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Project: My AC Schnitzer E34 Touring

73K views 120 replies 34 participants last post by  Onizukachan 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey guys

Check out my new touring i just picked up. I have found the need for a touring in my life after seeing countless modden E30 wagons. However i hate the design of the rear tailgate with its silly T shape and fixed taillights. After seeing an E34 Touring parked one day, i knew i had to have one and the search began.

3 weeks later, i had this in my driveway.






1993 BMW 520i Touring
Chassis done an amazing 16x,xxx miles, i cant believe it from the condtion
M52B20 Engine transplant done just over 60,000kilometers (Ex crashed E36)
Automatic, no plans to manual convert, you cant beat an auto for a cruiser
Lowered around 30mm (looks to me like more) on Vogtland springs, ride very nice
Has the split bootlid (glass can open seperately to tailgate) which is apparently rare
Authentic AC Schnitzer 17" Rims

Being 2L Auto, it likes to be driven slow, which is great for a daily and a cruiser, and also because im on 95 Demerits till July next year.

I know everyone says it, but they lie in comparison: Pictures do not do this car justice. I can quite honestly say, and not claiming, this is one of the most well looked after 10 year old + car. The paint was almost flawless when i picked it up except for a half dozen stone chips here and there. On the way back to wellington, a few more resulting from an a**hole truck driver failing to slow down for new seal and a lack of sign to warn me to drop back gave the front a few more and a chip in the windscreen. I will be getting all this replaced under insurance, ill just give it a month, i feel bad making a claim after taking out insurance the day before haha. When i went there, i was expecting this pile of crap to sit before me for the price i paid.

Enjoy :D i know i will!!
 
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#40 · (Edited)
The wheels in the photos above are genuine AC Schnitzer Type 2 wheels which are 17x8.5 and have Bridgestone Potzenza RE001s on there. I have since put 25mm spacers on the back and 15mm spacers on the front which bring the offsets a lot lower to near zero (i cant remember the number exactly) on the back and a bit higher on the front so turning isnt affected too much. Also am putting together a set of race wheels too but i havent found a suitable set of lightweight alloy rims that still look respectable. they will have Yokoham advan semislicks which ive already purchased
 
#41 ·
So its all booked in for certification for the third time next week Wednesday the 4th. will be the 4th or 5th time its been booked iirc, but its only sat it once prior. kept haveing hiccups showing themselves a day before the booking so had to be canceled.

wish the car luck it all holds together and can get through!
 
#44 ·
Gah, certification is hard to get right!

passed cert for the engine and driveline etc part so thats great news! however now they want beefier suspension in the front as the spring rates are too low. It is currently on 525i Vogtland springs. So looking at either 540i springs which have a higher spring rate, or just go to coilovers, and once fitted it will pass!
 
#46 ·
its not the 6 monthly warrent that they have here as well. certification basically means that the car has to be up to brand new car standards (except traction control/ and frontal impact restrictions etc) before it can be put on the road. its as though the car is registered for the first time. I wont have to ever do this again

This cert process was what cracked me on my M52 E30, it just needed to much work in places other than the engine that it failed
 
#47 ·
I took the time to look through your M52 E30 build thread a few days ago, all of it. VERY impressive :thumbup:
 
#50 ·
ohhh anyone that knows the way i carry on on the forum already knows its a BMW engine, or at least based on one :p:thumbup:

Re coilovers, between my house, my part time business and the pub, spare change can be hard to find for unexcpected larger expences and obviously i want the car finished ASAP now as its only the coilovers holding it up, so I sold my MercedesBenz that i brought as a do-up project earlier than i wanted to and ihadnt finished fixing her up, and as such didnt get a good price for it, made money yes, but around $1000-1500 less than ii could have if id had a month to finish and sell rather than a week.

Long story short however... I brought coilovers three days ago, they are on thier way from the USA as we speak, and should be here on monday. They then need to go to the Auto Engineering outfit along with my current struts to be welded on, and then the car can go back for cert and pass finally!

I went with XYZ Coilovers. I researched BC Golds which had mixed reviews, whereas the XYZs had nothing but praise, and werent too much more. I assume you guys know already they are far better than what thier unimpressive name suggests. I was going to go with Ground Controls, but as they are pretty much unheard of in NZ, so chancing getting them through certification was a risk i wasnt prepared to take.
 
#52 ·
thanks! will be a bit lower than these photos, but the picture in my head of what it will look like will not be along the slamed lines, i dont like super low down cars, too bumpey etc, and this is being done like a crusier that can bruise, not the other way around
 
#53 ·
photodrop





you saw it unveiled here first! M70B50 engine which is a 5L V12 found in the BMW E31 850CSi and E32 750iL

been a long slow process but nearly at the end of the road! only a few minor things to go! Will have more better photos later on when the car is proven reliable and can take to a photo shoot etc.
 
#60 ·
No it is automatic, and will probably always say that way, but theres method to the madness. even if manual was no extra cost (which it isn't, it would add another $4k to the build landed in NZ), it would still be auto. this car is my cruiser, and we all know auto is better for that. with the torque the V12 produces, it will still get sideways if i wanted it too, though that isnt really my bag.
 
#63 ·
whelp. you've done it. You have created my absolute dream e34, and im not just saying that because it's so B.A. If you care to search through my 2,000 posts you'll find more than 1 that mention wanting a calypso M70 touring.

Enjoy it enough for all of us
 
#66 ·
Wow, awesome project, will definitely be awesome to drive! I have one question though, why did you choose an m70 rather than m60? I know next to nothing about either engine, but i have gotten the impression that the m70 isn't very much fun to maintain, I can't imagine it is easy to work on and the performance gains aren't huge over the m60. I don't mean to come across pessimistic or sound like I am knocking what you have done, was just curious if I was missing something. (after all who am I to knock you car building!?)
Once again this does look awesome, I look forward to more pictures! (It seems as though I always am, haha)
 
#67 ·
Thats a good question, and a lot of people ask that. The choice not to go M60 is a simple one, if i wanted that, id just buy a 540iT and swap the goodies over and call it a day.

As for any other engine, i considered the euro S50B32 (with the ITBs) and the S38B32. these would have all costed around the same to do i expect which has a better power to weight ratio than the M70, and far more tunable and easier to work on. But theres just something about the way a V12 sounds, and that was what made up my mind that the M70 was the route i wanted to take. If the car was built as a racecar, then yes an S50B32 no questions asked, but its not. As the car was M50 engined from factory, the S50 would have more or less bolted in and an adaptor for the engine could have been made and done, but didnt want that. The S38 are getting pretty rare to find, and are old enough now that an engine from a performance car like the E34 M5 would have been flogged and in need of rebuild, as well as needing new driveshafts and gearbox and all the rest of it, so moot in respect of may as well go for the "cooler" engine. as it turned out, a rebuilt S38/M88 came available about two or three months into this swap but the donor 750iL had already been purchased and job entered unto etc. had it been earlier, that is the engine that possibly would have gone into the car, but happy with the result overall once its fully legit!
 
#71 ·
Yeah like I said I wanted a V12 powered E34 touring. Your car made me want a wagon even more. And now that you did the swap, It's like your just screwing with me lol, Congrats It's a gprgous car. Suprised with the automatic, bit bimmer makes a goles slushbox.
 
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