Project Big Six-y: 1991 BMW 535i/5

[Scott]

I didn't know BBS made Miata roll bars.

^This.....

[Jake]

I've done a few little things...

My "performance chip" came in from eBay UK, finally. This is the inside of the Motronics DME engine computer:



The chip goes where the beige clip-covered chip is, in the lower right corner. So far it's triggered the CEL, increased my idle ever-so-slightly, and allowed me to chirp tires going into 2nd, which was previously not possible. Butt Dyno says it feels faster.

A nice dudemanbro on Bimmerforums found an E34 in a junkyard and asked who wanted parts. I replied "me, me!" and had him send the little plastic bits that the toolkit uses to stay shut in the trunk. This is the old one:



Everything is pressure-fit for reinstallation, so that took all of five minutes to put in. And now the toolkit stays shut. Hooray!

Put this on the rear window:



And Natalie put me in touch with her friend Dan, who does detailing at Mid Atlantic Motorwerkes. He's a student and also does work on the side. In my efforts to eliminate his social life entirely, I gave him Big Sixy over this past weekend for a full interior/exterior detail. It looks amazing. All the swirls are gone, he got most of the scratches out, the leather seats are soft again, etc. Very very impressed. I'll probably send the Miata to him next as it has similar swirlies. If anyone wants his contact info, let me know. He sounds pretty busy for the rest of the semester, but he'll be back down this way in the fall.

[PDenbigh]

Wow - the swirl removal is great! Please share his info!

[BLINGMW]

And Natalie put me in touch with her friend Dan, who does detailing at Mid Atlantic Motorwerkes. He's a student and also does work on the side. In my efforts to eliminate his social life entirely, I gave him Big Sixy over this past weekend for a full interior/exterior detail. It looks amazing. All the swirls are gone, he got most of the scratches out, the leather seats are soft again, etc. Very very impressed. I'll probably send the Miata to him next as it has similar swirlies. If anyone wants his contact info, let me know. He sounds pretty busy for the rest of the semester, but he'll be back down this way in the fall.

Like the sticker :thumbup:
What'd he charge you for all that? I spent at least 5-6 hours Sunday cleaning up mine, it still needs more, I don't like doing it, don't have all the fancy tools and products, and I barely know what I'm doing anyway. I would consider such a service....

[ScottyB]

the polish job looks fantastic. after seeing your car in person i would agree you picked the right guy to get it done.

[SlimKlim]

What they said, especially for the price. I can't wait to see it in person.

[Goodspeed]

Holy shit that looks like a brand new car :thumbup:

[Jake]

Did the first earl change under my ownership on Friday before our G-Force trip. Not used to such a thirsty beast, the sucker takes 6.1 quarts. Really, that's pretty normal for a lot of cars, but when the Miata only takes four, you get spoiled. Old oil was pretty dark (old?) but did not look like a chocolate milkshake. Great news!

Also, after driving home in the post-karting monsoons, I'm happy with my tire choice. No issues and the car was planted for the whole drive home.

[Jeff]

Lookin good man. That guy knows what the hell he is doing.

[Mike]

wow looks great after the swirl removal. dem shits were beat!

[Jake]

In trying to get stuff cleaned up and junk tossed before I graduate, I had some parts laying around that I'd been meaning to install for a while.

I replaced the trunk shocks on Saturday, since the old ones did a pretty poor job at keeping the trunk open. Learned the hard way that only one of them was truly bad... I removed the good one first, and as I disconnected it from the trunk lid, said lid came crashing down on my back. Owww, dem shits are heavy. I managed to do the same thing a second time, then I wised up and got things back together.

My glovebox handle was broken, so you had to work some magic to open the thing. Got a junkyard part from Bimmerforums a while back and put it on yesterday morning. This may be the easiest repair I've ever done... I was almost disappointed, since I was hoping to take my time and enjoy the nice weather for a while. Four minutes later, I was done.

This was the old latch. Note the Official BMW Duct Tape holding it together:



Nice to have a good handle on it. It's the little things...

