Butler's E34 M5 Barn Find Restoration

[sam_]

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


Great shots btw!

[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...

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]

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]

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!

[LateE30]

beautiful car. great work so far!

[Jb325is]

Looking really really good! It's settled nicely now, I like the ride height. How are you liking the PSS? Nice job with the smileys too, makes such a big difference

I may be joining you with a similar project soon :)

[Butler]

Looking really really good! It's settled nicely now, I like the ride height. How are you liking the PSS? Nice job with the smileys too, makes such a big difference

I may be joining you with a similar project soon :)

PSSs are stellar! Nothing better if you ask me. We need more E34 M5s on the road. :) :devil:




Got a set of 15mm spacers installed.


BEFORE

15mmRearSpacer-before by Nick Butler, on Flickr

AFTER

15mmRearSpacer-after by Nick Butler, on Flickr

I tried to get the same angle, but its close enough to see that it looks better :P I love the look but these will eventually go on the front and I'll buy a set of 20mm for the rears some time later.


Finally got my hands on a set of euro projector fog lights but I didn't know ahead of time that they used different connector plugs. For anyone else looking to do this you'll need to snag a set of H1 plugs and wire them in place of your 9006/9005 plugs.

The H1 plugs and wires can be bought brand new for about $45 all in or from any local E34 parts car. You'll want to snag them from the front bumper trim trim lighting. Picture here.

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Spliced them in, bolt up the new fogs and enjoy!

Wahoo! My lighting setup is finally coming together. Leaps and bounds ahead of where this car came from, which was moss filled broken fog lights and cracked, water filled US spec halogens. A set of HIDs are the last step to complete but not a priority at the moment.


Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Butler, on Flickr

[Butler]

Project Motorsport Interior is officially underway -

I love this car very much but its short coming, hands down, is the interior. Its absolutely trashed. The silver lining? It allowed me to justify buying something new, which is a direct translation for something special. :P

The interior I went for is a complete antracite leather with silver M cloth inserts. It is 1 of 500 interiors made for the E34 M5 for the european market!



Package 1 of 4 arrived today.
Door cards - Here is the before & after for you all, starting with the most god awful of the 4 original door cards. LOL :help



M Cloth door cards-3 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-5 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M Cloth door cards-4 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-10 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-11 by Nick Butler, on Flickr


M Cloth door cards-2 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-6 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-7 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-8 by Nick Butler, on Flickr

M Cloth door cards-9 by Nick Butler, on Flickr




Drivers door is here too, just ran out of time and I'm still waiting on the rest of the shipments! :) Enjoy the pics. More to come soon.

[cblais19]

I love the pattern, so 90s!

[0-60Motorsports]

Beautiful

[MR E30 325is]

Definitely a massive upgrade!

[doorman]

Those door cards are friggin sweet!!!

[lukem23]

Any updates on this thing?

[alistairolsen]

Lovely car and a great job of saving it. Always nice to see a car go to someone who will take care of it.

Have you seen the previous owner since you've done all the work?

[paynemw]

:)

It's so funny to see how many people who love Toyota Trucks probably also love BMW cars! I've owned 3x Toyota Trucks and 2x 80's BMWs. Love both brands dearly. I also loved off-roading in the PNW.