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Another great E34S M5 domino, working on GD55450

61K views 66 replies 20 participants last post by  Lantz 
#1 · (Edited)
One of the nice virtues about M5 ownership is meeting people. Throughout the 10+ years that I own and drive my E34 M5 and E28 M5, I have met hundreds of similar minded petrol heads like member RobertK, who owns one of the very last European E34 M5 3.6litre models that was manufactured in December 1991 and first registered in spring 1992. Another advantage of seeing all the cars and their owners is the knowledge that can be gathered by listening and analyzing the owner-experiences and if necessary use them to your own advantage.

As said, GD55450 was first registered in Holland at the end of May 1992. This is unusual for a HD91 model as the early HC91 models were already readily available. In the 18 years that has passed, GD55450 racked up the respectable mileage of roughly 280000km (verifiable). The car has aged well for its eighteen-years, most of them as everyday transport. Its current owner obtained ownership of GD55450 in spring 2004 and since then invested a lot in maintenance, repairs and TLC. He has experienced the questions, challenges and virtues of E34S M5 ownership just as any long-term owner.

Robert saw me and some others doing more and more by ourselves, with as highlight the engine rebuild of my E28 M5 (click here), its reinstallation (click here) and the recommissioning (click here). Throughout the years, I have helped him to solve many issues, some as a consultant and some actively by helping him doing the work with Robert being the assistant.

One of the main issues of last year was the oil leakage on the exhaust. In spring 2009, we diagnosed a leaking gearbox shaft seal and a leaking gearbox-gearshift seal. We also noticed that the sump-gasket was leaking small amounts of oil as well, but as the latter was a minor issue it was decided to leave it at that and only solve the gearbox leaks and replace the propeller-shaft center bearing that had seen just enough after 275k km’s. Next to that, we replaced the gearbox shift mechanism and all of the exhaust mounts. The condition of the center bearing surprised us as the enclosure had developed an oval-shape. This probably is the result of deteriorating rubber that allowed a larger swing of the bearing inside its enclosure. Under high load, this causes a large swing of the propeller shaft as well. For some time, the enclosure limits the swing, but the forces that it has to endure will eventually cause it to break. Believe me, you don't want that from happening.



With the new center bearing and gear-shift mechanism, Robert reported that the drivetrain vibration that he couldn't pin point before, disappeared completely and that the gear-shift improved as well.



Soon after, GD55450 started to develop another oil leak, which turned out to be a leaking seal between the camshaft house and the rear-cover, as well a leaking oil return pipe. The required corrective measures were rather simple and were solved by a Dutch BMW specialist. For a long time, GD55450 remained stable and Robert fully enjoyed driving her. However, he did report some running issues after which I suggested to carry out the basic throttle body synchronization.

When we removed the intake plenum and the enclosure for the air filter, I smelled some gas that quickly turned out to be a leaking fuel hose in the engine compartment. After removal of the supply and return hoses, we discovered that one of the three hoses had been replaced before with a multi-purpose fuel hose from Gates. Needless to say that it was this part failed.



After cutting the damaged section, it quickly became apparent why the hose from Gates failed. Just take a look at the reinforcements in the mold from the hose.



As it turned out, the hose from Gates was replaced shortly after Robert took ownership of GD55450 in April 2004, and thus this hose is just six years old. For comparison, the hose with the thick reinforcements is an original BMW fuel hose and is eighteen years old. Despite that the BMW fuel hose has hair-line cracks on the inside of the molding the reinforcement of the OE-hose is strong enough to maintain the structural strength of the hose whereas the Gates hose was not able to withstand the high pressure in the fuel hose. Since I always carry some OE-quality fuel hose on my cross continental trips, I had just enough stock to replace all the hoses in the engine bay to solve the problem.



Another issue that came out of the inspection was a slight coolant leak between the upper radiator hose and the overflow pipe coming from the cylinder head. Originally, the S38B36 and S38B38 have a plastic extension pipe between the cylinder head and the upper radiator hose. The problem is that these plastic pipes become brittle over time and when the upper radiator hose needs replacement, it cannot be removed on one piece. At that point, the correct replacement part is often not at hand and the mechanic decides for a work around. He probably cut a small section from the original extension pipe to create an interconnecting piece to an intermediate overflow hose, but why does that have to be a fuel hose, probably of the same inferior quality as the failing fuel hose?



