History
It was an imported E34 520i Auto, that when I got it was an M20 2.5lt Manual and was hit hard in the rear and a write off, back when they were worth around $20,000, I bought it for $3000.Late '90's I think.
Being a Panel Beater I fixed it and owned it for 16 years!
Around 7 years ago I wanted more power and was looking at buying an M5 Engine to put in,or buying an E34 M5, but they were way too expensive, and I only on a Panel Beaters wage....so I went about buying a second hand E34 M30 engine, I then went about sourcing every part I needed to convert M20 to M30, where I ended up finding from all over the place,even USA, an E34 M5 Drive line throughout. (oh , I even purchased and installed an M5 interior along the line)
Great! Started first pop! and plus a noticeable power and torque increase! The only downside was that the G280 had a notchy 2nd gear from day 1, which no combination of fluids could help.
A year later I wanted more, and talked to a local business about Turbo-charging. The main problems being location of Charger,Tuning, and Compression.
They ended up doing a x-under pipe to locate Turbo, Rising Rate regulator and only running 5-6psi. It started with 130rwkw, and ended up with 180rwkw, but with near 600nm! and it felt like an extension of the normal engine.
During the next year I purchased an MLS Head gasket, Miller "Turbo Package" software kit and had a Head built by an absolute BMW guru in Sydney.
I installed the Head and MLS, and took to shop to tune the Miller, Whoa! what a PITA! No live tuning ability made it very hard, and support....hmmm.
It ended up with 220rwkw @ 12psi. Not too bad, but weren't really impressed.
Oh yeah, by now I had left Panel Beating behind, and had a much better paying job!!
You would be surprised where I use to drive this thing to work- mud, dirt, rain, massive pot-holes, kangaroos, emu's sheep and cattle.
The vacuum hose controlling boost rattled loose, I don't know when, all I knew was that sometimes it was like a firecracker! spinning the wheels well over 100kph! but then as meek as a mouse other times.
It ended up pushing through the MLS and pressurising the Cooling system, ahh no...! Warped head-pull apart!
It sat for well over a year, as I had a very bad health problem happen to me. Eventually I got it all back together, and I bought a more practical car to drive to work in, a Rodeo!
So, I decided to give it a "birthday" take it off the road and do everything properly, motor , body, steering , suspension, wheels, re-spray etc.
But on pulling it apart and having removed the steering x-member, it revealed a bent drivers side chassis rail! This explained a gap between bonnet and guard that I could never ever get quite right! It really annoyed me. Plus all the bumps from 1000's of km's on dirt roads, and oil leaks etc.
So, upon weighing up the options, it was time to put the old girl "to sleep", and I gave the shell away to a local Gumtree user.I couldn't sell it. It had been with me through a lot!!
Modifications
K-mac, M30B35 conversion, Alpina spec Head. Garrett Turbo. Decompression plate. Miller Chip and MAF. M5 gearbox to diff and shafts. M5 interior . 18's.
