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Thread: My 540i/6 project thread

  1. #26
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
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    South Africa
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    196
    My Cars
    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    Got a replacement for my clutch reservoir cap:



    Also changed the clutch fluid while I was at it.


    Also decided it was time to change the gearbox oil:
    I guess metal bits in the drain plug is a good sign


    Just as a reference this is clean ATF:


    Aaaand this is what I took out of the gearbox:










    Some nice silver metallic paint:


    Can't say the change had much of an effect as everything was still exactly as it was before on the gearbox, though I do feel better that it has new oil in.

  2. #27
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    are rusting away
    Quote Originally Posted by Sankekur View Post
    yup......rear stuff not fitted yet so looking at other (more long-lived) options for the rear, seeing as it will be so much trouble to replace.
    No seriously, Topran is a crap brand. Had a clutch fan from Topran fail after 500 km. Saw Topran end links fail completely after 5000 km. It's not worth the "savings".
    Live slow, die whenever

  3. #28
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    Jan 2011
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    South Africa
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    My Cars
    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    Quote Originally Posted by MehMan View Post
    No seriously, Topran is a crap brand. Had a clutch fan from Topran fail after 500 km. Saw Topran end links fail completely after 5000 km. It's not worth the "savings".
    Thanks for the advice. Strangely enough I have also had a run in with an aftermarket replacement fan clutch...though can't remember which brand though, but also only lasted a couple of days. Anyway for the moment I am not the lookout for better parts for the rear at least. Whats your views on Meyle parts?

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    Greeley, CO
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    4,378
    My Cars
    540i6, 540iA, RX7, RdBlk
    Quote Originally Posted by Sankekur View Post
    Whats your views on Meyle parts?
    Meyle are generally good, though if they have an HD version, that's the way to go. Other than that though, if you don't want to do it all again rather soon, spend the money on Lemfoerder and know it's now done right.

    Fox


  5. #30
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    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    Quote Originally Posted by K Fox View Post
    Meyle are generally good, though if they have an HD version, that's the way to go. Other than that though, if you don't want to do it all again rather soon, spend the money on Lemfoerder and know it's now done right.

    Fox
    Thanks for the advice, Lemfoerder is the way I would like to go but there are no local suppliers for this other that the dealers and their prices do feel a just a little bit excessive, the trailing arm bushes work out to just under $400, the total for everything is around the $1000 mark......I don't mind spending the money this just feels a like a lot, maybe I am just a cheap bastard and it will come back and bite me in the ass. That said I will certainly not fit the topram stuff. Still don't know why I actually bought it.



    Some more work done.
    Picked up a new Behr radiator:

    Though this is a locally produced one the one in the car seem to have lasted around 8 years so the quality is decent enough. The reason for replacing it that it as a small crack in the core right on the side of the radiator that has been slowly leaking since I have had the car.

    The idea when replacing the radiator is to do an electric fan conversion as well, I am tired of the noisy mechanical fan and really don't like the idea of it just grenading at some point. I will be using a two speed fan and will patch it into the wiring here:

    The idea being it will come on with the aux fan.

    The plan is to use a volvo fan for the conversion (I would like to thank AHenry014 for supplying the inspiration for this with his volvo electric fan conversion thread)
    Picked up a fan, shroud and relay from a volvo 850 (touring I think) from a local breaker, it looks a bit worse for wear but this was the only breaker that I could find that had volvo parts:




    Gave the relay an initial test (guy at the yard assured me that it will work but I just had to be sure)




    Bought some general things to fit and test the fan:




    Wired up the fan and relay to test the fan:


    Video of the test:


    The new radiator again and testing the shroud and fan on it:








    Testing it on the old radiator still in the car:



    Clearly it is not going to fit like this:

    Started modifying the shroud to see how it will fit:



    The shroud fits good this way but the fan is just not going to fit as everything is just to thick to fit between the motor and the radiator.

