gmak: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A journey with my new-to-me 2000 540i

[gmak]

I was perusing the E38 DIY links and came across a thread where vacuum leak issues had been solved by replacing the intake manifold front cover gasket (the one between the cover and the manifold itself). Oho says I! I have one of those.

I popped off the air filter channel (screwdriver to pop the four latches on the filter cover, 1/4 inch socket on an extension to act as a "screwdriver" and loosen the hose clamp holding the air boot to the throttle.

I removed the 4 x 10 mm hex bolts holding the throttle to the intake manifold front cover. I removed the 6 torx bolts holding the manifold front cover to the manifold.

These are them. The smaller ones are the torx and I can see how the torx part can become stripped easily if you're not careful - especially the bottom 3. Note that there are 7 identical to the smaller bolts holding the back cover on the manifold - the "CCV". Many say to replace them with hex bolts and I fully intend to do this as soon as I can get to a hardware store to buy some. To do it one needs "M6 x 25mm with a 10mm head and a 14 mm flange" hex bolt. 13 of them on the intake manifold front and back.

20151001 5.jpg


I think I found at least part of my vacuum leak, if not all. The gasket was not protruding from its channel at all. It's hard to see how it could make a seal between the cover and the intake manifold. I don't think that this picture shows that lack of seal, very well. But I had to use a 90 degree pick to get in there and dig the gasket out. The second picture is a comparison of the old gasket with the new one. Apart from the width being visibly more on the new gasket, the old one was plasticized on the bottom with a little bit of flexibility on the sides and top remaining. It's easy to believe that the leak was on the bottom, given the lack of contact with the cover and the rigidity of the gasket at that location.

20151001 6.jpg 20151001 4.jpg 20151001 2.jpg

I put the new gasket in and saw that a lip extended out past the channel. I was able to put lithium grease all around the outside of the gasket.
20151001 8.jpg

When I put the cover back on, I took the bolts that were previously on the bottom and put them on the top because I believe that they have been slightly compromised by virtue of their location and the difficulty in keeping the torx bit inserted straight (over the years, not just my work). They will be replaced, as I mentioned above, soon - with hex bolts.

Now I'm just waiting for traffic to die down so I can do my test run and see if there is any difference.

[gmak]

What I found after changing the intake manifold front cover gasket

In open loop just after starting the car. LTFTrims are what they were when I shut the car off yesterday. Not bad at all - just threshold for having to address the vacuum leaks.
20151001 sc1.jpg

Right after going into closed loop. I can see that the DME is already starting to reduce fuel through the STFT.
20151001 sc2.jpg

I wasn't able to do my usual run due to traffic and had to mope along on the highway at under the speed limit. My highway section was much shorter and my "traffic with lights" section was longer on this run. You can see that the LTFT are coming down and that the STFT are negative = DME still reducing fuel. This screenshot was taken just after getting off the highway.
20151001 sc3.jpg


This is a shot of coolant temp and RPMs just after getting back home and driving through traffic - steady speed but stops at lights. Just before this, I was idling and the RPMs were up in the 700's. I guess this was to 'cool' the engine.
20151001 sc4.jpg

Here is the final shot. I had been idling about 3 or 4 minutes because Torque just shut down a couple of times and I had to relink to the OBD2 bluetooth interface. LTFT are down at a 'essentially zero' level in terms of "Is it worth it to chase down these vacuum leaks", but the DME is adding fuel. So efficiencies gained while driving are lost when idling. No surprise since they are two completely different modes of operation.

20151001 sc5.jpg



However
1. When I start the car, the motor jumps to at least 1500 RPMs and then settles down to around 700 - 800 RPMs. I would really like to know why this happens and if it's 'dangerous' for the engine.
2. The howling is still there, but wasn't as apparent today - (the weather is a little colder so it may be temperature related - i.e. the hotter the engine....). it also doesn't seem to exactly follow the throttle, more like a delayed reaction. I'm still moving forward as if it's belt / tensioner/ pulley related. I'm developing a sneaking suspicion that it might be PS pump related - especially given the leaky hoses from the reservoir. They look like they're also leaking where the rubber part turns to metal. I wonder if at higher temps when the metal expands, that air is being introduced into the PS pump and results in the howling. That is congruent with no howl when the serpentine belt is off.

[gmak]

So this showed up this week, and I picked them up today. Thanks Auaq for the great idea. Got them from Thayer Motorsports.

20151003 strut fortune auto 500.jpg

I started early this AM. I thought that I would pop out the thrust arm bushing and put in UUC polyurethane 2 piece ones because of a minor highway vibration.

1. Removed the swap bar end links and brackets to give some movement to the sway bar when trying to get at the bolt for the thrust arm bushing. It was a bit of a PITA until I remembered that one is supposed to turn the wheel outward to give some clearance for the bolt head near the centre tie rod at either the pitman arm or idler arm junctions.

2. I was a bit dismayed to find that my ball joints (thrust arm) were jello. I've ordered new thrust arms. This weekend project of putting in the struts (next weekend for the shocks) is now a 10 day project where I will do something every night until the thrust arms show up.

3. I have new tie rods to put in. The control arms are fairly recent if a visual scan is any indication. One sway bar end link had been replaced (hmmmmmmm) - I have a new one for the other side - and quite possibly a bushing in one of the thrust arms. Doesn't do me much good if the ball joint is shot, though.

