New to me touring....intro, maintenance, and mod thread

[Luder94]

Hey guys, I'm Luder94 from Chicago area. I've been on the search for an e39 touring for the last month and have seen MANY, MANY cars and even asked for you all to review a couple I thought 'were the one'. Well, I ended up finding one that popped up on my Instagram...tracked it down just to see more pictures and come to find out that it was for sale.

It's been modded, it's been used NYC-style, it needs help (more than some of the others I've looked at), but it has a history that I was able to track. I am the 3rd owner of this car, the first owner had the car up until 145,xxx miles until the engine went on him about three years back. The car sat at dealership for a year until the previous owner picked it up in October 2016. From there, the car got a 3.0 swap, M-sport bumpers front and back, 7 series front seats, some black interior trim (original interior color is/was grey), cheap shocks and lowering springs (it's a non SLS car), some 10" and 12" wide Te37 reps on stupidly stretched tires, updated headlights with some jerry-rigged HID fog lights, E O N O N headunit/navigation, and some rust on the hatch (where both lower corners of the window meet the hatch) and by the rear jack points on both sides. Doors and wheel wells look good, don't see any rust or paint bubbling where the problem rust areas typically are.

I flew out to NYC, met up with the owner. I took a quick look over of the car, and then went out on a test drive with the owner. Meanwhile, member 1Nawty5 came and met us in Brooklyn. He generously offered to come help take a look at the car and offer an opinion and guidance with his knowledge of e39 tourings.

After some deliberation with the seller and a visit to the local Chase branch, the car was mine to drive back home to Chicago area. I bought a 17 year old car for an 800+ mile drive home. On the start of my journey, I run into a problem about 10 minutes in...Brooklyn and NYC traffic, crappy streets with subpar suspension, and piss poor navigation software on the E O N O N unit. It took me damn near 2 hours to get to and through the Holland Tunnel and onto the NJ side. I didn't really feel the car out too much on that leg of my ride. But once on the other side, I was able to fill up (happy surprise, I didn't have to get out of my car to fill-up...had full service fill up; haven't seen that since the early 80s). The E O N O N got me in a little trouble on the NJ side, it was so slow that I missed 2 turns and exits. Annoyed by that, I stopped off at a Walgreens and picked up a cell phone holder clip....I used my Android from there on out.

I got back onto the highway and drove for just about 400 miles....I love the mpg and size of the gas tank (my other DD is a lifted and lightly modded Toyota Tacoma, where I can consistently get about 16 to 18 MPG on the highway; big tires and a lift don't help much). I like the MPG and acceleration on my wife's Model S MUCH more. It’s about 11pm at night, raining heavily and am on I-80W near Youngstown on a stretch of highway where there’s construction, no lights, and no shoulder; so obviously, this is a perfect time for a wheel to go on me. Front right tire went flat. Had to drive on the flat tire and rim for about 1.5 miles to get to a safe place to pull over. With perfect timing, 1Nawty5 called to see how my drive was going. I gave him the skinny, and he started making some calls and posts on message boards to see if anyone local to me could help. I called OH state high patrol; they send a car to block for me and send out a flatbed. The car gets towed to a local Flynn’s Tire shop at about midnight. I get to camp out in the car, in the cold and rain…thankfully I bought a wagon and could fold down the rear seats and layout for a couple of hours. In the little shut eye I got, a local BMW owner texted me stating that he had some style 121s for sale but was an hour away. When Flynn’s opened up, they couldn’t find a replacement front tire until later in the day. I gave the local owner a call and he delivered a set of the 121s plus a couple of extra tires for me. I paid him and quickly found out that the 121s won’t fit the e39 because of hub bore size is different. Flynn’s swapped out tires from the 121s onto the wheels I had and then proceeded to show me a bad passenger side lower control arm bushing, and a bad drivers ball joint. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to get back on the road ASAP rather than have them fix it. They filled the control arm bushing with eurathane/rubber/silicone to try and remove some play.

