Blackknight530i has a new E39 project - 2002 540it

[dannyzabolotny]

Yes, Sport airbags are shorter. Arnott gets that wrong.

I will say I haven't noticed any difference in ride height or ride quality since switching to the Arnotts. Granted, I had 200k mile original air springs so maybe not the best point of reference...

[blackknight530i]

So, the car was delivered today and I got a little time to check it over. The body is in really good shape, other than the aforementioned issues with the bumpers and hood. The hood I can probably find a replacement for at LKQ for cheap as it's Schwarz 2, so should be easy to find and relatively cheap. The bumpers are in great shape as far as no cracks or broken mounting tabs, so they will probably just get repainted. The rest of the body looks really good though. No dents as far as I could tell with it covered in rain water and it's shiny. The engine is pretty peppy as far as revving up at idle. More than I thought it would be. It does have a check engine light on for what I'm guessing is a slight misfire, or it could be related to the transmission issues.

As for the transmission issues, I drove it around the neighborhood a bit and it is pretty rough. It's not just a hard 1-2, 2-1 shift, but rather it slips even in gear and then grabs really quickly. It also does it in higher gears, but not as bad. One thing that through me off was when pulling in behind my garage, it should have been just coasting, but it felt like I slammed on the brakes. Very strange indeed. First thing I'll do is check fluid level and top up or drain as necessary. If that doesn't fix it, I'll probably throw a new filter and some fresh fluid in it and see what that does. I'm also hoping to hear back from my buddy who runs a BMW indy shop on his input based on the codes we got. If it needs anything that involves removing the transmission, it's not getting another auto, so it will be manual swap time.

On to the interior stuff. The rearview mirror mount came unglued from the windshield, which I think was already reglued before. The sunroof doesn't work, but I have a spare one in my garage. At least it stays closed and keeps rain out. The MID needs its pixels repaired, but I know a guy who can fix that . Cluster has perfect pixels, so I'm guessing it was replaced by BMW at some point. It will get a M5 cluster when I get around to it (again, I know a guy). The front seats are basically done. The driver seat has a big split in the lower cushion and the passenger seat definitely has seat twist and doesn't look great anyways. They are non-sport seats, so not very valuable anyways. I've got a set of tan sport seats that will likely go in. Cup holders are broken, but I'll probably put a cup holder delete panel in when I do a trim swap. A-pillar trim is peeling, but I have good replacements from my other wagon. Door sill trims are badly cracked. Hatch struts need to be replaced. The floor panel that covers the spare tire area has a badly broken latch that won't allow you to open it, but I have a good one from my other car as well, though I need to get it opened first.

I think that's the majority of what I've found so far, though I haven't had a whole lot of time to check it over yet. Once I get my buddy Stephen's M5 out of my garage after doing timing guides and rod bearings, I'll be able to pull the car into my garage and work on it a bit. I'll take some more photos once it's dry outside as well.

[mcgnms]

Interesting. I haven't checked forums out in a while. I felt a...feeling in the force that compelled me to log in and check out whats happening. Sure enough I find something great!

[blackknight530i]

Interesting. I haven't checked forums out in a while. I felt a...feeling in the force that compelled me to log in and check out whats happening. Sure enough I find something great!

Hahaha

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[blackknight530i]

Oh, another thing I noticed is that on the passenger rear door, neither the outer door handle or the window regulator work. The window regulator doesn't even try to work, so not sure what's up there. With the door handle on the outside, it doesn't even act like it's pulling on anything, so something is probably broken or disconnected. Both rear doors have evidence of vapor barrier failure, but they don't seem that bad, so might be salvageable. I'll take them off and see what's going on with the reg and door handle. Inside door handle does work fine and I think the door locks work.

Also, the remote key doesn't lock/unlock the doors. Could be the same issue I had with my other wagon and the battery terminal inside broke and needs repair. I'm kind of thinking I might just buy a new key from BMW as it's only about $140 and I have a programmer if I need it. I've been wanting to get a new key for my M5 as well. Not sure how they handle new key purchases when buying from a place like Morristown BMW. I would think they would need a copy of registration to order the key, but maybe they would request that after the order is placed. I suppose they could ship it uncut and expect the dealership to do all the work of cutting and programming, but I kind of doubt that. Has anyone here ordered a new key from the dealership before?

[JimLev]

Nice to know "the guy", maybe some day I'll score an M cluster from him too.

[blackknight530i]

Nice to know "the guy", maybe some day I'll score an M cluster from him too.

I know lots of people that do lots of things. It really helps when owning 3 old BMWs . I know a guy that does powder coating as well, wonder if he might be interested in powder coating some M62TU valve covers. That guy might want to make a deal with the guy I know for a M5 cluster upgrade.

[JimLev]

Maybe after that guy has his '33 done. He still hasn't built an oven big enough for valve covers. He should have brought his old oven when he moved. He's also got a set on non tu covers waiting for powder too.

