Blackknight530i 530i6 -> M5 Conversion Build Thread

[blackknight530i]

Hey guys,

This is the new chapter in this car's life that started with this thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...p-build-thread, where I did an auto to 6-speed swap using an e46 M3 transmission and full v8 rearend and driveshaft. In that thread, I had talked about how I was planning on eventually swapping the M54b30 to a S54b32 M3 engine, and so everything was in preparation for that, but when I finally decided that my S62 swapped E38 was not really comfortable enough to drive and was going to require a lot more work to make it as nice as I wanted it, I decided to do something crazy and pull everything out of it and put it in my 530i6 and part the rest of the car. The S62 only has 59k miles on it now and the 420g that's attached to it only has 157k miles, so still quite fresh, but the 420g will be getting all new detents before going into the e39 and it already has a fresh new M5 flywheel and clutch kit. Motor mounts have about 17k miles, and the transmission mounts have less than 1k or so.

Where the car is at right now:





The car currently is mostly stock from the exterior, other than a debadge on the trunk, a small lip spoiler, and style 95 wheels in staggered 19x9/19x10 fitment mounted on e60 hubs and painted "Eleanor" gray (from Gone in 60 Seconds). It's black sapphire metallic and the paint still looks spectacular even with 211k miles, thanks to the help of some friends of mine who help me with some paint correction and waxing once or twice a year.

Interior is basically stock, except that I've done a NBT swap (2015 BMW Nav system) with 10.2" LCD and touch sensitive ceramic idrive controller, black face M5 gauge cluster with red/orange LEDs to match the rest of the interior lights, M dead pedal, and piano black trim. I just recently started doing the full M5 interior conversion with the Alcantara headliner, parcel shelf and pillars, as well as black M5 luxe seats refinished by Brian at Fibrenew in Raleigh/Wake Forest, and soon M5 leather dash, console, door panels, b-pillars. I will also be installing M5 or M door sills on the inside when the project is complete, mainly because my current ones need a refresh anyways. I'm not sure if I want to go with the M5 rearview mirror due to the fact that it looks kind of funky anyways and is a bit smaller than the stock one. If one comes up for the right price, I might consider it.





Performance mods include the 6-speed swap from an e46 M3, M5 rear sway bar, Zimmerman sport rotors, Koni Sport struts, M5 axles, 3.15 Open 540i differential with 540i driveshaft, and UUC Evo3 SSK with DSSR.

What's in store for the car in the next couple weekends:

Many of you may be wondering why I'm planning to do all this stuff with a 530i and why don't I just sell the 530i and buy a M5. Well, as you can read from the above thread and the list below it, my 530i may have high miles, but it is fully sorted. The entire cooling system, suspension, steering system, drivetrain, interior, hubs, brakes, interior, etc. have all been replaced and the body kept in great shape. The car is like new, every time I drive it. There are no leaks anywhere on the car, the engine has every bit of power as it did when I bought it at 56k miles, and it looks fantastic. The new engine going in has such low miles and I know it's history as well, so it's a known condition swap. I already have the S62 and 420g and nobody was going to buy the E38 with the S62 for what it was worth, since that car still needed so much to be sorted. The point is, for the amount of money I have in this swap, there isn't a M5 on the planet in as good of condition for similar money that I could have got, and I wouldn't have got anywhere near what I would expect for my 530i6 to make it worth selling it. I also intend to go all out and make this a full M5, except for a few minor differences.

I don't plan to swap the trunk floor to a M5 floor, but I do plan to modify it a bit to allow a dual exhaust muffler delete with quad tips coming out of a M5 rear bumper I got the other day. It's a genuine used BMW rear bumper, so no weird fitment issues. Another difference is that the fenders won't be rolled as much as the actual M5s are stock from the factory, unless I find a body shop that can do it. I've tried my best with a roller and it's got a lot more clearance than it did, but still not even close to what the M5 has. The last thing I can think of at the moment that will be different is that the M5 badges on the sides of the front doors will be installed in the gloss black rub strips that are currently on the car, since I'm not a fan of the matte black, which means the front and rear M5 rub strips on the bumpers will also be painted black sapphire as well. I still need to find a used M5 front bumper, belly pan and pork chops, but those are going to happen.

