My new 1995 540i/6
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I thought I would do a little update post since Chris did all the posting for me on my trip (thanks by the way
). My car is still sitting in Summerville, SC at my grandparents place. It's about 30 minutes away from me in Charleston and I haven't been able to get out there to do any work yet. I did start her up this past Sunday, she started right away and sounded great so I've got that going for me. I did my research and sourced parts for what I think is wrong as of right now. My plan is to rebuild all 4 calipers and replacing the pistons on the front two. I'm pretty sure the front right caliper is stuck open causing the pads to rattle around in the mounts. This also giving my car's computer the illusion that the pads where low because there wasn't any pressure on the pads. When I looked at the calipers there was a good layer of rust and corrosion on the pistons that possibly could have seized it up and they didn't budge when I went at them with a C-clamp. I tried moving all the arms down there around but not one moved even a little. There were some sketchy bushings but that's a job for another day. I set a budget of $250 to rebuild all of the calipers, this includes new seals, gaskets, anti-rattle clips (somehow I'm missing 3 of the 4), wear sensors, front pistons, shipping and lubes/ cleaning crap. I was thinking about getting all the parts sand blasted and then putting a protective coat on as well. I will have to find a place to do this down here but does anyone have any idea how much it would cost for sand blasting?Now for the drive shaft...I have a guibo and center bearing at home so I'll have Chris send them down here. Once I get 6 new lock-tight bolts and nuts (M17 I believe?) and a drive shaft centering bushing (According to E34website.net) I'll replace all those parts. At this point all take her to a repair shop of the sorts and have them check out the drive shaft to ensure that no other parts need to be replaced (such as the CV joint, which is around $180). Hopefully I shouldn't need to buy too much more for the drive shaft project but it will probably cost around $100 for them to inspect my car to I set my overall estimated cost at $450. Then my car should be drive-able once again
.I also brought my style 5s down planning on sanding/cleaning them up so I could put a nice set of summer tires on, because it's summer all year around down here
. Anyone have any good DIY for cleaning up your wheels? I would really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction. For some motivation, I found this picture which is a sneak peak to what my car will look like when the wheels are done. I have a lot of work to do but I'm excited to get it done. I'm just waiting on the Marine Corps to start paying me this semester so I can kick this all off. I will probably be able to get some stuff done in 2 weekends but we will see what happens.
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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It is in the beginning of the never ending story
Is that in Genesis or Exodus?
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Finally getting around to doing a little work on my car this weekend. I plan on doing some prep work for rebuilding the rear calipers and maybe even taking the exhaust off. Worst comes to worst and I'll start refinishing the wheels. I'm really excited to start getting some work done though
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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Are you coming to the october port washington meet sponsored by the former owner of a canadian and euro e30s
Unfortunately no I won't be able to make it. I'm at school right now in South Carolina so I won't be back up north till this winter. I'm trying to find some meets to go to around here but the carloinaeuros forum I tried getting into has been dead for months so I'll have to try some other sites. Hard to find forums as great as wibimmers.
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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Last weekend was not as productive as I wanted but when do you ever get as much done as you want to. I did find rebuilt calipers at AutoZone for $45 after core charge which is pretty sweet. Also a bud of mine down here told me about a shop that he goes to so I'm hoping to get over there this weekend and figure some stuff out, possibly drop my car off for them to do the drive line stuff for me. I don't really have the capabilities down here anyways. I did get started on my wheels though!
As you can tell I didn't get very far but I know how it all works now so the rest of the wheels shouldn't take long at all to take apart and wash up. I'm using this DIY I found http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1156455-*DIY-Refinishing-style-5-s-BIG-pictures. It's going to take a while to get them really nice but it will be worth it. I was thinking about getting the centers powder coated gun metal grey, what do you guys think?
Hopefully I'll get a little more done this weekend and possibly get my car to that shop but you never know.
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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I'm excited to see those get finished! I think the gun metal powder would look great!
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I also enjoy the gun metal faces, but I am biased from my old set.
TJ sprayed the faces OEM Arctic Grey before I got them from the guy he sold them to
What color are your bolts in those pictures? I can't tell if they are a bronze or copper. Those wheels look great! I may think about doing something like that then.
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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This is kinda far off in the process but do you know if I could get the centers powered coated at any old paint shop? or is it normally a specialty place? Also Chris suggested me getting the bolts zinc coated, do you know anything about that?
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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Powdercoating can be done by anyone who has the equipment. I doubt a paint shop would have a setup. You could also just have them painted professionally. You can't powdercoat the centercaps so if you get the faces powdercoated, you will need to find a matching paint for those.
You could get your old bolts zinc coated but it depends on the pricing.
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Well those gold bolts are $160 for 120 of them so I'll have to find something more cost effective. I soaked the bolts in vinegar to get the corrosion off and I'm going to use a wire wheel and drill to really get them clean. I'm sure I could get paint them myself but the paint probably wouldn't last to long so I need to figure out some way to do that. So what I'm thinking is refinish the faces to give them a nice shine, paint the centers gun metal grey, and get my bolts gold somehow.
BMWCCA #499464
Current - 1995 540i/6 V 2.0 | Dead - 1995 540i/6 | Sold - 1995 318is
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