4. When I'm done, there will be new or fairly new ball joints all around in the front, new struts, new thrust arms, new sway bar links, new tie rods. I think for the tie rods, instead of counting turns as I take of the old ones, I'm going to mark a spot on the center tie rod with some paperweight, put a thin metal rod against the centre and end tie rod, and mark the same spot along with the "center spot' at the ball joint. This way I will have pretty much the same length before and after and this will let me get to the alignment.


Right now I have the thrust arm hanging down with the bushing in space. The sway bar is disconnected and loose from all attachments. The next step is to get the calipers out of the way and then pop the ball joints of the tie rods out. Following that, I will get the strut out (3 nuts on top, pinch bolt, ridiculous amount of banging to get the steering knuckle down). I'll measure the fortune auto 500 strut against it and make sure that the ledge that fits in the pinch collar is the same distance from the top as the current strut - not looking to raise or lower the vehicle. Before putting the new strut in, I'll be popping out the thrust arm. If there is enough clearance with the new strut above the ball joint, I'll be putting the strut in right away. If not, it will have to wait for the new thrust arm. Finally, I'll get the tie rod end off and put the new one on with the proper length. Sounds like a plan, I hope that I can execute it properly.

[gmak]

I decided to get the tie rod ball joints out of the way before having a life this evening. Nothing is ever easy. I took the nut up to the level of the top of the bolt on the tie rod to give me some grip with the "tool" for popping the ball joint out. Ball joint popped just fine and I'm either deaf, or many have exaggerated the noise that it makes. I didn't find it that bad - but I am outdoors in a car port not in a small garage.

I go to take the nut off - no dice. I used a torx socket because the allen key was loose in the port on top of the spindle, and the next one up was too big. Although the picture is blurry, the allen port on the top of the ball joint was pretty smooth. the nut and ball joint spindle did just that - spin spin spin. I put a piece of wood on a jack and pushed the tie rod ball joint up to give some room under the nut.
20151003 tie 1.jpg 20151001 tie 2.jpg


I took a sozzle (sp?) with a good metal-cutting blade on sideways and it went through that spindle like a knife through butter. At last! A break!
20151003 tie 3.jpg

The remains. The washer-like object on the left sits on the spindle on top of the steering knuckle. The right is the head that was just cut off.
20151003 tie 4.jpg


That was the passenger side. I figure that somehow the allen port on top of the spindle got stripped when it was put on. :

On the drivers side, I put an allen key in the port and it fit properly. The nut was tough to get going, even with PB blaster. I took the nut off entirely and tried the pop tool on the bare spindle (I'm putting in new tie rods any way). One small bang later, both tie rods have been separated from the knuckle.


I have a feeling that I'm going to have to get a bigger tool to take care of the thrust arm ball joint. I wonder what size I need and where I can get one within the next week before the new thrust arms show up?

Tomorrow, I'm going to put the new Fortune auto 500 struts in place on both sides (if there will be enough clearance for the Thrust arm ball joint removal). I'm going to measure off the tie rods and replace them - famous last words - but it should go better since I only have that one nut/bolt on each to loosen and then 'unwind' them off of the center tie rod.

[auaq]

Nice! Once your done with your installation let us know how it rides/performs. It's October and hopefully I should be starting mine soon.

[gmak]

You may remember that I had to cut off a nut from the RHS tie rod end to get it out? I tested the ball joint and it was firm and good. Darn. However, I've decided to leave the LHS tie rod in place. One less thing to do.

For the RHS, i will be matching the rod, in place, to the new one to verify lengths. then I will tape a thin metal rod to the existing tie rod end, starting at where the center tie rod meets the idler arm, and going to the end of the tie rod end. I'll be putting paperwhite marks on the thin metal rod and then using that as a reference to adjust the length when the new tie rod end is in place.

I took out the RHS strut, and it is quite a bit longer than the new coilover. Being a noob, I don't know what this implies but I'm going to soldier on and assume that when the weight of the car is on the new ones that it doesn't compress like the spring and strut of the existing member. I'm trying to contact Thayer Motorsports to find out if there is a way to translate the length of the fortune 500 strut to the eventual ride height - I want to be close to where I want to be and not have to adjust multiples of inches when I square the front and rear.

I found on page 130-10 of the Bentleys, they have a height chart for various E39 engines and suspension (sport, regular, rough road, M5 etc). However, they measure from the inside lip at the bottom of the wheel, not the center of the hub. Most DIYs I've seen speak to the distance from the center of the hub and one uses the rim at the top. Plus, the Bentleys says that you have to do the 150 pounds everywhere thing (If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have bought 2-part bushings for the thrust arms. d-oh). A post by CN90 seems to indicate that the difference is about 1/2 inch in ride height when fully loaded : I seem to remember that he used his kids in the front and that that was all the load he put on his bilsteins before torquing. I haven't seen anything about ride height adjustments from him, since then - nor any comment on wear and tear on the bushings.


Speaking of bushings and thrust arms, my RHS bushing looks fine but it is in wrong. The line on the bushing does NOT line up with the arrow on the arm. Plus it does not look like it was put in symmetrically (one side sticks out more than the other). I still have to check the other side (too many things to do when I am at home). I'll post pics another time showing what I mean.