The parts I have acquired are going to be listed in a parts diagram when I'm done, but basically the list consists of the bracket and lines needed to relocate the ABS precharge pump to behind the bumper to make room for the driver side air box, V8 AC lines going to the compressor, a different battery cable that goes from the trunk to the firewall (since the I6 has the battery go to the driver side and the V8 has it go to the right side), M5 cooling parts (radiator, shroud, expansion tank, hoses, heater control valve, fan clutch and fan), Power steering parts (lines, M5 steering box, lower steering column shaft, reservoir), M5 3.15 LSD differential, M5 driveshaft, M5 brakes, and M5 front subframe.

I'm also taking the opportunity to do some upgrades and refreshing, while I'm at it. The entire front suspension, steering, and front and rear sway bars will be new. The suspension and steering will all be M5 spec Lemforder parts from FCP Euro, and the front and rear sway bars will be Eibachs. The front struts will be 15k mile Konis and front and rear springs will be stock M5 ones. The rear suspension arms and such were already refreshed previously with all Lemforder parts, so they won't be changed at this time. The fronts were needed due to the subframe being totally different on the V8s. All brand new Genuine BMW parts have been provided by Morristown BMW at an excellent price and amazingly fast shipping speeds.

That's pretty much it for this car, so stay tuned to see it all come together. All the powertrain/drivetrain that is currently in the 530i6 will be put into my 525it5 in the weekend following the swap for the 530i6 (549i6 ) to become a 530it6. I'll start a new build thread for that car soon as well.

I hope you guys enjoy this thread, as I usually post quite a bit when I do these swaps, so it should be interesting to follow. I don't expect it to take that long to get to where I want it to be, but any updates later on will happen in this thread, and not likely the old one anymore.

[auaq]

I I have witnessed the commencing of ///M-530i conversion today. The S62 has been pulled out of the retiring M7 and is now sitting next to the wall for now. I say this swap will most likely be completed in a span of 4-5 days.

[gmak]

The thing I love about the E39 is when I hear from experts like B.Kn "... has ONLY 157K miles on it...".

[Redshift]

Subscribed but in real life.

[blackknight530i]

The thing I love about the E39 is when I hear from experts like B.Kn "... has ONLY 157K miles on it...".

Just the transmission has 157k. The S62 has 59k and the e39 has 211k.

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[blackknight530i]

But yeah, when you can keep these feeling like new with ONLY 211k miles, I'd say it's a different story.

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[007008]

If you wanted an M5 buy an M5.....blah, blah, blah.
I thought I'd get that statement out of the way since I was first.

[blackknight530i]

If you wanted an M5 buy an M5.....blah, blah, blah.
I thought I'd get that statement out of the way since I was first.

LOL! There had to be at least one anyways.

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

For those that say that kind of crap, it's his car, he can put anything he wants in it, like say.... a 1600 VW flat 4, and call it the new F'kingrooven BMW EX530iamFarfrumpoopen Edition. Go Paul Go!!!

[blackknight530i]

For those that say that kind of crap, it's his car, he can put anything he wants in it, like say.... a 1600 VW flat 4, and call it the new F'kingrooven BMW EX530iamFarfrumpoopen Edition. Go Paul Go!!!

Thanks for the encouragement! I am going to call it that when it's done

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[purplecty]

Subscribed

[geargrinder]

LOL. In for the sub.

As I said just now in the old cars thread - this is a rare case where the 'crazy stupid idea to make a 530 into an M5' actually makes sense (i.e. vs. some schmucko starting from ground zero w/ no experience and no parts having no idea what he's getting himself into).

I'm sure it'll turn out awesome. As will the Touring's next-level 'trickle down' upgrades...

[XAlt]

Lol buy an M5 you cheap azz poser.

Had to get that out.

[RVAE34]

Very cool. At least the insurance will be cheaper on the 530...

[philly98540]

In for more swap tales from you Paul! I say you do this one blindfolded just because.

[JimLev]

Have fun Paul. You doing this at Brian's? If so it'll only take a weekend to do it, right?

