Butler's E34 M5 Barn Find Restoration

[LateE30]

beautiful car. great work so far!

[Butler]

Memorial Day weekend update!

I spent all day working on the car. She is about to roll over the big 200! This weekend I started counting down the last 115 miles :D


First thing today was a MUCH over due coolant flush and replace a few coolant hoses.

200,000 miles-1 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-2 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-3 by Nick Butler, on Flickr



After cleaning up my huge mess and bleeding the system I moved on to tackle the rear dogbones.

200,000 miles-4 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


The old ones looked like they still had some life left in them but I decided to change em out anyway. (sarcasm)

200,000 miles-5 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-6 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-7 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-8 by Nick Butler, on Flickr



The difference was very noticeable! I wish I had done these sooner. After getting the new bits tightened down I took off out of town into the mountains! There was tons of open road, WOT and hard braking. A great summer day to romp through the twisties in a gorgeous autobahn missile. <3

200,000 miles-9 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-10 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-11 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-13 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-14 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Found a tiny bridge and took some more pics :)

200,000 miles-16 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-17 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-18 by Nick Butler, on Flickr



As I pulled back in to my drive way the odometer read 199,998! I washed her really good and backed her in the garage. I'll try to be strategic with those last two miles and arrange some more WOT for the moment she rolls 200. haha!


200,000 miles-19 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

200,000 miles-20 by Nick Butler, on Flickr



I love this car so much.
That is all for now but since summer has arrived, you'll be seeing some more again soon. Thanks for reading guys!

[Butler]

More pics



Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

[Butler]

Hey guys -

been a while since any good updates because the Portland winter has been beating me down with constant rain. As its starting to get nicer outside the updates will start coming more frequently! I have a decent stock pile of parts I've been stashing all winter. :D

I'll blast you all with some updates from the last few months.

January -
Cabin filter and coolant sensor


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


April -
Euro Ellipsoids!


I've wanted a set of smileys since I learned what they were 10 years ago! I'm going to clean them up the best I can and get new bulbs before installing. The adjusters are in decent condition so I'm not planning on replacing any of them at the moment. (that might change)


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Wiring them was a lot more involved than I was expecting, though I have absolutely zero experience with soldering. I installed lights in an E36 many years ago and remember it being a lot easier! The drivers side of the E34 is a pain in the ass, shit. It took a lot of patience to get everything situated correctly and my soldering iron is a POS. I bought Nokya 2500k highbeam bulbs and new amber 194 city lights bulbs. The city lights weren't really difficult to configure but I kept messing up the wiring and working in a tight space sucks! :D

I'm really happy with how they turned out but I'll likely be planning HIDs in the future. lol




Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Half way there! So excited :)

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr



Oh my...

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Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

[sam_]

Woah! Such an awesome car - So happy to see it's coming back to life.


Great shots btw!

[TimeMachinE30]

The keyless is interesting. I have not the key fob but the key (like my E38) with the remote buttons.

When was the change? I have none of these components. I was going to harvest them for sale.

[Zeemz]

Idk what to do with the pin stripe.. I thought it would come off with the porter cable but its stronger than I anticipated. Rubbing compound would prob do the trick, yea?

If you are still having trouble getting the remaining pin stripes off you should check out 3M Eraser wheels. I used one on my old E30 to take my pin stripes off and it made quick work of it. They are also helpful for removing left over adhesive when debadging cars.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-Stripe-Whe...m+eraser+wheel

I learned about them in this thread. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...223m+eraser%22

[TheWipprSnappr]

absolutely love what you're doing with this thing. And that wheel and shift knob combo...

[Butler]

HI GUYS! Long time no update. I haven't been doing much with since the weather is so damn wet and cold.


The latest project: OEM BMW Keyless Entry


Such a nice upgrade! I didnt care about the alarm but really wanted the keyless entry, this came just in time since about a week ago my drivers door lock started to get really sticky and hard to turn. That was my signal to make a move on this mod sooner than later and I'm glad I did.

The install was way easier than I was expecting.

Pull the rear seat.

Find the plug next to the battery where the harness plugs into the car.

Lay out your wiring harness.

Plug everything in.

Configure the remote.

DONE!



Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr




The second to last picture is while configuring the remote to the car. You open up the keyless/alarm unit, then open the remote and remove the tiny chip from the remote and insert it into the alarm unit to pair the two! The range is WAY better than I expected. No kidding its twice as good as our E46 remote! It also has a very dorky chirp for locking and unlocking. I love the noise. :)







In other news, its been winter and I haven't been driving the M5 very much. Lots of garage time unfortunately since we've had some decent winter weather. I sold my 335 in December and bought a 1997 Landcruiser! Its a great daily and now I'm exposed to the 4x4 community, which is a whole new car world that I've never explored. :D

I immediately ripped off the running boards and got bigger tires. Woot!

FZJ80_newtires-3 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

SaddleMountainRd-1 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

:)

[Piotr]

Great photos in here. Looking forward to seeing more.

[TimeMachinE30]

It's been too long. What are the updates?

[3ics]

e34s are one of the best BMW designs! Did the previous enjoy seeing the car again?

[0-60Motorsports]

Looks great

[TimeMachinE30]

Hate afternarket, modern HUs in older cars.

Trunk looks clean.

[Butler]

This weeks project: SOUND



The GAS sound system is in and I'm loving it! The difference from the stock stereo is untouchable in every way possible and as far as stereo systems I've experienced it is absolutely and unequivocally amazing. :devil: I was lucky enough to have it installed and tuned by Luke himself. Luke is INSANELY knowledgable and helpful if you are doing any stereo work to your BMW, drop him a note and bounce some feed back off of him. He knows these cars inside and out, which was a big reason why I wanted him to be the one to work on my baby.
If you haven't heard of the Luke box by now, you've been living under a rock. http://www.germanaudiospecialties.com/



Here are some pictures.



Luke GAS e3410 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

SoundSystem-1 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

SoundSystem-3 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

SoundSystem-4 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr