BMW E39 M5 Touring build
Discussion
Using every bit of spare time available (without the wife divorcing me!) I have been pressing on to meet a deadline.
New parking brake hardware, new rear wheel bearings with the M5 hub flanges (note the two grub screw bolt holes non M5 E39's don't have), new discs pads and rebuilt callipers.
Saloon and tourings differ in where their parking cables pass through the knuckle, 12'o clock on the saloon and 9'o clock on the touring. This presents a minor problem in that the M5 uses bigger rear discs and there for bigger back plates so there a two options to address this issue, either weld in the centre of a touring back plate to an M5 outer or cut down the touring back plate to clear the M5 disc.
The latter is the route I chose as its easier and welding thin bits of steel and they have a shape critical to the operation of the parking brake.
Another saloon/touring difference that needed to be overcome was the rear brake hoses. On a saloon the hose come out of the calliper horizontally then attaches to the rigid pipe in a vertical position. On the touring the hose comes out at an approximately 45 degree angle then turns rearward to a horizontal join of the rigid pipe. The reason for this is to clear the shock absorber as again there is a difference in mounting points, the saloon being vertical in to the top of the inner wheel arch and the touring at about 30 degrees to the rear subframe (as can been seen in previous pictures).
To overcome this custom made HEL braided brake hoses were fitted to the rear with matching non custom fronts.
Bilstein B8 shock absorbers coupled with the existing Eibach pro kit front springs, new top mounts, all four arms new with the brake reaction (upper) arm bushes replaced with Powerflex, new M5 (like the rears two grub screw holes plus two locating pins) wheel bearings plus as per the rear new pads, discs and rebuilt callipers.
Front end coming together.
Along with the new fuel lines was fitment of the M5 specific fuel filter and pressure regulator set up.
And now on to one of the areas I enjoy with a build.........
The M5 body loom laid out.
As mentioned at the beginning of the thread, an E39 M5 touring build has been done several times before and having trawled the web to see others approaches I found that people have taken one of two ways when it comes to the wiring alterations required. Now I suspect their chose boils down to the base touring they chose to convert as to the approach they have taken, the two choices being alter the existing touring loom to suit or use the M5 body loom and alter it for the touring specific parts such as tailgate, self levelling rear suspension (if retained) with the latter involving a lot more work.
Other differences to throw into the mix is if the touring as ASC or DSC (all M5's have DSC), wether the touring is a Diesel or petrol and even more importantly if the touring was built before 09/98.
This is particularly important as the E39 had a major technical update from this build date (and all M5's were post 09/98) which also including a lot of the electrical components and wiring..
There are also differences between V8 and six cylinder cars and even after the 09/98 technical update there are a few slight differences.
The upshot of this is that the easiest touring to convert is a post 09/98 540i manual that is a similar build date to the M5 donor car.
Never the less......
..... using a 03/99 built 540i auto touring and an 09/99 M5 meant minimal wiring alterations to the touring loom but still plenty of wires to be harvested from the M5 body loom to integrate the Sport button (for different throttle map and steering), manual transmission and S65 vs M62 differences.
As with my E46 M3 touring project, all wiring alterations were done without cutting and soldering so all terminal numbers and wires colours are as per factory wiring diagrams.
New parking brake hardware, new rear wheel bearings with the M5 hub flanges (note the two grub screw bolt holes non M5 E39's don't have), new discs pads and rebuilt callipers.
Saloon and tourings differ in where their parking cables pass through the knuckle, 12'o clock on the saloon and 9'o clock on the touring. This presents a minor problem in that the M5 uses bigger rear discs and there for bigger back plates so there a two options to address this issue, either weld in the centre of a touring back plate to an M5 outer or cut down the touring back plate to clear the M5 disc.
The latter is the route I chose as its easier and welding thin bits of steel and they have a shape critical to the operation of the parking brake.
Another saloon/touring difference that needed to be overcome was the rear brake hoses. On a saloon the hose come out of the calliper horizontally then attaches to the rigid pipe in a vertical position. On the touring the hose comes out at an approximately 45 degree angle then turns rearward to a horizontal join of the rigid pipe. The reason for this is to clear the shock absorber as again there is a difference in mounting points, the saloon being vertical in to the top of the inner wheel arch and the touring at about 30 degrees to the rear subframe (as can been seen in previous pictures).
