The 1989 Dinan 535i Turbo got a bath!

[Zackb911]

He guys for those of you that have seen my posts I just picked up a diamond in the ROUGH. Anyway after many hours polishing the car is looking oh so nice...

Process:
wash
clay
Menzerna IP w. cutting pad using PC
Mezerna FP2 w/ polishing pad using PC
wash
Zaino Z5 (1 coat)

Before (HEAVY OXIDATION):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/Picture29.jpg

After:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/So%20Clean/DSCF0008.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/So%20Clean/DSCF0009.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/So%20Clean/DSCF0004.jpg

[fkong777]

errrr.. I'm kindna hating you right now.. ;)

[BFEINZIMER]

cop magnet haha but very good

[Thayne]

Looks great!

[misfortune]

HOT DANG

Nice man.

Now change those ooogly wheels.

[Qube]

Wheels are classics... I'd keep them in the garage for memories, but change them to nice thin spoke 18" :) Or get a nice soft ride with 15" and build a sleeper.

[632 Regal]

holey **** an A! damn man, did you use a wheel? thing looks absolutly great! wanna give some love to the new E31 soon?

[Antrieb]

I actually like the wheels. Borbet Type A... so euro :drool

[MTV]

[QUOTE=Zackb911]He guys for those of you that have seen my posts I just picked up a diamond in the ROUGH. Anyway after many hours polishing the car is looking oh so nice...

Process:
wash
clay
Menzerna IP w. cutting pad using PC
Mezerna FP2 w/ polishing pad using PC
wash
Zaino Z5 (1 coat)

If you don't mind asking... How long did the entire process take? I need to detail my car soon.

[E34 530]

wow that car is gorgeous. Keep the wheels. They scream pimp from the 1980's. Looking great man.

[fkong777]

He guys for those of you that have seen my posts I just picked up a diamond in the ROUGH. Anyway after many hours polishing the car is looking oh so nice...

Process:
wash
clay
Menzerna IP w. cutting pad using PC
Mezerna FP2 w/ polishing pad using PC
wash
Zaino Z5 (1 coat).

If you don't mind asking... How long did the entire process take? I need to detail my car soon.

When some car wash idiot screwed up my 525 with a dirty towel.. It took me 6 hours using a PC DA polisher using meguiars speed glaze and NXT.

[Antrieb]

Yes, definately keep the wheels! Everyone and their mother has either style 5's, mpars, style 32's, or throwing stars on their e34. Even me! I've never seen one with Type A's. Rock them out!

[SC David]

Jeeezzzz!!! That looks way better than I ever expected it could. From your first pictures I was thinking it would be one of those cars that drives tremendously well, but looks only decent. With a little work you have a suuuper clean car, and I can only imagine how much fun it is to drive.

[CharlesAFerg]

I actually like the wheels. Borbet Type A... so euro :drool

Seriously so do I, sell them to me cuz I'll take em, god damn, they would look better on a silver car, OH what do you know I've got a silver car ! :-O!

[CharlesAFerg]

Jeeezzzz!!! That looks way better than I ever expected it could. From your first pictures I was thinking it would be one of those cars that drives tremendously well, but looks only decent. With a little work you have a suuuper clean car, and I can only imagine how much fun it is to drive.

Don't use that dealer-grade acid that comes from a giant hose on your car. It makes your windows have acid drip-marks lawl. :D
Eh, I'll fix it w a buffer and some glass stripper.

Hrm... trim caught a little too, but I've been meaning to refinish it anyways...
No harm done! :D

[Rory525]

Good job what a difference that has made :) I run a car valeting centre here and red cars are the work of the devil.

I must admit Im not a huge fan of the wheels either, I think it could look much nicer with better rims. How about some schnitzers or M parallels ?

[Zackb911]

Thanks for the warm and fuzzy comments guys... I'd say I spent ~5-6 hours polishing with a random orbital. The single stage oxidized red really likes to cake the pads. It was also resprayed at some point and would be even smoother with a careful wetsanding, but that is beyond my abilities.

The wheels are staying and probably getting all refinished, I think they were part of the dinan package as I've seen another with the same ones. I may get some stock 15's for winter and while the others are fixed.

I'll be registering it this week and fixing the exhaust midpipe and attempting the capacitor repair. The sucky thing is the dinan turbo system is not offered anymore, so the midpipe I need will have to be custom made:(

Ohhh and I have Leatherique rejuvenating oil on the seats, shifter, wheel, e-brake, etc. I am going to let it soak in for the next day or so. It's only about 60F out so I hope it soaks in and works well;)

For anyone that wants to learn to detail the SH*& out of your car check out www.autopia.org ;)

[ILoveMPower]

Borbets FTW!!!

[Vanguard]

That is some fantastic work. The car looks great and I like the wheels.

[Fetch]

Borbets FTW!!!

haha, mine has borbets too!!
from the PO

[DigitalRelay]

Yes, definately keep the wheels! Everyone and their mother has either style 5's, mpars, style 32's, or throwing stars on their e34. Even me! I've never seen one with Type A's. Rock them out!

+1

[Thayne]

Any chance on seeing some pics of the engine bay?

[Zackb911]

I still need to detail the engine, these are predetail... The piping of the system is so neat and clean. The output of the turbo even has a molded elbow on it to fit like BMW intended it to be there...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/DSCF0021.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/DSCF0018.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/DSCF0017.jpg

[Thayne]

Damn!

[puppypilgrim]

Congratulations on such a special car. I drive a 1990 BMW Alpina B10 Bi-Turbo which is an E34 535i-based twin turbo running in parallel (one turbo per 3 cylinders). It puts out similar horsepower 360 HP, 384 ft.lbs and in its time, was the fastest 4 door sedan with performance figures matching a Ferrari Testarossa.

I think you have bought yourself a very, very nice find and a nice sleeper. I would recommend keeping the Borbet wheels. They look so special and are very unique. Recondition them if you like or even paint them to match your car if you so desire but the Borbet wheels are very special the period BMW.

The plastic coolant expansion tank looks very aged. You may wish to change your coolant overflow tank to preempt the plastic hose inlet from failing. Mine failed just 2 days ago rendering the car undrivable. The plastic portion which connects to the black rubber hose just disintegrated leading to a loss of coolant. You should be able to do it yourself for the price of the coolant expansion tank.

If the radiator is original, you may consider changing the radiator as the upper and lower hose connectors which are made of plastic may also be brittle from repetitive heat stress.

If the suspension and turn in feel loose, check the car's alignment and at the minimum, change the steering link bushes and front lower control arm bushings. You can go with OEM rubber or polyurethane - either of these will restore the tightness and responsiveness of a new car. Powerflex bushes are good for the 535i based BMW. Daniel at BeastPower Motorsports will be of assistance. Website: http://www.beastpower.com E-mail: beastpower@beastpower.com Resist changing the rear subframe mount bushings until you have done everything else.


If the steering has too much play, you may need to tighten the steering box. There are two portions which you can tighten. One is inside the car from underneath the dash which requires removing an underdash panel. The other is from outside the car requiring a tightening of the bolt\nut from where the steering linkage comes out from the firewall. Due to space restrictions, you may only be able to get a wrench on the bolt then have someone turn the steering wheel clockwise from inside the car. This motion will tighten the bolt.

I recommend doing a complete fluid flush and replacement of all fluids and replacing tranny and rear differential fluid with synthetic. Now you have a baseline for periodic maintenance.

Can't see your air intake but here are my thoughts..except for changing to a new paper filter, keep the airbox stock. The ram air effect at speed is important. Oiled filters will only cause the Mass Airflow Meter (MAF) to malfunction over time. It would also be good to spray the MAF with an electronic cleaner to clean it out. Don't disassemble the unit though. I used non-residue carb. cleaner on mine as I could not find electronic cleaner easily. This should iron out many of the common gremlins which can cause rough idling, stumbling and throttle hesitation. Ailing MAFs can cause mysterious ailments that can be solved by MAF cleaning or MAF replacement.

While you are at it, check out the O2 sensors along the exhaust system. Malfunctioning O2 sensors also affect the car's ECU. These are not expensive to replace.

Lift up the rear seat and completely remove the old battery to inspect for hidden rust. If needed, sand and vaccum to remove rust and lay down new anti-rust spray in the battery compartment.

Sorry for rambling and offering this maintenance advice. You probably know all this already. I think you have a very very special car that deserves to be restored and maintained so it can be enjoyed by BMW lovers everywhere. Those of us lucky enough to own very limited production BMWs almost have an unspoken duty to preserve the historical work of art for future generations.

Congratulations once again!

Cheers,
Victor

PS - I included a pic of my engine bay. The braided wires are performance HyperGround Wires, the blue thin hose is the vaccum hose for the Greddy Type S recirculating blow off valve (promotes turbo longevity and greatly improves engine's response and smoothness). The recirculating hose is routed back to the stock crankcase ventilation hard hose which leads back to the an intake point after the MAF.

[nixter]

Love those Korbet wheels!

[Zackb911]

Victor- Thanks for the info!! I am meticulous when it comes to maintenance, but a BMW virgin so your info is very much appriciated. I will be doing just as you advised this coming week with a complete fluid flush and inspection. The car is not presently registered, but aside from being very stiff seems tight.

-Oh ya love the Alpina!

Thanks Guys!

Zack

[Barneyboy]

Good stuff, but , AAAAGH!!!! AMG wheels? lol.

[Thayne]

Puppypilgrim would it be possible to see some more pics of your ride?

[genphreak]

Yum!

Where does the throttle body on that Alpina come from? Is it a stock part of seomthing?

[puppypilgrim]

I'm on the way out to help my dad this morning so I don't have time to upload more pics at the moment.

The throttle body is an electronic throttle body from the 750il that Alpina used to provide computer control to the ASC (traction control), calculate fuel economy and other OBC functions. Its drive by wire.

[RockJock]

lucky dawg, nice car! ......

looks like some of them didn't come with the dinan high flow intake manifold, unless the turbo was an 'after-thought' on this particular car.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/DSCF0021.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/DSCF0018.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v665/Zackb911/BMW/DSCF0017.jpg[/QUOTE]

[Zackb911]

Thanks! The intake is correct, I found the original Road & Track article on the car and they have a picture of the engne compartment and it's identical:)

[genphreak]

I'm on the way out to help my dad this morning so I don't have time to upload more pics at the moment.

The throttle body is an electronic throttle body from the 750il that Alpina used to provide computer control to the ASC (traction control), calculate fuel economy and other OBC functions. Its drive by wire.Ahh I see. Is it the same as the setup also employed on e34 M5?

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Ahh I see. Is it the same as the setup also employed on e34 M5?

Um, no. M5 has 6 individual manual controlled throttles.

Dirty pic from ages past:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/interalian/M5_under_hood_passenger.jpg

Serious engine porn:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/interalian/S38B36inbits.jpg

PS: who can spot the error in how this picture is laid out?

[puppypilgrim]

Ahh I see. Is it the same as the setup also employed on e34 M5?

Nope. The E34 M5 has a direct cable connection to synchronize the six individual throttle bodies to each of the cylinders. The sound the throttle bodies make is glorious!