I filled up before hitting the highway, and surprisingly still had just under a ¼ tank left. This fill up would take me all the way home….goodness I’m loving the MPGs in this car; this is enough to dissuade me from a m62 or LS swap. The rest of the drive home, I got to concentrate on the knock from the right front, horrible brake shake when needing to stomp on the brakes at highway speed. Other than that, the driveline was EXCEPTIONALLY smooth and quiet. I did come to hate the lack of grunt in 3rd and 5th gears when needing more speed. Nothing short of stomping on the gas pedal got the car going; pressing the pedal all the way down coaxed the transmission to drop a gear, rev up, and then upshift. The auto-manual worked great when in manual mode once I figured out that auto mode just sucked for highway acceleration.

I got home, parked the car and didn’t think about it for the next two days. On the second day, I decided to clean out the car of all the mess in the trunk, the extra wheels and tires I now had on hand, and start making a list of all the maintenance, replacement, and mods I need to do.

Front to back:
--Replace fog lights with OEM
--Replace headlights with cleaner set and OEM setup (HID or prefacelift)
--Replace/maintain all suspension components
--M54 intake manifold (currently on M52TUB28 intake manifold)
--6spd manual swap
--black front, rear, and trunk carpet
--black rear upper and lower seats
--black trunk plastics
--new hatch lid (unless rust can be taken care of)
--rust fix on rear jack point areas
--redo audio (get rid of the low quality aftermarket speakers, sub, and amp) for some mid-grade to high-end components. I’m only looking for clean audio, not looking for anything ridiculous.
--clean up interior and paint
--cupholders....figure out how to get a large Dunkin Donuts coffee cup to fit

My goal for this car is to have a fun but reliable DD that I can move my kids, their stuff, and my dog around in. It will replace my 2012 Toyota Tacoma, which I LOVE but the family has outgrown. My kids are getting bigger, my dog is getting bigger, and with the mods I’ve done to it, it’s a bit of a nuisance to drive long distances with gear in tote with kids and dog in the back seat. I figure resale value is at a high right now on this model seeing that the newer Tacomas haven’t taken off like the previous generation has.
As for performance mods on this car, I’ll probably go with intake, header, and exhaust as well as a 6spd swap. Nothing more. I’m not looking for high power wagon; I’ve got my fast cars already (Tesla Model S P85+, Honda S2000 with F22 swap, and another Honda S2000 with an LS1 swap). This car will be a looker, reliable, and something that won’t get me any side-eyes at the golf club.

I’ve been in the import scene since ’92 and love the aspects of partaking in real enthusiast communities. Majority of my time has been spent in the Honda scene, I’ve had one BMW 325Xi years back, owned a couple of Lexuses and one Toyota, but mostly all Hondas. I hope to get to know the touring community well and hope to learn a lot from you all in ownership of this car.

Oh, and sorry for the novel….I am verbose.

[Luder94]

Getting her home
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Finally at home
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[Luder94]

Not looking for the tuner look on this car, so the wheels had to go; that and I couldn't stand the stretch of 245 and 235 tires on 12" and 10" wheels, respectively. So those came off to sell to a local. In the meanwhile, the car sat on style 373s that I use as winter wheels on my wife's Model S.

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But then, I found a set of true e39 M-Parallels locally off of an M5. They have some scratches and light rash here and there, but couldn't pass these up. I know these are the standard BMW hop up part; but can you argue against these? I also love that they are VERY lightweight compared to almost every other BMW OE wheel.
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[jp5Touring]

Congrats on the purchase. Pretty brave driving it home like that. It appears to have some potential.
The old rims appear to be Varrstoen's, where they 18"or "19" and did you sell them already ?

[StephenVA]

Congrats on becoming part of the E39 wagon family.

Love the "Whale Tail" on this one.

[Luder94]

Thank you. One of the things that drew me to this one was that it is orient blue. All the others I saw were some variant of silver...which is fine, but with this one available and Orient Blue being one of my favorite colors, I had to choose that one. I'm a big fan of BMW colors (One of my S2ks is a custom color that is a couple of shades brighter than Imola Red; which was done by design, and the other is Cosmos Black. Both painted by A&L Autobody in Palatine, I think they have name in the BMW community, correct?). I don't plan for this car to be a 'build', just cleaned up and made to be super reliable. I hope to keep this car (and keep it running) for a long time coming.

The wheels are 19". I traded a local M5 owner straight up for the M-Parallels. He was tired of the M-sport look on his actual M5, and didn't want to look like every other M5 with style 65s decided he'd rather have the 19" Varrstoens. We mounted them up on my driveway and he quickly realized that he needed a drop.