Tonight, I'm going to take off the RHS thrust arm ball joint. I'm hoping that with the nut left on the ball joint, even with the top, and hammering in the lower part of the tool, will give me enough of a grip for it to work. I really don't want to start pounding on aluminum. I'm a bit concerned that having the strut out already may make it difficult to remove the nut - BUT, I may just put the bushing back in place temporarily to stop the steering knuckle from twisting.

The good part is NO new LHS tie rod end needed, and the suffering on the RHS will hopefully lead to an easier operation on the LHS.

[gmak]

I popped out the thrust arm on the RHS. I was able to use the same tool as for the tie rod ends. I left the nut on at the level of the top of the shaft of the ball joint so that the end of the tool didn't slip off.

The thrust arm ball joint is pretty much toast if this is any indication




The bushing is a Meyle. To me, it seems that it was not inserted properly and would likely lead to issues in the suspension.

1. The arrow on the thrust arm does NOT line up with the line on the bushing - it was pressed in crooked.
20151006 RHS TA1.jpg

2. The shiny side is on the Left of the bushing in this picture. But (you can't see it - take my word for it), the arrow is on that same side This suggests that the PO or someone else pressed the bushing in from the wrong side. My understanding is that it goes in easy(er) if you press it in from the arrow side; and, press it out from that side as well.
20151006 RHS TA2.jpg


3. The bushing was not pressed in so that it protruded equally on both sides. This is supposed to be about 14mm IIRC. You can see the mark on the bushing where the thrust arm opening is supposed to reach. Given that it was pressed in from the wrong side, it sure looks like someone gave up when they were unable to move it forward any more. You may not be able to see it in the pictures but the bushing looks distorted to me, in profile - it did not go gently into that good thrust arm.
20151006 RHS TA3.jpg


I'm really curious as to what the LHS thrust arm will look like. Preliminary examination suggested that the bushing is old and was never replaced :. We'll see.

[gmak]

Everything is out on both sides in the front. A few tips for those who will be doing this someday

1. Don't leave the nut on when popping a ball joint out. Once it's popped, you WILL need the allen key in top of the ball joint stem to hold it. Unfortunately, many times this will have been damaged on installation. If you don't remove the nut, or have it very very close to removal (2 or 3 threads max) then you will have to cut the stem to take the thrust arm, control arm, or tie rod end off completely. - not always, but enough times that you will wish you took the nut off.

2. When installing any 'arm', it seems easier to do the bushing first and then the ball joint. The reverse is true for removing the 'arm'.

3. To cut off a stuck nut on a ball joint stem, use a good thick blade for the sawzall. I used the Milawaukee "Torch" and it did the job nicely. It cut through the thrust arm stem which is quite thick and strong, in under a minute.

4. It is easier to press out a bushing, and/or press in a new one if the arm in question is NOT on the car.


This is a long weekend up here in Canada, and I'm hoping that the temperature holds warm enough to get the front back in place, and at least get the rear sway bar and end links swapped out - if not the whole suspension. I pressed out the thrust arm bushings last night from the new arms I'd ordered, in order to install the UUC polyurethane bushings. It took me 2 hours plus for the first one and 10 minutes for the second (pressing out). The reason it took so long for the first was finding the right thingys to use to get the bushing out. I'll take pictures of my equipment, and measure IDs, ODs, etc when taking a break this weekend and I'll post it with annotations. Part of the difficulties I had was that I had constructed my own bushing press using one of the posts around - but that the cylinders I had were for the bushings on the 528i. It's a little bit different on the 540i, since the components are the same part numbers as the M5.

Not to keep you in suspens(ion). [I know, crappy word play.], the most effective combo was a press clamp (used for rear ball joints usually), various ball joint / bushing cylinders, and aluminum bearing discs - with a couple of plumbing flanges. I happen to have 2 kits and, and I said, I'll get the details and pictures up this weekend (or soon thereafter). The advantage of using the aluminum bearing disc is that the whole surface is brought to bear on the bushing, not just an edge as you have with a cylinder. With the whole surface pressing on the bushing, it's not as important that the OD match that of the bushing since the whole surface is being pressed.

[gmak]

Here are some measurements first. These are on a 2000 BMW 540i

Thrust Arm Bushing: 66 mm OD

Bearing Press (see picture 2): 61 mm OD

Short Receptacle (See picture 1): 76 mm OD
70 mm ID

Long Receptacle (see Picture 1): 73 mm OD
66 mm ID


As I mentioned in my prior post, I struggled with the first bushing because I had no idea what would get it out. I finally figured out a method and the second bushing took 10 minutes in stead of hours.

The key is that I used the C-Clamp Press (see picture 3), which is an OTC tool used for ball joints etc at the rear. It is massive and can take a lot of torque. It's easier if you grease the threads of the stud.

Picture 1: Astro Tool 7868. I used the two receptacles hi-lighted on the bottom. First the short one, then the long one after the bushing was pushed in flush with the arm. The short one has no bottom. It is an open cylinder. I used the plumbing flange in picture 3 as a bottom with the protrusion in the clamp bottom and the underlying flat surface facing up. (I'll try to find some time to take a picture of how it all goes together).
20151009 tools1.jpg

Picture 2: The bearing press kit. Astro 7824. I used a lot of these in trying various combinations with a bolt through the center of everything for a couple of hours with minor success - I had a hard time keeping everything lined up - so decided to go with as few parts as possible.
20151009 tools2.jpg

Picture 3: The massive C-clamp press and two plumbing flanges (1/2 inch hole). I finally decided to make it all work with the c-clamp because I could stand it on end and use gravity to help keep things in line initially until I had enough pressure to hold everything where I wanted and could lay the whole assembly down.
20151009 tools3.jpg


Getting a bushing out is a simple, if picky process. It is tricky to get everything lined up with all the different parts and no central unifying part. Those who used a large bolt through the middle still have the same problem because there is a looseness where every piece comes in contact with the bolt and things shift under the forces being applied. So:

1. Push the bushing flush with the thrust arm bore;
2. Push the bushing in so that it goes below the surface of the thrust arm bore;
3. Push the bushing all the way through and out.

