Ugh, E34s always look good with chubby sidewalls.
I'm actually team no-cap on most BBS, especially with large race studs protruding. Fight me.
Those Style 5 LOOK GOOD dude
05 330i Alpine White
Past:
02 330i Titanium Silver
R56 MCS
00 540i6
Current
2005 E55 AMG
1998 Silverado K1500
1964 Impala
1964 Chevelle 496ci
Past
2000 Avus M5
1988 Suburban K1500
1987 Suburban K2500
2007 Suburban
1999 K2500 Suburban
2000 MGM
1999 K2500 Suburban
2001 Stratus 740i Msport
1990 750iL
1995 540i/6
1996 MGM
Big sidewalls = catching the fenders, lol. I refuse to raise my car so I rub when turning if I'm going up a hill (like into a driveway).
I do have studs to install, but I ordered studs that would basically fit with my 12mm spacers and not have too much excess, so the caps will still go on.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Earlier today I installed the remaining footwell trims on the driver's side, including the one that's above the pedals. The result is a lot less road/engine noise in the cabin, so that's a win.
The other thing I did was replace the front driver window regulator, as it was getting very annoying to "help" the window go up and down with drive throughs while the motor made grinding noises. As far as replacing window regulators, this one went pretty smoothly— the corded drill made quick work of the rivets, a new ACI brand regulator was installed, the rivets were replaced with M6x12 bolts and locking nuts, and new Genuine BMW clips were installed in the window tracks. Window goes up nice and smoothly now, so that's another win.
Of course I couldn't put the nasty old door panel back on... the vinyl was separating and dry glue dust was coming out of every seam, not exactly a luxurious experience! So I prepared the new-to-me 95 door panel, the same way I did the rears— by gluing all of the clip brackets into place, along with the little cubby. E6000 plus a boatload of clamps.
It was installed onto the door with the Angry Ass felt pads on the clips, and it looks great.
Given that I touch this every time I get in and out of the car, it's a major improvement. All that's left to do is the passenger door panel, and then I'll finally have a car with 4 matching door panels, which y'all will know is a rarity for my cars if you've been following my threads long enough.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
"You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas."
Davy Crockett
www.Angry-Ass.com
My Build Thread Part 1, Part 2
DIY E31 X-Brace Mod and Install
DIY Rear Seat Backrest Modification for E32 Armrest
Some various updates on the car:
I took it through emissions, and it passed pretty easily. Not bad for original 297k mile catalytic converters and a 319k mile engine! The inspectors were amazed it passed. The only bit of prep I did was putting in fresh 91 and buying a new gas cap as the old one had a crusty seal.
The other fun thing is that I was able to get a bonded title for the car after waiting for a few months, so now I am the legal owner of this car. I think this is the third E34 I've purchased without a title? It's a good way to get a cheap car since nobody wants to deal with the bonded title process. I've got a great third-party DMV office I work with, I hand them cash and they get me a title, easy as that.
At some point I was doing some collision repair work for a customer's E30, and I had to get a roof to my shop from across town. My solution? Strap it to the roof, haha.
Other than some extra wind noise, it was a pretty unremarkable experience. I did put some old bike tires between the roof and the hood, so there was no damage to either. Not that it really mattered, since the hood was getting painted and my roof has less than zero clear coat left.
I always enjoy meeting up with other fellow E34 enthusiasts locally, like this guy I used to work with. It's a pretty nice 95 525i/5.
Now that we're in "winter," aka it's like 45ºF in the morning, my gauge cluster was straight up not working in the cold. That got annoying so I sourced another cluster from a guy on the E34 FB group. Look how sun faded the original cluster from my car was! It practically turned into a green back cluster, haha.
After replacing a ton of bulbs and swapping my coding plug over, I was rewarded with a fully functional cluster that works all of the time. Huge quality of life improvement I'd say. Another fun bonus was that the coolant temp gauge now sits properly at TDC when at operating temp, whereas it always sat a hair above TDC with the old cluster despite the engine running at the correct temperature.
There was a somewhat nice E32 740il at the junkyard recently with a black interior, so I grabbed all 4 door seals (2 for Dane's car) since they were in great shape. My driver's door seal was in awful shape:
After a tiny bit of trimming, the E32 seal fits perfectly and looks/feels 1000x better. I also cut and spliced the other 3 seals in the car to make them sit properly, as they had all shrunk.
