interior swap questions

[Morgenster]

Tomorrow I'm going to take a look at an '89 e34 without engine to see if I can salvage some parts. More specifically I'm planning to swap the interior from grey cloth (mine) to beige leather (donor).

And then the usual like steering wheel, rims, electrical windows, etc. How hard is life going to be attempting all this transplanting? I'm looking for some how-to advice as well as cautions.
Like: are the electricals superhard? I get the impression most of the wiring is already there and unused. Am I right? Especially curious about wiring for electrical seats/windows (cause mine has none of that).

I would like to find the thread about an interior swap that had pictures and everything where the poster also refurbished the headliner (mine's sagging).
I'm thinking this would take me a week. Does this make me an optimist or a pessimist?

[Morgenster]

Hmm. bump?

[Uber Soldat]

I did an interior swap awhile ago. We swaped a black interior into my '92 520i and was able to fit some extra electrical goodies.

Here is a link to the thread i posted:
http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23181

Hope it helps. Im sure shogun could chime in about the electrics your wanting to fit.

[RobPatt]

just time and a lot of patience...

- What about the carpet?
- What about the dash? that'd be some work. There's a european e32 site where I think they swapped a dash... ( look for Shogun's posts... his website has a link to theirs... )
- It'd help to get and salvage all the little plastic clips you can from both cars, you'll need them.
- You should have the wiring in place for electric seats.
- Can't say about the windows....

Let us know how it goes!
Cheers,
Rob sends....

Tomorrow I'm going to take a look at an '89 e34 without engine to see if I can salvage some parts. More specifically I'm planning to swap the interior from grey cloth (mine) to beige leather (donor).

And then the usual like steering wheel, rims, electrical windows, etc. How hard is life going to be attempting all this transplanting? I'm looking for some how-to advice as well as cautions.
Like: are the electricals superhard? I get the impression most of the wiring is already there and unused. Am I right? Especially curious about wiring for electrical seats/windows (cause mine has none of that).

I would like to find the thread about an interior swap that had pictures and everything where the poster also refurbished the headliner (mine's sagging).
I'm thinking this would take me a week. Does this make me an optimist or a pessimist?

[shogun]

Well, the above link is probably enough for you to see what you have to do.
Take whatever you can get from the other car, never too many parts one can stock.
Headliner change is on my website, procedures have been posted several times. I also once posted a japanese website where they show all the clips etc.
But that is actually less complicated than it looks.

[Morgenster]

I did an interior swap awhile ago. We swaped a black interior into my '92 520i and was able to fit some extra electrical goodies.

Here is a link to the thread i posted:
http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23181

Hope it helps. Im sure shogun could chime in about the electrics your wanting to fit.

That's the thread I was looking for! Thanks! So one week isn't that pessimistic. I'm probably keeping the carpet unless one of the two donor cars has something better. If one of them had aico I might consider transplanting that while I'm at it.

[Morgenster]

Well, the above link is probably enough for you to see what you have to do.
Take whatever you can get from the other car, never too many parts one can stock.
Headliner change is on my website, procedures have been posted several times. I also once posted a japanese website where they show all the clips etc.
But that is actually less complicated than it looks.

What about the electrical windows?

[BuckNaked]

I have been saving this link since I noticed my headliner is failing...
http://www.wlsheadliners.com/tutorials/bmw/
I hope it helps.
Remember, projects like the one you want to take on need to be documented, lotsa pics for us novice goofballs with a lot of ambition and very little know-how.

[e34.535i.sport]

I done a transplant from grey cloth to black leather recently including the centre console and glove box etc - two points of advice:

1. When looking for donor - make sure the glove box is the same shape exactly - some are a slightly different shape (auto - manual i think!)!!!

2. When trying to remove old centre console/put new one in, pull the handbrake up really high - make life MUCH easier!

Good luck...

[e34.535i.sport]

P.s I hear the wiring for electric seats is there in all e34 ready to plug and play - under the carpet?