The reason that step 2 is needed is because it is difficult to line up the press and go full tilt boogy on the bushing. Once the bushing is below the surface, the press can be inserted and you can really go to town on pushing it out.

For step 1, I used one of the plumbing flanges in picture 3. It is larger than the bushing and whether it was entered with the bushing didn't matter. As mentioned, the short receptacle was on the bottom with the other plumbing flange acting as the support and floor for it. It fit nicely over the protruding bushing and abutted against the arm bore to provide the opposing force. However, because of the "slice" out of the cylinder, it could shift and care had to be taken to go slow initially in order not to have it cut into the aluminum arm bore. I might have been able to get away with the long receptacle from the beginning, but there is a space limitation, and the long receptacle fit so snuggly (I added a bit of lube to the inside) that I preferred to have the short receptacle for the greater clearance and less friction, initially until I got things rolling.

After the bushing was pressed down to the edge of the arm bore, the long receptacle was put in place (need the room for the bushing, with lubrication on the inside due to the snug fit. If I would have had a wider diameter one, I would have used it. On top, the bearing press of 61mm OD was put between the top plumbing flange and the bushing. The total diameter was comfortably less than that of the thrust arm bore and bushing, so there was no risk of it not fitting. The fact that the press had a full surface in contact with the bushing and not just the aluminum outer circumference of the bushing, ensured that any force applied would push the entire bushing. The plumbing flange was used so that the bearing press could be shifted (oil on the top) as pressure was applied to make sure that it lined up and would not catch on an edge of the arm bore. The c-clamp was cranked down until it abutted against he arm bore again - which pushed the bushing below the top surface of the bore.

Now the plumbing flange was taken out and the clamp stud was brought down on the bearing press. Using a breaker bar and slow even strokes pushed the bushing out into the long receptacle. It was popped out of the receptacle by poking it firmly with the breaker bar through the hole at one end of the long receptacle.


Clear as mud?

I just installed the RHS thrust arm with the UUC two part polyurethane bushing. The problem is that although there is enough room for the bushing with it's outside washer plates to fit where the old bushing resided, there are various angles and protuberances that make it almost impossible to insert all together. As for polyurethane, I used moly grease and copper anti seize in various places to eliminate the dread (for anyone who hates car noises) polyurethane squeak.

I coated the outside washer plate with lubricant - only one - and put it in with what bushing (the right one as looking at the bushing). The bushing goes into its receptacle from underneath - it can't go straight in. The washer shifted of course, but because of the grease I was able to gently tap it where I wanted it with a wrench, and then secure the plate and the bushing by tapping the bolt in partway. The other outside washer plate was lubed up and shoved in on the other side (left as one is looking at the bushing). There is no spare room, but the grease enabled me to shift the left side of the bushing and the plate minutely to be able to tap the bolt to where part of it protruded on the left side. Then the nut was put on to hold it in place. etc etc, loctite etc torqued down et voila. Then I juggled caliper, steering knuckle, hydraulic jack to get the thrust arm ball joint stud into it's appropriate hole in the knuckle. New lock nut, 21 mm box wrench, allen socket when necessary, I'll finish torquing properly tomorrow. (gets dark earlier now).

Here is what I hope to get installed tomorrow. I'll put the struts in, then finish up with the tie rod ends and lower the car back to the ground to set the coilover height and do a mini alignment. I'm going to let the car settle initially and then take my measurement from the back wheels and apply this to the front wheels using the sport suspension figures from the Bentley.

If I feel confident with the alignment, I'll take the car for a little test drive - nothing silly. Then, I put in the eibach rear sway bar, new sway bar end links, and start the tedious process of getting to the top of the rear shocks in order to swap them out with their replacement fortune auto 500 shocks.

More to come later this weekend.

20151009 struts.jpg

[auaq]

Looking good.

[gmak]

It's quite chilly out this AM, so while I wait for my 'nurse' to get her s**t together, and the temp to rise a bit, I set up the other bushing and did a few videos showing how I pressed out the bushing. While I had the luxury of having the arm out of the car, I believe that this can be done under the car as well. Note that I have the clamp press standing vertical just to illustrate things better. I also did the pressing off-camera, where I lay the clamp down on its side and used a 1/2 inch breaker bar with ratchet setting and a 22mm socket. After the first video, I greased the threads on the clamp. d-oh. Also, this is the old thrust arm with a meyle bushing pressed in crooked. I checked the other thrust arm, and it had a boge bushing. Clearly a lot of 'just do one side' work on this car.

This first video is the set up to get the bushing down flush with the thrust arm bore.



This second video shows the addition of the aluminum bearing press to push the bushing below the lip of the thrust arm bore. Note that I used the next size up from when I took out the bushings from the new thrust arms.



