V.o.l.k
05-29-2013, 01:44 PM
Hey folks, I was reading around this website for quite a while, decided to join it at some point, and now finally got to finding some time posting! It's really nice to see people still love the E34's although they are getting harder to come by ( especially in shape )...and worst of all here in Canada-Quebec..with the winter conditions and the amounts of salt that their using is simply stupefying... The biggest thing I hate here in Quebec is the amounts of salt that they always use on the roads, its insane, especially the past 2-3years sometimes its like driving off-road.. Anyways..
My name is Egor, I'm originally Russian but its been almost 11 years since I moved to Canada..I live in Montreal, Quebec ( plan to move the **** outta here eventually though.. ). I'm 23, I love cars since I was a kid..Grand father was teaching me how to drive since I was 10, first car I drove was a Lada 2106 1990 - manual rwd still a great car today and its still alive!!! when I moved to Canada and had my license I had few cars before finally arriving to my childhood dream car the E34! Before I got into the BMW world, I had 3 Toyota tercel..3 civics and a Nissan maxima...always all manual, most of the time most of the work I do it by my self on the cars, have good experience in DIYs.. So I was shopping for a car almost year and half ago, was looking for another maxima - by accident I saw this e34 525 manual 95' for a decent price - decided to go take a look just for the sake of it, came, test drove it - FELL IN LOVE completely... bought it the next day although all my friends and family were saying no its a BMW, its old it has a lot of mileage bla bla bla, nevertheless I went with the heart and bought it. It had 297xxxkm's at the time of purchase, I had it inspected by a friend at his work shop and at the time of purchase it needed brakes/clutch..suspensions eventually and a **** load of little things ( normal considering its age and mileage ).. I never invested this much money and effort in none of my cars, but this baby has always had all my attention!
So far I have all four struts replaced with original Sachs parts, brembo discs all around with ceramic pads, sachs clutch kit, front Lemforder control arms & thrust arms with 750 bushings, Lemforeder pitman arms, braided brake lines all around, new rear brake hard lines, new valve cover gasket and some small interiors parts replaced as well... Always driving on Liqui Moly 5W-40 Synthoil & 94 octane gas..( I always baby my cars and try to use what's best ) Bought on October 2011 with 297xxxkms now on 32689xxkms - still strong!
Now on the list left is the gas tank that needs to be replaced, front right wheel bearing.. get new hand brake shoes and plates ( rusted the hell out on this roads ) and I'll start the work on the body slowly...
I want to restore the car to its initial state..I have plans for another heart eventually but that's for the future, for now restoration is the most important..
Question:
I presently have an coolant leak, which appears to be from the head gasket in the back of the engine above the transmission..I have no oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil...engine works flawlessly no check engine nothing...no white smoke. Is this common? I was thinking to look for another engine( considering my high mileage ), but here finding anything for this car is a pain in the ass, so I'm considering replacing the head gasket..now this engine has the single vanos and that's the part that scares me a little to do the work, since tearing everything apart and then being stuck with putting everything back together because of lack of "special" tools that might be required... Since I lack the time of searching around a lot and reading through dozens of pages, I'd really be thankful if some of you might guide me to a few links and put some personal inputs on this job! So far I've ordered the head gasket kit from BMA & the head bolts..what else will be needed for the job? special tools wise? I have most of the tools needed but are there any special ones required? Thanks in advance.
Ps: will put up some pictures soon..
Regards,
-Volk
My name is Egor, I'm originally Russian but its been almost 11 years since I moved to Canada..I live in Montreal, Quebec ( plan to move the **** outta here eventually though.. ). I'm 23, I love cars since I was a kid..Grand father was teaching me how to drive since I was 10, first car I drove was a Lada 2106 1990 - manual rwd still a great car today and its still alive!!! when I moved to Canada and had my license I had few cars before finally arriving to my childhood dream car the E34! Before I got into the BMW world, I had 3 Toyota tercel..3 civics and a Nissan maxima...always all manual, most of the time most of the work I do it by my self on the cars, have good experience in DIYs.. So I was shopping for a car almost year and half ago, was looking for another maxima - by accident I saw this e34 525 manual 95' for a decent price - decided to go take a look just for the sake of it, came, test drove it - FELL IN LOVE completely... bought it the next day although all my friends and family were saying no its a BMW, its old it has a lot of mileage bla bla bla, nevertheless I went with the heart and bought it. It had 297xxxkm's at the time of purchase, I had it inspected by a friend at his work shop and at the time of purchase it needed brakes/clutch..suspensions eventually and a **** load of little things ( normal considering its age and mileage ).. I never invested this much money and effort in none of my cars, but this baby has always had all my attention!
So far I have all four struts replaced with original Sachs parts, brembo discs all around with ceramic pads, sachs clutch kit, front Lemforder control arms & thrust arms with 750 bushings, Lemforeder pitman arms, braided brake lines all around, new rear brake hard lines, new valve cover gasket and some small interiors parts replaced as well... Always driving on Liqui Moly 5W-40 Synthoil & 94 octane gas..( I always baby my cars and try to use what's best ) Bought on October 2011 with 297xxxkms now on 32689xxkms - still strong!
Now on the list left is the gas tank that needs to be replaced, front right wheel bearing.. get new hand brake shoes and plates ( rusted the hell out on this roads ) and I'll start the work on the body slowly...
I want to restore the car to its initial state..I have plans for another heart eventually but that's for the future, for now restoration is the most important..
Question:
I presently have an coolant leak, which appears to be from the head gasket in the back of the engine above the transmission..I have no oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil...engine works flawlessly no check engine nothing...no white smoke. Is this common? I was thinking to look for another engine( considering my high mileage ), but here finding anything for this car is a pain in the ass, so I'm considering replacing the head gasket..now this engine has the single vanos and that's the part that scares me a little to do the work, since tearing everything apart and then being stuck with putting everything back together because of lack of "special" tools that might be required... Since I lack the time of searching around a lot and reading through dozens of pages, I'd really be thankful if some of you might guide me to a few links and put some personal inputs on this job! So far I've ordered the head gasket kit from BMA & the head bolts..what else will be needed for the job? special tools wise? I have most of the tools needed but are there any special ones required? Thanks in advance.
Ps: will put up some pictures soon..
Regards,
-Volk