Dinan S3 740 with built motor, lots of mods for sale

[M3UOND]

It is with great sadness that I must part with my E38. I haven't been on the forums very much lately due to the stress of working two jobs. Unfortunately not even that is enough, so I'm going to have to sell the car to retire some personal debts.

This is a very, very highly modified E38 BMW 740. It's a 1995, and if you were to look up the vin number, you would discover that it was one of the very first E38s imported into the USA from Germany. It originally served as the sneak-peak demonstration car for the dealers in the Southeast USA. Now, it is probably one of the fastest BMW 7 series on the planet. The amazing part to me is that even with all of these modifications I get about 15mpg in the city and up to 23 mpg on the highway--except when it's cold outside, and then I get 28!

The car was acquired by the owner of a BMW and Mercedes-Benz modification shop in Alpharetta, GA and served as his personal car for about ten years. In 2005-2006, he undertook a major modification project on the car that left hardly any aspect of it untouched. Details are below.

Engine:
Dinan S3 package with extra goodies. Custom M60 Engine, Bored and stroked to 4.9L. Custom stainless steel cylinder liners. Light weight, cold forged aluminum pistons. Arrows Beryllium connecting rods. Stainless steel, blued and peened crankshaft. Blue printed and assembly balanced. Polished and ported Cylinder heads with 1mm oversize sodium filled valves. Layered metal head gaskets. Custom .348 lift, 248 degree cam shafts. 10000 rpm triple valve springs and titanium retainers. Dinan custom tuned Powerdyne supercharger system at 6psi. Custom Dinan Engine software tuned for this engine. Dinan throttle body and intake manifold. Upgraded digital coils. Custom fuel pressure modulator and upgraded fuel pump and injectors. Engine done in September 2006; now has about 40,000 miles on it. Comes with new belt for the supercharger.

Exhaust System:
Dinan E39 M5 Exhaust Headers, E39 M5 Catalytic converters, E60 M5 Center resonator and custom Dinan E39 M5 rear mufflers.

Transmission/Driveline:
Custom Dinan software. New clutches, new steel valve bodies, new planetary gears in 2006. 3.71 Limited Slip Diff by Dinan.

Suspension:
Dinan Stage 2 suspension system. Front and rear suspension replaced entirely in 2006. Dinan Monoball kit.

Brakes:
Dinan Stage 2 Big Brake Kit installed Dec 2007

Electronics:
Retrofit BMW Factory Bluetooth with voice command, Retrofit factory BMW MK4 (DVD Based) Navigation System with 16x9 screen, DICE kit for iPod with ashtray-mounted cradle, 2 12” JL subwoofers with 800 watt amp integrated into factory stereo system with DSP, Retrofit BMW Factory Xenon Headlamps.

Rims:
BBS 3 Piece, nickel plated lips with gloss black color matched centers

Body:
Hamann Front Lower Spoiler, Hamann Roof Spoiler, E39 M5 Style Trunk Lid Lip Spoiler, BMW Factory late model E38 side skirt retrofit, Rear fenders pulled 1 inch to allow larger wheels and tires. Complete repaint in 2006.

Other:
Car fully restored in 2006, replaced leather on driver’s seat with factory bmw leather along with headliner and all pillar covers. Chassis has just over 200,000 miles on it. I have owned the car since May 2008 when the odometer read 176000. It now reads just under 200000, but due to a botched instrument cluster repair early in the car's life, I was told there are roughly 13,000 more miles on the car than the odometer shows.

Since I have owned the car, it has been used exclusively for long-distance highway journeys between Atlanta, El Paso, Washington DC, and New York City. I have a Dinan 5 for the around-town stuff.

You couldn't ask for a cooler car than this. Unfortunately in this economic climate I have experienced a significant reduction in income and therefore must let this beauty go for a pittance. Over $100,000 was invested to make this car what it is.

The big question people always ask is how powerful the car is. The only time I ever tried to dyno the car I had the bad luck of an internal belt breaking on the supercharger, so with a crazily over-rich mixture, we still got over 340 rwhp. I don't intend to re-dyno the car because I consider it too hard on the transmission and cooling system. However, to illustrate how much torque the car produces, I have in the past managed to spin a wheel in a tire when launching from a dig, breaking the bead and causing it to go flat. A video of that dyno attempt appears below, with audio.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eccAEf09Lxs[/ame]

Known Issues:
Wood on steering wheel has a small patch where the varnish has come off due to the sun, and the shifter lever has typical BMW sun damage, but nothing too bad. The glovebox sometimes doesn't like to open. There are a few paint imperfections, mostly due to rock chips. There are a couple of very small, very shallow dents on the hood that are not easily visible from a few feet away, likewise from rocks. Full maintenance and modification records from the day the builder bought the car (1997 IIRC) are available, archived in his shop's service database.

Asking price is $30,000.

***UPDATE April 8 2010***

The car has began exhibiting a strange symptom. When the engine is cold, the car starts and runs and drives as it should, for as long as you might want it to--even 670 miles (the longest single stretch I've driven it since the problem began). When the car is shut off, if started again within about five minutes, it starts as normal. If more time than that elapses, the car will crank normally but usually won't start again until the engine is cold, up to six hours later. The problem is inconsistent; sometimes it starts up again just fine. After replacing the starter switch, the fuel pressure regulator (twice), and the fuel filter, I no longer have the financial resources to pursue this problem further. When the engine is warm, the injectors are pulsing, the plugs are firing, the fuel pressure is normal, all electrical readings are normal--sometimes it just doesn't tend to catch again until it cools to ambient temperatures.

