What is and what will be (mods)

I love my car, I really do, so when i start talking about modifying it you would think that i´m not happy with it. 

Car guys (or gals) enjoy a love affair with their vehicles. They lavish attention on them, bathe them and baby them, treat them to expensive baubles. Their vehicle is more than just a box (or phallus) on wheels, it´s an extension of them...a way in which they demonstrate their personality, their individuality. 
No true car guy wants their car to be a carbon copy of the thousands or millions of similar cars on the road. This is why we change things.

When i bought the car it came with almost everything i wanted, this is why i bought it in the first place, but in my efforts to stand out from the rest i need to do a few things to make it truly mine.

As you can see from the following list I´ve already started along the primrose path, but there´s still got a ways to go before the car is finished.

Current
-Hella Black Headlamps
-M5 Licence Plate Surround
-Wide Hood (V8) Conversion

Already  most of important work from an esthetic point of view is done, though the icing on the cake will be to lower the ride height with some Sportline Springs and bring the package together.

Future
-Eibach Sportline Springs (-5cm)
-Bilstein B8 Shocks
-dsylva-tech EAT chip
-M5 Shift Tray/Surround
-Eisenmann Sport Exhaust
-Smoked Turn Signals

The future list is longer than the current mods list and it´s only what i can get away with, taking into consideration that this needs to be a useable daily driver or else there would have been coil-overs instead of springs. 

That being said i have a lot of pokers in the fire and few pictures and updates to show for it. Hopefully in the next few weeks i will have some of the previously posted mods in progress wrapped up and i can share them with you.

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I´ve been a little tardy in adding this feature, but you can now follow the blog via email.
Just add your email address in the field over to the right and receive notifications every time a new post is published.

Go wide or go home

Narrow or wide, it´s a love hate thing with the E34 crowd. Some guys prefer the classic look of the narrow kidneys and some guys like the later wide look.
Me? I couldn´t have cared less, until browsing the web for E34 pictures i came across a picture one of my favorite E34´s...  

Low and wide, black and looking like it wants to run you down. I loved how the later kidneys looked on this car and wanted to do something similar to mine.

My car currently sports the narrow grille as it came from the factory, but time and careless drivers have not been kind to both hood and grill surround, but decided that they were too far gone to be worth repairing. 

I spent some time trying to track down a wide hood/grill with no luck. The ones i did find were too far away and that made shipping them an expensive proposition, so i let things be.

When my SO mentioned to me that her co-worker had an old BMW that he needed gone fast I jumped into action.

Much to my delight the "old" BMW ended up being a ´95 525 tds  sporting the wide grill which i had pined for.  It had recently been brought over from Germany and the owner needed to be rid of it asap, as in it was going to the scrapper. I offered to take the hood off his hands and any other little bits I might need.

The donor

With the wide hood conversion found and the recently added blacked out headlamps my car is finally on it´s way to being just how i imagined it. So stay tuned for more updates and pictures!






 

Out with the old

You´ve probably already read the un-boxing and know what i am up to (if you haven´t, you can read it here )

My E34 is already 19 years young and i love the car, but i´m a tinkerer and I can´t leave things alone.
It´s a car that looks good from almost any angle, but i needed to make it mine.  It needed to say "hey man look at me, i´m not just another E34"   What better way to do that, than with a small update.

I decided that the best update both esthetically and from a functional point of view would be new headlamps. The old ones were very pitted and cracked and the quality of the lighting had diminished as a result.

Frosted 19 year old headlights

Now i could have simply bought stock replacements and called it a day, but that just wouldn´t do.  I  wanted anyone who looked in their rear view mirror to see something more menacing coming up from behind.  While i really wanted to airbrush Satan´s face on the hood i thought it might attract too much attention. So i went with Hella´s Smoked Headlamps instead.

I´d like to say that the install was easy, pain free and a joyous event...it wasn´t.  Also, i didn´t take any pictures of the procedure as i was so pissed off, but you can see how it´s done here http://home.comcast.net/~winstonfong/repairpagessite2/frontgrillremoval.htm

Step 1. First you need to get the metal grill surround off. This is probably one of the more painful steps.
You´ll need a very long screw driver with which pop the grill tabs free.  This requires you to spend 20 minutes cursing while probing for the tabs in a small dark hole (endoscopy anyone?)  Once you think you have found them, press downward (some force is required) and the bottom of the grill surround should pop forward. You need to do this on each side.
There are also some tabs directly under the kidneys which need to be pried upwards with a shorter screw driver (much easier) So you can pull the surround forward.
The last part is the easiest. Open the hood and prise up the small tabs on top of the kidneys and push forward. You might also need to remove a screw as well but mine wasn´t there.  You can then close the hood, and pull gently on the metal grill and it should come free.

This took me 20 minutes and i was bruised, bloodied and really pissed off. It´s funny though, it´s not the first time i´ve taken off the grill but i don´t ever remember it being that hard to do.

Step 2. Remove the plastic grills. Easy peasy, use screw driver to remove 5 screws per side and enjoy the fruits of your labors.


 Step 3. Headlamp removal. This was a pain in the ass as well and took me the better part of the afternoon cursing in a dark underground garage.

