The little V8 that could: 530i Daily Log

[YoungCR]

I’ve had this car for a while now so figured it’s time for a thread to show I actually worked on a car this winter! Picked this car up on a whim almost 2 years ago with no real plans but I’ve decided it’s a keeper now mainly because I’m parting my winter beater 530i and I’ve done enough maintenance now that it’s not worth selling it. These 530i’s are nice drivers but worthless for resale and I’m way past the $1500 I paid for the car now. 

Back story. It’s a California car brought over 2.5ish years ago. Body is still very solid, just some minor surface rust  on the pinch rails and some bubbles starting on the doors from outdoor storage. The car had been sitting for 6+ months over winter when I bought it from a guy who inherited it from his brother. Older guy so he was just over driving manuals and bought a newer car. It had roughly 140k on it when I picked it in July 2016.

The E34 Oreo! Ben had recently acquired his 2nd 540i/6 and my two 530i/5's

The worst rust on the body is the peeling paint on the gas door and the odd scrap on the bumper will get fixed too. 

Sometime in the spring of 2017 the clutch went out. Had the symptoms of a bad slave cylinder but for the life of me we couldn't get it to bleed. Ended up replacing the master too with no luck and then warrantying them again. Took it to a service shop and they blew out the slave. Replaced the slave, took it to another service shop and they blew out the master. Thank goodness for FCP Euro's lifetime warranty! Anyways after chasing that for a few months on and off I just took some time away from working on it as I didn't "need" the car and was sick of dumping money into it and getting nowhere. I finally found motivation when my shop mate bought a lift this past fall. 

I decided to pull the trans to see what the issue was thinking maybe the throwout bearing was shot. To my surprise the clutch disc had zero friction surface left! This is no burnout machine and the car had driven perfectly fine before it went out. There wasn't any chunks or excessive dust in the bell housing either

Of course the dual mass flywheel was fucked too but luckily a BMWCCA member had one NIB along with a clutch kit and other NIB e34 goodies he sold me for a heck of a deal. So now every component of the clutch system has been replaced and it drives just like it did before haha. 

Being a BMW though, they perpetually break. Drove the car for 1 night and then the starter went out. Amazon came through with a brand new Bosch starter for $90, no core! The started job isn't too bad for how nestled up it is underneath the exhaust mani and above the steering idler. 

I think I got week of driving out of it before coolant started disappearing. Common symptom of the valley pan gasket. The radiator had a weird sag too it too, I assume it froze at some point and expanded. Also had some lightly used cooling system parts from my other 530i so I just decided to overhaul everything at once. 

Had the same issue redoing the intake manifold gaskets too while I had that off the motor. The torx head bolts just strip so I ended up swapping the late M60B40 intake on that had recently refreshed gaskets. I've put almost 2,000 miles on since the cooling system was wrapped up in November 2017 and now the suspension is giving in. The passenger rear strut is blown out. Not sure if I'm going to go the coilover route or just standard strut/spring combo yet. I won't be commuting anymore for work so the car will be a garage queen until Summer and I'll take care of the suspension then.

[P_Roloff]

I’m really liking all the alpine cars lately! Although it kinda sucks for you, it sounds like you’ll have a pretty great car by the time the suspension is taken care of.

[B C]

I like E34s so much, im glad to see one being brought back to glory. I can remember how dumbfounded I was the first time I saw a 530i around the year 2001, I saw it at a used German car lot, checked the badge “530, 3.0 inline 6....” popped the hood and counted intake runners thinking possibly it could be a V6

I think I counted them 5 times before I was convinced that it was actually a 3.0 V8

[patsbimmer1]

Nice to see the progress on this!  I hope to see it out again!

[Jdesign]

Nice to see you guys finally have a lift!! Good progress and you can always give me a shout when you plan on turning wrenches, I would love to come help!

[straight6pwr]

you've had all the classic e34 crap. nickel and dimers, for sure. what will come next: some of the 100 steering arm joints will go. door lock cylinders will all fail. and sagging headliner. PS leaks. window motors/regulator. rusty door corners.

love it in white!

did you notice a power band shift with the 4.0 intake? to me, it pulls a bit better up in the higher revs like an i6.