To overcome this custom made HEL braided brake hoses were fitted to the rear with matching non custom fronts.
Bilstein B8 shock absorbers coupled with the existing Eibach pro kit front springs, new top mounts, all four arms new with the brake reaction (upper) arm bushes replaced with Powerflex, new M5 (like the rears two grub screw holes plus two locating pins) wheel bearings plus as per the rear new pads, discs and rebuilt callipers.
Front end coming together.
Along with the new fuel lines was fitment of the M5 specific fuel filter and pressure regulator set up.
And now on to one of the areas I enjoy with a build.........
The M5 body loom laid out.
As mentioned at the beginning of the thread, an E39 M5 touring build has been done several times before and having trawled the web to see others approaches I found that people have taken one of two ways when it comes to the wiring alterations required. Now I suspect their chose boils down to the base touring they chose to convert as to the approach they have taken, the two choices being alter the existing touring loom to suit or use the M5 body loom and alter it for the touring specific parts such as tailgate, self levelling rear suspension (if retained) with the latter involving a lot more work.
Other differences to throw into the mix is if the touring as ASC or DSC (all M5's have DSC), wether the touring is a Diesel or petrol and even more importantly if the touring was built before 09/98.
This is particularly important as the E39 had a major technical update from this build date (and all M5's were post 09/98) which also including a lot of the electrical components and wiring..
There are also differences between V8 and six cylinder cars and even after the 09/98 technical update there are a few slight differences.
The upshot of this is that the easiest touring to convert is a post 09/98 540i manual that is a similar build date to the M5 donor car.
Never the less......
..... using a 03/99 built 540i auto touring and an 09/99 M5 meant minimal wiring alterations to the touring loom but still plenty of wires to be harvested from the M5 body loom to integrate the Sport button (for different throttle map and steering), manual transmission and S65 vs M62 differences.
As with my E46 M3 touring project, all wiring alterations were done without cutting and soldering so all terminal numbers and wires colours are as per factory wiring diagrams.
Moving back to the engine bay meant plumbing in the oil filter housing and PAS reservoir. These are located differently to the 540i and have their own bolt on mounting bracket compared to the (by now cut off and painted inner wing) welded on bracket the 540i uses.
[/url]Both plastic fill in panels from the 540i were replaced to allow for the M5 twin air intakes, both of these were damaged on the M5 donor so were bought new along with....
.....some of the most expensive bits of plastic known to mankind!
Due to the front end damage of the M5 donor car a lot of the front end parts were scrap. In the end a new fan blade, fan clutch, radiator, fan cowling, expansion tank and not pictured but replaced with new, both belt tensioners, belts and top coolant hose. Luckily the 540i shares the same front panel, PAS cooler. electric fan and AC condenser as an M5 so they could be reused.
What you see here is pretty much all the hardware required to mount an M5 exhaust which was all scrap on the M5 donor car. That pile there was about £500. That hurt!
Rear silencer mounting studs all wound in after running a thread cleaner through the holes.
Rear silencer heat shields fitted up with all rear silencer six rubber mounts. Another pair of parts that seem like a minor thing but were both missing from the donor M5 and had to be bought new at great expense for what they are.
Quad pipes on a wagon!!!
All the complication of grafting in the M5 boot floor, relocating the battery, the expense of all the new M5 exhaust mounting hardware just be able to have four pipes like an M5 saloon when I could have just used an alternative method with a lot less work an expenditure but it would have been a massive compromise for me.
The donor M5 had been de catted and had a rear silencer delete all done quite poorly. I bought a pair of used rear silencers from ebay so refitted those but a pair of used M5 cats a quite expensive now at circa £1200-1500 and ideally i wanted a complete uncut system from the down pipes to tail pipes so this unsightly exhaust is a temporary solution till a suitable system comes up.
Engine bay now built up with the intakes, fluids filled, petrol added to the tank, EWS, key barrel from the M5 fitted (for the time being) and it pretty much fired straight up!
