cameras ready prepare to flash

[s14brent]

E39 wagons are just an absolute peach. Had many a fun time with a mate's 528.

yeah i'm excited to have it back in the stables, but I'm not sure if Hagerty will accept it for classic reg...online quote got denied for some reason.

E39 Touring:



I got the headers back on with the OE heat shield gaskets. I hate these things. It was not fun at all putting on the 16 copper nuts on these things. I also had to clean up the o2 sensor wiring as it was in pretty bad shape.

The header/exhaust gaskets that he got had to have the bolt holes extended a bit. Used a rotary carbide to make them fit.



Threw on a s52 oil cap I had, the one on there had a pretty bad looking seal, so why not. I also threw in the old chasebays PS reservoir I had from the e30. I really liked this thing so I've had it set aside since the deal on the wagon was made (almost 2 years ago). I also replaced the hatch shock - PO replaced one side previously. I replaced the OE airbox the PO put on with the old AFE setup I had in originally. I cleaned the filter and put on a drysock to help keep it clean. After priming the car a few times, the car actually started up and ran REALLY well. I was scared there was some kind of surprise waiting for me. The only real surprise was how soft and loose everything felt on the test drive. the shift knob flew off when i shifted into 2nd, and I forgot how soft a stock clutch setup is - it was kind of a funny moment. Brake fluid service, oil & diff fluid change are on the to-do list next (i think), I forgot how to reset the service light on this tbh, will have to have a refresher soon.



The plan after the fluid change is to replace SLS rear suspension with bilstein b6 (already ordered)+febi top hats and see if i can fit some of my old e36 m3 perch + swift springs back there. I actually have spare 14kg rear swifts and 9kg swifts that I can throw up front When I refreshed the fortune auto fronts in the past I threw on 8kg Fortune auto springs. I'm really hoping to just recycle as many parts as I can to keep the costs down!!

Quick little start up video!



I actually decided not to look for another e39 steering wheel, since most of them are $250+ in good condition. I opted to just keep things simple and go with a momo hub (e36) + momo prototipo since this won't be a daily driver. I will probably test this car out at the local auto-x and possibly skid pad drift events when the e30 is down, so a bucket seat will be added soon. I already sourced a planted drivers seat bracket for cheap. I'll be using sliders on this setup vs the solid mount route I went with on the e30.

RacingDiffs has a LSD retrofit kit that they offer for e46/e39. It uses a e30/e36 LSD core able to fit 188k housing but requires machining of the output flanges. This is great because I have a spare LSD core that would need a rebuild - just sitting on my shelf. (the problem is, i'm not sure I can find anywhere local to do a radial groove in the output shafts for me.) I am actually interested in trying this out, with the stage 4 or 5 rebuild kit they offer for e30/e36 188 diffs, I could potentially rebuild it as a 1.5 way differential vs a 2way. The other option for e39 is welded diff - which isn't great for auto-x or road courses I feel, OR 210mm diff upgrade which only comes in 3.15 or 2.81 open diffs or 3.15 lsd from e39 m5 and require axles and possibly drive shaft - which is a bit too long of gearing and overall too expensive for a car i want to slowly build/test.

https://racingdiffs.com/collections/differential-tuning-parts/products/bmw-e46-lsd-swap-kit-e30-e36-e34-zf-006-unit

----
E30 update:



HarperFab oil pan arrived. There was some small shipping damage at the edge of the flange, kind of not a problem as it will be easy to blend in, just sucks because this is such a beautiful piece and literally nothing can be done.

I also got the link ecu combined pressure/temp sensor...I think thats the last of what I needed to get started wiring things up for the initial NA tune.

[Northern]

I love the lines of the E34 and E39 tourings. I keep coming back to the idea of owning one as a long term car because I want a wagon and besides an E9x, some kind of AMG C/E (which look good but I know nothing about, or a SPA V60/V90 Volvo (also hard to find, too new to tinker too hard, no manual), there's not much else out there. But they're really hard to find around here in reasonable shape.

Low boost setup on stock ECU to give it a bit of oomph, maybe slap a 6 speed in it eventually but try to keep it relatively cheap/simple otherwise.

