Found a nice '95 540i Sport for sale (US M540); few questions

[Kamil]

Hola,
So, by coincidence, I've found a guy selling his '95 535i Sport.
He seems to know his stuff, the car is red w/ tan interior, TS rims, sports seats, 6-spd, blah, blah.
70,000 miles.

The bad:
- original nikasil block; was "check by BMW dealer" and no problems were found, found to be in very good cond; how much should I worry about that?
- rear passanger side window not working
- headrests not moving (ha)
- original suspension; all bushings, shocks, etc, SLS in rear w/ EDC; I'm assuming all shocks/bushing will have to replaced; what's different here then my regular 535? (a lot I assume?)

The good:
- second owner
- no major accidnets
- BMW enthusiast 2nd owner (knows his stuff)
- $15,000 (negotiable)

Answers, HONEST opinions, thoughts... all is welcome :)

[Sweetwater]

Hola,
So, by coincidence, I've found a guy selling his '95 535i Sport.
He seems to know his stuff, the car is red w/ tan interior, TS rims, sports seats, 6-spd, blah, blah.
70,000 miles.

The bad:
- original nikasil block; was "check by BMW dealer" and no problems were found, found to be in very good cond; how much should I worry about that?
- rear passanger side window not working
- headrests not moving (ha)
- original suspension; all bushings, shocks, etc, SLS in rear w/ EDC; I'm assuming all shocks/bushing will have to replaced; what's different here then my regular 535? (a lot I assume?)

The good:
- second owner
- no major accidnets
- BMW enthusiast 2nd owner (knows his stuff)
- $15,000 (negotiable)

Answers, HONEST opinions, thoughts... all is welcome :)

Opinion: Price is about $2-3000 high for my area. Nikasil will depend on your gasoline supply (needs low sulfur) and what you intend to get out of it. If you want the "guaranteed" 200 K miles, it probably won't, if you want a daily driver and drive low miles (like me) to enjoy and for safety issues, it probably will do what you want. Suspension is dependent on how enthusiastically you want to drive also. IMHO.

[Kamil]

Opinion: Price is about $2-3000 high for my area. Nikasil will depend on your gasoline supply (needs low sulfur) and what you intend to get out of it. If you want the "guaranteed" 200 K miles, it probably won't, if you want a daily driver and drive low miles (like me) to enjoy and for safety issues, it probably will do what you want. Suspension is dependent on how enthusiastically you want to drive also. IMHO.

Great! :)
Yes, I would like to drive w/o worring about the mileage, but I would just have a short commute to work (10 miles each way).

Suspension - well, I would imagine to leave the factory springs in a get Koni red (adj) and replace any worn bushing w/ polyutherine. The factory M springs and sway bars would work for me... and an equivelant of that in the rear. Think of it as slightly upgraded factory suspension.

My sentiment on the price was the same, the car has no shadowline and no LSD. :(

[Cab325i/540i]

Great! :)
Yes, I would like to drive w/o worring about the mileage, but I would just have a short commute to work (10 miles each way).

Suspension - well, I would imagine to leave the factory springs in a get Koni red (adj) and replace any worn bushing w/ polyutherine. The factory M springs and sway bars would work for me... and an equivelant of that in the rear. Think of it as slightly upgraded factory suspension.

My sentiment on the price was the same, the car has no shadowline and no LSD. :(

The 540i Sport didn't come with LSD?!? I figured that would be an essential part of the Sport package.

[Kamil]

The 540i Sport didn't come with LSD?!? I figured that would be an essential part of the Sport package.

Option.

Everyone is telling me to stay away from this car. :|

[632 Regal]

and then the car wouldnt be worth more than say 11-12K

[Cab325i/540i]

Option.

Everyone is telling me to stay away from this car. :|

Hmm. I always assumed that a sport package or 's' designation had an LSD. I wouldn't necessarily stay away, but I would be worried about the Nikasil problem. I just bought a 540i that has the Alusil replacement, and I had thought that BMW replaced all Nikasil engines. I guess that's not the case. I'm not all that well-informed on E34s yet. :)

[Craig]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Nikasil, if it hasn't happened by now it *likely* won't any time soon. Check Roadfly and search for "nikasil" and there are some good discussions on there about it. I'd buy a 70K Nikasil car without any worries (after getting a leakdown test done of course).

The price is high for my area (PacNW) but not outrageous. With the busted window and all the other minor stuff I'd offer $13K and see what he says.

