computiNATEor's Build Log - Seabiscuit, Otto, and Manuel

[computiNATEor]

New owner of the 530iA is having trouble with the alarm going off constantly. Hood switch failed literally two days after I sold it :/ I have a spare switch if he's interested, but for now he just has the sensor disconnected.

I went by my local BMW independent shop (Ronin BMW/Mini in Fullerton) and interrupted the owner in the midst of repairing a Spec E30. Pretty cool. Asked about an estimate for a complete front and rear suspension overhaul; wheel bearings; oil pan gasket; and associated labor. Estimated $1500-2500 seems very reasonable for the amount of work involved.

Now I need to go buy the parts and have them installed! Current bill totals $2k in parts, and I'm not even done yet (!).

[dannyzabolotny]

New owner of the 530iA is having trouble with the alarm going off constantly. Hood switch failed literally two days after I sold it :/ I have a spare switch if he's interested, but for now he just has the sensor disconnected.

I went by my local BMW independent shop (Ronin BMW/Mini in Fullerton) and interrupted the owner in the midst of repairing a Spec E30. Pretty cool. Asked about an estimate for a complete front and rear suspension overhaul; wheel bearings; oil pan gasket; and associated labor. Estimated $1500-2500 seems very reasonable for the amount of work involved.

Now I need to go buy the parts and have them installed! Current bill totals $2k in parts, and I'm not even done yet (!).

Or you could just DIY all that stuff, it's not that hard to do all that stuff on your own. You'll save a ton of money and get a ton of satisfaction out of doing it all yourself.

I don't think I've ever had a BMW with a properly functioning hood sensor— I just disconnect them as soon as I buy a BMW. Nobody's going to steal an E39 anyways.

[computiNATEor]

Yeah, but when it comes to dropping a subframe for the oil pan gasket, it's a whole lot of time and effort. I could definitely do it - in fact, I have - but I could have the whole process done in like 4 days at the shop, and it might take 4 weeks on my back.

[dannyzabolotny]

Yeah, but when it comes to dropping a subframe for the oil pan gasket, it's a whole lot of time and effort. I could definitely do it - in fact, I have - but I could have the whole process done in like 4 days at the shop, and it might take 4 weeks on my back.

I guess it depends on how cheap you are. I literally can't afford to pay anybody to work on my cars, so DIY is the only option for me. Rent + food + various debts take up most of my income.

[computiNATEor]

Discovered that I need a new engine mount, passenger side. The shift lever moves, oh, an inch and a half or so, when at full throttle or when transitioning from acceleration to deceleration. The shift lever moves exactly in time with the clunk I'm hearing. I initially thought it might have just been a sway bar end link, but it's definitely the engine mount. I set my iPhone's down as a level on the injector rail cover, which should be level, and it shows the engine is leaning 5º towards the ECU box/passenger cabin air filter.


It's bad enough I don't want to wait too long, so I might just throw in the old mounts from the blue 530iA. They had 146,000 miles, but they were at least in once piece, not collapsed. Hey, it pays to be a packrat every once in a while.

Yeah, my engine bay's a wreck right now.
IMG_5267.jpg

New M5 grilles, refinished headlight (right side only), repainted bumper/trim and hood. Yes, that's a dent. They're sending a PDR guy to me next week. If he can't fix it, the car will go back in. Even if he can't fix it, I will have him take a look at dents on the rear quarter panel, passenger door (thanks, UCI), and wherever else I can.
IMG_4203.jpg

It looks to me like a dent that formed when someone placed it too firmly down onto a stand just before paint.

[computiNATEor]

Sooo about that bad motor mount. Crawled under there shortly after noon to find the engine mount actually looked pretty ok. No significant collapsing, really, though I have no record of them being changed and they have 16 years and 204k mi on them. Ordered some new Lemforder mounts anyways. My track record with Corteco is pretty poor.


Anyways, I rolled back further on the creeper to check out the transmission mounts, since those were probably worse and in dire need of replacement at this point. Uh, yeah.