This is a serious point that needs to be resolved ASAP as you don’t want this leak to develop into a disconnect! Unfortunately, this part was not at hand so we could not proceed with the corrective measure. Next to this issue, we discovered that the oil return-pipe was leaking again.



This was rather a surprise as it was replaced a few months before so it appears as if the BMW specialist did not use the correct procedure. Anyhow, the corrective measure required new parts that were not at hand at the time so we carried on with the calibration and adjustment of the throttle body synchronization. The calibration revealed a difference between the idle-setting of the three pairs and an incorrect full throttle setting. As these were never adjusted in the past, this was expected. The corrective measure was the removal of the individual parts for a full clean and adjustment of the throttle body synchronization.



More compelling were the valve-clearances. Since these were adjusted by a main dealer not that long ago, we expected them to be within specification, but strange to our surprise, my 0,30mm feeler gauge didn’t fit ten out of twelve of the exhaust valves and I needed the revert to the smaller 0,25mm feeler gauge to do so. Since some resistance could still be felt, I could only conclude that the clearances of the affected valve are at least 0,03mm too narrow. Either way, the main dealer did not adjust the valve or did not adjust the valves properly.



The throttle body synchronization changed GD55450’s throttle response significantly. It does not cough at idle anymore and is much stronger in the mid-range in every gear. Despite that, I suggested to have the injectors ASNU tested and overhauled by Prickartz consult in Linnich (Germany), the company who successfully overhauled the injectors for my E28 M5 in February 2010. This improved the mid-range and full-throttle even further and Robert was very satisfied whereas I was amazed that an S38B36 with that mileage still runs so strong.

Even though we later resolved the leak alongside the oil-return hose and Robert corrected the poor quality coolant overflow hose, Robert still complained about oil leaks. As I already had a theory, I instructed Robert to diagnose this by himself, which he did soon after and concluded that the oil-leaks were coming from the bell housing of the clutch. Based on the outcome of this test, we defined another project to replace the prise-shaft seal, rear crankshaft seal, clutch, pressure group and clutch release bearing.

To be continued!
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Before defining the upcoming corrective measurements on GD55450, Robert, myself and some other Dutch forum members discussed the requirements and expectations we all have with owning our cars (not specifically limited to M5’s). In the beginning, we all want perfection, but one side effect of aging is a continuous issue list that can drive one crazy if one wants to be a perfectionist and cannot organize. Don’t get me wrong, I am a perfectionist as well, but also understand the complexity of maintaining these cars and that making some short time compromises is better in the end as otherwise, one just is working on an ad-Hogue basis and is spending money on the wrong issues.

As an example, when we measured the valve lash in March this year, we also measured the alignment of timing chain was 5mm of the mark at the harmonic balancer side. As a rule of thumb, it is advised to replace the chain with a chain stretch of 10mm, so 5mm is within the criteria. Replacing the chain and associated parts will cost around 1000 Euro’s for the parts alone, which is a waste of money for a 280k km engine if this is an isolated issue. As long as the engine still runs strong and that the oil usage is far within the manufacturers limits there is no reason to touch the engines internals for the time being and one is better of reserving that money for future engine issues that eventually will emerge, possibly already within the next 50k km.

So we defined a project with the goal to solve the existing oil leaks between the engine and gearbox. Since this requires the removal of the gearbox, it is wise to replace the clutch as well. Although this is a significant investment (420 Euro ex VAT for an OE clutch kit), we didn’t want to risk that the oil leakage affected the clutch system as well.



Next to above objectives, Robert also decided to replace the hand brake Bowden cables and the clutch slave cylinder.

To be continued!
 
#3 · (Edited)
The kickoff for the current repair project for GD55450 was Saturday the fifth of June for which I managed to reserve the whole day. The objective for the day was to start disassembling and inspection of previous issues and removed parts. The plan was to start at around 9:30AM, but due to traffic jams on the A1 towards Deventer (Holland) Robert wasn’t able to make it before 10:45AM so immediately after his arrival, we drove it onto my car-lift. Since GD55450 was driven hot we allowed an hour for cooling down. In the mean time, we drove to my parents for a cup off coffee (for which I used my E28 M5).

We returned at around noon after which we started with disassembling the very heavy exhaust. I had the advantage that I replaced the exhaust mounts, brackets and bolts last year so the bare metal had hardly corroded. Nevertheless, removing the complete exhaust is a two-man job and requires a few supporting bars, so it is not as easy as it appears. Upon removal of the exhaust we inspected it thoroughly. The exhaust itself is still in excellent condition, but one of the flanges on the exhaust side has bent a little due too a hairline crack.