***UPDATE 2, January 11 2011***

After letting the car sit in storage for a while, I was able to return to the problem recently. The above symptom has been fixed, and the car has been perfect for several weeks now. Problem turned out to be a bad crankshaft position sensor, and subsequently a defective replacement crankshaft position sensor.

[bstar]

Good luck with the sale

[on 3]

[Kiyoskia]

Good luck, indeed...

I wanna see that dyno chart...

[Ali]

I can vouch for M3UOND, great guy

Good luck with the sale!

[M3UOND]

LOL seems like a long time ago I bought those wheels off you, eh Ali?









(If you're curious what the wire is in the pic below, it's from the data collector that was on the car to make sure everything in the engine was fine-tuned and hunky-dory)

[BMW5868]

Dinan and Vortech post a 90-100 bhp gain with a supercharger running at 6 - 7 psi which would equate to 82 rwhp with a 18% drivetrain loss (manual tranny) which would put this car at approxately 422 rwhp. I am running 440 rwhp so i still am waiting for someone to post higher results to take the title.. comments please! By spring i should be 475 rwhp!

His internals are well built but from my experience with these motors not necessary to produce this kind of power, my m62 is proof to this as i have just hit 200,000 km.

[M3UOND]

Hey Mike, thanks for the post. I'd be interested to know what other mods besides the supercharger, intercooler, and exhaust headers you have (those are just what I can see in your photo album).

[M3UOND]

bump for updated price

[M3UOND]

Come on folks...$15K

[medic327]

Did you buy your mechanics car back in 2008 when he was selling it? I also recall him (Ron) asking $25,000 for it. Also as far as the hard restart did you consider the coolant temperature sensor?

Are you in NY now, I'd love to see it.

[JKingMI]

Man.. too bad the price didn't drop a month ago. Incredible car. If business takes off in the next couple weeks..

[M3UOND]

Yes Medic, you're thinking of the same car.

No, I hadn't considered the coolant temp sensor--any notions why that might be the problem?

The car is currently in storage at my home in Atlanta.

[M3UOND]

Bump, car still for sale.

[medic327]

Yes Medic, you're thinking of the same car.

No, I hadn't considered the coolant temp sensor--any notions why that might be the problem?

The car is currently in storage at my home in Atlanta.

I am no mechanic but it sounds like the sensor is heat soaked and is always reading hot when you shut the engine off after a drive. So If you let the car sit for a while it needs to restart in open loop mode normally because it is cooled off. The sensor (being heat soaked) is saying to the computer that the engine is nice and warm and is calling for closed loop mode operation. The result? The engine has a hard time starting due to inadequate pulse width and fuel enrichment, perhaps leading to poor running or a no start condition.

Why will it start after a few hours? Perhaps it takes a few hours for the coolant teperature sensor to cool off. Once the sensor cools off, it is able to send the appropriate cold engine signal to the ECU. Hence a nice and easy open loop restart.

The coolant temp sensor is a resistor that changes it's resistance value in line with changing temperature (this is called a thermistor)

Somtimes the wiring to the sensor goes bad too. To determine the proper operation of the CTS you need to check it's resistance with an ohmeter and compare it to known correct values for the given temperature of the coolant. If the values are changing appropriately then check the wiring, thermostat and the ECU.

Take all this with a grain of salt as I am no expert at any of this.

Are you still in NYC? I would love to see the car.

[Bimmerhead]

So Ron Trockelman's E38 is on the market...
I watched VAC Motorsports install the iron sleeves in that block @ 5 years ago...maybe longer...

Hell of a machine.

[shled]

I was JUST in Atlanta and would have made time to go see this one. Too bad I never saw it for sale on the other board either, the one that put together the meet last weekend. Damn.

[bobzdar]

If you haven't figured out the starting problem, check the injectors. If they leak, they'll exhibit the exact problem you're describing as they flood the engine after a few minutes as the existing pressure in the system will gradually force the fuel out through them. I have a friend with a Grand National that does the exact same thing, but he can usually get it started by cracking the throttle all the way and then cranking for a few seconds to clear out the fuel and then starting as normal. Very cool car, good luck with it.

[M3UOND]

Bump.

Took the beast out today. I'm gonna miss that accelerator pedal when I finally sell it.

[Individual 5er]

Nice ride !
I'm currently selling a Dinan CAI & MAF for e38 740i and it's nice to know that these work so well on your car.

Good luck on your sale !

[6strummer]

Nice car. Man, is it FAST. I've seen it many times. Ron serviced my 530 when I lived in Atlanta. Could starting problem be the crank shaft positions sensor?

[M3UOND]

No, it's not the CPS; I tried that already lol.

[Kiyoskia]

Dinan and Vortech post a 90-100 bhp gain with a supercharger running at 6 - 7 psi which would equate to 82 rwhp with a 18% drivetrain loss (manual tranny) which would put this car at approxately 422 rwhp. I am running 440 rwhp so i still am waiting for someone to post higher results to take the title.. comments please! By spring i should be 475 rwhp!

His internals are well built but from my experience with these motors not necessary to produce this kind of power, my m62 is proof to this as i have just hit 200,000 km.

You still have to beat Simeon's "Baby".

[shled]

You still have to beat Simeon's "Baby".

Can't be done

[TommyFTR]

What a car. GLWS. Looks like a great build.