Bought another old BMW... with a twist! 400BHP E61 530d

[mattyprice4004]

So, I like an older car. I have a collection of old, broken Rovers - and one driveway space allocated to what is meant to be a reliable vehicle.
We'll see about that...!

A couple of years ago I went on a mission to find a well-specced late E61 535d to replace my 525d - mission failed, as most seem to be in rather middling spec with questionable history.
In the end I gave up and settled for this 530d - not quite what I was after, but having the last iteration of the M57 engine along with piezo injectors I was well aware of the tuning potential and decided to take a punt.

​Generic scenic eBay photo, with bonus terrible Instagram filter applied by the seller:



It started out life as a relatively high-spec E61 and had 190,000 happy miles of pottering along completely standard - until I thought 'let's see what we can do with this' like an idiot.
First step - move the tasteless CYA plate from my old Mazda 3 MPS over to this (bought when under the influence of many beers; I'm terrible at remembering car registrations. Helps a lot when parking!)

Before picking modifications, I took it to Germany on my annual 'Ring trip - a few laps highlighted that the suspension was pretty tired all round, the brakes weren't really up to much (what a shock) and power-wise it'd be handy to have a few more horses on tap. Obligatory picture, with my rather unimpressed face:



Once home, the shopping began - and it was a heck of a list!

Cue one rather chunky turbo, an R90 fuel pump and various other bits and pieces being thrown at it - followed by lots of attempts to get the damn thing to run properly.
Lots of parts also suffered along the way - as expected several of the plastic boost hose fittings didn't get along very well with their new boosty pal, and promptly exploded.
Same with a few drivetrain components (including the gearbox itself, but we'll get to that...)
Aptly named the 'Big Grey Tw*t' the aim was to create the ultimate Swiss-army knife - a car I can take on my yearly trips to the 'Ring, lug heavy work stuff about with, use daily without having to compromise on comfort (because I'm old) and MPG (well, that didn't work out!) and most of all, appear completely standard to the outside world (everyone loves a sleeper).
She's rough as balls on the outside, but I've never been one for a pristine car.
Mods:
- Turbo Systems Stage 4 HTD3279BB (79mm compressor, 58mm turbine) running 42+psi of boost
- R90 fuel pump
- Stupidly big (and very hard to mount) intercooler
- Custom mapping (2300 bar fuel pressure, which the pump is struggling to keep up with so we'll have to change that soon)
- Full suspension refresh (went standard because the M Sport setup is pretty good IMO) with all OE parts, probably worth more than the car itself
- The usual EGR and DPF removals, because the planet is a bit knackered anyway
- Set of Spyder alloys as the 245s I had on the back just couldn't put any power down at all even with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 tyres
- XHP Stage 2 gearbox map (and yes, I hate stage tuning as much as everyone else - but that's what they call it)
- Gearbox mechatronic unit fully rebuilt after it had the world's biggest mood on her maiden voyage (all seals, Sonnax ZipKit, new solenoids etc. £££)
Power-wise it ran 390bhp on the last dyno run, however I then found a pretty big exhaust leak from the V band between turbo and manifold along with 3 boost leaks. Once these had been sorted the MAF figures at full boost suggest it's now around 420-430bhp, but I really need to pop it back on the rollers to verify.
It's certainly quick enough for a lardy bus!
One of the non-negotiable aspects of this journey was that the car has to look completely standard on the outside - I've always loved a sleeper (coming from my British cars such as the Rover 620ti and MG ZT260).

Anyway, enjoy. This is what happens when you find a bit of money and combine it with a love of old, crap BMWs.







Here's where we are today. Next week it's booked in for a full detail and paint correction - it'll never be a showroom example, but I feel after the torturous journey I should at least give the outside *some* attention.

I'll post an update with the after pictures - not that I'm expecting miracles!

[bgunn]

Go stage 3 on the XHP is my advice. On my 330 (admittedly 6HP19 gearbox) the stage 3 was actually smoother and quicker on gear change.

[Limited100]

Awesome project, and an LCI to boot! I went from a pre-LCI 530d to LCI 535d and it was significantly better on fuel, 36 mpg when driving like a tit vs 28 in the pre-LCI. Mind you, the knackered pre-LCI torque converter didn't help. Following with interest, and another vote for XHP gearbox map.

[PistonbrokePaul]

Glad to see you have finally started a thread on the big grey bus!

[Mr Tidy]

That looks like a great project so it will interesting to see what you do next!

I didn't realise BMW were still fitting the M57 to E60s as late as that. I'm sure E90s started getting the N57 in 2007.

