After the KWs were installed and the suspension started to become more connected it became apparent that the rest of the components were in rough shape and contributing to poor dynamics. After a relatively short drive up to Corona from San Diego it became apparent an alignment was badly needed. I didn't want to waste an alignment on the sloppy suspension components so it was time to refresh all the joints and bushings. It was also time to get the ride height dialed in to something more "acceptable" (per my standards).
Here is some rubber from misalignment... pretty bad
I went back on forth between oem and aftermarket parts, decided to roll the dice a bit and see how the cheapos hold up, I prefer to do my research on stuff like this. Worst case scenario if some components don't work out I will have to spend a little bit of time swapping them and be out a few dollars, no big deal.
I ended up buying a rear control arm kit from BuyAutoParts.com, as it turns out they are down the street from me so I can order online and pick the parts up a few hours later. The entire rebuild kit was $130 OTD about, about 30% more expensive than a single Lemforder rear control arm, lol.
Swapping the rear components went pretty smoothly as I was up to speed on the rear end from my recent hub swap. I had to play around with cup sizes a bit to get the ball joints pressed in but that was the only minor hiccup that slowed me down
I didn't capture many pictures as I was busy getting the swap completed but here is a BEFORE/AFTER example of the control arms and the condition they were in.
Making room for the Michelin PS2s which will eventually be replaced with a tidier Hankook V12 and a lower wheel offset. I don't use the Eastwood roller frequently but when I do I am very thankful to have one readily available.
Might raise the rear a smidge but much better than before
Detail stuff.... Diode Dynamics LED turn signals for the side markers
BEFORE
AFTER
New oem front roundel to replace the damaged and Plasti-Dipped one, it received some vinyl decals to fit the monochromatic theme
How hard were the rear upper control arms to replace? That's the last suspension component I haven't touched in the rear.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Not very hard. No ball joints to separate which is nice. Getting a wrench or socket on the bolts takes some unique configurations so I had to play around a bit to get the right extension, socket, etc. I did it with the bags deflated not sure if this is necessary but I assume it relieves some tension on the arms so it might be a good idea to try if you are having trouble getting the ends out.
Oh, so those aren't ball joints at the ends? That makes me really happy, I hate popping ball joints. I figure that access will be a bit iffy, but I have a decent array of wrenches and extensions. Good tip on the air bags, did you just disconnect the air lines or did you deflate them via INPA? I plan on removing my shocks when I do the upper control arms as well, since I need to cut the bump stops in half to stop the shocks from bottoming out too early due to the car being lowered.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
I just unscrew the small 10mm nuts on the air lines which reside by the spare tire, easy to do but take care not to cross thread or damage the joiner as it is a pretty soft plastic. The ends of the control arms are ball joints but not pressed into place like on the front suspension, once the screws are loosened the ends can slide out.
Hmmmmmmm
You've managed to do more work in a matter of weeks vs the entire year and a half I've owned mine lol
Yea, I am flying through this build, I can't stand driving stock especially when all these maintenance items need to be addressed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time for headlights! I specialize in high performance so this is right up my alley. Although I am a discerning headlight enthusiast and am VERY picky about headlight performance I decided to do a "quick and easy" retrofit as the stock headlights were simply unacceptable. Down the road I will redo the headlights and do a custom oem-looking quad projector setup with some high end components but until then this setup should offer a nice setup...
Evo 2 Projectors: Shaved and dropped shields
Osram CBI Bulbs
OEM Hella Gen 3 Ballasts "Boosted" to 43w
Black High Beam Surround
Frosted OEM Angel Eye Rings
DJ Auto Euro Lenses
This picture shows how nasty the headlight lenses were, in addition 3 out of 4 adjusters were broken, projectors and bulbs were way past their prime.
Out the come
These headlights had the permaseal so they didn't bake open like other variants, lenses needed to be cut of and then channels were manually cleared with razors, a chisel, and some headlight specific tools.
I don't care for angle eyes in general and I had no intent on ever using or upgrading the oem units. The fiber optics system was damaged so out it came.
Where I don't care for angel eyes I think the E39 headlight would look odd without the rings, like a cheap aftermarket housing so I decided to keep them in but decided to frost them for a unique look, I do this frequently on other headlight builds I do.
BEFORE/AFTER
I decided to paint the chrome ring in front of the high beam bowl black, the goal was to darken the headlight but retain an oem-ish look with some chrome knowing I will have the Euro lenses and needed to keep a cohesive mixture of chrome and black.
Stock low beam projector was replaced with a modified (shield shaved and dropped) Evo 2 unit. It is a drop in setup and about as easy as it comes in terms of projector retrofitting. The performance of this projector is "good" with the highlight being on center intensity. Personally I prefer a wide beam pattern so down the road I will likely redo the headlights with a "real" low beam projector and retrofit another high beam projector and make a custom quad setup. Until then these are a nice upgrade over the stock projectors.
New headlight adjusters
Boosting Stock ballasts. Hella Gen 3 ballasts are the best HID ballasts ever made, this modification of swapping MOSFETs and adding resistors makes them even better by increasing BOTH output and more importantly efficiency.
Output can go from 35w to 41.5w up to 55w depending on resistor. I chose a moderate 43w.
I like to refurbish the usually oxidized and grimy cases with some sanding
Good Ol' BEFORE & AFTER
Some pics installed. Output pics coming soon.
Projector LED fog light retrofit is definitely on the To Do List
I had a feeling lighting mods were coming soon. That looks soooooo nice!