The parts catalogue lists a replacement part, but only for the catalyst side and not for the exhaust side. It appears as if the flange is an integral part of the exhaust system. We’ll see.

The next step was the disconnection of the propeller shaft for which we had to remove the rear gearbox sub frame before having access to the bolts of the hardy-disk. The hardy disk and bolts were also replaced in spring 2009, just as the center bearing so there is no need to do this again. Upon disconnection of the propeller shaft and securing its position without adding load to the coupling joint in the diff (just reinstall the center bearing), we lowered the gearbox as far as possible to gain access to the eleven ASA bolts with which the bell housing is bolted to the engine.

This was a huge challenge for my E28 M5 when I wanted to remove its short engine in December 2008. The very narrow tunnel and steep firewall on the E28 makes removing the upper three ASA bolts a real PITA job. Fortunately the E34 has a much wider tunnel so the available space is much less constrained. Eventually, all but one bolts came off within half an hour. Only the very upper bolt (smaller 10mm) was very tight and as it looked damaged from previous work, we used extreme caution not to damage the thread. After several attempts, we resorted to using a gripping-nut as it wouldn’t seat in my half-inch wide E10 nut and it was to tight for using the quarter-inch nut. This did the trick. With other words, never ever reuse the ASA-bolts when removing the gearbox and tighten them to specification. The removal of the gearbox was just a formality and it came off rather nicely (again, this is a two-man job).



Compared to the bell housing of my E28 M5, GD55450’s bell house was much cleaner, but that probably is the result of the oil leak alongside the prise-shaft seal. The clutch itself was dry and appears not to be affected by the leaking seals, but the springs from the pressure group were pretty sharp compared to the part that came from my E28 M5.



The clutch plate itself appears to be in find condition and both friction surfaces are worn ~50%. This complies with the expected life of an S38 clutch, which is about 150k to 180k km. There is no need for an imminent replacement, but since the gearbox had to come out anyways, this would be a rather stupid decision.



The flywheel itself also appeared completely different. It looks well used and could use a mild clean. Fortunately, this is a HD91 version that does not use the twin-mass flywheel. For a HC91 with its twin mass flywheel, it would be better to replace it. Please note the locking tool underneath the flywheel. I made it myself from an old bracket from a PS pump from my E28 M5 (always good to have a scrap-parts bin).



Before removing the flywheel, we marked the position of the flywheel. This prevents the need for placing the engine at OT.



With the flywheel removed, we finally have access to the rear crankshaft seal. As can be seen on the picture, it is wet from oil. Judging from its position into the alloy enclosure, this still is the original part. Who blames it then for failing after 280k km ?



After I removed the clutch release bearing and fork-lever, I gave the bell housing a good clean to remove the debris and oil-spill.



The next step was the removal of the alloy cover to get access to the prise-shaft seal. This part itself seemed to be in fine condition, but the shim that determines the prise-shaft bearing clearance was completely shot. This was not expected, hence why I hadn’t ordered it with the first batch.



According to the parts catalogue, the prise-shaft bearing shim is available in three thickness dimensions. Measurements on the existing metal that was left proved that we needed a shim with a thickness of 0,40mm. BMW stocks this part in Munich so it takes a few days to deliver.

To be continued!
 
#4 · (Edited)
The rear crank seal is seated in an alloy housing that is bolted onto the short engine block. Although it is possible just to replace the seal, chances are it will leak again as the gasket between the alloy housing and the short engine is leaking as well. Anyhow, as it is eighteen years old and has functioned well for 280k km, it is wise to replace it. This also means that the sump has to be lowered to avoid damaging the sump gasket. But as this part has an age of eighteen years as well, the chances to keep it in one piece are rather low. This leads to the first domino effect, that member SebringNL once described as the great S38 domino. With the sump of, one automatically considers the replacement of the oil pump and other parts.

Anyhow, we made two choices. As the engine of GD55450 runs very strong and the oil usage meets the manufacturers criteria by quite some margin, it is best to leave the internals alone for the time being until the engine does need a rebuild. The other choice is more practical. To improve safety, we decided against removing the sump with the gearbox out of the car. This increases safety as only two of four supporting points are disconnected at the time.

