The Journey of Linda and Friends - the M20b31 Lives

[Albie325]

I prefer the chrome look on DB or euro bumper cars, but with plastic bumpers and the all-black door mouldings I think the chrome looks out of place. I think shadowline will make it look much more put together in your case

[AWDBOB]

Shadowline all the way. I left it unpainted on my last '90 325is, and while it shined up nicely (after many hours of work), it still looks best when painted, IMHO.

I prefer the chrome look on DB or euro bumper cars, but with plastic bumpers and the all-black door mouldings I think the chrome looks out of place. I think shadowline will make it look much more put together in your case

Thanks, Austin- I'm leaning the same way. The trim is heavily oxidized which I'm sure I'll have to wet sand and polish to bring back up, aka...... I'll just SEM Trim Black it and be done with it.

Two votes for shadowline!

Albie, I feel the same way. In the photo I posted, the chrome sticks out in a bad way. Just doesn't seem to fit the overall look of the car. The car below has been my model since day one- I suppose I'm getting close.

It's funny, I just reread this thread from front to back. I'm really glad I didn't 24v swap it. I'm also glad I didn't M30 swap it back when I had those parts. I think I'm actually going to get to enjoy it this season!

[Albie325]

Wow, almost thought it was your car at first glance! Good news is you're only a can of paint and some elbow grease away...

[AWDBOB]

Wow, almost thought it was your car at first glance! Good news is you're only a can of paint and some elbow grease away...

Absolutely! I'm going to keep my black rockers, I'm not a fan of the color matching there. But once shadowline happens, they'll be nearly identical. It's always been my favorite E30. Nothing fancy, just OEM+.

[AWDBOB]

hai guys

530iT by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[e30austin]

Uh oh...

[Staszek]

hai guys

530iT by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

Sweetness!

[AWDBOB]

Uh oh...

Sweetness!

Rust free, 5sp 530iT, hanging out 35 minutes from my house.

I think she gonna clean up real nice

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[e30austin]

You certainly waste no time! Looks nice.

[AWDBOB]

You certainly waste no time! Looks nice.

The paint is coming up well so far!

The foundation of the car is very nice and will make for a great car. I'm going to clean up the car and see where it gets me. I investigated the terrible shift linkage today and it's a hacked flat piece of aluminum with an exhaust u bolt drilled through the "shaft" holding the cup. Needless to say, that needs to be replaced. However, the shift arm (25111222011) is NLA and expensive to find used as it's unique to the manual 530i E34 sedan which I think is 94-95 specific.

The car is still leaking coolant unfortunately, and the vacuum system was compromised at some point. The tie rod assembly (left right and center) need to be replaced, and the SLS needs to be addressed. The interior is also pretty "gone" unfortunately. I'm hoping I can find a 530i in a junkyard around me and source most of what it needs.

The PO took awesome care of the car, but whoever owned the car before him (or his mechanic) was unfortunately a caveman, and that's putting it nicely.

Honestly, a solid weekend of wrenching, a rear bumper and a PDR guy and this thing would be pretty nice.

All shined up:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[wworm]

hell yeah

[st.petebiodiesel]

E34s are awesome cars. It's like a big e30. My spare car is a HE53 with a high miles and a ton of issues I plan on fixing eventually.


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[AWDBOB]

hell yeah

E34s are awesome cars. It's like a big e30. My spare car is a HE53 with a high miles and a ton of issues I plan on fixing eventually.

I'm pumped on this thing! I'll post up a pic once I get the Mpars mounted with fresh tires.

That E34 looks fantastic! I need your staggered Style 37s, mine are square. My last 530iT I regretted selling- it was such a great cruiser but didn't look the part and I didn't want to get into painting it. This thing has pretty nice paint and shockingly, all of it matches aside from a blend someone did on the hood.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[Albie325]

Sweet pickup! Dude you're pretty slick with that buffer, paint looks 1000 times better already. Can't believe people would actually feel safe driving around with that shifter arm setup tho... looks solid enough but far from ideal

[AWDBOB]

Sweet pickup! Dude you're pretty slick with that buffer, paint looks 1000 times better already. Can't believe people would actually feel safe driving around with that shifter arm setup tho... looks solid enough but far from ideal

Thanks!! I haven’t completely regretted my decision yet which is a pretty good sign. We’ll see how she treats me :)

And thanks re: polishing! I wish I had more time to invest into it, but even the small amount I’ve been putting in has really transformed some of these cars. Once things settle down a bit I plan on investing more into the craft.