2001 740i Sport Alpine White Resurrection / Restomod Build

[DoriDori]

I'm nearing the end of my 2003 540i 6mt Msport resurrection/restomod build. Thanks to photobucket you can't see any of the years worth of build pictures. I got lucky at a salvage auction and resurrected the E39 from the salvage state to a fun weekend cruiser. I placed a small bid on this local E38 and to my surprise won the lot. My wife is loving enough to allow me to have two projects at the same time. Big thanks to her! Its a 2001 Alpine white Sport 740i beige interior and 99% everything works for 210,000 miles on odometer. Even the rear power sunshade. Car unseen came with 3 keys and plenty of maintenance records. According to the records this car was driven and maintained down the street from my work in Snellville/Stone Mountain Ga. I want to say thank you to whoever owned this car and took such great car of it. The Mitchell Repair records showed over $35,000 and 25 pages in repairs since the car had about 50,000 miles. All timing chain/guides/vanos and seals were completed around mileage 150k. This M62TU idles and drives better than my 154,000 miles E39 M62TU. All wheels were reconditioned last year. There is no curb damage anywhere. Michelin pilot A/S were put on in 2014 and have about 50% life left. If you owned this car please PM me!

Build plans:

-Wait for Salvage title in mail
-Already purchased driverside doors in Alpine white
-Send out Valve covers to get powder coated (Please suggest colors)
-BiXenon retrofit Lowbeams, remove "angel eyes", and remove inner fluted lens covers
-Repair RT side quarter panel
-Mount new doors and body pull out rocker panel
-Blend LT fender, refinish LT doors, repaint LT rocker, blend LT quarter
-Consider flaring and rolling all fender/Quarters to fit new wheels before painting
-Choose either 19" or 20" aftermarket wheels (I'm leaning 3SDM 0.04 silver in 20")
-Coilovers
-Already completed muffler deletes, turndowns, new exhuast mounting for turndowns (Sounds better than my 540i)
-Remove "M" badge from front grille (Sorry PO)
-Retrofit some sort of bluetooth to the factory SatNav.
-Purchase a salvage 750i for the black leather dash and stuff (later in the year)
-Keep Beige doors/seats and redo all pillar trim and headliner in a shade of Brown/Beige microsuede ( I feel the interior color is peaceful to me)
-Vinyl wrap all wood trim in a more modern style of wood. (I hate the dark color)

Open to suggestions and help as this is my first E38 ever!

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr



Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

[RVAE34]

Nice score!! Looking forward to seeing it progress!

[ancho]

Nice. Looks very clean aside from collision damage.

[Rossagge]

Very nice! Two tone the interior. Blk dash and upper door cards. I have a blk dash for you just waiting to be installed

Sent from my SM-G610Y using Tapatalk

[Mayorchuck]

An '01 with guides done for a 'small bid' is a great score. Too bad you are so far away or I would come haul off those nasty MPARS you are going to replace.

[DoriDori]

Thanks! I like the idea of doing black interior from the dash and upwards but my 2003 Msport E39 has that. I want to see if i can make the beige/tan interior desirable. I hate the Beige/tan in E39s and E36s but I see some potential in this interior.

Very nice! Two tone the interior. Blk dash and upper door cards. I have a blk dash for you just waiting to be installed

Sent from my SM-G610Y using Tapatalk

- - - Updated - - -

An '01 with guides done for a 'small bid' is a great score. Too bad you are so far away or I would come haul off those nasty MPARS you are going to replace.

Bring some cash and come get them! I have a OEM set of E39 Mpars you can buy too!

- - - Updated - - -

Nice. Looks very clean aside from collision damage.

I work at a Collision repair center.........luckily

[RVAE34]

I felt the same way. Had the tan dyed caramel and all the upper stuff done in black. Along with black carpet and headliner.

[Trasportador]

Wow, that's a nice score. You're local, there are a lot of us with 740i msports. I have a 2001 alpine on black msport. If you're looking for doors, I have 2 pairs, as well as sport rocker panels. Doors aren't white, but they're dent free. PM me if interested.

[dannyzabolotny]

I'm amazed at how little it took to total that 740i... that's the most minor damage ever! Looking forward to seeing what you'll do with this car, I loved your E39 thread— thankfully I got to see it before Photobucket wreaked havoc.

[RVAE34]

With that mileage, it doesnt take much to total. Kbb is probably 1500 or so. We know kbb means nothing but thats what insurance uses to screw you.

[DoriDori]

With that mileage, it doesnt take much to total. Kbb is probably 1500 or so. We know kbb means nothing but thats what insurance uses to screw you.