Anyhow, we also decided to replace the alloy housing for the rear crankshaft seal. This is a 75 Euro part, but it saves time because (1) the old seal does not have to be removed; (2) There is no need to degrease and clean the old housing and (3) Since the most rear two sump bolts are bolted in the housing, structural strength of the alloy might have taken a hit. A new seal between the alloy housing and the short engine has been placed as well.



Please note that we pushed the new seal one to two millimeters deeper into the alloy housing in order to avoid the new seal to run on the same surface of the crankshafts flywheel-base. This complies with the manufacturers repair instructions!

We then reinstalled the flywheel. Warning:. Make sure, you lock the flywheel before tightening the eight bolts with the specified 105Nm as otherwise, you risk rotating the engine the wrong way around. This could result in valves hitting the pistons!!



The next part is the clutch plate and pressure group. Please note the alignment tool in the center. This allows the centering of the clutch plate to the pressure plate, an essential part as otherwise the bell housing match its mating surface on the engine.



Although the part number on the supplied part refers to a shim with the correct thickness, I would not rely on that.



To verify the correct thickness of the replacement shim for the gearbox prise-shaft bearing, the thickness of the old part was measured on an undamaged and undistorted area. It should be 0,40mm but it reads 0,03mm more. Since the offset of my digital caliper was 0,02mm, the measured thickness is 0,41mm, which is close enough!



The replacement shim measures 0,42mm before correction. With the offset error subtracted, the thickness of the shim is confirmed at 0,40mm. This matches the original shim, hence why it can be used safely.



Pry out the old seal in one piece and use it to press the replacement seal into place. The exact depth is not that important but it should sit a little deeper then the old seal to avoid the same mating area on the prise-shaft. Important though is an equal depth on all four quadrants so verify that with a digital caliper before placing the cover on the gearbox. The prise-shaft shim will only fit in one way.



The placement of the cover is no more then a formality. Although it will fit in every angle, you’ll notice that there is only one way to bolt it to the gearbox. Use new bolts and washers and tighten the bolts with 10Nm.



The installation of the clutch release bearing and the fork lever is straightforward. Clean the surface of the cover and the splines of the prise-shaft thoroughly, but do not grease them. We also decided to replace the fork-lever and the retainer spring.



With the clutch being installed, the gearbox is ready for refitting to the engine.

Later more!
 
#5 ·
Great work Ray and quality pictures as always !

I had same problem with the top torx bolt in workshop last week and had to resort to hammering an old 8mm multi-spline socket onto it , before removal .......*~?xx*

A minor inconvenience !

D
 
#11 · (Edited)
The assembly of the gearbox to the engine is rather straight forwards, but requires two men to support the weight. The thick splines of the prise-shaft allow for an easy alignment so the gearbox was aligned and fitted in just five minutes. To avoid it from sliding backwards and thus damaging the clutch, we secured its position by pre-inserting two of the M10 sized ASA bolts before inserting the rest for which five different bolts are used. Tightening the gearbox is easier then removing it, but make sure you use new bolts to avoid a future difficult unbolting them. Furthermore, the newly supplied bolts from BMW have a longer head so nuts have a better fit. The following picture shows the upper two bell-housing bolts. The upper left bolt required the hardest effort during the disassembly two weeks ago.



The M8 sized bolts (7pcs) should be tightened with no more then 22Nm as otherwise it will be impossible to remove the upper two bolts in a conventional way. The M10 sized bolts (4pcs) should be tightened with 43Nm.

The gearbox was fitted in just 45minutes, however, only one of the lower M8 bolts (see red arrow on the next picture) wouldn’t seat whilst manually turning them in. When I removed it, it contained a part of the thread from the sump’s mounting hole. This most likely is caused by over tightening during a previous repair.



As the sump needs to be removed anyways, we’ll leave this bolt for the time being. A new sump is an expensive solution, but the alternative is to place a Heli-coil. We’ll investigate further when the sump comes off.

The next part to be installed is the slave cylinder. We replaced it with a new part as the old part is eighteen years old and leaked small amounts of oil into the bell housing as well. At the same time, we replaced the cooling labyrinth. Although not really required, not doing so would be bad practice considering its location and vulnerability against environmental phenomena.



The rest of the work is a simple reinstallation of the gearbox subframe and the exhaust.