Remove 3 visible screws located in the front. There are a few more located in the engine bay behind the headlamps. If you want to remove the headlamps with the turn signals attached then you only need to remove the 1 screw that attaches the turn signal to the side fender. You´ll need to feel about to find it.
This is where things got complicated. Every online tutorial i´ve read says that you only need to remove these 4 screws to get the headlamp/turn signal unit out, not so in my case. 
After cursing some more and trying to figure out why the headlamps would not come free i discovered a 5th screw.  This little bugger needs to be accessed from inside the engine bay as well and attaches the headlamp from behind to a small metal bracket.  It is located near the turn signal screws. 
The passenger side is easier to remove, but on the drivers side you´ll need to remove the air box cover to be able to get at the bracket.

Here you can see where the 4 screws for the headlamp unit go.

Step 4. Take a break.  After all of this i looked like Doc Brown from Back to the Future, only in black-face, not a pretty sight. I decided to take a break and continue the next day.

Stay tuned for a much shorter blog entry in which i still don´t document anything but curse a lot.

Hella Teaser ; )

So as some of you may have noticed it´s been a few days since i´ve posted anything new, but rest assured I have been busy. 

Since my last post i´ve had a chance to take the car out for a long drive with the new tires and alignment. I´ve also had a chance to install the new headlamps. 

Here´s a Hella Teaser until i post more on the install.

Not bad at all...

It´s  now been 15 days since i got off my backside and decided to start a blog about my favorite daily driver, the BMW E34 525i Sport Limousine. 

And how´s that working out you ask?  Let´s see, so far the blog has had 296 views, 1 comment and 10 published posts!  Alot better than i thought.

So who exactly is checking us out?  Here are the stats by region

United States	94
Sweden	30
Spain	17
Taiwan	5
Germany	2
United Kingdom	2
Russia	2
Slovakia	1

So far the U.S. and the Swedes take the lead. Not surprising considering that both countries contain a large number of petrol heads.

Regardless of who you are and where you are from, let me take the time to thank you for stopping by to check out the latest news.

Cheers!

Here she is...

Yesterday the blog had it´s first reply from a reader, Flaffy from Sweden, who also happens to own one of these Special 525i Sport Limousines.
He had asked to see some pictures of the car, for comparison reasons ; )   Flaffy you don´t have to twist my arm.
Here are some of the pictures that the previous owner sent me before i decided to go up and see it in person.

Looking good.

Please, do come in.

Alcantara Sport Interior.

Just as nice in the back.

As i mentioned, these are old pictures and really don´t do the car justice. I´ll be taking better quality photos as the project continues.

Cheers!

The un-boxing..

Ok, ok, you all already knew what was in the box, but I needed to create some tension.

...and yes they are real Hella´s.

New headlights were high on my list of things to do, but for one reason or another something always got in the way (talk about not having my priorities straight : )

Since i´d already given myself a deadline to finish by the Holidays, i decided that i could safely eat Ramen Noodles for the foreseeable future.  So off i went and added these bad boys to the shopping cart.

As i´d mentioned before, the old stock headlamps were in rough shape and also mismatched, one set being Hella and the other Bosch.  My plan was to spruce up the car and Blacked out headlights take it to another level, kind of like the difference between Bruce Wayne and Batman.  Yes Bruce is a handsome fellow with cash and good taste, but Batman is so much cooler and menacing.
And that´s what these bring to the E34.

Since i´m the kind of guy that can´t sit still for more than 30 seconds, i´ll be putting them on tomorrow.

Stay tuned. Same Bat-Time, same Bat Channel.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The E34 delivery man rang today. I wonder what it might be?(so does Rescue Dog)
Stay tuned...

Need more E34 ?

Not getting your E34 fix from the blog?

Here are a few forums/web sites that i frequent for my daily E34 news, pictures, DIY´s, and ownership stories, etc,.
Most of the best ones are U.S. based so better get out google translate or learn a new language (always fun).

Lot´s of great information, DIY´s and tips on the E34
http://www.bmwe34.net/

Probably one of the biggest
http://www.bimmerforums.com/

Yup, an E30 forum with a 5 series subforum.
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=179

Deals with the E34 M5
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e34-m5-discussion/

A U.K. forum from our friends across the sea.
http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/forum/63-e34-1988-1996/

A forum from our Spanish amigos
http://www.bmwfaq.com/forums/bmw-serie-5-e-34-e-39-1987-2004.152/


I´m sure there are more. If you know of any websites, blogs, forums (regardless of language and geographical location) that deal with the E34 please feel free to post them and i´ll add them to the list.

Decoding the VIN (Part I)

When i bought the car, i thought it was just a tarted up 525i with most of the goodies i wanted.
It was clear someone had spent time and money on it but i wanted to know what was factory and what wasn´t. So i needed to get the VIN decoded if i wanted to find out.

Over on Bimmerforums there was a handy post offering to decipher BMW VIN codes so, i sent mine in and this is what i got back.