The other goodie I grabbed from the E32 was this immaculate leather parking brake handle and boot, which was a massive improvement over the crappy base handle and eBay boot that never fit right.
The other day I finally installed a side marker in the rear bumper trim, which was the last missing piece on the outside of the car. After replacing the clips on the driver's side chrome strip (the one that goes above the doors) and the clips on the driver's door rub strip, the car now has every single trim attached properly. It's the little things sometimes, especially when it's stuff I see every day.
I was feeling a little bored one day so I cut a big hole in the intake box. I've got a dozen stock airboxes so I didn't feel too bad taking a dremel to it. While retaining the stock air filter, I was able to get a LOT more induction noise, especially under load. It's crazy what a difference this makes to the enjoyability of driving the car, I'm a fan of this mod, especially for free.
Earlier today, Dane and I headed out to our favorite local canyon road and had a really good run, encountering almost no traffic in either direction. Christmas Eve is a great time to go driving! The car performed excellent, and the Continental DWS06's were surprisingly grippy even while I was cooking them (it smelled like tires the entire drive). The amount of induction noise from my intake box mod was hilarious, especially since I was between 5000 - 6500rpm the entire time.
Things I need to do to the car next— install the Depo Euro smiley headlights with good bulbs so I can actually see at night, get a key made so I can lock/unlock the car, new sunroof seal to quiet the car down on the highway some more, maybe some floor mats, install the 540i brakes with new rotors and good pads, and then an aftermarket steering hub/wheel setup.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
That looks great Danny! Love to see cars resurrected like this, and the continued evolution. Would love to find a decent E34 but up here they are really rough or really pricey.
Merry Christmas!
I've been running Philips X-tra vision (at least I think that's What they're called) bulbs in my Depo smileys for the last 6-8 years, and like them quite a bit.
Light output is fairly impressive for a halogen setup, and they have been long lasting as well. Have only purchased the one set.
...reminds me I have a fog bulb to attend to. Again
Edit: sorry about the super quote.
Last edited by Tre0Tre34; 12-28-2022 at 10:36 AM.
I was going to downsize to 245/40/17 most likely, just so the whole car can be a bit lower. That and with running a rounder tire like Firehawk, that'll help with fender clearance. I don't intend to throw these out though, they'll get used until they're down to the cords. I'll just keep rubbing in the meantime, it doesn't bother me that much.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Looking good! The shots with the lights on remind me of something I did to improve esthetics (IMO) - swap the positions of the tail and brake lights, and switch the bulbs to LED to compensate for brightness differences. Makes the car look wider when they're on.
I've got some top-brake and one reverse fog burned out, but here's my 528iT with just taillights, and with everything on (anti-tailgating feature, works about 2/3 of the time):
nemi lightshow.jpg
I've run both 245/40 and 245/45R17, and ultimately prefer the latter but understand the appeal of the former. IMO they look a bit small:
245/40R17
245/45R17
I mostly want the 245/40/17 so I can go lower. The smaller sidewall also means the car will be lower to the ground, which is what I want.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Update time!
First order of business was installing a new sunroof seal. The installation was pretty straightforward, it just required popping out the metal sunroof panel. The seal is a nice tight press fit, no glue required! With a little bit of trimming, it fit nicely.
To say this sunroof seal was a game-changer for wind noise would be an extreme understatement. Not having whistling/wind noise right above my head does a lot for my sanity, as well as generally bringing the noise levels at 85mph to a more reasonable level. My old seal didn't even look bad, but clearly it was.
The next order of business was cleaning the dirty engine bay, which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in almost 300k miles.
I also tore off the decrepit hood insulation, which revealed a nicely clear-coated hood (the hood is a DOT-R replacement) and some broken washer nozzles... good thing I removed most of that system already.
After a few rounds with the pressure washer + Simple Green, it all cleaned up rather nicely. It's not perfect by any stretch, but at least it doesn't look woefully neglected anymore.
At some point, Dane, Ryan, and I went on a little drive to Wickenberg, AZ. We took the less frequented route there, which actually ended up being a ton of fun (aside from those damn cow catchers, pretty sure I bent a wheel there). It was amusing to see two black E34's with style 5's and bad paint. Ryan's is a 540i/6 so he thinks it's better (M50NV is superior though).
