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Hello everyone,
i thought i could squeeze in with my beloved (*****) e34, now that i'm finally making more progress. So, in short form:
I'm from finland, land of all the unexplained and idiotic laws about cars.
E34 520i '89, driven about 450tkm/279600 miles. Alpineweiss II and had a blue interior.
Doesn't have anything spectacular, the very basic model (scandinavian version), seat heaters and electronic mirrors. And thats about it. Bought it when i was 20, so i have had it for 3 years. Got a set of BB RA:s with it and didn't realize the potential back then. First year went with basic look, not sure if i bought a set of 18" ACS Type-II replicas back then or half a year later.
And pics from the first year:
Then started following finnish bmw forums and understood the potential in these. I have always admired the timeless lines in e34, but now i knew what to do with it.
First, BBS RA - 8x16 and made in west-germany. Had to clean them up. Never done this before and i really didn't know much about repairing cars either.
What i started with:
And how those ended up:
Then bought KAW 80/20 set from the factory, M5 rear lights, black(?)optic front lights and redid the whole interior with a khaki interior from friends E34 518i and bought M5 half-leather seats. Also filled doors and back with dynamat and made a front splitter thingie. To be honest, this is the biggest thing i've ever done to this car, major up for my self-esteem back then. After all, i finally could do something to my car.
So, from that basic look with this interior...
...to this:
And when i got the RA's fitted, some brainfart hit me.
Later, cleaned it up a bit and... well, something.
And that is how the last summer went. Got too anxious about that wheelgap in early spring and got the car bit lower.
Thought i was missing out something and this is how it's been the whole summer.
And here we are now, had a week to make the car look nice and clean for the local show, ended up trying a bit different and just basically something out of my mind. How it started:
Pretty snug fit, pulled the fenders bit out, though i didn't have a friend with a right tool, so had to improvise a bit. It came out nice, had a 0,5cm gap in rear and of course had a bit of rubbing. The real problem was driveshaft and small noise it made. Called to local shop, the owner is friends friend and all that - he told me he could change bearings and flex disc as i had already bought those. I had two days before the show, so i thought i could finally make it. I pulled the whole thing together in hurry at my parents driveway, just to get it to the shop - two wheels still unpainted and bumpers at work for cleanup and partial repaint. Test drove it for 100m to asphalt and took these pictures:
And this is what happened after the first and only roundabout that was in my way.
Seems that i was making too much hassle, all the bolts wasn't tightened properly. But nothing particular happened, fender was "rolled" pretty hard and one of the supports came 1cm thinner, but i don't mind. We put the wheel back on and drove it to the shop and it was already closed. This is the point where i almost broke down. But today i'm getting a new inner plastic for the fender and actual fender from that same 518i, in gold-ish brown, don't know the color code. Now what? Any ideas for the fender? I still have some color coded rattlecan for alpineweiss II, but you know how "close" those come. And i have also shitloads of that turquoise also.
i thought i could squeeze in with my beloved (*****) e34, now that i'm finally making more progress. So, in short form:
I'm from finland, land of all the unexplained and idiotic laws about cars.
E34 520i '89, driven about 450tkm/279600 miles. Alpineweiss II and had a blue interior.
Doesn't have anything spectacular, the very basic model (scandinavian version), seat heaters and electronic mirrors. And thats about it. Bought it when i was 20, so i have had it for 3 years. Got a set of BB RA:s with it and didn't realize the potential back then. First year went with basic look, not sure if i bought a set of 18" ACS Type-II replicas back then or half a year later.
And pics from the first year:
Then started following finnish bmw forums and understood the potential in these. I have always admired the timeless lines in e34, but now i knew what to do with it.
First, BBS RA - 8x16 and made in west-germany. Had to clean them up. Never done this before and i really didn't know much about repairing cars either.
What i started with:
And how those ended up:
Then bought KAW 80/20 set from the factory, M5 rear lights, black(?)optic front lights and redid the whole interior with a khaki interior from friends E34 518i and bought M5 half-leather seats. Also filled doors and back with dynamat and made a front splitter thingie. To be honest, this is the biggest thing i've ever done to this car, major up for my self-esteem back then. After all, i finally could do something to my car.
So, from that basic look with this interior...
...to this:
And when i got the RA's fitted, some brainfart hit me.
Later, cleaned it up a bit and... well, something.
And that is how the last summer went. Got too anxious about that wheelgap in early spring and got the car bit lower.
Thought i was missing out something and this is how it's been the whole summer.
And here we are now, had a week to make the car look nice and clean for the local show, ended up trying a bit different and just basically something out of my mind. How it started:
Pretty snug fit, pulled the fenders bit out, though i didn't have a friend with a right tool, so had to improvise a bit. It came out nice, had a 0,5cm gap in rear and of course had a bit of rubbing. The real problem was driveshaft and small noise it made. Called to local shop, the owner is friends friend and all that - he told me he could change bearings and flex disc as i had already bought those. I had two days before the show, so i thought i could finally make it. I pulled the whole thing together in hurry at my parents driveway, just to get it to the shop - two wheels still unpainted and bumpers at work for cleanup and partial repaint. Test drove it for 100m to asphalt and took these pictures:
And this is what happened after the first and only roundabout that was in my way.
Seems that i was making too much hassle, all the bolts wasn't tightened properly. But nothing particular happened, fender was "rolled" pretty hard and one of the supports came 1cm thinner, but i don't mind. We put the wheel back on and drove it to the shop and it was already closed. This is the point where i almost broke down. But today i'm getting a new inner plastic for the fender and actual fender from that same 518i, in gold-ish brown, don't know the color code. Now what? Any ideas for the fender? I still have some color coded rattlecan for alpineweiss II, but you know how "close" those come. And i have also shitloads of that turquoise also.
Instagram@jdjurhuus
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