    Removed the intake silencer and pipe to the throttle to get more room to work, re-thought my mounting of the fan and shroud and some more modifying:





















    Though this is not the ideal location for the fan, seeing as it is the colder side of the radiator this is the only way (that I can see how it will fit)

    So next it is to the wiring.
    Made up wiring to go from the positive terminal to the power connection on the volvo relay through a fuse holder.
















    The redid it because I wasn't happy with the crimp connectors:


    Tapped from the relay to the two wires on the fan switch:












    Just checked the wiring again to be sure:


    The I ran into a bit of a problem, when I hooked up the battery again (i disconnected it for this work) the fans would come on immediately.
    With some measuring I found that the supply to the aux fan that is only on when the car is on is not high impedance (open circuit) when the car is off but instead is connected to ground:
    So the circuit looks something like this:

    In essence there is now current through all the fan relay's coils, but just in the opposite direction it would normally go...though the relays don't care about this and just turn on.

    So the solution was to put to diodes in line to prevent the current flowing the reverse direction:


    And on the car I implemented it like this:





    I just used two run of the mill 1N400 (i think) diodes, the only reason being I had these around.

    And testing the fan:




    Up next will be the installation of the new radiation, the fan and all the work that went with it

  6. #31
    Join Date
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    USA
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    90 535i.SOLD.96 328i RIP
    looks like youre on the right track, looking forward to seeing more progress


  7. #32
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    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    Thanks man.



    So part two of the electric fan conversion and the radiator change:
    Back when I did the oil pump bolts I noticed that there was a small drop of coolant on the bottom of the crank pully so it was clear that something else on the front of the motor was also leaking coolant, so I figured I would tackle this as the same time as doing the radiator seeing as the cooling system will be open in any case.

    So started off by draining and removing the radiator...normally the draining would be a simple enough task of opening the drain nut and letting all the coolant out, but when I opened the drain nut all I got a small trickle, so I ended up just removing the hoses to get the coolant out. Later inspection would show that that drain hole was blocked by a piece of gasket maker.
    Anyhow, radiator out.....just a pic of the belts...more for myself so I can remember how they should go on.


    Car had a bit of wee:


    Surprisingly enough I did manage to catch some of the spilling coolant:

    Yes the tub was clean when I started that sand-like stuff in the bottom came out of the cooling system.

    Next I loosened the nuts on the waterpump pulley, then took the belt off, removed the crank pulley and removed the waterpump:

    Someone was kind enough to use pieces of the old gasket together with gasket maker to make up a new gasket.
    The impeller on the pump is a composite one, now the factory fitted pump on my 330i also had a composite impeller, so I assumed this to be the/a original pump, but from info I got later it would seem that on the e34's (or maybe 540i's) the original pump came with a metal impeller and it is the replacement ones that are composite. Is this the case? Is some I will probably need to get an original waterpump at some point. For now I inspected the impeller carefully and found now signs of cracking etc.

    Opened the thermostat housing:




    Cleaned all the parts:


    Front of the motor after removal of the waterpump:




    Cleaned the mating surface for the waterpump:


    Called upon my gasket set that I got a while back:


    New waterpump gasket:


    All the cleaned off parts:



















    Thermostat was working perfectly, so I reused it, belts also reused a they only shows slight feathering of the rubber on the working surfaces with no cracks, waterpump pulley has seem better day so will be replaced at some point and there is some slight cracking of the rubber of the crank pulley so will probably have to look at replacing it at some point as well.

    Old and new waterpump o-rings:


    New o-ring installed on the waterpump:


    Waterpump fully assembled:




    New gasket installed:


    Water pump installed:


    Next gave the front of the motor (the lower end at least) a good clean:












    Reinstalled the pulleys and belts:


    My original intention was to change the fan switch from the 90/99 one to the 80/88 one used on some e36's, but I got the wrong one...should have gotten the earlier one as the one on the later ones has a different connector.






    Ended up just cleaning off the old one and using it:


    New radiator in:


    Fan in.....the way I modified it the bottom of the shroud hooks into the radiator tray at the bottom, I then just fasten the top to the top of the radiator.


