M535i

my fav shape beemer,top ride ;D

Its hard to say. Their worth can vary a HUGE amount. A good condition M5 (the 3.5ltr 24valve model) will fetch a humongous amount. Good nick ones starting at about 7k up to as much as 10-12 thousand for one thats pristine low milage etc. The M535i are a different kettle of fish though. They have all the body kit trimmings as you can see on mine and are worth very little. I paid £1200 all in for an MOT'd taxed one (the red one) which until the truck was absolutly spot on, however the one I have been using the last week with the dog leg box is a 110k miler with a very sort after dog leg gear box, original metric wheels with good tyres and that was £250! with the one in my sig pic in the middle at 900 with 12 months MOT, air con, full leathers and blacked out windows.. however its a bit of a rot box! The general concensus is about 750+ for an avaerage one with a years MOT, but don't expect it to re-MOT 12 months later, if you want one that will hold out for about £1200+

If you know one going near by, and its a bit of a mess, would be worth snapping up if the owner will part with it for less than £250 and break the sod for parts. the 'M' parts are worth a few bob. A dash mount trip computer with all the wiring will fetch alot, one went for £230 one ebay yesterday. M535i struts, LSD, engine and gearbox (more so if its manual) will sell as they make a good swap into a 3 series. Also niceties like a glass moon roof make alot and a good set of seats will fetch a few bob!

Interesting, thanks for the response. Sounds like it would be financial suicide to get it restored then as it's not an M5, though probably a shame to break as it didn't look that bad. I'll try and have chat with the bloke one day, my mate knows him.

Another E28 owner! Welcome and love you cars, great to see them. Must be fun doing the German trip, I'm a big fan of the manual cars, the auto never quite cut it for me.
I've followed a very similar route through ownership over the last few years, keep us posted on progress. Which reminds me I must update my thread!

Here's the pic's of the one near me, M535i or just a bodykit?

PS I didn't know BMW also used Flame Red Pink

They aren't as bad as most people think to maintain. GSF keep all the parts for them and any bit you will ever need will be on ebay at some point during the week! As someone said, full restoration of one is essentially financial suicide, unless you love the car, hence why mine is having pretty much a restoration. Also, ABS problems usually just require a new set of sensors and a control unit which are not really that expensive second hand, but to be fair, you don't need the abs.

The main problem bits you will need to replace fairly often are (by this i mean every 3-4 years):
water pump and viscous coupling
center drag link - these old BM's don't have a steering rack, they have a steering box and a set of links to move the passenger side wheel as the box is on the right hand side
Tyres - may sound stupid but they EAT rear tyres and if it has the dreaded METRIC wheels its EXPENSIVE. The red one I have is on the original factory wheels - they are metric R390's.... £250 - £400 A TYRE!

As for the m535i that someone has found, thats the real deal, althought it has a crappy aftermarket single exit exhaust, should be a nice set of twin pipes all the way through. I just stripped the engine in my red one and OMG it is HUGE with the manifold off, i'll grab some pictures to show you in a bit, incredible beast. If you can get that one for a good price its still got all the nice bits like the headlight washers (looks to be missing the wiper arms) but if its got the motors and its got the chrome light rings with the wiper stops on it then they are worth a bit. ITs also got the upgrade 'shaddowline' rear lights which are worth a few bob too. I smashed one of mine putting my brothers suitcase in my car, it cost me £50 for a second hand passenger side one! however, if that car runs and is in one piece... get a bucket of hot water, wash the sucker, get a tool kit, strip the curse word then get a trailer and track the mother curse word! haha

the 528iSE... Why for spares?? whats wrong with the old girl, she look in pretty good nic and has the 5 stud pepper pots which i for some reason quite like! (AND A TOW BAR! - AWESOME!)

Great load of info there! Love it and couldn't agree more B'child.

When I had mine set-up on a rolling road, it made under standard power but I was informed by the operator, about the only one in about five rolling roads in the southwest I trust, that BMW engines very rarely if never make standard factory power figures. There's nothing wrong with them, they just don't. My old E28 528i was doing everything it should when it should and made 164bhp@ the flywheel, standard power figure is 184bhp.

So for a start, most M535i's will only be about 200bhp, BMW dyno tested engines without flywheels etc. As for power upgrades, it's down to the usual suspects, a good tubular manifold and induction kit (panel filter) will do wonders, but manifolds aren't cheap and nobody currently does one with matched length primaries off the shelf. Then a cam and some headwork, again all the usual tricks. The best thing you can do to an E28 is put it on a diet, masses of weight can be shed (the exhaust centre box could cripple a grown man) and then slap some nitrous on it. Just last weekend I saw a 3.5ltr 8valve motor in a stripped out E30, completely stock with the equivalent of 150bhp shot of nitrous and it was running low 12s.

As a cheap track car my 535i was great, binned the sound deadening and back seats, emptied the boot and sorted the suspension.

The trick here is to keep it cheap, the engines are strong and good, so bring the rest of the car up to spec. ;D