[SS427 Camaro]

Mr Tidy said:

That looks like a great project so it will interesting to see what you do next!

I didn't realise BMW were still fitting the M57 to E60s as late as that. I'm sure E90s started getting the N57 in 2007.

Is the M57 fitted to the 2004 model 330d M Sport coupe ?

[Mr Tidy]

I would have thought so if BMW were still fitting them to early E9* 3 Series.

My 2004 E46 320td had the M47 which was the same generation diesel, just with 2 fewer cylinders.

[helix403]

SS427 Camaro said:

Is the M57 fitted to the 2004 model 330d M Sport coupe ?

Yes.

[mattyprice4004]

bgunn said:

Go stage 3 on the XHP is my advice. On my 330 (admittedly 6HP19 gearbox) the stage 3 was actually smoother and quicker on gear change.

I have indeed now done this - thank you! I had to hold off for a while due to what I thought was a conflict between the engine mapping and Stage 3 when I first tried it - but it was the MAP sensor giving iffy readings in the end.

[mattyprice4004]

Limited100 said:

Awesome project, and an LCI to boot! I went from a pre-LCI 530d to LCI 535d and it was significantly better on fuel, 36 mpg when driving like a tit vs 28 in the pre-LCI. Mind you, the knackered pre-LCI torque converter didn't help. Following with interest, and another vote for XHP gearbox map.

Thank you!
I did have the same torque converter issue on my first pre-LCI 530d - it didn't half sap some economy when cruising!

[mattyprice4004]

PistonbrokePaul said:

Glad to see you have finally started a thread on the big grey bus!

Ah, so long ago! Back on the trip where the engine electronics decided to give me a bit of a hard time...

[mattyprice4004]

Mr Tidy said:

That looks like a great project so it will interesting to see what you do next!

I didn't realise BMW were still fitting the M57 to E60s as late as that. I'm sure E90s started getting the N57 in 2007.

They did indeed - I did have a 2009 330d fitted with an N57, but I'm honestly not much of an N57 fan. I sold that car to buy this one; an excellent choice as it's been a fine chariot for the last couple of years.

I can't put my finger on why I didn't get on with the N57, but it just felt a bit... fragile?
Maybe I just like old, rattly canal-barge engines.

[mattyprice4004]

Quick update - I returned to the tuning company today to 'fine tune' some of the mapping and also do a few bits and pieces to get a bit more fuel to the R90 pump.
It seems a lot happier lower down and the top end seems to have opened up nicely too - as mentioned I'm now also on the XHP Stage 3 map.

She seems to be very happy at the moment - I did a brisk overnight run from Newcastle to Southampton the other week and it was absolutely glorious having a decent amount of 'shove' on tap combined with those big armchairs.

Not much else in the pipeline for now - just a bit of cosmetic touching up to do and I'll be throwing quite a lot of miles on her over the summertime!

[NomadicTurbo]

mattyprice4004 said:

Quick update - I returned to the tuning company today to 'fine tune' some of the mapping and also do a few bits and pieces to get a bit more fuel to the R90 pump.
It seems a lot happier lower down and the top end seems to have opened up nicely too - as mentioned I'm now also on the XHP Stage 3 map.

She seems to be very happy at the moment - I did a brisk overnight run from Newcastle to Southampton the other week and it was absolutely glorious having a decent amount of 'shove' on tap combined with those big armchairs.

Not much else in the pipeline for now - just a bit of cosmetic touching up to do and I'll be throwing quite a lot of miles on her over the summertime!

I feel like I saw you today, I recognise the number plate and car, but I can't place where I saw you, other than going round a roundabout!

I was heading down from Cheshire to just past Hereford

[Mr Tidy]

mattyprice4004 said:

Mr Tidy said:

That looks like a great project so it will interesting to see what you do next!

I didn't realise BMW were still fitting the M57 to E60s as late as that. I'm sure E90s started getting the N57 in 2007.

They did indeed - I did have a 2009 330d fitted with an N57, but I'm honestly not much of an N57 fan. I sold that car to buy this one; an excellent choice as it's been a fine chariot for the last couple of years.

I can't put my finger on why I didn't get on with the N57, but it just felt a bit... fragile?
Maybe I just like old, rattly canal-barge engines.

I can understand your thinking, having previously owned a 123d with the N47 that had the chocolate cam-chain set up that was at the back of the engine. Presumably the N57 chain was at the back too which doesn't seem like a good idea!

Luckily my 123d lasted over 80K miles with no problem until I sold it, and not doing the mileage to justify a diesel so I finally rediscovered straight 6 petrols.