[Luder94]

Congrats on becoming part of the E39 wagon family.

Love the "Whale Tail" on this one.

Thank you, seller tried to tell me that it's a custom one-off. Coming from the Honda community, I know this is a wing off the EK Honda Civic Hatchback.


With that said, it's one of those "It looks better in pictures than in person items"; "It's a 20-footer"

When you get close, you see that it's glued on badly, when the hatch is fully open, the edges dig into the roof...the paint has rubbed off in those spots and the metal has been dented in. I'll have it fixed. If A&L can figure out how to re-mount it cleanly and modify the wing to fit without rubbing, I'll keep it...otherwise it's gone.

[dannyzabolotny]

Welcome! Nice score on the wagon, especially since you found one that's already been swapped to a 3L. With a 6-speed it'll be a sweet ride. I also suggest blacking out the chrome trim around the windows, it really doesn't fit the sporty theme.

[1NAWTY5]

Congrats on the touring if I didn't allready say that before. Glad to meet you and also great conversation about your trip heading home, which direction your going with build and about old school RC vintage stuff

[adm750]

Congrats on the score and welcome to the wagon club....sharp car !! Looking forward to seeing where you take it ! That's a hell of a roadtrip story too..!!! I've had a couple of those myself (read: broken mounting ear on the alternator of my Spitfire 1500 at 3am on drive from Kansas to Georgia... "....damn...wtf is that rattling sound..??" lmao....)

Glad you made it home OK...and great to hear of the support you received from some key people. It's nice to know the "community" has your back !!! If you come through the Canton, Ohio area and find yourself in a bind...make sure you give a holler !!
tony

[Mpowered02]

Congrats on the pickup and welcome to the club. Looks like a decent starting point and liking where you want to go with the car. Those M-parallels are definitely an improvement. say what you want about the M-pars being too popular, but you can't deny that they are just a nice, clean wheel option. I bought Schnitzer Type II Rennsport for mine (haven't installed them yet), but would love to have a set of legit M-Pars as a winter wheel setup.
I agree that the blackline trim would look better with the sporty theme you're going for.

I see you want to do the black interior conversion as well. Me too. Have found all the front parts, panels and carpets relatively cheaply via pick-n-pull yards, etc. but the hard part is the rear. The rear panels are unique to the Touring and only came in black on the M-Sports if i'm not mistaken. Don't see them for sale often, and when you do they're usually pretty pricey. Half tempted to just have all the rear grey pieces in mine dyed black instead of trying to find the original black panels, etc...

[dannyzabolotny]

I see you want to do the black interior conversion as well. Me too. Have found all the front parts, panels and carpets relatively cheaply via pick-n-pull yards, etc. but the hard part is the rear. The rear panels are unique to the Touring and only came in black on the M-Sports if i'm not mistaken. Don't see them for sale often, and when you do they're usually pretty pricey. Half tempted to just have all the rear grey pieces in mine dyed black instead of trying to find the original black panels, etc...

Not true! I've seen plenty of pre-2003 540it's and 528it's with a black interior. It was an option just like in any other E39. Though for some reason it seems like there are a lot more gray and tan interior E39 tourings.

[1NAWTY5]

Not true! I've seen plenty of pre-2003 540it's and 528it's with a black interior. It was an option just like in any other E39. Though for some reason it seems like there are a lot more gray and tan interior E39 tourings.

Yeap black interior is like diving for sea gold. I have been lucky enough to score a couple of tourings with black interior that I parted with.

[Mpowered02]

Not true! I've seen plenty of pre-2003 540it's and 528it's with a black interior. It was an option just like in any other E39. Though for some reason it seems like there are a lot more gray and tan interior E39 tourings.

Ah, well that's good to know! So it's not a needle in a haystack for the black touring interior. More like a twig in a haystack. Heh. It definitely does seem like most of the tourings have either a grey or tan interior...

[jp5Touring]

I bought my white touring winter beater for the black interior,I have all the leather M5 interior pieces to do a complete swap. I need to finish a master bath remodel first.

