150k mile E39 M5... daily

[seiben]

RichE60 said:

Amazing work and commitment. The car is fantastic, well done.

I went on the same journey with a 2000 silverstone blue 2018-2021. You probably know this stuff, but here are a few things I learned in that period.

- You can use 7 series catalytic converters
- You can remove secondary air assembly and code out the related EML
- polybushing all engine, suspension and transmission bushes with yellow power flex doesn't ruin the ride
- Heating matrix resistor can cause parasitic battery drain as can traffic module and amp
- ABS Module is 1800 new if you cant refurb it
- Silicone lube/gummi pflegdesift (no thats not a typo!) and velcro tape are good for all the rattles and seals
- Gtechnique for the plastic trim bits to make them black again for a bit longer
- Pete in the UK E39 Facebook Group for headlight restorations and upgrades
- If you want an M5 Boot Mat - US Facebook M5 group called (Shady) who does all sorts of upgrades
- Spit and Polish can do the correct shadow chrome effect on the wheels
- M539 Restorations on YouTube has an M5 resto project (and loads of others)
- Rotrip in Alton are a friendly E39 breakers

Maybe some of those might be useful for you or anyone doing the same. I really enjoyed my car and drove it every day.

Thank you Rich. Some of that I knew, some I didn't, so a very useful post I'm sure I will refer to in future

Anyway - the car's been sat in the garage again while the wheels were being redone, so I took the opportunity to do a job I've been putting off for a long time. The windscreen surround.

As usual my pics are severely lacking, but suffice to say this is the least favourite job I've ever performed on this car. The old rubber was hard as nails and I spent the entire time terrified I would exert just a little too much force and crack the windscreen.

What we were working with:



And the end result, after what felt like several hours of frustration, several cups of tea and a trip to the local builder's merchant for a better set of pliers:



fking thing had better last another 20 years

I also did a little cold start video getting it back out of the garage.... because why not?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZXus1CxX-rc (I can't embed, apparently, because it's a 'short')

Anyway, none of you care about that, you're here to see the wheels!

Here we go. New centre caps, M badges, a DIY ceramic coat.... and a 50 mile drive into central London on a slightly grotty day



That's a bit more like it, I'd say!

[seiben]

bolidemichael said:

Are those the twice refurbished alloys? They do look proper, now.

Yep. This is the *checks notes* fifth set of paint these wheels have had since I bought the car. Is fifth time lucky a thing?

[seiben]

I headed over to a nice little car show and autojumble in Newbury on BH Monday, the first official meet set up by a guy who runs the 'DadCars' youtube channel. The weather was st and one of my boys managed to get carsick on the way, but other than that it was a great way of spending a morning

Something I particularly liked, as a dad of three-under-three, was the amount of thought gone into keeping the kids happy and entertained. Got to have some incentive to keep the next generation of car nerds happy!



While I was there, someone who is actually good with a camera got some snaps of the M5. If I'd known he was coming I'd have cleaned the mud off the tyres











Photos credit: TierOnePhotos

Edited by seiben on Tuesday 11th April 12:19

[seiben]

JonnyWhitters said:

Sorry, only just seen this for some reason. Was great to meet you and grab pics of this awesome machine.

Thanks for the kind words about the pics too. Hope to see you at another one soon!

It was great to meet you too! I'll be keeping an eye out for the next event, for sure

M5 life has been ticking along nicely these past few weeks. I remembered to get a pic of it in super-saloon-bike-transit mode, complete with a nice layer of general grime now it's back in daily duty:



Then, this weekend just gone we had the annual classic car rally hosted by my local town. It's a very sweet event that kicks off with 300-odd classics from all eras parading around the town, through the centre and then onto the green for a car show that lasts the rest of the day.

As ever, my own photos do the car very little justice, but there was a good snap from someone in the crowd!



I like this pic for a variety of reasons....
1. The car looks great after a proper clean and wax
2. You can just see the nose of Pete's bright yellow Monaro behind me - this is shortly before we had the inevitably childish V8 noise-off in the town square
3. There is a rich variety of expressions from people in the crowd - some wondering how this boring looking car snuck into the event, some laughing at my two-year-old twins who were sitting in the back madly waving flags at passers by, and the odd person going "ooh... it's an M5". I feel the roof-rack really added to the general sense of confusion

What's up next? Well the MOT is next month, and I'm going to see if it'll nudge over 180k before that happens. Looking at these photos reminds me that I need to source some OEM grills because the black ones look a bit naff, which is particularly bothersome now the rest of the car looks so good. I also want to do something about the stereo - it has a really naff Eonon unit installed, which looks OEM but sounds terrible. The results of the MOT will define whether this is something that happens soon or not!

[seiben]

I got the old M all cleaned up for a special occasion last week. Then it immediately rained



In news that may or may not be related, keep an eye on the Dadcars Youtube Channel at around 6pm tomorrow...

[seiben]

Look mum, I'm on the telly!

[seiben]

Thanks, yeah it's nice to finally hear what it sounds like on the outside

Ben, the owner of Dadcars channel, tells me the video has been pretty successful in its first couple of days. I'm pleased for him - it's a hell of a process to get a 17 minute video put together. I reckon he was here for about 6 hours all told, plus a two-hour drive each way, and then another 10 hours editing

[seiben]

Prompted by a bump on one of my other threads, I thought it might be worth a little update here as well - given it's been nine months since the last update

Things continue apace in the world of leggy M5s, and fortunately I've been able to mostly enjoy it for what it is since the last post (famous last words....).

It's provided excellent rapid bike transport:




Delivered Christmas trees...




....and for various reasons ended up being my sole car for most of January, during which it became completely minging




Fortunately it did actually get a clean not long after this photo, and more recently I was able to head down to Kent to see Pete and his wonderfully silly Monaro. Many V8 noises were heard up and down the garden of England that weekend




The only spanner in the works was a gradual (but irritating) failure of the light control module, which manifested itself by randomly flashing the full-beams at inopportune times. I quickly realised and disconnected the bulbs, but having only dipped beam isn't really a long-term solution (particularly with MOT time looming!). A few days ago I contorted myself into the footwell and went digging through the interior trim with a replacement unit, seen here bolted to the side of the a-pillar underneath that massive tangle of wires...



A fiddly job, but fortunately not too complicated once I remembered where all the little screws went

182,500-ish miles now. Still loving it. Still not selling it.