[Jake]

The front grills were really sun-faded and made the front of the car look kind of old and gross. I picked up a can of Duplicolor matte black trim paint and went to work. I want to sand and re-spray the shiny black trim that goes around the kidneys and under the headlights, since it's all rock-chipped and awful. Unfortunately, I didn't have any sandpaper or gloss black spray paint around today. Another little project for another day...

Before:



After:

[V1GiLaNtE]

fresh

[f2399CL]

love it.

[Jake]

I think I mentioned a while back how the ignition switch was starting to fail. It finally started getting pretty bad -- i.e. consistently requiring four or five attempts with odd amounts of force to start the car. A new ignition switch from Pelican Parts is something like $75, and would not necessarily arrive in time for my Greenwich Pilgrimage this weekend, soooo I pulled a Radio Shack Fix It Special.

The result...



No keys, push to start. Except you still need the key.

After yanking all of the trim pieces below the steering wheel, I found the wires going to the ignition. Green is the power lead, and black/yellow (black 'n' yellow, black 'n' yellow) is what triggers the starter motor. Different DIY's for E36's suggested I needed a relay and ground wire, but I sent the E34 wiring diagram to my electrical engineering friend and he figured out that I really didn't need to worry. So we tapped into both wires and ran a big red button near the ignition.



By just tapping into the wires and not cutting the black/yellow one completely, the key can still be twisted to start the car. The start procedure is now just like an S2000. Insert key, turn to Run, press button.



The button is not "installed" anywhere right now. I'd like to buy a new ignition switch eventually, but in the interim there are more pressing things to pay good money for, like a roll bar.

And by the way, it's friggin hot out, still. This was at lunch, and it feels that hot in the garage even this late at night...

[ScottyB]

just a heads up - i've heard of GM ignition switch barrels failing, due to some soft metal inside, but to some degree it's made worse as a result of having alot of weight hanging off the key. it contributes to odd wear patterns inside where the tumblers are. i noticed you've got some flair on your key (and we encourage that :lol, and that may be something to think about if it has some heft to it. then again my wife has a keychain that looks like it belongs to a janitor and could double as a swinging mace, and her car has never shown issue.

[Jake]

just a heads up - i've heard of GM ignition switch barrels failing, due to some soft metal inside, but to some degree it's made worse as a result of having alot of weight hanging off the key. it contributes to odd wear patterns inside where the tumblers are. i noticed you've got some flair on your key (and we encourage that :lol, and that may be something to think about if it has some heft to it. then again my wife has a keychain that looks like it belongs to a janitor and could double as a swinging mace, and her car has never shown issue.

I've heard that excessive weight can be an issue. I think here it's just a 20-year-old part... my keys are pretty light compared to many peoples' (BMW key, Miata key, apartment, mailbox, bottle opener). I'd split the two car keys apart, but they're both just steel - no remotes, chips, etc.

[premiershine9]

Lookin good Jake....keep her goin!! Re-paintin the grille helped a lot!

[Jake]

I have a friend who lives in Reston, who buys crappy E34s and parts them out. He came across an Orient Blue 1994 with 277k (!) that was his latest you-pick-it project. So, I ran by his house and found some parts I wanted/needed, since the interior color was the same and (somehow) in great shape for the miles.

The ass-cushion part of my backseat was really in bad shape. The stitching on the leather was pulled apart in several places and the leather was discolored and generally in lousy shape. The newer cars had higher-quality gathered leather seats, so I snagged the 94's backseat. Same color and worlds better. I cleaned it once but it could use a good clean to remove some stuff I missed on the first round.

My front cigarette lighter/ashtray pull-y-out-y piece is broken. If you pull that drawer out, it will come out of the dash completely, and not go back in thanks to broken plastics. So, I nabbed that.

I broke my hazard flasher button so I got a new one.

I'm hoping to hear back from him regarding the headliner, too. I didn't snag it and wish I had. I re-did my headliner at school, did a sucky job at it, and the board itself is warped so it still "sags" a bit. This one is pergament (tan, the right color) and looks good, is not sagging, and would be a direct swap. I want.

[Jake]

Oh, and I sold my stock basketweave wheels to a guy on Bimmerforums. They're 15x7 and apparently Spec3 guys can use them. Who knew.