[s14brent]

Hmm...I had a whole bunch of this update not show up.....I think I was saying how basically I'm going to move forward with the plans to Auto-X/HPDE the wagon.

I talked to Ray from KAAZ and dm'd racingdiffs about their e30/e36 lsd retrofit into e46/e39. Turns out the 188k unit in both e39/e46 can be swapped with each other. MEANING....i could technically run a kaaz 1.5 way diff into the e39 if I do decide to make this the dedicated HPDE/AUTO-X car. Lots to think about - lots of monies. (I still need to order tires for this thing, planning on maybe kendas since I'm liking them a lot recently. Will probably run the tire sizes I used to (235/40/18 and 265/35/18).

I did an oil change, diff fluid change, and brake fluid flush. All 3 were very much needed. I had the oil filter and diff drain/fill plug seals on hand surprisingly. The right rear brake bleeder was leaking, and for now I put a front e36 m3 bleeder valve in its place. (same thread pitch/amount of thread -just shorter in overall length).



I got lucky and found out the window regulator was indeed the one I replaced a while back - which means lifetime warranty. So I swapped that out.

I scored a planted seat bracket off a group in fb. I had the slider and side mounts, and i believe thats an e30 seat belt receptical



bilstein b6's arrived, and febi top hats.



sls rear suspension got pulled - still in the process - need to install springs and start adjusting ride height soon.

I reused the fortune auto e36 m3 spring perch in the rear. It's pretty exciting to see this - and i hope it rides decent when all said and done.




meanwhile I decided to do the valve cover gasket & spark plug o-rings. I pulled the plugs prior and 3,4, and 5 were leaking oil past the valve cover o-rings. I replaced with single prong BK6RE's gapped at .035 - most of the plugs were pre-gapped from NGK at .032-0.034





It was part of the PO's to-do list, but the car is still stumbling/throwing misfire codes...I think the gas is just old, and the injectors might be a bit clogged. I ordered a rebuild kit and will have to wait for that. My spare set of injectors of course have no o-rings so I can't even test them. I did however swap coilpacks over from the s52 and ruled that out.



I dug out all the spare injectors I could find in my storage. threw them in my ultrasonic cleaner just to have cleaner parts laying around I guess.



6" 9kg swifts installed up front. I did a quick clean up of threads and tried to spray them with silicone lubricant. spherical and radial bearings were cleaned up before reinstall.



Turns out the last 2 pairs of swifts I have on the shelf are 7" 7kg and 5" 14kg. I opted to use the front 7" 8kg fortune auto springs I just took off the fronts to use in the rear. Fortune Auto actually recommended to me 9kg/8kg for the touring, but I feel like 8kg rear seems low? Either way, 5" swift spring is a no-go unfortunately.

I also ordered a new silicone intake tube from TURNER for m54b30. They have a nice silicone 1pc intake tube design available now vs the 2pc bmw one.

more updates soon hopefully!

*edit* 03/22 no need to keep bumping this post.

I guess I forgot to take a pic, but I installed new m5 ATE front brake pads because the PO bought some and never got around to installing them. Old pads are of unknown origin, but also a little under 50% life. I just remember not liking them from a long time ago, so fresh pads is nice.



and the photo I've been dying to see (car fully on coilovers now)



Ride height isn't final, but I also told myself I can't order new tires until I figure out the engine misfire issues. Still waiting on parts, but I also think I'm out of free time for the month.

[s14brent]

I actually got all the parts I was waiting for on Tuesday and got everything sorted by wednesday night.




Turner makes a nice 1pc silicone intake boot that replaces the 2pc design for m54's. Pretty sure I caused this tear in the stock boot upon removal. Either way, it was ready to go.




fuel filter/fpr got replaced as well with the fresh fuel injector o-rings and filter baskets. I had a small section of 8mm gates fuel line that was just enough to replace all 3 of these hoses luckily.

after a series of diag steps and crossing things off the "could be wrong" list, I realized it was a stupid error on my part. I got the car with the manifolds removed and simply mixed up the o2 banks. However, everything I replaced was needed, so I don't see it as a full throwing money at parts kind of diag thankfully.




