BMW E39 M5 touring build #2
Discussion
Being a habitual BMW owner, fettler and all round addict I have got to intimately know the product over the years to a point that there are certain models that I feel comfortable with that I can buy them relatively cheap, be generally reliable and maintain them for not a lot of money yet should the worst happen you can claw back most if not all or in some cases more than what it owes you if you buy right.
E46's and E39's fall into this camp for me and having owned many of them and worked on a ridiculous amount of them they tend to be my go to cheap barge, petrol powered of course with no less than a 2.8 mill powering said barge.
Tourings (estates to the layman) usually take preference for their load capacity for hauling frag and doing dump runs, family stuff etc so several of them have seen action in our household, some of them nice (a manual E39 540i Sport touring, E39 M5 touring build) and some not so nice...... see below.
When our most recent house move was on the horizon a wagon was needed to be used as a tool for aforementioned dump runs and assisting on the day of the move so back in Jan 2020 a trawl through usual places found this E39 528i on FB market place down in Bournemouth.
A tatty 528iSE in Biarritz blue over Sand beige with a few nice options such as glass roof, power seats and MID radio that after the train journey down from East Grinstead it turned out to be even more tatty than in the pics, but upon inspection was good enough to make the journey home and be pressed into use so a deal was struck and £700 handed over.
Six months later it met a grizzly end as while parked next to the road as a wannabe drift c*ck in an MX5 ploughed into it when he lost it on a bend.
Severe damage to the OSF corder bending the chassis rail in the process meant this wagon was on a one way ticket to China.
Every cloud and all that..... their insurance paid out £1200 plus I got to keep the car so cats cut off and that was another £700 back before a mate took the remains off my hands as part of another deal as he wanted the engine out of it.
6 months trouble free service and £1200 up was a lucky win with that one so where are we now on the cheap E39 touring barge front.......?
Between the demise of the Biarritz barge and the present time anther E39 touring came and went in the form of the aforementioned E39 M5 touring build.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
This left a wagon shaped hole in the fleet so this needed to be addressed. I put the feelers out with all my "car mates" that i was on the hunt for another cheap E39 touring and a couple of months passed with several links forwarded to me of potentials which were discounted until at the beginning of Jan a mate sent me a link to an ad on FB market place.
A 170k mile 2002 530i Sport auto in Sterling grey with black leather, a boring combo to me but a popular on one the whole not that really matters that much when we talking cheap bangernomoics barges, but no grey leather! I have a loathing for hush puppy grim grey leather in cars!
Before even contacting the seller I did a reg check and found the spec of the car,
S202A Steptronic
S470A Isofix-System
S520A Fog lights
S853A Language version, English
S210A Dynamic stability control
S227A Sport susp.+low-slung+ride-height ctrl.
S249A Multifunction f steering wheel
S302A Alarm system
S316A automatic trunk lid mechanism
P337A M Sports package
S386A Roof railing
S403A Glass roof, electrical
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S430A Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S434A Interior surface aluminium
S441A Smoker package
S459A Seat adjustment, electric, with memory
S481A Sports seat
S494A Seat heating driver/passenger
S500A Headl.washer system/intensive cleaning
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S521A Rain sensor
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S601A TV function
S609A Navigation system Professional
S620A Voice control
S632A Preparation BMW Handy (Motorola)
S677A HiFi system Professional DSP
S694A Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer
S710A M Sports steering wheel, multifunction
S715A M Aerodynamics package
S760A High gloss shadow line
S775A Headlining anthracite
S785A White direction indicator lights
S788A BMW LA wheel, Individual
L812A National version Great Britain
S850A Dummy-SALAPA
S863A Dealer List Europe
S877A Omission of non-combined operation
S880A On-board literature, English
I had struck optionmeister gold! A highly optioned car from new with some highlights being xenons, powered tailagte, heated memory seats, glass roof, DSP hifi, power fold mirrors etc makes a nicer barge to waft about in and should its time come to an end, it has a lot of desirable frag for E39 perverts.
Another plus point was the car was in walking distance from my house so a phone call to the seller and i was on my way round with a jack in the boot of the car to have a gander. Jacking up all four corners revealed none of the usual sill/jacking rust that can afflict E39's now they are old cars nor any rusty brake pipes, we were onto something. Everything electrical on the car worked even the AC blowing cold and even more amazing was none of the high gloss shadow line trim (the hideously expensive gloss black trim around the side windows) was suffering from the usual oxidisation, not that a trivial thing like window trim matters on a cheap barge but surprising to see none the less!
