Well i have always wanted an e30 drift machine and easily can buy one next month, but I ran into a bit of a sexy rear end on the highway back from my mother's house this past weekend.... It is a 95 e34 525i, I believe it has the inline 6 in it and it's already manual. I have read a few threads on various forums of people fighting back and forth on if this car is a viable drifting machine. I really am not looking for anything "World class" as my first drift car as I assume i'm going to crash it. Either way I will probably buy the car as a DD and wait for the e30, but I've seen hella videos on the tube of yous drifting the crap out of these boats. So here is my question... DD or Drifter?
I'd say both mate. I know a dude with a 34 520i and the only mod on it is a welded diff. And he does just fine in the wet. Drifts in the dry too if you swing it in and use the weight. I'd say get it, stick a diff in it, if you don't like it then swap it back out. 50+psi in the rears and away you go.
Thanks for the reply Minimoke! In rush for the guy to get rid of this car I ended up purchasing it for 500$! She's all mine! Drove it home an hour and a half with little to not trouble. Next up is to get the car in perfect working condition! I'm going to start a vlog series once I rent a garage to start the work in and get my license back!
Well it could be anything. Drag, drift or whatever but a lot of the times the bmw 525i's mainseal might leak. I know this because why dad used to own a bmw 525i and it was very cool burgundy had been in a accident but leaked like crazy and stalled. Its still a easy car to work on and mostly anything makes it look cool.
It's a great car, I've seen a lot of drifters with it, but maybe let it be your drift missile. Since there are sooo many after market parts for the car. I have a 350z which is my track day car and my drift missile, so it's your preference. Its a good car for anything. But yeah, since it's old, watch out for any messed up parts.
I know alot of people who drives the e34 as a drift car, works great, usually pretty good gearboxes and with a welded differential you should do very good
My old E34 525i tended to snap driftshafts a lot, not sure if related to the terrible quality coilovers it had (JOM, no damping up front just drove on the spring and rear soft as fuck). Gearing was long so I'd try and find a shorter diff and get that welded.
I have a 95 e34 525i and it does great. Been greatly abused and still keeps up with plenty of other stock cars. Looker for a shorter diff though. Also gonna drop some coilovers under it and strip the inside. The stock suspension was pretty blown. Also gonna look for a lug conversion for it but thats not top priority. We'll see how it does next year. If anybody knows if you can put the gearing from the small diffs into the medium sizes that would be awesome. All around an amazing car!
Let me know what your vlog is if you started it. Ill give you some views and would love to follow the build