So on the driver's side of the transmission crossmember/brace thing, I found a broken bolt:

IMG_4616.jpg

And that was not all.

IMG_9968.jpg

Oof. Fairly recent break, as there isn't oil (from my oil pan gasket leak) on it.

Little bit of work later, I had the busted mount out. The two-piece transmission mounts didn't help.

IMG_4185.jpg

Used a screw extractor successfully.

IMG_5691.jpg

Quickly got a reasonable facsimile from the hardware store. 2 washers and a grade 8.8 bolt should be fine.

IMG_0270.jpg

[dannyzabolotny]

Crazy how that broke. Must be from hitting something, because none of our cars have enough power to break those, not even the M5's.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Could have been from someone who over torqued it in the past. I would replace each bolt.

[dannyzabolotny]

Yeah, probably if the clutch has been changed by some sketchy mechanic. The doofus probably used an impact gun on those bolts with zero care.

[computiNATEor]

Paintless dent repair guy came out today to address the dent in the hood, and he also massaged out the door dings on two doors, a small ding and a short crease on the LR quarter panel, and a set of three dings on the RR quarter panel.

[computiNATEor]

Retrofitted E38 door handles: https://youtu.be/9oUFqXCDDGg

[computiNATEor]

I still need to replace my oil pan gasket, and I'm thinking about a whole bunch of "while you're in there" stuff. Like the oil pump nut, sway bars, etc.

The oil pump nut saga is particularly interesting. It would seem that the M54B30 (and Euro S50B32, with which the M54B30 shares a crankshaft) are notorious for backing off the oil pump nut at high RPM. The guys on E46fanatics have a huge amount of info, but it all basically says that all the recommended fixes still result in damaged or failed oil pumps.

So to theoretically fix (patch, really) the M54B30's poor harmonics, which are exacerbated with a lightweight flywheel like I want to run, the E46 guys recommend:
- an ATI SuperDamper (seriously $800)
- GSR BMW Motorsport-inspired four bolt oil pump ($700-300 core)
- higher-tension S54 timing chain tensioner (easy and inexpensive)
- retrofitting a mechanical oil pump chain drive tensioner by tapping the engine block... yeah. Requires removal of timing case, which opens a whole world of "while you're in there" that ends with a complete engine rebuild...

[dannyzabolotny]

Man, and I here I thought the M54 was completely free of all inherent flaws, at least based on all the M62-bashing I see :P

Have you considered welding the oil pump nut on? Or is that a fix that wouldn’t work.

[computiNATEor]

Man, and I here I thought the M54 was completely free of all inherent flaws, at least based on all the M62-bashing I see :P

Have you considered welding the oil pump nut on? Or is that a fix that wouldn’t work.

You can, and most people do, but it would seem that the oil pump drive shaft is not particularly tough, and when the un-tensioned oil pump chain begins flailing around at higher RPMs (6.5-7k), the shaft shears off the drive gear.

- - - Updated - - -

With a stock 6500 RPM redline, it's not an issue. Witness the 206k miles it has so far. But the Shark's 7k is addicting...

[dannyzabolotny]

Ah, gotcha. I wasn't aware the M54's could rev that high, I thought that was more of an S54 thing. Is there any power to be gained up top in an M54? I know in an M62/S62 there's not much after 6k.

[computiNATEor]

Ah, gotcha. I wasn't aware the M54's could rev that high, I thought that was more of an S54 thing. Is there any power to be gained up top in an M54? I know in an M62/S62 there's not much after 6k.

They can, but from the factory they really shouldn't. To optimize the M54 for high RPM performance, one really should have bigger cams and tougher valve springs, plus the oil pump reinforcement and an upgraded harmonic balancer. At the cost for all those things, though, it's worth looking into an S54 swap. But I like the idea of the aluminum engine block, vs the S54's iron.

[WBAD530i]

I assume you have already seen this, but if not - $13 fix for the oil pump nut issue.