[YoungCR]

straight6pwr said:

you've had all the classic e34 crap. nickel and dimers, for sure. what will come next: some of the 100 steering arm joints will go. door lock cylinders will all fail. and sagging headliner. PS leaks. window motors/regulator. rusty door corners.

love it in white!

did you notice a power band shift with the 4.0 intake? to me, it pulls a bit better up in the higher revs like an i6.

Thanks guys! Yeah the power steering is leaking but surprisingly this car steers like new still, only a matter of time like the rest of those issues haha. Yes I did notice the small power shift, it gives the exhaust note a little more grunt too. Eventually I'll find a early intake like you and install that with rebuilt injectors.

[Jdesign]

...

[YoungCR]

thanks for the bump  Forgot to update this a while back but before the last cruise up to RA I had done 1/2 of a 540i brake swap. Thought the rear calipers were going to come with brackets but they didn't. Didn't realize this until I was putting the rear brakes on and I couldn't find the 540i brake cores I had. The rear brakes were ok yet so I put those back on and just ran the new fronts for the cruise. The powerstop front calipers made quite a difference but the peddle pressure wasn't consistent in all types of driving. Gonna perform a full flush once I get the brackets and complete the swap. 

Car has been sitting for at least a month now because the dip stick broke off when I went to change the oil. The parts engine had already been moved to my new storage unit and I haven't had time since to go over and pick that par  Also the plastic drive pulleys are eating the belt now so those need replacement. Gonna order parts tonight for this, its likely gonna be my get away car for the wedding unless I get the E28 in shape.

[YoungCR]

So this didn't end up making it to the wedding either! I ended up replacing the whole dip stick with a used one and changed the oil, and replaced the belt deflection pulley.

Fired her up for a test drive around the block and the brakes felt soft. Started the process of bleeding the brakes. Rear passenger was fine, but no fluid from the rear driver. Took the caliper off to swap with a spare thinking it was seized and noticed no fluid coming out of the rubber line. Nothing changed with the new caliper either and now I couldn't get fluid from the RR side either. Fronts bleed out basically what was in the caliper themselves. So now I have a completely disfunctional brake system as I ripped the parking brakes out think that those were hanging up but in reality the soft lines were swollen. Possibly a crushed line too?

I'm assuming the worst at this point that it will need all new lines and I'll replace the master cylinder as a precaution. I have SS braided lines to replace stock soft sections already and still need to source 540i rear calipers brackets if I don't find the pair I should have in my stash

[Jdesign]

Sounds like a giant PIA. Let me know if you need an extra set of hands in there!

[YoungCR]

Jdesign said:

Sounds like a giant PIA. Let me know if you need an extra set of hands in there! 

Do you have a air powered brake bleeder? Somebody broke my Motive power bleeder and debating if I wanna fix it or upgrade to something that hooks up to compressed air.

[Jdesign]

YoungCR said:

Do you have a air powered brake bleeder? Somebody broke my Motive power bleeder and debating if I wanna fix it or upgrade to something that hooks up to compressed air.

I do not. But I can tell you I have used various types of bleeders. The vacuum bleeders that use an air compressor kind of suck, I have use 3 different types/brands and you end up manually bleeding anyways.

Positive pressure bleeders like the Schwaben or Motive (shown below) are the best. I would suggest the Schwaben as its really high quality, and has the metal reservoir caps

[YoungCR]

Found the motivation to work on this! As suspected, the rear rubber soft lines had swollen. All the brake fittings had shrunk to 10.5mm so I spent the afternoon cutting out all the lines from the drivers wheel well union back. Tedious but doable with the rear end still on the car. I'll have pics of the new lines next weekend when I finish it up.

[patsbimmer1]

Any progress is good!

[patsbimmer1]

Jdesign said:

The vacuum bleeders that use an air compressor kind of suck

I see what you did there...

[Jdesign]

patsbimmer1 said:

I see what you did there...

Almost went unseen. 

[YoungCR]

Thanks for reminding me to order a replacement adapter for my bleeder.

[YoungCR]

I have pics to upload soon but quick update just to remind myself. Replubmbed all the rear brake lines and still can't get fluid to the rear. Front brakes won't bleed either so Master Cylinder is shot or ABS pump clogged? From what I've read it seems that the MC is bad. Brake Peddle is firm after a few pumps but no fluid moving past ABS. Power bleeder holds steady pressure as well without pushing any fluid either.

[B C]

Don't rule out the proportioning valve