2000 E39 528i LQ4 auto swap

[exvitermini2]

Everything looks good!

For some input I used a stock non sport shifter and cable, and used the 4l80 lever arm. Made a little extender for the cable and drilled a new hole in the lever arm. It works perfectly! I haven't driven the car yet but did go position by position and it lines up well. I'll get a pic of it next time I have it on the lift.

[mrallande5020]

Thanks for the kind words lol, pics would be appreciated. I do plan on going that route later. But not now as for once the interior is all back together.

[mrallande5020]

Finally got it on the dyno, it reached my minimum goal of 320hp. Only went up to 5,700rpm on the dyno due to driveshaft vibration, I'm having the same problem as Lantz and will get a factory rubber trans mount. Hopefully that is the problem. First issue was that it would idle too high at 1,100-1,400 rpm. We smoked the intake system but found no leaks so he pulled timing to get a steady idle around 600-700 rpm. Second issue was fixed by street tuning and getting the shift points right. First gear goes all the way to 60mph! Stock gears on the used gas saving 540i diff are 2.9x. I do want the Bimmer World diff service with a 3.46 and Wavetrack lsd. Should differently make it pull hard out of a dig. Still things todo like the sway-bar, so far it does not drive that bad without it.
https://youtu.be/oWBfLDRIgmk---video.
IMG_1215[1].jpgNot the best pic lol.

[Peteah6.0]

Nice build . I'm in the early stages of a similar build and thank you for all the for the info and pics .

Fyi . Aftermarket trans control systems are available and you can use the the sport shifter as intended = fun !

[mrallande5020]

Thanks, I have been thinking of getting a trans controller, sooner or later because it would be nice to down shift aggressively.

[CvilleTallman]

Man I love seeing these dyno days. Good motivation. Well done.


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[nickhuber1]

extremely impressed with your skill and determination on this build! keep it up i'm currently in the process of tying all of my loose ends together on my lq4 turbo true m5 car keep the updates coming!

[mrallande5020]

Thanks for the interest. I installed a new rear banjo trans fitting to give me more clearance from the trans tunnel. I did beat the hell out of the front fitting area but didn't for the rear, and being I don't want to take out the trans to beat it, I just got another fitting. Since I will be switching to a rubber mount I figure there will be a tad more give when flooring it and I didn't want the 90* fitting to slam against the tunnel.

[mrallande5020]

Update on the car. When I changed out the trans mount to a rubber type, I took it out to see if it helped with the driveshaft vibration. I was just excited to drive it and foolish me forgot to latch the hood down. So when I floored it at 40mph...I did this. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-IE2J4p..._web_copy_link. definitely watch that and have a little laugh. But anyways I need a new hood and glass. quote for the windshield is about $500 for a oem brand not safe-lite, the guy I talked to at the BMW dealership really seemed to agree with me about that. The guy referred me to a shop like 2 miles away from me since the dealer does not do installs on windshields. With help from Henny92's pics and I don't remember the other page on here, I was able to get a good idea on how I was going make the sway-bar brackets. Got a M5 27mm one on ebay for $120. Went on ECS Tuning and got the right bushings and brackets. And two trips to Lowes for bolts and steel.
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[mrallande5020]

I also ordered adjustable links to help bring the bar up a bit since the car is lowered. I found a pretty cool piece I think will blend really well with the hood.
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[mrallande5020]

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IMG_1354[1].jpgThis is the oe style hood that SeibonCarbon has. Still have to make a bracket for the "pins" that these latches clamp to. Using a Dremel on carbon fiber is way less of a pain than the stock hood. IDK how much weight I shaved but let me just say I was able to install it solo. The kidney grilles and BMW logo are from ECS Tuning as well.

