classic too.
Also I spy the anthracite door sills as well! *Drool* can't wait for mine to come in the mail!
And I just noticed the shark fin antenna on the roof, odd the PO would put that on?
Lastly, have you thought of putting the Aero mirrors on?
John
Beautiful car! I'm anxious to see this thread progress.
Cheers, and thank you! I think I prefer OEM-finish Nakedstars, but either way those wheels sans-covers are always sexier than they have any right to be. They're just so hard to beat for function and cost, too.
I don't see how the seat backs would fit, and Danny should know more about the armrests shortly. Sport seats also have those struts to go bad!
It definitely catches the eye - but also makes me nervous to really use them! The driver outside bolster has tears in it in the usual spot from entry, so that helps bring it down to earth a bit, haha.
I slide all over the place in Comforts, I can't stand them - especially for distance!
I love coining and spreading obscure reference nicknames for these cars, so I'm onboard
I enjoy the sporting nature the breadbox imparts to the car, but it is about a 20lb weight penalty and not all that practical. Folding rear seats ala E36 would be a million times more useful, for instance!
The jury is still out on the shark fin! I'm scared to remove it and find a hole drilled in the roof, and I have no idea what it's used for quite yet. There is some small extra audio equipment in the car, but nothing major. Ideally I will remove the shark fin, maybe when I address some sunroof rust spots in the future.
I love Aero mirrors, and would jump on a nice set if they came up, for sure.
Thank you, and me too! I'm pretty broke right now and having to make do with the minimum (god forbid something breaks), but things should pick up in time for summer.
Welcome from BK06090 - '91 M5 with a 3.5/3.8 hybrid motor.
I need to see this thing in person.
I've been over on the E36 side for along time, but have started trying to get up to speed on the E34 side of the house in preparation for picking one up for my wife (or daughter depending on how nice / ratty it winds up being). I bought an E32 that I decided to flip and wasn't ready in time to pick up this M5 that just sold last week. (https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ver-Grey-12000 It would have been perfect - enough miles to make it OK for a daily driver, well taken care of enough that I wouldn't spend a fortune updating everything. And in that sweet spot for price, too). The E32 should go up on BaT this week, though I've never sold anything with them so I'm a bit uncertain how that will go.
In any case, I'm here in Austin and I'd love to meet you and the M5. I'l drop you a line on your website and send you a PM. In the mean time, I'll cast another vote for ramping up here and avoiding Facebook.
My M3 is in my sig, but here's a shot of the E32. I'm a sucker for M Parallels, and if I was keeping it I'd swap the wheels, but this thing is super original with only 61k miles so I bough a couple new center caps and just left them.
20200215_141211.jpg
-Josh: 1998 S54 E36 M3/4/6 with most of the easy stuff and most of the hard stuff. At least twice. 271k miles. 1994 E32 740il with nothing but some MPars. 93k miles.
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