Keep stock? 535is questions

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
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gwb72tii
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Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by gwb72tii »

So I am the proud new owner of a 1988 Zinnoberrot 535is over what I think is a pearl beige interior.
The car needs lots of help and my plan is to disassemble and restore the car. The interior needs to be re-done and I prefer lighter interiors as I live in the great Pacific northwest and it's plenty dark up here during the winter months. The original power sport seats that came with the car are long gone, and the PO installed e30 sport seats.
What I'm thinking of doing is buying new Recaros in their tan leather and then matching the rear seats to the fronts, but this would result in an off BMW tan color.

Given that the 535is is getting harder to find and 535is' are escalating in price, how important is it to keep the car original? Should I care?
Cactus
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by Cactus »

If you already don't have the stock seats, I wouldn't feel bad changing them to whatever strikes your fancy.
1st 5er
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by 1st 5er »

If you plan on a high dollar flip, OE is best.
If your plan is long term ownership,
"whatever turns your crank" will work.
wkohler
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by wkohler »

Oh, I guess I do know that car. With well over 300k miles on it, it doesn't matter what you do with it. Do what you want for you. Several people will tell you not to waste your money on a Metric Mechanic motor but if thats what you have your heart set on go for it. At the end of the day if whatever you do is done well, someone might want it. Of course you could totally half-ass everything and rattle-can your way into a $30k car like some people but it wouldn't be a fun car to own.
Shawn D.
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Beamter
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by Shawn D. »

Make your car appropriate to your needs/wants, not the next owner's needs/wants.

Unless you're making irreversible or edge-case mods, you won't be obliterating value anyhow.
Foonfer
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by Foonfer »

It takes some luck (or patience, or both) to find E28 sports seats in reasonable shape, and likely you'll have to recover/re-pad them, etc. All in all, that's not going to be inexpensive (or quick).

Knowing that you want to do some work to the seats either way, I'd go for a pair of new, manual Recaros. Lighter, comfort is assured, no motors to wear off/break down, and, well, "Recaro" is never a bad word if or when trying to sell.

just my two red pennies...
Mike W.
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by Mike W. »

While it may be changing a bit as BMWs become more collectable, in general, "good" upgrades don't detract from value and often enhance it. A euro 3.5 with a 5 speed may not be stock, but in place of a 182HP B34 engine and auto it surely would not hurt it. Similarly it's hard to think of Recaros as hurting the value. BMWs so far are not in the numbers matching category where originality trumps all. Maybe a 2002tii or an E30 M3, but not a 535is. At worst, not dramatically. If you were talking color shifting paint and undercarriage lighting, yeah, that's not going to do the value any good. But it doesn't sound like that's where you're going.

It comes down to this, is the car an investment for the future or for you to enjoy now? I'd go with the latter in a heartbeat.
Galahad
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by Galahad »

I largely agree with what everyone else has said - it's your car, do what you want; and what you're proposing won't meaningfully hurt the value anyway. I do all kinds of nonsense to my car because it's for me now, not someone else who might exist in the future. I do, however, have one major disagreement:
Mike W. wrote: Oct 15, 2021 1:13 AM ... If you were talking color shifting paint ...
While I admit it would hurt the value to most buyers, I think color shifting paint would be really cool. I also thought that e12 with a purple interior looked good so we know my aesthetic tastes are questionable at best.
gwb72tii
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by gwb72tii »

Foonfer wrote: Oct 14, 2021 9:02 PM It takes some luck (or patience, or both) to find E28 sports seats in reasonable shape, and likely you'll have to recover/re-pad them, etc. All in all, that's not going to be inexpensive (or quick).

Knowing that you want to do some work to the seats either way, I'd go for a pair of new, manual Recaros. Lighter, comfort is assured, no motors to wear off/break down, and, well, "Recaro" is never a bad word if or when trying to sell.

just my two red pennies...
If I can't find sport seats, this is the way I'll go in their tan leather. Then try to match the rear seat to the Recaro's. That being said I would prefer to use the stock sport seats if if the cost is a bit more.
Last edited by gwb72tii on Oct 15, 2021 12:28 PM, edited 1 time in total.
gwb72tii
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by gwb72tii »

Mike W. wrote: Oct 15, 2021 1:13 AM While it may be changing a bit as BMWs become more collectable, in general, "good" upgrades don't detract from value and often enhance it. A euro 3.5 with a 5 speed may not be stock, but in place of a 182HP B34 engine and auto it surely would not hurt it. Similarly it's hard to think of Recaros as hurting the value. BMWs so far are not in the numbers matching category where originality trumps all. Maybe a 2002tii or an E30 M3, but not a 535is. At worst, not dramatically. If you were talking color shifting paint and undercarriage lighting, yeah, that's not going to do the value any good. But it doesn't sound like that's where you're going.

It comes down to this, is the car an investment for the future or for you to enjoy now? I'd go with the latter in a heartbeat.
I also own a 1972 tii and like you say numbers matching matters.
Where I'm going with the 535is is to restore it to basically new, metric mechanic motor, either HR suspension or Eibach or...., then drive the heck out of it. It will be my DD in place of an Audi A5 Sportback I drive now. I think my out of pocket is going to be somewhere close to $27k, and I wind up with a new 535is.
And I'm not sure why there is as much negative about metric mechanic as there is on this board. They now publish numbers for their motors and the upgraded motor is about 285hp. My conversations with those that have their motors has been uniformly positive.
Mike W.
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by Mike W. »

gwb72tii wrote: Oct 15, 2021 12:26 PM
And I'm not sure why there is as much negative about metric mechanic as there is on this board. They now publish numbers for their motors and the upgraded motor is about 285hp. My conversations with those that have their motors has been uniformly positive.
No personal experience with them.

I think the problem isn't that they don't publish numbers, it's the lack of dyno sheets. Plus they're claiming a whole bunch more than Alpina and Hartge did back in the day when they were king. Which seems unlikely.
gwb72tii
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Re: Keep stock? 535is questions

Post by gwb72tii »

I just want to say thanks to those that respond to my posts.
I owned and sold a 1983 528e a long time ago, but I am completely new to the 535is, so any help is much appreciated.
I've owned a whole slew of different BMW's since 1975 and wrenched on all of them except the e92 I owned and sold.
I'm pretty excited about this project as I usually have some sort of car project going but haven't for the last 5 years due to family issues with aging parents. I'll try to document and post everything I do to the car since it will be pretty much a complete tear down and rebuild, including bodywork/repaint and interior work and restoration.
This car lived in AZ and is free of rust but everything plastic/rubber will need help.
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