A short road test to make sure the auto box was ok and nothing else untoward confirmed it would be ok then it was time to have a look at the paper work, expecting to see a few old MOT's and the odd Euro car parts receipt normally par for the course with cheap old car fodder......
It transpired that the car was first registered by Barrons BMW Hindhead as a dealer demo hence the high spec which was then sold on at 3 months old and stayed in the same family till a couple of years ago when the current owner bought it.
I was shocked to flick through what turned out to be a car that only ever went to a BMW dealer up till 2017 apart from tyres, wheel alignment and the odd MOT and local tyre fit places. Some big dealer bills were in that lot including new shocks and springs all round at about 130k miles, most of the cooling system replaced, brakes, thew CCV system plus other bits and pieces.
It even had the original bill of sale as an approved used car at 3 months old for the princely sum of £19795 plus a T reg Audi Avant with a trade in value of £16200!
This was gold dust and stuff that excites the inner dork in me, hell they even had all the invoices for renewing the tracker subscription!
So after that distraction back to the car, it had recently failed an MOT on two front tyres, head light aim and a sharp edge on the driver door mirror where it had been hit.
The seller was moving the car on as he needed a van for work so had put a pair of tyres on the front, taped up the mirror and had not got round to sorting the headlights and after hitting a fox the plastic front sport bumper exploded just like old Mondeo ones did so was replaced with a copy one from ebay that was still in bare black plastic. With an offer accepted, I left my other car there, I drove the wagon 5 min home on trade plates then walked back and picked up my M3.
So there we have it, back in a daily bangernomics barge that needed a bit of work but In actual fact had to bones of making into a nice E39 despite the mileage.
E46's and E39's fall into this camp for me and having owned many of them and worked on a ridiculous amount of them they tend to be my go to cheap barge, petrol powered of course with no less than a 2.8 mill powering said barge.
Tourings (estates to the layman) usually take preference for their load capacity for hauling frag and doing dump runs, family stuff etc so several of them have seen action in our household, some of them nice (a manual E39 540i Sport touring, E39 M5 touring build) and some not so nice...... see below.
When our most recent house move was on the horizon a wagon was needed to be used as a tool for aforementioned dump runs and assisting on the day of the move so back in Jan 2020 a trawl through usual places found this E39 528i on FB market place down in Bournemouth.
A tatty 528iSE in Biarritz blue over Sand beige with a few nice options such as glass roof, power seats and MID radio that after the train journey down from East Grinstead it turned out to be even more tatty than in the pics, but upon inspection was good enough to make the journey home and be pressed into use so a deal was struck and £700 handed over.
Six months later it met a grizzly end as while parked next to the road as a wannabe drift c*ck in an MX5 ploughed into it when he lost it on a bend.
Severe damage to the OSF corder bending the chassis rail in the process meant this wagon was on a one way ticket to China.
Every cloud and all that..... their insurance paid out £1200 plus I got to keep the car so cats cut off and that was another £700 back before a mate took the remains off my hands as part of another deal as he wanted the engine out of it.
6 months trouble free service and £1200 up was a lucky win with that one so where are we now on the cheap E39 touring barge front.......?
Between the demise of the Biarritz barge and the present time anther E39 touring came and went in the form of the aforementioned E39 M5 touring build.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
This left a wagon shaped hole in the fleet so this needed to be addressed. I put the feelers out with all my "car mates" that i was on the hunt for another cheap E39 touring and a couple of months passed with several links forwarded to me of potentials which were discounted until at the beginning of Jan a mate sent me a link to an ad on FB market place.
A 170k mile 2002 530i Sport auto in Sterling grey with black leather, a boring combo to me but a popular on one the whole not that really matters that much when we talking cheap bangernomoics barges, but no grey leather! I have a loathing for hush puppy grim grey leather in cars!
Before even contacting the seller I did a reg check and found the spec of the car,
S202A Steptronic
S470A Isofix-System
S520A Fog lights
S853A Language version, English
S210A Dynamic stability control
S227A Sport susp.+low-slung+ride-height ctrl.
