Butler's E34 M5 Barn Find Restoration

[TimeMachinE30]

Very wonderful.

The orange looks like headliner adhesive...

[F34R]

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

[Butler]

Clean up phase 2: Washing


M5_wash up-1 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-2 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

The paint looks a teeny bit decent here. Not actually the case

M5_wash up-3 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-4 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-5 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-7 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-8 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-10 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


OK, now time to move on the wheels! Damn, these wheels are really annoying to clean.

Before shots here -


M5_barnfind-20 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


And cleaned up!

M5_wash up-12 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-11 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


From here, I moved on to the interior. I gave it a hefty vacuuming and wipe down but that barely made a difference. Its freakin nasty in here. Why u live in filth previous owner? :hitler:


M5_wash up-14 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M5_wash up-15 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M5_wash up-16 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Beat down shift knob. Its illuminated though, I'll go out tonight and see if it still lights up. doubt it though lol :roll:
M5_wash up-17 by Nick Butler, on Flickr




What the hell is all this weird orange stuff in the center console!? Ughhh

M5_wash up-18 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-20 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Pulled all the pieces out to scrub individually.

M5_wash up-21 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


How do I re-glue this part of the center console? Any advice?
Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr




More nasty!

M5_wash up-22 by Nick Butler, on Flickr



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!

M5_wash up-26 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


All cleaned up. I replaced a burned out brake light while I was back there. I took the tails out and cleaned them up the best I could. No pics of that. Trunk net is pretty handy. I should get one for our other cars.

M5_wash up-27 by Nick Butler, on Flickr



Time to get the center console back together! Its better but not passable by my standards. I'll come back and figure out how to make it look really nice and factory fresh again.

M5_wash up-30 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_wash up-25 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M5_wash up-29 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Lots of elbow grease to get to this point.

M5_wash up-28 by Nick Butler, on Flickr




Here are 2 random S38 pics for fun. I hosed it off a little just to get the dust off of everything.

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr



Continuing today's madness, I clay bar'd, polished and waxed a small section of the hood just to see what it would look like. Sadly I was really disappointed. Im an amateur detailer so I thought I was going to make it look amazing again... hahah! shit I was far from it. The paint is smooth but there are millions of tiny cracks in the clear. It looks ok from 10 feet - just dull old silver.

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr




And that was my first 24 hours of ownership! Time to go drink and relax a bit.
Cheers!

M5_wash up-31 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

[Reubenjd]

Just saw a clean black m5 yesterday, reminded me of how much I want one. Have fun with this one!

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[Bmwdayz]

If you want to sell those turbine cover let me know :) I would tune it up and drive it just like you found it!

[jpod999]

Cool story! Enjoy the car!

[TimKninja]

Soooo jealous Id love an M5. I love e34s, my favorite 5 series by far, I just picked one up to accompany the E30. They are alittle different, much more complicated then the e30, but theyre comfy great cars. Ive been told the Bimmerforums E34 forum is pretty active.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxxH0lZSYgU

theres some inspiration .

[Coyote_ar]

what an awesome story and project car.

[Butler]

I'm familiar with Iron x. I have some! :)

[doorman]

Looking great so far!!

I swear by a product called "Iron X".

It eats iron/rust off of anything. I've used it on rims, brake parts and even the body of my wife's Alpine 328xi. It's a bit pricey on Amazon but a must have for cleaning up a car.

[Butler]

After:

M5_pressurewash-6 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_pressurewash-7 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M5_pressurewash-8 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Major patina M badge! I think it looks kinda cool.

M5_pressurewash-9 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M5_pressurewash-10 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Ok, so there might be some silver under all that gunk after all! I blasted my door handle gaskets into a million pieces. They were barely being held together. :(

[Butler]

Clean up step one: Pressure wash

Before:
Holy crap this thing is filthy. Lets see what happens!

M5_pressurewash-1 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_pressurewash-2 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_pressurewash-3 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_pressurewash-4 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M5_pressurewash-5 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

[Dagamus(NM)]

Damn, talk about stalking your prey.

[Aikmanson]

Very nice found! Always liked the e34 for the "wolf in sheep's clothing" effect. I knew of a similar BMW barn find near me, still working on it. Good luck with the restoration.

[Butler]

Sweet find!!

Subbed

Can't wait to see the first wash pics.

I wont let you down!

Nice find!

That fuel door mechanism is cheap at the dealer (at least it was a few years back when I had an e34) - GLW the restoration

Oh? I never go to the dealer. I was going to start asking around for a sterling silver gas door... am I missing a mechanism as well as the door? Two separate pieces? Ha, I haven't even gotten a chance to look at it up close yet.




Also, this is a open invitation to school me on E34s! This is my first non-3series and Im ok to admit that I don't know much about this body style. :yawn: