1993 530i V8 5 speed Manual M60b40 swap

[zero 1162]

Just read this whole thread.

Great work - how is the progress now?

[kiwi328i 118]

Well here is a few pics from a few months ago now, with the leather restoration.

Give them a clean as you do, do your carpets etc whilst you are in there.

Its not too bad to do holes as I was swapping seats I had a lot of sacrificial leather hanging around, with the filler and glue, it's a breeze, if you can do basic panel beating you can do this, pays to have some natural artistry to you too I guess.

Its pretty bad, another way would be to totally replace these I guess, but I like old s%$t and oh well.

Normal clean, then of course there is the cleaner in the kit

So once you have cleaned it too death, fill in the bits you really think needs it, you could spend a lifetime at this stage and if you want it looking new, this would be the hard way, I still wanted an old patina of sorts. With the filler and laborious sanding it's very rewarding. The turps takes off the glean and really is the etching stage. You can use a more specialized primer at this stage but I think Turps...S%$t could be meths, cant remember is vastly cheaper.

Now its starting to blend in with the old leather, I used a brush too at this stage as the leather was pretty brutal...hence the brutal approach. Rubbing between is good, you don't have to be too fussy at this stage, not if you are spraying later, but you don't want large brush marks either.

So in general you concentrate on the worst of the leather, no point layering in areas that are still good. Mind it's relative, these were pretty bad, so lots of elbow grease on these. The back seats of our cars will be a breeze. I wont even use filler, no need for glue and might go straight to spray for example. This is looking good now but keep in mind there could be 5-6 coats in some of the more worn areas.

This is pretty much it. You don't need the last clear coat, but I wanted the better wear value included. Obviously you need loads of sandpaper of various grades just use your head. Pliers for all of those pesky bullnose clips in my case. You need plenty of rags, you need to buy your own Meths, yeah meths. You can make a fair mess with just two front seats and you need room to lay everything out methodically (theory of course, my garage was an abomination).

So I bought a 3x4m Marque cheap s^%t one off trademe. Got a reel of number 8 and cut it in 12 inch lots to tie various pieces to the under carriage of the Marque. The instructions are comprehensive. But in general, use a very low pressure, high volume? Cant remember, but I just go by instinct. If you can paint, you can paint. Be patient, drying times a relatively quick too. This was an enjoyable mini project within the bigger project. Much more enjoyable than finding vacuum leaks that's for sure...

I don't have pics in the car or fully assembled as I had to do that part real quick. But its been 8 months in the car, there has been some stickiness between the leather initially but then they settle. I think they look great, and so I have myself a full seat of front seats in black leather, not dark blue, that are fully manual and s*&t loads lighter than the originals. Im happy.

Enjoy

[BreakMyWindow 1874]

That turned out mint.

This is exactly what I need to do on my seats.

Time to get off my Ar$se and get it sorted.

Well done!!!!

[Breaker 980]

Bloody magic, well done

[BM WORLD 1283]

good work

ah the history behind those blue seats , been in a few cars now.

I pulled them out of a e32 wreck at European auto spares about 10 years ago

went into one of my e34 535i then into another etc

[Ahmedsinc 414]

good work

ah the farts behind those blue seats , been in a few cars now.

I pulled them out of a e32 wreck at European auto spares about 10 years ago

went into one of my e34 535i then into another etc

Fixed

Juvenile jokes aside, nice work on the E34 dude!

[kiwi328i 118]

good work

ah the history behind those blue seats , been in a few cars now.

I pulled them out of a e32 wreck at European auto spares about 10 years ago

went into one of my e34 535i then into another etc

S$#t that's some history. Well they are now a much lighter manual version and should last for years more. The E34/E32 leather is wicked.

I also have the back seat but mine is as good condition so neither here or there. I have the leather console, but I have been thinking of going full custom, something lower profile etc.

I still have to do those big meats too come summer, I guess the fact the car is running beautifully means I just wanna drive the blasted thing. I will get some in-car shots of the seats.

Here's some more shots.

Electric headrest thingy...out you go!

See the silicone I have put at the bottom of this bolster. The bolster material disintegrates over time as it hits the metal chassis of the chair, which is why you might see yello/orange brownish bread crumbs under your seat. So a sliver of this inside the cavity will stop this somewhat. I let it dry before assembly.

Just checking fitment. The chassis are very close, only subtle differences, but still check 15 times fit once as they say.

So checking fitment of side bolsters with clean tatty leather, both bolsters have been 'siliconed' for strength and peace of mind, just the cavities.

Same check, but with bolsters cleaned, filled, sanded, filled , sanded and brush painted many times, then sprayed 3 times, 3 clear coats. Remember the spray coats are light as.

Here I have jammed a hunk of padding in the lumbar area. Flash aye? I have also doubled the amount of bracing bits in certain areas because...I can.

