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Thread: Danny's Japan Rot 540i Touring Thread

  1. #651
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    Quote Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny View Post
    None whatsoever, I like the SLS system. I had hundreds of pounds of stuff in the back of the touring when I was moving and it handled it just fine without any sagging in the rear. It's a really simple system that works quietly in the background without you ever knowing it's there.

    Plus with the rear SLS it's super easy to adjust the ride height— I just fire up INPA and adjust the height using nothing but SCIENCE!
    THIS, Why is it so hard for people to understand. I throw all kinds of stuff in mine never missed a beat.


  2. #652
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    Ha ha. Yep. Just can't learn people. "It must suck and be expensive and unreliable and poor performing just because airbags".

    No to all those things in fact. This same discussion in another thread right now. There's very very limited logic for spring conversion. In fact I am developing an opinion that due to the different geometry engineering the touring spring config is well inferior to the sedan setup and is actually optimized for airbags not coils. This based on a few guys like Brandon who never truly got high performance coils setups to work 100% satisfactory. Maybe a side effect of the weird lay down compressed geometry back there that it doesn't "scale up well" to high spring rates.
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  3. #653
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    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    Ha ha. Yep. Just can't learn people. "It must suck and be expensive and unreliable and poor performing just because airbags".

    No to all those things in fact. This same discussion in another thread right now. There's very very limited logic for spring conversion. In fact I am developing an opinion that due to the different geometry engineering the touring spring config is well inferior to the sedan setup and is actually optimized for airbags not coils. This based on a few guys like Brandon who never truly got high performance coils setups to work 100% satisfactory. Maybe a side effect of the weird lay down compressed geometry back there that it doesn't "scale up well" to high spring rates.
    Do you even drive your car or is it always in pieces with the hope of being on the road again?

    *Shield up*

  4. #654
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    ?wtf?? What are you possibly taking about and how does that relate to SLS?. I daily my E39 constantly year round.
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    Quote Originally Posted by WBAD530i View Post
    Do you even drive your car or is it always in pieces with the hope of being on the road again?

    *Shield up*
    Actually he dailies his Mercedes and drives like an old geezer ...

    I kidd!



  6. #656
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp5Touring View Post
    THIS, Why is it so hard for people to understand. I throw all kinds of stuff in mine never missed a beat.
    I truly put that system to the test when I was moving... one night I had the following things in the back of the touring: a full size ladder, a super heavy 19-space rack case, a shop vac, an office chair, several buckets full of cleaning supplies, multiple full jugs of motor oil, a few big boxes of random stuff, a large plastic bin full of stuff, several standing lamps, and an oil drain pan. I can't believe all of that fit, and without compromising the comfort/space of the two front seats.

    The SLS will come in super handy once I install a towing hitch

    Quote Originally Posted by geargrinder View Post
    Ha ha. Yep. Just can't learn people. "It must suck and be expensive and unreliable and poor performing just because airbags".

    No to all those things in fact. This same discussion in another thread right now. There's very very limited logic for spring conversion. In fact I am developing an opinion that due to the different geometry engineering the touring spring config is well inferior to the sedan setup and is actually optimized for airbags not coils. This based on a few guys like Brandon who never truly got high performance coils setups to work 100% satisfactory. Maybe a side effect of the weird lay down compressed geometry back there that it doesn't "scale up well" to high spring rates.
    I agree, the touring was definitely built with the rear air suspension in mind. The way everything is laid out with the air compressor clearly shows that it wasn't an afterthought. What's interesting is that BMW used a similar (if not the same) setup in the X5's rear SLS, and the Range Rover's air compressor setup is very similar (but probably a little more heavy duty since it's air suspension all around). Makes me wonder if the E39 touring was almost like a test bed for the new non-hydraulic SLS setup, given that the E39 touring debuted in 1998/1999.

    Quote Originally Posted by WBAD530i View Post
    Do you even drive your car or is it always in pieces with the hope of being on the road again?