[computiNATEor]

You guys

Yes, I bought a key from a dealership a few years ago. I needed my registration and driver's license/ID, then placed the order and paid. It was not cheap; I bought a master key and the plastic wallet key, and it was ~$270, IIRC. The keys took a few days to arrive; I went in on Friday and the key came on Tues, I think. I had the service department activate the key, which took seconds.

[geargrinder]

Oh, another thing I noticed is that on the passenger rear door, neither the outer door handle or the window regulator work. The window regulator doesn't even try to work, so not sure what's up there. With the door handle on the outside, it doesn't even act like it's pulling on anything, so something is probably broken or disconnected. Both rear doors have evidence of vapor barrier failure, but they don't seem that bad, so might be salvageable. I'll take them off and see what's going on with the reg and door handle. Inside door handle does work fine and I think the door locks work.

Also, the remote key doesn't lock/unlock the doors. Could be the same issue I had with my other wagon and the battery terminal inside broke and needs repair. I'm kind of thinking I might just buy a new key from BMW as it's only about $140 and I have a programmer if I need it. I've been wanting to get a new key for my M5 as well. Not sure how they handle new key purchases when buying from a place like Morristown BMW. I would think they would need a copy of registration to order the key, but maybe they would request that after the order is placed. I suppose they could ship it uncut and expect the dealership to do all the work of cutting and programming, but I kind of doubt that. Has anyone here ordered a new key from the dealership before?

Some dealers don't do it (remote key sales) but the ones that do will generally ask you to fax (or email PDF I imagine) doc because they need that to order it from BMWUSA or the wholesale or whatever. The dealers had all the key-cutting equip taken away years ago, however, it could be that the big regional-wholesaler dealers are the ones who are still doing the cutting/flashing part using the official HQ gear?

I have a new high quality rep blank key for my car, still have to get that cut, then I'm just going to swap the guts with my worst worn out one I think. I mean alternatively I can buy the programmer and program the 'coffin' chip that came with it... but I haven't decided whether to go that route or just gut the OE one...

[Twistytee]

Looking forward to watching this build. I'm a long roof guy too although from another cousin across the pond. Looks like a great base from which to start.

[blackknight530i]

I don't really mind ordering the key from BMW if it's the price that Morristown BMW says it is. If they order it, I would think it would come pre-cut and then I could activate it with my EWS Editor Lite. I don't think I'll necessarily go OE on this car, but on the M5 for sure.

Today it's about small victories. Well, can it be considered a victory if you kind of caused the problem in the first place (In Trump's case I guess it can, but I digress)? Anyways, I went to try to open the sunroof the other day and it didn't budge, other than about a smidge, like the motor was trying, but didn't want to move. Tonight, with Purplecty's advice, I decided to try resetting the sunroof motor memory. Well, it kind of worked. It did finally open, but now it was all kinds of confused about the open and closed states. The problem I ended up creating was that there was now no way to close it, and it rains nearly every afternoon here now. I tried forcing it closed by bumping the button repeatedly and it got somewhat closed, but still had a large opening. Then I somehow made it get stuck and wouldn't move in either direction. I decided to pop the cover off the motor and sure enough, the big white gear was cracked in half. Once the motor was removed, I could manually close the sunroof glass, but only to the point where it is supposed to lift. After getting back from dinner, I figured I would grab the sunroof motor out of one of the other cars, install it in this one, get the sunroof closed, then pull it back out and put in the original car. This worked great and the sunroof is now sealed, but I can't use it. I'll try to pick one up at LKQ or something, but I bet all of them have somewhat cracked gears as the one out of the blue wagon also had some cracks that hadn't developed that bad yet. At least it's easy to pop the cover off and look at the gear before removing the motor from the car.

Also, I got the trunk floor out yesterday. It was a total pain and I ended up destroying it even more, but once I got it out, it turns out that there is a piece of the latch that just needed to be released and it came right out. The floor from my other wagon will be used instead. Again, small victories .

As I'm writing this, a storm is about to hit, so glad I got the sunroof fixed before it starts.

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Looking forward to watching this build. I'm a long roof guy too although from another cousin across the pond. Looks like a great base from which to start.

Which cousin would that be?

If you ever make it up to me to do your cluster, you can see the car first hand .

[Redshift]

Here we go again!

First, Charlie's M5 wagon build, then this?

[blackknight530i]

Here we go again!

First, Charlie's M5 wagon build, then this?

LOL, did Charlie end up finding a wagon yet? Is he on here?

[Redshift]

LOL, did Charlie end up finding a wagon yet? Is he on here?

He's still searching. Sent me another to inspect earlier. I don't think he's on here.

[Twistytee]

Which cousin would that be?

If you ever make it up to me to do your cluster, you can see the car first hand .

Not of the V8 variety as that's reserved for my American iron, but it is from the last of the 6-speed manual Avants sold in the U.S. from Ingolstadt. I'll be up before long with the cluster. Still running an inventory of all the various items the 530i needs.

Untitled by Twistytee, on Flickr

[blackknight530i]

Not of the V8 variety as that's reserved for my American iron, but it is from the last of the 6-speed manual Avants sold in the U.S. from Ingolstadt. I'll be up before long with the cluster. Still running an inventory of all the various items the 530i needs.

