Need some info on M535

[Soren]

first off, boy is it nice to be back on a bmw forum... sold my first 535i a while back and have missed it ever since. and great job on the new forum!

now I have found a lovely '86 M535iA nicknamed elvis
I put a deposit on it, and hopefully will be able to pick it up soon (out of city)

I found a VIN decoder which showed 'no-cat' so im assuming this would be the HC motor? would there be any reason to believe other wise?

also i didnt think this was a M535i at first because it has no kit on it, just the plain jane euro bumpers. untill I was shown a pic of the door jam where it shows the M535iA tag and M steering wheel...
is it common to see a M535i without the full kit?

and im sure this has been answered before but i couldnt find it in the faq or search.
but what does the A stand for in M535iA???

Thx guys

-Matt

[Rich in Tupelo]

Answers.

Yes, it should be the Dirty motor if the vin decoder showed no cat.

To my knowledge, all M535i's had the kit on them but it may have been removed in the past.

The A on the tag stands for automatic.

[Soren]

The A on the tag stands for automatic.

ok thats what i thought as well... but its a 5 speed, and so shows the vin decoder???

[Rich in Tupelo]

It could have been converted to a 5-spd. Check with Brian in TN later in the week and see if he can run the Vin at the dealer. His # is 1-800-846-6269

[Guest]

I don't believe the "A" at the end of the model designation is a 100% accurate way of deliniating whether a particular 5er is equipped with an Auto trans. I've also heard that the "A" means "America" but this wouldn't make sense for the Euro only M535i/A.

The best way to understand what model/engine/transmission the car had when manufactured is to decode the VIN.

Here's the relavent VIN info for LHD versions of the M535i

DC51 - LHD manual, KAT
DC61 - LHD automatic, KAT
DC71 - LHD manual, non-KAT "DIrty HC engine"
DC81 - LHD automatic , non-KAT "Dirty HC engine"

The SN section of the VIN will also provide the engine type, w/wo KAT and should correspond to the model "DCxx" designation.

If you list model "DCxx" and SN (the last seven digits of your VIN) I can look up the info from my resources.

Rich

[Soren]

It could have been converted to a 5-spd. Check with Brian in TN later in the week and see if he can run the Vin at the dealer. His # is 1-800-846-6269

Thanks for the #

I don't believe the "A" at the end of the model designation is a 100% accurate way of deliniating whether a particular 5er is equipped with an Auto trans. I've also heard that the "A" means "America" but this wouldn't make sense for the Euro only M535i/A.

The best way to understand what model/engine/transmission the car had when manufactured is to decode the VIN.

Here's the relavent VIN info for LHD versions of the M535i

DC51 - LHD manual, KAT
DC61 - LHD automatic, KAT
DC71 - LHD manual, non-KAT "DIrty HC engine"
DC81 - LHD automatic , non-KAT "Dirty HC engine"

The SN section of the VIN will also provide the engine type, w/wo KAT and should correspond to the model "DCxx" designation.

If you list model "DCxx" and SN (the last seven digits of your VIN) I can look up the info from my resources.

Rich

the decoder showed DC31 which also kinda confused me because i didnt find DC31 on any of the M535 faq's

well here is the vin:
WBADC310300927306

thanks for any help guys!

[Rich Euro M5]

the decoder showed DC31 which also kinda confused me because i didnt find DC31 on any of the M535 faq's

well here is the vin:
WBADC310300927306

That's because this particular 5er appears to be a Euro 535i that has had the M-tech body kit installed. The M-tech kit was available as a dealer installed option that could be installed onto any 5er.

The SN (last 7 digits of your VIN) 0927306 doesn't fall into the range of SNs used by BMW for the production M535i. The DC31 is another telltale sign that this wasn't a factory produced M535i. The DC31 engine code wasn't available in the M535i.

Rich

[Soren]

the decoder showed DC31 which also kinda confused me because i didnt find DC31 on any of the M535 faq's

well here is the vin:
WBADC310300927306

That's because this particular 5er appears to be a Euro 535i that has had the M-tech body kit installed. The M-tech kit was available as a dealer installed option that could be installed onto any 5er.

The SN (last 7 digits of your VIN) 0927306 doesn't fall into the range of SNs used by BMW for the production M535i. The DC31 is another telltale sign that this wasn't a factory produced M535i. The DC31 engine code wasn't available in the M535i.

Rich

hmmm so no HC motor??? ~_~

thx for the quick response

[m535is]

BTW, if you haven't already had the VIN decoded. Here is what I found.

Vehicle information
VIN long WBADC310300927306
Type code DC31
Type 535 I (ECE)
Dev. series E28 ()
Line 5
Body type LIM
Steering LL
Door count 4
Engine M30
Cubical capacity 3.5
Power 0
Transmision HECK
Gearbox MECH
Colour ACHATGRUEN METALLIC (177)
Upholstery PERLBEIGE LEDER (7206)
Prod. date 1986-02-18

Order options
No. Description
300 ZENTRALVERRIEGELUNG ELEKTRISCH
314 HEATED WINDSCREEN WASHER NOZZLES
350 WAERMESCHUTZGLAS GRUEN, RUNDUM
401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC
411 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC
530 AIR CONDITIONING
662 BMW Bav. CR Digital
680 MANUAL AERIAL
979 VELOURS-FUSSMATTEN VORN UND HI
989 ABGRENZUNG MODELLUEBERARBEITUN

Hope this helps,

[Jeremy]

My German is shaky, I think I can make them all out except the last 4 . . .

No. Description
300 ZENTRALVERRIEGELUNG ELEKTRISCH
314 HEATED WINDSCREEN WASHER NOZZLES
350 WAERMESCHUTZGLAS GRUEN, RUNDUM
401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC
411 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC
530 AIR CONDITIONING
662 BMW Bav. CR Digital
680 MANUAL AERIAL
979 VELOURS-FUSSMATTEN VORN UND HI
989 ABGRENZUNG MODELLUEBERARBEITUN

Central locking
Heater windscreen washer jets
Green tinted windows
power sunroof
power windows
air conditioning

This is where it gets a little hazy for me . . .
is that the German name for the OBC?
manual radio antenna? cool option if so
floormatts?
that last one I have absolutely no idea . . .

Jeremy

[m535is]

From what I get for the last 4.

One of the radio options, can't remember the exact one but it is in the brochures.
Manual Antenna
Floor Mats front and Rear

And the last one translated via Babelfish is
DEMARCATION MODEL PRACTICING RSR WITH DOING

Don't have a clue what that means. The only thing I can think of is maybe the 535i markings were taken off the trunk?

Rob

[Totally BMW]

Your car is a 535iSE, not an M535i. The sticker in the door pillar will say M535i, it's normal. These were sold at the same time as the M535i and are basically the same car; limited slip diff, 218 bhp, Bilstein dampers, M Technic springs, metric wheels (same as M535i). Sports, overdrive or EH automatic, choice of Recaro type seats or the standard lardass type plus the M Technic steering wheel.
They also have the M535i/M5 plastic arches but with steel bumpers, either chrome on the standard car or body colour on the dechromed car. They were never popular in the U.K as they were the same price as the M535i which looked a lot more serious - the 535iSE looked like any other 528i. I think a dechromed SE is the better looking car.

The last one means it's been debadged. Koennen Sie Deutch sprechen nicht??!

The M Technic bodykit was a dealer fit option but without the plastic arches as these needed different wings as they have depressions around the edge.

As for A - your sticker will read M535i/A. The / slash between the i and the A is short for M535i and M535iA. Agate green was very similar to Malachite green on the later E34. Nice colour!!