My first M car. E39 M5
Discussion
Took the car for a rather long drive today, I can't remember the last time I did that, pootled around listening to the V8. 
Realized that the suspension is a tad stiff on bumpy country roads, but the ride height seems spot on, no scraping or bottoming out despite some rather brisk progress (when not pootling about) it feels very safe and sure footed however, so my fears that the Bilsteins wouldn't suit me is gone.
My average MPG despite driving it to and from work seems stable at 22.5 mpg, sure, it's no prius but compared to the e38 750's I had in the past it's frugal.
I'll try to get the alignment re-done this weekend to cure the not perfectly straight steering wheel as it's driving me nuts, and I'll have the AC looked at on tuesday.
Realized that the suspension is a tad stiff on bumpy country roads, but the ride height seems spot on, no scraping or bottoming out despite some rather brisk progress (when not pootling about) it feels very safe and sure footed however, so my fears that the Bilsteins wouldn't suit me is gone.
My average MPG despite driving it to and from work seems stable at 22.5 mpg, sure, it's no prius but compared to the e38 750's I had in the past it's frugal.
I'll try to get the alignment re-done this weekend to cure the not perfectly straight steering wheel as it's driving me nuts, and I'll have the AC looked at on tuesday.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Sunday 9th July 21:21
Updates: RE: the AC, took it to a mechanic friend yesterday, he runs an AC business to have it looked over, of course there was a massive hole in the condenser, in a very odd location according to the mechanic -almost like someone punched it with something sharp, I was told... The odds of the massive hole being made by flying debrees are as massive as the hole itself concidering I've not even driven the car 500 miles since purchase.
So new condenser ordered and I got quoted somewhere around £300 for the part and the labor, could be worse...
I have no intentions selling the car yet, still I have it advertised at a very high price due to the fact that there is an 80.000 mile, 2 owner 1999 850 ci with the M73 version of the V12 for sale up north, Royal red with black individual nappa leather on BBS RC090's.... I'd grab that in a heartbeat if I had the cash laying around.
You can see why I'm concidering a sale right here..
So new condenser ordered and I got quoted somewhere around £300 for the part and the labor, could be worse...
I have no intentions selling the car yet, still I have it advertised at a very high price due to the fact that there is an 80.000 mile, 2 owner 1999 850 ci with the M73 version of the V12 for sale up north, Royal red with black individual nappa leather on BBS RC090's.... I'd grab that in a heartbeat if I had the cash laying around.
You can see why I'm concidering a sale right here..
TheAngryDog said:
I'd keep the M5 tbh. I'd be keeping mine if if didn't need work doing to it. I can understand the allure of an 850, but it is no M5.
True, it's no M5, this is just a longshot however. I'll probably end up keeping mine as I really like it But there are things that need doing on it that will prove expensive..Your thread purchase however didn't help despite the fact that a decent e55 is twice as expensive in Sweden than what you paid for yours, which looks awesome btw
TheAngryDog said:
Haha, quite the opposite here, this E55 was cheaper than a good M5!
Cheers! I need to change the grill, but the wheels are staying as they suit it!
It's the same here actually, a good e55 is still cheaper than a well looked after M5.Cheers! I need to change the grill, but the wheels are staying as they suit it!
Regarding the potentially eyewatering costs on mine this is mostly cosmetics, I noticed a while after I got the car that there is something wierd going on with the left rear wheel arch, the curvature isn't really right and there is an odd angle between the door and the arch (difficult to explain). So I managed to track down the guy who owned the car before the guy I bought it from. I asked him if he knew what the hell was the issue with the rear fender, what he told me beggars belief if I'm honest, he said that the 10" wide BBS wheels were rubbing so he "adjusted" the fender with a plastic hammer... "Adjusted" on a car built in such low numbers. I would like to adjust his head with the same hammer... So there will be metalwork and paint involved... probably on both rear quarterpanels, the "cheap" areas to do metal work on a car... Bloody kretins.
I have pulled the car from the market as I've desided not to sell it.
