My 525iSE project thread (and my 1st post lol)

[Spice Boy]

Good morning campers!!

It has been a while since this has had an update, with good reason as nothing has happened lol....

Right... lets start at the general look of the car right now....

I had kept the sport kit from my previous E34 so I could get it sprayed and on the car but after a kiss with a passat and its tow bar I had to fit it early.... Along with lack of money for tyres I also had to revert back to 15"s....






So as you can see, there is alot of work to be done!

[Spice Boy]

The Plan:

Get the car serviced and ready for its MOT which will be next week, strip out the interior and give it the clean she needs as she has been stood since November and give her a makeover!

Last month due to a mix up, ALL the documents have now been lost, including the service history booklet! So a new one will have to be started, thats gonna make selling the car difficult to say the least!

Yesterday saw some lovely sunshine so what better way to start the car than with stripping out all the seats and rear carpet (needs to be dried out due to some lingering water)....

Ever wondered what your E34 would look like without any seats and rear carpet?....






If today is the same then I will finish off the rear carpet and see if the front carpet is as bad (nightmare to remove so a plan B will have to be thought of)

Once the car is cleaned, charged and serviced, then the fun stuff starts!

With the makeover, I have already got the ball rolling on sourcing the bits wanted....

New alloys: Rondell type 58 8.5jx17" front and 10jx17" rear (gotta work out what tyres to use though)

Suspension: FK coilovers which can drop as far as -75mm front and -60mm rear (obviously the car wont be going this low as I think it will be un-drivable over speed humps...)

Stiffening: gonna go for thicker ARBs, re-new linkages and arms at the front, bushes all round and maybe strut braces (not definite yet)

Exhaust: I have a quote for a customs stainless system by the only guy I trust to take my car too, I cant wait to let out the true noise of the 6 cyl!

Engine: She will be fully serviced so its upgrades here, I am looking into BBTB, Cams and re-map

Lights: After some long thought, Im looking into going tinted all round and HID conversion up front

Re-spray: havent decided yet.... but if I do, it will be sprayed Swartz II (same colour as my previous E34)

Everything is within budget except the re-spray, so I may just have some fun with the bodywork in the mean time till it can be done. I am also budgeting for some nice new Audio goodies but no-where near deciding what to do here....

Thats pretty much it, any questions or comments on what I have said or anything in this thread, please feel free to let loose!

[Tcdoe]

Sounds good, can't wait to see pics of it all.

[Spice Boy]

Lol, thanks... as soon as she starts to take shape Ill get some pics up

This is a small update just to let you all know whats happened so far...

Not much lol

The wheels are on their way from Germany...

Insurance is done and paid for the year so thats out of the way....

Suspension is awaiting the guy to get back to me with a final price...

Im having problems finding the tinted headlights so I might have to come up with a plan B for that...

Im booked in for my local exhaust specialist to take a detailed look at my car and get a final quote on exactly what I want....

Tomorrow Im heading down to my local BMW specialist to pick up a new viscous fan coupling, thermostat housing and maybe a few other minor bits and bobs...

Ill also get the oil and coolant tomorrow and do all the fluids...

She hasn't been started for ages so once the fluids are changed and I get some petrol in her.. she will live once again!!

Thats all I can think of for now.. sorry, no pics as of yet

Please keep your comments and questions coming

[Lordsneldon]

Looks much better now with the leather, i did exactly the same to a 520 i used to own (arent the ****ing door cards a pain to fit over that plastic clip in the middle of the door)!!!
anyway, nice to see a car on here which sports english number plates!! I'm doing my 525 up at the moment, ive actually put memory seats in that which do the mirrors etc.....way cool!! Where abouts are you from? i'm in gloucestershire.

[nirvana19]

Nice progress! Very jealous of your interior, especially the rear headrests. The U.S. didn't get them, unfortunately.

Not sure why you would want to rid the car of that color, I sure wouldn't. I thought that was Arktisgrau but could be Delphingrau. Check the underhood tag to see.

My car has rear headrests! I didn't realize they were rare.. I always wondered why I didn't see other cars with them and figured they were an option. I think the interior just looks weird without them, the rear headrests make everything look more complete (then again I'm driving with an interior door panel off at the moment lol)

One of the virtues of having a canada car in the US I suppose!

[Ross]

"Full service (old habbit of fully servicing all my cars as soon as I get them)."..
This should be a sticky!

[leicesterboy15]

Nice write up on the progress, keep the pics coming!! Are the front seats and rear carpet easy to remove? I need to re-install my audio because of interference and just generally shoddy current install. The only way to do it properly is to remove the seats, carpet and centre tray but I'm not looking forward to it, I always end up with a few screws left over once I've put everything back together!

[Spice Boy]

Thanks Ross, but its the safer option to do a service yourself, regardless whether its been stamped as having one done recently or not, as you just dont know whether its a totally honest history, or just a stamp from a mate to get the car sold....

LeicesterBoy15... Front seats are easier than taking down a tarts knickers... 2 bolts on the back of the seat and they lift out off the front mount points... with a little tilt .. the rear carpet isnt too hard to get out but you will need to remove the center console first and the carpet is 1 piece...

No matter what you do, there is always bits left over lol....

[Spice Boy]

Right...

Due to heavy interest on several sites, Im going to do this a little differently for a short while...

No more pic whoring and no more details... just tasters and teasers....

Then when this stage is finished, Ill do a huge grand revealing with lots and lots of pics

But for now.. heres the 1st teaser... its only small but it should give you all an idea of just how much is being replaced...



Enjoy :P