The 535 that Could

[circuit.heart]

My eyes get fatigued quickly these days, so I don't like super bright lights, just good coverage.

Join me in the yellow beam brigade, son. Definitely more comfortable than the bluish-white normal HID output or god forbid modern LED headlights.

[danespann]

While I’ve owned nice sport seats for a couple years now, I’ve only given passengers the chance to enjoy them in my car as I’ve always kept a bucket driver’s seat, a Sparco evo 2 plus. Performed seat twist fix and threw the driver’s seat in a few days ago. It’s quite nice and being out of a ‘91 m5, it seems to sit a little bit lower than the previous set of ‘95 sport seats I had. And what seat swap is complete without a bit of carpet extraction?





This car has semi-needed a clutch for years and I've just dealt with it. It somehow always gets put on the backburner to other more pressing issues. However, since the last track day, it's been slipping occasionally and feeling worse than usual. I finally was able to pester Danny into some lift time to do the clutch on Saturday. I've had this m88 single mass flywheel and pressure plate for a while, already resurfaced. I also bought new flywheel bolts and grade 10.9 13mm head pressure plate bolts.



Transmission out with bad selector rod joint and leaking selector rod and output seals:



Disgusting:





The car appears to have received a new clutch disc in 2002 at around 140k, but everything else appears original at 275k.





Plastic pin was fine, not sure why people think they need a different material:



New rear main:



Delrin front carrier bushings and Turner rear carrier to replace the squeaky Garagistic one:



New flywheel mounted:



Took zero photos after this, however the clutch feels fantastic so far. It’s a lighter pedal than ever, revs much quicker, and engages smoothly. Put around 100 break in miles on the clutch the next morning running errands, then took a Sunday night drive to one of my favorite roads for sunset.

[Pink120]

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[danespann]

Crazy how once you tuck a car away, it’s easy to find excuses to not drive it. Well, it’s over 110 outside, so the e28 ac just doesn’t cut it anymore.

-Out the e34 came one night to get a well-deserved thorough wash and some fresh coating for the summer.



-Also popped in this alternator duct from a V8 car that I enjoy the look of. Doesn’t do much of anything on a 535 besides add some asymmetry.



-Next, I removed the carphone that has always been installed in my center console. The storage bin is much more useful than a non-working car phone now that I can’t stuff my drink between my bucket seat and the center console anymore.



-On the GTAs go and this is a commuter once again.

[circuit.heart]

-Also popped in this alternator duct from a V8 car that I enjoy the look of. Doesn’t do much of anything on a 535 besides add some asymmetry.

I love this, esp if you can get the duct to the alternator working as well. Can we put M60 alternator covers on the I6 alternators? To gain access to the OEM ducting parts.

[Jcbe34]

This is looking great man- loving the progression. It's nice to see more active members on the forums these days tracking e34's. What are you planning on next for tires?

[danespann]

This is looking great man- loving the progression. It's nice to see more active members on the forums these days tracking e34's. What are you planning on next for tires?

Thanks, just picked up some BFG rival S1.5 in 255/40r17 I need to get mounted up. Glad I bought them before tires stopped existing.

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I love this, esp if you can get the duct to the alternator working as well. Can we put M60 alternator covers on the I6 alternators? To gain access to the OEM ducting parts.

I could probably fashion something, but the factory m30 duct that pulls from the upper grille by the headlights works fine and is intact on my car. I'd rather use any ducting on the bumper for brake cooling or maybe a PS cooler.

[BleedsBlue]

Thanks, just picked up some BFG rival S1.5 in 255/40r17 I need to get mounted up. Glad I bought them before tires stopped existing.

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I could probably fashion something, but the factory m30 duct that pulls from the upper grille by the headlights works fine and is intact on my car. I'd rather use any ducting on the bumper for brake cooling or maybe a PS cooler.

I've heard great things about the Rivals.

What are you hoping to solve or fix with more PS cooling?

[danespann]

What are you hoping to solve or fix with more PS cooling?

Nothing really. Old BMWs in general could use a real PS cooler to keep the fluid from boiling on track, but it's not necessary if you just change the fluid often. I'll likely leave the duct being solely for looks.

[dannyzabolotny]

+1 for more power steering cooling, I boiled some brand new fluid after 1 session at Streets of Willow, like I completely lost power steering after 20 minutes of hot-lapping. The stock power steering cooler sucks for track use.

[BleedsBlue]

Word. I ask because I think a lot of "boiling" fluid in these cars is misdiagnosed, when it comes to the fluid overflowing at the reservoir. Interesting info here (of course, they are trying to sell a product, but still...): https://www.chasebays.com/products/c...ring-reservoir . Obviously, the stock paper clip cooler is a bit woeful for sure.