I was at a small M/Alpina gathering yesterday after work in Stockholm (200 mile round trip) and there were some truly spectacular cars there. My phone however has a camera malfunction so no proof, but a few stood out, first and foremost a Nautic Green 1992 B10 BiTurbo, the only one in the world in that hue, supplied new in Sweden, 2 owners in the same family and just 20000 miles. Stunning was the understatement of the century, one low milage 850 CSI and the cleanest e39 of any favor I've ever seen, a 40000 mile B10 V8 aswell.
Since it's 15 years since I drove one of these really fast I've forgotten that they are indeed rather rapid even for their age, I haven't really driven mine at speeds over 220 km/h up until yesterday and the car performed well, and by that I mean it was fast. I'm now led to believe that the car is de-limited, it showed 285 km/h on the speedo, 278 on my phone GPS, dunno how accurate either is, but it's faster than the 250 limit I'm sure.
Did it with ease if I'm honest, just buried the right foot in 6th gear and it just pulled quite happily up until then on a perfectly empty part of the motorway.
However, that speed did reveal the the Bilsteins are far too stiff for the bumpy Swedish motorways and there must be a worn bush or two somewhere out back because the rear end felt more lively than I remember that my friends did 15 years ago, that one felt very composed of the same stretch of motorway at the same speeds. It also had a vibration coming from the right rear over 240 km/h. I'll have to get that looked at. It felt rock solid if a tad stiff as I mentioned up to a bit over 200, not so much after...
Love it
I was at a small M/Alpina gathering yesterday after work in Stockholm (200 mile round trip) and there were some truly spectacular cars there. My phone however has a camera malfunction so no proof, but a few stood out, first and foremost a Nautic Green 1992 B10 BiTurbo, the only one in the world in that hue, supplied new in Sweden, 2 owners in the same family and just 20000 miles. Stunning was the understatement of the century, one low milage 850 CSI and the cleanest e39 of any favor I've ever seen, a 40000 mile B10 V8 aswell.
Since it's 15 years since I drove one of these really fast I've forgotten that they are indeed rather rapid even for their age, I haven't really driven mine at speeds over 220 km/h up until yesterday and the car performed well, and by that I mean it was fast. I'm now led to believe that the car is de-limited, it showed 285 km/h on the speedo, 278 on my phone GPS, dunno how accurate either is, but it's faster than the 250 limit I'm sure.
Did it with ease if I'm honest, just buried the right foot in 6th gear and it just pulled quite happily up until then on a perfectly empty part of the motorway.
However, that speed did reveal the the Bilsteins are far too stiff for the bumpy Swedish motorways and there must be a worn bush or two somewhere out back because the rear end felt more lively than I remember that my friends did 15 years ago, that one felt very composed of the same stretch of motorway at the same speeds. It also had a vibration coming from the right rear over 240 km/h. I'll have to get that looked at. It felt rock solid if a tad stiff as I mentioned up to a bit over 200, not so much after...
Love it
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Tuesday 29th August 18:07
Took the car for a long drive on some country roads during the weekend, the last one of 2017 in fact, going in for an MOT on thursday, and then it will be given a proper wash, inflated tyres, an oil change and a trickle charger and spend the winter in the relative warmth of my garage. I'll try to replace the integral links and both rear trailing arm ball joint thingys over the winter, I figure that even I can manage to accomplish that w/o too much risk if I have a few months to do it in
I'll try to sort a few other bits and bobs over the winter months, my Titan-line trim had bits painted as can be seen in the thread and I want to put it back to standard, but I'm not a fan of the titanium look so I'll try to find a nice set of vavona wood panels instead, that'll give the cabin a somewhat cosy feel compared to the hospital cold metal trim...
The frankly rather extensive search for a set of Style 65's in good nick have been fruitless so far, but the car desperately need a set of standard wheels, so I'll keep looking.
The weather was nice on saturday but very cold and windy
Missed the ferry by a minute, caught the next one and managed to get sea sick during the 5 minute crossing...
Cold and windy...
I'll try to sort a few other bits and bobs over the winter months, my Titan-line trim had bits painted as can be seen in the thread and I want to put it back to standard, but I'm not a fan of the titanium look so I'll try to find a nice set of vavona wood panels instead, that'll give the cabin a somewhat cosy feel compared to the hospital cold metal trim...
