1989 BMW 535i MANUAL - SOLD

[nick301]

I have my very clean and tidy BMW E34 535i for sale. 12 months MOT and 6 Months TAX, genuine factory manual with good clutch, and been fitted with a limited slip diff (LSD) from a sport model.

Very clean and tidy for its age, with only one small spot of rust on the passenger rear wheel arch, but sills, floor pan ect are mint.

Stitting on lowered suspension it looks very smart and classy. Also has scorpion stainless exhaust system with twin tail pipes. Looks and sounds great.

154,000 miles, but lots of service history, and no expence spared when its needed things. MP3 CD player and uprated speakers, but they are in the original locations so nothing has been cut about. Very clean inside and out.

Only a few small issues:
The instrument cluster sometimes plays up and gives wierd readings, and it also seems to drain the battery if left for a few days. Its ok if you remove the fuses for the cluster though, so think it needs a new set or possibly some re-soldering. Common problem with these cars.
NOW HAVE A REPLACEMENT CLUSTER ON ORDER

Seems to take longer to start from warm than it should, and also is lumpy on cold idle. Ive been told the car has an early form of ECU chip, but I don't have any proof, but that could be a side effect of the chip giving wrong fuel mixtures at times. The car drives fine, loads of smooth power and torque. No misfires, flat spots or anything and has never ran hot.

Could do with tracking fine tuning as it had a track rod end for the MOT and seems to track to the right slightly.

But all in all, its a clean and honest retro BMW that turns heads for the right reasons.

Has agreed insurance valuation of £2000.

Any more info, message on here or call 07795214440.

FOR SALE AT £800 on standard 15 inch wheels

More pics can be seen here:
s146.photobucket.com/albums/r257/IMPACT_photos/BMW%20535i/?albumview=slideshow




PLEASE NOTE, IT COMES ON STANDARD WHEELS NOW

[nick301]

Heres the link to the Pistonheads advert. Got lots more info on there.

www.pistonheads.com/sales/3322291.htm

I'm in the process of trying to find a replacement instrument cluster for it. I have tried to use one from a V8, but the rev counter read differently. (I thought it might, but was worth a try!)

Would knock off the £250 without the wheels, but I don't have another set with decent tyres.

[nick301]

Bump....had someone look at this over the weekend, and it seems the wheels are replica M5 wheels, not genuine M5 ones. So he back out of the sale as he wanted M5 wheels on another car and was going to drift this.

The wheels are still in very good condition though, and still set off the car nicely, but they are replica ones, not the real thing.

I should also mention, the car is a 535i SE (I think that is why its got leather seats, as the last one I had was just an 'I' and it had cloth seats.) The LSD has been taken from a sport model.

[rustempire]

That's a beauty.

I'm now on my second 535 I sport - both mecahanically standard and neither as tidy as your car.

The first one did the battery drain thing.
Both of them have a lumpy idle.
The LSD makes them good fun.

I can vouch for these cars they are completely awesome, and your price is very fair.

It would be a shame to see such a clean car drifted, any would be drifter should buy my shoddy looking 535 and I'll have this, lol.

Good luck with the sale.

Rob

[nick301]

Thanks, yeah I think its too clean to just use for drifting too really. Ive got a 530 V8 one that I use as a drift car, but thats just a scrap MOT failure, so Ive never used this one to drift at all.

I'm only selling as I got offered a friends Mitsibishi GTO thats been his pride and joy and I cant afford to keep both.

I'm still using this so the mileage will go up very slightly but not by much at all.

Ive also just got a set of standard wheels, so theres an option to have it cheaper on standard 15 inch wheels instead of the 18's.

[nick301]

I now have a set of standard wheels on it, had them balanced and it drives much better, so I think the 18 inch wheels were out of balance too.

I'm in the process of getting hold of another instrument cluster and OBC so hopefully that will cure the battery drain. Only other thing I should say is a slight clonk when you lift off and floor it again, been told theres play in the prop bearing but it dosnt affect performance and it is nearly a 22 year old car after all. I'm also looking into getting a spare prop and good bearing for it. Just like to be as honest as I can, but I don't think there are too many manual 535's with LSDs in this condition around.

Lowest price I will go as she stands is £800 on standard wheels, or £1000 on the 18's. Its still got pretty much £100 worth of tax and had £100 worth of parts for the MOT.

Heres a pic on the standard wheels:

[nick301]

BUMP...

The car is only for sale now on the standard 15 inch wheels, and I have a replacement instrument cluster on order for it.

£800 is the lowest I will go for it, but for a 200+ bhp car with LSD and solid body, its a good buy for someone.