Untitled by Twistytee, on Flickr

Gotcha. Figured it was something like that.

[TerraPhantm]

I don't really mind ordering the key from BMW if it's the price that Morristown BMW says it is. If they order it, I would think it would come pre-cut and then I could activate it with my EWS Editor Lite. I don't think I'll necessarily go OE on this car, but on the M5 for sure.

Today it's about small victories. Well, can it be considered a victory if you kind of caused the problem in the first place (In Trump's case I guess it can, but I digress)? Anyways, I went to try to open the sunroof the other day and it didn't budge, other than about a smidge, like the motor was trying, but didn't want to move. Tonight, with Purplecty's advice, I decided to try resetting the sunroof motor memory. Well, it kind of worked. It did finally open, but now it was all kinds of confused about the open and closed states. The problem I ended up creating was that there was now no way to close it, and it rains nearly every afternoon here now. I tried forcing it closed by bumping the button repeatedly and it got somewhat closed, but still had a large opening. Then I somehow made it get stuck and wouldn't move in either direction. I decided to pop the cover off the motor and sure enough, the big white gear was cracked in half. Once the motor was removed, I could manually close the sunroof glass, but only to the point where it is supposed to lift. After getting back from dinner, I figured I would grab the sunroof motor out of one of the other cars, install it in this one, get the sunroof closed, then pull it back out and put in the original car. This worked great and the sunroof is now sealed, but I can't use it. I'll try to pick one up at LKQ or something, but I bet all of them have somewhat cracked gears as the one out of the blue wagon also had some cracks that hadn't developed that bad yet. At least it's easy to pop the cover off and look at the gear before removing the motor from the car.

Also, I got the trunk floor out yesterday. It was a total pain and I ended up destroying it even more, but once I got it out, it turns out that there is a piece of the latch that just needed to be released and it came right out. The floor from my other wagon will be used instead. Again, small victories .

As I'm writing this, a storm is about to hit, so glad I got the sunroof fixed before it starts.

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Which cousin would that be?

If you ever make it up to me to do your cluster, you can see the car first hand .

I haven't ordered a key from Morristown, but I have ordered one from thebmwminipartstore.com which I imagine uses more or less the same process.

Basically you give them your vin and a scan of your driver's license and registration (or title), and they'll place the order with BMW. The key you receive will be cut for your car and pre-programmed for your EWS. Only programming you have to do is for the remote itself. The dealers themselves don't cut the keys or program the transponder - that's all done at BMW itself.

[computiNATEor]

I haven't ordered a key from Morristown, but I have ordered one from thebmwminipartstore.com which I imagine uses more or less the same process.

Basically you give them your vin and a scan of your driver's license and registration (or title), and they'll place the order with BMW. The key you receive will be cut for your car and pre-programmed for your EWS. Only programming you have to do is for the remote itself. The dealers themselves don't cut the keys or program the transponder - that's all done at BMW itself.

Exactly, and you'll just need to initialize the key, which is some position-1 lock-unlock dance that I can't remember. Instructions are available online.

[RyansBMW]

LSX swap????

[stephgilnc]

Hopefully this weekend we will have my M5 running and out of your garage.

[jp5Touring]

Congrats on the purchase,looking forward to watch the progress.

[blackknight530i]

Hopefully this weekend we will have my M5 running and out of your garage.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting yours started up. I'm hoping it will be mostly uneventful though . I'm sure it will be loud at first, but hopefully it will quiet down quickly. That S62 will have a whole new bottom and front end to it. Even though I know we did everything right, it's still going to make me nervous when we fire it up the first time. Maybe you'll be able to drive us up to VIR for the IMSA race the following weekend.

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LSX swap????

Uh...no. I don't deviate. BMW for life!

[stephgilnc]

I am really nervous to start the car up as well. Maybe we will need shot something before or after we start the car. I know we have done everything right assembling the car. Hopefully we can get out of shop so you can get the new project in the shop. It would be fun to take the car up to VIR! I only driven the M5 handful of times this year. So a trip in it would be nice.

[blackknight530i]

I am really nervous to start the car up as well. Maybe we will need shot something before or after we start the car. I know we have done everything right assembling the car. Hopefully we can get out of shop so you can get the new project in the shop. It would be fun to take the car up to VIR! I only driven the M5 handful of times this year. So a trip in it would be nice.

I'm sure we've done fine, but if not, we'll fix it. We always do.

In other news, I discovered another new issue with the 540it. Apparently it has at least one sagging airbag:



This is after sitting just a couple days. Fortunately, I'm working on a deal with a forum member on buying his used 540it sport springs and airbags. I'll put the front springs on my Koni Sports I had on my M5 and I'll likely order some Koni sports for the rear as well. It also comes with a 540it Sport front sway bar and I think I still have my old sport rear sway bar from when I upgraded my 530i sedan to the M5 bar. It won't be M-Sport II spec, but I'm not looking to race this thing. I mainly want it to look better and handle decently.