Another project to make time for...Cirrus 535i5

[atl530i]

Since this will be a long-term project, I wanted to make a thread about it. I have other projects that I need to tend to but this kinda popped up and I jumped on it without much hesitation. A lot of you will recognize the car, it belonged to Jonathan Braswell who originally built the car in 2011-2012 and then sold it not long afterwards. It was featured on Stanceworks, became desktop backgrounds for a lot of E34 people (including myself), and now it's sitting in my garage which in itself is cool and strange at the same time. I hope to bring it back to its former self but it may be a while. I'll get it running and driving but cosmetics will get taken care of later.

It wouldn't be right to not mention Jonathan's progress thread and Double-staggered thread.

I am not much of a stance person but this E34 has always been a favorite of mine. I'm already looking for parts for it. I found a set of blue door panels in good shape from a friend locally so that's a huge help. The rear panels are toast, and the front passenger is not far behind. The driver panel is fine which is strange since it usually has a little more wear than the other three. I've never owned an M30 E34 before, but I've had an M30 E12 and a few E28 535's and 533's. Hope to learn a lot about these since I've had crappy luck with M30's in the past for whatever reason. This is also my first super early E34 so I'm sure there will be a few things that catch me off guard anyway.

The car did come with a cool set of Speedline Mistral wheels. I'm not much into aftermarket wheels unless they're ACS, BBS, or Racing Dynamics wheels (basically stuff I'm familiar with and interested in). These are super cool and will stay with the car. I did think about getting some different wheels but after seeing these up close, that thought quickly went out of the window. They will get refinished at some point as well. Finally figured out what double staggered means too.

Currently the car needs:

• Tires. It needs tires badly. I now have tire lines from where the steel belt rubs against the driveway. I need to get the caps off and do not have the key. I plan on having one 3d printed or just making one to get the caps off without damaging them.
• Engine could use a tune up, fresh fluids, etc... It seems to idle well and hold temperature so that's a bonus.
• Interior needs a lot of tlc. Door panels are shot (I found a set already). Headliner is crap, luckily I have another one in the same color ready to go.
• The cluster was replaced at some point. I am not sure why but if I had to guess it's because the caps went on permanent vacation and caused a previous owner to swap the cluster out. I'm not even sure how accurate the mileage is on it but at this point, I do not care. The car is exempt from odometer readings in GA anyway. This is also causing the OBC to display PPPP which means it's not communicating with the cluster. An electrical challenge is always welcomed.
• Throw-out bearing makes noise when the clutch pedal is pushed. Clutch engagement is fine. This will get swapped at some point, for now it stays so I can move the car around the driveway.
• It will need brakes. The brakes are old and the rear rotors are cross drilled so they need to go.
• It will need both bumpers. The car did come with a new front Mtech bumper and I found a new rear M5 bumper that I need to go pick up.
• I'll have to go thru the suspension when I get the wheels off. Lower control arms are in the right place on the subframe, so I think whoever had it set the camber to a very positive setting. The car also has the wrong sized tires and some large spacers on it so that will all go so I can get it sitting where it was.
• Resistor sword is probably shot so I will have to fix that.
• Will need some Hella smilies, ambers, and proper taillights. I have all of this stuff in a box already.

Here it is in its current state. It's a sad state but it runs and moves around the driveway so I'm happy about that.






Tucked in the garage for now



Interior





Engine



Pics from Jonathan way back when. Hard to believe this was a decade ago

[OrientblauACS]

Cant wait to see it restored to its former glory. How many project cars you got right now?

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[atl530i]

Cant wait to see it restored to its former glory. How many project cars you got right now?

Sent from my SM-G390F using Tapatalk

Two. This one seems to be more of a project than the others. The wagon is a project that hasn't been started and the Olympic car really needs some deferred maintenance taken care of.

[theBMWbeast]

Oil filter wrench and a microfiber or masking tape should be able to get those caps off without damaging them. Awesome car and m30 is the best motor

[danespann]

Like others have said, M30 best engine. Glad to see this in whatever hands will bring it back to glory. Not much can beat a blue on blue car.

[atl530i]

So nearly two months after picking the 535i up, I spent some time messing with it.

First order of business was washing it. Hard to believe that I bought a car and just parked it...without cleaning the outside .



Main reason for just parking it was the wheel situation on it. The center caps on the Speedlines are threaded on the wheel and do not come off like a BBS center cap. The tires are trash and the incorrect size. It wasn't safe to drive with the tires that were on it. So I had some wheels laying around that I threw on it so I could at least take it for a spin. I found a 2.5" hole saw that fit perfectly. I applied a little pressure, spun the caps, and they came right off with ease.



I plan on getting these refinished at some point and putting them back on the car. I've had a lot of people inquire about buying them but I think they belong to the car at this point. Dismounted and now a TV stand in my office


Here's the car with a set of Racing Dynamics RGR's that were being used as a TV stand. I bought these last year from a friend with the intention of putting them on something. They are 17x8 et13 so perfect for E34's. I still had to throw a 10mm spacer on the front of the car since the tire rubbed against the strut housing. Not sure why, maybe due to how the collar and perch are on the strut housing. Luckily I had a set of spacers laying around with extended lugs. Here's a pic from the next morning. It got late the night before to get any good pics. These look awesome on this car, totally period correct.


Another issue was the insane positive camber that was on the car. I was told that the car possibly had E32 lower control arms on it but that wasn't the case. I tried to adjust the camber plates but found that someone had the lower portion of the camber plates were spun around 180* in the wrong position. Ground Control camber plates come apart pretty easy so I was able to spin these around and get them in the right position. I have them set around -2* of camber. Fine for now but I'll probably adjust it a little more positive for the time being.



Back to my favorite photo spot. It's never busy here during the evening.




Home from its maiden voyage of 7.3 miles. Took it to the gas station for some fuel and drove around town but not far from the house. The M30 did good, never overheated and it pulled well thru all of the gears. There's a few good driving roads close by that are not busy so if something were to happen, I wouldn't hold up traffic. A much better spin than when I took my Scirocco 16v for a spin (that one barely made it home ) A bunch of parts are on the way

[tortexal]

This is a sweet ride, if you ever decide to sell the wheels please consider reaching out to me. I have spent the past 14 years (I'm not kidding) trying to find the correct size outer lip for one of mine that got trashed in an accident. The closest I've gotten to getting a replacement outer lip is literally as of this week. I'm working w/ a guy out of the UK who said he has a lead on the outer lip. However, the original speedlines were offered in 1/4" increments. Today it's even and 1/2" sizes, so idk how to play that one or if he's even able to come through with parts :/

The center cap issue is a problem for sure. The 1st bodyshop my car was sent to in 2008 used a pipe wrench to remove the center cap. The removal tool was in the trunk the entire time. That resulted in buying another mistral wheel in 2009 from a porsche just so I could get another center cap albeit with a porsche logo.

Thread from 12 years ago when I was about to sell them:
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1486203-FS-17-quot-3pc-Speedine-Mistral-staggered-17x8-et15-and-17x9-et13&highlight=mistral

I have a set of 17x8.5 ACS type 2's on the car now. Maybe someday we trade