Back onto the interior refit, as I had a deadline to meet (July the 4th E39 M5 meet at Caffeine & Machine) It was full steam ahead with every spare bit of time so a lack of pics during this stage im afriad.
The M5 front seats were sent to a mate at the polishing company east anglia to re colour the blue centres to black and these were back in time to refit.
A set of Michelin PS4's fitted up then Hunter wheel alignment to M5 specs.
After running up the engine up to temp, checking for leaks (and rectifying a minor coolant leak) it was time to take it for its initial test drive.
Thanks for all of the kind words from everyone!. You're too kind!
As for the thread ending, its far from over!
I set myself a dead line of July the 4th to try and have it up and running so I could make the E39 M5 meet at Caffeine and Machine and as you can see from the pics posted by peetee I made it...... just in time but more on that later.
As for the thread ending, its far from over!
I set myself a dead line of July the 4th to try and have it up and running so I could make the E39 M5 meet at Caffeine and Machine and as you can see from the pics posted by peetee I made it...... just in time but more on that later.
Time was very limited for covering absolutely everything to "finish" the car so to stand a chance of making the meet I had to prioritise what to do so it could be driven and so it looked complete. Pressing on last week after hours at work and all the way up to 11.30PM on Saturday I just managed to achieve this.
Keeping the self levelling rear air suspension meant some rerouting of the pneumatic lines, wiring and removal of the compressor from its "tortoise shell" housing that locates it in under the spare wheel and putting it in the forward compartment of the M5's battery tray that normally houses a tyre inflation kit.
One of the plastic trims (left one which covers the BM54 radio unit) was already cracked and the ones on the right needed some cutting to allow routing of the some wiring so this is an area that requires some finessing so another set of plastic covers will be sourced and adapted to tidy this area up.
More of that gold plated plastic fitted up, the centre under tray specific to the sport front bumper is often missing or damaged from speed bumps etc and in my case, it still has an SE one fitted along with ebay copies of the "pork chop" side pieces.
I was initially told the centre piece was on back order with no delivery date (so no stock in the UK or Germany) but then one turned up a couple of days later. Happy days I thought but on closer inspection it had clearly been knocking about in a warehouse for some time as it was covered in dust and had (as can been seen in the pics) lots of scratches to the underside. Annoying but I wasn't going to be too choosy on something I would have to wait a long time for another if they even make another batch!
The M5/M3 Oval interior mirror suffering from the usual bleeding of its auto dimming glass plus mine was missing its "clown nose" alarm LED lens so it was an order from cutters forum sponsor www.mirrorjohn.co.uk for a replacement glass and lens.
Fitted up and working. I ordered a set of covers for the back of the mirror and rain sensor but they don't seem to fit so thats on the snag list to look into whats going on if there are different size rain sensors.
When I bought the 540i the previous owner had fitted a set of birch anthracite interior trims which was quite sought after and I do like them but I wanted the interior to have as much M5 feel as possible so I swapped the birch for a very good set of M5 specific titan shadow trim set.
Another couple of options already retro fitted to the touring were the built in child booster seats and rear door blinds. Having owned several E39's over the years I always wanted the booster seats in them for my kids to use but now they are old enough not to need them any more. typical! M5 rear outer head rests added to match the fronts.
Switch panel with the M5's specific sport button to adjust throttle map and steering assistance.
Another retro fit carried over from the touring is the wide screen MK4 nav (very antiquated now) and DSP audio system which although not great, its a step up from the very poor base spec audio most E39's have to put up with.
The donor M5 still had its original early black face instrument cluster so that was swapped over but as you can see its suffering from the usual dead pixels in the display. What isn't noticeable in the pics are some other issues with it such as the fuel gauge incorrectly reading and the warm up lights on occasion doing an impression of a crappy disco.
I have tried another cluster to confirm its my cluster at fault and not a dodgy sender or wiring issue so I need to send mine away and see if it can be repaired.
During the week I had driven the car to and from work a couple of times to give it a short shake down so with no issues it was time for a longer run and at speed so a 40 mile round trip up the M23 then one junction of the M25 and back with no issues I was confident it would be ok for the 250 mile round trip on Sunday.