I can now say in 25min sessions at COTA in 100F ambient, the PS fluid did fine, and my car has all original 100k+ mile PS parts*

*I'm sure as I type this, every hose just busted in my garage out of spite

[circuit.heart]

Word. I ask because I think a lot of "boiling" fluid in these cars is misdiagnosed, when it comes to the fluid overflowing at the reservoir. Interesting info here (of course, they are trying to sell a product, but still...): https://www.chasebays.com/products/c...ring-reservoir . Obviously, the stock paper clip cooler is a bit woeful for sure.

I can now say in 25min sessions at COTA in 100F ambient, the PS fluid did fine, and my car has all original 100k+ mile PS parts*

I'm also pretty certain the fluid isn't boiling on track, but maybe I can't tell what good PS is supposed to feel like. At speed the PS isn't actually needed to provide a ton of assist + that's when you have the most cooling airflow to help out. I see the aeration problem just with the cap open, so ChaseBays' idea here is sound IMO. Baffle it more, let the air bubbles work themselves out before the fluid gets fed back in, and the PS performance should remain more consistent.

[danespann]

A lighting upgrade update. And no, I didn’t do what most people these days do and pop some amazon led bulbs in there to blind everyone else on the road.

I pieced together some HID’s from my old 93 535i that was parted out a few years ago. They’re just old Morimoto XB35 ballasts with error cancellers. They worked great on that car with squared bixenon projectors. Unfortunately, the projectors and 3d printed brackets from that car did not survive and US ellipsoids use 9006 bulbs, so I ordered some fresh 9006 4000k bulbs and popped them in.



My old silverstar ultra 9012 bulbs were moved into an intact set of non-projector NFL fog lamps and those received a light polishing of the glass lens and an application of lamin-x. I removed the bumper partially and spliced the new fog light connectors in. No more fog light error when one of my old zip-tied bulbs gets broken plus I have some extra lighting for all the middle-of-nowhere road trips this car takes at night.

[dannyzabolotny]

An E34 with intact early-style fogs is truly a sight to behold, I don't remember the last time I saw that! I dig how the HID's don't look aftermarket, the color temperature is just right for a stock look.

[danespann]

I dig how the HID's don't look aftermarket, the color temperature is just right for a stock look.

This was the goal, thanks.

[danespann]

It was time for new street tires on the GTA’s.





While I stayed with the 225/50r16 size, these tires are significantly less bulky on the sidewall, so I can lower the rear of the car back down to normal height now without the annoyance of rubbing.

I took a random trip up north to escape the heat and burn off half a tank of old 87 octane so I could fill up with premium. Picked up the ecu from my old ‘93 535i which has a Racing Dynamics chip in it, so I’d like to compare it to the Dinan chip in this car at some point.

[BleedsBlue]

Looking good and sitting right, as ever

[moroza]

I'll bet you don't like speedbumps and steep driveways much, but that does look good. Do those wheels come with center caps? If so, I wonder if they're sized just to fit the hub bore and could possibly be used on M Systems.

That car's come together quite nicely, looks sorted. 4k HID are the way to go, IMO; I got some recently as well.

How do you (and your interior) survive without window tint?

For your steering fluid cooler, consider this solution: I repurposed an M50 automatic oil cooler for my hydraulic system (steering and SLS), though improved cooling was the secondary purpose, the primary one being to make room for a death ray behind the grill. The coolers are easy to find, include a removable thermostat, and the pipes are the same 12mm OD as the rest of the system.

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[danespann]

I'll bet you don't like speedbumps and steep driveways much, but that does look good. Do those wheels come with center caps? If so, I wonder if they're sized just to fit the hub bore and could possibly be used on M Systems.

Speedbumps and driveways are no problem. Even did a bunch of rough dirt/mud roads a couple pages back. It's not even low at all compared to half the other cars I've owned. The wheels come with some giant awful center caps that snap in with tabs and are like 4" tall for some reason. I have old ocean spray bottle caps with bmw stickers on them that fit perfectly in my m system hub bore.

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How do you (and your interior) survive without window tint?

I garage park this car, but I really should get some nice window tint. I've been wanting some metallized tint(think 2003 rx300 factory tint) for years now but nobody does it here. The A/C is cold enough and moves enough air to keep the cabin plenty frosty even when it's 120 out though.

[danespann]

I actually accomplished some work on this car, a rare thing during summer here.

Unfortunately, a ‘93 535i/5 I owned years ago popped up at one of the local junkyards. That car had a nice black interior, Koni/H&R suspension, m5 flywheel, and e31 lowers. Of course the doors were double locked, but I reclaimed my A/C components and e31 arms.

I ordered some Moosehead thrust arm bushings from Angry Ass a while back, so it was time for a front end refresh.



