Prospective BMW Buyer

[racer84]

Hey guys, new to the site. I'm a big wannabe BMW fan, that is I've always admired them but never had too much to do with em. Currently have nightmares/dreams about the new M3 after seeing it at a track day a few weeks back!! Looking for some advice on a particular car as I'm struggling to find info on the net.

Firstly, I'm a mechanic from Melb, Aus. I'm pretty active in one of the car clubs down here, do a lot of competing in mine and my old mans race car of a certain brand that you guys probably dont want mentioned on here haha

Ok, I've fallen in love with an E28 (i think) 528i M spec.

What I know about the car:
It has a (so I'm led to believe) rare 3.54 LSD
Recaro seats
BMW Mags
Car is unmolested, has the original mags and exhaust, very standard
Has a possible busted valve guide
A tiny bit of damage to the RF guard and front bumber, looks like a 4WD has backed into it.
From what tiny bit of info i've found on the web regarding the 'm spec', I think they may have gotten the m badge after having had a tiny play at the local bmw (frank gardener owned/jps sponsored) race team in Australia at the time..........does this sound right anyone?


The questions I have are these:

I've been told this is the predecessor to the first M5. Is this correct?

How does the M spec differ from the normal 528i?

Any problems I have to look out for that are common with this model?

Any general info on the specs ie power, weight etc

I plan for this to be a bit of a toy, weekend cruiser and if it doesnt go too bad maybe do a few hill climbs in it. Please help me guys!!! I'm going to look at this car tomorrow night, so advice ASAP would be great haha

Cheers guys, thanks in advance!

 

[E30m42cab]

Predicessor to the first M5?... well it's built on the same chassis as the first M5, but it's not really the predicessor.
The M badge they stuck on there is probably just that, stuck on there. I don't think it means a thing.
Problems... well, it's an old car, so everything that's made of rubber will be tired. Hoses, belts, brake lines, bushings... but it's a timing chain, so no worries about that.
Power... about 180bhp... which if you want something for a hillclimb, will probably not make you happy... you'd want an M5 if you can find one, or an E30 M3 /325i

 

[racer84]

Yeah cheers mate. I've found a bit more info, and I think it was a local thing done by the australian factory BMW team of the time. Unfortunatly the budget dosnt allow for an M5/M3. Too many toys using up the cash flow already!

 

[Big Daddy]

The E28 was the 2nd generation five series, and the generation that produced the "first genuine M5", according to The Complete Book of BMW. And yes the 520i, 525i, 528i, M535i (not a true M car) and the M5 all shared the same chassis. The M535i if anything was the predecessor to the first M5, but it was not built by BMW Motorsport GmbH instead it used the standard 218bhp, 12 valve engine and suspension but added lightweight alloy wheels, front and rear spoilers and M-style interior touches like the three-spoke steering wheel. The E28 M5 had 286 bhp.

 

[racer84]

I found a pretty heated discussion on another bmw forum site about this particular car which I believe confirmed a few things in my mind. It's obviously not a car built by the 'm division', I figured that one out pretty quickly. It has been fiddled with by the JPS team I mentioned earlier.

Big daddy, this particular car I'm looking at has got the 3 spoke steering wheel, and recaro seats. Are the seats M5, or just a marketing point?

It's the closest I'll get to owning an M car for the next 10 years or so, as there seems to be a pretty big lack of older M cars in Oz. Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Big Daddy]

Yes some early M cars used Recaro's so it could possibily have had some cosmetic M items installed, I highly doubt it came from BMW with them.

 

[racer84]

Ok I got the full story on this particular model today when I went to inspect the car. They were just standard 528i's imported to aus. From there they went to the JPS race team in Sydney where they had the rear spoiler, LSD, recaro seats, steering wheel, m-gear knob and badging, and some stripes down the side, plus bilstein dampers and uprated springs. Plus they did some minor head work to them and had a slightly different exhaust, so I'm lead to beleive.

Apparently, they were also quicker than the M538's and first M5's because the later cars were made for unleaded fuel and therefore had a lower compression ratio. I'm not 100% on this last fact, but it does sound reasonable.

Anyway, I didn't buy the car because it was a flogged out, bucket of a thing that had nearly done 500,000km!!!!! Shame, because I would have loved to fix her up. Ah well, I'll keep dreaming............