    Also made another modification to the shroud so it doesn't interfere with the intake pipe. Then it was just a case of filling with coolant, bleeding the system, and re installing all the intake bits.
    Barring one stubborn partial air lock in the top radiator hose that took some time to get out everything went pretty well. Testing the fan showed that it worked as intended, also unplugged the fan switch to force the radiator temp up a bit and plugging it back in the I could see that both high and low speeds were working as they should. Also used the car as a daily for a couple of days to check for coolant leaks and fan operation, and everything seems to be working as it should.

  8. #33
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    My Cars
    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    Ran into a problem where the handbrake warning became dodge, would come on when the handbrake is down and go off when the handbrake is up. So decided to investigate the switch as this would be easiest thing to check.
    Removed the two screws in the front of the back portion of the center console, and the ones at the back




    Moved the center console back so that I could get access to the switch.


    Found the the switch was completely loose, with no sign of any screws around. So just fastened it with two cap screws as best as I could tell it should go (couldn't find any pics of how it is supposed to mount)




    Handy tool for this job at ball tip hex driver


    Tested it out and it seems to work perfectly, and everything back together again:




    Also got myself some new (new for me at least) wheels:


    Some new tires:


    Fender gap might be a little bit on the small side:

    That said didn't rub that badly

    Gave the fenders a roll:

    No more rubbing after this.

    And some pics of said wheels:






    Thanks for watching.
    Last edited by Sankekur; 11-08-2013 at 12:18 AM.

  9. #34
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    My Cars
    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    A couple of months back I noticed that if I rev the car to around 4k in a high gear the clutch would slip, this got gradually worse and more pronounced with time (shocking, I know). Strangely enough in this case it would slip more when the car was hotter, this was contrary to how it was on my 330i where the clutch would slip when it was cold but as it heated up it would slip less and less. It came to a point that I decided I need to tackle the replacement of the clutch. What I wanted to do for the replacement of the clutch was to find a clutch kit (not necessarily from a BMW) that would fit on the input shaft of the gearbox, has a spring hub so that it can be used with a single mass flywheel, and is more easily attainable and more reasonably priced than the BMW stuff. I did a lot of searching but as far as I could find there are no other clutches that properly fit in the gearbox's input shaft. At one point during the search I found that the 850CSi flywheel and clutch would also work (more details of my finding here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...-6-clutch-info ). At the point that I found this I did not really consider this to be an real option as these were parts that where even harder to find that the 540i parts, seeing as we never even got the 850CSi here, but we did get the 540i/6 albeit only 72 of them.
    Due to reaching dead ends everywhere I searched I inquired at the dealers regarding the price of a new 850CSi clutch kit and and flywheel, and it turned out that the 850CSi parts were slightly cheaper than the 540i/6 parts, although still very expensive......but it seemed what whichever way I went it would be expensive, so I made the decision if I was going to be paying a lot of money for a new clutch I might as well get an upgrade from the original clutch. So I took the plunge and ordered the 850CSi clutch and flywheel.
    Some pics from the clutch replacement:
    The old clutch and flywheel:





    As might be seen from the pic the clutch disc wasn't even that badly worn, it actually started slipping due to oil contamination from the leaking rear main seal....I knew the rear main seal was leaking, I just didn't know how bad it was....my plan was always to wait until I needed to do the clutch then do the rear main seal while I was at it.....I ended up having to change the seal, and having to do the clutch while I was at it. The state of the back of the motor:


    Cleaned up the back of the motor and replaced the rear main seal:


    While I had prop out of the car, I changed the diff as well to a 3.15 LS out of a 750iL that i acquired a while back.




    I also replaced all the shifter bushes while I was at it and fitted a 545i short shifter with a ZHP gearknob.

    I also decided to use another 6 speed box that picked up for a 540i 6 speed conversion to replace the gearbox that I had in my car. The one I picked up I was lucky enough to be able to test drive it before I bought it, whereas the one in my car was whining pretty badly. Original and replacement gearbox:


    The new flywheel:


    New flywheel bolts:


    The new clutch kit:


    New flywheel going in:


    New clutch kit installed:


    New gearbox in:


    New shifter parts in:


    And the car finally out of the garage and up and running again after 2.5 months:



    The only problem I encountered after the work was a grinding like noise from the LS diff, but I changed the oil and it has been quiet ever since, the oil I used:



    Other than that, everything is working as it should and the car is feeling more and more like a new(er) one.