The frankly rather extensive search for a set of Style 65's in good nick have been fruitless so far, but the car desperately need a set of standard wheels, so I'll keep looking.
The weather was nice on saturday but very cold and windy
Missed the ferry by a minute, caught the next one and managed to get sea sick during the 5 minute crossing...
Cold and windy...
Finally, got a hold of a complete set M5-genuine wood trim to replace the partially painted titan-line trim in mine. Hopefully a relatively straight forward swap.
It'll remove the slightly chav-tastic appearance of my painted centre console
It's a set of Bruyere club, slightly red in hue, wet sanded and buffed, crack free and it cost me less than half of what the navi-surround would have cost retail, if you could get one, which u can't, they are NLA.
That's one of the winter projects, that and fitting of the facelift rears I imagine I can do myself, replacing the bottom rear ball-joints is a job I can't say I look forward to at all, proper ball-ache of a job I'm told.
It'll remove the slightly chav-tastic appearance of my painted centre console
It's a set of Bruyere club, slightly red in hue, wet sanded and buffed, crack free and it cost me less than half of what the navi-surround would have cost retail, if you could get one, which u can't, they are NLA.
That's one of the winter projects, that and fitting of the facelift rears I imagine I can do myself, replacing the bottom rear ball-joints is a job I can't say I look forward to at all, proper ball-ache of a job I'm told.
TheAngryDog said:
Are you fitting facelift rear lights? If so then you will need the adapters and also to make a coding change on the lcm3 module.
I have a set of genuine Hellas, that are basically brand new, they were actually mounted on the car when PO bought it and they worked without issues, the reason he replaced them with brand new pre-fl ones were down to the (in his mind) un-tidy installation, they have a separate ballast that needs to be hidden away and he in his very picky mind couldnt live with things not being perfect wiring wise, which is strange in a way since he had no problem attacking various bits on the car with a rattle can.. 
Not really related to the M5, it's still in the garage since it's cold and snowy, but I drove it around the block today, weather was gorgeous if bitterly cold...
Got another car to take the daily duties. 13000 mile 2014 VW Up, it's different than all the e39's I have had of late with it's massive 75 hp and even more impressive 95nm of torque, but hell, I like it.
I've finally grabbed a set of original wheels and I didn't really think they needed to be re-furbished..I was wrong, I'll try to get them away this week.
Got another car to take the daily duties. 13000 mile 2014 VW Up, it's different than all the e39's I have had of late with it's massive 75 hp and even more impressive 95nm of torque, but hell, I like it.
I've finally grabbed a set of original wheels and I didn't really think they needed to be re-furbished..I was wrong, I'll try to get them away this week.
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Sunday 18th March 20:11
TheAngryDog said:
You can get an adapter kit that doesn't need the ballasts from BMW. You just then need to code the LCM to tell it that you have LED lights fitted.
I'm looking into that aswell, can I use the rears that I already have with a different LCM, just remove the loom and ballasts? They are brand new so get another pair is somewhat un-necessary.Small steps today, installed all of the wood trim minus the center console, couldn't figure out how to remove the arm rest w/o damaging stuff and there is the metal "grid" where the climate control unit is housed (visible below the navi) that needs to be removed and painted aswell, but the improvement (to me anyways) is massive.
Comparison
Before:
Comparison
Before:
More small steps. Original wheels put on the car today. I bought them a gloomy winter afternoon and haven't really looked at them since, and they need a re-furb more than I thought. nevertheless, massive improvement in the looks department imo. I still have to drive it tho, winter is clinging on for dear life and the car is only insured for garage duty. Any week now...
Realized I haven't updated in 11 months, but to be fair not much have happened in that time. I don't drive the car enough, managed just over 3000 kilometers last summer, it's been garaged since october. Funny thing with some cars is that while not driving or looking at them the thought that the money could be better spent on something else sometimes appear in the back of the head and the same thought immidiately dissappears the very moment you start the engine or open the garage door...
We've had really silly warm weather most of february so I took the car for a very brief spin up and down the street a while back, haven't started the engine since november so it was a bit grumpy to say the least despite starting on the button after a brief oil pump priming, eventually settled down into a smooth idle but there seems to be one lifter stuck, it's ticking somewhat, I assume that's a thing that will go away after a proper thrashing.