[mrallande5020]

I picked up a Eibach sway bar to offset the M5 front. Did some research on here and people say it helps bring it more towards over steering rather than under steering. Same exact radiator but bought a bit taller Becool 26x19. Than I was able to fit the Derale fan shroud with 2 high output fans. The brackets I made are not the prettiest, but if I could weld aluminum it would have been a done deal. Temps stay around 217 in a garage with the car facing in and idling for about 15 minutes. Out side temp was probably ~90. I put a rubber pad under the lower mount, to possibly help with vibrations. And the brackets attach to 2 L- shaped mounts that are welded to the frame and come down to sit under the rad. The lowest part of the rad sits pretty low to the ground with probably a inch or so difference from the bottom of the bumper. Driving around town with frequent stops, it stays around 198 with one fan on. The second fan comes on at 205. When on the highway I don't think any fans come on which is perfect. No A/C sucks of course and so does exhaust smell. I get out and stink. I have to re-buy the factory cabin intake system, and hopefully when I do it tones the smell down. My goal is to buy a tig welder later down the road, and make some long tubes. And re-do the exhaust with all super clean welds. Because the heat wrap is there to hide the fact I used a grinder for all the cutting. Also having steam boil off the wrap after going in a puddle or rain at a stop light or sign stresses me out thinking the steam is something else. The radio is super convenient, as it comes with carplay. The touch screen is also a nice modern touch. I debated on going with the M5 style ones but saw the savings and heaps of better reviews being that this is universal. I had the glass replaced with a PGW brand . Had it done at a local place and I got what seemed like a damn good deal at a nice place too that was recommended to me by the local BMW dealership. Paid 315 after tax. In the last picture you can see the carbon side mirror covers, picked them up on eBay and they match the hood quite nicely. Found a guy on Instagram that has carbon front fenders. Asked how to get some and was told his friend made about 5 and nothing more, they look amazing. So the other thing I can get carbon would be a CSL style trunk. I have to do something about my sunroof being loose after a kidney grill smacked it when the hood came up. Next thing to do is pick up some 18'' rims with about 2'' lips, my friend took a picture when I was driving and my rear tires looked a bit skinny. So probably 245 in front with 275 in the rear. I still have a decent number of things I would like to do or re-do like the exhaust. So more to come.

[motorV8ed]

The rad and fans look great. Well, for that matter, it ALL looks great!

[JimLev]

When I had the M5 front bar with the Eibach rear bar I noticed a lot of oversteer when letting off the gas in a corner.
After installing the Eibach front bar the oversteer problem was gone.

[mrallande5020]

When I had the M5 front bar with the Eibach rear bar I noticed a lot of oversteer when letting off the gas in a corner.
After installing the Eibach front bar the oversteer problem was gone.

Thank you for the heads up man, I will continue to drive it and see how I like it or start to dislike it. I know especially when letting off in a corner over steering can really mess someone up. I also made a mistake when adjusting the sway bar links.
I shortened them all the way thinking it would give me the most clearance, it did but I forgot to note how it would sit when on the ground . So when I had driven it around to get food one day I was feeling some binding up in the front and knew immediately it was the sway bar. Fixed the length now were all good. Drove the car about 70mi last night and everything seems to check out great. I feel my self wanting more power than what it has currently. The lsd and gearing I want should help but I'm sure I'll get use to it as quick as I did with the whole swap. Also the rubber trans mount did indeed fix the vibrations, go figure. With the stock 540i manual differential I put in, crusin on the highway at about 65mph the rpms are at 1900. Definitely a great gas saving feature, for now.

- - - Updated - - -

The rad and fans look great. Well, for that matter, it ALL looks great!

Thank you sir,much appreciated.

[mrallande5020]

Update, bought a M5 diff and e46 M3 3.62 gears. Also a 4 clutch LSD upgrade. Old clutches looked worn but not completely shot, had to get a new pinion bearing and race due to old one being damaged when taking it off the 3.15 pinion. And to save some $$$ I bought e32 output shafts so I can reuse my brand new 540i axles and bolts. The bolt circle is 92mm vs 102mm on the M5 if I remember that right. You can not reuse the 540i output shafts, yes it will go in but there is not a groove for the c-clip in the LSD unit to lock it in. And when assembling the diff back together after changing ratios, You have to check for backlash and correct gear mesh pattern. I ordered backlash adjustment rings on ebay for cheap and needed them. After hours of messing with different thicknesses I was happy with ~.9 thousandths of backlash. Before I bought the tools to make adjustments I literally reused everything and put it back in the car and had a whine sound on de-cel. Took it all apart and had ~.1 thousandths backlash. Super tight and if left unchecked would lead to overheating of the gear teeth. Also I noticed I had some driveshaft vibrations worse than ever, later I checked the diff bushing and the back two were ripped. So all front and rear poly bushings were bought. Another thing to look at is the M5 diff is a bit longer than the 540i and depending on how tight you had you'r driveshaft made you may have to get it shortened. I did not have to.
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[mrallande5020]