This is true. I work as a Collision service writer. Whenever older vehicles get towed in a run the value on NADA to get a ballpark estimate of what the cars value is. Most insurance co's will pay out 75-80% max of the vehicles value on a repair. Anymore and its a total loss.

[aharbaugh9]

Subscribed

[franco90]

Nice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DoriDori]

Ok, need some opinions on wheels. Found these for such a low price that if they could look decent I need to grab them now. They're TSW Holeshot 20x9 and 20x10. I would run them with air suspension as well. So what do you think? Could they work? I hated them when I was choosing wheels on my E39 but I think they could work well on the older looking E38. I have access to powder coating if another color would suit Alpine White better.




o

[Aitch]

Yeah they could work. This guy runs something similar on his iL.



I mean, not exactly the same, but they have that monoblock look with multiple spokes.

[setconstr]

They look like Hub caps to me

[DoriDori]

Yeah they could work. This guy runs something similar on his iL.



I mean, not exactly the same, but they have that monoblock look with multiple spokes.

i like it!

- - - Updated - - -

Forgot to mention two awesome things happened this week:

1) Found 2 alpine white doors at Pull-your-part

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

2) Salvage title came in mail.

(We're moving quicker than i thought on this re-build)

[franco90]

i like it!

- - - Updated - - -

Forgot to mention two awesome things happened this week:

1) Found 2 alpine white doors at Pull-your-part

Untitled by Jon Whitaker, on Flickr

2) Salvage title came in mail.

(We're moving quicker than i thought on this re-build)

nice find dude

[Rossagge]

Ok, need some opinions on wheels. Found these for such a low price that if they could look decent I need to grab them now. They're TSW Holeshot 20x9 and 20x10. I would run them with air suspension as well. So what do you think? Could they work? I hated them when I was choosing wheels on my E39 but I think they could work well on the older looking E38. I have access to powder coating if another color would suit Alpine White better.




o

I liked those when I first saw em. Wish I had an application to put them on. Do it!

Sent from my SM-G610Y using Tapatalk

[Jimmy E34]

What's the process for taking off the doors?

[DoriDori]

What's the process for taking off the doors?

simple really: remove upper and lower hinge bolts (10mm i think), remove door check strap from pillar by bending tabs on stud into itself then beat upwards with rubber mallet, and remove inside pillar trim to expose connector for door electrical harness. Lift upwards and away. Removing all the unwanted inside parts from your donor door is a completely different difficultly level. Good luck!

[DoriDori]

First Mod: EvoX-R projector retrofit!

With all my car I have to do some kind of projector retrofit. It's one of my favorite mods! In my previous cars i have used the FX-R 3.0, Mini H1, and Mini D2S 4.0. I've have always wanted to try the EvoX-R and since the E38 headlights completely disassemble so easy it was a no brainer. Here are some build pics and beam shots!

Projectors: EvoX-R 2.0
Ballast: 50W
Bulbs: 5500K (pushing 50 watts thru these gives them a "4500K" Hue)
Shrouds: Iris

All Morimoto products from TheRetrofitSource in Atlanta.

Since it is a biXenon projector i will be deleting the high beam at the moment.


1st time disassembling E38 lamps. I broke the white clip on the end of the auto-leveling adjuster. Had to pay $20 for one clip lol.






Test Fitting. The E38 uses 3 holes to mount the stock projector. The EvoXR isnt a direct bolt on but its three holes are so close that all you have to do is dremel away the EvoXrs existing holes to line up with the reflector housing. Took about 1 hour per headlamp.



Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]


Test Firing of OEM headlamp with lens on:
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

Test firing of EvoXR in E38 housing (lens off but will install new clear lens)

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]


This is about 150 yards to front doors of the church adjacent to my backyard. The iPhone does not do justice to how clear and brilliant these are!
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

I burnt thru the chrome on the lens bezel surrounds while buffing so decided to paint bezels black.
Untitled by Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

The Iris shrouds are glued to the OEM shrouds. All the OEM shrouds do is hide the hardware for the OEM projector. Most morimoto shrouds are too large for the space left inside the housing after installing the EvoXR.

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]



Now for some extra credit. I have a lot of factory projectors at my shop. I test fitted a bunch on hope of finding a direct replacement for the Bosch E38 projector. These are the two that were closest. PM me if you want to buy them from me.

LEXUS RX350 xenon low beam (2015 model with AFS)

Bottom two holes are direct bolt in while the top hole will require retrofitting.

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]
Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

2014-2016 Toyota Corolla LED low beam (only needs 12V red/black to power on)

Bottom two holes are very close to lining up. Only need to slot holes. Top will require retrofitting.

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

[DoriDori]

My friend at work started repairs on rocker panel.

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

Untitled by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/158073994@N04/]

[franco90]

nice progress

[RVAE34]

Yes!!!