A fresh set of side mouldings with M5 badges plus clear side repeaters to replace the body colour painted ones and ambers.
Continuing with the amber to clear theme a set of mint condition facelift rear outer lamps with clear indicators and new facelift inner lamps to replace the faded ones fitted plus a pair of new outer bumper mouldings.
And to finish off the clear indicator theme (all UK M5's had clear indicators) the amber shod halogens that had a cheap HID kit and broken adjusters were replaced with a set of OEM facelift xenon headlights that had been refurbished with all new adjusters, polished lenses and new bulbs.
Also in the pic you can see the M sport front bumper T bar in the centre grill has been swapped out for the M5 mesh grill and the standard mirror have been replaced with the M5 specific ones. A new motor and glass was required the drivers mirror as they had been damaged when the donor M5 was crashed.
The engine bay received a bit of a wipe down, new headlight gaskets and some of the bolts that hold on the headlights, rad supports and front panel were replaced with new to get rid of some rusty old ones to help tidy it up a bit.
Quick wash the evening before the meet then the last piece to go on at 11.30 pm was the M5 rear badge.
Keeping the self levelling rear air suspension meant some rerouting of the pneumatic lines, wiring and removal of the compressor from its "tortoise shell" housing that locates it in under the spare wheel and putting it in the forward compartment of the M5's battery tray that normally houses a tyre inflation kit.
One of the plastic trims (left one which covers the BM54 radio unit) was already cracked and the ones on the right needed some cutting to allow routing of the some wiring so this is an area that requires some finessing so another set of plastic covers will be sourced and adapted to tidy this area up.
More of that gold plated plastic fitted up, the centre under tray specific to the sport front bumper is often missing or damaged from speed bumps etc and in my case, it still has an SE one fitted along with ebay copies of the "pork chop" side pieces.
I was initially told the centre piece was on back order with no delivery date (so no stock in the UK or Germany) but then one turned up a couple of days later. Happy days I thought but on closer inspection it had clearly been knocking about in a warehouse for some time as it was covered in dust and had (as can been seen in the pics) lots of scratches to the underside. Annoying but I wasn't going to be too choosy on something I would have to wait a long time for another if they even make another batch!
The M5/M3 Oval interior mirror suffering from the usual bleeding of its auto dimming glass plus mine was missing its "clown nose" alarm LED lens so it was an order from cutters forum sponsor www.mirrorjohn.co.uk for a replacement glass and lens.
Fitted up and working. I ordered a set of covers for the back of the mirror and rain sensor but they don't seem to fit so thats on the snag list to look into whats going on if there are different size rain sensors.
When I bought the 540i the previous owner had fitted a set of birch anthracite interior trims which was quite sought after and I do like them but I wanted the interior to have as much M5 feel as possible so I swapped the birch for a very good set of M5 specific titan shadow trim set.
Another couple of options already retro fitted to the touring were the built in child booster seats and rear door blinds. Having owned several E39's over the years I always wanted the booster seats in them for my kids to use but now they are old enough not to need them any more. typical! M5 rear outer head rests added to match the fronts.
Switch panel with the M5's specific sport button to adjust throttle map and steering assistance.
Another retro fit carried over from the touring is the wide screen MK4 nav (very antiquated now) and DSP audio system which although not great, its a step up from the very poor base spec audio most E39's have to put up with.
The donor M5 still had its original early black face instrument cluster so that was swapped over but as you can see its suffering from the usual dead pixels in the display. What isn't noticeable in the pics are some other issues with it such as the fuel gauge incorrectly reading and the warm up lights on occasion doing an impression of a crappy disco.
I have tried another cluster to confirm its my cluster at fault and not a dodgy sender or wiring issue so I need to send mine away and see if it can be repaired.
During the week I had driven the car to and from work a couple of times to give it a short shake down so with no issues it was time for a longer run and at speed so a 40 mile round trip up the M23 then one junction of the M25 and back with no issues I was confident it would be ok for the 250 mile round trip on Sunday.
A fresh set of side mouldings with M5 badges plus clear side repeaters to replace the body colour painted ones and ambers.
Continuing with the amber to clear theme a set of mint condition facelift rear outer lamps with clear indicators and new facelift inner lamps to replace the faded ones fitted plus a pair of new outer bumper mouldings.