The exhaust itself will be placed back in a later stage for two reasons. First, the heat shield of the rear-muffler is close to collapsing and needs to be replaced and second; the Bowden cables for the parking brake need to be replaced.



Replacing the Bowden cables for the parking brake is a lot of work. It needed to be done, as from what I have understood from Robert that their condition was a remark on the previous Dutch MOT report and the car has to be checked in the next two weeks for 2010/2011.



Next to the Bowden cables the parking brakes themselves had to be replaced as well due to one of them being cracked.



The Dutch MOT test was carried out by a local workshop who found no other issues and thus GD55450 passed with flying colors. However, this is not to say that this project has completed. The sump gasket needs to be replaced and GD55450 is in for an appointment at the body shop for some repairs.

Later more!
 
#12 ·
Hi Ray , I am suprised to see that all of the 6 bolts on the flexi disc / guibo are all facing the same way again after our discussions in relation to your E28 M5 build .

The trick is to insert the 3 rear facing bolts into the flexi disc prior to offering the propshaft up to the gearbox .

D
 
#13 · (Edited)
Despite the excellent build quality of the E34 and the M5 in particular, the hardship of everyday use causes some sort of decline. Proper maintenance and care will change the rate of the decay, but eventually some parts will be affected. Even though GD55450 has aged very nicely throughout its eighteen years, it isn’t free of body issues as we discovered whilst inspecting the doorsills.
a


At a closer look, the three watering holes are (barely) visible (red circles). As can be seen on the pictures, these are fully blocked. When this happens, the water that flows down from the sunroof to the sills cannot escape. Combine that with the hardship of everyday use, especially in the winter, the sills eventually will give up. As for GD55450, this is not just limited to the passenger side. Also the driver’s side is affected with rust. At that point, we decided to remove the M-technik side skirts for a closer inspection. This not only allows a closer look to the sills themselves, but also the front fenders.

After removal of the side-skirts, a lot of debris was found between the skirts and the front fenders. After removal and cleaning, rust appeared on the lower side that is hidden behind the side skirt. Although this is a non-issue for road safety, it needs to be tackled, especially since Robert wants to own this car for a longer time.



This also applies to the front-fender on the driver-side. Although it is not as rusted as its counterpart on the passenger side, it was damaged on a sport that otherwise is covered by the M-technik side skirts. Even though from a distance, this appeared to be the only issue, a closer inspection revealed a worse condition as the inner sides were covered with rust and some parts could be penetrated with a screw driver.



After prying into the front fender for the passenger side, a large hole appeared.



As is common after many years of daily service, the protective paint of the jack-supports has disintegrated causing them the rust. Three out of four were corroded, but appear to be sound.



This does not apply to the jack-support on the front passenger side. This part is heavily rusted and is beyond repair.



At that point, it became clear that we needed to outsource work to the body-shop, but not before removing the worst rust by ourselves. As I already have a lot of hours in this project, Robert wanted to do his fair share as well so we agreed that he would do the preparation of the jack-supports and doorsills by him self. The plan was to remove the visible rust and check how much substance to the bare metal is left before treating it with Caprotec RX5, a rust converter. This is a well-known product in the classic car scene and can be bought in an aerosol container. After applying, the RX5 fluid will adhere to the bare metal.

After removing the rust on the jack-support on the front passenger side, it appeared that the rust had protruded too far. This affected the sill that could be protruded with a screwdriver. A structural repair is needed here.



The other three jack-supports are fine though. The RX5 was applied and we’ll let it cure for another 48 hours before checking the result.



After a thorough clean of the sills, the watering holes appeared again. These were not only blocked by debris, but also stuffed with a substance, probably added during a previous repair.



On my advice, Robert consulted a body shop and GD55450 is booked in for an appointment in two weeks. This allows a week to complete the to-do list, which consists of the following issues:

1: Replace the sump gasket and have a Heli-coil repair of the threaded hole of the sump itself.

2: Replace the heat shield of the rear muffler.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Raymond ..

a lot of bodywork needed,,
Yes, but it is required to secure GD55450's future, especially the right front jack-point. We won't replace the entire sill as we want to insert as less new material as possible. Replacing them completely will only result in a loss of the factory applied preservation including the galvanized parts

and.. yes using the car all year round ,, i am not surpriced if you are driving in salt at the winter
Yes, they use too much salt, even when this is not necessary. Preventive straying is what this is called. That also is the reason why I have never used my own BK02837 and 1018231 during the winter season (early November till mid-March).

