Danny's Japan Rot 540i Touring Thread

**RRH** · 08-22-2016, 01:38 AM

Oh god the control arms. I had a hell of a day doing control arms on my car. Stripped the counterhold bolts on both rears (upper arms I think?) I'm so glad I don't have to do it again anytime soon. Car looks awesome Danny.

**gmak** · 08-22-2016, 07:32 AM

Any details on the tool used to pop out the subrame bushings? Is is similar to the expensive one Auaq used on his M5?

Good work, Danny. It sure feels good as each improvement is made, and the car responds, right?

**RSBBlackM3** · 08-22-2016, 07:53 AM

Hell yeah. Great updates, bet she's way better to drive now

**purplecty** · 08-22-2016, 08:09 AM

The Dynavin fits the e39 interior well... I like it!

**waters17** · 08-22-2016, 09:01 AM

Is the boot up time on the Dynavin annoying?

**RSBBlackM3** · 08-22-2016, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by waters17

Is the boot up time on the Dynavin annoying?

I'll jump in real quick on this. Had my n6 a few months now.

Boot time is longer than I would like BUT this version starts booting when you unlock the car. I try to wake it up as soon as I can with the remote so that by the time I am in the car and put the key in, it's ready or almost about to finish boot.

**geargrinder** · 08-22-2016, 10:46 AM

Yep. When wagons ride like extreme crap in the rear, 95% chance it's those SF bushings. Either powerflex or Meyle HD clearly the way to go.

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-22-2016, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by RRH

Oh god the control arms. I had a hell of a day doing control arms on my car. Stripped the counterhold bolts on both rears (upper arms I think?) I'm so glad I don't have to do it again anytime soon. Car looks awesome Danny.

I'm not too worried about doing the rest of the suspension. The car has been in California since day one so it has zero rust. All of the suspension components look really clean so it really shouldn't be hard to replace them. For example, the subframe bushing bolts came out super easily with no breaker bar required.

Originally Posted by gmak

Any details on the tool used to pop out the subrame bushings? Is is similar to the expensive one Auaq used on his M5?

Good work, Danny. It sure feels good as each improvement is made, and the car responds, right?

The tool was a touring-specific subframe bushing tool, I think it's different from the one you'd use for the sedan. This is what it looked like (not my picture, just from Google):

DSC01461.jpg

Originally Posted by RSBBlackM3

Hell yeah. Great updates, bet she's way better to drive now

Oh yeah, so much better. Still a little roughness left in the rear but it's a lot more tolerable than it was before. Should be perfect once I replace all of the control arms and maybe the shocks. It's tempting to just put in Bilsteins with how cheap they are, but I'd rather save up for the OEM Sachs struts. I basically want this touring to ride like the day it rolled off the showroom floor.

Originally Posted by purplecty

The Dynavin fits the e39 interior well... I like it!

Yep, that's why I chose it over all the other aftermarket nav options. The backlighting on the buttons matches the rest of the car which is super nice.

Originally Posted by waters17

Is the boot up time on the Dynavin annoying?

Nah, it's really not bad. It starts to boot as soon as you unlock the car, so by the time I get settled in, start the car, and pick out something in Spotify, the Dynavin is ready to go. It also doesn't turn off completely until you've had the car off for about 20 minutes, so if you're running quick errands you don't have to deal with the boot times. Even if you do a cold boot it takes like 20 seconds or less, it's faster than most computers haha. Part of that is because it doesn't load the navigation until you need it, so it doesn't have to boot up its Windows CE partition on the initial boot.

Originally Posted by geargrinder

Yep. When wagons ride like extreme crap in the rear, 95% chance it's those SF bushings. Either powerflex or Meyle HD clearly the way to go.

Yep. Meyle HD is what I went with. So far I'm happy. Now I just need to replace the rest of the 180k mile suspension :P

**geargrinder** · 08-22-2016, 12:21 PM

The SB bush tool indeed has to be different because of the way the Touring bushers are longer on the bottom. An X53 one doesn't work either or so I am told.

I rented one of the 'community' ones when we did mine. There is one tool kit that does both which you want if you're going to do the M5 strut braces in the front.

**RSBBlackM3** · 08-22-2016, 12:36 PM

/\ you can install poly bushings without the tool. Just lube em aggressively.

**geargrinder** · 08-22-2016, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by rsbblackm3

just lube em aggressively.

twss

**mcgnms** · 08-22-2016, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by geargrinder

twss

I remember middle school lol. That was good though.

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-25-2016, 05:36 PM

A few days ago I obtained some LED angel eye bulbs. They update the angel eyes in a pretty subtle way, and they're a nice neutral white color as opposed to the ebay blue that I often see.

Photo Aug 23, 11 24 05 PM.jpg

I washed the touring a few days ago, using the AmmoNYC products that I recently got in the mail. Ammo Foam is an awesome soap that doesn't remove existing wax, and Ammo Hydrate is almost a miracle of product. You spritz a little bit onto a damp microfiber towel and somehow it picks up a ton of water even faster, all while lubricating the surface to prevent scratches in the drying process. After that, I went over everything with Ammo Spit (spray wax) as a finishing touch, along with Zaino tire shine. I love water based tire shines because they don't sling around, and they look nice for a pretty long time. I also have Ammo Skin (synthetic sealant), but I'll wait to apply that after I do a full paint correction. I'll probably do that in a month or two, once the temperatures drop a bit.