In this third video, you can see how the bushing has been pressed in. Note that I'm not putting the plumbing flange back on top since it doesn't fit inside the thrust arm bore. Note also that I still have the same receptacle on the bottom. This is because the long receptacle wouldn't fit over the bushing end without some force and I didn't want to chance it getting stuck in there. I dodged a bullet on the new thrust arms since the bushing is fairly new and hadn't 'mushroomed' any on the end and was able to fit in the long receptacle. To fully remove this bushing, I would need a slightly wider ID on the long receptacle. In the short one, the bushing bottoms out while still halfway through the bore, due to the part with the hole that sticks out in the middle.





Added Bonus Feature: Stuff about the UUC bushings I am using.
First picture shows the parts.

1. Thrust arm with empty bore;
2. Two end pieces for the UUC polyurethane bushing
3. Metal cylinder that will run on the inside of the bushing
4. End 'washer' caps
5. Moly CV joint grease (from my 528i driveshaft rebuild)
6. Copper anti-seize

20151010 parts 1.jpg

Here is another view showing how the bushing goes together
20151010 parts 2.jpg

Here is the final assembly. I did the following:

1. Grease the inside of the bore lightly, and around the inset part of the bushing halves. Very lightly on the inside ends of the bushing halves, and then rubbed together to make sure I wasn't adding too much
2. insert each half into the bore, in turn, and make sure they bottom out on the lip. Rotate them to make sure the 'micro layer' of grease is spread around
3. Cover the inner hole of the bushing, and the outside of the metal cylinder with copper anti-seize. Insert one into the other. I used the washer cap on top to gently tap it in with a rubber mallet.
4. That's it.

20151010 UUC bushing in place.jpg

Some comments on the UUC bushing versus a typical bushing. Here is a picture of the latter:
20151010 anatomy of a bushing.jpg

Where the metal frame is around the central hole, it is rubber. There are 3 gaps around this that go 5 mm - 10 mm deep. The other side has the same. It looks like the thrust arm can move about the central axis of the bolt through the bushing with compression able to take place all around, as well as just on one side or the other.

The UUC bushing, on the other hand will be a lot more difficult to compress. It is solid and hard compared to the rubber in the typical bushing. the metal end caps will not permit much twisting one way or the other. The advantage is that one doesn't have to do the BMW weight dance to torque the bushing bolt. Internal twist stress will be non-existent, something that destroys regular bushings over time. But, I am sure that there will be more Noise and Vibration transmitted to the frame. If it is too much for my delicate constitution then I will look for another solution: either an OEM bushing, or maybe these sexy bushings that address the internal twist stress of the bushing, like the UUC polyurethane one, but claim to have a lot less noise and vibration (NVH).

We'll see.

[gmak]

The coilovers are in the front. The back will likely happen next weekend where I have an extra day off. The car has been 'on the ground' overnight with the front wheels sitting up on wood ramps (low ones).

My plan of attack, in the absence of any insight, advice, or information is as follows.

1. Measure from the bottom of the hub to the fender on the back.
2. Use the Bentley charts for fender height (from the bottom of the rim to the fender) to estimate the difference between front and back.
3. Apply to difference to my back measure to get my front measure
4. Turn the wheels in front to access and loosen the pinch bolt
5. Jack the front end so that the wheel stay on the ramps but that weight is taken off of the coilovers
6. Unscrew / screw the bottom half of the coilovers to raise / lower the height, using a micrometer to verify the change in height
6. Lower car, check measurements on both sides, repeat as necessary
7. Tighten pinch bolts
8. Adjust alignment using string method and micrometer.
8. Go for a slow test drive away from the madding crowd.


I'll let you know how it turns out.

[gmak]

Here is what the instructions should be:

1. Pre-load the spring based on the video; Measure the distance from the top to the bottom of the spring. It should be the same on both rear or both front coilovers. If you read the Fortune Auto instructions, they talk about the length of the uncompressed spring and taking off a 1/4 or 1/2 inch through compression based on the car and the application. I think that these are old written instructions. The video makes more sense, along with measuring the height. I double checked on the car before doing my final height adjustment.
2. Really really mash the two notched rings up under the spring together. Don't just tap the lower one with a screwdriver. It's not enough. Take the two hook spanners supplied. Put one on the lower ring to screw it up. Put the other one (bigger one) on the upper ring to screw it down. Push on both spanners as hard as possible mashing the two rings together. Now do the screwdriver thing in the notch of the lower ring. You know you've done it right if when you take a hook spanner to the upper ring that is right under the spring, then the entire threaded part of the coilover rotates as well and screws into or out of the bottom barrel.
3. Install the front coilovers so that the ridge on the lower barrel butts into the TOP OF THE pinch clamp and sits in the depression there (540i). Do the usual torque everything.
4. Put the car down. Allow it to settle in. (have no idea how long. I guess half an hour?)
5. Take whatever measure you are using to adjust height (I use the bottom of the BMW logo on the hub of the rim up to the fender. Determine the change in distance up or down that is needed. Then take some weight off the wheels with a jack. It will make the height adjustment a lot easier on the hands and arms. Re-measure the new height, same way as the old height. Add the difference you calculated to get the new new height with the impact of the jack.
6. Adjust up or down as required by using a hook spanner on the upper ring under the spring. You should see the lower ring turn with it, and be able to feel the barrel moving.. I have no idea how many turns to a millimetre. It's guesswork for me.
7. If you're adjusting the height down, remember to loosen the ring that is way down by the lower barrel by screwing it up so that there is room for the coil to screw down into the lower barrel

That's it. Would that be so hard to write up and put in the box? The video is confusing. There are no installation instructions that say how to position the coilover. And turnaround on emails and direct queries takes an eternity. You can leave a message and maybe someone will get back to you. Are you listening Thayer Motorsports? Aren't you the front line for support?