See the unpainted areas...big difference, and I was going from blue too. Just a paint brush at this stage. If the leather wasn't so buggered I may have used bits of foam. So I just poured it into an old ice cream container and painted them nicely, you don't want large brush strokes OR bristles in your leather. I ended sanding sh*t loads of bristles out, hence the numerous coats, so plenty of sanding too between coats.

In this picture I am showing you the plastic cable ties. Bull nose clips..hell no, too heavy too much hard work for me. So they all get thrown out. Cable ties also mean you set the tension and they are a lot more flexible...or not depending on how you work them suckers.

[zero 1162]

Great work.

If you use a better quality paint brush you will get far less bristles falling out and sticking to the seat.

The seats look magic!

[kulgan 1042]

Awesome thread.

I'm going to be doing something similar to the seats of my 750i at some stage though not to this extent. Just a few small patches for me.

Very cool project you've got going there.

[kiwi328i 118]

Great work.

If you use a better quality paint brush you will get far less bristles falling out and sticking to the seat.

The seats look magic!

Agreed, but its a good brush, just too new really. On wood its fine, but it stands out in leather.

You are always going to get some bristles out of any brush. The main point is, take them out physically or dry and sand, but most importantly, the heavy brush strokes really show out. To get to this quality you need to spray it really, but with such a low pressure spray the old school part of me just really want to get in there! Hence the brush work.

[WYZEUP 283]

Hey what did you end up doing with the b30? Saved your swap as I'm going down this path and it's awesome how you worked around the clutch kit

[kiwi328i 118]

The B30 has been dismantled totally as a miniature project for my daughter and I. Ha, so its all apart ready to go on the trailer.

[WYZEUP 283]

Hahaha thats a good little project, and a good way to understand the internal workings of a motor. Ive just aquired a B30 and if im missing a few little bits would you be interested in selling a few bits? like the chipped ecu

[kiwi328i 118]

Yeah sure I have it here somewhere in the original ECU so it should be just plug and play,

get me on 021795306

[kiwi328i 118]

ok.

So I got some bigger feet. I managed to buy relatively cheaply (oh yeah this whole shebang is being done on the cheap..well as cheap as). They are old racing tyres, but that's ok, as I only want them for fitting purposes so that I can reform the lips/guards around them. Yes they are flippin enormous, and I wouldn't do any body work if I just wanted ay 275's up there, so went the whole hog and ended up with the other problem of fitment. If you got to this page you would know that the 275/40-17's cant really fit in the back, they hit on compression and I have notched the rear trailing arms, so there is going to be guard work for sure. It's a double skin back there, so no baseball bat job is going to cut it, even hammering it doesn't get you what you want...yes I have tried. SO I thought if I am going to flare the guards I may as well get the right feet on there for an 11" rim and its 315/35-17, if you're American, probably not if you're...not. I think the flared S5 Silhouette used 245/40's on the 11" rears but that's too small an o.d. I always thought E34 wheels were are bit on the tiny side myself. So I got them mounted this morning, here's some pics. I will probably try (that's a BIG TRY) to fit the 275/40's in the front.

Here it is next to the puny 225/50-16 on 16x7's, not that these are going to the front.

You can also see my recessed headlights, which is a work in progress. I love the twin headlights, and any BMW with twins is usually awesome. I also like the old 70's recessed headlight look, so I have done a bit of work...ok lots of work butchering it up, but I hope it looks nice in the end.

This is just a closer shot.

These are the monstrous pair next to my Navara. The Navara could do with a bit more grip, that thing slides everywhere.

Slow progress...but progress nevertheless.

OH...I found the ecu and the chipped B30 chip too.

[eliongater 718]

Your username is almost more appropriate for the tyre size rather than model

[kiwi328i 118]

Here is a pretty crap photo really..ha of the 315/35-17, its got the full weight of the car on it, but its not fully settled. You can imagine that going up and down and fully hitting the lip square on, so thats no good

This is the view from the backside. It made me explode with laughter at how large they are, and also how close it is to fitting. I wont have to do as much to the flares as I thought and that makes me grin. I will have to put in a bigger spacer, because this mutha is right on the shock and whilst I could space that out another 5-10mm, its also very close to the exhaust as well, which I may get moved over a bit anyway.

Slow progress and I am glad I am going to go with the 315's now, I better get the welding grinding etc done before the weather turns to custard.

[kiwi328i 118]

I haven't been on here like forever.  I have done a few things.

 

But anyway.

My car starts to idle like sh*t, its ok, and then sometimes its like it is running a carb and the jet sizes are too big and the float levels are out or some ancient crap like that.  You start it...it runs, it coughs splutters and dies.

