Congrats on your new ride and undertaking the project. I love to follow these threads. Plenty of pics please.

 

Congrats on the new car.

I know that pictures may seem more dramatic, but your car looks like it was owned by a 17 year old Meth addict (no offense, i just kid)

good luck with the restoration

 

yea, the more I dig deeper into the car, the more I see what had been "jerry-rigged". For example, the positive terminal on the battery had tin foil stuffed inside of the connecter to close the gap from the terminal to the cable

But everything can be fixed and will be fixed all the correct OEM parts! (It helps to have a commercial account at the BMW dealer and they deliver too!) HA!

 

I know you said you think that you paid too much for this vehicle (and it is none of our business to ask what that amount was) but I am in hopes, especially because you are a dealer, that you took all of those indicated issues into account for what you negotiated for a purchase price. It does appear to need a substantial amount of work. I'm interested in following your progress. But visual appearance/ vehicle aesthetics aside, I am curious as to what your vehicle needs at this mileage. A well-sorted one could be easily acquired and for what you may end up having into it in the end, you may have been able to get one that was sound mechanically and cosmetically and had lower mileage, more desirable updated steering wheel, headlights and navigation system.

But to each his own and I am in hopes that servicing and repairing this doesn't put you in the poor house. We are all very fortunate to have these vehicles and it is just a shame to hear of them being neglected and beaten on. We can all vouch for the fact that they should be able to handle a bit of 'meat' when you want to throw it at them, otherwise they wouldn't be worthy of their M badge in the first place. But they are more finicky than a 540i or other 5-Series brethren and requires an extra decimal point on repair invoices to keep running happily. Good luck. Can't wait to see your progress and finally, welcome to The Board.

 

Love these types of threads too. Subscribed.

"Welcome" to the board! I also recently picked up a beast, albeit locally and with a very good PPI report. Only very minor issues. Best of luck on your restoration.

 

Welcome to the Board. I will be watching progress with interest as I bought an M5 recently which is needing lots of jobs doing, much more than I anticipated! Well worth it in the end! Have fun.

 

congrats on the project and agree gonna a good amount of TLC. welcome to the board!!!

 

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I will upload pictures later tonight! I am changing the oil right now and will be spending the WHOLE night tonight at the car wash station giving this baby a full treatment. I could have easily sprung for a mint M5, but I enjoy the "bonding" experience when it comes to restoring a car. I will feel great when it is all said and done and I saved this car from certain demise

Forgot to mention! The owner claims this car has a Dinan Stage 1 reflash.....anyway I can verify that?

 

PM me the last 7 of the VIN with your e-mail and I can get you a copy of the history that should indicate whether it has received any Dinan treatment.

 

congrates on the purchase , i bought a 2000 back in august as my first M car as well, been loving it so much so far ,, now i go 5 months with out it because of winter , driving the accord is just sucking,, now the wife wants a BMW as a daily, she came over real fast !!!lol...

 

congrats and +1 good luck with the restoration

 

Welcome to the club! I know what you mean about enjoying the resto and bonding time. I have a car that I am restoring that used to be my DD back in college.

 

Congrats on the car!!

 

Me and two friends went to town to detailing it the WHOLE night! It came out absolutely fantastic! (Obviously still many flaws in the paint and seats but for what it was it is much better) This car definitely sat for some time

Also can anyone tell me why the drivers seat will not go back further? There is nothing blocking the tracks, it's like that is as far back as it goes. But compared to the passenger seat and my 540i this m5 seat is clearly not going back as far. And being 6'4" I need this seat all the way to the back lol .... My knees are driving into the dashboard and not making for a pleasant driving experience see last picture about what I am talking about, the drivers seat should be able to go back about another 1.5-2"

 

We can't wait to see more before & after photos...

 

Great for you and for these cars that you are saving one. That is definitely a hard life right there. The bottom end of these cars when driveable seems to be $9-10k. With what you've described, I would say in that range would have been a fair deal and reflects the need of probably $4-5k in restoration. Don't know if you are willing to share your purchase price, just thought I'd throw out my opinion.

Ok, so, it's not a miracle product but I would want to try out Leatherique on those seats before doing any actual restoration.
They look very dried out but not heavily damaged besides surface scratches, and this particular black leather will hide alot of surface scratches if it's nice, soft leather.

 

Nice pick-up and just my 2¢ about our "Beasts." When I got mine it was in great shape. 46.8K miles. It just had 4 tires put on, valve cover gaskets replaced, oil changed, upper control arm bushings, belly pan, right front fender liner, and oil seperator hoses replaced.

When I got it, the first thing I did was tint it, install Bluetooth ULF, and MKIV navigation. Those were my only initial mods. The most important thing for me was establishing a good foundation for the "Beast" to start with. That meant changing air filters, charcoal filters. I had to replace e-Box fan. I did a cooling system flush, differential oil change, transmission fluid change, along with Pre-cat O2 sensors replaced. Next was to change MAF's and the Outside Temperature Sensor. Last, but not least I changed spark plugs, intake and exhaust CPS's.

Once I got the foundation set, then the mods started. If you start with a good baseline with maintenance and/or preventative maintenance, the Beast will give you miles of orgasmic elated driving experiences. Just don't baby it and turn it into a "garage queen." BMW meant for these Beasts to be driven hard. I drive it like I stole it everyday once the oil temp reaches proper temperature.

That's what I got Greta for. Not necessarily going as fast as I can at top speed, but getting from 0 to slightly above speed limit in the quickest time.

 

This is weird.

You sound like me.

:cool2:

 

i got a product from a harley shop , its doc something , worked AWESOME on the leather , my seats look brand new..good luck with the restore, keep the info and pics coming..

 

Congrats on the purchase. Looked rough at delivery, but sounds like you got a good handle on it.

 

really cool. i love these types of threads myself. glad to see one was saved from being neglected even further.

 

Congrats! but those seats need alot of help.

 

Worked all day, but while it was slow I managed to install my euro armrest and steering wheel off my 540i.

Transferring all my stuff! The 540i may very well be sold soon thankfully an enthusiast should be picking it up. One of te best cars I have ever owned. And being a dealer I have owned and driven ALL types of cars. Will be very sad to see it go.....

I am sourcing a new lower trim for the wheel, but this will work vs the old prefacelift wheel

Euro arm rest slide/tilt/tray

 

Been compiling a list of part numbers to submit to BMW so I can make one large order. Can someone show me a stock photo of a M5 battery? Where is the tie down? REALOEM shows that it uses a clamp near the bottom and a metal bracket ON TOP of the battery. Looks to be a smaller battery also.

Please disregard the dirty trunk, I have yet to clean it!

 

Looking good. I have been having a blast with mine. Picked her up for $500 about 7 months ago. It was trashed as the pictures show. I almost have the transformation complete. After its all said and done I will probably have a little less than $20K in the car total. Worth every penny IMHO. I did some drifitng in her today. What a good time! Here is the link to my work. If you want to talk what we did and the results we got Ill be gald to talk just shoot me a PM.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/206048-2000-m5-restoration.html

 

Nice car man..
Do people ask you why you have two of the same car? Lol

 

LMAO! Who wouldnt want two of the best BMW's ever made? :M5launch: :M5launch:

(The 540iA should be sold today, hopefully) :sad1:

 

Damn, for 101K miles, that thing's hammered. I feel infinately more secure about the few, relatively minor, imperfections I've otherwise mulled over on my 125K mile Beast.

On her behalf, I say "thank you" for undertaking this selfless endeavor. I look forward to the progress.