General Information
We all know I am a sucker for rare BMWs that are unloved and about to end up in the scrap yard. Well this one is no different. Here I present to you a 1999 BMW 528i touring with a manual transmission. This is 1 of only 740 that were ever brought to the States. And this one by far is/was on its last legs 
. I have no idea why I like to punish myself but I could not resist myself on this bad boy. Lets just say if you ignore the absolute disaster of the interior. Ignore the large amount of oil it leaks. And ignore the fact that this thing could barely run or drive down the road. I took my nephew with me to pick this up in Michigan. We met half way in New Buffalo. This should have been my first "warning" about this car. That the previous owner was willing to drive and meet me to get rid of this turd. . Well after waiting for him to arrive (An hour late) I can say the wait was not worth it LOL. The car was IMHO misrepresented completely. Went to go take for a test drive and it would not even idle properly. Was jumping between 500-1000 RPM im surprised it stayed running at all. Then trying to reverse this thing out of McDonalds parking lot was a painful experience. For some reason the owner prior to this owner thought it would be great to try and make this a drift car. So they decided to weld the differential. What a horrible experience. This thing could barely turn.Not only that the rear end (sounded like springs) was making a horrid noise of bumps. Literally sounded like the ear end of the car was falling over and things were rattling around. After the test drive I nearly walked away. I basically offered him to take this POS of his hands for free. OK I was not that bad but I can say I paid pretty much nothing for it. Now enough with all this typing here are some progress photos. ( I have had it only couple weeks). This thread will be long by the time I am done with it.
DriveTrain Work
As you can see the welded diff and the oil that probably had not been changed in decades.
Picked up used differential off ebay. Replaced Orings/Seals yada yad (This is my first experience replacing a differential LOL)
Suspension OverHaul and Brakes (Rear)
While I was dealing with the rear differential. I decided to basically replace everything else. All control arms all bushings you name it. There was nothing left holding the axle up . Also did breaks all around and one of the control arms up front. Everything else was pretty tight. But I do have full kit for the front as well.
Love this bushing kit I picked up off amazon. But I will tell you my shoulders hurt like a mofo after pushing these beotches out on both sides.
After Photos
Interior Work
Let me just say I was not looking forward to this. The interior looked like a fckn bear got at it. And was drug across a gravel road. Not to mention how nasty the carpet was.
Before
After Photos. Pulled everything out and gave it a good steam cleaning. I also picked up some used E38 sport seats and new console trim and shifter. I have a shifter boot coming as well. I also have steering wheel I have from another car i will swap.
Exterior Work
I have not done much here. This is going to be work in progress. I did clean it up a little and put some used M-parallel rims on it. But I have lots to address in the future.
Before
After
. I have no idea why I like to punish myself but I could not resist myself on this bad boy. Lets just say if you ignore the absolute disaster of the interior. Ignore the large amount of oil it leaks. And ignore the fact that this thing could barely run or drive down the road. I took my nephew with me to pick this up in Michigan. We met half way in New Buffalo. This should have been my first "warning" about this car. That the previous owner was willing to drive and meet me to get rid of this turd. . Well after waiting for him to arrive (An hour late) I can say the wait was not worth it LOL. The car was IMHO misrepresented completely. Went to go take for a test drive and it would not even idle properly. Was jumping between 500-1000 RPM im surprised it stayed running at all. Then trying to reverse this thing out of McDonalds parking lot was a painful experience. For some reason the owner prior to this owner thought it would be great to try and make this a drift car. So they decided to weld the differential. What a horrible experience. This thing could barely turn.Not only that the rear end (sounded like springs) was making a horrid noise of bumps. Literally sounded like the ear end of the car was falling over and things were rattling around. After the test drive I nearly walked away. I basically offered him to take this POS of his hands for free. OK I was not that bad but I can say I paid pretty much nothing for it. Now enough with all this typing here are some progress photos. ( I have had it only couple weeks). This thread will be long by the time I am done with it.DriveTrain Work
As you can see the welded diff and the oil that probably had not been changed in decades.
Picked up used differential off ebay. Replaced Orings/Seals yada yad (This is my first experience replacing a differential LOL)
Suspension OverHaul and Brakes (Rear)
While I was dealing with the rear differential. I decided to basically replace everything else. All control arms all bushings you name it. There was nothing left holding the axle up . Also did breaks all around and one of the control arms up front. Everything else was pretty tight. But I do have full kit for the front as well.
Love this bushing kit I picked up off amazon. But I will tell you my shoulders hurt like a mofo after pushing these beotches out on both sides.
After Photos
Interior Work
Let me just say I was not looking forward to this. The interior looked like a fckn bear got at it. And was drug across a gravel road. Not to mention how nasty the carpet was.
Before
After Photos. Pulled everything out and gave it a good steam cleaning. I also picked up some used E38 sport seats and new console trim and shifter. I have a shifter boot coming as well. I also have steering wheel I have from another car i will swap.
Exterior Work
I have not done much here. This is going to be work in progress. I did clean it up a little and put some used M-parallel rims on it. But I have lots to address in the future.
Before
After
