Facelift: E34 ->E39 Possible ?

Just about anything is possible, but they're totally different cars.

And why would you wish to ruin the looks of an E34? ;-)

*Excellent*! LOL.

JB

Poser?

I'll leave the trashing to others (they're doing quite well) and emphasize Dave's statement above. THERE ARE NO BODY PANELS AND OTHER STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN COMMON BETWEEN THE TWO MODELS. Well, maybe the sunroof...

Floyd

I believe the grill swap from the early E34 to the later E34 is quite easy and IMO a big visual improvement. Not an answer to your question, but another option, unless your Touring is already a later model.

Nah, anything is possible. What this guy really wants to do is something like this:

Yes, that's a honda outfitted with BMW grill and headlight, so IT CAN BE DONE!!!!

I say do and qualify for JIMMY"S NIGHTMARE:

Pimp My Ride on MTV did spend a ton of cash on M3 body kit parts for a Ford Escort. There's just no accounting for taste.

Here's a pic, not great from the side, but you get the idea:

You're right. I understand the change is a simple spanner job. I do agree. The later grill does look much nicer. But as you say, not an answer to the OP's question. Mike.

A *close-up* of the Honda:

How about a Miata Z3:

or an Acura:

This Jimmy guy cracks me up. He disses all those silly looking modded cars (that's ok) but he does it on the same website that he is selling fake Xenon headlight bulbs?

Huh?

-Fred W

What was the breakover year to the newer vs. older style grille?

TIA,

-Fred W

Possible? Perhaps... but why would you?

The E34 is a modern classic (though not a shark nose) BMW front end that gets plenty of notice as is. The E39 is a much plainer, more bulbous affair that is far less unique IMO.

-Fred W

I'm not certain, but I saw reference on an aussie site to 1992, while on another I've seen reference to 1994/95. Perhaps someone more familiar with the E34 can confirm?

I believe it was shortly after the introduction of Vanos, but again am not certain. According to the bmwE34.net website, the conversion is perhaps not as easy as I believed.

Also possible that the wider grill was introduced across different model years depending on the market.

"Neil" wrote

It was in the makeover year of model year '93 or '94 (in the US - YMMV). The M30 3.5L I6 went away to be replaced by the 3.0L & 4.0L V8's, and the 2.5L (and 2.0L in other countries) got VANOS. Initially, the width of the grill and the trim (body color or chrome) differentiated the V8's; they later just went to the same size. Silliness.

FloydR '01 525i

Initially the V8's had the same grille as the V12 had been using since introduction, while the I6's used up residual stock of the old grille. Partly sensible, partly marketing.

Mine, in the UK, built in Nov '94, has the later grill, but I have seen cars with '94 reg'ns, with the narrower grille. From that, my guess would be that the changeover took place in late '93. Assuming of course that the cars I saw were not earlier cars reg'd late. :-) Mike.

And of course it could be confusing if an early model owner did the grill swap, and had a vanity plate so you couldn't tell the year (in the UK at least).

AFAIK UK vanity plates can't carry a later year related reg'n No than the cars original reg'n date. IOW you can't have a '94 reg'n plate on say, an '89 car, but you could have an '89 plate on a '94 car. Mike.