And to finish off the clear indicator theme (all UK M5's had clear indicators) the amber shod halogens that had a cheap HID kit and broken adjusters were replaced with a set of OEM facelift xenon headlights that had been refurbished with all new adjusters, polished lenses and new bulbs.
Also in the pic you can see the M sport front bumper T bar in the centre grill has been swapped out for the M5 mesh grill and the standard mirror have been replaced with the M5 specific ones. A new motor and glass was required the drivers mirror as they had been damaged when the donor M5 was crashed.
The engine bay received a bit of a wipe down, new headlight gaskets and some of the bolts that hold on the headlights, rad supports and front panel were replaced with new to get rid of some rusty old ones to help tidy it up a bit.
Quick wash the evening before the meet then the last piece to go on at 11.30 pm was the M5 rear badge.
5.45am V power fill up before heading round the M25.......
.... before meeting up with a load of E39 M5 owners at Beaconsfield services......
..... to head up the M40 to the meet at C&M.
An enjoyable morning out with some nice M5s including plenty in some rare individual colours.
So impressions... it goes and stops just like an M5, it handles pretty much like an M5 with the Eibach rear ARB helping to keep the body roll with the extra weight in check. Ride is nice and compliant compared to my M4 despite the Bilstein B8 shock absorbers and with every bush, ball joint, mount, suspension arm and steering rod being new its a tight as can be.
Only down side is 3rd gear syncro has had it so a quick change up or down into 3rd will mean a crunch. Annoying as it means a box rebuild and I had no way of knowing this as i couldn't drive the crash damaged M5.
Very happy with how it has turned out so far and despite there being a snag list plus a few other changes i would like to make, I am looking forward to doing those as and when.
Edited by BSSBMW on Monday 5th July 21:44
Court_S said:
That is stunning; fair play for getting it ready in time. Looks like a cracking collection of M5’s including that Dakar yellow one which is pretty rare.
I’m watching an old Wheeler Dealers where he buys an E39 M5 for £4K. How things have changed!
Times have indeed changed! I paid £6400 for my rusty crash damaged donor last Autumn and even then that was considered a good deal!I’m watching an old Wheeler Dealers where he buys an E39 M5 for £4K. How things have changed!
Even the last six months has seen a sharp rise in values of them.
RichardM5 said:
A fantastic build Barry, looked epic at Caffeine and Machine despite your rush to get it ready in time. I think the decision to try and make it as BMW would have done was exactly the right one.
The strange thing about M5 estates is that everyone seems to want one; except that, when new, they didn't sell well at all.
The E34 was only made in LHD and they made just 891 of them.
The E61 wasn't much better, 222 RHD and 803 LHD cars.
For a mainstream manufacturer those are tiny numbers and if you look at the E61 RHD cars a significant chunk (25%+) were dealer/press demonstrators all supplied at, or soon after, launch. The build number fell dramatically for each year of production, 191 in 2006/7, 26 in 2008, 4 in 2009 and just 1 in 2010.
To me the E39 M5 makes much more sense as a Touring than either the E34 or E61, the S62 engine is exactly what you want in an estate, especially if you add a tow bar. Nether the S38 or S85 have the right characteristics, both being high revving and with little torque at low revs. The E61 fuel tank is not what you want in a fast estate either at just 70 litres, even the E34 had a 90 litre tank.
I'm sure I've read somewhere that BMW have said that they will never make another M5 Touring, although they are now making the M3 Touring, they prefer to produce the X5/6M to fill that perceived niche, except for me they miss the point entirely.
So greatest respect to you, for making the car that BMW never had the conviction to release themselves. The E39 M5 is the consummate all rounder, but an E39 M5 Touring is on another level.
Thanks Richard, high praise as I know you have an eye for detail!The strange thing about M5 estates is that everyone seems to want one; except that, when new, they didn't sell well at all.
The E34 was only made in LHD and they made just 891 of them.
The E61 wasn't much better, 222 RHD and 803 LHD cars.