-James
Looks pretty good! I just wish you had kept the angel eyes functional, that's like my favorite part of the E39 headlights. I might do that projector retrofit, I'm looking for something simple and easy, not interested in a full custom headlight build. I've been pretty happy with the stock headlight outputs so any amount of improvement would be fine with me.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
#HeadlightPerformanceMatters
I am pretty anti angel eye and anti aftermarket LED at this point in time, if I get an itch to have angel eyes then it will be as easy as opening the headlights and installing LED rings but the oem system was shot and needed to be removed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Although this build thread was created on 9/19 the wagon was purchased 9/12 which marks today as 1 month of ownership. Lots of progress has been made!
Here are some BEFORE/AFTER collages as well some pics from a mini photoshoot and when I say photoshoot I mean a dirty wagon and iPhone camera....
A 525iT popped up at a local LKQ so I headed over to snag a few items.
There was also a 1994 740i with (as I understand it) the M60 manifold which is the bolt on for the M62.
I ended up removing the manifold but I did have the right size torx bit to remove the throttle body which essentially doubled the price of the manifold (Mani $46, TB $46) although $46 isn't a temendous amount of money I didn't feel like paying double for something I will scrap. There were multiple mid 90s 7 series there so I will come back at a later date with the proper tools.
This is what $67 will get you at LKQ:
Cargo cover
Cargo floor and side covers
Complete (very good condition) black dash/door/console trim
Hood latch guide
Dip stick
The hood latch guide was missing on my wagon so the pull handle was always exposed.
Fixed
Cargo BEFORE
Cargo AFTER
Broken Dipstick
Replaced
Wow, you found a black interior E39 touring at a junkyard? Impressive! I barely ever see any E39's at the junkyards here in Phoenix, let alone an E39 touring.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
I'm with Danny. Black interiors are never found here in the Northeast, and the u-pick-it yards are 2+ hours away. Most of the luxury vehicles end up in private yards more locally where they will charge you and arm and a leg for these interior bits.
Great build! The car has come a long way!
-Chris
02 540iT LS2 || 13 550XI Msport || 94 530i || 04 330ci || 92 Galant VR4 || 94 Supra TT/6 810whp
Got around to finalizing the interior trim swap, previously I just did the door trim and all the easy pieces so I wrapped it up by swapping the CD cover and console trim.
Next up for the interior is an M5 steering wheel (already have the air bag), black carpet, and locating some sand beige seats from an E38. I have a 2001 which AFAIK means I have the 2 stage air bags so the E38 seats should be a PNP swap.
Before (partial conversion)
During
Old console trim was cracked
Comparison
Console After
AFTER
Before/After
The interior is gonna look so much better with an M5 steering wheel, it’s amazing how much it updates the interior.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Looking awesome. Props for taking care of the suspension.
I am really curious what you do with the seats - mine look as weathered as your driver's seat.
Update:
Wagon has been running well although I have a mysterious alignment/suspension gremling to work out. My ride height is wildly off between front right and front left. Left KW is adjusted as high as it will go and right is dumped as low as it will go but rim-to-fender gap is still taller on left side. Very odd. I took all pics required by KW to confirm they are installed correctly, and they are; the next diagnostic step is swapping the coilovers R-L to see if it follows but haven't have the time to do so.
The wagon also pulls very strongly to the right and the steering wheel needs to be tilted ~10 degrees to the left just for the wagon to go straight. Alignment was done and they were not able to get rid of the pull, hmmmmmmm. Odd and concerning.
I have some new tires on the way so once those are mounted and balanced I will swap the KWs to see if I can resolve that issue and then double check all my work on the suspension components I replaced and see if I can get to the bottom of the alignment.
My headlights were originally retrofitted with Evo 2 projectors which are a "bolt-on" swap in the E39 but unfortunately the driver side mounting points are crooked, I have heard some E39s are like this and others are not. With my high standards for automotive lighting this was a no-go as was the output of the Evo 2s after I had some real time experience behind the wheel. The projectors do have a great "hotspot" which is the on center intensity but the rest of the beam pattern didn't offer much. Width was barely acceptable as was the intensity at the wider parts of the beam. I swapped out the Evo2s for some real projectors; Lexus RX330 AFS modded with custom curved shields and E30 clear lenses. These are low beam only and do not offer a high beam which is fine by me since their low beam output is epic. Ballasts are still "boosted" 43w Hellas and bulbs are Osram CBI.
Here is the output of the Evo2s
With the exposure dropped you can better see the crooked cutoff and the contrast in the intensity of the hotspot to the rest of the beam pattern.
RX AFS mounted up
Here is the output
By the way, mounting lights on your garage door is awesome!
Made another run to the local salvage yard and pulled a few more interior trim pieces as well as a M sport steering wheel, the condition isn't great as the wheel has some damaged leather up top but I am happy to get rid of the school bus steering wheel I previously had.
Have you tried raising the opposite corner to lower the gap?
Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
Last edited by StRaNgEdAyS; 01-28-2018 at 03:30 PM.
^ This. The self-leveling suspension in the rear can mess with the front ride heights if the rear ride heights aren't 100% level from side to side. That's the downside of having such a stiff chassis, it means that all four corners need to be at the exact same heights for the car to sit level, otherwise it sits crooked. It took me a while to dial in my 540it's ride height because the rear air struts weren't staying at the same height on both sides.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Yea, I adjusted them with INPA and the sensors were reading even as was the rim to fender measurement but my suspension seems to wander out of spec. Did you use INPA to adjust your suspension? If so what process did you do to adjust and "set" the new ride height, on tm6 E61 I would have to jump to another screen and lock in the new settings for them to stay, I wonder if I am missing something on the E39.
Bookmarks