    *Shield up*
    Settle down, buddy. Geargrinder drives his 540i plenty, and even though it's a silver blob with body colored trim strips (I kid, I kid, nothing but love) it's a lot faster and cooler than mine, what with the headers, LSD, 6-speed, and supercharger.
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  8. #658
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    Quote Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny View Post

    I truly put that system to the test when I was moving... one night I had the following things in the back of the touring: a full size ladder, a super heavy 19-space rack case, a shop vac, an office chair, several buckets full of cleaning supplies, multiple full jugs of motor oil, a few big boxes of random stuff, a large plastic bin full of stuff, several standing lamps, and an oil drain pan. I can't believe all of that fit, and without compromising the comfort/space of the two front seats.

    The SLS will come in super handy once I install a towing hitch

    I agree, the touring was definitely built with the rear air suspension in mind. The way everything is laid out with the air compressor clearly shows that it wasn't an afterthought. What's interesting is that BMW used a similar (if not the same) setup in the X5's rear SLS, and the Range Rover's air compressor setup is very similar (but probably a little more heavy duty since it's air suspension all around). Makes me wonder if the E39 touring was almost like a test bed for the new non-hydraulic SLS setup, given that the E39 touring debuted in 1998/1999.

    Settle down, buddy. Geargrinder drives his 540i plenty, and even though it's a silver blob with body colored trim strips (I kid, I kid, nothing but love) it's a lot faster and cooler than mine, what with the headers, LSD, 6-speed, and supercharger.
    Danny you know the reason why you really like SLS suspension. Don't call it the Shag Wagon for no reason.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny View Post
    To continue my suspension saga, I found a really good deal on a set of lightly used Koni adjustable shocks + Dinan springs for the front suspension. I should be getting those sometime early next week. They come with new OEM shock mounts and the springs are already installed so I don't have to use a spring compressor

    I'm excited to be getting Koni shocks because in a moment of cheap weakness I almost ordered Bilstein HD's. Normally the Konis are way out of my budget but the deal I got was better than buying two Bilsteins, so I'm pretty stoked on that. Now I just have to find out which Koni shocks fit the rear of the touring. According to Koni, none of their shocks officially fit an E39 touring with SLS, but I've seen a few guys around here running with them so I know it's doable.
    Yup, before I forget check the setting on the adj Koni's as I can't remember where they are set at. The great thing about the front e39 struts is that they take practically no time to re&re the strut assemblies.
    Looking forward to the suspension updates!

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  11. #661
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    Getting back into e38 game with the silver car in front?!

  12. #662
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    Quote Originally Posted by M73PWR View Post


    Getting back into e38 game with the silver car in front?!
    Nah, it's a 2001 740i that I'm fixing for somebody. Doing the chain guides, valley pan, etc. I had my 750il and I had my fun with it, but for now I'm committed to building this 540i touring into my perfect car.

    If I wanted another V12 boat I'd rather buy a 2003+ Mercedes S600. Way more power out of that twin-turbo V12, plus a way more luxurious interior.

    Where in Arizona are you, by the way? I never see any 750il's around here!
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    Quote Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny View Post
    Nah, it's a 2001 740i that I'm fixing for somebody. Doing the chain guides, valley pan, etc. I had my 750il and I had my fun with it, but for now I'm committed to building this 540i touring into my perfect car.

    If I wanted another V12 boat I'd rather buy a 2003+ Mercedes S600. Way more power out of that twin-turbo V12, plus a way more luxurious interior.

    Where in Arizona are you, by the way? I never see any 750il's around here!
    I agree - the twin turbo v12 always makes me envious of the rival.

    I'm in Tucson and gots two of them!

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    Quote Originally Posted by M73PWR View Post
    I agree - the twin turbo v12 always makes me envious of the rival.

