I know the wheel bearings are interchangeable, I don't see why you would not be able to swap the entire housing.

 

That's great information - I think I'm on the right track with the idea that a set of regular E34 strut housings and some new springs would do the trick here. Somewhere in my collection of bookmarks is a link to the 3 different series of strut/strut mount combinations for the E34, I know there were differences in the bolt sizes and such but I believe the housing itself was the same throughout the E34 production run.

 

Just got back from looking the car over. I'm so torn!

The owner turned out be a BMW enthusiast, who has a gorgeous E39 M5, and bought the car at auction a few months ago. Unfortunately it isn't one of the handful of blue M5s, it is actually a pretty poor repaint of a black/silverstone car. The leather seats are in good shape, but the dash is not - and the instrument panel is dead, apart from the tach and the blinking SRS light, so the mileage is unknown. And the door panels are held together with wood screws(!)

The driver's side fender is dented, but the gap between it and the hood is consistent. It has regular E34 front and rear bumpers and the spoiler is missing. The spare tire well and trunk area don't show any signs of a rear end collision, and being a California car, there isn't any rust.

The car started right up and settled into a pretty nice idle - nicer than on my 535i - and didn't smoke or smell weird or leak. I was unable to drive it due to the front suspension problems though, the spindle is bent enough so the tire constantly rubs on the strut housing. The good news is the shock tower didn't look domed. Both RSB links were broken.

The owner is a member here, hopefully he'll chime in. This is probably more project than I'm able to take on at the moment but it's not a basket case.

 

There are other threads here, regarding this.

There are two different hub/wheelbearing / abs sensor arrangements. I forget the diameters and the exact changeover dates involved (guess: 87mm vs 92mm, changeover date about 10/91); but my car has one size on the left front, another on the right front. The placement of the ABS wheel speed sensor is the crucial measurement. The sensor and he ABS system remain the same, but the wrong diameter wheel speed hub will not allow you to put your wheel speed sensor into place.

 

Yes you can use 535/540/525 what ever struts. Just make sure you have correct size upper mount, but thats more shock related.

 

That exactly the issue re GE00008, three 97mm and one 83mm so no abs sensor = fault display

 

What a small world

I actually bought a e34 m5 and it has the same issue on the driver side front suspension. thus the reason i came across this post. well long story short after reading all the details on that m5 that you mentioned i now believe that i bought that same exact m5 lol. and im actually repairing it. I bought a e34 95 530i as a loaner car and now i discovered that the m5 and 530 bearings are different. so now im trying to take out the bearings from both shocks and interchange them. hopefully it works.

but that's crazy. im reading you post im like could it be the same car lol.

 

I actually bought a e34 m5 and it has the same issue on the driver side front suspension. thus the reason i came across this post. well long story short after reading all the details on that m5 that you mentioned i now believe that i bought that same exact m5 lol. and im actually repairing it. I bought a e34 95 530i as a loaner car and now i discovered that the m5 and 530 bearings are different. so now im trying to take out the bearings from both shocks and interchange them. hopefully it works.

but that's crazy. im reading you post im like could it be the same car lol.

That's funny! It probably is the same car, it was on Craigslist for a long time, at a shop down in the Adams Square area. I tried to offer the guy $4k for the thing but he wouldn't take it, so I'm glad someone is reviving it and not parting it out. I wound up buying a really nice black '91 down in OC that same week so I gave up on negotiating.

 

the issue with mine was as such an early 3.8 it was built with 3.6 suspension parts, hence the front hubs, bearings and abs sensor ring all had to be the previous and larger size versions.
finding a pair of (old stock) 3.6 units and fitting them resolved all the abs issues, improved steering and front suspension including and knackered wheel bearings adding wander.
the front struts were not changes, so may 005 has 3.6 struts to go with the hubs, unsure as edc deleted and so we have conventional/lowered bilsteins on this one.
its an aggressive old thing, sits even lower than standard but needed no arch rolling etc.
hth

 

Haha

Noo I'm 120% sure its the same car you had me at the wood screw door panels. I still cant understand what the hell they were thinking.
Um thats good that you got that car. I actually ended up buying it for 4k. Hopefully the car will be running by the end of next week. need to deal with the camber and change change the bearings.

 

Old thread, I know.

Does anyone have a front right spindle/knuckle available? I have an October ‘90-built ‘91 M5.

 

Old thread, I know.

Does anyone have a front right spindle/knuckle available? I have an October ‘90-built ‘91 M5.

Bumping...