My 1996 540i - Now with new interior and various clean-up's.

[Jandre]

Eventually I have a few pics of my recent aquisition.
She will be a work in progress.

So far:
The gearbox might have to go. The leather is crap. I have an oil leak which will be sorted out this week. I need a driver side foglight.
Apart from that, I need to do some minor DIY nip/tuck.

 

[applehero]

That's an awesome example there Jandre. :clap:

Pretty good condition, dash and everything else looks in good nic. See what you mean bout the seats.

 

[Hellas]

:thumbsup: Congrats Jandre! (I'm too jealous to utter anything else...)
Happy motoring with her!

 

[Jandre]

Thx guys. Yeah the seats are horrid to say the least. The leather is all soft, and without tears, but the finish is horrible. Covered with scuffs and marks. I was too ashamed to take a proper photo of the seats.

Make no mistake, I will have quite a bit to do to her, but she is not my daily drive. The GTI and The POFS are nearly perfect, so I can spend the next year doing the 5er. (Not that it will take that long. I am a scorpio and wants things done ASAP.)

The paint is so dull there is no words, so Don will have to advise on what wax/ polish to use to revive the old gal.

I am prepared to spend another 20k on her (over a period of time of course), so it should be decent when it's done.

 

[zaleonardz]

Wow dude.... SHe is neat.

You have a couple of the classic signs of wear that your car has missed, wood trim looks awesome, dashboard is not warped.

Wheels are awesome, body lines look really good with some minor work needed in front, but dang dude... she is awesome, and I am really jelous of that steering wheel of yours.

Seats are bad, but thats not so serious. There are plenty E34's in yards with neat interiors, and you can buy two front seats for under 2k, as a matter of fact, you can research putting in a set of E38 front seats, which would be awesome, I am planning to do that in the future.

Further, the leather covers can be taken off very very easily, so you can have them re-dye'd easy as well, if you had a black interior, I had a contact for you...

Uber may even have a grey leather setup I think...

SHe is neat man... good luck with the box :thumbsup:

 

[clutchplate]

OOohhh nice dude the E34 540i group on this forum is really growing.. lots of people want them .. so much car for such little money.. can't get better..
keep us updated on what you do would love to see it come back to life ..

 

[zaleonardz]

I cant wait to see what your going to do to this car

 

[DonovanPorter]

:thumbsup: what a beaut , nice buy Jeandre

 

[Laigo]

Seriously nice car dude! :thumbsup:

 

[rick540]

I have some good condition Grey leather covers for you if you want.

Removed them from the seats when I changed the interior color to black

 

[freerider]

Awesome stuff Jandre, sorry didnt even call this weekend, but had some major geyser/earth leakage problems

 

[Jandre]

Thx guys. Yeah it will become a labour of love.

@ LZ, dude, for now, I just want to get her mobile, roadworthy'd and registered.

@ Rick540i - You have a PM.

@ Freerider - No worries china. I know how short a weekend gets when the going gets tough. Apart from a wash and vacuum, I have done nothing to the 5er. I just did not have a minute where I could go hang around in the garage.

 

[andrewbuch]

Awesome purchase Jandre.

1st up should be to get rid if that auto shifter & replace it with something a bit more manual

 

[zaleonardz]

and LSD like

 

[Jandre]

Thx Andrew, nah first up is a oil and coolant change (Being done as we speak), sort that oil leak. Then the seats, and then the autobox.

Inbetween I will spit and polish, replace a few door rubbers.

The usual stuff.

What bugs me is the condition that this car is in. I am not talking body, engine, electronics. The seats, omw, the seats are sickening. A few door rubbers are torn, and the wheels were filthy. This only on a 96 model. Why do people not look after the interior etc? He spent so much on the engine upkeep, the car even has a full service history.

Some people are just not fanatics.

Which reminds me. Don, can I have some white stickers please?

 

[fastguy]

Nice Car Jandre.....

Happy Driving :clap::excited:

 

[zaleonardz]

Jandre, the trick now with the E34 is you are supposed to be doing stuff like that yourself

I have learnt so much from my E34 it is unreal, and thats the kewl thing, its a project car, so if you dont have time, money, or dont have a clue, you can always wait till next weekend while you shop for better prices or do some googling.

Every major/minor task on the E34's is covered somewhere in a howto, and the net is your friend...

Invest in a decent Torx set, and you can do virtually any job on your car.

 

[Jandre]

I hear what you are saying there LZ. Currently I have the basic tools, but I don't have trolley jacks, don't have ramps, and I don't have stands.

So for a basic oil and coolant change, I will refer that to a mechanic. (Plus they can stamp my service book.)

When the time comes for the box replacement, I will systematically buy the necessary tools. Although my garage is decent sized it is not all that spacious, and being in a security complex, I don't have a lot of storage space.

 

[zaleonardz]

I hear u dude...

Budget R300 every month to go tool shopping, you will soon have all the required bits... Those three items you have mentioned is a fantastic start...

As for garage space, kick the GTI out

But I share the space problem, I have to keep one of my cars at the office, so whatever one I drive home, the other sleeps at the office.... strangely though, I have driven the E65 like twice in 2 weeks... wonder why that is

 

[Jandre]

I can't leave something at the office. We already got 3 microbusses standing in the yard. The GTI sleeps outside now. I urgently need to get some polish and wax from Freerider so that the red GTI can stay perfect.