    I'm in Tucson and gots two of them!
    Nice! That 6 looks rad too, is that yours as well? I'm never in Tucson, that's probably why I've never run into you haha. I live in Phoenix and work in Scottsdale, so the only time I really leave the Phoenix metro area is when I go to LA or Vegas.
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    Quote Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny View Post
    Nice! That 6 looks rad too, is that yours as well? I'm never in Tucson, that's probably why I've never run into you haha. I live in Phoenix and work in Scottsdale, so the only time I really leave the Phoenix metro area is when I go to LA or Vegas.
    Quite honestly there's not much to do in Tucson if you're a car guy unless you come to a dyno day or a drift event at Musselman Honda track.
    But I still enjoy the town for different reasons lol

    I haven't been to Pavilions in a while! Might go in may and hit you up if you're down to grab some food and chit chat

  16. #666
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    I've been pretty terrible at updating this thread lately, but in my defense I've been pretty busy with my day job and with other car projects (like finishing up a 740i chain guide job for a person). I finished the 740i chain guide replacement and that engine runs beautifully now, just like every other M62tu that I've worked on That makes 8 completed chain guide jobs, wow!

    Anyways, time for some wagon updates! It's at 188k miles now, still running great.

    Last Saturday I installed the Koni Yellows with the Dinan springs.



    Removing the old shocks went pretty easily; I started by removing the brake calipers (easy) and zip-tying them to the subframe to keep them from dangling around.





    After that I popped out the ball joint for the tie rod, pretty easy with my Harbor Freight ball joint removal tool.



    I also replaced a control arm on one side because the ball joint boot had torn and spewed grease everywhere. The ball joint hadn't failed yet since it was pretty new, but it was annoying how a Lemforder ball joint did that. Maybe something on the road hit it, I dunno. Thankfully FCP Euro is awesome so I ordered a new control arm and will be returning the failed one.



    For some reason I forgot to take pictures after that, I guess I got too excited? The rest of the job went pretty uneventfully. The old shocks came out pretty easily and the new ones went in pretty easily. I reassembled everything and torqued everything down as needed, nothing crazy there. As soon as I put the touring back on its wheels I saw an immediate difference in the ride height.

    Here's the original ride height before I did anything:



    Here's the ride height with the new shocks and springs:



    Once the springs settled a bit, this was the final ride height in the front:



    Now I just have to lower the rear a bit more with INPA to match the front. Despite the lower ride height the ride quality has improved quite a bit, and the adjustable damping is pretty cool as well. There's no more creaking or groaning from the front suspension, even at parking lot speeds, so I'd say the front suspension overhaul is pretty much 100% complete at this point. I took the touring to an alignment shop and they said the alignment was perfectly spot-on, which makes sense since the front barely has any adjustments.

    Last weekend I decided to move my non-running X5 4.6 since it was blocking access to the garage in the backyard. I decided to push it using my touring. Redneck science right there, folks.



    It worked out pretty well, actually.



    Now I can drive my cars into the garage and work on them there, as opposed to doing everything in my driveway and carport. I celebrated this moment by washing the touring and waxing it in the garage. It's nice to be able to do this stuff at night instead of scrambling to finish everything before sunset.



    My garage is still a mess but it's nice to be able to do stuff in there. Now I have to go pester my landlord to fix the leaky roof and to put glass in the window to keep rain out.



    I also degreased and detailed my engine bay, finally! It still had coolant splatter from when my radiator failed back in August...

    Before:



    After:



    The valve covers still look gross but they don't leak yet so I'll wait until I need to replace the gaskets to get them powder coated. Otherwise the engine bay looks quite sharp after being detailed. I used my Ammo Mud tire gel to dress all of the black plastics in the engine bay and it worked really well! It's a water-based gel so it's not greasy nor excessively shiny.

    I think that's about it for now. Next up on my list is the rear suspension overhaul.
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    Quote Originally Posted by NordmanMg View Post
    You moved into different house?
    Yep. I lived in Chandler before and my rent was about to go from $1100 to $1400 so I wasn't about to pay that, especially with how crappy my commute was (40-45 mins each way on a good day). The HOA was annoying me too. So I moved to Phoenix and found a smaller house in a non-HOA neighborhood for the same $1100 a month. My commute is 15 minutes each way now, and I can park so many cars on my property now. I have 2 cars in my front yard, 2 in my carport, and 1 in the backyard. I could probably fit like 5-8 more cars on my property.
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    Sounds like a massive win! Car looks amazing with the koni and dinan springs...