[DrewZ]

$15k isn't a bad price if it really has the sport package (EDC suspension, M-tech sway bars, M5 brakes, side skirts, M-tech front spoiler, sport mirrors, ///M door sills . . .) If the struts/shocks are worn, you'd either need to replace the whole suspension with a conventional setup, or spring for the $4k (yes, $4k) just for the struts/shocks. LSD was optional -- even on the Sport pkg. The good news is that you can easily source a 3.15 LSD from an E32 750iL to upgrade from the stock 2.93 open diff.

Drew Zacharda
6-speed Touring
http://members.aol.com/apzjd/newavatar.jpg (http://www.bmwe34.net/ASP/DURegistry/RegDetail.asp?id=100)

Great! :)
Yes, I would like to drive w/o worring about the mileage, but I would just have a short commute to work (10 miles each way).

Suspension - well, I would imagine to leave the factory springs in a get Koni red (adj) and replace any worn bushing w/ polyutherine. The factory M springs and sway bars would work for me... and an equivelant of that in the rear. Think of it as slightly upgraded factory suspension.

My sentiment on the price was the same, the car has no shadowline and no LSD. :(

[Kamil]

$15k isn't a bad price if it really has the sport package (EDC suspension, M-tech sway bars, M5 brakes, side skirts, M-tech front spoiler, sport mirrors, ///M door sills . . .)


Yea, that's what I was thinking, it looks like this but red:
http://www.kindel.com/bmw/540i%20Sport.jpg
http://www.kindel.com/bmw/album/.%5CCharlie's%20'95%20540i%20Sport/Image_018.jpg



If the struts/shocks are worn, you'd either need to replace the whole suspension with a conventional setup, or spring for the $4k (yes, $4k) just for the struts/shocks. LSD was optional -- even on the Sport pkg. The good news is that you can easily source a 3.15 LSD from an E32 750iL to upgrade from the stock 2.93 open diff.


Can't reuse the springs?

I'll check it out tomorrow, but a lot of people I've talked to pushed me away from it cuz if the engine.
Heh... very possible that the owner of the car is a member here. :)

[DueyT]

Kamil, I think we're pretty sure who most of the 540i Sport owners are...and this one doesn't sound like a board member.

The thing that makes the shocks so expensive is that they are special, active Electroni Damping Control units...quite sophisticated...more so than standard 1995 E34 running gear. The other suspension components (thrust arms, links, etc...) would need refreshing as well, but that would be true of any E34 in the 90k-120k mi range.

Re: the Nikasil engine...Jeff (632 Regal) and I will tell you that if the engine's tight now (leakdown check, not compression test, all cyls must be less than 15% - which is a fair bit...mine tested at 7%'s) that you are probably OK at this point so long as you feed it KNOWN low-sulphur gas...don't just trust the pimply-faced pump jockey, "Oh it's OK Mister...all our gas is low sulphur!" -- as Dr. Evil says....."R i i i i i i ght!" Make sure the vendor is a known produced that either posts, or makes available the refinery and supply standards for sulphur in the gas.

Other than that, 540i Sports and Canadian M540i's are pretty nice cars.

You might ask David Chen on the board here, what some of the 540i Sport/M540i gotcha's are, he has a nice blue M540i last time I checked.

Cheers,
Duey

[632 Regal]

Always use the highest octane available, premium is supposed to be refined to a higher standard than the lower grades. Here in Michigan they do not post refinery information and most name brand stations get deliveries by generic tankers.

[Elekta]

MattP redid the EDC on his 95M5T. You could search his posts. I think he listed some of the pain he shelled out recently, and get an idea what suspension prices are.

[Kamil]

MattP redid the EDC on his 95M5T. You could search his posts. I think he listed some of the pain he shelled out recently, and get an idea what suspension prices are.

I've called Maximiallan; $800-$1000 per corner.
If I want to change to regular springs and shocks I would need all new bearings and bushings, etc...
Called another place in MA for possible motor replacement, $5000-$6000.

I called the owner and told him that I will not look at the car.
In addition to being red (which I don't like), it did not have LSD (which I would want), had a wing (which I hate) and did not have shadowline trim (which I want), and did not have heated seats (which I like and which my 535 has) and no CD player (again, which my 535 has, and would prolly change right over).

Oh well... lot's more cars out there. :)

[632 Regal]

sounds like you were waiting for something to tell you absolutely NO.

Next...

[Matt P]

It was about $3000 for the main parts from BMA and another $800 or so in labors.

call it $4000 when all is done.

[632 Regal]

but he wasnt really interested from the first post, ya know?