[bboy1234]

Hello everyone I am sorry for a long first thread. As you can see by my title I have a real project on my hands. I purchased a 2011 550i with M-sport package from IAAI. The car was totaled and has 8263 miles on it. There was no airbag deployment or glass breakage. The only only panels damaged was slight damage to the hood and the truck lid, and the tail panel of the car is pushed in at the top center 2.5 inches. When I received the car it had been stripped down by the body shop and I received none of the parts. I ordered about 1650.00 worth of parts from a BMW dealership who told me they were giving me the parts at 10% over cost. I have ordered re-manufactured oem M-sport bumpers. I have purchased from ebay the headlights,tail lights, foglights, and the parking sensors. So far the parking sensors are the only non OEM parts I have purchased. I will Take some pictures of the car and post them today. I will post pictures as I go along with this project. I am not a mechanic nor a auto body guy. I hope you guys will find this interesting. I am sure I will have questions.

[bboy1234]

Here are some photos of the car.

[Andrey]

Wow, sad to see f10 wrecked like that, I hope it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to repair.
I have purchased totaled cars before, and one word of advise unless you plan on keeping the car forever, it is very hard to sell salvaged title.
I hope it turns out to be a great car for you!!!
I am sure you bought it way cheaper.
keep posting your progress and experience here for us

[bboy1234]

We currently have 2 2011 328i's. I plan on selling onw of those and keeping this car for my wife. I do not plan on selling this car anytime soon. I purchased this car for 24500. Total parts cost 5046.00. I will need a few more parts. I will pay a body shop to repair the rear end. I plan to bolt on the front end myself.

[the infamous...]

*subscribed*

[koxal]

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[bboy1234]

So I received most of my parts today spent around 2 hours putting the front together. I installed the airbox and duct work. I also put in the drivers headlight. I snapped a pic of the progress. I will be repairing the deployed head restraint and take some pics of that as well. I may have a question or 2 along the way. Thanks for the great forum!!!

[SirNicholas]

Looks wayyy better I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

cheers.

[ryyster]

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[bboy1234]

Ok I ran into a small snag today in that I dont have a horn. Where does the horn mount and should my horn be high pitched or low pitched. I live in the USA.

[BigKutta]

BMW (and other German car) horns in the USA are low pitch. The Japanese counterparts deploy the high pitch horn

[positiveions]

wow. You, my friend, have a nice project on your hand. HOpe it turns out good.

[bboy1234]

Just an update. I am waiting on the rh headlight which should be here by Wed. My bumper covers arrived on Saturday. Once I get the headlight I should have the front together fairly quick. I did manage to Fix the deployed head restraint and install the new gas cartridge.

[AP]

so there is a gas cartridge that pushes the head restraint forward in a rear end knock?
It never fails to amaze me how much technology is in the car.

[Lee]

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[bboy1234]

Here are some pics of the head rest repair.
I ordered the repair kit from bmw for 86.00 total time spent was about 30 minutes.

[bboy1234]

So the RH headlight arrived today and I installed it. I just attached the bumper cover with a couple bolts.

[Cpluse2]

This is so cool how you are bringing it back to life. keep up the good work.

[SirNicholas]

Looks good. Is the hood damaged? Will you be replacing it?

[EV0LVE]

If you dont mind, please post total cost and time spent when everything is all said and done. I'm very curious (respectfully) how it adds up.

Cheers on a great build!

[bboy1234]

Originally Posted by SirNicholas

Looks good. Is the hood damaged? Will you be replacing it?

There are two areas if you look in the picture closely. Area one on the passenger side near the front edge had a small bend which I know can be fixed through PDR. There is a more acute bend on the drivers side front edge. I do not know if the one on the drivers side can be fixed with out repainting the hood. I was hoping to keep all factory paint except the bumper covers. I coulod not resist and took the car for about a 5 mile road trip. Drives great!!!

[bboy1234]

Originally Posted by EV0LVE

If you dont mind, please post total cost and time spent when everything is all said and done. I'm very curious (respectfully) how it adds up.

Cheers on a great build!

I have not kept track of the time but I can tell you that most of the time has been spent figuring the parts I needed and then finding the ones I could on ebay. I have a total of 5800 in parts give or take. The headlights were the single most expensive thing at 785 each used on ebay. The other things I found on ebay were ambient temp sensor, rdc control module, rear bumper rebar, tail lights, and the parking sensors. So far all oem except ambient temp sensor, and parking sensors.