[gmak]

Here's the video I mentioned in the above post.

[gmak]

I decided that I would have an easy day of it (Hah!) and install the M-5 bumper from umnitza that's been sitting in my basement (painted) for a while. The PO said that the fog lights were Xenon, so I ordered those as well without ballast.
20151012 bumper01.jpg


The bumper is always easy to get off the non-M' bumper (Pre-facelift anyway). 4 plastic rivets holding the black grille in the long opening. Take them out. Then you have access to the two bolts holding the actual bumper behind the cover. Torx socket. Take them out. Bumper comes off. Watch out for the top-heavy due to the big metal bumper behind the plastic.
20151012 bumper 2.jpg

Bumper off. Look at the lights. Spaghetti as far as the eye can see. The PO had put in a Xenon bulb, run the regular wiring out to an LED interpreter (wires with mesh on them, black box at left of picture) into the ballast (silver box at bottom of picture), out through the million volt power supply (black box on the right) and into the light bulb. The bulb looks like a Xenon (sort of) but it has a blue wire running from the top down into the base. I have no idea what that is.
20151012 fog lamp xenon with ballast spaghetti.jpg 20151012 old xenon bulb.jpg

Long story short, I cut the brown and yellow wires coming into the plug on the RHS of the picture. Then I cut the red and black wires that were an extension of those wires coming out of the grommet at the top of the case in the picture. I spliced those together. The I cut the black and red wires going into the old bulb and splice those with the wires going into the new plug going into the fog light. After all that, the fog lights don't work - so I'll be crawling under the car working up through the pork chop to get the wires and look for poor connections. The holiday precluded me from buying proper connectors - so that is the next step.

I had some industrial strength velcro and the male went on the backs of the three boxes (2 black, 1 silver / aluminum) and the females at various strategic locations on metal in behind. So it's all nice and neat and tucked securely out of the way. They just don't work.

I was having -40 degrees as an ambient temperature - with a new sensor installed a short while ago. I did a bit of sleuthing to see if there was a short. Imagine my surprise when I found there was no resistance across the temperature sensor where the white wires plug into the BMW wires. I decided to check right at the sensor and popped it out. NO PINS. I had somehow gotten a sensor with NO PINS. Is this something we should be checking now? What sloppy QA at the factory and at the seller. I can't remember who it was but if someone wants dirt, let me know and I'll go look it up. I borrowed the temperature sensor from my 528i and I'll have to order another one. Somebody didn't like where I left the old one and moved it to where ever single socks go to die.

What really annoyed me about the Umnitza bumper is that they didn't supply any FASTENERS. none. nada. nil. No fasteners.?????WTF????? I found myself in the position of salvaging everything I could from the old bumper - plastic rivets (ugh!), metal screws from the fog lights (no screws in crude with the fog lights???). Frustration and annoyance all around.

I transferred the metal bumper from the old set and installed it right on the car on those two solid metal pipes that are so obvious 1/3 the distance from either side of the car. I left the bolts loose for maneuvering.

Umnitza clearly states that you will require some adjustments to get a good fit with the poly bumper (ABS is not an option in my climate unless it's the absolute best like on the OEM bumper covers), but this was ridiculous. We would up having to leave off the thin rubber moulding / gasket that runs along the top edge of the bumper cover. I'll go back and remove the lights when I have energy again and put them back on.

Then we put the bumper cover on as best as we could (I had help) and while my wife pushed against it in the middle, I went around banging in plastic rivets that have seen better days.

I expected some adjustments - but it's very hard to adjust when the bumper cover is too short to reach from one edge of wheel well to another. I'm going to go back in another time, loosen the two big bolts and see if I can shift things a bit to get the passenger side to line up with the wheel well.

Then there is the paint job. It's decent but not very many layers. I'm not sure there is more than one clear coat layer on it. the shade doesn't match the car. To be expected you say? I bought a rattle can, with no paint matching - just the colour number - and the colour on the trim that I started painting matches the car.

All in all, if I had a 1K - $2.5K car, I would say this bumper is good enough. In spite of the great price difference, I am regretting not going OEM. Time will tell if this was a stupid buy or not - but the fit, paint job, and general stinginess with necessary fasteners suggests it may be leaning to the stupid side.


I'd post a picture, but I haven't resolved the front licence plate holder issue yet and I have the old plate holder held on with zip ties, and no mouldings which still need to be finished painting.

[Msport540]

Did you do the rear bumper as well? I noticed the the impact/bumper piston holes need to be honed out a bit (upwards) to get the fit perfectly flush against the quarter panels, or just add more foam to the inside of the bumper..

[gmak]

rear bumper will be for another time. Now I'm not sure if I want to do it. lol. I'm ageing right before my very eyes.

[Msport540]

Nah, it's not that bad.. but if you want that oem "perfact look" then from what I noticed your gunna have to adjust some shit.