I also dropped the rear end of the touring a little bit in INPA and I'm really happy with how it sits now.

Photo Aug 24, 12 16 48 PM.jpg

Photo Aug 24, 12 21 09 PM.jpg

Photo Aug 24, 12 17 07 PM.jpg

You can also see my co-worker's Mustang parked next to my touring, in a rare state of being where it's not murdering pedestrians at Cars & Coffee (joking, joking... mostly)

Earlier today I had a guy come by and straighten my wheels. The rear wheels were perfectly in spec, but the front wheels were pretty beat up, with obvious bends on both. The technician did an excellent job and now both front wheels are in spec. The steering wheel doesn't shake anymore at 35-55mph like it did before, and I feel like it handles a little tighter now. I'm still going to replace all of the suspension components, but I'm glad to have the wheels all straight and true before I dive in.

**gmak** · 08-25-2016, 11:01 PM

the car sure cleans up nice.

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-27-2016, 04:10 PM

Went up to a cabin in the mountains of Prescott, AZ this weekend. It's less than two hours from my house but it's a totally different environment, like a proper forest. Of course I couldn't resist taking pictures of my car. The best part is that even though it rained all night there were no water spots on my car.

And my favorite shot:

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-30-2016, 05:02 PM

Just rolled over 180,000 miles the other day. Unfortunately I was on the highway when it happened so by the time I took a picture it was 180,001. Oh well, close enough.

Photo Aug 28, 10 02 27 PM.jpg

The car drives great, it just rides like garbage, even with the new subframe bushings. That suspension refresh can't happen soon enough.

**TxDarth** · 08-30-2016, 05:38 PM

Do you have yellow backlighting in your cluster?

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-30-2016, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by TxDarth

Do you have yellow backlighting in your cluster?

Yep, it's a facelift M5 cluster that was coded to work with my car. I love it, it's so much more visually interesting than the stock E39 cluster. Plus the working warm up lights and oil temp gauge are pretty awesome, way more useful than the stupid MPG gauge that just flails back and forth uselessly.

**JPR10** · 08-30-2016, 06:17 PM

M5 cluster is awesome... What do the lights on the tach indicate exactly again? Shift points? how does it work for an AT car lol

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-30-2016, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by JPR10

M5 cluster is awesome... What do the lights on the tach indicate exactly again? Shift points? how does it work for an AT car lol

Nah, it's basically like a redline that changes as the engine warms up. As the engine gets warmer, the redline moves higher and higher until it settles at 6.5k. It doesn't actually stop you from redlining the engine when it's cold, it's more like a visual reminder. I always thought it was pretty cool, it lets me know when the car is ready to be hammered.

Hilariously enough, the M5 cluster comes with the automatic shift lights by default, they just have to be enabled. I always thought it was a little weird how they left that in, but I guess if you think of the M5 cluster as a glorified E39 cluster it makes sense.

**TxDarth** · 08-30-2016, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny

Yep, it's a facelift M5 cluster that was coded to work with my car. I love it, it's so much more visually interesting than the stock E39 cluster. Plus the working warm up lights and oil temp gauge are pretty awesome, way more useful than the stupid MPG gauge that just flails back and forth uselessly.

I have a working M5 cluster in my e38 but I noticed the yellow backlighting...I got mine from Paul or blackknight530i as he is know here. I went with the grey faces rather than the black - the e38 has black ones. He is now doing LED backlighting which looks even better with the grey and maybe even too bright.......mine here -

**dannyzabolotny** · 08-30-2016, 08:29 PM

Yeah, he coded my cluster to work properly with my car. I already had the cluster laying around from a 540i/6 I bought that had it included with the sale of the car. I used to not like the yellow backlighting, but it's really grown on me.

**blackknight530i** · 08-30-2016, 09:18 PM

I'm glad you both are loving your M5 clusters. They look great in your cars and having the working oil temp stuff is really cool. I have M5 clusters in both my e39s and my e38. The two I6 e39s only have the working oil temp gauge for now, but of course the S62 in the e38 enables everything. Hopefully we will have a solution in the near future for enabling the warm up lights on M54s.

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**XAlt** · 08-30-2016, 09:24 PM

Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny

Nah, it's basically like a redline that changes as the engine warms up. As the engine gets warmer, the redline moves higher and higher until it settles at 6.5k. It doesn't actually stop you from redlining the engine when it's cold, it's more like a visual reminder. I always thought it was pretty cool, it lets me know when the car is ready to be hammered.

Hilariously enough, the M5 cluster comes with the automatic shift lights by default, they just have to be enabled. I always thought it was a little weird how they left that in, but I guess if you think of the M5 cluster as a glorified E39 cluster it makes sense.

I think it's used on Low OBC tests and parts bin 101.

**dannyzabolotny** · 09-07-2016, 06:54 PM

Yesterday I ordered a full front and rear suspension refresh kit... RIP my wallet. There's no backing out now, I'm super deep into this car (both in terms of time and finances). Hopefully with all new bushings and ball joints my ride will get a lot better. After that's done, I'll be investing in a set of new shocks all around. Initially I wanted to go with Bilsteins all around since they're super cheap, but I've heard from a lot of people that they're too rough, which is not what I want from a daily driver. At this point I'm trying to decide between OEM sport shocks or aftermarket ones I want a comfortable ride since this is my daily driver, so any recommendations? I was thinking about Koni Yellows. I do want to keep the rear self-leveling suspension, so would those even work with that?