S249A Multifunction f steering wheel
S302A Alarm system
S316A automatic trunk lid mechanism
P337A M Sports package
S386A Roof railing
S403A Glass roof, electrical
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S430A Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S434A Interior surface aluminium
S441A Smoker package
S459A Seat adjustment, electric, with memory
S481A Sports seat
S494A Seat heating driver/passenger
S500A Headl.washer system/intensive cleaning
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S521A Rain sensor
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S601A TV function
S609A Navigation system Professional
S620A Voice control
S632A Preparation BMW Handy (Motorola)
S677A HiFi system Professional DSP
S694A Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer
S710A M Sports steering wheel, multifunction
S715A M Aerodynamics package
S760A High gloss shadow line
S775A Headlining anthracite
S785A White direction indicator lights
S788A BMW LA wheel, Individual
L812A National version Great Britain
S850A Dummy-SALAPA
S863A Dealer List Europe
S877A Omission of non-combined operation
S880A On-board literature, English
I had struck optionmeister gold! A highly optioned car from new with some highlights being xenons, powered tailagte, heated memory seats, glass roof, DSP hifi, power fold mirrors etc makes a nicer barge to waft about in and should its time come to an end, it has a lot of desirable frag for E39 perverts.
Another plus point was the car was in walking distance from my house so a phone call to the seller and i was on my way round with a jack in the boot of the car to have a gander. Jacking up all four corners revealed none of the usual sill/jacking rust that can afflict E39's now they are old cars nor any rusty brake pipes, we were onto something. Everything electrical on the car worked even the AC blowing cold and even more amazing was none of the high gloss shadow line trim (the hideously expensive gloss black trim around the side windows) was suffering from the usual oxidisation, not that a trivial thing like window trim matters on a cheap barge but surprising to see none the less!
A short road test to make sure the auto box was ok and nothing else untoward confirmed it would be ok then it was time to have a look at the paper work, expecting to see a few old MOT's and the odd Euro car parts receipt normally par for the course with cheap old car fodder......
It transpired that the car was first registered by Barrons BMW Hindhead as a dealer demo hence the high spec which was then sold on at 3 months old and stayed in the same family till a couple of years ago when the current owner bought it.
I was shocked to flick through what turned out to be a car that only ever went to a BMW dealer up till 2017 apart from tyres, wheel alignment and the odd MOT and local tyre fit places. Some big dealer bills were in that lot including new shocks and springs all round at about 130k miles, most of the cooling system replaced, brakes, thew CCV system plus other bits and pieces.
It even had the original bill of sale as an approved used car at 3 months old for the princely sum of £19795 plus a T reg Audi Avant with a trade in value of £16200!
This was gold dust and stuff that excites the inner dork in me, hell they even had all the invoices for renewing the tracker subscription!
So after that distraction back to the car, it had recently failed an MOT on two front tyres, head light aim and a sharp edge on the driver door mirror where it had been hit.
The seller was moving the car on as he needed a van for work so had put a pair of tyres on the front, taped up the mirror and had not got round to sorting the headlights and after hitting a fox the plastic front sport bumper exploded just like old Mondeo ones did so was replaced with a copy one from ebay that was still in bare black plastic. With an offer accepted, I left my other car there, I drove the wagon 5 min home on trade plates then walked back and picked up my M3.
So there we have it, back in a daily bangernomics barge that needed a bit of work but In actual fact had to bones of making into a nice E39 despite the mileage.
Edited by BSSBMW on Saturday 8th October 15:23
d_a_n1979 said:
Perfect; another decent touring and a 530i Sport at that 
We'll just wait quietly by the side until you finally decide to shoehorn another S62 in there
Haha! We'll just wait quietly by the side until you finally decide to shoehorn another S62 in there
I would be lying if I said another project hadn't crossed by mind as this car has so many of the options already that needed to be retro fitted on the last one to get it to the same spec as an M5 but the price of E39 M5's and parts have shot up since I bought the last one in 2020 so I don't think if would be economically viable this time but you never know what the future holds!
Maybe if the engine of box die in this something will happen but I can't see that happening anytime soon.
Sf_Manta said:
Now that's a car despite being a banger nomics.. worthy of some light restoration to bring it back to a tidy example.
That's the thing about milleage, it's not really an issue SO long as maintenance is kept up with. I'd go on condition and how the car was maintained (history) over milleage.
Upon closer inspection it seems that this car does deserve better than being run as a banger like the blue 528i but you have to draw the line and not get too carried away, especially when I have other cars more worth of attention.That's the thing about milleage, it's not really an issue SO long as maintenance is kept up with. I'd go on condition and how the car was maintained (history) over milleage.