This car’s last full front end refresh consisted of Meyle HD thrust arms and Meyle steel LCA’s with Lemforder tie rods around 75k miles ago. Center link is still original with zero play at 275k miles. I’ve done 2 more sets of thrust arms since this, resulting in 25k average miles per set.



I took the steering plates off to avoid disturbing the ball joints on the thrust arms I’d be re-using. The tie rod ball joints popped out easily. With everything out, I went about removing the steel lower control arms from the plates. Both had tight ball joints after 75k, but the bushings were looking pretty worn and one was beginning to split. After using the air hammer pickle fork and resorting to a large hammer, the lowers finally popped out of the steering plates. Mooseheads were pressed into the uppers with relative ease and the used e31 lowers were installed.



Next up, I lowered the car back down in the rear. I raised it 12mm a while back because of rubbing and it made the rear of the car toe in and wear tires. I didn’t like the rake either. After getting the height perfect, I aligned the car with 1/16” toe in as usual. The car went from 1/16” toe in to ⅜” toe out just from changing from steel lowers to e31 arms, so they’re slightly longer than standard arms.

The car seems to ride better on the new parts, which I was not expecting considering the switch from rubber bushings. Expansion gaps are transmitted into the cabin considerably less(quieter). To finish things off, I installed a new car phone glass-mount antenna as that has been missing for ages.

[moroza]

Putting anti-seize on balljoint studs makes life a lot easier when replacing them some years later.

[BleedsBlue]

Nice! No one ever believes me when I say the Mooseheads+E31 lowers do not add noticeable NVH...but they don't. If you drive your E34 for anything other than super gentle daily errands, they're worth it.

[danespann]

Putting anti-seize on balljoint studs makes life a lot easier when replacing them some years later.

I didn't even install the meyle ones that were in my car, but the new e31 ones have a little dab of it on them.

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Nice! No one ever believes me when I say the Mooseheads+E31 lowers do not add noticeable NVH...but they don't. If you drive your E34 for anything other than super gentle daily errands, they're worth it.

I was hoping to not add NVH, but the reduction of NVH is a pleasant surprise. Totally worth it.

[danespann]

This car decided to leave a little puddle on my garage floor. This is strange as the car normally doesn’t leak. Hmm, the bellhousing area was wet and it seemed like oil.

Hoping it was the clutch slave, I put it on the lift at Danny’s one day and pulled the slave out. Torn boot on a slave from 2006, but it was dry. That’ll get replaced here but it wasn’t problematic.



My worries were confirmed. Ordered another rear main seal and gasket as well as some ultra black RTV. Yanked out the transmission and flywheel and replaced it the same day as everything was in stock locally. I put new alignment dowels in as well because the original ones on my car were already missing, probably causing the misalignment and immediate rear main leak. Much care was taken to center the seal on the crankshaft and a liberal bead of black RTV was applied to all mating surfaces of the plate. If the rear main isn’t leaking when you do a clutch, consider not touching it.



I also swapped out my Dinan ecu chip for a Racing Dynamics one from the junkyard 535i that gave me e31 lowers.


The roads in my area are thoroughly garbage and under some construction recently, so I’ve been extra annoyed by a couple rattles in the lower dash lately.

Apart it came:


After pulling the metal brace piece, I unplugged the airbag module orange connectors, according to some advice from another forum member.


No more airbag light. Fully warning free:

[93FIM5]

This car decided to leave a little puddle on my garage floor. This is strange as the car normally doesn’t leak. Hmm, the bellhousing area was wet and it seemed like oil.

Hoping it was the clutch slave, I put it on the lift at Danny’s one day and pulled the slave out. Torn boot on a slave from 2006, but it was dry. That’ll get replaced here but it wasn’t problematic.



My worries were confirmed. Ordered another rear main seal and gasket as well as some ultra black RTV. Yanked out the transmission and flywheel and replaced it the same day as everything was in stock locally. I put new alignment dowels in as well because the original ones on my car were already missing, probably causing the misalignment and immediate rear main leak. Much care was taken to center the seal on the crankshaft and a liberal bead of black RTV was applied to all mating surfaces of the plate. If the rear main isn’t leaking when you do a clutch, consider not touching it.



I also swapped out my Dinan ecu chip for a Racing Dynamics one from the junkyard 535i that gave me e31 lowers.


The roads in my area are thoroughly garbage and under some construction recently, so I’ve been extra annoyed by a couple rattles in the lower dash lately.

Apart it came:


After pulling the metal brace piece, I unplugged the airbag module orange connectors, according to some advice from another forum member.


No more airbag light. Fully warning free:

Love the work and glad you're happy with the Moosehead bearings, really one of the best upgrades to these cars.