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Mark

Mark's E34 project

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Well, after a fairly long absence from owning a BMW, I am back with what, at this stage, appears to be the bargain of the century.

1990 535iSE

123,000km

Privately imported to New Zealand and I am the 4th owner from new.

5 speed manual

Heated seats

Electric lumbar adjustment

Driver and passenger armrests

Headlight and foglight washers

OBC

Original Blaupunkt Headunit

Style 5's

The car has a few small issues but it's in remarkably good nick for being 22 years old. Will be spending the holidays giving it a good clay and polish, then moving on to mechanical and cosmetic adjustments.

A few pics:

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Edited by _Mark_

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Nice project for you Mark. Back in Chch now??

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Ha I saw that after buying my current automatic 535i.

This looks like a great score!

I'm tempted to overhaul my car suspension and look into a manual conversion but it's probably not worth it as my V8 E36 is supposed to be the project car!

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its amazing how durable some of these E34s are.Most of the good ones will have had a fairly sedate life for the first ten years or so....

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Nice project for you Mark. Back in Chch now??

Cheers Mike, yeah back in town for the forseeable future :-)

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looks good! whats the thing next to the hand brake? havent seen that before..

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looks good! whats the thing next to the hand brake? havent seen that before..

Could be a cassette tape holder or something similar...

Mine has that, I really need to remove it as it's a total waste of space.

Edited by V8E36

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looks good! whats the thing next to the hand brake? havent seen that before..

tape cassette holders , have some if you need

so you can store all your 80's audio tapes :D

http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E34/Seda..._accessories-2/

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so you can store all your 80's audio tapes :D

Have to dig out my old copy of Appetite for Destruction plus I'll need another 8 tapes to fill the holder... pretty damn retro!

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Have to dig out my old copy of Appetite for Destruction plus I'll need another 8 tapes to fill the holder... pretty damn retro!

yea doubles as a arm rest or somewhere to hide your weed :P

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yea doubles as a arm rest or somewhere to hide your weed :P

most of the kiwi cars just had a "hole" therepost-332-1324951571.jpg

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So it begins: Have had the car for a week now and have a list of things that need to be looked at:

- Fan speed resistor is buggered so the blower motor only works on full bore.

- Various cooling system hoses need replacing as they're looking a bit past it.

- Will replace as many of the perished rubber seals around the car as I can.

- Lots of fiddly bits like missing trim clips here and there.

- Car needs more "low" urgently. :)

I spent the last few days detailing it and it's come up really nicely. It's certainly not perfect but a hell of a lot better than when I bought it. Obviously it only ever had the hose run over it every 6 months and then was left to dry in the sun = lots of water spots. Thankfully they came out with a good clay and a bit of rubbing compound.

First thing I had to replace was the battery ($300, ouch!). The good news is that it fixed my issue with the instrument cluster not working... now I have a fuel gauge, temp gauge and odometer! Extra bonus: Now I know there's a free 1/2 tank of gas in there too!

Took it for a good drive today and snapped a couple of pics. Not great, but best I could do in the midday sun. Will do a proper photoshoot sometime.

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Looks superb.

Definitely needs more low as you said... the stock ride height at the front on E34s is really annoying, especially since the rear is quite low by comparison.

I keep looking at mine for that reason, I gotta get some H&R spring in there this year!

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Better pic from today... car actually looks black!

post-2031-1325480635.jpg

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Better pic from today... car actually looks black!

post-2031-1325480635.jpg

what colour is it?Diamand swarch(spelling!) can be anywhere is the dark grey/charcoal/black spectrum depending on light....

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^^^ Its just Schwarz, non metallic. Even harder to keep clean than metallic version.

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^^^ Its just Schwarz, non metallic. Even harder to keep clean than metallic version.

i find that hard to beleive....but if you insist

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Downloaded the buildsheet off the ETK today. A bit of other research seems to confirm the car does have an LSD. Should go do a skid and double check. :)

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Also, I have quite a bad case of "wiper knock" where the wiper arms come into contact with the edge of the bonnet. I've got the writeup on how to replace the wiper rack (looks painfully difficult), but does anyone know if these things can be reconditioned or if I just have to try my luck with a second hand one that hopefully has a lot of life left in it?

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Been a while since I've done anything of note to the E34. However, I just ordered over $300 USD worth of maintenance items and cooling system parts from Pelican Parts today, so will have something to keep myself busy with over winter.

I did think about selling the car recently, but have decided to hang on to it. I know E34's aren't particulary desirable or collectable yet (apart from the M5) but this one is just so tidy and original I can't bring myself to get rid of it. Took some interior pictures when I was thinking about selling, thought I might as well post them here.

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if it had a lsd from factory it normally shows on the build list

Transmision HECK

Gearbox MECH

Colour DIAMANTSCHWARZ METALLIC (181)

Upholstery SCHWARZ LEDER (0203)

Prod. date 1989-12-01

Order options

No. Description

200 KATALYSATOR - ENTFALL (no catalytctic converter)

209 LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL (25%)

226 SPORTS SUSPENSION SETTINGS

291 BMW LM SCHMIEDERAD/KREUZSPEICH (alloy wheels)

302 ALARM SYSTEM

320 MODEL DESIGNATION, DELETION (no model badge)

335 M TECHNIC SPORTPAKET (mtech body kit, front spoiler skirts,rear wing, aero rear bumper cover)

339 SATIN CHROME (matt black finish around windows instead of chrome)

401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC

458 SEAT ADJUSTMENT, ELECTRIC. F DRIVER/PASS

481 SPORT SEATS F DRIVER/FRONT PASSENGER

498 HEADRESTS IN REAR, MECHANIC. ADJUSTABLE

500 HEADLIGHT WASHER SYS/INTENSIVE CLEANING

534 AUTOMATIC AIR CONDITIONING

548 SPEEDOMETER WITH KILOMETER READING

560 CO-PILOTS IN RR COMPARTMENT (reading lamps in rear )

563 BEL.MAKE-UP SPIEGEL (make up mirrors(or lights for make up mirror)

571 BOOSTED POWER SUPPLY (140 w alternator)

676 HIFI LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM

687 RADIO PREPARATION

708 M-SPORT LEATHER STEERING WHEEL II

806 Neuseeland Ausfuehrung

847 erweiterter Kabelbaum

850 ADD FUEL TANK FILLING FOR EXPORT

925 SHIPPING PROTECTION PACKAGE

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The E28 is sexy pamts!

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