[Luder94]

Ok, so now I've owned and driven the car for a little less than a week (sat the car on the sidelines the first couple of days after getting back). Man is this car a pig....pigs are actually fast, this car is more of a sloth around town. I'm not sure if the motor needs a refresh or the slushbox is just that, slushy. I know the two 5 speed manual wagons I drove did not sloth around like this one does in the first two gears.

My daily morning ritual of Dunkin Donuts coffee is disrupted. The large cup does not fit in any of the cup holders...I even have one of those eBay cupholders to replace the easy-break versions. Thankfully the car is automatic, I can hold my cup as I drive. This HAS to change, both the transmission and the cupholder.

I've taken my dog with me a couple of times now...I leave him in the trunk (no worries, windows are down). Unfortunately, locking the car sets the alarm. I already learned that the car has a motion sensor for inside the car the night I tried to sleep inside the car in the parking lot at the tire shop in Youngstown, OH. No matter how many times I've commanded my dog to stand extremely still, he does not. The alarm goes off each and everytime. I need to stop locking the car when I walk away from it when he's in the car....I don't want that to become my norm though. Is there a way to lock the car and not set the alarm, or even better, lock the car and set the alarm with the exception of the motion sensor?

I plan to do a full fluid change this weekend and if the weather holds up, wash, polish, and wax/seal the car.

I'm still researching what to do with the suspension...replace everything OEM, get secondary pieces and press in aftermarket bushings, or get one of those eBay setups.

[dannyzabolotny]

Ok, so now I've owned and driven the car for a little less than a week (sat the car on the sidelines the first couple of days after getting back). Man is this car a pig....pigs are actually fast, this car is more of a sloth around town. I'm not sure if the motor needs a refresh or the slushbox is just that, slushy. I know the two 5 speed manual wagons I drove did not sloth around like this one does in the first two gears.

My daily morning ritual of Dunkin Donuts coffee is disrupted. The large cup does not fit in any of the cup holders...I even have one of those eBay cupholders to replace the easy-break versions. Thankfully the car is automatic, I can hold my cup as I drive. This HAS to change, both the transmission and the cupholder.

I've taken my dog with me a couple of times now...I leave him in the trunk (no worries, windows are down). Unfortunately, locking the car sets the alarm. I already learned that the car has a motion sensor for inside the car the night I tried to sleep inside the car in the parking lot at the tire shop in Youngstown, OH. No matter how many times I've commanded my dog to stand extremely still, he does not. The alarm goes off each and everytime. I need to stop locking the car when I walk away from it when he's in the car....I don't want that to become my norm though. Is there a way to lock the car and not set the alarm, or even better, lock the car and set the alarm with the exception of the motion sensor?

I plan to do a full fluid change this weekend and if the weather holds up, wash, polish, and wax/seal the car.

I'm still researching what to do with the suspension...replace everything OEM, get secondary pieces and press in aftermarket bushings, or get one of those eBay setups.

Something's definitely up with the engine or transmission— it's 3.0 swapped, isn't it? A stock 525it can be a little slow but a 530it should be decent, especially around town. Maybe it needs a proper tune to take advantage of the extra displacement since the motor is a hodgepodge of 3.0 and 2.8 parts.

I don't really have any advice for the cupholder— I never drink coffee (in general) or anything with an open container in the car. Water bottles only.

As for the alarm thing, you'd probably be fine leaving the car unlocked. I don't lock mine half the time anyways— mostly because there's nothing valuable inside the car and it's not worth stealing anyways with its absymally low book value. Once I get a 6-speed swapped in I won't need an alarm at all, since nobody knows how to drive a stick anymore. That being said, I think there's a way to disable the interior motion sensor while keeping the alarm on— press the lock button once to lock, and then press it again to disable the motion sensor.

A full fluid change is always a good idea. Use high quality synthetics where possible. As for washing the car, I'm partial to Meguiar's polishes and AmmoNYC for the sealant/wax.

For the suspension you'll want to do everything Lemforder. Don't bother with the eBay kits, your suspension will feel like crap in less than 10k miles with that. Do it right so you only have to do it once. I'd recommend doing everything in one go and then getting an alignment. Your car will feel great afterwards.