BTW: I thought I saw your car on the Nordschleife in the first weekend of May. A yellow B10BT with some ort of special license plates ?

Rgrds,

Raymond
 
#15 · (Edited)
Robert already carried out some of the work to remove the front fenders last Wednesday, but by then it was already way beyond 11:00PM and as he still had a 130km drive home, we did not proceed with the removal of grille and the front-bumper, both of which are required to remove the fenders. By coincidence, I had a spare hour this evening and proceeded with the work. The removal of the front bumper and grille both are straightforward and can be done in less than twenty minutes. Since GD55450 does have the wash-feature for the headlights and front fog lights, I had to drain the reservoir after disconnecting the respective hoses. Please note the bucket on the left!



The removal of the front fenders is then no more then unbolting a dozen or so 10mm hexagon bolts and two more Philips head screws on the front side. I’ll keep them for a few days just in case Robert wants to see them before disposing them.



The inner wings on both sides are still in excellent condition and require just a mild clean and preservation with ML-wax.





Later more!
 
#21 · (Edited)
One of the open issues was the replacement of the sump gasket. This requires a full evening as it requires the removal of the engine subframe. One may argue about the necessity as another option would be to lift the engine, but I hardly believe that is easier.

Despite the similarities in construction with my E28 M5, the removal of GD55450’s subframe didn’t go that easy. The eighteen year-old bolts were not that much of a problem, but two of the mounting positions have roughly one-centimeter long metal bushes that are pushed into the mounting holes on the beams. These need to be pushed out first, something that was not possible without a breaker bar.



Including loosening the lower control arms, pitman arms and steering-house, the needed time for that was close to two hours. By then, it was already a quarter to eleven in the evening, normally a time to finish working. However, we wanted at least to replace the sump gasket; this was rather straightforward and thus rather easy.

The sump of GD55450 is remarkably clean for a 280k km engine. There are no debris and no sludge, testimony to good maintenance throughout the years. It the recent years, the engine operated on Castrol TWS 10W60 during which ten thousands of kilometers were added.



Als the crankcase and the oil pump made a good impression. Like the sump, the engine internals are cleaner then expected. There is no reason to suspect neglect and with proper maintenance, this engine will last for another few years and ten’s of thousand kilometers easily.



The old sump gasket clearly was the original part and after cleaning and preparing the mating areas, the new cork gasket was aligned to the sump with some fluid-gasket. This will improve its settling upon reassembly to the engine.



We were very anxious about the condition of the oil pump-and crankshaft sprockets so we gave them a good look. Although one can clearly see the mileage, these parts are still in fine shape.



We allowed the gasket a minute of settling time before reinstalling the sump. New bolts were used and tightened to spec with 10Nm each.



Before reinstalling the subframe, we cleaned the mating area on both beams and treated them with Caprotec RX5. The same was done for the sub frame itself. In order not to sustain supporting the engine on the jacks, we reinstalled the subframe, albeit not fully to allow the RX5 fluid twenty-four hours of curing time.



Please note that I temporarily reinstalled the four 95mm bolts. This is only to carry the weight of the subframe and engine for the time being. The existing bolts were corroded too much so they need to be replaced. I don’t carry these on stock so I placed an order for them last Tuesday.

In an earlier post, I wrote about a damaged thread for one of the M8 TORX bolts in the sump. When the sump was on the ground, we saw that just 5mm of thread was damaged and that enough thread was left in the remainder of the hole. With other words, unlike the M8x50 sized bolt that is used normally, we used one of the M8x60 sized bolts that was stored in the unsorted parts bin from the engine rebuild project for my E28 M5 (p/n is 23 00 1 434 511)



This new bolt (red arrow fits perfectly. I then verified the tightening torque of the sump bolts before reinstalling the pulley and belt from the PAS pump. The tensioner bracket for the PAS pump showed the typical tooth wear symptoms so this part will be replaced as well.



Before GD55450 can go to the body shop, the bolts and nuts for the subframe and pitman arms need to be replaced with new parts. These should arrive tomorrow morning.

Later more!
 
#23 · (Edited)
The new fenders have arrived last week. We decided to outsource their purchase to the body shop in order to avoid any discussion about their handling and damages that might arise out of their transport. The cost is the discount that Robert has to give up, but for body parts the margin is hardly more then ten or fifteen percent so this is a wise investment.