    Thanks for watching.

  10. #35
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    1994 525i touring
    I am impressed with how clean you got the motor, what did you use to clean it? Also that is an impressive 'while I was in there' list that you had for the clutch and rear main seal replacement, good work!

  11. #36
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    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    The main reason the 'while I am in there' list is so long is because the car stood so long, mostly due to waiting for parts, so that gives to much time to think about more things to do


    To clean the motor I first used a solvent based engine cleaner, I used Wynn's Red, basically it is just paraffin that smells better. I applied this with an old toothbrush to scrub the old caked on oil off. I then used a soap based engine cleaner, any strong soap based cleaner should work fine, to rinse of the solvent based cleaner. If I find areas that are still oily I re-apply the solvent cleaner. After I again rinse it with the solvent cleaner. I do this until all the oil is removed. The I just rinse the soap off with water.
    Because this was done in my garage and I didn't want a huge mess I used general purpose spray bottles to apply the soap and the water.

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    1995 BMW 540i 6 Speed
    Looking good! I loved the difference the 545i shifter and zhp knob made on my 540i. I would recommend changing the thermostat housing from plastic to metal as the plastic ones are prone to cracking and leaking. Keep up the good work.
    1995 BMW 540i 6 Speed Arktisgrau on Silbergrau Hell
    Mods: Koni Yellow Shocks, DUDMD Tune,35w 5000k DDM HID in Lows, 35w 3000k DDM HID in Fogs, ZHP Shift Knob, E60 545i Shift Lever, Muffler Delete, Rouge Engineering Transmission Mounts, REVshift Motor Mounts, Volvo Electric Fan Retrofit.

  13. #38
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    1995 BMW 525
    Nice work, your thread Is inspiring.

  14. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grant500 View Post
    Looking good! I loved the difference the 545i shifter and zhp knob made on my 540i. I would recommend changing the thermostat housing from plastic to metal as the plastic ones are prone to cracking and leaking. Keep up the good work.
    Thank you. Yup the 545i shifter really improves the shifting action, feels like a bolt action rifle.....like a shifter should.
    Thanks for the recommendation, I am looking to see if I can't find one locally, if I can't I will have to order one from the US.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bondo Bob View Post
    Nice work, your thread Is inspiring.

    Thank you.



    I redid a couple of spare valve covers and fitted them this past weekend together with new gaskets.

    Some "slight" oil leaking:









    Some "slight" sludge














    And tappet covers fitted:














    Cleaned and fitted the covers over the coil packs....engine bay is slowly coming together:










    Thanks for watching.

  15. #40
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    are rusting away
    Ugh, not looking good. Frequent oil changes with good quality oil will help clean it off at least to some degree. The valve covers look good and I like the color!
    Last edited by MehMan; 01-12-2014 at 02:40 PM.
    Live slow, die whenever

  16. #41
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    ///M5
    Huh. I like the 850csi idea.

    Very nice work !
    Current
    2005 E55 AMG
    1998 Silverado K1500
    1964 Impala
    ​1964 Chevelle 496ci


    Past

    2000 Avus M5
    1988 Suburban K1500
    1987 Suburban K2500
    2007 Suburban
    1999 K2500 Suburban
    2000 MGM
    1999 K2500 Suburban
    2001 Stratus 740i Msport
    1990 750iL
    1995 540i/6
    1996 MGM

  17. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by MehMan View Post
    Ugh, not looking good. Frequent oil changes with good quality oil will help clean it off at least to some degree. The valve covers look good and I like the color!
    Thank you.
    Yup, I changing the oil as frequently as I can, and just before changing the oil I put some ATF in as well.

    Quote Originally Posted by Leonator134 View Post
    Huh. I like the 850csi idea.

    Very nice work !
    Thank you.