[blackknight530i]

LOL. In for the sub.

As I said just now in the old cars thread - this is a rare case where the 'crazy stupid idea to make a 530 into an M5' actually makes sense (i.e. vs. some schmucko starting from ground zero w/ no experience and no parts having no idea what he's getting himself into).

I'm sure it'll turn out awesome. As will the Touring's next-level 'trickle down' upgrades...

Absolutely right, if the car hadn't been totally prepped for this already, it totally wouldn't have been worth doing this swap, but I'm doing all the supporting mods to make it a full conversion and not just a S62 swap as well.

Touring will get it's own new thread, but should end up being a pretty sweet car when it's done as well. 530it6 with M3 6-speed and V8 diff. It will really liven it up a bit. Also, the suspension on the wagon is pretty much shot, so it will take care of the front end suspension refresh at the same time. Will still need subframe bushings and rearend refresh, but I'm hoping to do the rear shocks this week before bringing it up to Brian's, since it sounds like one of them is completely empty of oil and is just bouncing around uncontrollably.

- - - Updated - - -

Lol buy an M5 you cheap azz poser.

Had to get that out.

HAHA

- - - Updated - - -

Very cool. At least the insurance will be cheaper on the 530...

This is an absolute truth. Way cheaper to insure a 530i than a M5, so I maintain the lower registration and insurance costs and on track days I can still do agreed value insurance.

- - - Updated - - -

In for more swap tales from you Paul! I say you do this one blindfolded just because.

LOL Chris, I actually thought about doing it blindfolded .

- - - Updated - - -

Have fun Paul. You doing this at Brian's? If so it'll only take a weekend to do it, right?

Yeah Jim, it's being done at Brian's. It was going to be done in a weekend, but we decided to start taking the S62 out of the e38 yesterday to get a head start, so I guess technically it will now be 2 weekends . We're doing the touring swap the following weekend, and then taking what comes out of the touring and swapping it into an e30 a few weekends after that. Going to be busy for a while, HAHA.

After finishing the touring, I'll have 1 weekend before taking the "M5" to VIR for a Tarheel CCA HPDE, so that should be interesting. I also need to squeeze in an alignment and tech inspection as well as A/C recharge into that small amount of time. Fortunately, I can get all that done at one shop my friend runs. I also need to figure out what I'm wanting to do on the exhaust for now. I'll need to get the M5 rear bumper I got painted, so until then I need to leave the stock bumper on, which means likely doing turndown tips, so I may just do a single exit on the driver side with the 540i resonator and a custom piece that deletes the muffler, then when I get the new bumper on, have them do the dual Magnaflow resonators to dual straight pipes going to quad tips like Brian's M5T. I'll likely be using a Magnaflow or similar X-pipe coming out of the M5 cats into the 540i resonator or Magnaflow resonators. I guess I could do the dual exhaust (with trunk floor mod) to turndowns and just replace the tips after getting the bumper done. Depends on how much it costs right now.

[RVAE34]

I need to get agreed value on the E38! I keep meaning to call Haggerty to ask about it. My dad uses them for all his collectible cars.

[auaq]

So ...... will there be a plan for a 750i conversion thread?

[blackknight530i]

So ...... will there be a plan for a 750i conversion thread?

Newp. Started to talk about it on the way to Brian's, but quickly stopped that conversation

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[ilyasandler]

i am subscribing
was just doing same research on same stuff you did, want to convert 530 to 540 with 6 speed, and both of your threads are pretty much exactly what i need to know

[blackknight530i]

i am subscribing
was just doing same research on same stuff you did, want to convert 530 to 540 with 6 speed, and both of your threads are pretty much exactly what i need to know

Cool! Yeah, it's pretty similar for S62 or M62TU, except for some very basic wiring differences.

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

S85 into the 740...

[blackknight530i]

S85 into the 740...

I was just saying above why the 7 is getting it's power train pulled from it, those reasons still apply, meaning putting anything back in is a bad idea. Need to start with a better car like Brandon is.

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[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Oh, I thought the 7's body was in good shape, it is not?