[gmak]

I took the front lights out. loosened the big bolts and put the rubber trim on the upper lip. To do this, I slid it under the fender by each light socket and then pushed the rubber channel on each piece into the middle. Interesting enough, putting the rubber in-between the bumper cover and the fender provides some support there and when I shifted the bumper and bumper cover around the loosened big bolts, I was able to line up the RHS side much better. My wife held the bumper in and I tightened the bolt on that side. Repeated for the other side. But the upper corner of the bumper on the LHS curves out ever so slightly. I'm hoping that it;s the wheel well liner on that side and that a little adjustment might fix it.

Still need to decide what I'm going to do about the license plate, and I need to get the mouldings painted and clear-coated.

Some choices are:

1. This bracket that attaches in existing holes in the bumper - more details here
2. This type of bracket which goes in the towing hook place - not too crazy about the asymmetry.
3. The M5 license plate bracket - need to drill holes and need to paint (#9 in the diagram)
4. There is another one that attaches to the mesh and the license is attached at the bottom. It needs a bit of sponge or gasket on the back of the plate at the top to stop banging against the bumper with the force of speed.

Probably #1 is the best choice with a bit of metalwork to create a separate bracket for the Skene to screw onto.

[gmak]

Well, the swap of the rear sway bar is done. The 540i now has the Eibach 18mm red bar and the 15.5mm is on the 528i. I took out front ABS/Speed sensors on the front of the 540i and cleaned them. I tried to do the same for the 528i but the right side is pretty damaged - probably the source of the 'bi'-fecta lights I have there.

Family responsibilities are slowing me down, but I hope to get the back seat out today and then do the rear coilovers tomorrow.

[dannyzabolotny]

Awesome Your car should handle really well after all of this work, it should feel like a new car!

[gmak]

I hope so. I'm really feeling the road right now and not necessarily in a good way. It turns out that I need to loosen the springs and pre-load them properly

[gmak]

Of course, one has to remove the rear window shelf and the speakers to access the top plate nuts of the rear shocks. Beisan describes this in their rear shocks DIY, which is kind of the bible. I found, though, that they don't deal with the electric rear sunshade. As well, some aspects didn't quite fit my 540i, as I will show.

The best video for removing the back shelf is the following, IMHO.




For the electric rear sunshade, there are 3 bolts going down into the trunk held in place with three nuts. If you have DSP with the subwoofers, there is an extra step to access them.

1. Remove the 4 screws holding the sub-woofer carpet cover in place. It should swing down, held by the edge nearest the front of the car. There are also 2 or 3 plastic rivets;
2. There are 2( ?? I'm not sure because the PO had done some work here and not all fasteners were present) screws holding the subwoofers up. Remove these and then swing the subwoofer down, same as its cover.
3. This exposes the 3 studs and nuts holding the electric rear sunshade in place and preventing the removal of the rear window shelf. After removing the nuts, one can push up through the two holes (see picture) that back the subwoofers, in order to help detach the rear window shelf.

20151017 trunk 1.jpg20151017 trunk 2.jpg


The Beisan DIY, and others that I have seen, all speak to putting a piece of wood between the H-platform and the body of the car, in the rear suspension on both sides, due to the tendency of the platform to pop up once the bottom of the shock is freed from its captivity. I had a dickens of a time getting the H-platform to move down to insert a wood brace, even with my full weight on the hub - and this was with the nuts removed from the upper shock where it sticks into the rear window shelf. NOTE that I removed the sway bar end link from the sway bar on both sides since it attaches to the H-platform and would have prevented any movement by any stretch of the imagination.

The RHS shock was easy to get out. One pushes the bottom in towards the differential and this gives enough clearance for the top to come out from under the lip of the fender. The LHS was much more difficult and involved quite a bit of twisting and tuning while pulling down and towards the back with the evap tank.

Since the coilover can be shortened (and was), it was no issue to get it in. These are the fortune Auto 500 coilovers. I did the following as part of the installation process.

1. Pre-loaded the spring ( 7 inches un-tensed) to 6 3/4 inches per the directions from Fortune Auto in an email (and their user guide - apparently one should ignore the video that shows them guessing that the spring is tight enough.
2. Screwed the coilover down into the lower barrel to make it short enough to install easily.
3. Basically put it in and loosely (hand) tightened the big 21mm bolt holding the base in place. Then removed the block of wood and let the H-platform seek its preferred level. Then I lengthened the coilover until it was close enough to line up with the 3 holes in the rear window shelf; push up the suspension and then tighten the nuts inside the car.
4. Torqued the bolt holding the bottom of the shock.
5. Tested the spring which I found able to shift too easily so I adjusted it's length to 6 5/8 inches and tightened up the two rings under the spring platform.
6. Lengthened the coilover from top of spring to top of ring at the barrel to 14 1/4 inches (Just the way it worked out in order for me to get the sway bar end link attached to the sway bar).
7. Screwed all the fiddly bits in the wheel well back in place (hose /conduit from the gas cap in on the RHS; and, the eval thingy on the LHS)

I put the wheels back on and let the car down. Tomorrow I will do the measuring and height adjustments. Based on what my car was previously, I'm looking for 15 1/4 inches from bottom of hub to fender lip. I will be reducing the coilover's length to get this, if the wheel / fender gap is any indication. I will need to put the car back up on jack stands and take the wheels off to do this. The key is to shorten the coil without changing the preload on the spring. To do this, I leave the top two rings locked together and turn the upper one - making sure that the very bottom ring is loose so that the threaded part of the coilover will move down easily into the bottom barrel. When I turn the uppermost ring, I will also be turning the threaded barrel with my other hand and this should keep the springs properly tensioned since everything will turn together and screw down into the bottom barrel.



