BMW E24 (6 series)

[CosmiC]

Hellow.

Is there anybody out there with an E24???
Let me know please.

[Lance635]

I have an '87 635 CSi
I like it, it needs a bit of work (body wise), it would be nice to make it really fast, but i doubt I have the money

[CosmiC]

I would like to start a register of the E24, and also build a website about the car (like www.bmwe30.net), but i'm looking for other people to help me. Interested??

My 628CSi is perfect, it doesn't need any work.

If you wanna take a look at it, i will upload some pictures tomorrow: http://users.pandora.be/bmw-community

[PasadenaE24]

yea i drive an 88 635CSi/A (damn the auto!)
it would be sweet if we could get a 6er site up and going. LMK if u need some help, ill try to do whatever i can. For pictures, refer to .this thread

and try theseboards

[M PWR]

6er Yeah i have a beauty

-Sean

I'm just about to check out your pics.

[CosmiC]

Nice car you have, i wish i had an M635CSi, but it seems they are very hard to find and very expensive. Regretfully i don't live in the USA it seems to me there are lots of 6-ers in the states. if i lived there, i would organise a meeting for 6-ers only
it's the most beautiful car ever build. the new 6 coming out next year will also be a beauty. Read about it? The new M6 will have 500hp!!

[Quadzilla]

Ever seen an E24 used as a firetruck? My chief calls it the Feuer-panzer.

1988 635CSi/A white on black. I'd love an M but I think the ultimate swap would be a later model 745TTi manifold setup. Used the same M30 engine but faked a 4.5 liter. My buddy owns one and for a 735i it is beyond fast on the highway, not quick but don't try to pass him on a bad day... you will never make it with out really trying.

[OldSkoolBimmers]

///M6 here

[///M3 Manna]

Nice ride's OldSchoolBimmer's i like the M6 the best cuz of the rim's there hot!!

[Mpovrshd]

6ers are a rare find on this board.

[6er_Bimmer]

Hey guys. I recently got a 1977 630CSi. I sent a few of you emails regarding parts for it. Imagine this. My 6er has 96,000 miles on it. !!! That is unbelievable. I need a complete interior for mine though. Everything else on it, is minor work. But I want to make this a project car. This will be THE 6er. If you guys need any help starting that web page for the E24, I will do whatever I can to help out...and be a part of that team. Sadly, I haven`t taken pictures of my Sixer yet, but they will be on here soon I hope.

[Mikedav]

Originally posted by CosmiC


If you wanna take a look at it, i will upload some pictures tomorrow: http://users.pandora.be/bmw-community

No BMWs in there...just Belgians

[6er_Bimmer]

I was wondering which color I should go for ? I can`t decide wether I should paint my sixer black, yellow, or red ?! If you guys have any other suggestions let me know....thanks

[6er_Bimmer]

Oh and by the way. In my gallery you can see pictures of each on of that color. So you know...it`s just something to give you an ideo.

[Quadzilla]

6er, Your 630 is about as plentiful as the Euro 628. I'd advise making it as factory spec as you can because someone might be interested in picking it up.

But if you're not going to go that route then here's what you want to think about:

Suspension

Factory trimings are good but not that good. Call Bavarian Auto Sport (18005352002) and go nuts! The big thing with these is wear on the front bushings which leads to serious drivability problems and wear on the rear strut towers, struts in the back seat suck. If you are going to lower it less than say 1.5 inches you probably wouldn't need the decambering bushings unless you go with a real wide low profile wheel and tire.

Wheels and Tires

With the hubcentric spacers you can run any 5 stud BMW wheel. Everyone agrees that mesh/basket style wheels look the best (BBS are the ones to spot) followed by spoked and the final choice are the "Gear" style like mine. Three spoke G-money rims will get you shot. Factory rims can be cool but have to look spank ass new.

The factory TRX tires are an amazing piece of technology... for 1975. Factory rims only accept TRX or Pilots in metric. Avoid them if you can help it. I run Potenza SO-3's and man do they grip. Tire choice is your own thing but remember than if you do engine and suspension mods you MUST upgrade the meats or the otgher money is wasted. Stock wheels and tires were either 14 o 15 depending on the year. You can go as far as 18 with the right tire and back spacing before you need to modify the wheel arches. Anything more than 18's and it won't look on the money with out being droped real far. The #8 Stuck car ran 16x12 BBS 3 piece mesh wheels compeating is Gr. A, the B and unlimited production cars ran a 16x16 BBS like the CSL and M1 wore.

