[Stück]

New over here, long time member on BFc under the same name. I've been lurking for a few months and finally kicked up and registered last night.

I picked up a really clean (aside from the obvious dent) 2014 535i at IAA last Weds. It has just 14k on it and I liked the color combination, options. Alpine white on Cinnamon brown. It was wrecked Nov'15 and had been sitting in insurance limbo since. Finally two weeks ago a date was set and I was excited, hoping I could win it. The day came, auction ran and I was awarded the car with the high bid of $14,700

A few pictures from the USAA/IAA auction:





Unloading at my house the following day:



Sitting "pretty" in my garage:



I got the car home so late the first day I didn't do anything to it besides charging the battery and replacing the Battery Safety Terminal which had detonated when the airbags deployed. Upon doing so electrical was 100% except the expected driver/passenger restraint system warnings on iDrive, along with a few headlight & PDC errors (duh)

The following day I picked up an OE BMW LCI MSport front bumper with minor scuffs on it, Alpine White to boot... for $75 from a friend.

That evening when I got home from work I systematically dismantled the front of the car, culling all of the broken plastic and bent impact structure. As I had hoped from the auction photos there was no damage to the frame horns, or the inner structure up top. Just the lateral tie bars, and a wide array of plastic.



The drivers side frame horn flange was bent over just a smidgen and easily pulled back flush with a little elbow grease. Strictly cosmetic that, and everything else looks great!



Everything in the cooling system ate it in the accident, except the intercooler with survived unscathed. Friday evening the plastic cooling module that holds the cooling system, along with the radiator/condenser was replaced with used units from a parts car at work.



I should mention I work in the automotive salvage industry, so a lot of parts are available to me from our own inventory which is great, but I still will have to buy a lot of the stuff new due to not having it available, or wanting nicer/cleaner stuff.

This morning I started assembling the aluminum impact beam with the foam cover, new intake shroud w/ C02 shutter option (how neat) , various plastic things, headlight brackets, hood latches, etc. It all then bolts onto the frame horns as a unit.

It lined up with no fuss, assuring me again that the car suffered no physical damage to the unibody. The remaining upper tie bars etc bolted right on easily as well.



The front PDC harness was cut in the accident, just 3 wires. These were easily repaired by cutting the jacket back on each wire, soldering, heatshrinking, then covering with OE BMW loom tape for a seamless repair.




The other front nose harness on the other hand fared much worse I'm afraid. It got mushed between the headlight and upper impact beam, literally tearing it a new one



Again each wire was carefully striped back, soldered, heatshrunk, and taped up with OE BMW loom tape. I could have bought this harness new for about $100 but it wasn't that big of a deal to repair it so why not.

[Infamouscrew02]

Very nice. Following for future build progress.

[.BMW.]

Ambitious DIY project!

Interesting to follow the progress, thanks for sharing.

[UA_civ_eng]

Sounds like a steal of a deal. Subscribed

[Teddylongtooth]

Now would be a good time to put a twin turbo LS3 and go kick some ass on those texas streets! But really thou, this is gonna be nice project with a sweet low price tag. Nice work so far, Im glad your not all anal and getting all the parts to fix it from the stealership. Goodwork!

[Stück]

Thanks guys, I wasn't sure how this would be received but I'm glad to see its positive!

I am buying a lot of parts from the dealer, about $3k worth so far, but the lions share of the parts are going to be used from parts cars I have at my disposal.

From the dealer thus far I've bought the rear MSport bumper w/ all the different trim/mounts, MSport rocker skirts, all the front bumper grills, pair fog lamps, drivers headlight, drivers roof bag and some other assorted plastic. Even at wholesale stuff adds up!

My car is what I've seen referred to as a "no line" I believe as it was not factory optioned with fog lamps. Quite odd to me, and of course the LCI MSport front bumper grills are designed for fog lamps. I elected to go with the LED foglamps as they look cooler and weren't that much more.

I took the fog lamp wiring from another F10 at work, dissected it from the nose harness, depinned it from the connector and integrated it into my nose harness. My main nose harness connector has 2 large empty socket holes. I pulled the silicone plugs out of them, and inserted the fog lamp wiring...



I am not sure which one is supposed to go in which socket but it doesn't really matter as I will have to run two identical wires from the socket pictured, behind the drivers headlight, to the FRM anyway. I need to install ISTA on my laptop so I can take a look at the wiring diagrams.

Satisfied with that for now I decided to connect my gauge set, vacuum pump to the air conditioning system and draw a vacuum. The premise here is to A. evacuate all air and other contaminates from the system, and B. Ensure that the system is sealed.

My vacuum pump will pull down to 29-30 in. hg. After it gets there I close close the gauge set, turn off the pump and see if it holds steady for an hour before filling the system with refrigerant. In this case 1.87lbs (30oz) according to the sticker on the underside of my mangled hood.