[adm750]

I've taken my dog with me a couple of times now...No matter how many times I've commanded my dog to stand extremely still, he does not. Is there a way to lock the car and not set the alarm, or even better, lock the car and set the alarm with the exception of the motion sensor?

if memory serves me, you can lock the car with the key in the door, then, with the key still in the door lock, turn the key to the lock position for a second time and that should disable the motion sensor.....I also thought if you lock it with the remote, and then press the lock button again, that should disable it as well.

[adm750]

Once I get a 6-speed swapped in I won't need an alarm at all, since nobody knows how to drive a stick anymore......

That being said, I think there's a way to disable the interior motion sensor while keeping the alarm on— press the lock button once to lock, and then press it again to disable the motion sensor.

that first part is funny as hell....how true !
....and I missed that you posted how to disable the motion sensor...my bad....

[KRUZNBY]

Yes you can disable the motion part of the alarm. Do a search or look in the manual. I don't recall how to do it.

[Luder94]

I had the car looked at by a local BMW mechanic for the dog-slow performance. After a test drive he suggested that my car is operating just fine, in fact, he was surprised with its peppiness (I failed to mention to him the car had the 3.0L swap). He let me know that in automatic mode, my car is starting in 2nd gear and not 1st gear. In manual-auto mode, the first gear start seemed to put the car on par with the 5spd manuals I test drove before buying this one; in my opinion, the car seemed faster.

Alright, got some investigating done on the car... got under the car and noticed a lot of loose suspension. Front lowers have some play, rears have play at the sway bar links, and lower arms. I also waswhed the car to get a really good look at the paint....it's not looking good; clear coat is etched in way too many spots. The motor also has an intake elbow that doesn't seem to be the one that belongs with this car. It's skinny, it's bent at a weird angle causing the elbow to dimple inwards. The intake ends with a Pepboys type cone filter that seems sized for a smaller Honda 4-cylinder motor. This has to be choking the motor.

I've ordered a whole bunch from FCP; looking to do a full suspension overhaul and new coilovers. I got the 18 piece Meyle kit and the BC Racing coilover kit. I also ordered a full set paint correction 1Z (Einszette) product. I'll be looking for either a cold air intake, some remnant aluminum tube stock, or an OEM elbow from somewhere. Once I get all the parts, I'll be getting the suspension done right away. I'm on the lookout for a set of replacement headlights and 6spd swap parts. My goal is to try and have the car mechanically updated by mid June. After that...I'll be focused on aesthetics (interior and exterior).

No new pictures thus far, I'll take some as I start working on the car (which I have yet to name).

[jp5Touring]

Like the effort. You might want to rethink the Meyle kit. People have not had the best of luck with it. Lemforder or Meyle HD is preferred, not Meyle.
Nice choice with the BC though.

[Luder94]

The kit I bought has 4 Meyle HD arms as apart of the kit.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...5e3920piece-my

Is there anything in this kit that needs to be upgraded beyond what's in it?

[Luder94]

Just ordered e60 front hub/bearing assembly and rear hubs and bearings from FCP. May as well get new wheel bearings in so that they are baseline in age with the rest of the suspension. From the little reading I've done, I went with the e60 hubs so that I can use BMW's more 'normal' hub bore instead of being stuck with e39 hub sized wheels (or without having to bore the wheel hub or use spacers when not needed).

[Luder94]

Welp...got home and had two big boxes waiting for me. Remembered at that moment that I was supposed to get two boxes from FCP Euro. Giddy as a school girl, I pulled them into the garage so that I could open them and hopefully get my touring's suspension sorted this week/weekend.

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Opened the boxes, BC Racing first:
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Then went to open the box with all the suspension refresh components:
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Went on to inventorying all the parts:
new hubs and bearings - check
new air filters - check
new rear spring base plates - check
18 piece Meyle/Meyle HD kits - chuu....wait 15 pieces?!!!

....quick call to FCP Euro, explain the situation to the cust serv. rep; low and behold, three missing pieces are ordered and shipped overnight (I'll see them Friday).

I was supposed to get all these parts last Friday, but hit a little glitch with my order last week and the Memorial day weekend delayed delivery until today. I was hoping to work on the car over the long weekend but without the parts, no luck. I may just drop the car off at a friend's shop Friday and have them get it all done in one day; extra money I'd rather not spend, but time saved is worth my money and won't be able to spend the whole upcoming weekend on the car.