For a mainstream manufacturer those are tiny numbers and if you look at the E61 RHD cars a significant chunk (25%+) were dealer/press demonstrators all supplied at, or soon after, launch. The build number fell dramatically for each year of production, 191 in 2006/7, 26 in 2008, 4 in 2009 and just 1 in 2010.
To me the E39 M5 makes much more sense as a Touring than either the E34 or E61, the S62 engine is exactly what you want in an estate, especially if you add a tow bar. Nether the S38 or S85 have the right characteristics, both being high revving and with little torque at low revs. The E61 fuel tank is not what you want in a fast estate either at just 70 litres, even the E34 had a 90 litre tank.
I'm sure I've read somewhere that BMW have said that they will never make another M5 Touring, although they are now making the M3 Touring, they prefer to produce the X5/6M to fill that perceived niche, except for me they miss the point entirely.
So greatest respect to you, for making the car that BMW never had the conviction to release themselves. The E39 M5 is the consummate all rounder, but an E39 M5 Touring is on another level.
An interesting insight into the dwindle sales of `E61 M5' over their production span and you a bang on in that some many people post and say they would love more M power tourings but the people that actually buy them new clearly feel differently.
Interesting to mention the tow bar as its something I want to add one to the touring. The detachable one was available on the M5 as well so its just a case of finding the parts.
McGee_22 said:
I think your highlighting of the engines torque characteristics is spot on - both the E34 and E60/61 M5 engines aren't just lacking torque at low revs compared to the Alpina Touring models, but all over; the S38 makes 295lb-ft in the E34 compared to 350+ of the E34 B10 4.6, and the S85 just 384lb-ft compared to 530+ in the B5 Touring.
Those very significant deficiencies, whilst hidden well in high revving almost race engines just aren't desirable in a genuine all round road car - the E39 5.0 S62 makes its 380lb-ft almost identically to the 4.8 M62 in the E39 B10 V8S Alpina and just a few more than B10 V8 4.6 engine.
The problem with Alpina is that they just aren't able to offer new car discounts like BMW can with their genuine ///M cars, so the price point always makes them a true connoisseur/lunatics* choice and subsequently rarer still than the BMW ///M cars.
*Delete according to mental health assessment or bonkers budgetary availability.
Great car OP, with a great quality build.
Very valid points RE the Alpina vs M power cars even to the current day with G2x B3 using the G8x M3/4's S58 engine but with smaller turbos with the result in slightly less power but a jump in low down torque.Those very significant deficiencies, whilst hidden well in high revving almost race engines just aren't desirable in a genuine all round road car - the E39 5.0 S62 makes its 380lb-ft almost identically to the 4.8 M62 in the E39 B10 V8S Alpina and just a few more than B10 V8 4.6 engine.
The problem with Alpina is that they just aren't able to offer new car discounts like BMW can with their genuine ///M cars, so the price point always makes them a true connoisseur/lunatics* choice and subsequently rarer still than the BMW ///M cars.
*Delete according to mental health assessment or bonkers budgetary availability.
Great car OP, with a great quality build.
A G21 B3 touring is a highly likely candidate replacement for my F82 M4.
Starting to work through the snag list and quite an important one with the weather we are having at the moment is the AC or lack of. When it was in use and before the 540i was pulled apart the AC was working fine so despite my usual modus operandi of replacing everything with new, the condenser was left to be reused but a new receiver drier was fitted after the system was exposed to atmosphere during the conversion.
The moment the AC machine was attached to the car it was apparent there was a leak from the condenser so new one was ordered up last week and it became apparent when the old one was removed that it was clearly past its best! With that fitted up the system gassed up its now blowing ice cold as it should be.
A lucky forum find was a pair of genuine BMW accessory E39 touring specific roof rails.
Another lucky find on ebay was a set of four genuine BMW accessory bike racks which were attached to a pair of E39/E46 saloon roof rails which I swapped over to the touring rails.
All in aid of pressing the wagon into family use!
Superhoop said:
Just don't forget the bikes are on the roof.. We went to walk the dog at the local country park a few weeks ago and on arrival we were met with a very heavily damaged "max height" barrier, a very badly damaged child's bike still attached to the bike carrier, then a few metres further on, a BMW with one roof bar ripped off and badly damaged..