You are right though re condition over mileage. Mileage hasn't fazed me too much in the past on certain cars, I once bought a 10 year old E46 328Ci with 217k miles for a £1000 and ran that for a year and 11000 miles before selling it on at 228k miles still going strong not using a drop of oil!
Sf_Manta said:
Fair point!, though I'd go as far as fixing the mirror and get the bumper resprayed so it's at least presentable.
Indeed and it is on the list of things to do......
Having bought the car with a recent MOT failure it it was time to sort that out and have a good poke about to see where we were at with it. As mentioned it had failed on two front tyres, a sharp edge on the drivers mirror and head lamp aim which was due to the usual broken E39 adjusters.
The PO had gone as far to tape up the door mirror, put a pair of budget tyres on the front but had done nothing about the headlights. As soon as I got the car home they were whipped off and given to one of my techs to sort out as he has a little side line in refurbing E39 headlights so a new set of adjusters and a polish up then fitted back on the car meant a fresh years MOT.
While on the ramp I found it had virtually new Yokohamas on the rear, recent rear pads and discs plus recent drive belts and a general lack of corrosion for a 20 year old E39 and no play in any of the ball joints although some of the bushes are starting to look past their best, notably the four rear subframe bushes and front ARB bushes.
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What was very apparent was a couple of oil leaks, one from the rocker cover gasket and one from the sump gasket but not the common M52/4 oil filter housing gasket. The car was also over due a service so as the oil was going to be drained down it made sense to tackle the leaks at the same time.
[Sump and rocker cover off revealed reasonably clean internals of the M54B30 engine.
A "Value line" Inspection 2 service kit ordered from BMW along with the relevant gaskets needed to fix the leaks.
Sump back all cleaned up and back on.
Air filter was 10 years old! It may have been sitting on a shelf in a BMW dealers parts department for a while before being sold and fitted, I would need to read back through all the invoices to see when it had its last inspection 2 service as the air filter only gets replaced on that service.
A brake fluid change was also done as that was looking decidedly old and is meant to be replaced every couple of years. The PO hadn't done any servicing in the two years he had it bar an oil and filter change so I seem to have caught it in time before it declined into poor maintenance which would have been a shame considering the first few owners who kept on top of it.
Inspection 2 service complete, The engine bay looks like it has never been cleaned in 20 years so that will need to be addressed at some point.
When looking thought the history I found that it had the radiator replaced by a BMW dealer about 7 years ago which that was still in good order but the fan cowling was clearly the original and at 20 years old its suffered from being brittle from all the heat cycles. It supports the expansion tank and as can be seen its broken where that mounts so this needs replacing and whilst there, a new plastic fan blade will be a wise move as these can shatter jettisoning the blades into the bonnet.
Fully serviced, MOT'd and comfortable with it being safe enough to be pressed into daily service.
The black sport leather interior has faired extremely well considering the age and mileage, I have seen plenty of other E39's with interiors in much worse shape with broken switch gear, thread bear bolsters, filthy shiny leather and lots of squeaks and rattles. The original M sport steering wheel and the aluminium trim and leather gear knob being the rear main giveaways that the car has done 170k miles from the inside.
None of the common dead pixels on the monitor. I swapped out the CD rom based sat nav computer for the later DVD based one and upgraded to version 32 software.
The old traffic master system still fitted and powering up. These are often disconnected as they could be a source of battery drains on this era of BMW.
What looks like graphics from an 80's games console but in a 00's car!
I gave the seats a clean a scrub with some leather cleaner plus a quick wipe down of the plastics with some Megs APC.
The interior took some vacuuming as well as there was plenty of wood dust everywhere due to the PO being a chippy by trade and using it for work.
A deeper clean is on the cards with removal of the seats and some of the plastic to get better access and reach all of the infernal wood dust!
A nice condition full leather gear knob left over from the 540i touring during the M5 touring build and a spare steering wheel left over from my M3 which is identical other that the M tri colour stitching and that it had covered 100k less miles of use! All contributing to making it a more pleasant place to be.
Really letting the side down on the tourings overall appearance was the drivers door mirror and front bumper. The PO had taped up the mirror as it had failed the MOT on a sharp edge but this wouldn't do so a new outer trim and front cover were ordered up.
Back from the bodyshop, mirror cover and the copy front bumper painted so a wash kicking off with Bilt hamber snow foam and a good going over in all the nooks with some Megs APC has made the touring that bit more presentable with mainly the wheels letting the side down now.
