I have a veritable 535i 5 speed that has been a superb car, but is showing its age. I am planning to begin a restoration. I would like opinions about where and how to do this. I checked with Korman in Greensboro, NC - they look like the best, but won't give you any idea of what to expect until you travel all the way to NC. The superb restoration on their website (http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/) cost someone about $30K. I would agree with the e28 website - it is great! Macht schnell! Kurt
I looked into some pics they have on their site and I saw an E28 that was destroyed from the rear and the rest of the car looked really bad. It was an E28; search the pics. I'm sure yours is in better condition and wouldn't cost as much as that car did, but it turned out to be fantastic!
This is fine as long as you are aware that you will never, ever get your money back out of it. Even the best and most desirable E28s don't go for much over $20K, and a plain 535i is not one of them. It might bring $10K in perfect restored condition. So if you plan to spend $15K and sell it, plan on losing $5K. If you want to just drive it, then the cost-benefit equation matters only to you.
What part of the country are you in? There are a number of good restoration shops around that specialize in BMW's, there may be something closer to you than Korman. A buddy of mine just had Coupe King in California restore his 2002 and it's stunning! Like CRKrieger said though, you will definitely put more into it than the car is worth (speaking as an owner of a restored 2002 myself...) so as long as you're just doing it for you, it'll be worth it!
I cannot recommend Korman. They used to be incredible, but I have worked on a couple of their "restorations." Our customer had over $25k in his 2002tii with a stock engine rebuild and an "injection rebuild" silly stiff bushings and such. Long story short, the car is already rusting again, it is as stiff as a track car, and we had to replace the fuel pump before it would even go above 60mph and tune his injection before it would idle or run properly. Another customer had Korman install their aftermarket A/C in his 2002 (among other things), which was so poorly designed that it cracked the timing cover (they actually designed the bracket to bear against the lower timing cover!) which cost him 8 hours of labor for us to fix his oil leak, and his "remanufactured" 5 speed leaked lots of oil out of the output and shift shaft seals, and IIRC, the shift linkage contacted the guibo. He was so pissed at them. He had us remove all the A/C components so he could return them or ebay them. Now I will say the job they did boxing in the rear control arms on both cars was pretty good.
Thanks!! Thank you all! By the way, I am in Virginia (Charlottesville). Yes, I do realize I am not going to get my money out of it, but really love the car. Probably enough to account for $5000 to $6000 over what I could sell it for (since I don't intend to sell it), but realize there is a time when one has to say Auf Wiedersehen. It is in good enough shape though, that the idea of restoration just seemed attractive. I appreciate your sharing the experience with Korman as well. Thanks again for all of your thoughts, and I will be on the lookout for other ideas. Take care!! Kurt
No $h!t? I am too. Bring me your car on Monday or Tuesday (I am pretty lazy and don't come in until about 10.) I only work there those 2 days, as I have an engineering job the rest of the week. The Foreign Auto Center just off Rose Hill Dr (near Settle Tire on Preston.) I'll be happy to look at it for you and let you know what sort of mechanical work it will need. I love these cars and have 2 E28s myself. I don't do bodywork, but can point you in the right direction for lots of stuff. -Paul