Robert decided to pursue with OE fenders. These retail at around 210 Euro each whereas after market fenders are 80 Euro less, but we don’t want to compromise quality and fitting so this was an easy decision. The lower part of the wheel arches look completely different then the eighteen-year old parts that were removed a week ago.



The bodyshop will prepare them today or Monday with a new coat of primer paint. Their inner sides will be coated with a protective paint, which complies with the manufacturers process. Please note that many car-traders want a cheap solution that will force body shops to omit treating the inner side, which will accelerate corrosion under harsh weather conditions. For GD55450 we clearly don’t want that.

Instead we reduced cost by preparing GD55450 by our selves and let the body shop carry out their part. This means we had to remove the mirrors, door handle covers and the inner door panels by ourselves. This was mainly Roberts part last Wednesday, but some small work had to be carried out yesterday evening and even this morning.







One of the open issues before driving GD55450 to the body shop was the final tightening of the engine subframe with the new bolts that arrived with more parts yesterday.



The engine subframe is bolted to the front beams with six bolts. Four of these are M10x95, the other two are sized M10x150. Although I temporarily used the old bolts securing the engine subframe, I was afraid of tightening them to the required 42Nm as especially the longer bolts were emerged with water that drained through the front beams throughout the years.



Next to new bolts for the subframe, I also replaced the bolts and nuts (green arrow) for the lower control arms, even though a main dealer replaced these when Robert had the entire suspension done (full package) some years ago.



After tightening all the bolts and nuts (new nuts for the pitman arms as well) to spec, lowered the exhaust system for the second time to replace the rear-mufflers heat shield. The fixing points of the old part was torn apart for some reason (aging and heat cycles) due too rusted body nuts. Although the removal of the old heat shield was straightforward, I had to cut the old body-nuts from the welded chassis threads.



Before installing the new heat shield, I treated the welded threaded mounting points with Caprotec RX5 after which the new part was installed. I used new body nuts as well.



With the heatshield in place, I could fit the exhaust in its brackets again. There was no need to replace the exhaust mounts. These were already done in the spring of 2009.



This morning, I drove GD55450 to the body shop were the work will proceed next week. They need the rest of the week as of next Tuesday after they completed repainting my fathers Audi A6 (background) on Monday.



Later more!
 
#24 · (Edited)
In the past week, work to GD55450’s body was started in the body shop of my brother in law and his partner. Before the new layers of Sebring-gray paint can be applied, the new front-fenders had to be prepared first. This means adding a protective coating to their inner sides to protect against corrosion.



The corroded section of the passenger sill has been removed and a new panel welded in place.



Various other panels have been painted with primer coating.







Even though the ambient temperature is exceeding 30°C, GD55450 will enter the climate-controlled paint-cabin this evening or tomorrow.



Last but not least; the rotor of the A/C fan is completely stuck in it’s stator and won’t move an inch. A new part is on order and will arrive tomorrow.

 
#26 ·
Weeeeeeeee, so happy to see this car coming back to life in great style!

Well done Raymond and Robert! :)
 
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#27 · (Edited)
Richard and Laurens from ‘Schade centrum Nijverdal’ completed their part this week, well within their time-slot of GD55450’s project planning. They did an excellent job in painting the fenders, side skirts, and front-grille and restoring the sills. Since we had some open technical issues, we decided to address these first, prior to installation of all the exterior parts.



The first open issue is the replacement of the belt-spanner for PAS pump. As clearly can be seen on the following picture, some teeth of the old part were damaged due to which it was impossible to properly tension the belt.





Another open issue was the bush for the left pitman arm that fell out of the car whilst removing the engine subframe two weeks ago. Since the part could not be found anymore, it was ordered on the 22nd of June. This was just a day too short for ‘Schade centrum Nijverdal’ that needed GD55450 on June the 26th. In order not to endanger the project planning, I temporarily solved this with a typical back-yard hack mechanic solution of five nuts and a washer.



The last technical issue was the replacement of the AC fan. Unlike the OE Behr part that costs more then 300 Euro ex VAT, Robert decided to replace it with a Meyle part that is an exact fit to the OE Behr part, but retails at just 50% less without compromising quality. I have to give credits to Offenga special car parts for shipping this part within a day to Robert, allowing this issue to be added to the project without affecting the planning.