The fit on the bumper isn't great to be honest especially where it meets the wheel arches and it took a lot of prep work to get a decent paint finish so I wouldn't recommend buying one if in need, just pay the extra and get a genuine one but as it was on the car already it would do for now.
Pressed into service in its natural habitat making use of the load capacity and self leveling suspension
jackcactii said:
Even if it's a bit of a shed, I would've at least put a rag down under the stuff 
You would have had kittens if you had seen it loaded up with Garden waste the other week!Seriously though, a quick vacuum and wipe down and all was good again.
I have been looking for an OEM rubber load liner.
Three months in and the wagon has covered a couple of thousand miles without missing a beat other than a leaky left rear air spring which was duly replaced. The previous owner had already replaced the right rear.
The bonnet had been letting the side down in terms of general tidiness as it was heavily chipped and had a high spot when the bonnet had been shut on something.
A stroke of luck (for me) was a customer deciding not to bother repairing their high mileage cat C 525iSE which happened to also be sterling grey with a very tidy bonnet!
Swapped over the paint match is pretty good considering it had been painted recently, a new badge finished it off nicely.
Looking a lot tidier from when first bought, the real let down now were the very tatty non staggered Style 66 17" wheels, something had to be done!
A pal of mine had a set of staggered genuine style 37 18" M parallels in need of a refurb so a deal was done and off to Lepsons they went for them to work their magic.
Shod in a set of Hankook Ventus S1 evo3 tyres along with new badges and bolts they have transformed the way the car looks.
Compared to the day i bought it.
The bonnet had been letting the side down in terms of general tidiness as it was heavily chipped and had a high spot when the bonnet had been shut on something.
A stroke of luck (for me) was a customer deciding not to bother repairing their high mileage cat C 525iSE which happened to also be sterling grey with a very tidy bonnet!
Swapped over the paint match is pretty good considering it had been painted recently, a new badge finished it off nicely.
Looking a lot tidier from when first bought, the real let down now were the very tatty non staggered Style 66 17" wheels, something had to be done!
A pal of mine had a set of staggered genuine style 37 18" M parallels in need of a refurb so a deal was done and off to Lepsons they went for them to work their magic.
Shod in a set of Hankook Ventus S1 evo3 tyres along with new badges and bolts they have transformed the way the car looks.
Compared to the day i bought it.
sutts said:
That’s looking lovely Barry.
Tugs at my heart strings, as I also had a Sterling Grey 530i Sport Touring, with black leather and silver trim (the one in fact that came with the OEM roof bars you collected from me for your M5 Touring!). It wasn’t quite so well optioned as yours, but was a fabulous drive with relatively low miles and if course I SHOULD NOT HAVE SOLD IT
Somewhat off topic I need to come and visit you with my E28 to discuss a few bits.
Thanks!Tugs at my heart strings, as I also had a Sterling Grey 530i Sport Touring, with black leather and silver trim (the one in fact that came with the OEM roof bars you collected from me for your M5 Touring!). It wasn’t quite so well optioned as yours, but was a fabulous drive with relatively low miles and if course I SHOULD NOT HAVE SOLD IT
Somewhat off topic I need to come and visit you with my E28 to discuss a few bits.
You will be pleased to know I kept the roof bars along with the bike racks when I sold the M5 touring so they will be used again on a sterling 530i Sport touring!
Regret of selling is something often heard from E39 owners, yours looked a care for example.
Give the office a ring when you're ready and ask for me.
A long overdue update for the wagon!
Daily use of the old bus over the last few months has proven to be relatively reliable with only a couple of hiccups along the way.
The nearside rear of the car decided to drop to the deck which was the usual air spring split and leaking so an Arnott replacement was duly fitted. The offside had recently been replaced by the previous owner.
A front end knocking over bumps was traced to very worn original front anti roll bar bushes allowing the bar to move laterally. New genuine bushes replaced the 20 year old originals.
The rear end of the car was feeling a bit loose and crashy over bumps so a closer look at the rear subframe bushes revealed them to be the originals and that they were toast! All four replaced with febi items.
I had leant my dad the touring while I had his Z4 in for some work and he had the misfortune of a rapid deflation and subsequent blow out whilst traveling at 80'ish on the M2. Luckily he maintained control of the car and got over to the hard shoulder without incident.
The culprit!
I would love to know how this came to be on the tarmac of the M2 before destroying a virtually new 18" Hankook! A replacement was fitted when he returned the car back to me.