I also got a bright blue PrismaLab FIA seat on a drifthq's garage sale. It's very.....blue but the FIA rating is good through 2027 and I can fire sale it after that. It probably fits a 34w comfortably, i've never had a bucket seat as wide as this one to be honest but the price was right and fit the budget for now. I kind of hate it....but it will work fine for auto-x/hpde goals.



Tires are next, I'm actually thinking of running a fresh set of kenda kr20a 245/40 square vs 235/40 & 265/35. I think for this car I actually prefer the current look/size surprisingly. Next is insurance, moving permit then smog, and registration i suppose. Once I get that done, I can move it out of the garage and work on the e30 again without worrying about our fabolous HOA (sigh).... I'll probably get that started in 2 weeks when my schedule opens back up a bit.



been cleaning up and adding in a few of the leftover black trim pieces the PO didn't swap over......it's looking really good but I need a bottom bench seat and a matching rear L side door panel.....Fortune Auto parts should be delivered this week. I'll button up the suspension end of next week and then reinstall the cargo area panels after that (hopefully). it's starting to feel like a complete car again vs a car full of parts!!

[econti]

It is very blue but I don't hate it

[s14brent]

I love the lines of the E34 and E39 tourings. I keep coming back to the idea of owning one as a long term car because I want a wagon and besides an E9x, some kind of AMG C/E (which look good but I know nothing about, or a SPA V60/V90 Volvo (also hard to find, too new to tinker too hard, no manual), there's not much else out there. But they're really hard to find around here in reasonable shape.

Low boost setup on stock ECU to give it a bit of oomph, maybe slap a 6 speed in it eventually but try to keep it relatively cheap/simple otherwise.

Thanks, i thought i responded to you, my bad! I think the perfect touring is the cadillac cts-v manual/supercharged v8. I'd really love to have one of those, but used prices were basically near my brand new (at the time) tacoma which makes it not a responsible daily choice LOL! The e39 touring is in a pretty rough state. i think my friend/PO's kids added a ton of dents into this thing (i'm guessing this because most of the dents are all the same height, and probably my guess - caused by bicycle bar ends), and the paint/clearcoat is faded in a more areas now including the door handles/rear 1/4 top of hatch.... I've never had a easy time keeping cars looking perfect unfortunately. So I'm not sure what the plan is exterior wise yet, probably leave it for a while tbh....But I've actually already had the thought - after the e30's boosted finally, if i end up liking this platform i may want to do some power adders but not enough to have to do a rear end swap esp if i plan to put a fancy diff in this.... However, I don't necessarily like the idea of having to recode anything as i'm currently having issues already just trying to access the dme/lcm in INPA to get rid of the "SLS INACTIVE" display. I had a local buddy who has the whole e39 inpa bundle come over and was booted out over and over again.....I've had this problem in the past as well with this car so I ended up sending out my LCM/DME to a bimmerforums user almost 8 years ago and had him do the coding for me.

It is very blue but I don't hate it

its growing on me, and i'm not going to swap it out anytime soon because I need to really stick to a tight budget on this car! its a pretty firm seat and will do the job just fine! seating position/height was easy to dial in and its on sliders so it checks all the boxes- its just terribly ricey looking. I still need to figure out how to get the horn to work on this thing. The steering wheel tilt feature is currently not hooked up because it is held in by the factory clock spring setup which i believe completed the horn contacts. I did adjust the wheel prior to removal so ergo feels just-right which is exciting!

[s14brent]

Weekly wagon update! i got these 30mm fortune auto spring perch spacers. Basically to take up some space running 7" springs vs 8"!







did some wire clean up this week, got rid of all the leftover auto-trans harness stuff that was left behind. also ripped out the HID 9006 fog light bulbs and stuck in some generic 9006's i had in a box. Getting rid of the warning lights one-by-one LOL!!



Finally washed the wagon, i actually pressure washed off the plasti-dip on the window trim. It wasn't Terrible like 10 years ago, but it was showing its wear and needed to go! I actually got a moving permit for it, and insurance. I need to drive it around and get the car ready for smog!



