BMW E39 M5 Touring build
Discussion
The following thread will be posted on another forum so some of the content may be very obvious to some but not to others.
Here we are with the beginning of another project one of which I have wanted to do for some time.
BMW over the years have teased us with various prototypes and concepts which haven't made production for one reason or another. Concentrating on the E39 M5 touring, BMW had already made and sold an M5 touring with the previous generation E34 all be it in European LHD format with limited production only reaching 891 built.
Not long after the E39 M5 saloon was launched BMW built a single M5 touring as pictured above using a 540i as a base which was used by the then head of BMW M, Gerhard Richter. Unfortunately for one reason or another it didn't make it into production and it wasn't until the E61 M5 touring was launched that BMW bothered with an M5 touring again and haven't since with the following two 5 series.
Since then there have been several E39 M5 touring builds around the world to varying levels of execution with some being heavily modified and some being as close to OEM as possible so what I am about to undertake will be by no means be a first in any way. My take on it will be as close to what a factory build would have been with the probability of some suspension and brake upgrades at some point.
A previous project of mine in a similar vein was an E46 M3 touring build which got as far as a full conversion bar the bodywork.
https://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/threads/e46-m3-tour...
With that car sold on a couple of years ago a factory manual E39 540i Sport touring came my way which I started to do some work to and thats when the idea for the M5 build started to take place but being one of 13 UK RHD cars sold it was a bit too rare to mess about with so that was also sold on.
Fast forward to October this year and an Oxford green 540i touring well known in E39 circles popped up on ebay for a reasonable price and a run round the M25 from Surrey to Essex one eve to quickly view it to make sure it was ok resulted in a deal being done and it coming home with me.
This particular car appealed to me for several reasons and a big part of that appeal was the substantial retro fits and maintenance along the way, build thread here.
https://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/90321-pipers-e39-54...
For those of you who cant be bothered to trawl through that thread, the crux of it was a fairly basic spec pre facelift 540iSE auto in Oxford green with sand beige leather that ended up facelift sport spec with the following options retro fitted.
Complete interior swap from beige to black including headlining
Heated electric memory M5 front seats
M5 stitched leather centre console
M5 door cards with stitched leather door pulls
Birch anthracite wood trim
Power fold mirrors
Wide screen Mk4 Nav
DSP HiFi
Child booster rear seats
Rear door blinds
Slide out boot floor
Facelift sport bumper
Facelift Halo headlights and facelift celis rear lights
Eibach front springs
18" BBS style 5 replica wheels
[/url]
Buying this car has given me a massive head start by saving me a lot of time and money in parts bringing a base car up to M5 spec but there is still a lot to do!
A couple of weeks ago a suitable donor M5 that had sustained some damage popped up on facebook for a very good price. I had to move quick to secure it as there was naturally a lot of interest in it so the following morning with a bag of tools and a pre arranged recovery truck on standby I headed up to East London to make sure it ran ok and do the deal.
Back at the workshop, the following weekend initial assessment and strip down began and its fair to say that this particular M5 was no prize even pre accident condition but the core components I needed such as engine, gearbox, rear axle and electrical components all seemed to be ok.
Bent chassis rails as a result of the accident and plenty of underside corrosion made me feel less guilty about chopping up an M5.
[/url]
Interior completely stripped to be sold on and to remove the complete body wring loom so I can harvest it for sections to integrate into the tourings body loom in the same way I did with the previous E46 so various wires unpicked from their terminals, looms unwrapped and rewrapped all to make a custom loom with correct wire colours and terminations with no cutting and soldering.
So thats were we are so far. Next stage will be to remove the remaining parts from the donor M5 and start to go through them.
Here we are with the beginning of another project one of which I have wanted to do for some time.
BMW over the years have teased us with various prototypes and concepts which haven't made production for one reason or another. Concentrating on the E39 M5 touring, BMW had already made and sold an M5 touring with the previous generation E34 all be it in European LHD format with limited production only reaching 891 built.
Not long after the E39 M5 saloon was launched BMW built a single M5 touring as pictured above using a 540i as a base which was used by the then head of BMW M, Gerhard Richter. Unfortunately for one reason or another it didn't make it into production and it wasn't until the E61 M5 touring was launched that BMW bothered with an M5 touring again and haven't since with the following two 5 series.