Suffering from the typical E38/E39/E53 instrument cluster dead pixels, these were not too bad when I bought the car but have gradually got worse.
The cluster was removed and sent off to www.akspeedo.com for them to test and repair any issues with it.
Back in the car and now able to read the mileage correctly!
That rounds up the the maintenance over the last few months. I have mulled over a manual conversion but as its just a daily work horse it's a bit pointless so will prob just do some maintenance to the automatic box instead.
Daily use of the old bus over the last few months has proven to be relatively reliable with only a couple of hiccups along the way.
The nearside rear of the car decided to drop to the deck which was the usual air spring split and leaking so an Arnott replacement was duly fitted. The offside had recently been replaced by the previous owner.
A front end knocking over bumps was traced to very worn original front anti roll bar bushes allowing the bar to move laterally. New genuine bushes replaced the 20 year old originals.
The rear end of the car was feeling a bit loose and crashy over bumps so a closer look at the rear subframe bushes revealed them to be the originals and that they were toast! All four replaced with febi items.
I had leant my dad the touring while I had his Z4 in for some work and he had the misfortune of a rapid deflation and subsequent blow out whilst traveling at 80'ish on the M2. Luckily he maintained control of the car and got over to the hard shoulder without incident.
The culprit!
I would love to know how this came to be on the tarmac of the M2 before destroying a virtually new 18" Hankook! A replacement was fitted when he returned the car back to me.
Suffering from the typical E38/E39/E53 instrument cluster dead pixels, these were not too bad when I bought the car but have gradually got worse.
The cluster was removed and sent off to www.akspeedo.com for them to test and repair any issues with it.
Back in the car and now able to read the mileage correctly!
That rounds up the the maintenance over the last few months. I have mulled over a manual conversion but as its just a daily work horse it's a bit pointless so will prob just do some maintenance to the automatic box instead.
Thanks everyone for the comments!
Ebay is a dangerous place to spend time on! I was trawling looking for E39 parts for another V8 E39 I recently bought when I stumbled across the carbon black M5 pictured with the grey touring. It is by far the rustiest E39 I've seen in person but I guess thats the result of spending a large chunk of its life in Scotland and on the Kent coast so it was not worth saving despite being mechanically very good, well maintained with a very good service history.
Ideal donor car then!
It is easier to get an S62 in and running in a V8 E39 than a six cylinder one if you are happy to use 535i or 540i gearbox, prop and diff but if you want it all M5 then it all has to come out so no difference really.
The crucial thing is to start with a post 9/98 built petrol E39 with DSC not ASC to minimise the amount of wiring alterations required and ideally a post 4/99 E39 as that will have a diamond key and allow the use of a facelift round airbag steering wheel.
Last time both the M5 and the 540iA were '99 built cars which had the 20 pin diag connector under the bonnet, this time round the M5 is a '00 built car and the touring a '02 built car, both of which do without the 20 pin connector under the bonnet.
Ebay is a dangerous place to spend time on! I was trawling looking for E39 parts for another V8 E39 I recently bought when I stumbled across the carbon black M5 pictured with the grey touring. It is by far the rustiest E39 I've seen in person but I guess thats the result of spending a large chunk of its life in Scotland and on the Kent coast so it was not worth saving despite being mechanically very good, well maintained with a very good service history.
Ideal donor car then!
McGee_22 said:
In for the watch - amazed you're going to try do this again - will there be many major additional issues going from a I6 to S62 rather than the previous M62 to S62?
Not particularly. There are some additional wiring alterations in the engine bay and the lower steering column spindle is different but other than that its no different from the same process and combination of parts used on converting the 540i i did last time.It is easier to get an S62 in and running in a V8 E39 than a six cylinder one if you are happy to use 535i or 540i gearbox, prop and diff but if you want it all M5 then it all has to come out so no difference really.
The crucial thing is to start with a post 9/98 built petrol E39 with DSC not ASC to minimise the amount of wiring alterations required and ideally a post 4/99 E39 as that will have a diamond key and allow the use of a facelift round airbag steering wheel.
Last time both the M5 and the 540iA were '99 built cars which had the 20 pin diag connector under the bonnet, this time round the M5 is a '00 built car and the touring a '02 built car, both of which do without the 20 pin connector under the bonnet.
After life getting in the way through December I've finally managed to kick start the M5 touring build by starting off pulling the donor M5 apart.