[bcdubspares]

Ohhhh, i want this so bad, i've had a few E28's and always really fancied a E34 535 manual. I have no spare cash right at this moment though which i'm gutted about. All i can offer is a deal on a 51 plate Seat Ibiza 1.4 that i've just got in if you're interested?

[nick301]

Sorry, Ive got too many cars as it is so have no use for a p/ex. Only thing I'd p/ex it with is a tuned Pinto engine for a Sierra project Ive got on the go.

[karlos01]

if you have a working v8 cluster and the rev counter reads wrong, cant you swap the rev counters over?

[nick301]

Possibly yeah, but I'm waiting for a cluster from another 535 to be delivered. I went out in it last night and the cluster was all over the place, all the mileage & service bit was flickering, had random beeps going off, the fuel & temp gauage both read nil, and the mpg neadle stopped working so its definately knackered!

The replacement cluster is from an auto 535 but same engine so hoping it will read properly.

Will update when it arrives and Ive fitted it.

[bcdubspares]

No worries, hopefully if business is good towards the end of the month and you still have it i'll be in touch for sure.

Thanks Martyn

[nick301]

BUMP....Ive been using the car regularly and its running fine, its a much more comfortable ride on 15 inch wheels with 60 profile tyres. It will get 22-25mpg (obviosly depends how you drive it) and I'm 26 and it costs £200 a year to insure. Thats including the agreed valuation.

Its cheaper, more powerful, more reliable and more solid that most similar age Nissans & Sierras, so its a great road car thats ready to drift if thats your thing.

Or a comfortable cruiser thats powerful and makes a great noise thanks to the 6 cylinder engine and sports exhaust.

[duncanmartin]

That's awesome. GLWS.

[nick301]

Bump....I'm taking her to a Norfolk Arena Drift day on Saturday if anyone wants to view it. I do plan on taking it for a couple of runs round the drift track to see how it performs (should go well) but I wont be using it all day. Obviosly will be using different rear wheels / tyres on the back!

Ive got the replacement instrument cluster fitted (made a note of the mileage change) and so far it seems to work better.

[nick301]

Took this to the Kings Lynn drift day at the weekend. Only issue was a serious lack of front end grip thanks to curse word front tyres, but appart from that she performed brilliantly. (the road tyres are 205/65/15 - so too narrow and tall and a wierd make so were useless on the track) I didnt want to risk damaging the fronts as they are fine for road tyres, so put my spare set of drift wheels on the front, which are wider and lower profile, but bald, so was about the same! Once I overcome the understeer and got it sideways it was easy to hold it there, the LSD locked fine and span both wheels no probs. Ran perfectly engine wise, never ran hot or anything, clutch, PAS ect all fine. Did a 70 mile drive the day after and still runs fine.

The only slight bad news is the new instrument cluster hasnt cured the battery drain, but its a common thing on old E34's. But its fine if you remove the fueses for the instruments and OBC, so it must be something else on the same circuit. Or you could just put a battery isolator switch on it.

But for £800 its a ready to drift, clean, smart BMW that is reliable. MOT is til end of September next year, and TAX is til end of March. Here are a couple of action shots. I only did 3 runs so it wasnt thrashed all day, but heres proof that it is a capable drift car:




Another pic of the car as it stands on the standard wheels. Now only for sale on these:

[tim15888]

Not read the whole thing but just in case you havn't fixed it already, the batt drain could be the ignition switch behind the ignition barrel. They can cause all kind of faults on BMWs when they go

[nick301]

Thanks for that, will check it out. Ive just been removing the fuses for the instruments and its been fine.

The poor hot start is also a common problem on 535's so Ive been told, but its never failed to start so Ive just lived with holding abit of throttle as you turn the key and its fine.

Dosnt use any oil / water ect, got loads of power and is reliable.

Ive got a big folder of service history, and the certificate for the cat 1 immobilizer.

The MP3 CD player is currently only powering the fronts (upgraded to high power 6x4s in the door and using original dash tweeters), but the rears have been upgraded to 6x9s in the original locations and all the wiring for them is still there so it just needs an amp to power the rears again.

Plenty more pics on the link in the first post, but its now only for sale on the standard 15 inch wheels. They all have good tred, as does the spare.

[langers]

realy want an e34, if only i wasnt poor lol!! just out of interest whats it like on fuel?? GLWTS mate

[nick301]

22-25mpg average. Can get more on a run cruising at 60 ish, but for me its been averaging out at 22-25 depending how hard you drive it.

It does keep up with much more modern cars performance wise though.