Since we already had the front-bumper and front-grille removed, the replacement of the AC-fan was like we Dutch like to express as “appeltje / eitje”. The Meyle part comes with new bushes, bolts and nuts :thumbsup: so there was no need to reuse the old parts. :applause:



We spend the afternoon for installation of the exterior parts.

Later more!
 
#29 · (Edited)
Raymond,, your front tires ??

SP9000 ??
Well spotted Sveinbjörn; :thumbsup:

I agree that SP9000 sucks big time on an E34 M5, hence why I ditched them for Michelin PS2 on my own BK02837 now five years ago, but Roberts GD55450 still has enough thread left on the fronts so I can imagine that Robert wants to wear them out before replacing them with something more appropriate. For the staggered rears, he already followed my recommendation and is using PS2's.
 
#30 · (Edited)
We spend the largest part of this afternoon with installing interior and exterior parts. It was nice to see GD55450 being build up again with all the exterior parts, some refreshed and some not. I won’t describe all the boring details, but a short pictorial impression will suffice.

The typical E34 Achilles heel, the jack stands, and the sills look completely different. Robert has decided to omit the jack-stand to improve long-term stability. After welding in the new steel patch plate, both sills have been repainted completely and a protective layer of rubber coating has been added.



The side-skirts were also repainted in the correct color combination (181/229). We used new fitting parts. It has been decided not to repaint the front bumper for the time being as it has some issues that may result in its replacement in the future. However, whilst assembling this part, I discovered that some crucial parts were missing; likely omitted during previous bodywork carried out by order of a previous owner of GD55450. This prevented the proper height alignment of the bumper on the passenger side. Unfortunately, I did not spot this in time so the required parts were not available at the time. Instead, we installed the front bumper exactly the same way ads as before so the proper alignment remains an open issue.



It is nice to see a fully repainted engine hood. Please note that this picture was taken with my point-shoot Sony F717 with a pop-up flash so the color does not match the reality. I will later add some pictures from my Nikon D300s that is far more appropriate for showing of cars full glory



Later more!
 
#32 · (Edited)
Although there still are some minor issues, Robert is perfectly capable of addressing these on his own. As promised, here are some of the pictures that I shot with my Nikon D300s. Please note that I took these shots in RAW mode and just converted them to jpeg without post-processing. This gives an honest idea of the contrast and the depth of the color.











With publishing these pictures, we have closed this project that in the beginning was scheduled for a week or two to three at the most. However, new issues were added, forcing us to extend the duration of this project with another three weeks. In the end, GD55450 was off the road for a full six weeks, but the final results looks stunning, even when it was decided not to repaint the whole car. With that in mind, GD55450’s fresh appearance is an excellent benchmark on the quality that is achievable with modern techniques and motivated professionals like Laurens and Richard from ‘Schade centrum Nijverdal’.

It requires some dedication and enthusiasm to start such an extensive project, but by reclaiming the keys this evening, Robert may forget about the cost and effort that was involved. For myself, this just is some time. But Robert was prepared to drive the 150km single distance from his home to my ‘garage’ on a at least three weekdays and two Saturdays. These evenings did not end before midnight so it was quite a burden for someone that has to work for a living. Let’s hope that he will enjoy ownership of and driving GD55450 in the next few years.
 
#33 ·
Raymond, thank you for sharing such a comprehensive update and particularly all the photos which really help illustrate the work. I'm sure Robert must be delighted with the car and it's now in great shape for many more years to come!

Pending efforts to move house over the next few weeks I am hopeful of having the underside of GE00010 overhauled by Farrell and his coachworks of choice later this year. The bodypanels also need attention but I feel securing the condition of the floorpan and associated parts is crucial to the longevity of these cars - no sense in having nice shiny paintwork if the car is corroding silently from the bottom up....

I have certainly benefited from a lot of the posts you have made here and elsewhere and that will surely help me get something close to the level of care and attention you and Robert have achieved in this case.

Thanks as always,
Duncan
 
#34 ·
By this way I would like to thank Raymond for his hard work, expertise and enthousiasm during this project and the content in this report. It was tough sometimes, also for my wallet :crying2: but the result is amazing. It was a domino effect in a sense that we started with a vast project content, but during the project several things with more importance then the things in the beginning were becoming clearly major problems with high priority. (i.e. the rust)

I would also like to thank Richard and Laurens from Schadecentrum Nijverdal for their good paintwork and reconditioning.

Robert
 
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