Later that day, I determined that the awful stock headlights needed to go. The adjusters were all busted and I just absolutely hate how the base freeform headlights look, they just date the car so much.
With that old trash removed, my tried-and-true formula of Depo smileys with clear corners went in. This time around I also sprang for some decent headlight bulbs — Osram Nightbreaker Lasers. Much better light output than the $3 cheapies I've run in the past.
Now I've got clears all around, which is both cohesive *and* makes me happy, so win-win.
We've been getting an unseasonably large amount of rain the past month, so I figured it was time to fix my janky wipers. The wiper blades themselves were fine since I had replaced them when I bought the car, but the passenger side wiper arm was aligned terribly, probably from the last time the car got a windshield. Easy fix though.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Earlier today, I freed up some space in the shop and was able to throw the car up on the lift for a bit of maintenance. The first order of business was an oil change, relatively straightforward. I'm experimenting with Shell Rotella T4 15W40 diesel oil this time around, we'll see if it burns less of it. Dane's E28 stopped consuming oil when he switched to 15W40 diesel oil, so we'll see what happens with my car.
Next up was replacing the oil filter housing gasket and camshaft position sensor o-ring, as both started leaking. Funnily enough, I've never replaced either of those things in the 54k miles I've owned the engine.
I can do these in my sleep, I swear.
All done!
The next order of business was replacing the fuel filter, as I had noticed the engine would bog a little bit from time to time. I know the gas tank was absolutely disgusting from the car sitting for 10 years, so I figured the fuel filter had gotten lodged with crap over the last 8k miles. I was correct:
I'll just keep replacing the filters every oil change, they're only $10 so I might as well keep doing it until they start coming out clean.
Next up was swapping the shifter out— Dane had just removed a nearly new E60 545i shifter from his E34 535i, so he sold it to me. The shifter swap was uneventful, and I also installed a brand new lower shift boot since I had one in the parts cabinet. I love the 545i shifter with a ZF, it feels perfect to me.
While underneath the car, I also changed the transmission fluid again. Previously, I had drained the Redline D4 and put in Redline MT-90, but I found that to be less than ideal for this transmission, as it would occasionally crunch going into reverse and all the gears felt kinda notchy. So I went back to ATF this time around, and it's been a huge improvement— the transmission is back to feeling buttery smooth again.
Lastly, I swapped on some LM reps that I had laying around at the shop. They have the wrong front tire size (225/40/18 on a 9.5" wide wheel) so I'll have to fix that. They're ET35 so they'll need a bit more spacer than what I currently have (30mm front, 12mm rear). I dig the way they look though, they give the car a far more aggressive look. I was getting a little tired of the OEM look of the style 5's... as I get older, I want my cars to be less and less stock.
I think with 255/40/18 all around and 35mm front/20mm rear spacer, the fitment will be solid. And then I'll probably lower it some more, I hate being at this weird OEM+ height where it's neither stock nor all that low.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Depos for the win. Love that an aftermarket makes headlights = to OEM supplier qualities. Looks great.
Question, is your buddies car an msport? Or just ended up with the full kit?
The only real downside of the Depos is that the glass on them is a bit thinner and more prone to chips/cracks when faced with all the rocks on the roads here in Arizona, but that's easily remedied with some Lamin-X, which I always recommend for pretty much all glass headlight BMW's anyways.
Yeah, it's an actual M-Sport, he bought it from Kansas a few years back. It leaked pretty much everything so I pulled the motor and did a full reseal on it, along with head gaskets (long story) and all of the power steering lines. Also deleted the SLS/EDC since it was leaking and failed anyways, and installed CA Tuned coilovers along with the correct M-Sport front brake parts (it previously had the wrong brakes on it). At this point it drives pretty well and is actually pretty leak-free as far as 540i6's go!
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Haven't done a whole lot to the car lately, it's just been existing and working as intended. Almost at 300k on the chassis so that's neat.
I swapped out the rear spacers from a 12mm to 20mm, rear fitment is a lot better now. I tried a 25mm but that was too much and it rubbed, so 20mm it is for now, at least until I get a chance to bash the rear quarters in some more.
I also got the trunk to close a bit better by putting some washers around the trunk latch bolts. Like most E34's (easily 75% of all the E34's I've seen so far), the area around the trunk latch is cracked, which made it difficult to close the trunk lid, especially if you were closing it from anywhere but the center of the trunk lid. With the washers, it closes better and with way less effort. There may be a proper fix coming for this soon
Did a post-sunset run on my favorite local canyon road, always a good time. Brakes definitely need upgrading, and since I've got 18's I can now do the budget E90 BBK upgrade. I'll see just how cheaply I can do it this time around, haha.
