Check out what i just picked up for $1500

[Z-man]

Jared: Nice catch. Pretty car.

While I like the 650csi's, I like the 850 coupes of the 90's a little more...

But with the $$ I sink into my Porsche, I don't have to worry about seeing either in my driveway!

[arcsine]

I had a 635csi for a while and loved it. It was a very impressive handling/highway crusing car for something that is pretty big and plush. My only issues were the metric wheels with crap Michelin tires (swapped out for some 16" BMW wheels and yokahamas) and I could not fit in it.



At $1500 with a rebuild, you really cannot go wrong with yours. Congratulations.

[wludavid]

When you do your manual swap, put a 3.73 LSD in there and sell your stock 3.25 to someone with a 3.25e or S50-swapped e30. I just put a 3.25 in my eta and it really wakes it up.

[austin552]

I want to meet the guy you bought it from! Got some Louisiana property I need to sell before hurricane season.

[TerryBPP]

Get rid of that slush box ASAP. 80's auto trannys are known to be junk. I went through 2 in a year in my 85' 735i. At the tune of $1500 a rebuild.

I believe the m20 is a 260 getrag and the m30 is a 265 getrag. Not the same bellhousing pattern.

Nice find BTW. FYI, the 85' has the lowest compression at 8:1. Which makes it ideal for turbocharging.


If your interested I have a 3.73 out of a 85' 535is. Should bolt righht up.

[wludavid]

Jared, does your car have the refrigerator in the back seat? I swear that was an actual option - I saw one on a friend's car. I guess it might have just been an icebox though...

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

nope, although my friends 635 has the fridge. For bottles o win

Basicaly, i got it cheap because it has a problem with the DME and the fuel injection which shouldnt be too hard to remedy. I actually have a spare DME for the car anyway..

Seriously looking into the manual swap. Anyone have any parts I'd need for it?

The auto box is literally brand new, have all the invoices for the parts that rebuilt it. THe owners father was a ZF specialist, so I can probably imagine it wil be good for a while

[RickM]

Here's an excellent forum for your E24.... http://bimmer.roadfly.com/bmw/forums/e24/


BTW, Autozone has free repair info online. Not for Porsche but a few other manufacturers. Here's for the 6 series: http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=RG001&UserAction=processModel&Parameters=025

List of guides: http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=RG001&UserAction=beginRepairGuide

[DeutschMark]

I had a black '85 e24 myself. Nice car but very heavy. The instrument cluster in these cars usually start doing crazy things after the NiCads for the service interval board leak.

The 3.73 LSD is by far the best modification you can make. It is inexpensive and does wonders for acceleration and flexibility. I found one on ebay for around $150.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by DeutschMark
I had a black '85 e24 myself. Nice car but very heavy. The instrument cluster in these cars usually start doing crazy things after the NiCads for the service interval board leak.

The 3.73 LSD is by far the best modification you can make. It is inexpensive and does wonders for acceleration and flexibility. I found one on ebay for around $150.

Yep, the SI board in the instrument cluster has nicads that go bad, and can be replaced without too much trouble. Some folks add a remote battery holder to ease changeout in the future.

You should check your diff ratio, you may have either a 3.46 or 3.64 in the car from the factory, plus limited slips were common in sixer's, which means you can get more on the used market if you sell the diff no matter what the ratio is. Typical used prices vary between $200-400 depending on the source. Limited slips have a large "S" stamped on the diff, but it's on top and almost impossible to see with the diff in the car. The diff is stamped

You'll probably enjoy the car a lot more with a five speed and at least a 3.46 diff, and the 3.64 or 3.73 would be much better.

Another interesting Six'er web site. The black car has 17" BMW Style 5 wheels on it.
http://www.bmwworld.com/driving/iceland.htm

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

some more pictures of her.. funny thing is, now that I've re-adjusted the kickdown cable, it really isnt that bad in terms of acceleration. Ideally, i'd prefer the manual, but for now, i'm kinda happy with how smooth it runs

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
Some more pictures of her.. funny thing is, now that I've re-adjusted the kickdown cable, it really isnt that bad in terms of acceleration. Ideally, i'd prefer the manual, but for now, i'm kinda happy with how smooth it runs.