    VIN long      WBAHD51020BGXXXXX
   
    Type code      HD51
    Type      525I (EUR)
    Dev. series      E34 ()
    Line      5
    Body type      LIM
    Steering      LL
    Door count      4
    Engine      M50
    Cubical capacity      2.50
    Power      141
    Transmision      HECK
    Gearbox      MECH
    Colour      SCHWARZ-MICA METALLIC (347)
    Upholstery      ANTHRAZIT STOFF (0411)
   
    Prod. date      1993-10-27
   

    Order options
    No.      Description
    240      LEATHER STEERING WHEEL
    243      AIRBAG FOR FRONT PASSENGER
    314      HEATED WINDSCREEN WASHER NOZZLES
    339      SATIN CHROME
    354      GREEN STRIPE WINDSCREEN
    401      SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC
    423      FLOOR MATS, VELOUR
    428      WARNING TRIANGLE
    438      WOOD TRIM
    481      SPORT SEATS F DRIVER/FRONT PASSENGER
    492      TRAY IN CENTRE CONSOLE
    498      HEADRESTS IN REAR, MECHANIC. ADJUSTABLE
    510      HEADLIGHT BEAM-THROW CONTR. F LOW BEAM
    520      FOGLIGHTS
    530      AIR CONDITIONING
    556      EXTERIOR TEMPERATURE DISPLAY
    564      INTERIOR LIGHT PACKAGE
    661      BMW BAV. CASS. III
    676      HIFI LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
    704      M SPORT SUSPENSION
    730      SONDERSERIE
    787      INDIVIDUALSERIE
    801      GERMANY VERSION
    860      LTRL TURN SIGNAL LIGHT FRT


It´s a well optioned car (for Europe) considering what one of these cost new back in 1993. Most of the ones you see still running are poverty spec models with standard (non-sport) cloth seats, a/c and 15'' wheels.
After comparing the options list with what was on the car, it became clear that it was completely stock and unmolested.

I did a little more digging and discovered some more interesting facts regarding this particular car, but i´ll leave that for another post.

A big thanks to Mike Kent from www.thebmwpartstore.com for decoding the VIN.

New Shoes!

The PO had put on a mismatched set of Falkens and Dunlops that were getting near the end of their life.  While I managed to squeeze quite a few km´s out of them, it was clear that they were more decorative than anything else at this point. 

In the past i had been happy with Falkens on the E30 but i wanted to try something new this time.
After reading a mountain of reviews i decided on the Toyo Proxes T-1 Sports. The reviews were positive and the price was right...add to shopping cart.

A week later the tires showed up. My first impulse was to stick my finger nail into the rubber to test their smooshiness ( I would have taken a bite too but my girlfriend stopped me)
I can say that these are far stickier than the Falkens so they won´t last as long.

Here she is at the shop this morning.

The old tires were pretty worn on the insides and wanting to start fresh i decided to have them do an alignment.

I haven´t had a chance yet to take the car out for a proper test drive with the new tires, but i will do a write up as soon as i do.

As you can see my posts follow no chronological order and i will be jumping between past and present in my ownership experience.

New eyes

I´ve owned the car for almost two years now and recently noticed how badly deteriorated the headlamps are.  Badly pitted glass and a cracked lens have reduced the clarity of the lighting, so i decided it was time to remedy the situation with a new set of these...

I have always loved how the E34 looks with the blacked out/cross hair headlamps. They give the car a slightly more modern look and pull the front end together.

I placed the order yesterday and with luck they should be here the following week.

The search begins

I´ve been a fan of older BMW´s for a few years now (mainly E30´s) but i´ve never really liked their larger offerings, thinking them bloated and lacking in the sportiness afforded by their smaller brethren. But when i had an encounter with a lamp post that laid up my 318is for a few months i decided i needed something larger, slightly more modern and with A/C.

As i began my search my choice of likely candidates grew even smaller. I needed something big enough to haul my dog, current significant other and my belongings in comfort. I also needed to stay within budget.

Enter the BMW 5 series. But which one? The E60 was out of my price range, too modern and too run of the mill. The E39 too rounded and bloated for my taste. The E34 fell neatly into my budget and ticked most of the boxes, but i could n´t get over how much it looked like an old person´s car.

Not wanting to rack my meager brain over having to make a decision i stopped looking and pursued other interests...mainly women and drink.

Not long after i came back to the search after stumbling onto a BMW forum and seeing some pictures of a beautifully modified E34. Slightly lowered, blacked-out headlamps, BBS type wheels and the glossiest paint i had ever seen, surely this did n´t look like something an octogenarian would drive.

I dug back into the classifieds with renewed vigor and found...junk. Everything i ran across looked like it had survived (just barely) some civil war or had been used to haul chickens cross country.

Now despondent that i would never find what i was looking for, i came across an ad that caught my attention, ´93 BMW 525i for SALE in good shape. I had found my car...

Beginnings

This is the very first post of the blog showcasing my very own E34 German Market only [E34] 525i Sport Limousine.

Over time i will be posting about my ownership experience, model history and upgrades. As well as trying to locate any owners of this particular model.

While the blog is in English i have added a neat translate button over to the right side of the page. I encourage everyone to post and share in the discussion.

Cheers,

Albert