I haven't been very active on the board lately, mostly because for some reason, in this economic tragedy , my company is flourishing, really. Thanks to great people I work with and great clients, things are going exceptionally well. Since some of my clients are boardmembers, and some of you have stayed in contact with me through direct mail or phone, I haven't forgotten this board and all that it's done for me. This is what's been keeping me busy lately:
Vorsteiner carbonfibre hood on member Kleintje's E39 :
The Sebring E34 only had one job done to is in 2008, and that's replacing the seals on the halfshaft:
A lot of work went into the Porsche Carrera V10 brakes, which are ready for fitment. Pics will follow in seperate thread sometime this summer
Then I did some work on member Murphmeister's INCREDIBLE 95 M5, one of the very few cars of this quality I have seen. The usual 'wout' stuff was replaced, being vaccuum hoses, actuators, sensors etc plus valve + tb job
Then, I big project finally started off by the purchase of this 1999 E39 M5
also, we pried this pristine E30 320i out of the first owner's dead hands:
Idea is to put this engine
into this engine bay
When I wasn't wrenching, I was spending time driving around in this:
I've calculated that over 2008, I spent more hours in that car than in my own livingroom. One of the best cars ever made by BMW. Ergonomically rivalled by no car.
My M5 next to some friends E34's..Missing from the pic is my other 525TDST, a 525iAT 95 and a 525iXAT 92
Notice Alpina B7
Some difference in stance and size between my daily TDS and M5
Then I became a three-fold E34 owner by buying this TDSAT off a friend, which came in handy for getting parts etc.
E30 M3 of member Lowplainsdrifter, E34M5t 95 of member MX5freak and yours truly's M5
A lot of time was spent on improving the Alpina E30 racecar, I decided not to take prisoners and completely overhaul the front suspension in one setting including powdercoating the front subframe. Rubbers are Powerflex, swaybars H&R
New coilover suspension with new wheel bearings and ( not in pic) wheelstuds instead of bolts
Ofcourse , there were issues:
The topmounts not lining up with the chassis being one of them. The factory ended up shipping out non-drilled topmounts which I made fit myself, and the problem was solved
In the meantime, we got ourselves a nice MK1 E30 320 sport with 86k km's , and NO rust anywhere. Car has the sport package with 2cm lower suspension and small front+rear spoiler:
ALPINA Zusatztank ( additional tank)
The SHARK :
full-race stance on E30, depicted here with the 7J rims:
There's 2cm lowering next to nearly 10cm lowering
Ever seen a 23 year old E30 with no oil leakage
Then, the M535i's box decided to fail :
Second Getrag 265 to be rebuilt in a years time
The stuff that will be shoveled into the engine bay of member MX5Freaks Touring:
Brake upgrade time for the ALPINA E30 trackcar and the S62 E30 'Widowmaker'. We decided to get 2 sets of Wilwood 310mm SuperLites for the fronts, and two universally sized sets for the rear which will be custom fit. Rotors are alloy compound Wilwood, pads are Wilwood for now.
VERY quick release pad-change:
VERY tight fit under 8J's :
I had some 10mm alloy spacers made to get the 7J's to fit aswell
New trend for 2009: Fitting E31 wheels under and E34. Friend and businesspartner Lowplainsdrifter was the first, and many followed:
Not many people show E55 AMG and 95 M5t next to eachother:
Then, we all took of to Papenburg ATP teststrecke, a Mercedes-Benz test circuit in Germany, to visit one of member DickRS's famous driftdays. We took the freshly refurbished E30 ALPINA and the M535i which , after being nervously made ready for last years Papenburg, had been standing in the corner mainly gathering dust
Apart from having a shifter fitted that rivals the one found in today's Le Mans winning cars ofcourse:
Sadly, no picture are allowed to be taken of the drift event because of the prototypes MB have running around there. An official photographer has made some pics, if those are any good, I'll post them up soon
Then, I felt it was time for a new daily driver. Having said it before, I stuck my money where my mouth was and bought a low-mileage 740d E38 out of a bankruptcy in Denmark. ( Thanks Bay for providing me with flight infos!!)
Car is Orientblau with most options ( seat massage, electric bootlid, triple homelink, rear A/C , fax, phone, rear seat heating, shadowline etc)
This week, we fired up the B7 again, to see if it was still fast. Well, it is hiha This car is pure lunacy. Unbelievable acceleration once at boost. By far the fastest car in the stable
So, now that you're all on the in about the latest tribulations, I'd like to thank the many boardmembers that have helped me in this busy period, being Tomba, Simonal, Bay, Ferrari-BMW ( Sveinbjorn) , Konstantin , Dirk and Thorsten from the German board and many many other BMW , Alpina or M enthusiasts. This doesn't feel for a day like working
Fantastic post! Great to see and hear how busy you are despite the doom and gloom elsewhere. Some beautiful cars there and one or two very tasty projects too!! Looking forward to your updates as always
"New trend for 2009: Fitting E31 wheels under and E34. Friend and businesspartner Lowplainsdrifter was the first, and many followed:"
I hope you got a spare set for Stevie as he "bothered" me "all the time" about wanting to buy mine of my E34 M5 touring (and I was the first...as this was in 2001...hiha)
By the way...Do you need hub centric rings on those suckers, as on my set, even though obviously the E31 840/850i set, the rings were needed. They fitted perfectly on my E39 without the rings(74.1mm?) As I´m aware of those wheels were never suplied for E39 , and E31 has the 72.5mm hub according to all the sources i`ve seen....so I´m confused.
:cheers:
Sakke
hope things are OK with you guys. I won't make it the 31st at Papenburg, however some friends of mine will with a clone of your E30 ( std black E30 325i)
If time allows, I am thinking of going down there to watch and help them but not sure yet
I have to get down to your part of the country soon though to pick up some fancy glassfiber parts, so I was thinking of dropping by then.
Hi all,
I have oil pressure problem with rebuilt s38b38. All bearings are new, cylinders honed/new pistons etc.
I did not built the engine but everything is pretty well documented and engine was never run when i bough it.
I finally get it running but i have serious oil pressure problem...
OK, so my M5 is going through a semi restoration of the front and rear suspension and after I broke down the front strut assembly I picked up the wheel bearing and the outer race seemed kinda loose and out it popped. Came out very easy however it will not go back in and seat on the balls again...
I am in San Jose, California. I have noticed recently that every smog check places started giving old cars hard time.
Before I never had problem with the "no check engine light" issue. But they all started asking for it, and I can't explain to them why this car (euro version) has no such...
Hi fellow M5 people,
Could I ask a favor, I have had a lot of welding carried out on my car and would like to confirm the structure around the rear of the sills and the wheelarch bulkhead behind the rear seat.
If someone could take a photo and post it please or has a detailed diagram I would...
Anyone have and interest in a set of 80k rear SLS shocks for free before I toss them? One side was leaking of course and maybe someone wants a set for rebuild?
M5Board is the best forum community for information on the BMW M5 E60 (V-10), E39 (V-8), E34 (straight 6), E28, F90 and F10. Discuss performance, specs, reviews and more!
, my company is flourishing, really. Thanks to great people I work with and great clients, things are going exceptionally well. Since some of my clients are boardmembers, and some of you have stayed in contact with me through direct mail or phone, I haven't forgotten this board and all that it's done for me. This is what's been keeping me busy lately: 
