Restoration: e34 M5 (metallic dolphin)

[Prev]

Great work. Those blue dial backgrounds were :thumbdo:

 

[Adi]

They were bugging me already when I had not even bought the car. Have put them up in the parts for sale section, maybe somebody likes them.

 

[Prev]

:thumbs: I suppose everyone's tastes are different

 

[Psymon69]

does it need calibration now? or is it just put back the dials as close to 0 as you can?

 

[Adi]

No calibration needed, all dials have stop pins.......once they back in dial settles on there. Bit nerve rocking taking it apart, fortunately I had a spare one, in case........

 

[Psymon69]

ah ok thats good. I wonder if the E30 ones are the same. I recall being told to not take off dials as they dont always go back right. you also have to pull quite hard to get them off, quite stressful I can imagine!

 

[Adi]

Used two flat kitchen knives, under each side, lift carefully and they come off. Needles have to be off to refit the skins

 

[Redline]

Ok, this weekend it was cluster time. Steering wheel removed, all covers off that are broken, then taking the cluster out. Restoring to OEM needs to refit the original dial backgrounds. The cluster comes apart easily, and carefully taking he needles off, then replacing the dial backgrounds with an original OEM one. Cluster was cleaned all globes tested and the put back together again, with a test in the car, all lights work.

Cluster before:

Dials almost off:

And back to OEM, with all lights tested:

Much much better:thumbs:

 

[Adi]

So I started on the back bumper, all the clips are broken

Use super glue and bicarbonate of soda to glue the clips

Where the bracket is broken it needs to be rebuilt. Drill a 1mm hole and glue in a piece of wire to give it some strength.

Now rebuild the bracket

 

[Cat]

have done and am still doing it on the 535iM....the mags by the way are not black but were sprayed matching dolphin metallic

adi post a pic of yr e12 m535i i hav never seen her please.

 

[Adi]

And now a template, ready to cut the opening

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Cat as requested the link to the 535iM

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=10157

 

[Adi]

Using a Dremel tool, cut the opening.

 

[Adi]

As I progress with he car, have been thinking what the car will look once finished. Looked at some examples:

Quite like the side skirts and bottom bumper area in black, with the side strips also in black, my car could like like this, thanx Ant

Any comments?

 

[Bugger]

The E34 was probably the most understated of the M5s ever produced. It was the only one that could look like a 520i! What's scary is how far the E34 came from the E28 in terms of so much, build,technology,looks. It's a pretty timeless shape that and, as I posted in another thread the other day, it still looks fresh 20 odd years after it went into production,even the interior is timeless. They are solid cars with fantastic pedigree,I envy you being in the position to restore one of these,especially as it's an M5. Keep up the good work!

 

[Legacy]

To be perfectly honest if I could pick any colour I would have it in Avus blue with the silver undersides or Mauritus Blue metallic (287):

http://www.bmwmregistry.com/detail.php?id=5502

This would be the most unique colour in RSA since I have not seen one of these.

Please don't pick a boring colour like White or Silver :facepalm:

 

[Sankekur]

On an e34 I would go for any colour other than white.

 

[Fordkoppie]

Silver might be boring, but accompanied by clear indicators and unpolished wheels i think it looks fantastic and fresh

 

[Adi]

Being as painful original as I am.......although the car is getting a complete respray, will stick with dolphin grey 184 paint code

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will also switch to amber lights and indicators.....

 

[Adi]

So it has been over a year, since the M5 arrived. A lot has happened, and it takes time. The car is almost completely stripped now. A few small things that still need to be sorted out. At the point now where the car is almost ready to be send for spraying. So what has been done for the last year and a bit:
- the boot is stripped down to bare minimum and can be sprayed out
- the interior is out, seats and bits and pieces have been cleaned and are ready
- nose portion is stripped busy cleaning

This weekend was a turning point. For the first time was not removing parts, but started cleaning and re spraying parts. Driver fender is off, and things ar being cleaned.

Fender off cleaned and sprayed with gravel guard

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It's clean

 

[Peter@AEW]

Some detailed work going on there......well done and keep the pics flowing.

How do you do the super glue and bicarb mix?