E39 540i wagon questions

[minimac1010]

So I have an 2003 BMW 540i M-tec wagon and I had a piston ring go out about 2 years ago. So now that im able to make decent money and I was woundering a few things one could I swap in an s62 engine in the car and I was also woundering could the auto trans handle it? I have noticed that the e39 trans seem to take a beating quite well since the trans still felt new at 198000+ miles on it when the engine gave up on me.

[FlyOverCountry]

S62 & Auto... No Worky from what I hear.

[AquilaBMW]

S62 drivetrain with 6 Speed - yes. It's been done a number of times now. With automatic? Not done yet and will require a ton of work. The S62 in the M5 was not built to run in front of an automatic box.

[dannyzabolotny]

If you want a more powerful engine but still want to keep the automatic then get a 4.6 engine. They're a little pricey but should be cheaper than most S62's. Otherwise you'll have to swap in a 6-speed to make the S62 work.

[Reefin Dude]

i believe the 6-speed manual transmission used in the M5 is also used in the 540. i do not know why it wouldn't bolt right up to the S62. the driveshaft would probably need to be shortened. programming the vehicle for the transmission or the S62 would be the difficult part. not sure which what would be easier. programming the current car for the S62 or programming an M5 for the auto.

G~

[minimac1010]

well as far as i understand doing a manual swap in the wagons is very hard and time consuming and I have kinda always wanted an m5 then I realized that I have this wagon sitting around doing nothing why not at least put the s62 in

[XAlt]

S62 Auto was attempted on a 8 series and costs tens of thousands of dollars. It never ran right, mostly because the M5 DME has zero support for an automatic. The automatic can handle superchargers all day, but is more prone to spontaneous failure than anything else.

LS swap is your best friend.

[dannyzabolotny]

well as far as i understand doing a manual swap in the wagons is very hard and time consuming and I have kinda always wanted an m5 then I realized that I have this wagon sitting around doing nothing why not at least put the s62 in

If you've always wanted an M5 then why settle for an automatic? The spirit of the E39 M5 is in the S62 + 6-speed. The S62 swap is a lot more challenging than the manual swap, there's quite a bit of wiring and rearranging that needs to be done. It's not plug and play. The manual swap on the wagon is no more challenging than a manual swap on an any other E39.

Once again, if you're hell-bent on keeping the automatic, just put in another 4.4 engine or find a 4.6 engine. Either one will be plug and play pretty much.

S62 Auto was attempted on a 8 series and costs tens of thousands of dollars. It never ran right, mostly because the M5 DME has zero support for an automatic. The automatic can handle superchargers all day, but is more prone to spontaneous failure than anything else.

LS swap is your best friend.

LS swaps are massively complicated and if this guy doesn't even want to do a manual swap then there's no way an LS swap is a realistic option for him. And in my opinion, LS swaps are overrated. I'd rather see S62 swaps.

[XAlt]

I'd take an M5 automatic, it should've been offered to murder the E55 AMG. If he's going down the slushie route, the LS is the only way.

[AquilaBMW]

The S62 gear box is similar but not identical to the M62 gear box - FYI. The amount of work it would take to mate that ZF 5HP24 to the S62 is incredible. You will have to literally re-write either the M62 ECU or the S62 one. For instance, the M62 ECU worked with one electronic Throttle body to feed the eight cylinders, the S62 ECU on the other hand worked with 8 individual throttle bodies. Might not seem a huge issue till you realize you have to synch those TB's to the RPMs for the Auto Transmission.

[geargrinder]

well as far as i understand doing a manual swap in the wagons is very hard and time consuming and I have kinda always wanted an m5 then I realized that I have this wagon sitting around doing nothing why not at least put the s62 in

dude. You need a major assumption reset.

First - I wrote the writeup on manual conversions when I did mine and ever since we did that the swap is all very clear cut and the number of manual swapped tourings has dramatically increased. It's really not bad (now at least). The manual work was never hay hard, it was always just the coding and detail requirements info that was missing.

Second - an S62 swap would be plenty of work itself with motor swap and then a bunch of little changes to get straight.

Three - Xalt nailed it - the auto-S62 'software' option never existed so that's the major hurdle and is a real no-go. It's true if you want a slushbox V8 an LS swap is probably "easy" route.

Or easier... Lotta guys are building M5Ts these days, if you can source the parts and fund it, that's a great car...

[Plattus1000]

If you can hold off, Wagons Ho is really close to his twin screw supercharger setup. If what he tells me is true, you can get an older m62 (pre vanos) and bore and stroke it to a 4.7 ltr. Change the ring gap and never worry about how much power you think you need. That would be pretty easy.

The 4.6 route is on the spendy side but you can keep your slushbox. An s62 in good nik might be about the same but as you've heard, you would need a 6 speed gear box to make it work right but then you'll have an m5t, pretty bad-assed.

[minimac1010]

well thanks for the responses I'm looking to see how easy it would of been to get it going with more power my current daily is a 645ci with the 6speed manual and i just need something a bit more daily able that im use to also since I drive a winter beater subaru with a manual and stop in go traffic in minnestoa with a blizzard sucks to have a manual honestly I have doing reacher on top of this fourm and i'm seeing the same mixed answers so probably just going to get the 4.6 and just daily that then.

[geargrinder]

Good luck at finding a 4.6 at a reasonable price. A couple guys have but its rare. Every chucklehead d-bag n00b who drops in here thinks he's discovered America when he realizes "hey there was a 4.6 in the X5, I'll get one of those and swap it in!!!!" like nobody never thought of it before. Sure there's a few success stories (Plattus) but there's more stories of guys getting all hard for that idea but never finding a decent motor that cost less than several arms and legs. You can also supercharge the regular 540 4.4 M62TU but since you have to buy a motor already, that'd be adding onto your costs pretty significantly to get the car back on the road.

Regardless of motor the one thing to think about if you want to boost power is, since the motor will be out already, is headers. They add good bit to these V8's and never easier to do than when the motor is going in. Platts will try to sell you on the awesome Jedders which are indeed awesome but indeed cost about the value of most 540's so you have to do the math and decide how to spend your budget. There are couple other header options as well - Supersprints, Dinan, Evolve...

[XAlt]

There's a 4.6 rebuilt here for 5 grand, try and negotiate down. They live very close to me, so I can go check it out.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/pts/5940908057.html

[wagons ho]

As cool as the 4.6 is , the cost (and hype) is not worth it for the extra .2 liters.
Now the cams are a different story. And if you're lucky enough to get a 4.6 for cheap, as the value on all bmw stuff is falling, great. You know the bottom has hit, as I have gone Bavarian in a big way.
The market is flooded with 4.4's and EBay cannot move the s62's for sale there. Check the completed listings history.
So that leaves us with "boosting" performance and I mean that literally. But all these mods cost money and I hear too much about things costing more than the car is worth. Wait till the factory finish fails and you need a paint job.
Driving enjoyment, worth every dollar! Yes I know that I should start a thread with my rants, but I spent too much time working for extra money to fix the fleet.

[geargrinder]

Fix?!? I didn't think you fixed stuff. I thought you just kept takin stuff apart...

[wagons ho]

Fix?!? I didn't think you fixed stuff. I thought you just kept takin stuff apart...

While there is some truth in that, it's all part of the greater plan. There is one thing that I don't do, and that is to buy cars to take apart and sell for parts.
Again, another topic in my rant thread.

[geargrinder]

You just take them apart because you have a mental condition. I understand.