245/40/18 kenda kr20a's all around - might want to drop the rear another 1/4" again.....won't have time until maybe Thursday this week to mess with it though! I also have a few things on the way like windshield wipers, front sway bar endlinks, and refreshing the whole rear sway setup (turner metal swaybar brackets, new bushings and endlinks). I'm going to try and aim to take this to autocross on the 20th, but there's a lot I still need to do before then! I also have to download the PAsoft software and try to code out the SLS error message since I couldn't get it to access on INPA





-- edit: 04/09--
I did manage to get the rear ride height to my liking. I was worried about 245/40 being too small of a square setup but I think this will work out fine. I do think 265 is too wide for such an underpowered pig.



Getting PAsoft to work on an old windows 10 laptop took way longer than I'd like to admit, but I did successfully code out the "SLS INACTIVE" warning that was living on gauge cluster. Down to two warning lights (airbag and DCT - both caused by removal of steering wheel/clock spring unfortunately). A better condition stock wheel is not out of the question here, however I do like the setup I have in there currently



Also, good news, car is officially ready to smog!! However smog checks here are only valid here for 30 days, and I could only get an appointment at the nearest DMV on May 15th, so I will wait until after the 15th of this month to get it done (pre-auto-x if i can make it!!). I actually do remember suffering trying to get these monitor checks in the green when I first did the swap on this!

[s14brent]

got about half my order delivered this week so I got to work.



Meyle HD front sway bar endlinks since these were blown/shot



I got impatient and tried to buy an ac belt from oreillys, but they gave me a 4 rib belt that I had to return. continental 5 rib in the back is the correct one for what I needed. Even after correct belt was replaced, ac was not kicking on, checked the 2 fuses in the fuse box (glove box) and checked the aux giant fuse from underneath. I really hate that location, my hands are not small enough to contort for that.



I pulled off the front bumper and started to remove some broken panels that will eventually get replaced. I found the aux plug hanging and found that the switch was corroded inside. Because one of the prongs broke off - I had to just cut the plugs off and do some male/female spade connectors for now - I really just wanted to see if the aux fan was dead or not.



got it wired up temporarily for now, turned the car on and turned AC ON, fan kicked on and I had cold air again!!




I also threw on another pair of 15mm spacers (up front) that I purchased, tried my best to match camber angle with one of those magnetic gauges mounted on the rotor. Overall happy with this ride-height and fitment. Overall, I think it's been a great success so far! I am waiting for rear sway bar bushing/endlink/brackets to show up and I'm ready to put some miles on it.

[econti]

Are you driving at the hotpit event in July?

[s14brent]

Are you driving at the hotpit event in July?

no, i have a few local buds going out there though that will be drifting. I am curious to see the track layout in Barstow though! If they have events there more often that is a quick drive! I honestly haven't had time to even think about the e30 lately, and I need to get back to finishing up the the welding on the 318ti rear trailing arm setup and reinforce the spare rear subframe and get finally get an alignment before I drift the car again. Probably won't be doing any drifting until night events start. I'm planning to hit the local scca/auto-x on the 20th hopefully! I'm actually thinking about tackling a few other things "while i'm there" but its already super hot in my garage. Its been over 100°F a few times this month already!

I have a box full of reinforcements to weld on to the trailing arms and rear subframe, also another pair of secondary caliper mounts. Probably do the rear strut reinforcments while I'm doing all that welding! I honestly am really not looking forward to doing all that in the heat tbh! It's doesn't seem like a fun time. Oh...and I also ordered a new muffler for the wagon since there's a bit of drone at 3k with the current setup.

[econti]

no, i have a few local buds going out there though that will be drifting. I am curious to see the track layout in Barstow though! If they have events there more often that is a quick drive! I honestly haven't had time to even think about the e30 lately, and I need to get back to finishing up the the welding on the 318ti rear trailing arm setup and reinforce the spare rear subframe and get finally get an alignment before I drift the car again. Probably won't be doing any drifting until night events start. I'm planning to hit the local scca/auto-x on the 20th hopefully! I'm actually thinking about tackling a few other things "while i'm there" but its already super hot in my garage. Its been over 100°F a few times this month already!

We'll hopefully be there for a speccy if the holiday timeline matches up, if you see two aussies with freshly grown beer guts come say hi. Rabid for it, they seem like great events.

[s14brent]

We'll hopefully be there for a speccy if the holiday timeline matches up, if you see two aussies with freshly grown beer guts come say hi. Rabid for it, they seem like great events.

hell yeah. have a great time out there!!