[2gins]

mattyprice4004 said:

Quick update - I returned to the tuning company today to 'fine tune' some of the mapping and also do a few bits and pieces to get a bit more fuel to the R90 pump.
It seems a lot happier lower down and the top end seems to have opened up nicely too - as mentioned I'm now also on the XHP Stage 3 map.

She seems to be very happy at the moment - I did a brisk overnight run from Newcastle to Southampton the other week and it was absolutely glorious having a decent amount of 'shove' on tap combined with those big armchairs.

Not much else in the pipeline for now - just a bit of cosmetic touching up to do and I'll be throwing quite a lot of miles on her over the summertime!

How does the big grey tw*t do on open A/B's? I ask because I frequently do a Newcastle to London run and take the chance to use some routes I'd not normally see. I had a well-spec'd E60 530i which was great but the injectors became tiresome. In hindsight I should have persevered, and now 2 years on I find myself looking at the F10 (?) diesels (being London I need Euro6). I've always felt the combination of diesel torque and auto box would be utterly hopeless over the moors or down the Fosseway for example. But perhaps an unfair view.

[mattyprice4004]

NomadicTurbo said:

I feel like I saw you today, I recognise the number plate and car, but I can't place where I saw you, other than going round a roundabout!

I was heading down from Cheshire to just past Hereford

That was me! I did a loop from Southport down to Leominster (where the tuning company is based) then back through Wolverhampton to pick up a gearbox for a friend.
Hello

[mattyprice4004]

Mr Tidy said:

I can understand your thinking, having previously owned a 123d with the N47 that had the chocolate cam-chain set up that was at the back of the engine. Presumably the N57 chain was at the back too which doesn't seem like a good idea!

Luckily my 123d lasted over 80K miles with no problem until I sold it, and not doing the mileage to justify a diesel so I finally rediscovered straight 6 petrols.

I think (like many things) it's more a case of the worry of it happening rather than the chance being particularly high - there's a lot of confirmation bias when it comes to 'common issues' like N47 chains etc but it's important to remember just how many millions of them were produced.

The chance of a failure is probably fairly low, but being in the car community it's all anyone will say whenever the fatal 'N47' phrase is mentioned.
I probably just should have got on with it and enjoyed the car for a while - but having a similar chain layout to the N47 I just couldn't sit comfortably with the uncertainty (even though I knew the chances of failure were actually not really an issue).

Petrol is absolutely the way to go if you're not doing the miles - sadly I'm ploughing 30,000+ p/a on this, so Diesel still makes sense for now.
I do have an MG ZR if I fancy something I can throw about like a yob, and there's another driveway space for something more 'interesting' in the next year or two.
Prior to this I had an E60 M5 as the stablemate to my last 530d - a great car, but something a little less 'explodey' would be marvellous.

[mattyprice4004]

2gins said:

How does the big grey tw*t do on open A/B's? I ask because I frequently do a Newcastle to London run and take the chance to use some routes I'd not normally see. I had a well-spec'd E60 530i which was great but the injectors became tiresome. In hindsight I should have persevered, and now 2 years on I find myself looking at the F10 (?) diesels (being London I need Euro6). I've always felt the combination of diesel torque and auto box would be utterly hopeless over the moors or down the Fosseway for example. But perhaps an unfair view.

As standard it was fairly terrible for A/B road work, but once you wake up the gearbox with a decent map and get some power to the wheels it's remarkably entertaining.
The only caveat is that it takes a bit of fuel to get the turbo spinning if you're going from 'cruise' to 'maximum attack' - she's a big brute and the lag is a pain if you don't anticipate it appropriately.
Not a problem with the stock turbo (which is good for 300+ on these without issue) but it's certainly noticeable with the unit I've fitted.

I've learned to deal with this, though - just have to knock it down a gear before gunning for an overtake and give it a tickle to get things moving.
I have also fitted an Ultragauge to show current boost conditions; this helps a lot. Anything above 7-8psi on the dial and you know you'll be well into the 30s in a second or two.

The chassis itself is very capable for a large barge - it's never going to be a proper B road blaster, but you can push it surprisingly far as long as you have decent rubber fitted. I enjoy carrying some momentum through the twisties and I can't say I've ever been disappointed.
I've not got a lot of experience with the F1x platform, but sharing a similar suspension layout I can't imagine it's too different in this respect.

Good luck!

[NomadicTurbo]

mattyprice4004 said:

That was me! I did a loop from Southport down to Leominster (where the tuning company is based) then back through Wolverhampton to pick up a gearbox for a friend.
Hello

Thought so!

I have an F11 530d in Grey so always notice other 530ds and saw you flying off the roundabout