Since then there have been several E39 M5 touring builds around the world to varying levels of execution with some being heavily modified and some being as close to OEM as possible so what I am about to undertake will be by no means be a first in any way. My take on it will be as close to what a factory build would have been with the probability of some suspension and brake upgrades at some point.
A previous project of mine in a similar vein was an E46 M3 touring build which got as far as a full conversion bar the bodywork.
https://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/threads/e46-m3-tour...
With that car sold on a couple of years ago a factory manual E39 540i Sport touring came my way which I started to do some work to and thats when the idea for the M5 build started to take place but being one of 13 UK RHD cars sold it was a bit too rare to mess about with so that was also sold on.
Fast forward to October this year and an Oxford green 540i touring well known in E39 circles popped up on ebay for a reasonable price and a run round the M25 from Surrey to Essex one eve to quickly view it to make sure it was ok resulted in a deal being done and it coming home with me.
This particular car appealed to me for several reasons and a big part of that appeal was the substantial retro fits and maintenance along the way, build thread here.
https://forum.bmw5.co.uk/topic/90321-pipers-e39-54...
For those of you who cant be bothered to trawl through that thread, the crux of it was a fairly basic spec pre facelift 540iSE auto in Oxford green with sand beige leather that ended up facelift sport spec with the following options retro fitted.
Complete interior swap from beige to black including headlining
Heated electric memory M5 front seats
M5 stitched leather centre console
M5 door cards with stitched leather door pulls
Birch anthracite wood trim
Power fold mirrors
Wide screen Mk4 Nav
DSP HiFi
Child booster rear seats
Rear door blinds
Slide out boot floor
Facelift sport bumper
Facelift Halo headlights and facelift celis rear lights
Eibach front springs
18" BBS style 5 replica wheels
[/url]Buying this car has given me a massive head start by saving me a lot of time and money in parts bringing a base car up to M5 spec but there is still a lot to do!
A couple of weeks ago a suitable donor M5 that had sustained some damage popped up on facebook for a very good price. I had to move quick to secure it as there was naturally a lot of interest in it so the following morning with a bag of tools and a pre arranged recovery truck on standby I headed up to East London to make sure it ran ok and do the deal.
Back at the workshop, the following weekend initial assessment and strip down began and its fair to say that this particular M5 was no prize even pre accident condition but the core components I needed such as engine, gearbox, rear axle and electrical components all seemed to be ok.
Bent chassis rails as a result of the accident and plenty of underside corrosion made me feel less guilty about chopping up an M5.
[/url]Interior completely stripped to be sold on and to remove the complete body wring loom so I can harvest it for sections to integrate into the tourings body loom in the same way I did with the previous E46 so various wires unpicked from their terminals, looms unwrapped and rewrapped all to make a custom loom with correct wire colours and terminations with no cutting and soldering.
So thats were we are so far. Next stage will be to remove the remaining parts from the donor M5 and start to go through them.
Watching with interest, this'll be the second project where someone's converted a E39 5 series touring to M5 spec I've been following.
The other would be Speed Acadamy's build on youtube currently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOfybZkMp2U&ab...
https://youtu.be/6oYwZA7LM2w
https://youtu.be/iPDlmmPSiyw
Plenty more videos of the build on their channel with a great deal of detail and what's needed to fit things in
The other would be Speed Acadamy's build on youtube currently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOfybZkMp2U&ab...
https://youtu.be/6oYwZA7LM2w
https://youtu.be/iPDlmmPSiyw
Plenty more videos of the build on their channel with a great deal of detail and what's needed to fit things in
Tommie38 said:
Great project OP.
Did the E39 M5 come with a steering box or hydraulic rack? I seem to remember the larger V8s coming with a box but I can’t be certain.
Think when viewing the Speed Acadamy videos, they swapped in the steering box from the M5 as it had variable ratio? or something that tightened up the sensitivity over the stock cooking models.Did the E39 M5 come with a steering box or hydraulic rack? I seem to remember the larger V8s coming with a box but I can’t be certain.
Tommie38 said:
Great project OP.