 

Mmm, where to start, so I assume everything is kinda o.k since I have replaced a whole lot of things on this and not done thousands of miles since, so I assume, plugs, blah blah are next to new, coils can die, and sensors do ruddy die, I have a feeling its the coolant temp sensor near the temp guage sensor...but even then it runs so rough and dies I dont think that sit.  When I did the engine conversion, I replaced lots of things...but not everything, and one of those...do it while its out jobbies was the PCV.  SO I had a feeling it was this.  I did the research and low and behold the symptoms all matched, so I dug some more.  Apparently some manifolds, the later ones came with an internal tube that put the blow-by gasses towards the throttle body and not just dump them above the last two cylinders.  I wanted to do that!  So I bought the PCV for the later model and the internal pipe and a few other things.

I tried to take the PCV and the throttle body off without burring...and of course, I burred them, most of them and it was ass, so the whole manifold had to come off.

I cut half of them off the PCV.  I went to Mitre 10 and got some M6x25mm, with small washers to equal the 22.5mm of the BMW ones.  My manifold DID NOT have the proper fixings for the internal pipe.  I saw one bloke on the internet do a rough job of it, so...I did as well, well looks better than his anyway I think.  They say because of the up-rated design that the M62b44's idle better...maybe, mine certainly runs better than it ever has, so they could be right?

Put it all together and it purrs like a kitten and the idle is now perfect, its a tad lower and noticable, mine always idled around 850 odd.  Now its 700 odd and more settled, and I think revs quicker...  I also replaced my coolant temp sensor with another secondhand one, cause I still think mine was...not to spec.

It goes well now, actually it goes better than ever.

So the M62 PCV mod..or whatever I think is a good way to go, even if your manifold does not have the proper brackets to afix the internal tube.

First image.  So this is how it sits looking from the front.  notice I havent forced it into the corner just yet.

Second image:  Looking at it from the back.  Can you see the two-pack araldite to keep it there, so it fits in, but it is not supposed to fit in like this actually, you need to have a look at a proper M62 to know.

Third image:  I have put the tube where it should go...well if it had the proper bracket thingy.  so it has some pressure against this corner, and I have removed the o-ring and again used two pack araldite.

Fourth image:  Here you can see the M6 bolts, much better, its not like you are putting 300nm of torque through there???  Also see the extra outlet for...who knows, but I dont need it, so I ended up blocking it off.  I am guessing M62's use vacuum for something else as well?

 

So I cleaned the throttle-body and lots of other details and I am rapt!!!  I re-tensioned the throttle cable and now my initial throttle sensitivity is 'softer' which means its much easier/nicer to drive.

Now next is those bloody widened flares!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Michael. 2313]

Good to see you're making progress here and there

[kiwi328i 118]

So here are some shots of me mucking around with the front.

I wanted to change the slightly 'got hit in the back of the neck bulging eyes look" of the original.  I also really like the old Jensen Interceptor, old Aston 70's look, old Celica and Avenger for that matter I guess.  So I took off the front bumper cover and bumper itself.  I did some other cutting, grinding and welding stuff that...lets not talk about that.  I removed the std indicators.  I moved the light units apart AND back, with a meccano set sort of philosophy.  The lights are now where I wish the to be.

Oh I also like Camaro's...I mean who...nevermind, so I bought a 1967 Camaro lower valance and the lower side valances as well.  Many swear words and the the worse birdsh*t welding you ever did see happened.  Some bits of metal from up the road.  Some fibreglass and stuff and after many moons I got it where I kinda wanted it.  I wanted lower indicators and saw these 63 Falcon jobbies, so did a bunch of electrical things and more grinding and cutting and measuring.  The bumper is 'pointier' than how is should be (Camaros are almost flat in front compared to this) but was necessary to have it fit right, and its wide as a house.  The lower side valance's didn't fit well at all, and I could have almost done these from nothing.  I had to make the bonnet pointy too to mimic the bottom so go some more steel, and fibreglass and bog, and just did a quick paint job.  No point being foose cause I still have lots to do and may as well do it proper once I have done all the mods.

So the lights work, the guys gave it a wof and I was rapt!  I still have to do a custom grille and the sides on the original fenders still have their natural arc...which I will do next and tidy it up so it looks...not so rough!  Sometimes I think I shoulda just left it, and then I think nah, no one will have another E34 like mine, and I think it will look ok to me anyway once I am done.

The E30 grilles that cover the headlights will be the beginning of the new grille I hope, but still not sure how or if the kidneys will look, but I think the kidneys will be monsterous to work...but hey I will see once I have time to do some calculations.  I want them 'floating' so watch this space.

 

 

[zero 1162]

Thats impressive.

I'm all for doing something unique.

[kiwi328i 118]

Thanks man.  It's hard work being unique!

[Funkyflynz 151]

On 4/16/2015 at 12:12 PM, kiwi328i said:

I wish I did have it under control!!!

I think I am going to cut a sliver above the curve of the flare and put in a strip, so it will be subtle and hopefully not to different to stock, its only a few mm out, so if I can avoid a full flare option I am going to take it!!!

Hey mate, did you end up running these wheels?  Would be keen to know how it worked out