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Thread: 540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

  1. #1
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    I ended up buying RSBlackM3's 540iT/6.... post suspension, BBK and 6-speed manual swap. So many people were following the build..... I figured I'd start a new thread.

    The car arrived in February and I've been getting to know her since. Showing 156k miles on the clock, the first time I saw her off the truck she had a little bit of a burned oil smell, looked pretty stunning though. As I've driven her I've been fighting some niggly issues that aren't quite up to my complete OCD needs... such as the oil smell, pulsation on brakes and a *nasty* wobble / front end shimmy at 50 mph.... Turns out they're all fairly minor issues.

    Here's a breakdown after a tank of fuel and one trip to ACE Performance for a post-purchase inspection:


    • Upon delivery, the truck driver broke both inner fender liner pieces underneath the front bumper, presumably from backing up the car off the trailer and snagging them
    • Front wheels were refitted w/o hubcentric rings on the wheel spacers. RSB indicates his shop must have forgot to toss them back on. This nearly solved the death shake / wobble up front immediately.
    • Brake rotors showing brake pad material transfer, probably due to not being fully bedded in.
    • Windshield washers not spraying, rear window washer sprays slightly.
    • VANOS solenoid seals are leaking
    • Valve cover gasket appears to have been serviced, but new grommets on the hardware were not used and a few are leaking
    • Driveshaft boot at the back end where it meets the diff is torn / gone, spewing grease.
    • Dynavin N6 would not accept a CD


    I have already performed a few repairs, I started with the fender liners ($80 shipped from Latvia via eBay) and washer system (ordered via AutoHausAZ) as it was right there near the fender liners. I installed 2 new washer pumps w/ seals and a new washer fluid level sensor w/ seal. We now have fluid at the nozzles (yay, needed here in New England spring)! The now functioning washers revealed a leak at the windshield washer nozzle, I have 2 new heated nozzle assemblies ready to go in next time I can wrench.

    I removed the Dynavin head unit and removed the two security screws that the units shipped with, preventing a disc from being loaded, she reads discs now but a loose connection in back means the main speakers cut in and out sometimes. To be resolved next week.

    I also have some various cleaning pads and emory cloth grits coming to spend some time cleaning up the deposits on the front rotors. I'm fairly confident cleaning all the spotting on the disc, scuffing up the pads again, and doing a pretty thorough bedding-in procedure should alleviate this and restore the braking to full fitness. Plenty of power there now, just feels like crap and makes some groans at higher speeds and squeaking at lower speeds.

    ACE noted the leaking solenoid seals and valve cover screw grommets as well as the driveshaft. After installing hubcentric rings and a rebalance of the wheels the bad shimmy / wobble is now GONE. However, the control arms already have worn bushings at less than 3,000 miles, I have since confirmed the suspension refresh kits consist of Uro arms. I ordered up some Lemforder arms and PowerFlex Black bushings from ECS and am confident that will help any looseness and vibrations up front.

    I'd ordered VANOS solenoid seals, valve cover screw grommets and washer seals along with a tune up kit (oil, filter, fuel filter and new spark plugs) from FCP euro. They arrived in 2 days (free econ shipping! thanks GG for the reminder of how awesome FCP is, I had forgotten about them entirely).

    I'm going to tackle the arms and tune up and see if I have any oil down in the spark plug wells or any signs of leaking at the Valve Cover Gasket itself.

    If anything is found perhaps (while I have a 2nd car to drive) I may as well do the timing chains, guides, valley pan gasket, alternator, water-pump and radiator while I'm at it. Most of these components are confirmed original parts and will need attention sooner than later. Part of me really wants to get familiar with this car, and working on the engine... and part of me says do the leaking few seals up top for now and deal w/ all of this when she starts making noise.

    I'll update with some pics at some point down the road, particularly if any of the bigger DIY's end up taking place.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 03-10-2017 at 05:00 PM.

  2. #2
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    Little update. Replaced both Vanos solenoid seals, about a half dozen grommet seals and installed 8 new NGKs. 1-4 bank had oil in the plug wells and cleaned it all up. Replaced all the grommets in there and will see how she fares. She seems happy to have new plugs though, definitely woke up a wee bit!

  3. #3
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    Awesome Glad to hear you're fixing up the little problems!

    Any major mods on the horizon?
    1995 525i 5-speed - Thread

  4. #4
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    The distant horizon... On the list is a 4.6 if I can swing it, and for sure an LSD out back....

    Gonna do a bit more maintenance first tho. Have new sunroof slide rails ready to go, and going to finish up a rehab of the windshield washer systems (intensive wash pump and a couple new nozzles, already did the other two pumps). Also want to sort out a non-functioning cruise function. I get the dash indicator but no cruise currently.

  5. #5
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    Where are the pictures?!

    At this point in my head it is still owned by RSB until you post pictures. We need closure, and new surroundings.

  6. #6
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    Sadly this is what greeted her after delivery. Been a painful wait for nice weather to wrench!

  7. #7
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    Do like


  8. #8
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    Man, there's nothing quite like a black E39 with an M5 bumper... such a good look. And pretty uncommon on an E39 touring as far as I can remember... I almost never see black E39 tourings— seems like the vast majority of them are silver, black, or white.
    1995 525i 5-speed - Thread

  9. #9
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    Couldn't agree more. Had a silver sedan 10-years ago and always preferred black or that gorgeous M5 blue metallic.

    I do need to repaint the roof, part of me was curious what flat black light look like. But the gloss just wins out IMO. May need to grab a spoiler when I take care of things up top.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 03-30-2017 at 07:38 PM.

  10. #10
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    Went to the local junkyard with Mr. GearGrinder who had spotted a non-Vanos intake on a prior trip and pulled that for $60. Now I just need to find a junk car w/ some headers on it.....

    Also sorted out some new tubing for the vacuum hoses on the top of the engine, the old hoses were verrrrry crusty.

    Pulled the Auto Trans computer which was left in and throwing some mystery codes. GG also confirmed base coding is correct and no new codes to speak of.

    Cruise Control works!

    Gearing up for some major love the next couple weekends. Will be tearing down the front of the engine in prep for doing the timing chain guides next weekend, and reassembling the weekend after. Plan to replace basically everything we can get our hands on...

    • Timing chain & guides w/ all associated gaskets and such
    • Radiator, waterpump and hoses, cross pipe o-rings and heater hoses at the back
    • Intake manifold swap w/ new valley pan & gaskets, new PCV
    • Replace valve covers and upper timing cover w/ refurbished and powder coated units
    • Have the VANOS rebuilt while things are apart
    • New belts, tensioners, idlers, etc.

    After that's done (and my back has recovered....) will get the new Lempf control arms w/ PF bushings installed and a fresh alignment. Probably going to pull the front rotors and have them cleaned up on a lathe, and scuff the pads to try a re-bedding procedure. If that fails I'll order some non-drilled rotors, I don't think she's making nearly enough heat for the drilled discs up front.

    Also have a new fuel pump, filter, and relay ready to install whenever I get around to it.

    Will try and update w/ pics of the major timing stuff as it happens.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 05-17-2017 at 11:30 AM.

  11. #11
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    With some timely help from GearGrinder on Friday, I was able to get pretty much everything out of the engine bay and left things on for cleaning. The engine and lower pan, etc were filthy with up to 1/4" caked on crud that I manually scraped off prior to unleashing 5 cans of Brake Clean ahead of pulling the covers.



    Filthy if you look down bottom. As the belt system came off GG was checking date stamps. Mostly '01 vintage but the main tensioner had a '98 stamp! Definitely OG parts so all are being replaced with new... As is the cooling system including all hoses and manifold gaskets at the rear, and orings on the cross pipes. I'm swapping a non-VANOS intake on and doing the valley pan as well. Not many things left to replace under the hood when we're done.




    Prepped and ready for cleaning Fri night.



    Covers pulled. Note the clean lower area.



    Then Chris showed up with some tools and expertise. Got the timing chain off. Upper guide broke in two as soon as the chain was off.



    Definitely time to do these.



    Note pitting and scaring above.



    As she sits now. Chains off and VANOS removed for rebuild. Covers off for powder coating. Parts getting ordered Tuesday.



    Mostly scrap now.

    That's all for now....
    Last edited by scottieducati; 05-28-2017 at 07:03 PM.

  12. #12
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    Awesome progress! It's good to see you fixing this car up the way it should be. Now the engine bay will look just as clean as the outside of the car.
    1995 525i 5-speed - Thread

  13. #13
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    Thanks man. That's the idea. I just want to know that the heart of the car is happy. Looks like we caught the guides just in time. Also gonna send out the injectors for a cleaning, didn't mention that earlier but GG mentioned it and I liked the idea.

  14. #14
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    Looks like its in good hands.