  18. #43
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    That sludge is pretty bad. I would be afraid of some sort of large particles being caught up in the buildup that might break loose...nevermind why the buildup is so bad. I personally would remove as much of this as possible with carb cleaner (although this highly risks breaking trapped debris loose- so it would have to be very thorough).
    Have you comp/leakdown tested this motor?

    e34 540i/6 :: e30
    M62/6 :: e30 318is :: c5 Z06

  19. #44
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    Trash
    Good looking work but man that valve train looks terrible.

  20. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by janders211 View Post
    That sludge is pretty bad. I would be afraid of some sort of large particles being caught up in the buildup that might break loose...nevermind why the buildup is so bad. I personally would remove as much of this as possible with carb cleaner (although this highly risks breaking trapped debris loose- so it would have to be very thorough).
    Have you comp/leakdown tested this motor?
    The reason I opted to not clean off anything was that I didn't want to do that without the bottom end open...this being so that i can minimize the risk of something getting stuck somewhere. Why it got this way, well i would say neglect, the motor simply wasn't serviced nearly as often as it needed to be......I will draw your attention to what the oil filter looked like the very first time I serviced the car after I got it:

    I then new the inside of the motor would not be a nice place.

    My only course of action at the moment is to continue with the regular oil changes (with good oil) and the addition of ATF in the oil a while before the service. This just to keep everything clean that is clean, and to possibly slowly clean the rest of the motor. There are actually small patches on the head and on the bottom end that seem to be coming clean, where it can be seen that greasy coating and the varnishing on the metal is coming off.
    One of the next things I want to do is a compression test, but I am still deciding whether I want to open that can of worms, seeing as the motor is waaaay down on power (low compression being my chief suspected culprit of this.)

    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewH View Post
    Good looking work but man that valve train looks terrible.
    Thank you.

  21. #46
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    '04 330i, '95 540i6
    Some new things I picked up a while back:
    New front indicators:

    My current ones are pretty badly faded, and the one is cracked.

    New PCV valve:

    I am reasonably sure the one I have on now is pretty tired...even though I can see signs that it has been worked on.

    New waterpump pulley:

    The one on the car is chipped and starting to crack between the holes so it is only a matter of time until it goes poof I think.


    Also changed the oil right after I changed the clutch, went for this:

    Was using Shell HX7 previously, but wanted to go for something a bit thicker to give it a try. Only thing I can say so far is that the motor is running a lot quieter that it used to with the Shell oil. Whether this is good thing or a bad thing I am not sure, but time will tell I guess.

    Thanks for watching.

  22. #47
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    Picked up some more things:
    An early M60B40 intake manifold:




    Gave it a good clean:




    Removed most of the scratches and scuffs:


    An early M62B44 throttle body.



    Thanks for watching.

  23. #48
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    Dec 2012
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    E39 540I
    You sir are a boss. This car is in excellent hands. On parts prices us Aussies get shafted too .

  24. #49
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    blk 740i/ 325is - 95's
    This thread is tits! Good work...I think id maybe use towels tucked in over the cams to catch any of the lose crud falling and wipe that slug off.. ?
    1995 540i /6 speed, Black on black, VF m62 S/C kit v3 6psi - Cold air intake/ SSSquid Tune/racing exhuast, Vortech 8:1 RRFPR ,545 SSK /3.15 with LSD / rev-shift motor mounts/stage 4, 6 puck clutch/ K Sport coil overs / suede sparco 368 steering wheel, Recaro seats, N2O, M/T drag slicks
    "Skill can only get you so far, then comes money!"
    R . I . P Paul Walker - 1973 - 2013

  25. #50
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    ///M5
    Looks good. I did the VS intake and M62TB and like it.
    Current
    2005 E55 AMG
    1998 Silverado K1500
    1964 Impala
    ​1964 Chevelle 496ci


    Past

    2000 Avus M5
    1988 Suburban K1500
    1987 Suburban K2500
    2007 Suburban
    1999 K2500 Suburban
    2000 MGM
    1999 K2500 Suburban
    2001 Stratus 740i Msport
    1990 750iL
    1995 540i/6
    1996 MGM

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