Mine backed off on my 530 and it gave the chain too much slack which broke my timing chain guides. But this is also because the car was pushed to 140mph by the shady dealer I bought it from. They showed me a video of it. I still bought the car though.

http://www.bimmerworld.com/M50-Drill...ump-Nut_2.html

-and unless you are tracking the car, or driving like an idiot all the time, this shouldn't be an issue. Moderate daily driving shouldnt result in the harmonics issues. I suspect its when youre going 110+

for peace of mind id suggest the drilled nut, and also loctite that thing on there as best you can.

[computiNATEor]

I have the oil pump nut - I installed it on my last 530iA before I sold it. It doesn’t protect from the shaft shearing. And yes, I drive my car hard, often. I drive at least once a week up through the forest roads, and I spend a lot of time at higher RPMs.

[computiNATEor]

Well, that's great. Fan just assploded. Took out the radiator with it. Thankfully just a mile from my house. Sounded/felt like the Stewart water pump seized, as the car was bogging/stumbling as I limped it home the last mile.

I didn't have the undertray on, so most of the blades sounded like they went down to the ground. Found one in the hood supports, but I think I avoided any damage to the hood. I was at a fairly low RPM, like 2500 in second gear.

Ordered new water pump ('cause why not, with FCPs warranty), and ordered an M5 radiator, Üro fan blades, and Behr fan clutch from Rock Auto ('cause that'll all be here by Tues.). Back to the Camry. Which has no rear brakes on it right now. Yay.

- - - Updated - - -

PWM DME-controlled E60 electric fan conversion just jumped to the top of the list.

[douglawrence42]

Although it obviously sucks, sounds like you got through the cooling system self destructing relatively easy. Looking forward to seeing the efan conversion



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[philly98540]

Ooof! Another fan explosion! Pics?

Surprised a Stewart pump seized.

[computiNATEor]

Although it obviously sucks, sounds like you got through the cooling system self destructing relatively easy. Looking forward to seeing the efan conversion



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I will be using the aux fan wiring to drive an E60 545i/550i 650W cooling fan. I could also use the 400W fan from the E60 525i/530i, as it might be easier to find. Depending on how the car cools itself, I may adjust a few of the cooling fan tables in the DME. Also might put in a new INA alternator pulley that lets the alternator overrun the drive belt, as its supposed to smooth out vibrations from the main drive belt.

Ooof! Another fan explosion! Pics?

Surprised a Stewart pump seized.

Me too. This one seemed a little grumbly out of the box, so maybe it was a dud. I have about 7,500 miles on it, I think.

[computiNATEor]

Yeah, looking through my records, I ran nearly 80,000 miles on my last Stewart water pump, which I grabbed from my black 530iA stabbed into my Toledo 530iA, and it was still going strong.

You can see the water in the fins below the puncture:
IMG_9932.jpg

[dannyzabolotny]

You got off real easy there. It could have just as easily went through the hood like it did in my 540i/6. When I bought that car, a prior clutch fan explosion had taken out the radiator, fan shroud, expansion tank, and almost all of the cooling hoses, along with the hood liner and hood.

I've just been running without a clutch fan in all of my 540i's now, so we'll see how that holds up. Might do an electric fan conversion for peace of mind once it gets warmer though, along with a cooler thermostat so things don't run as hot.

[computiNATEor]

You got off real easy there. It could have just as easily went through the hood like it did in my 540i/6. When I bought that car, a prior clutch fan explosion had taken out the radiator, fan shroud, expansion tank, and almost all of the cooling hoses, along with the hood liner and hood.

I've just been running without a clutch fan in all of my 540i's now, so we'll see how that holds up. Might do an electric fan conversion for peace of mind once it gets warmer though, along with a cooler thermostat so things don't run as hot.

Very lucky. I can’t even find a crack in the fan shroud (other than the one that was already there).

- - - Updated - - -

Drove my mom’s 2011 Genesis to school this morning. Some thoughts:

ride is crap
stereo is awesome
V6 is torquey
transmission is worse than the BMW autos
handles like a boat
seats are too small - give me comfort seats any day