While I wait on the results of the vacuum test I moved inside the car to drop the headlining. Since the drivers roof bag deployed in the accident it would need to be changed. Not really sure why it deployed in basically front/center collision but *shrug* The F10 headliner was for the most part like any other BMW I've worked with and the screws, clips were all in the expected locations. This headliner will be discarded as its broken from the airbag deployment.



A shot from the passenger side front door sill, showing the roof bag (was trimmed with a razor to get it out of the way earlier)


Replacement steering wheel airbag was loose in the photo above, I was in the midst of doing that at the same time. I went ahead and snagged a much nicer steering wheel/airbag to replace the base blah one the car came with.

[Bbb34]

It's pretty neat to see that you have the skill level and confidence to take on project like this. Also by the time it's all done, it's going to be neat to know that you've done everything "just right" yourself.

Cool .

[Stück]

Skill level is 50% experience and 50% mindset. I myself have never worked on an F10 before. All of my experience is with older BMW's. E30's are my main stay, and E39/E46 probably right behind them... but BMW is nothing if not reliable in their engineering principals and its really more of the same when it comes to the F10 so far as I've seen.

I have 2 E39's in my driveway, 1 sedan and 1 touring. I also *just* finish completely restoring a E30 and subsequently insta-selling it. If ya fancy a dead sexy E30, the link below is worth a click:
http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/how-to...t-b-1765735730

One more update for this evening, I've called it a day at this point.

Brand new drivers roof airbag in its box:



Installing it back into the car is pretty straight forward, a couple snap in clips and 4-5 T25 pan head screws.



New drivers knee airbag, again super simple to change. Two each T20, T30 screws hold it in place.

These cars really have a splendid looking interior.

[Stück]

I lied. I snuck back into the garage for 15 more minutes to swap out the stock shifter for a SAT unit.

[Redshift]

I'm here to watch the party. Good luck on the project, J!

[DDD31]

Amazing rebuild!!

It's great to see you bring a car back into service that would have probably been written off. I'd be scared to attempt any kind of big project like this on these cars with all their electronics.

Good luck with the remainder of the project!

[lsturbointeg]

Subscribed! Love the time and effort! Keep up the good work!

[mgattmch]

What an interesting and inspirational post. Keep up the good work and make sure you continue to update everyone on progress; fascinating reading. Many thanks.

[r33_RGSport]

Wow, what a good find. Car still in good condition. Can't wait to see it completed.

[Stück]

I have most of my time today committed elsewhere, but I managed to get a little something done this morning...

It would pain me to no end to put a beige headliner back in the car, as I can't stand beige headliners, and I don't have one available to me.. Its $600 or so new, but I do have a black one at work in a parts car with no roof bag deployment damage... hmm...

This meant however I would have to further disassemble the car, and remove the sunroof cassette.

I've done that a bunch of times on E46's, E39's without a problem. The F10 was a pain in the ass however.

Same basic premise, sunroof cassette fastened to the roof with 10mm bolts around the border. 12 or so in total, 4 of which are completely obscured by the grab handle brackets which are riveted to the roof and not readily removable. IMO the sunroof cassette is likely installed first at production and then those brackets are riveted in the way.

There is just enough room to get at those 4 bolts with a 10mm wrench on a 45 degree angle and break them free. Its then a 1/6th turn from the wrench for several minutes per bolt to get them to drop out.

Once the cassette is free you have yet more headache as those same grab handle brackets prevent it from dropping down and out. I was able to pry the rear sides over the rear grab handle brackets then slide the whole cassette towards the rear of the car off the front grab handle brackets. It wasn't too heavy but it was still an odd dance trying to maneuver the assembly out of the car without scratching the interior, even with the assistance of my teenage daughter... none the less a little patience paid off and we got it out cleanly without damage.

It has two motors, one drives the sun shade, and the other drives the glass.

[The Beast]

[SleevedCoyote]

Impressive work, with the blackheadliner do you mean the Alcantara one? If so, go for it

[Gilgorm]

OP
Love your posts and pics. You have certainly scored a winner.
Keep it up.

[ezaircon4jc]

Patiently(?) waiting for the next installment!!!

[Stück]

Originally Posted by Hamzoro

Impressive work, with the blackheadliner do you mean the Alcantara one? If so, go for it

Negative, just the standard "waffle weave" in black. Coming from a pre-lci 550i but it all appears the same.

I'm taking the E39 Touring to work in the morning to retrieve the headliner, hopefully it fits in the back! Should be able to get the black sunroof cassette and headliner installed tomorrow evening after work.

[mrashton]

Thank you for creating this thread it is most enjoyable to follow.

I have one question, the 2 support bars attached to the suspension turrets and then to the plate at the front of the engine bay between the fenders and over the radiator, did they just collapse in the impact and therefore saving the turrets from damage?

I know from experience that thinking about taking pictures (and then posting about it) during a restoration like this can be a pain so kudos to you for keeping us informed.

[lsturbointeg]

Talk about taking apart your car like legos now the sunroof and headliner? Keep up the good work! Love the fact you include pictures!