In other news, Renown was having a sale on their steering wheels, so I picked up one with the motorsport stitching because I am a giant tool and like ///M stuff on a car that has absolutely zero M parts (still gets driven harder than most real ///M cars I reckon).
It looks real nice, is a smaller diameter (350mm) and the deep dish of the wheel means I don't need to run a spacer. Now the steering wheel is a lot closer to me and in the optimal place so I can stop hunching over whenever I'm driving the car aggressively. Got the horn working too, hooray. Shout-out to Dane for hooking me up with yet another Momo hub.
In between the crazy amount of work I've been doing at the shop, I finally got a little bit of free time this weekend to wash the car. The wheels look great, the paint... not so much. Oh well. Just means I can keep sending it while it's ugly.
Later this coming week I'll get some new Firehawks mounted in the front, so I'll have 255/35/18 all around. Fitment will be significantly improved, as well as front grip, so I'm stoked.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Car looks great man!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Current
2005 E55 AMG
1998 Silverado K1500
1964 Impala
1964 Chevelle 496ci
Past
2000 Avus M5
1988 Suburban K1500
1987 Suburban K2500
2007 Suburban
1999 K2500 Suburban
2000 MGM
1999 K2500 Suburban
2001 Stratus 740i Msport
1990 750iL
1995 540i/6
1996 MGM
^Agreed
Dan-boy, there is nothing tool-y about that steering wheel. A little tasteful M-colored stitching is always appropriate.
For the weights involved, I'd definitely stick with the 540i brakes. Even for track work. But tough to beat the bling of a big brake rotor of course.
Got some proper front tires mounted the other day. There was nothing wrong with the front tires that were on there before, other than them being too small and looking silly— 225/40/18 on a 9.5" wheel is a bit too much stretch for my standards. I went with a 255/35/18 for the fronts, which matches what's on the rear. Back to a proper square setup!
It's a far more muscular look now, with the 255's filling out the front fenders a bit. Firehawks have been a favorite of mine for a while now, and despite their price increases they're still an incredibly good tire for the money— they grip really well, have a nice round sidewall profile for fitment and less rubbing, and they're well-behaved on the highway.
I also got a proper key from the dealership (thanks Dane!) cut to the VIN of the car. The ignition tumbler has been switched out at some point, but the rest of the locks are still original. With a little bit of lubrication in the various keyholes around the car, the power locks work perfectly. So now for the first time in my ownership of this car I can lock it. How exciting!
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Sitting proper with updated tire size. Did you find Firehawks to be a better choice than Champiro you used to run?
The Firehawks are significantly better. I ran the Champiros on the blue car because they were pretty cheap for the level of grip they had, but they were worse daily driver tires— they were pretty noisy and kinda stiff on bad roads. You get what you pay for, and whatnot.
- - - Updated - - -
And the big moment is here, I hit 300k! On the chassis, at least. The M50NV and 310z have 323k miles.
I took a picture of the car in the same place as the white car when it hit 300k miles. It's a fitting homage, given that the drivetrain from the white car lives on in this black car.
I also noticed that the new steering wheel leather grain matches the dashboard quite well, so that's neat.
To commemorate the car hitting 300k, Dane and I took it to a local canyon road at night and beat on it until it reeked of tires and brakes. Car took it like a champ, as always.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Went down to Tucson on Saturday with Dane, drove up Mt. Lemmon to see some dirty old snow for a change of scenery. It actually wasn't as crowded as it usually is on a weekend, so that was nice. All in all, from Friday morning to Saturday afternoon I put about 600 miles on the car, and it didn't skip a beat.
Pics courtesy of Dane.
Next up is to start prepping for some more maintenance, namely some new brakes. The current 525i brakes are squealing/grinding/feeling crappy after all the recent abuse, so it'll be nice to replace them with 540i brakes and some good pads. The driveshaft will need a rebuild too, as the U-joints are starting to feel a bit loose, so I'll have one of my spare ZF driveshafts rebuilt by Beyer Driveline and then I'll swap it in. Rear axles need re-booting too, as the original boots are falling apart at 300k.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
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