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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
Brilliant red E34 M5 mini restoration thread
- Thread starter Benji
- Start date
Benji
Well-known member
Mini update. Car should be getting paint this week and ready for collection next week. I must say, so far, Ive been really happy with the service and communication from Auto Lounge. Cadyrn sends updates via whatsapp and lets you come in to do inspections and actually fixes items you point out. (He also probably didn't realize just how anal I am). Besides a small overspray issue on the bonnet hinge, I cant wait to see the final product.Where is your update ?
Benji
Well-known member
How does one do an update on a freshly painted car? The car looks good, things are going back on the car. The process is painfully slow due to all members of the working team being fastidiously and obsessively OCD. Car went in to The Auto Lounge in Centurion for the work. My honest feedback on them is they are great to work with, reasonably priced, keep in touch regularly and will always own up and fix any f#$k ups. However, it took way too long to get the car done and there were way too many f#$k ups. We needed to take the car back to them 3 times after they thought they were finished. They admitted that this project was way out of their league and will never take on something like this again. I will use them again for simple things like a bumper respray etc, but definitely not for something like this. We spent 2 full days realigning the bonnet/doors/bumper etc that they removed for paint. We found some of the door hinge bolts loose, 4 different kinds of screws to hold on one headlight, generally incorrect fasteners used, overspray, rough edges etc etc. But to be fair, it would take an Act From God to please me when it comes to paint work. The search for a good body shop continues...
Benji
Well-known member
Not really too much to update on here, the reassembly process continues while rectifying issues from the body shop and watching in disbelief as new issues come up. Aircon is regassed and working which is quite nice.
This has been a frustrating time in the project, troubleshooting non-working rearview mirrors, window motor etc due to bodyshop somehow bending pins in the door connectors etc
The center steering arm has also decided now is a good time to let go, so we are waiting for one of those to be delivered. This being an old BMW, it has developed 2 wholesome new oil leaks.
It just seems for each item we cross off the to-do list, a new item emerges. Maybe we need to do less skid pan days with this car
This has been a frustrating time in the project, troubleshooting non-working rearview mirrors, window motor etc due to bodyshop somehow bending pins in the door connectors etc
The center steering arm has also decided now is a good time to let go, so we are waiting for one of those to be delivered. This being an old BMW, it has developed 2 wholesome new oil leaks.
It just seems for each item we cross off the to-do list, a new item emerges. Maybe we need to do less skid pan days with this car
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Love the Red....
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Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk
Benji
Well-known member
Not too much to report on this, have not had much time to do much work on the car while sorting out little niggles that are part and parcel of owning an old car. This being a BMW, the powersteering line has sprung a leak which will be fun to sort out. Rebuilt the propshaft (it had a slight vibration) and installed a new steering center rod.
Took the car out to the BMW waterless skidpan, still as much fun you can have with your pants on I feel like I am starting to get a grasp of driving while looking out the side window. This event was pretty special in that every generation of M5 was present except for E28 and E60, so the organizers created a"M5 class" which I had the honor of winning - mainly due to me having the least powerful car in the class The E34 chassis is sublime, it slides so controllably with instant response from the ITBs.
I had a go in my mates E90 330i with a wavetrack LSD. What a weird experience! The car has electronic throttle, so there is a delay between pressing the accelerator and the power coming. Conversely, when you lift off the accelerator, there is a delay before the power comes away. This took a few attempts to unsuccessfully calibrate my brain after the instant response from the M5. I am sure with a bit more practice, this car would be a lot of fun on the pan
Took the car out to the BMW waterless skidpan, still as much fun you can have with your pants on
I feel like I am starting to get a grasp of driving while looking out the side window. This event was pretty special in that every generation of M5 was present except for E28 and E60, so the organizers created a"M5 class" which I had the honor of winning - mainly due to me having the least powerful car in the class The E34 chassis is sublime, it slides so controllably with instant response from the ITBs.I had a go in my mates E90 330i with a wavetrack LSD. What a weird experience! The car has electronic throttle, so there is a delay between pressing the accelerator and the power coming. Conversely, when you lift off the accelerator, there is a delay before the power comes away. This took a few attempts to unsuccessfully calibrate my brain after the instant response from the M5. I am sure with a bit more practice, this car would be a lot of fun on the pan
Benji
Well-known member
Time for a bit of an update after this car misbehaved (again), got deserted, got some attention and had a bit of fun. I'd love to say this car is complete and ready to be sold, but it seems it likes to stay in my garage.