This was being looked over by a clearly very angry with himself dad and a very very upset child, who clearly wasn't going to be riding round the country park on his bike as planned...
Stunning conversion though and as others have said, the attention to detail is amazing..
Thanks!This was being looked over by a clearly very angry with himself dad and a very very upset child, who clearly wasn't going to be riding round the country park on his bike as planned...
Stunning conversion though and as others have said, the attention to detail is amazing..
I did dawn on me pretty quickly to be height aware just pulling out of my drive as we clipped a few low hanging branches!
I was more apprehensive as to what it would be like up to speed. Apparently its fine for 80 mph but I didn't pass 75 and it was solid.
Volvolover said:
You’ll soon gain confidence in the speed Lolol
Well over a ton with my Thule stuff regularly and that looks just as robust (if not rebadged thule anyway)
That's good to hear although i don't think i'll be attempting the cars limited top speed of 155mph (or delimited 180mph!) when holidaying in Germany!Well over a ton with my Thule stuff regularly and that looks just as robust (if not rebadged thule anyway)
Yes I suspect the BMW rails and racks are made by Thule.
With the dead line to get the car on the road in time for the E39 M5 meet there were a few a few things that I left to address later that wouldn't stop me using the car but needed sorting. To get the engine up and running I used the donor M5's EWS immobiliser module, ignition barrel and key to work with the M5 DME (engine ECU) which allowed it to fire up straight away. Obviously this isn't ideal having two different keys and using the M5 EWS with its VIN and VO (Vehicle order, list of options fitted to the car) stored when its a 540i..... more on that in future.
Using the excellent binary modification tool from www.ecuworx.co.uk meant I could switch off the EWS input on the M5's DME so I could switch back to the 540i's EWS, ignition barrel meaning all working off the original 540i key.
While using the tool I also removed the 155mph speed limiter, switched off the post cat O2 sensors for now (as mine has no cats) and switched off the Secondary Air Pump meaning quieter cold starts.
[/url]
The modified BIN file being flashed onto the DME using MSS flasher.
All working off one key now, no post cat O2 sensor faults and hopefully less annoyed neighbours when setting off for early Sunday morning hoons.
Using the excellent binary modification tool from www.ecuworx.co.uk meant I could switch off the EWS input on the M5's DME so I could switch back to the 540i's EWS, ignition barrel meaning all working off the original 540i key.
While using the tool I also removed the 155mph speed limiter, switched off the post cat O2 sensors for now (as mine has no cats) and switched off the Secondary Air Pump meaning quieter cold starts.
[/url]The modified BIN file being flashed onto the DME using MSS flasher.
All working off one key now, no post cat O2 sensor faults and hopefully less annoyed neighbours when setting off for early Sunday morning hoons.
Going back to a previous picture I posted of the M5 cluster, it was not happy! Lots of dead pixels meant the mileage and check control messaged were unreadable, the fuel and temp gauges under read, the rev counter was inaccurate plus the ABS/DSC lights didn't work. Something was seriously amiss inside that cluster.
After recommendation by a few people on one of the E39 FB pages and a chat with the man himself, I sent the cluster to Keith at AK speedo to see what was up with it and upon taking it apart it was clear what the issue was. Various parts of the circuit board and motors had corrosion, some of the worst he had seen. Who knows how this cluster ended up like this but needless to say it was not saveable.
With it being an early black face M5 cluster instead of the later grey face one it would be a shame to bin it as they are hard to find now and quite sought after. Keith came up with a solution and it meant finding a donor cluster with a suitable SW and HW number so a call to a BMW breaker I know turned up a cluster from a 2003 530d which met the requirements so that was sent up to Keith to cannibalise for the relevant parts to make up a fully working black face M5 cluster.
With the cluster now fully functional with no dead pixels the next thing to do was program it with the 540i VIN number and milage so everything tallied up with the cars physical VIN number rather than have mismatched VIN's in the cars control units and the incorrect mileage for the car (not the engine) stored.
Fitted back into the car and coded up with the cars VO matched to the EWS's VO so everything is now matched and working correctly with no tamper dot, mismatched VIN's, VO's or milages.
Time to update this now as the last part of the four part feature in straight six magazine is now out.
