Decisions decisons

[Elekta]

Tranny's life is limited. Definetely need a valve body replacement, new guilbo, and tranny mounts. That represents a certain amount of parts and labor.

So I have a few options that I have been thinking about.

1. Buy donor 530im in Jersey, ship it to austin, rob the drivetrain ebay the rest...same same only have a bolt it 5 speed and option to take euro touring all US with speedo, obc, 'F on heat dials, basic parts car. Solves the tranny issue, but still have heavy no torqy motor

2. Getting the wifey an XC90 as soon as I can locate a T6 Silver with tan interior that has nav, tow, dvd, and climate package under 40k miles. It's been a couple months and still can't match all items in the same car....
...which means I have a shopping cart dinged up 535ia with a bullet proof chick driven 113k 3.5 motor to rob, her dials and US dash, buy a five speed and do that change over. No cost for materials, just labor and a tranny ebay the rest of the car... or trade it for the conversion.

3. Buy wrecked M3 with S52, and follow the Terry Sayther conversion which he's already done to a 525iT. Certain to cost over $12K, but what a final product. http://www.terrysaytherauto.com/E30-S52Conversion.htm

I just spent a year building my house. I just d/pmt'd this truck but haven't picked it up yet.

so I will have something to drive in the interim, but this will need an immediate 15 hun in vintage air and hidden tunes.

any suggestions?

[angrypancake]

get the s52, ebay the rest of the car, that would be spectacular

[Scott H]

fun car....indy in Chicago has done two in the last two years....

only reason I didn't do something like that is b/c I had the 535 parts laying around......only reason I bought the iT AT ALL was because I had the 535 parts laying around....

[Elekta]

Well that's $9k for the truck, $7k for the S52, $5k for conversion, $2 for the 3.0 speed and I'm two old cars for $21k.

[Dave M]

#2: Two birds with one stone, motor and 5 speed. Then sell the remnants of the grocery getter and M60 for parts. Voila, 535iTM.

A couple pics of my rig. Its vintage too (Big F'in shopping carts around here).




Have fun with your decision,

Dave M

[angrypancake]

if you're gonna be 21k in the hole... you should just say hell with it, get this 79k mile 1991 m5, sell your touring, and not be that far into it. if you want i'll go take that m5 for a test drive, i think its close to me

[Elekta]

fun car....indy in Chicago has done two in the last two years....

only reason I didn't do something like that is b/c I had the 535 parts laying around......only reason I bought the iT AT ALL was because I had the 535 parts laying around....

I know, my friend who did his Franken C said I could get 300 horses out a 3.5 and it would every bit as good as an S52 without the maintenance.

Did you juice your 3.5 with injectors and such? I have the donor car (I mean the wife will get $3k tops with trade in)

I need advice and $$$ #'s breaking this outl.

[Elekta]

#2: Two birds with one stone, motor and 5 speed. Then sell the remnants of the grocery getter and M60 for parts. Voila, 535iTM.

Have fun with your decision,

Dave M

Thanks Dave, I tend to agree. Rob the car I already own (535iA) but it's a big and scary conversion for a guy who still hasn't bought a bentley.

more of the 57 telephone truck

[Elekta]

if you're gonna be 21k in the hole... you should just say hell with it, get this 79k mile 1991 m5, sell your touring, and not be that far into it. if you want i'll go take that m5 for a test drive, i think its close to me

that's a pretty fancy donor car. One thing is for sure, the tourer is staying.

so's this

[Johntee540]

I have a ZF 5HP30 that just came out of my 540 for sale. I just bought it from LKirt Koeller at Autosport Unlimited last spring. It has 10k at most miles on it.

I paid $2345 for it. I am asking $1600 + shipping. Thats a whole lot cheaper than anything else you are considerinng. I can have it to you by next week if you are interested. It is sitting on a pallet at Koala Motorsports in Ohio. I took it out to do my Manual conversion. Email if you are interested. - JT