Before the previous skid pan day in May, the car did not want to start (swing/no start). After some swearing and panicking, it started and did not give any issues throughout the whole skid pan event. Weird. The freshly regassed AC however decided to stop working. Typical. The symptoms would suggest that the AC dryer was f@$ked as the AC system had been standing open for some time. With great difficulty, I sourced a replacement AC dryer and made an appointment with my AC guy...Cue the no-start issue again, and this time it was terminal. Lovely. Some head scratching revealed it was the crank position sensor which took leave of absence. Sourced a new one from BMW at horrifyingly exorbitant prices for a simple installation - remove radiator fan and shroud, loosen some coolant pipes, and pop the new sensor on. Ha! Car had other plans. Obviously. Some previous p@#s had used locktite to keep the radiator fan on the water pump. Nice one guy, nice one. Broken tools, swear words, blood sweat and actual tears ensued. The radiator fan eventually came off but the water pump got damaged in the process. New water pump is NLA from BMW or aftermarket. But of course.
So this is the part where the car got deserted while we figured out how we could get a water pump. By this time we needed to focus on the Bullrun car. By sheer luck, we found a good used water pump (thanks Peter). Phoned BMW to find out the water pump gasket is NLA. Of course. Luckily BMW Cape Town had stock and the very lovely salesman posted 2 gaskets to me. Lovely. How worrying is it that a simple "maintenance" item such as a water pump can take these cars off the road? These water pumps are totally NLA - not even in some dodgy no-name brand...not ideal.
Cue a rushed water pump change and coolant flush and the car was ready just in time for the last skid pan event of 2023:
Weirdly, me and Mark really struggled with the car. It did not want to slide, so had to be provoked which then made it quite hard to control. We had recently installed its "proper" rear wheels with good tyres (we had been doing all the previous runs with spare rear wheels with some rubbish chinese tyres), so figured the extra grip at the rear was causing our issues. So we learn.
In other news, I re-dyed the interior with the Colourlock leather refresh kit. What an awesome product! The seats only needed a single layer and the colour matching is spot on. The interior is refreshed, but like an idiot, I have not taken any pictures, so you'll just have to believe me.
Before:
After:
Well pleased with the result. The leather has not lost any of its soft Nappa feel or texture. Result
Car is now 99.995% finished, just a few finishing touches and she will be put up for sale, hopefully before the end of the year.
Before the previous skid pan day in May, the car did not want to start (swing/no start). After some swearing and panicking, it started and did not give any issues throughout the whole skid pan event. Weird. The freshly regassed AC however decided to stop working. Typical. The symptoms would suggest that the AC dryer was f@$ked as the AC system had been standing open for some time. With great difficulty, I sourced a replacement AC dryer and made an appointment with my AC guy...Cue the no-start issue again, and this time it was terminal. Lovely. Some head scratching revealed it was the crank position sensor which took leave of absence. Sourced a new one from BMW at horrifyingly exorbitant prices for a simple installation - remove radiator fan and shroud, loosen some coolant pipes, and pop the new sensor on. Ha! Car had other plans. Obviously. Some previous p@#s had used locktite to keep the radiator fan on the water pump. Nice one guy, nice one. Broken tools, swear words, blood sweat and actual tears ensued. The radiator fan eventually came off but the water pump got damaged in the process. New water pump is NLA from BMW or aftermarket. But of course.
So this is the part where the car got deserted while we figured out how we could get a water pump. By this time we needed to focus on the Bullrun car. By sheer luck, we found a good used water pump (thanks Peter). Phoned BMW to find out the water pump gasket is NLA. Of course. Luckily BMW Cape Town had stock and the very lovely salesman posted 2 gaskets to me. Lovely. How worrying is it that a simple "maintenance" item such as a water pump can take these cars off the road? These water pumps are totally NLA - not even in some dodgy no-name brand...not ideal.
Cue a rushed water pump change and coolant flush and the car was ready just in time for the last skid pan event of 2023:
Weirdly, me and Mark really struggled with the car. It did not want to slide, so had to be provoked which then made it quite hard to control. We had recently installed its "proper" rear wheels with good tyres (we had been doing all the previous runs with spare rear wheels with some rubbish chinese tyres), so figured the extra grip at the rear was causing our issues. So we learn.
In other news, I re-dyed the interior with the Colourlock leather refresh kit. What an awesome product! The seats only needed a single layer and the colour matching is spot on. The interior is refreshed, but like an idiot, I have not taken any pictures, so you'll just have to believe me.
Before:
After:
Well pleased with the result. The leather has not lost any of its soft Nappa feel or texture. Result
Car is now 99.995% finished, just a few finishing touches and she will be put up for sale, hopefully before the end of the year.
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modocrat
Well-known member
@Ismail ///M What's better than one E34 M5? Not bankruptcy of course (Black and red would look good in your garage)
(Black and red would look good in your garage)
Benji
Well-known member
Check out Colourlock south africa. They are based in PE (or whatever they call it these days) but do have a distributer in JHB South
Benji
Well-known member
Around the 400k mark, but will create a for sale post here once she is ready
Well out of my toy budget , lol.