You have a realy nice example, Jared, that car looks to be no more than 5-10 years old, and well taken care of at that. That looks like you have a Cardinal Red (same as my E28), or maybe Cherry interior . You can run your VIN through the BMW VIN Decoder to find the equipment list. There are, by the way, several steering wheels you can install, like P-cars, there's tons of optional things to retrofit if you're of that mind. I have a later E34 M-tech steering wheel in my 535is, the last of the non-air bag wheels.


You might also get lucky, since that car was well taken care of, BMW used to put the build sheet under the back seat, wrapped around the seat springs and stapled together. It was still there in my E28, but not in my E30.

[DeutschMark]

Jared, when you adjust your valves make sure the bolts on the camshaft oil sprayer bar are torqued to spec. I see your engine was rebuilt, but the bolts may not have been updated to the newer type with a locking compound on the threads. The bolts are inexpensive if you need to replace them.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by DeutschMark
Jared, when you adjust your valves make sure the bolts on the camshaft oil sprayer bar are torqued to spec. I see your engine was rebuilt, but the bolts may not have been updated to the newer type with a locking compound on the threads. The bolts are inexpensive if you need to replace them.

The newer bolts have a groove cut in the top to verify that they've been changed out. The newer bolts have thread locking compound on them from the factory. There's also a mod that can be performed on the sprayer bar, you pinch the bar in the middle between two sockets in a vise, which creates two independant chambers, which enhances the oil supply to the ends of the bar.
EDIT: http://www.bmwe34.net/e34main/maintenance/engine/valve_adjust.htm

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

pat, whats your thought on installing a chip in these cars? Im thinking that the weight and the auto might not be worth it. Just something Im thinking of in the long run. Looks like im going to hold off on the manua swa for a while. I just dont have the time right now

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Jared Fenton
pat, whats your thought on installing a chip in these cars? Im thinking that the weight and the auto might not be worth it. Just something Im thinking of in the long run. Looks like im going to hold off on the manua swa for a while. I just dont have the time right now

I don't know how much difference it would make with an automatic, but my car ran significantly smoother and had a lot more mid-range with the chip than without. These cars aren't the smoothest at idle, a characteristic of the Motronic 1.0 system that was fixed later. Right now, folks on the mye28.com board seem enthused about Mark D'Sylva's product, to the point of claiming they're better than the Jim Conforti chip I installed a number of years ago. I'll probably try his product in my E30 soon, but can't voice an opinion of it today. I do think Conforti's product worked well and was worth the cost, D'Sylva's chips cost a bit less, but I would warn you to not buy a $40.00 eBay special. I've seen some extreme results from those including holed pistons.

Bottom line, I think the heavier E24 would likely benefit more from a chip enhancement than a lighter car from the enhanced mid-range power.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I hear you. I would only install a Dinan, Jim C. or have Steve W. burn me a chip.

[onewhippedpuppy]

The E34 guys on Bf.c and bimmer.info also seem to think the Mark D chips are better, some have gone from Jim C to Mark D and claim to feel a difference. $1500!? I can't believe that, what a deal! Your seats look better than the sport seats in my 540/6. Nice find, congrats! If you want blow-ups of the clutch/tranny area, check out realoem.com. Part numbers and diagrams of most BMWs, very helpful. The trannies come up often on Bf.c, just the other day there was an E28 Getrag 5 speed for sale.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by onewhippedpuppy
The E34 guys on Bf.c and bimmer.info also seem to think the Mark D chips are better, some have gone from Jim C to Mark D and claim to feel a difference. $1500!? I can't believe that, what a deal! Your seats look better than the sport seats in my 540/6. Nice find, congrats! If you want blow-ups of the clutch/tranny area, check out realoem.com. Part numbers and diagrams of most BMWs, very helpful. The trannies come up often on Bf.c, just the other day there was an E28 Getrag 5 speed for sale.

Yep, and the Dinan chip for older cars isn't good.

[onewhippedpuppy]

How about you just go all out and stick a S38 in there while you're at it? MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM