Butler's E34 M5 Barn Find Restoration

[KIRIEIW]

I moved on to the trunk. There I found the new car binder. Had the owners manual, accessories brochure (which is ridiculous and 90s), the radio and CD changer operating manual as well as some random bits from the dealer it came from. The one and only thing it doesn't have is the radio code! Am I SOL? What other options do I have to reset the factory radio?

original spare tire!

I've called my local dealership numerous times asking for radio codes of the various older BMW's my Dad and I have bought over the last few year's. Call your dealer, otherwise call mine there pretty nice and should help you quickly. "Peter Pan BMW". The key here is the car needs to be 20yr's old or older, otherwise they won't give you the code with out a title/ some sort of proof of ownership shown in person.

[e30austin]

Call Austin (or Bill, who is now parts manager) down at BMW Portland parts counter. He's very helpful and loves these old cars. You'll need to pop the radio out and give him the serial number off the back. Sometimes they'll do it with just the last 7 of the VIN, but that doesn't always work.

[Butler]

To reglue that leather you best bet is to try and use spray headliner adhesive. The 3m stuff is good.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-38808-Headliner-Fabric-Adhesive/dp/B004MEBENM

I would pull the whole leather piece off and spray it with the adhesive though, kinda hard to get an even coat in that little space. Just wait till the adhesive is tacky and it'll stick without creating wrinkles.

Thanks. I'm afraid to pull the vinyl off without a plan! I've used that stuff when re-doing my headliner in my E36M3 a few years ago.

This thing's awesome man, loving the detailed pics of the condition it's in now. Once it's cleaned up those pic's will be a constant reminder on how much work you've actually done.

Thats the plan! Also, thanks for the tip - of course I should call the dealer for the radio code! How did I not think of that!?!




Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I'm super pumped on this car. I put 25 miles on it yesterday and it was great to drive, even when being gentle :D

I did find that its wants to over heat after getting to full temp. The needle sits at the 12 oclock position and warms up smoothly but I was idling for a long time waiting for a train when I noticed it started to creep to the left. I killed the motor right after I saw that it was heating up! Once I started moving again the needle settled back down to center. That sounds like a fan clutch, no?

[2002jm]

fan clutch

The fan clutch is where I would start to look first
Can't believe how many nice old bmws come up in the Portland area.
gl, this is a keeper for sure!
jm

[2mAn]

VERY nice! the e34 M5 is one of the best M cars for daily use.

I disagree with this 100%, I daily drove one for a year and other than the one redline pull I would do its horrible. My eta was a much better daily driver. It IS a great sedan, but the cry for rpms isnt daily friendly. Of the M-cars, I would say a E39 M5 would be 1000x better. V8 torque

fun story: when I test drove the one I eventually bought, the test drive didnt sell me. I kept it under 3500 rpms max to be respectful to the owner, and also not wanting to crash this car on the test drive. I go out, not impressed. Then the owner took off. redlined 1st and 2nd and with the B&B exhaust, THAT is what sold me. DD'd it for a year, took it on a few road trips and it was nice, but sold it and havent really looked back.

OP: nice purchase. has it had a top end rebuild?

[Butler]

I was excited to learn the following for my car:

Sterling Silver Metallic 1 of 194
Light Silver Grey Leather is 1 of 358


Its sunny and nice out I should be home working on the car, not stuck at work! D:

[jpod999]

Its sunny and nice out I should be home working on the car, not stuck at work! D:

I've been dealing with that myself lately. Luckily A. I'm salaried so no one is watching me clock in/out, and B. my boss is either in NJ all week or in meetings all day long. As such, I've started working on my car at lunch and have been slowly been stretching it from 45 minutes to 65-70 minutes lol

[Butler]

Call Austin (or Bill, who is now parts manager) down at BMW Portland parts counter. He's very helpful and loves these old cars. You'll need to pop the radio out and give him the serial number off the back. Sometimes they'll do it with just the last 7 of the VIN, but that doesn't always work.

Got it working! Thanks for the tip. Too bad the sound system (if you can even call it that) SUCKS :O It crackles and pops when I turn the dial and the front speakers are drastically quieter than the rears...?

Unless, anyone has some advice for a DIY fix I'll be saving this for way later down the road. Luke, I need your expertise!

[Butler]

Today's update: Fluid change stage 1

Oil change
Tranny fluid
Differential fluid


Since this was the first time I've gotten underneath her I was able to evaluate where Im going to throw money first.

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr



Ahhh so thats why the steering wheel has so much play in it. No surprise really. (Passenger side upper control arm bushing)

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Drivers side looks ok by comparison. Both will be replaced. don't worry.
Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

[TimeMachinE30]

Nice to see swift results. This car deserves it.

[slammin.e28]

Ahhh so thats why the steering wheel has so much play in it. No surprise really. (Passenger side upper control arm bushing)

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Drivers side looks ok by comparison. Both will be replaced. don't worry.
Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

UCABS you absolutely need.

[CorvallisBMW]

Firstly, (belated) welcome to Portland! Secondly, great score! It's nice to see her being brought back to life. Looks like she's at Boyd Motor Werks? Also, any details on your e90? I recently purchased a 335D and need to get better hooked up with the Portland e90 scene.

UCABS you absolutely need.

750iL bushings work great too. Much firmer.

[Eric]

UCABS you absolutely need.

Absolutely these! Spherical bearing upper & lower control arms totally transformed my e28 m5!


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[Eric]

Got it working! Thanks for the tip. Too bad the sound system (if you can even call it that) SUCKS :O It crackles and pops when I turn the dial and the front speakers are drastically quieter than the rears...?



Unless, anyone has some advice for a DIY fix I'll be saving this for way later down the road. Luke, I need your expertise!

The factory e34 system isn't that bad with more power behind it. An aftermarket head unit helps. The speakers in the kicks/dash/sail panel give a great sound stage.

To solve the cracking, try turning the volume nob back and fourth quickly, that might clear some dust/debit that is on the contacts. Works well on my little tube amp.


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[Butler]

Firstly, (belated) welcome to Portland! Secondly, great score! It's nice to see her being brought back to life. Looks like she's at Boyd Motor Werks? Also, any details on your e90? I recently purchased a 335D and need to get better hooked up with the Portland e90 scene.

750iL bushings work great too. Much firmer.

The work was at Munich Motor Works, in SE off of Cesar Chavez. Joseph, the owner is a great guy and BMW die hard, like the rest of us!


The 335 is my daily driver even though I drive my wifes E46 most of the time! :P Its an amazing car. It makes 440 wtq on pump gas lol. Stupid fun amount of power all the time. To be honest there is no local E90 scene as far as I know. I hangout with some of the PNW BMW crew, we have meets and drives fairly often - join the facebook group if you haven't!






Back to the M5!
I satisfied my OCD by cleaning the bottom of the motor.


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr



So far I think I've identified my first round of new parts for the beast. All focused on the cooling system-

T stat 79*
T stat o-ring
T stat seal
Waterpump
Waterpump gasket
Upper hose
Mid hose
Lower hose
1 gal OEM coolant


I'm going to hold off on the fan clutch for now. This should keep me busy for a whole Saturday.