Did the E39 M5 come with a steering box or hydraulic rack? I seem to remember the larger V8s coming with a box but I can’t be certain.
All V8s came with a box; the M5 had a better ration box, but still a boxDid the E39 M5 come with a steering box or hydraulic rack? I seem to remember the larger V8s coming with a box but I can’t be certain.
The dervs and I6 engined E39s all came with a rack (for me it's much better and that's why I've personally stuck with 530i E39s); but the M5 box does drive very well too and I certainly wouldn't turn down ownership of one if I got the chance
Amazing project, will be truly special once finished.
Oxford Green is an amazing colour on these but please please do something about the blue inserts on the seats. It looks awful anyway but worse with the green.*
Oxford Green is an amazing colour on these but please please do something about the blue inserts on the seats. It looks awful anyway but worse with the green.*
- Usual caveats of 'IMHO', 'It's your project not mine', 'If you like it that's fine' etc etc...
Stick Legs said:
Amazing project, will be truly special once finished.
Oxford Green is an amazing colour on these but please please do something about the blue inserts on the seats. It looks awful anyway but worse with the green.*
The blue will being going for sure. The front seats will be dyed black for the time being but in the the long term I would like a heritage caramel interior which was often seen with Oxford green E39 M5's and I have started to develop a green over tan fetish as I've got older.Oxford Green is an amazing colour on these but please please do something about the blue inserts on the seats. It looks awful anyway but worse with the green.*
- Usual caveats of 'IMHO', 'It's your project not mine', 'If you like it that's fine' etc etc...
Sf_Manta said:
Watching with interest, this'll be the second project where someone's converted a E39 5 series touring to M5 spec I've been following.
The other would be Speed Acadamy's build on youtube currently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOfybZkMp2U&ab...
https://youtu.be/6oYwZA7LM2w
https://youtu.be/iPDlmmPSiyw
Plenty more videos of the build on their channel with a great deal of detail and what's needed to fit things in
I have seen the various E39 M5 build threads and videos doing the rounds and its interesting to see some of the choices they've made.The other would be Speed Acadamy's build on youtube currently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOfybZkMp2U&ab...
https://youtu.be/6oYwZA7LM2w
https://youtu.be/iPDlmmPSiyw
Plenty more videos of the build on their channel with a great deal of detail and what's needed to fit things in
After a two week delay over Christmas due to isolating with covid I got back down the workshop to carry on harvesting the M5 donor of its parts. Complete engine and transmission lowered out of the car with the front subframe and steering.
Complete body loom removed which will be picked apart for the relevant wiring and connectors that will be grafted onto the tourings body loom.
The end of the road for this M5 as the shell was collected today but not before cutting out the boot floor to unpick the panels required to graft into the touring shell to replace the spare wheel well with the relocated battery compartment so I can fit the M5's quad exhaust system.
Now that the M5 is fully stripped and disposed of attention will now turn to going through all of the parts and replacing, repairing and refurbishing where required then starting the process of converting the touring. I have decided on a plan of attack which may change but for now it centres around minimising the tourings time off the road and space taken up in the workshop which is as follows,
1. Strip down M5 donor car (completed)
2. Refurbish and assemble complete hybrid rear axle including front and rear brakes
3. Install rear axle, M5 brakes, front suspension and convert from auto to manual transmission but retaining the 540i engine
4. Replace timing chains, guides and rod bearings on engine as well as replacement of any other parts required
5. Refurbish steering box
6. Send car to bodyshop to have M5 boot floor panels and tackle corrosion on the rear jacking points
7. Build up front subframe with steering and complete engine.
8. Swap out 540i engine to M5 engine by dropping out complete front subframe, steering and engine to replace with previously assembled M5 set up and fit M5 quad exhaust, carry out all wiring alterations, swap over instrument cluster and all relevant electrical parts.
This is a simplified break down as there a lots of detail bits and pieces but it should break it down into manageable sections with the only labour doubling up is the removal and refitting of the gearbox which is only a few hours labour but by doing so means keeping the car mobile and out of the workshop as much as possible.
There are some cosmetic items such as the M5 mirrors and front bumper grill to be fitted which will go on somewhere along the line of the stages outlined above but it will not get any M5 badging until the complete conversion is done.
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