My new 1995 540i/6

[BMWben]

jc43089 said:

AAA ftw, why wouldn't they tow it. Just don't try to have them pick it from a repair shop, huge hassle, just get out to the road in front and say it quit there. Tell them it is rwd so they don't send just a front lift truck. You should request a flatbed truck. Sent from my potato phone

I'm trying to get it towed to a specific shop but I think it will work out. 

Also small update, car is going to this new shop I found. Guy is a grad from The Citadel (my college), he is a great guy, and him and his partner have 60 years of BMW experience. They had a spot open Thursday so hopefully they can get it done before the weekend.

[jc43089]

AAA will tow it to any shop or your residence, they will not want to drop it off at a storage unit however.  I had my e30 towed supposedly to my house but the driver just took it to the storage unit I wanted it at that was only 6 blocks away, he said if they ask tell them it went to your house lol.  I have the 100 mile plan, totally worth it, one hook and its paid for itself for the year.

[BMWben]

Well the damage report came back today and it was minimal! Turns out the linkage that went from the brake petal to the master cylinder rusted up (Damn Canadians) and that's what was causing the brakes to freeze up. He just took it apart and lubed it up and suggested I find a none rusted one from a junk yard eventually. I was expecting some huge problem and it was a under $100 fix so I pretty damn happy and I can leave from home on time.

[BMWben]

So there is a lot for me to talk about since I haven't posted for a while and there has been a series of dramatic events regarding my car.

To start the story, I'm an idiot. I was screwing around in the snow with my friends and with the combination of fresh snow and no snow tires I ran my car into a mail box.

 

That's the damage, I bent the hood out a little today but it's not going to make a different. I'm lucky that was it wasn't anything serious but it was a good amount of damage for how fast I was going (not fast, 15 tops). I had to get that out there quick.

Before all that Chris and I got a chance to start attacking the rust a little. We took a little grinder to all the rust on the doors and then covered it up with vinyl.

It turned out pretty good! I barely notice it at all anymore even though the vinyl is matte black. We only got to two of the doors so I'll finish the rest down here.

She even got a interior detail before I messed her face up

That all I really got to this winter, time and money constraint held me back but I'm coming up with a new plan of attack for this car. Since I made my own customization to the front of the car, I've decided which the odometer at 437259 km (271700 mi) this car deserves a much needed tear down. For spring break I'm going to drive her back up to Wisco and park her in the shop till many much needed repairs happen. The list is pretty long at this point,

Upper/lower control arms

Tie rods

Wheel bearings

Engine Mounts

Completely new drive shaft

Transmission flush

Deferential flush

Trailing arm bushing

Rust, rust, and rust

New hood

Euro smiley projectors

Cat delete

Coilovers

Engine refresh (Engine mileage is probably close to 200,000 at this point)

I'm going to do it right and get all of this stuff done before she gets on the road again. It's probably going to take me a long time being I go to school down in SC but it will be worth it in the end to get her into the shape she deserves. Since I have to do so much work on the front end, I might as well take the engine out of the bay, do a good refresh to get some of the ponies back. I don't want to do a complete tare down but at least get the heads off to get them ported and get a good idea of how the engine is looking and of course replace lots of gaskets and whatnot. And with the engine out of the bay it will be much easier to get the work done on the front end with all the extra space. It's going to be a long drawn out process but will be worth it in the end. I'll be driving something else back and forth from SC so I don't have to punish this car anymore but that car is still being determined. Also if anyone knows of a Oxford Green hood out please let me know.

[BMWben]

Update on the wheel project. Had them unmounted a couple of weeks ago and then yesterday I managed to muscle the rest of the 102 bolts off. The last wheel was stupid corroded together, it took an extra large hammer to get a couple bolts out but eventually it was finished.

 

After a quick wash they are ready for the next step, stripping the old finish off with Jasco and then sanding away all the imperfections.

[YoungCR]

Is there a way to check all the barrels making sure they are still true? I'm only concerned about the one that had the blown out tire.

[patsbimmer1]

Not without the faces on. Otherwise you could throw them on a balancer and check the runout.

[YoungCR]

So I'm the "care taker" of this again while Ben is on an expedition down south to bring back some southern doors while finishing up the semester.

One of the tank straps rusted out so replacement in order. Left side was in and out in 3 mins but the right took 20 because I couldn't get the hook out. I need some long handle picks! 

While I was down there I noticed the one exhaust clamp for the muffler was just free and the others were getting loose. I bought a M18 Fuel 1/2" drive impact so I decided to "fix" this issue by pulling the muffler. This thing is a huge! Seriously almost 20lbs

So now we have another 540i in the chopped exhaust club. Same results, great sound! As Earl pointed out the muffler has a welded section on it. I honestly think this "Dinan" exhaust is just stock modified so Idk if those tips were just thrown on? Anyways fun stuff, I'll get a proper video made next weekend.

[wasnt m3]

The Dinan exhaust that was on my M3 was a modified stock muffler with their tips welded on too.

[straight6pwr]

id like to hear it Chris. i will be redoing my exhaust soon and I'd like to have a reference for m60 with no muffler before I decide to hack mine off.

[BMWben]

This is the video Chris sent me right after he finished Saturday. I don't know why but the video is pretty quite but make sure to listen for Chris laughing like a little school girl at :32 

He also reported back that there is no extra noise on the highway besides when you punch it. Moral of the story is muffler deletes for everyone.

[patsbimmer1]

It really sounded pretty good when I heard it on Sunday.

[YoungCR]

straight6pwr said:

id like to hear it Chris. i will be redoing my exhaust soon and I'd like to have a reference for m60 with no muffler before I decide to hack mine off.

I'll give you the keys Saturday! I'm curious if extending the pipe will change the sound but it's very dailyable as is. With the windows up it quiets up things too.

I plan on making a better video. I had the microphone pointed the wrong way on my phone and it picked up the highway noise at the shop over idle noise.

[straight6pwr]

the car sounds mean.  a little bit 'raw' for my tastes, but good to know the volume with no muffler.  much better than if you hack the muffler off an e30.

[YoungCR]

It can be subtle when you don't punch it

[YoungCR]

Replace the DS Front wheel bearing over the weekend. First time doing a wheel bearing and it's not a bad job.

Ordered all 4 parts and followed the instructions as described by http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Maintenance/Suspension/WheelBearing.htm

The old bearing was a French made part and I'm guessing it failed because the dust cap on the end wasn't repalced however long ago. I was able use a standard gear puller with a peice of flat slotted stock to put over the end of the spindle to screw into.

Car had the typical high pitched whine/squeal as described in the E34 page and that has since gone away! Sorry didn't take any pics.

[YoungCR]

Fan clutch went out Friday afternoon, Currently 3/3 Bimmers in the shop are immobile Luckily only one fan blade and the bottom of the fan shroud was damaged. New Mahle Behr fan clutch ordered.

[YoungCR]

Ben replaced the fan clutch, fan blade, serp belt, water pump and heater core earlier this week.

We found out that there is a early and late memory seat harness for e32 and e34's, the changeover date is early 93 but I forgot which month. Apparently you can swap the harnesses and all memory functions will still work including the power tilt wheel. For now the '89 750i drivers seat purchased from TCD is wired up just to slide back and forth until I have time to pull a e32 harness from a yard.

[straight6pwr]

damn BMW and their random change overs. ran into that with my car vs. parts car (build dates of 3/93 and 9/93)