This September 2000 built M5 is an early facelift car so has the later S62 engine with its revisions to piston rings and VANOS as well as doing away with the under bonnet 20 pin diagnostic connector and having the later grey dial instrument cluster, ideal as the touring is an April 2002 built car.
S249A Multifunction f steering wheel
S302A Alarm system
S423A Floor mats velours
S430A Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S459A Seat adjustment, electric, with memory
S488A Lumbar support, driver and passenger
S494A Seat heating driver/passenger
S500A Headl.washer system/intensive cleaning
S520A Fog lights
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S555A On-board computer V with remote control
S710A M Sports steering wheel, multifunction
S775A Headlining anthracite
S785A White direction indicator lights
S853A Language version, English
S265A Tyre pressure control (TPC)
S358A Climate comfort windscreen
S403A Glass roof, electrical
S416A Roller sun visor, rear lateral
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S441A Smoker package
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S609A Navigation system Professional
S620A Voice control
S629A Car telephone (GSM) w card reader, front
S672A CD changer for 6 CDs
S677A HiFi system Professional DSP
S690A Cassette holder
L812A National version Great Britain
S863A Dealer List Europe
S877A Omission of non-combined operation
S880A On-board literature, English
S995A Dummy-SALAPA
A pretty well specced M5 with black heritage leather and the M5 specific Bruyere wood trim. Good history with every single service invoice from new, clutch replacement just before it was taken off the road a couple of years ago but its body has not fared well............
Out of its twenty odd years, its spent roughly half of those spilt between Aberdeen and Margate so plenty of salty moist air to help it fester! By far the most rustiest E39 I've seen in person, so bad it had to be lifted on the floor pans at the rear rather than the jacking points. A stark contrast to the tourings body condition.
Interior gutted so the complete body loom could be removed so the relevant wires can be extracted from their plugs to be transferred to the touring body loom like last time.
The S62 extracted from below.
As per the last build, the M5's boot floor has been cut out to be grafted into the touring in a factory finish.
This September 2000 built M5 is an early facelift car so has the later S62 engine with its revisions to piston rings and VANOS as well as doing away with the under bonnet 20 pin diagnostic connector and having the later grey dial instrument cluster, ideal as the touring is an April 2002 built car.
S249A Multifunction f steering wheel
S302A Alarm system
S423A Floor mats velours
S430A Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S459A Seat adjustment, electric, with memory
S488A Lumbar support, driver and passenger
S494A Seat heating driver/passenger
S500A Headl.washer system/intensive cleaning
S520A Fog lights
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S555A On-board computer V with remote control
S710A M Sports steering wheel, multifunction
S775A Headlining anthracite
S785A White direction indicator lights
S853A Language version, English
S265A Tyre pressure control (TPC)
S358A Climate comfort windscreen
S403A Glass roof, electrical
S416A Roller sun visor, rear lateral
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S441A Smoker package
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S609A Navigation system Professional
S620A Voice control
S629A Car telephone (GSM) w card reader, front
S672A CD changer for 6 CDs
S677A HiFi system Professional DSP
S690A Cassette holder
L812A National version Great Britain
S863A Dealer List Europe
S877A Omission of non-combined operation
S880A On-board literature, English
S995A Dummy-SALAPA
A pretty well specced M5 with black heritage leather and the M5 specific Bruyere wood trim. Good history with every single service invoice from new, clutch replacement just before it was taken off the road a couple of years ago but its body has not fared well............
Out of its twenty odd years, its spent roughly half of those spilt between Aberdeen and Margate so plenty of salty moist air to help it fester! By far the most rustiest E39 I've seen in person, so bad it had to be lifted on the floor pans at the rear rather than the jacking points. A stark contrast to the tourings body condition.
Interior gutted so the complete body loom could be removed so the relevant wires can be extracted from their plugs to be transferred to the touring body loom like last time.
The S62 extracted from below.
As per the last build, the M5's boot floor has been cut out to be grafted into the touring in a factory finish.
Deano_BMW said:
love the previous touring, I'm sure this one will be just as amazing.
I was very lucky to own an Oxford Green 6 Speed manual 540i touring. Should never have sold it. I know i have rose tinted glasses as I've owned a few but I still love the things, proper proper cars the E39's
Thanks!I was very lucky to own an Oxford Green 6 Speed manual 540i touring. Should never have sold it. I know i have rose tinted glasses as I've owned a few but I still love the things, proper proper cars the E39's
An Oxford green six speed 540i touring would have been a rare E39! The E39 is such a complete car which despite the design coming up for 27 years old, can make for reliable daily car and not feel really old. I guess that's why other than an E92 Alpina B3 and an F82 M4 ive not really moved on from this era of BMW for my daily drive.
