535iSpecial’s 1984 BMW 5 Series

10/7/08  This page is dedicated to showing all the extra effort put into cleaning & prepping for  heater, a/c & dash components.  All of the foam was shot so most of this was replaced.  I also replaced dingy pearlbeige carpet with a freshly shampooed antracite one & door cards.  The entire dash/center  console was removed.  Now was time for some cleaning, preventative maintenance & whatever else there was to come up.  I'll also replace the a/c & heater core while I'm in there for good measure. Here goes nothing!

For front/rear speakers I wasn't going with any kind of coaxial & wanted a nice component setup.  Since I had no intentions of cutting up the front kick panels, I designed a template that would allow a small  piece of carpeted wood to bolt directly into the stock location.  This small build-out spaces the 5.25 woofer out just enough for the speaker cage & magnet to clear the inner kick panel. From this side shot you can see that I'm using machine screws that recess into the wood to avoid interferrence with the speaker.  These go in 1st & nuts go on the back side holding the plate in the stock location.  Then 4 short wood screws hold the speaker on top of this with the grill.   Simple yet effective.  On the driverside, I did end up using a few washers to space out the hood latch far enough to clear the speaker grill.

MegaShift GPIO Transmission Controller Turbo Build. This page will document the building & testing of a standalone ECU that will be used to control a 4hp22eh transmission.  Coupled with MegaSquirt, I plan to use this to adapt shift settings to street or strip mode on the fly.  It appears no one has done this before with this model of transmission, so either I'll be the first or one of the crazy few.Details on MegaShift here: http://www.msgpio.com/manuals/mshift/4L60e.htmlHere is the full kit being prepped for assembly.

Last October 2009 I got caught in a unexpected snow storm in St Louis on my way back home from Atlanta. This was the icing on the cake for the demise of my ever so nicely polished wheels. (not clear coated) The year prior I caught a pothole that completely destroyed one wheel on the driver side & slightly warped another. With the help of a boardmember (I forget the name), I'm hoping to return to glory with my fully staggered set. They are being re-finished in 3 stages. First, I'm had a local powerdercoating company sandblast the star & inside lip to prep for a coat of black. One of the two 17x9 wheels must have been coated at some point in time since he had to bake them to get a portion of the paint off. This can be seen by the bubbled paint on the second pic. Second, I was able to source someone else local that polishes wheels. I've heard very good reviews about his work & being able to get this done locally vs. sending them out should save a little $. Third, after polishing they'll go back for a coat of gloss black powdercoat on the star & backside. A final coat of clear will be put on the clear to protect this little investment. Perhaps I should've just bought a set of triple gold Dub Deuces for the e28? Probably would come out cheaper. Now a few pics.

After much procrastination I finally decided it was time to $hit or get of the pot in regards to knocking down the needed bodywork & prepping for paint.  Most of these pictures probably wont be in chronological order, mainly for sake of example to anyone else wanted to dive into these mods.  Oh, not to mention to show some of the background effort that goes into prepping a car for paint.   I previously had the front Euro bumper mounted, but hadnt made time to install the euro valence that allowed for mounting of the euro turn signals & fog lights.  First order of business is to remove the U.S. bumper mounting brackets & weld in the Euro brackets.  There are 2 types of front valence available, the Late vs. Early, and I decided to go with the early one which seems to be a bit more uncommon & unique.  Later down the road this will also allow me to mount a rare BBS air dam.  The pic on the left is with the valence mocked up.  Right pic is after cutting off the U.S. brackets & tow hooks.

My latest upgrades from the late summer of 2012 can be seen on Page 10.  This is a 1984 US Spec 533i that was originally purchased with apx 170k miles.  This bodystyle is also designated as an BMW e28 which is the 2nd generation of the 5-series.  Aside from the customization & personalization that is in progress, as of May 2010 this car is now a happy member of the Forced Induction family configured with 10psi of boost and a full standalone ECU that I built myself.  Look up Todd over at Turbo Charging Dynamics & the nice folks over at DIY for MegaSquirt if you'd like more info on their products.

This is a shot of some very basic custom build-outs housing 6.5 Rockford Fosgate components & the port in the middle for a Coustic BassPump that is NLA.

Page index:1.  Intro, condition of car when found & some mods.2.  Wheels & exhaust.3.  Interior overhauled.4.  Stereo, keyless entry, custom seats.5.  Basic performance mods.6.  MegaSquirt ECU & Turbo Build. 7.  Wheel re-refinishing.8.  MegaShift GPIO Tranny ECU Build (in progress)9.  Suspension makeover.10.  Euro bumper/valence conversion & Bodywork.11.  Random pictures Basic Car Specs1984 schwarz Bmw 533i MS2Extra 3.2.5 w/wasted sparkTCD Stage III turboTCD 3000 stall torque converterSpax w/40mm drop on Bille sportsRondell 67 wheels with 225 & 255 x 17 staggered tiresStage V brake upgrade w/ Zimmerman X-drilledAkebono ceramic pads / SS lines3.73 LSDBattery relocated to trunk MSD GM coil packs with MSD 8.5mm wires/coilsModified e12 intake fitted to 42lbs Summit Racing injectorsCustom Brent K. front/rear chromed strut barse21 Recaro sport seats / recovered by Jim's Upholstery    Summer 2013  Current state