  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by scottieducati View Post
    Thanks man. That's the idea. I just want to know that the heart of the car is happy. Looks like we caught the guides just in time. Also gonna send out the injectors for a cleaning, didn't mention that earlier but GG mentioned it and I liked the idea.
    That's a good idea, might as well take advantage of the downtime to make sure every component is in good shape.
    1995 525i 5-speed - Thread

  16. #16
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    Absolutely the plan. I'm in deep already and hope to keep this car a long time so the foundation now will really impact things down the road.

    Speaking of projects, got my '98 Ducati SportTouring2 on the lift next to the car. What started as a valve adjustment nearly two years ago turned into a full top end rebuild after the horizontal cylinder had bad scoring. Ended up going with a drop in, high compression piston kit as it was only $80 more than getting factory rings for my stock Pistons! So as they say... One thing leads to another... Here are a couple pics from along the way.

    What started it all....



    Cleaned up head, valves lapped and adjusted, the head to cylinder interface used no gasket, so you lap that too. We had slight warping at the exhaust port which is typical for a 2 valve Ducati. 30 minutes of lapping and we had a nice, even mating surface.





    Hard to see but you can see the lapping marks on the valve.



    Added stronger cylinder / head stud bolts as well to handle the extra compression.

    Now the fun stuff. Squishy.



    Put it all back together and couldn't find the damn coolant o-rings that sit between the cylinder and the head (outside from the mating surface). Waited a few weeks and tore it down again making sure to include the cylinder centering studs:



    Applied Ducatibond to the base gaskets and got the engine together last night, belts on and tensioned to spec. I replaced all tensioner and idler bearings as well.



    Will be very glad when this bike gets done, she's been very much a part time affair on the back burner for too long! Got a few little things like a lighter flywheel to get in and she'll get buttoned up and sent for Dyno tuning. I may actually pop the injectors from this bike off and send them down for a cleaning as well.... Will see how the results are on the BMW injectors first.

  17. #17
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    Haha! Join the club! At least you got back on it, My '99 900 SuperSport needs a complete going thru, although the last time it ran, compression was good on both cylinders, but the clutch needs to be changed, but one thing led to another..... Had the bike stored at my brothers beach house, a good 8 years or so, I had fogged the bike, but my brother didn't stay on top of it for me. Eventually, the salt air had it's way, I got the bike back here in VA now, and it is not purdy. So when I decide to screw with it, it will get completely stripped down and cleaned up, new clutch, tires, brake seals, and lines, and whatever else it needs, chain and sprockets, it's gonna be one hell of a list.
    Set the controls for the heart of the sun

  18. #18
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    That makes me sad! I got my ST2 for an absolute steal, but the PO had not ridden it in a while since getting battery / voltage lights on the dash. It was parked in a metal shed that was quite old, so when I saw it it was mostly brown and covered in rust.

    Fortunately for me, the rust was just dust and brushed right off w/ hardly any effort, the miles were low (12k) and a new stator and reg/rec and she's been pretty good. Only time she left me stranded was when a hose popped off the fuel pump IN the tank, which in hindsight I should have checked at the road side and likely could have fixed it. I was pretty bummed when I found the scoring on the cylinders but that's partly why we like to do valve adjustments w/ the head off the bike. It just lets you see a lot more.

    Back on topic: fortunately I haven't found much "more" inside the BMW. The engine looks relatively clean, at least indicative of getting regular oil changes. The cams have some wear, but don't look too bad. What we did find was all outside the engine, particularly in the back of the engine bay (near firewall). Lots of baked out rubber and plastics so I'm replacing everything I can get my hands on w/ new. She was a CA and TX car so seeing lots of heat makes sense, and the roof is utterly baked out as well, so eventually I'll do all the rubber and gaskets up top, probably when I repaint the bumper / hood / roof.

    So mechanically she looks in good nick, everything rubber or plastic is suspect, but I'll take cosmetics and little stuff like that over engine-mechanical issues any day. Glad I didn't try and get another year or so before doing the Timing Chain Guides as I have no doubt mine would have failed in short order.

  19. #19
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    "Little" project ended up taking most of the afternoon. I had picked an intake manifold from a non-VANOS 740, they feature bigger runners.

    Here how it was in the junkyard:



    I ran into issues pulling off both ends of the old parts and had to sort a few stripped torx bolts. Then cleaning this thing took forever! Was filled with sludge and dirt, a full spray down with brake clean and some brushes and then off to a bath in warm soapy water and yet more brushing.... Followed by cleaning by hand with Honda polish and a rag before putting it all together with all new gaskets and new parts shy of my TB, which I also cleaned up a bit.





    That's all I have time for today, going to be focusing on the Ducati this evening with a buddy coming up to help.

    Plan to do the valley pan and rear coolant manifold gaskets tomorrow ahead of mounting the "new" intake back up.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 06-03-2017 at 03:50 PM.

  20. #20
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    Got the Ducati put back together last night, mounted the exhaust and got the battery topped up this morning.

    Thumbed starter aaaaand.... Nothing.

    Once we found the unplugged Starter Solenoid Trigger she then fired up with nary a breath on the starter button and no fast idle / choke.

    Got a full heat cycle, found one iffy coolant hose (they're getting old...) but otherwise so far so good!



    List of what was done:
    -Cylinders re-Nikasil'd due to scoring
    -High comp drop in Pistons
    -Gapped and installed piston rings
    -Nichols cylinder / head studs
    -Valve adjustment and valves lapped, seats & guides inspected
    -Cylinder / head surface lapped
    -Squish checked and custom thinner base gaskets sourced via Cometic to get .0042" squish, valve pocket clearance checked
    -New belts, new tensioner and idler bearings
    -Odyssey AGM high-cold crank amps

    Still to do:
    -Order and install new exhaust gaskets
    -Aluminum swing arm swap
    -Ohlins Shock installation
    -Order and mount SAMCO coolant hoses
    -SS clutch line and upgraded slave cylinder
    -SS rear brake line installation
    -Bleed brakes and clutch systems
    -Many whoolies

    Back on the car tonight.. Rear coolant hoses, o-rings and maybe manifold gaskets.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 06-04-2017 at 05:00 PM.

  21. #21
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    Got the rear accumulator manifold off last night, no thanks to snapping the head off one of the mounting bolts:



    Let some PB do its thang while I put the kid to bed, blasted it with a bit of heat and some vice grips got her to turn. Fortunately no damage to threads but seeing how corroded and rusty the bolt threads were I'm gonna run a tap thru all of them anyway.

    Accumulator as it came off, gaskets and o-rings definitely looking tired:



    Cleaned up and prepped / sanded gasket surfaces and greased and installed new o-rings:



    Also cleaned up the engine side gasket mounting surfaces.

    Today I stopped by the hardware store and cleaned out their stock of M6x1.25 hex head stainless bolts. 13 for the intake assembly in 25mm length and 6 for the accumulator in 30mm lengths. I think I left one of the shorter ones in their bin...

    Crappy torx bolts on the intake now gone:





    Hope to get to the valley pan, swapping the heater hoses and mounting the accumulator with new manifold gaskets soon.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 06-05-2017 at 01:36 PM.

  22. #22
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    540iT Continuing RSBM3's build thread....

    Last night: accumulator mounted, and all 6 bores' threads cleaned up. This alone probably took two hours with such tight quarters.



    Mounted back with fresh gaskets thinly coated with RTV and a bit of anti-seize on the threads.

    Heater hoses back on and hose clamps all secure. New valley pan in and cleaned old cover for reuse. Cleaning the area just around the valley pan was a chore... Scraping out sludge with a flat head, many rags and lots of brake clean, even some Q tips for good measure. Dear lord this thing was filthy.







    Not much tonight. Cleaned up the cross tubes (not pictured), installed knock sensors and cleaned up the gasket mating surfaces a bit better for valve and timing covers with some emery cloth. Cleaned a bit more of the engine case... Cleaning never ends.



    Although we have reached the point where things are getting bolted back ON to the car.... So that's nice.
    Last edited by scottieducati; 06-07-2017 at 11:19 PM.

  23. #23
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    Pulled the old guide rails and OSV off, the OSV connection tube was cracked its full length and quite brittle.



    Removed VANOS oil distribution blocks and replaced camshaft o-rings and check valves, put them back on with new gaskets.

    In this photo the driver side has been done:



    Injectors came back after cleaning and new bits from Marren Injection:



    Going to plug away a bit more tonight in advance of a full day tomorrow that hopefully ends with a running car!

  24. #24
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    I wonder if those cleaned injectors will make the car feel a little peppier... though I'm sure the freshly rebuilt engine will feel great already. I swear, my M62tu's all feel so much better after the chain guide jobs, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with rebuilding the Vanos, it gives you a bit more low end torque.
    1995 525i 5-speed - Thread

  25. #25
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    Absolutely. I can feel where my VANOS were sticking. The injectors, fresh plugs, fuel filter change, etc will all help her feel young again... Or that's the hope, anyway.

    Got the new timing chain guides on, along with the OSV with set screw transferred from old rail to new and loctite'd.



    Also pulled the tensioners and tossed new sliders on them. Waiting for new o-rings and then will reinstall.



    I think that's it for tonight.

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