-------

had a bit more time to work on the e39 this week. the rear sway bar refresh came in. Right Rear end link was separated.



They are not super fun to change, 1/4 turn at a time with 2 wrenches - hands were hurting the next day from something that should be a lot easier to just swap imho. Also on the LR I screwed up and with the ultra thin 16mm wrench I somehow knocked the blue retaining clip off the bushing.....I spent like 45 min trying to get it back on until it basically deformed and was unusable. To just get things moving forward I used some safety wire and will just keep an eye on it.




I got the Turner metal sway bar bushing brackets and tossed the factory aluminum ones away. These are a bit overpriced imho, but I didn't want to take my chances modding up a 7 series RSB bushing bracket in case I end up going poly (i guess there are some fitment issues with that combo). I just got some febi bushings to pair along with it for now.




I really wanted to put the mtech rear bumper diffuser on, and i kind of hated the muffler that was on there. I ordered a flat black vibrant single tip muffler, but ended up ordering the wrong part # on accident and got the 3" vibrant exhaust vs 2.5" (1147 vs 1146) and due to just time constraints decided to make it work with a reducer. Turns out the APR muffler that was on there had some cracks in the muffler so it was time to ditch it. Unfortunately my welder decided to fight me all day long with the wind, welds look horrible but its on there and no leaks afaik. I will need to buy another bottle of 75/25. I think I may still replace the little bottle resonator with an ultra quiet vibrant resonator in the future so I will redo the whole rear section again in the future, but for now i'll try and drive it more - so far its been much better!





I decided to get the car smogged finally the next morning. It passed with no issues! My DMV appointment isn't until May 15th, looking forward to getting this thing plated already!



I have been complaining that the e39 steering feeling a bit heavier than i recall, i thought maybe it was because of the smaller 350mm wheel on there, however a larger wheel wouldn't make it feel THAT much better imho. I then remembered the e36 m3 had a restrictor built in the high pressure hose, and that the e46 restrictor is in the banjo bolt. Super common for the drift dudes to delete the restrictor with no issues. Confirmed the banjo part # is the same between e39/e46 on realoem and decided to give it a go!




I took it for a quick drive and it feels SOOO much better. I guess its more sensitive to steering inputs and not as sleepy - I wouldn't describe it as "too light" either. I'm glad I did this because I got to dump a lot of the mystery PS fluid and help flush out the system little by little. I really do think the PO put the wrong PS fluid type in. I definitely want to drive it a bit more spiritedly now!.Unfortunately I did not go to the 04/20 auto cross. There is a bit more testing/dialing in needed. I didn't think a half day was worth the prep/drive/money and will go when the car is a bit more dialed in. Truth is, I need to do a trans fluid service on it - i don't know if i mentioned it but the detents are starting to go and the 5th gear lean is sometimes present. I won't be pulling the trans to do that now, but in hopes to feel cleaner shifts I'll put in an order for some Redline MTL and I'll do that before I start changing focus back to the E30 which is basically after this is plated.

[s14brent]

--more e39 content--

I was missing this right rear trim, thankfully they are cheap and still available unlike a lot of the other wagon interior bits. I'm mainly missing a touring rear bench seat and LR door panel in black, but at least the door panel should be easy to find.



I wanted to add something to change up the look of the car to be a bit more aggressive. I am actually not super familiar with whats available for the e39 m5 bumpers and ended up ordering a cheap ebay lip that was shipped from socal (so i got it in 1 day).
Fitment was actually decent, but the finish was horrid. I had to fix the bumper bracket anyways so it was a good reason to have the whole bumper off again.


time to do my favorite thing, sanding (sarcasm). Luckily it didn't take long with some 320 and 400 grit. I probably should have done a pass with 600 at the end tbh



Unfortunately I'm not going to wait a week+ to get a bottle of SEM trim black, so I used a bottle of rustoleum satin black that was laying around.



and finally mounted up.





Next up is getting the rear windows working...really hoping it's nothing too expensive since both sides can definitely add up! TBH it might be a while before I tackle that..i'm just patiently waiting for my appointment at the DMV to register this already! Once I can get it registered I can park it on the driveway while the e30 is being worked on - which is the huge part.