September 8th, 2010

The Car–Basic Stats

1987 BMW 535iS.  Purchased in December, 1997.  Miles at purchase–89,000.  Current miles–220,000.
Engine–3.5 liter, fuel injected, in-line 6 cylinder.

Transmission–ZF 4HP22, 4-speed automatic with overdrive.  Electronic controlled with “sport” selector switch giving higher line pressure and higher rpm shift points.  Also a manual position which puts the transmission in the actual gear selected by the shift lever.  Good for snow and ice.

BMW model de-coding.

535is means:

“5″ is the body series.  In 1987, 3 was the smallest, entry level model.  5 was the mid-size sedan, 6 was a sport coupe, 7 was the large, luxury sedan.

“35″ is the engine size.  Sort of.  For example, the same basic engine was used in 1983-84 with 3.2 liter displacement but the car was called a 533i.  The so-called 3.5 liter engine actually measured 3430 cc.
“i” means fuel injected.

“S” means Sport.  In 1987 this meant the car came with an M5-style front air dam, a rear spoiler and Recaro bucket seats.  There may have been some slight suspension tweaks as well.