1995 e34 540i/6 *m60b44* - Return to Some Kind of Glory

[marshallnoise]

I went to Harbor Freight after reading about plastic welding and I was genuinely surprised how inexpensive this kit was and how well it performed. https://www.harborfreight.com/80-wat...kit-60662.html

The front bumper didn't have any cracks or anything significant other than a small tear at the very bottom. I used the plastic welder on that and it worked great. Then I sanded, primed and shot it with a semi-gloss black. I had a few runs, but I let them dry and then leveled the runs out and reshot the part with a run. Its a 5 footer now.

I then went to work on the rear bumper. I will take some pics tomorrow and post them. I used the welder to melt the inner bumper structure clips that retained it to the outer bumper so I could make the repairs to it and to the bumper. I am pretty pleased with how it worked out.

For the $18 bucks out the door, I would not hesitate to give this a shot for your late e30s either. It is the same material and it definitely does work.

[econti]

5' is better than 10', is better than any of my garbage.
FYI E34 impact trims are still dealer available and very reasonably priced. I did them on my mrs 540 and it made a massive difference.

[marshallnoise]

I saw the prices on the euro trim and was pleasantly surprised by the prices too!
IMG_20200615_162708 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Here is the back of the car. I still need to work on the paint of the trunk lid. The front is similar of course.
IMG_20200615_162441 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I was trying to figure out where a clunk was coming in the rear of the car and determined that everything was stock, with 260K on it. LOL Here was the Rockauto haul.
IMG_20200618_191157 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

These are legit Billies, not sports though.
IMG_20200618_191447 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

Rockauto paid $53 a piece for these and I got them for $71 each. Not too bad.
IMG_20200618_191007 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

And here are the roached strut mounts.
IMG_20200618_191223 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

IMG_20200618_191234 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I modded my welder too. The ground clamp was affixed permanently from the factory and was kinda puny. Plus, it is not that great of condition. I robbed one of these tweeco style connectors off a plasma cutter I had that was DOA.
IMG_20200616_171016 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

IMG_20200616_173730 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

IMG_20200616_173737 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

[marshallnoise]

I have an update for the car and me. I had my surgery on June 29th, was in for 2 nights and then sent home. They surgery did not go according to plan unfortunately, but fortunately, I will be able to be put back together. Apparently, once they got inside of my gut, they found tons of scarring (adhesions), inflammation and infections. They removed 2 feet of colon and spliced it in there ready for reattachment in 6-8 weeks. I now have an ileostomy (temporary) and I can't lift more than 10 lbs, which sucks. I definitely was sawed on just removing scar tissue for over 2 hours above the regular work the surgeon performed. Its a mystery as to what caused this since I have not had surgery in there before. One possible explanation is Chron's Disease. Another is complications from Psoriatic Arthritis that I was diagnosed with about 8 years ago. Either way, its just a challenge I will have to overcome.

Turning back to the 540i, I did manage to get the rear struts changed out. I had a massive fail too that I am not ashamed to admit. I had a hell of a time understanding how to assemble the strut onto the top hat with the provided Bilstein instructions which was just a picture with the three parts included kind of installed. I went to the parts fische on realoem and the spacer that Bilstein included was not on my car's diagram. It wasn't until I ruined one of the new struts' threads that I figured out what to do with the spacer. Lesson kind of learned.

While the car drives MUCH better in the rear, I am having a problem getting the clunk out of the rear. When driving, I can actually see the strut come up and off the mount and click back down. It only happens in certain situations though. Usually gently taking off over bumps or approaching a stop sign. I will have to get to the bottom of that because it will drive me nuts. It could be that the springs are too worn out because I didn't need a spring compressor to install the top mounts. It could also be sloppy bushings elsewhere in the rear end. I'll get to the bottom of it.

This hole is out of round for some reason. I need to see if that is normal. The mounting holes are perfect though so maybe its normal.
IMG_20200621_140924 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

IMG_20200619_130821 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I also installed these things. End links of some variety.
IMG_20200619_113239 by Paul Abbott, on Flickr

I think long term on this car, I will be trying to figure out how to adapt a Ford 8.8" IRS pumpkin in there. It is just ridiculous how much it costs to service, maintain and upgrade a BMW large case diff. I have fab tools and equipment, I am sure I can get it done. I will pull a subframe from another car, replace all the bushings, do the fab work and install caster and camber tabs. Then it will be modified half shafts and drive shaft flange change. If I do the latter right, I may never have to replace those parts again. My halfshafts are in excellent shape as it is and they look factory. Testament to the beef the large cases have.

[econti]

Psoriatic Arthritis, hey. Never heard of it before but it would explain some of my issues. Very tough gig for you all around. Life is what we make of it however

[marshallnoise]

Psoriatic Arthritis, hey. Never heard of it before but it would explain some of my issues. Very tough gig for you all around. Life is what we make of it however

I am sorry if you have that too. I agree 1000% with life being a series of choices: some I get to make and others are made for me. I say make due with what you got. Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[marshallnoise]

I forgot to mention that I had some rattling when the car would settle into a warm idle. I couldn't figure out where it was from. I know that the revshift engine mounts are much more rigid than the OEM mounts so I will have more vibrations everywhere. But I did discover that both of the front brake dust shields were cracked in the same place. So I snagged the welder and welded them up. That rattle is gone. Woot!

I also managed to mount my stereo's crossovers properly. That eliminated another source of rattling.

I met with the surgeon and we are on pace to get me put back together in about a month and a half. 5-6 weeks. Thankful for that.