The Blue Backup Plan (Laser Blue/LSG 91 525i5 Thread)

[BleedsBlue]

I can certainly sympathize with the sentiment that two different cars with a bunch of shared parts can still feel worlds apart.

Do you think this is the end of an era for you and E34s, or just rolling with the E46 for a temporary change? That's a choice E46.

[dannyzabolotny]

I can certainly sympathize with the sentiment that two different cars with a bunch of shared parts can still feel worlds apart.

Do you think this is the end of an era for you and E34s, or just rolling with the E46 for a temporary change? That's a choice E46.

Not sure, really. I'm not opposed to another E34 necessarily, and I still have a ton of spare E34 parts + an S50 that I'm holding onto, but at the moment I can't see myself paying the crazy prices that beat examples are going for. Now if a crazy good deal happens to fall in my lap when I have some extra money (like the white 525i), then I could see myself in another E34.

At the end of October the lease is up on my shop, so I'll be selling off the lifts and heavy equipment, along with putting the rest of my tools/parts into storage. Without going into too much detail, I'm making another career change. Continuing to run my own shop has proven to be a bit too stressful for me, at least in my current state of relative poverty, but working as a mechanic for somebody else doesn't pay me enough for the physical toll it takes on me, so I'm looking to move back into an office environment and stick to wrenching on cars in a purely recreational manner (aka fixing my car or helping a friend fix their car).

That's where the E46 comes in, as I'll be able to keep it running in my driveway, without having a whole shop at my disposal. I don't have a garage at home, just a carport and a laundry room where I can store some tools, so I have to make that work.

[BleedsBlue]

Not sure, really. I'm not opposed to another E34 necessarily, and I still have a ton of spare E34 parts + an S50 that I'm holding onto, but at the moment I can't see myself paying the crazy prices that beat examples are going for. Now if a crazy good deal happens to fall in my lap when I have some extra money (like the white 525i), then I could see myself in another E34.

At the end of October the lease is up on my shop, so I'll be selling off the lifts and heavy equipment, along with putting the rest of my tools/parts into storage. Without going into too much detail, I'm making another career change. Continuing to run my own shop has proven to be a bit too stressful for me, at least in my current state of relative poverty, but working as a mechanic for somebody else doesn't pay me enough for the physical toll it takes on me, so I'm looking to move back into an office environment and stick to wrenching on cars in a purely recreational manner (aka fixing my car or helping a friend fix their car).

That's where the E46 comes in, as I'll be able to keep it running in my driveway, without having a whole shop at my disposal. I don't have a garage at home, just a carport and a laundry room where I can store some tools, so I have to make that work.

I gotcha. That all makes sense to me! I hope the new situation works out well for you.

I'm not joining ZHPmafia but I checked the thread out, and the car looks great. We'll see you around I'm sure.

[circuit.heart]

Continuing to run my own shop has proven to be a bit too stressful for me, at least in my current state of relative poverty, but working as a mechanic for somebody else doesn't pay me enough for the physical toll it takes on me, so I'm looking to move back into an office environment and stick to wrenching on cars in a purely recreational manner (aka fixing my car or helping a friend fix their car).

Isn't that the most relatable damn thing.

[tomaszapimasz]

Hey! I love what you did with the car, I am saving E34s myself in Europe, Hungary, planning to post one of my recent rebuilds.
I have the same laser blue (lazurblau) car with the same pre-facelift face and have been trying out all sorts of wheels, but never found anything that I can love and keep. NOW I have fallen in love with your GTA Mesh rims, and altough they are especially rare in Europe, I am looking for one myself. I wanted to ask what size (###/## R16) tyres did you have on them; and overall, what dimensions does the wheel have (it is 16" as you wrote but what "J" width is it I am curious).
Thank you in advance!

[dannyzabolotny]

Hey! I love what you did with the car, I am saving E34s myself in Europe, Hungary, planning to post one of my recent rebuilds.
I have the same laser blue (lazurblau) car with the same pre-facelift face and have been trying out all sorts of wheels, but never found anything that I can love and keep. NOW I have fallen in love with your GTA Mesh rims, and altough they are especially rare in Europe, I am looking for one myself. I wanted to ask what size (###/## R16) tyres did you have on them; and overall, what dimensions does the wheel have (it is 16" as you wrote but what "J" width is it I am curious).
Thank you in advance!

I wish I had gotten to keep the GTA's on my car for longer, but they're my friend's wheels and he put them back on his car. I can imagine they're somewhat uncommon in Europe since they were the stock wheels on a third-generation Firebird, specifically the Trans Am GTA. GM uses a bolt pattern that's like 95% the same as BMW's 5x120, but the hub bore is different, so these had to be bored out to the BMW 72.56mm hub bore. They're 16x8, and typically an OEM set has 2 wheels that are ET0 and 2 that are ET16. If I remember correctly, this set is ET0 all around, so the fitment was quite aggressive without any spacers. This car had close to -4º of camber in the front which helped to tuck the wheels in, and I had to beat the rear fender lips in quite a bit so it wasn't constantly rubbing.

The good news is that there are companies that make replicas of the GTA's but brand new, and for pretty reasonable money. There are even some 17" reps which look great, it would just be a matter of getting a company to ship them to Europe.