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    Quote Originally Posted by purplecty View Post
    Sounds like a massive win! Car looks amazing with the koni and dinan springs...
    Agreed, looks excellent. It has a perfect stance as is and I wouldn't mess with the rear ride height but that's just me. I didn't think that the M5 Dinan springs would raise the front end at all, this goes to debunk the urban myth that the extra 1-200lbs of the M5 would play with the front suspension height on the 540i.
    The Dinan/Koni is a perfect match; firm enough to have fun with yet composed and smooth enough for DD'ing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by purplecty View Post
    Sounds like a massive win! Car looks amazing with the koni and dinan springs...
    Thanks! Once I get the rear shocks replaced with Konis it'll finally ride as good as it looks.

    Quote Originally Posted by whiteghost1 View Post
    Agreed, looks excellent. It has a perfect stance as is and I wouldn't mess with the rear ride height but that's just me. I didn't think that the M5 Dinan springs would raise the front end at all, this goes to debunk the urban myth that the extra 1-200lbs of the M5 would play with the front suspension height on the 540i.
    The Dinan/Koni is a perfect match; firm enough to have fun with yet composed and smooth enough for DD'ing.
    I didn't think the M5 Dinan springs would raise the front end, they are lowering springs after all. Now the stock M5 springs might raise the front but lowering springs certainly won't. I also ordered a new Koni adjustment knob from eBay for like $20, it makes adjusting the Konis a breeze. I initially set the shocks to almost full soft, but that made the front a little weird so I set it to 1 turn away from full firm. That's slightly too firm so I'm going to back off a bit and see what happens. It's pretty fun to be able to dial everything in like that.
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    Wait a minute, is this your garage? (yeah, it totally is, I see your Christmas trees, lol)





    Last edited by computiNATEor; 04-23-2017 at 05:22 AM.
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    Hey guys my name is Tavarish, I told everybody to get E39 540s and then called all BMW engines garbage.

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    Quote Originally Posted by XAlt View Post
    Hey guys my name is Tavarish, I told everybody to get E39 540s and then called all BMW engines garbage.

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    Quote Originally Posted by computiNATEor View Post
    Wait a minute, is this your garage? (yeah, it totally is, I see your Christmas trees, lol)
    Yep, that's my garage! Basically I bought the Mustang GT for Freddy after he wired me some money for it, and we worked on it in my garage once he flew out to Phoenix. Then he drove it out to LA for the YouTube challenge he was doing with B is for Build, and yesterday I went to LA to drive the Mustang back to Phoenix since Freddy flew back to Florida a few days ago. It's been a wild week, which is why I've been quieter than usual on here.

    I drove the Mustang on some twisty roads in Malibu, now that was a lot of fun. Especially in tunnels, where the muffler delete was insanely loud. Bang for buck there's no better way to spend $1000. You couldn't possibly buy any BMW with a V8 and a manual for $1000, spend almost no money on it, drive it to California, abuse it a bunch, and then drive it back to Phoenix without any issues.



    Quote Originally Posted by XAlt View Post
    Hey guys my name is Tavarish, I told everybody to get E39 540s and then called all BMW engines garbage.
    Haha well his experience came from owning the world's worst 540i/6. I ended up buying it from him to try and fix it up and it took me quite a while to fix the timing, fix the oil burning issue (improperly installed OSV), and fix the overheating issue (just needed to be bled like 8 times). To be fair, the shop he originally took that 540i/6 to completely messed up the timing chain guide job to the point of bending a valve. So Freddy had to swap a different cylinder head on while outside in the freezing New Jersey winter and his patience ran out pretty quickly.
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