Hey RockJock

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Seen on the Yahoo! E34 M5 group:

<<
'91 M5 FS in Edmonton:

A two-owner car. The car is complete with winter and performance
tires, each mounted on custom rims. (The summer tires are 235 ZR40
17s on Racing Dynamics 9 1/2 wheels. Winters are visible in photos.)
133,400 miles/214,000km.

There is a slight ding in the trunk lid, and some of the usual
electronic gremlins (gas gauge) but it runs great, the interior is
excellent. It's in Edmonton. We're hoping to get mid-lo teens. Are
we nuts?>>

Not a bad price.
AD

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Badge engineering at its worst. Did the guy think he actually had an M5??

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

yeah he did, honest mistake ...... i'm glad i checked it out though. took it for a spin and it felt like it had a suspension upgrade (nice), heavy clutch, short-shift kit, performance exhaust/muffler/headers?? ---> made that riced-up farting kinda sound.......also had that infamous failing thrust arm bushing wobble....

...now i want a suspension upgrade on my 535im dammit!! .... Dinan Stage I or Sachs Kit??? what-to-do-what-to-do??

If you drop it, don't drop it too far!

My best suggestion would be 3/4" max drop at front, stock springs rear. Perhaps M-Technik. Koni shox all 'round and M5 sway bars and rubber bushings. Buy new OE M5 bump stops for the front - they're shorter than the ones on other E34s and allow more front travel before bottoming. Use the 20mm rear bar from the M5T (33 55 2 227 416) as an upgrade to further reduce understeer. Don't be tempted to try M5 front springs as the M30 engine is much lighter than the S38 - front may even rise...

HTH,
Anthony

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

I stopped short of modding the suspension of the 535 and purchased the M5 instead. After spending big $$$ over the years modding suspension and power on a series of cars I got tired of trying to out-engineer the factory. Some of my projects:

'69 Ford Cortina GT - upgraded to Lotus suspension, dropped in a hot 2.0L from a Capri. Nice car as long as you didn't want to go more than 100kph (4.12 posi).

'76 BMW 2002 - B&B, Schrick 292, twin DCOE, big drop suspension, Bilsteins, fat swaybars, +1 wheels/tires. Turned the car into a go-kart at the expense of comfort. Ripping fast but mostly ripped through my wallet.

'88 325iS - +1 wheels/tires, Bilsteins, chip, K&N (never again). The shocks stiffened it up a bit too much but otherwise the car was great. Easily hit 240k.

'90 535iM - +2 wheels/tires, chip. Otherwise stock. I liked this one as it was but sold it to my dad when I bought the M5. Still running at 240,000kms.

'91 M5 - +.5 wheels, chip, UUC EVO3/DSSR, Koni front. Otherwise stock and it will stay that way. Excellent car right out of the box. I had Dinan springs and Ireland camber plates until one of the front Dinan springs broke. Put the OE stuff back - Dinans put the ride too low and the alignment shop refused to set it up!

Nevermind the $$$ spent on stereos over the years.

Cheers,
Anthony