Back in mid September I managed to source a replacement Getrag 420g gearbox to sort out the 3rd gear synchro issue. The box came from a lowish mileage E46 M3 SMG so after swapping over the bell housing from my M5 420g gearbox it was swiftly swapped over the evening before the final shoot.
An early start on a Sunday morning to make the most of the empty Sussex roads, I met up with Steve Carter who would be driving the M5 and writing the final part of the feature for the BMWCC magazine and Dean Grossmith who would be the photographer, both of them who make up #turnandclipit.
I have never had any of my cars on the front cover of a magazine so when the copy landed I was chuffed to see they editorial had decided to go with it! Dean managed to get some fantastic shots of the car despite the slightly challenging weather conditions on the day.
In the lead up to the feature I had been in talks with a few of people about the possible sale of the car and by the time the photoshoot was done a sale was agreed and a deposit paid which surprised quite a few people that I had decided to sell the car so soon but people who know me well know what I'm like so cars don't usually hang around that long and a big part of the enjoyment for me is the build so now it is basically complete, it was time to move onto something else.
This project was something I had wanted to do for a long time which I thoroughly enjoyed and it will most likely be another one of those cars that I regret selling!
The car has been sold to someone with a nice BMW collection and they have put it straight into use with a road trip to Scotland and back.
Would I build another? Yes if someone pays me to this time lol!
Would I do anything differently next time? Other than buying a ULEZ compliant touring with a sunroof, no.
Back in mid September I managed to source a replacement Getrag 420g gearbox to sort out the 3rd gear synchro issue. The box came from a lowish mileage E46 M3 SMG so after swapping over the bell housing from my M5 420g gearbox it was swiftly swapped over the evening before the final shoot.
An early start on a Sunday morning to make the most of the empty Sussex roads, I met up with Steve Carter who would be driving the M5 and writing the final part of the feature for the BMWCC magazine and Dean Grossmith who would be the photographer, both of them who make up #turnandclipit.
I have never had any of my cars on the front cover of a magazine so when the copy landed I was chuffed to see they editorial had decided to go with it! Dean managed to get some fantastic shots of the car despite the slightly challenging weather conditions on the day.
In the lead up to the feature I had been in talks with a few of people about the possible sale of the car and by the time the photoshoot was done a sale was agreed and a deposit paid which surprised quite a few people that I had decided to sell the car so soon but people who know me well know what I'm like so cars don't usually hang around that long and a big part of the enjoyment for me is the build so now it is basically complete, it was time to move onto something else.
This project was something I had wanted to do for a long time which I thoroughly enjoyed and it will most likely be another one of those cars that I regret selling!
The car has been sold to someone with a nice BMW collection and they have put it straight into use with a road trip to Scotland and back.
Would I build another? Yes if someone pays me to this time lol!
Would I do anything differently next time? Other than buying a ULEZ compliant touring with a sunroof, no.
puttything said:
Is there any special sauce involved here? I'm in the same boat with crunchy second and a replacement M3 SMG box. I was pretty sure it was a go-er, but I've been reading about re-setting the preload of the integral bearings in the bell housing, did you need to do anything like that? TIA 
Great photos, I'm intrigued what one of these would sell for given the prices of decent E39 M5s of late..
Nope, no issues at all and in fact its no different than all the SMG to manual conversions going on at the moment with people swapping bell housings around on E46's.Great photos, I'm intrigued what one of these would sell for given the prices of decent E39 M5s of late..
Having said that, I spoke to Neil at All Gears in Worksop who is one of the few people in the UK who can rebuild the getrag 420g box and he said it would swap over fine.
Chunkychucky said:
b
ks it's a shame this wasn't advertised, a swap i've considered a few times and finished to a lovely standard too 
Congrats on the sale, fingers crossed it comes up for sale again in similar condition at some point..!
Thanks! ks it's a shame this wasn't advertised, a swap i've considered a few times and finished to a lovely standard too Congrats on the sale, fingers crossed it comes up for sale again in similar condition at some point..!
I rarely advertise cars when I sell them on, they usually go by word of mouth.
I doubt this will come up for sale again any time soon but the current owner has given me first refusal.
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