Well, atleast it looks the business. (Don't mind the mess in the garage, that's the project for the coming weekend)
We've had really silly warm weather most of february so I took the car for a very brief spin up and down the street a while back, haven't started the engine since november so it was a bit grumpy to say the least despite starting on the button after a brief oil pump priming, eventually settled down into a smooth idle but there seems to be one lifter stuck, it's ticking somewhat, I assume that's a thing that will go away after a proper thrashing.
Well, atleast it looks the business. (Don't mind the mess in the garage, that's the project for the coming weekend)
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Thursday 7th March 10:40
Well, I sold the red one in September of 2019 to a nice Norwegian fella at quite the profit. I've since been without an M5, been looking for another E38 750 but those in good nick in Sweden are nowhere to be found.
I've had an "looking for" Ad out for a while in a local BMW forum looking for said 750's or E39 M5's and after a while, quite a while actually I got a reply from a guy selling his, it's been in the family of his for 10 years.
It's nowhere near the condition of my last one, but thankfully this one is sorted too, lots of bits new in the drivetrain and suspension, it has never been driven in the winter so it's as rust free as any E39 gets, there are very very small (as in millimeters) bubbles under the paint behind the fuel door and by the rear license plate lights, that's all.
125000 miles, Titan silver and the "embossed" leather but thankfully all black. It's OK specced, DSP sound system with BT fitted, glass sunshine roof, splitfolds and dual pane glass, the latter is fantastic, maked for a very quiet drive despite fat tyres if it weren't for the issue described below...
Is it perfect? Oh noes, As said, rust free and straither than a straight thing, but it needs a little paint, the rear bumper is flaking so I'll sort that, also the front tyres are worn, rims are flaking a little and the windscreen is not fitted correctly, apparently thats a thing on these, the screens are hard to seat so there is some wind noise which is a shame. Apart from that it's all there. Feels nice for a change to have somewhat compliant suspension, the red one had Bilstein coilovers on it, it's also nice to have the standard exhaust.
Despite higher milage this one is dead quiet and cold start, not that noisy at warm starts either and not even that diesely, also feels very punchy at all times.
I know these are getting expensive everywhere, but I think I may have gotten the cheapest one for sale in Sweden, I payed £3000 less than the 2nd cheapest for sale, time will tell if I did good
Anyways, enough waffle, here's some two hours after purchase not very clean pics...
I've had an "looking for" Ad out for a while in a local BMW forum looking for said 750's or E39 M5's and after a while, quite a while actually I got a reply from a guy selling his, it's been in the family of his for 10 years.
It's nowhere near the condition of my last one, but thankfully this one is sorted too, lots of bits new in the drivetrain and suspension, it has never been driven in the winter so it's as rust free as any E39 gets, there are very very small (as in millimeters) bubbles under the paint behind the fuel door and by the rear license plate lights, that's all.
125000 miles, Titan silver and the "embossed" leather but thankfully all black. It's OK specced, DSP sound system with BT fitted, glass sunshine roof, splitfolds and dual pane glass, the latter is fantastic, maked for a very quiet drive despite fat tyres if it weren't for the issue described below...
Is it perfect? Oh noes, As said, rust free and straither than a straight thing, but it needs a little paint, the rear bumper is flaking so I'll sort that, also the front tyres are worn, rims are flaking a little and the windscreen is not fitted correctly, apparently thats a thing on these, the screens are hard to seat so there is some wind noise which is a shame. Apart from that it's all there. Feels nice for a change to have somewhat compliant suspension, the red one had Bilstein coilovers on it, it's also nice to have the standard exhaust.
Despite higher milage this one is dead quiet and cold start, not that noisy at warm starts either and not even that diesely, also feels very punchy at all times.
I know these are getting expensive everywhere, but I think I may have gotten the cheapest one for sale in Sweden, I payed £3000 less than the 2nd cheapest for sale, time will tell if I did good
Anyways, enough waffle, here's some two hours after purchase not very clean pics...
Edited by PowerslideSWE on Wednesday 6th May 19:49
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