Engine

The 6 wore five different variants of the M30 block design and 3 different types of cylinder heads and came in 3 different fuel systems. The very firct 6 was a carbed 628 and the very last was a multithrottle computer injection 24 valve twin cam 635, quite the evolution. Basicly early cars had carbs and the smaller design head, thus smaller passages, smaller valves etc. With the advent of F/I with the 630/633 there came about the fuelie head with larger passages and valves and the ultimate design evolution the M635 with 6 throttles, twin cams and all sorts of internal block mods. To think of it another way it went like this:

628-carb
630-carb
633-carb
633-F/I
635-F/I
M635-Mutli-F/I

As they got older they got meaner. The swap of swaps is the M3.5l but finding one of them is tough, every one wants one. The M30 is the same as found in the 7's and 5's of the period so possible swaps are the M5 or 745Ti.

The most common engine is the 3.5L F/I. The basic upgrades are of course big wires and better plugs followed by the one and only cam availabe -Schrick 284*- and high preasure fuel regulator. While the head is apart it wouldn't hurt to get a tri-angle valve job and bigger intake and exhaust valves. Add a K&N filter on the snout of the relocated Mass Airflow sensor and a low restriction exhaust and you have pretty much a very manly 6. I have heard that with the proper machining the 3.5 can become a 4 or 4.2L. Korman (http://www.korman.com) offers a 300* cam which is just plain stupid, but in that good way. The next step is forced induction with either one turbo (Factory KKK K27's graced the 745Ti -same unit from a 911) or two turbos either in series or parallel. Superchargers could be used but the only way you're going to get an 8-71 in chrome sticking through the hood is with a V8 under the hood. The final option is the direct injection of nitrous oxide. You could go with either a custom fogger plate between the throttle and the intake or send the intake out and have it machined for direct injection in the runners. One of the mods that I have heard about is having the throttle bored about 3mm. In theory it works but good luck finding a machine shop willing to take the job on. Chipping the engine is an okay thing but can be next to usless if the OEM architecture can still adquetly compensate.

Transmissions

Over the years the 6 came with 4 different transmission options, a 4 speed manual, 5 speed manual, 3 speed auto and 4 speed auto. The 5 speed is of course the way to go but if all else fails the 4 speed auto is not a bad choice at all. The autos are the weak link in the system, beat them hard and they break. Never rev the auto's much past 2k in P/N or holding the breaks in D becasue the final drive pump acts as the main lubrication pump. Doing 3500rpm break stands will burn out the clutches and poof gone no more trans. They are not cheap or simple to rebuild. ZF built a good unit but the fluid needs to be changed every 15-20k to keep it in tip top shape.

Differential

The final drives came a bunch of different ways:

BMW original gear ratio suggested ratio
630, 633 to 9/81 (side loader) 3.45 3.64
633 9/81-9/82 (side loader) 3.25 3.64
633 9/82-12/83 3.25 3.64
633 12/83> 3.25 3.64
635 to 6/87 all 3.46 3.73
635 6/87> 5-Speed 3.64 3.91
635 6/87> Auto 3.91 4.10

For what it's worth I'd sacrifice top speed for gut wrenching coffee spilling kick you in the jimmy acceleration. It's your call.

Brakes

Factory brakes are good, M brakes are better, brembo big brake conversions are the best. I run Bendix rotors and pads in an OE setup and for the street no real complaints except for squeal. Pagid and Ferado make good versions as well. If you don't need crossdrilled and slotted rotors I don't see the point in converting but it's your money. Keep the fluid fresh and use good DOT 3/4 stuff and you should be happy. For a real humdinger of a setup go with the brembo 345mm rotors, stainless/teflon lines and DOT 5 fluid and you should be able to bark the tires slowing down.

That pretty much covers the basics of owning a bad ass BMW. I'll leave styling to you as one mans dream is anothers nightmare.