I also need to re-pre-load the front springs and check the height adjustment there. As I mentioned, I am hearing a little bit of of a clunk when at a stop and then turning. Hopefully, I won't need the fully rotational bearing that Fortune Auto provides to eliminate extreme cases of this (when pre-tensioning won't eliminate the spring shift in its base which causes the clunk).

[gmak]

The distance from the top of the spring to the bottom is 7 inches with no load. Fortune Auto 500 says to tighten the spring (by turning RING 1 to the right, so the threaded barrel doesn't move) to reduce the length by 1/4 inch. I found this left the spring a little loose (could be turned by hand), so I went for 3/8 on the length reduction.
20151019 Coilover 1.jpg

Then, I lock RING 1 and RING 2 together (using the spanners supplied) by turning RING 1 to the left, and RING 2 to the right. Now, RING 1 can be used to lengthen or shorten the coilover. I measured the distance with the old shocks (SPORT suspension) on the car and found that it was 15 1/4 inches from the bottom of the hub to the fender. Assuming that the height adjustments were all correct and to spec, I used this to determine the reduction in length needed. Remember that I had used a length of 14 1/4 inches on the coilover from top of spring down to top of RING 4; this was necessary in order to get the sway bar end link back in the sway bar.

I took a new measure from bottom of hub to fender and the difference between this and the 15 1/4 inches for spec gave me the reduction I needed for the rear coilover.

1. Car up on jacks; wheels off. Naturally, wheel liner is still out from the installation.
2. RING 1 and RING 2 locked together after the pre-loading of 3/8 inch on the spring
3. RING 3 loosened and moved up the threaded barrel to give the distance in reduction;
4. Spanner on RING 1 turning to the left; Left hand on threaded barrel to also help it in turning. Turning left screws the threaded body down into the bottom barrel and reduces the length of the coil
5. Simultaneously turn the threaded barrel to the left and use the spanner on RING 1, turning to the left, to screw the threaded body down into the bottom barrel;
6. When RING 3 reaches the bottom barrel, the reduction in length is complete.

Turn RING 3 to the left while holding the threaded barrel steady in order to lock the bottom.

Repeat everything for the other side. Done!

I decided to clean up the inner wheel well. I used anti-bug, grease spray to clean the aluminum lining inside the wheel well, as well as the various hoses, tubes, plastic bits etc... I particularly focused on the ledge on the outside edge of the wheel well because there was a lot of dirt there. After everything was clean, I used a tar-like rocker panel spray to line that same ledge, as well as the little ledge at the bottom front of the wheel well. Then I used Griot's Garage engine presentation spray everywhere except the threads on the coilovers. I put copper anti-seize on those threads due to the harsh winter climate conditions up here.

The plastic wheel liners were scrubbed down with Dawn detergent (anti-grease dish soap - works wonders) then preserved with Aerospace rubber and plastic spray.

Wheel liners went back in - RHS rear was a lot easier than LHS rear, in spite of the presence of the gasoline conduits that the top of the wheel well liner needs to go under (the 'chimney' portion).

Everything is buttoned down, tight and dry, and ready for an alignment beyond my string-based alignment to have at least a serviceable car.

Took the car through the touchless car was to get it properly coated with wax and other things to protect the finish (We saw snow flurries today).


My thoughts on the coilovers? Initial ones: Boy do I ever feel every bump in the road. I don't know why given that i have 8K / 5K and left the damper set at the factory setting of 5 clicks from the softest (maybe I should go to 0 clicks i.e. the softest?). After the alignment, I'll take the car out for a good fast run and see how I feel about it then. However, I'm not driving on a smooth artificial condition track, but on real roads. I must say that I am a bit surprised by how much of the road I do feel.

[gmak]

I 'slept on it', and did some more reading. Apparently the rear coilovers are only supposed to be pre-loaded 1/8 of an inch - so I will be fixing that. For the front, the coilovers come set with 5 clicks on the dampers. I plan to take the clicks to zero (0) and see if that makes a difference in how I feel the road. I may also back the springs down to just 1/4 inch pre-load.

I'm a little hesitant to change the damper click settings on the rear coilovers because then I would have to take out the rear window shelf. Having done it on another car, and this one, I am comfortable with the process. BUT, and it's a big BUT, the electric sunshade makes this a PITA because the studs that go down into the trunk line up perfectly with the 3 kid's restraint hookups (another case of the Nanny state forcing me to keep them in my car just in case, some day, another owner has kids. Grrrrrrr.). It's difficult to get the sunshade studs over that hardware because of how the side columns pinch in at just the wrong places - I even used a breaker bar as a lever under the rear shelf to attempt to lift one section a little bit higher. I've noticed that Fortune Auto does have damper adjustment extenders that, I imagine, would extend up through the rear shelf into the cabin. However, I can't imagine how one would properly install or remove these with the rear shelf in place.

The adventure continues. Meanwhile, I have a fuel filter and some belt system tensioners to install. I don't know if I will get to that, unless we have a bit warmer weather.