XCRN : 1995 BMW 525i

[XCRN]

Did some work today. I got the clear corners and the red/clear tail lights on. And cleaned up that nasty interior, but still more cleaning to do and many parts to replace inside. Eventually I need to clean the exterior and I was going to do that today but the battery went dead so I could not move it to asphalt. The odd thing is, yesterday after sitting for 2 months it started and could move, but after 1 day it would just click.

Anyways here are some pictures. I only have my phone as a camera for now but there is not really anything nice enough to see in high definition.





I also have an entire 5 speed swap with and LSD coming my way in about a week. But I am still considering fixing the auto so I can get it road worth soon and I will just take the extra time to reseal the manual. I am also liking the wheels on there now so I ma just replace the tires instead of a used set of M-Pars with tires.

[ol blue]

I liked that style rim when I had my bmw too, but my girlfriend didn't so I went with the bmw 2 piece bbs wheel style 19 rims and they really did look better after I got them on the car. Can tell a difference from the touring rims to the sport rims. I had a 1997 528i.

[XCRN]

I'm sure if I were to put the style 37 on, I would much prefer it to these, but I can't just roll with these current tires since they are incredibly bald so a decision is needed soon. How a grandma was able to bald the non-driving tires this bad is beyond my understanding. At least the rear look new and are all season as opposed to the fronts.

[Punkrampant]

2x 1/2" self tapping screws fixed my windows. They would get stuck down.

[XCRN]

Nice find, thanks! That will hopefully allow some cooling since I have a strong feeling that the A/C will not work since there is no belt attached to the compressor.

So I have determined the battery is completely dead. The car only started when the car was being jumped and I let it run for 10 minutes and I disconnected the jumper cables, turned off the car, and no start again. But I found a good bargain on tires for now so there is some savings there.

[XCRN]

I got some more work done today. Nothing too big, just a valve cover gasket and repainted it too. I could not find my power sander so I did a piss-poor job for now but you will get the idea. I also cleaned the spark plug cover thoroughly.

Before


After



And here is whats under the valve cover, not horrible but could be better.

[islandhopper]

Nice. Some S50 cams will wake it up. Might lose some low end torque but gain some ponies up top. That and a 5-speed swap would make this a lot more fun to drive.

Keep it up, man. I'm interested to see how this turns out.

[XCRN]

And the 5 speed swap will actually make it drivable since second gear exploded.

I am interested too as to how this will turn out. I am a bit more equipped for the task this time around but the money needed can get out of hand fast. But how I see it $1300 for the car, $675 for the entire 5 speed swap + $60 for clutch rebuild (did not know you could rebuild a clutch), $150 for new battery, and $100 for tires. So for $2300 I have a perfectly running Bimmer but just running won't suit me for long.

I have come to terms that this will probably not see the road until spring because by the time it is running with a manual it will be close to snow fall and I am not letting it touch the salty winter roads of Ohio.

[islandhopper]

And the 5 speed swap will actually make it drivable since second gear exploded.

...

Bummer. You source a trans yet? ZF for the M50, right? i think you could also use a Getrag 260...check out R3V. im sure there's a DIY..

I am not letting it touch the salty winter roads of Ohio.

A very wise decision.

[XCRN]

Bummer. You source a trans yet? ZF for the M50, right? i think you could also use a Getrag 260...check out R3V. im sure there's a DIY..

Getrag 250 I think and ZF 310 are my straight bolt on options.

I am picking up an entire swap localy this week I hope. Either way I payed for it so it is mine, but he needs to pull it first. I was so happy to see an ad for an entire swap the next city over. I was stressing about likely haveing to ship it, but during my 3 hour layover in Denver I saw this ad and jumped on it. But I believe it is a ZF so I am happy about that.

Today did some more engine bay cleaning. Sadly did not work because it went from flat black and grease to splotches of faded paint so it looks dirtier but it is actualy clean. But really cleaned the internal plumbing of the intake quite well so that might bring back some lost power when it starts running.

Here is some before, remember all I did was intake plumbing.






And here is some after, looks the same but it is not actualy dirty. Also cleaned some of the body around the strut tower.








And I found this in the throttle. Seems to be more than there should.

[XCRN]

I took a large step into this project. Today I picked up the manual swap with LSD. I also got some other random stuff such as the hood props, driver high beam assembly, trim clips, and weather strip to fix the shrunken ones.



Tomorrow I will start cleaning the drivetrain parts and the car it self.

[islandhopper]

Nice! Is that a ZF trans? Gonna change the car completely...in a good way.

[XCRN]

Nice! Is that a ZF trans? Gonna change the car completely...in a good way.

It is a ZF. It is at about 190,000 miles, but I have never heard of these cars failing due to the manual transmission. I do not know when work will begin on this since I still need to decide on how to go about the clutch. Just do a rebuild of the one that came with the swap for $100, a light weight single mass flywheel with new OEM replacement for $500, or something the guy who sold me the parts mentioned about an M20 single mass flywheel and clutch can be used.

[XCRN]

Did some more work today. I replaced the hood struts so now I do not need the crutch to do engine work, Yay! Replaced the cracked high beam lens and I used the toothpaste method to clean it. Fixed the shrunken door sill seal. Actually cleaned the car after months of sitting. There are a bunch of cats around the land and any cat caught on my car will be fed to the dogs.

The weather seal along the door sill has shrunken and I saw a really clever DIY where somewhere along the seal is cut and then move the seal back into place. It leaves a gap where the cut was made but the next thing was to use a piece of spare seal to fill in the gap. Very clever idea.






I was going to clean the transmission parts but I got lazy after I finished other stuff. Here is why I just said "screw it".









And here she is after a much needed wash.







I do not think there are any photos of when it was dirty, but it was bad and had a grimy feel to it.

[islandhopper]

Looks good.