Ruskie said:
Love these types of builds!
Seek said:
Subscribed... looking forward to following this project! :-)
Thanks!Chunkychucky said:
Glad work has commenced on this and it's to the same standard as last time!Looking forward to the build progressing
tvrfan007 said:
Looking forward to this progressing, I enjoy your threads and love the attention to detail it provides. You've got buyers queued up already! How come you're doing it again though, is this one for you?
Thanks! I've had a few people contact off the back of a single Facebook post showing interest if I decide to sell but I want to try and keep this one!Quags said:
Fantastic couple of threads, the level of your work is amazing!
Looking forward to seeing this one.
One comment, the placement of the M5 badge on the rear of the last one looked wrong to me for some reason, but what do I know!
Bravo good sir.
Thanks! RE the rear M5 badge placement, it can be tricky to judge where something like that should sit when it was something that never way so I took measurements of where other models of E39 touring are badged and used the top of the inner lamp and the inside of the outer lamp as datum points as that is generally where other BMW's take their measurements from ie the outside of the car.Looking forward to seeing this one.
One comment, the placement of the M5 badge on the rear of the last one looked wrong to me for some reason, but what do I know!
Bravo good sir.
six port said:
Loving your work!
I have a zero rust Le Mans blue touring I’d love to give this treatment, fancy doing another one after ha ha
Thanks! I saw your thread, Le Mans is rare for a touring and an ideal base for an M5T build as Le Mans was an M5 colour.I have a zero rust Le Mans blue touring I’d love to give this treatment, fancy doing another one after ha ha
MiniOneSam said:
I’m really pleased to see this - I believe I was the last person to own X641 DPN and drive it.
I had the absolute pleasure of daily driving my dream car for 2 years. When the car was facing huge bills to get it structurally through an MOT, I just couldn’t afford it at the time, and I ended up swapping it with my friend Rob for (get ready for it) a 2007 Mini Cooper S - a fair trade at the time, given the M5’s condition.
I shuddered as the values rose, but I’m sure we’ve all been there.
Rob wanted to get it back on the road, as someone who’s fairly handy, but I think even for him this was a project too big.
He said the car was sold to someone in Northampton, and I’m not sure if this is you?
I now drive my E91 320D Touring with it’s number plate W444 GON.
I truly couldn’t be happier to see the car being used for, ultimately, something I dreamed of doing.
Funnily enough, I was talking to my Dad about one day having something worthy of putting the plate on just 15 minutes ago. At exactly the same time, the previous owner of the M5 WhatsApp’d me out of the blue with a link to this thread.
Life works in funny little ways, and it certainly seems like this was meant to be.
I wish you all the luck with the project, and would love the chance to see it when it’s done
When I posted pics with the reg visible I did wonder if any of the previous owners would be on here and spot it so it is a delight to that someone has! Thanks for reaching out and not chastising me for chopping up what was once somebodies pride a joy.I had the absolute pleasure of daily driving my dream car for 2 years. When the car was facing huge bills to get it structurally through an MOT, I just couldn’t afford it at the time, and I ended up swapping it with my friend Rob for (get ready for it) a 2007 Mini Cooper S - a fair trade at the time, given the M5’s condition.
I shuddered as the values rose, but I’m sure we’ve all been there.
Rob wanted to get it back on the road, as someone who’s fairly handy, but I think even for him this was a project too big.
He said the car was sold to someone in Northampton, and I’m not sure if this is you?
I now drive my E91 320D Touring with it’s number plate W444 GON.
I truly couldn’t be happier to see the car being used for, ultimately, something I dreamed of doing.
Funnily enough, I was talking to my Dad about one day having something worthy of putting the plate on just 15 minutes ago. At exactly the same time, the previous owner of the M5 WhatsApp’d me out of the blue with a link to this thread.
Life works in funny little ways, and it certainly seems like this was meant to be.
I wish you all the luck with the project, and would love the chance to see it when it’s done
Edited by MiniOneSam on Wednesday 11th January 14:33
I'm based in West Sussex but I bought the car almost blind from Rushden Northamptonshire from someone called Jason. He had owned the car a year or so but never got round to doing anything with it so decided to move it on.
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