Continued update. Something I did because of me being lazy was using my impact to put the side bearings back on and after about 30 times I ended up stretching the bolts. I also bought a harbor freight shop press to change out the pinion. I bought two crush sleeves just encase I messed up and over torqued it. And all new seals of course. When doing the side bearing seals I made sure to not press them in all the way or else you can cover the oil hole for the bearings. And make sure to not only mark which side bearing goes to what side but also the position that they sat due to the oil hole(pic below of a M3 diff oil hole). Below is also picture of new bolt sizes that I used for the rear cover and I think the side bearings.
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[Peteah6.0]

Hi . Did you get your tach to work ?

[mrallande5020]

Yes sir, I used intelitronix aftermarket gauges and was 1 wire to the ls swap harness and it was good to go.

[mrallande5020]

Okay BIG update for this thread. The diff was put in. Had even worse driveshaft vibration (above 70mph). Looked under the car and realized the diff sits crooked, very crooked. I used a laser guide and the input flange was pointed almost towards the driver door area. Did some research on the crooked situation and found that is how these diffs sit from factory. I'm not crazy these are the threads I found my info at-
https://www.m5board.com/threads/diff...-issue.599240/
https://www.m5board.com/threads/powe...inside.575946/

And when using a one-piece driveshaft of course anything that is out of alignment will totally mess you up. Weird thing is I got less vibration from my 540 diff so I swapped that back in and drove the car around for about a month. Went to Houston, my friends and family got to see the car for the first time. No leaks or mechanical issues. I did realize I needed more traction in the rear when I almost spun out into a wall on a wet road with very little throttle (passenger almost whited out), also would have helped if the M5 diff was in at the time (two tires spinning vs one). So when I got back I sent my rear wheels out to wildcraft wheels (recommended from another member's thread) and had the rears widened 1'', costed about 500$. When I got them back I took them apart and sanded the lips down to bare aluminum and polished the lips and resprayed the bolts. Paired the new rims with 42 Draft Wheel Spacers & Bolts - 18mm(rear) and 20mm(front). Bought 255/40r17 Continental extreme contact sport tires and drove about 2 days to work and back. So didn't really get to feel it out. But the fitment is Perfect! IMO. It's almost flush but still a mm or two recessed. Bought a 4.8L Silverado and a C63 AMG. The Volvo I was using as a daily was returned to my parents LOL. Great car, wagon came in clutch a couple of times for big parts. I should have gotten the rims widened 2'' but I can put these on the front and have the virgin fronts widened 2'' and put on the rear. It also does not mess with offset because they widen the inner barrel. So all you have to worry about is the inner rim contacting the coilover. As for the M5 diff, switched back to 3.15 gears bc the pinion was whining even after I put it back together with new bearings. The M3 ring gear is slightly thinner compared to the M5 one (pinions basically the same). So to make me feel comfortable and not have to worry about this and that, I just switched back. And yes new bearings and crush washer were put in again.
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[mrallande5020]

The rims look amazing just wish it looked a bit more beefy back there. But for now 255 vs 235 is fine. Now back again to the diff situation, only thing I could come up with was to cut the front diff mount and re-weld it so that the diff lines up straight to the trans output shaft. I did mock-up with the diff in and back two bushings bolted to the diff cover, so those are not affected. Bought a PrimeWeld tig welder since the subframe is aluminum. Big money spent BUT now I can weld aluminum. The first pics you are about to see below are uh, the actual first time I've welded tig. And all I was trying todo was tack in place so I can remove the whole subframe and weld it out of the car. I found it super hard and difficult to weld under the car on jack stands with no space, so removal was a must. Bought some aluminum flat bar and welded it in for reinforcement/ filling gaps that were created by moving the mount to it's new position. IK the first pics look super fucked but I got the hang of it in accouple hours. Messed alot of tungsten up but only burnt threw the material twice. I can say I feel comfortable with the end result as I used a ton of filler rod, did beads on top of beads to fill low spots where I did not use flat bar to fill in areas. Everything was gone over at least three times than sanded for a smooth look. With the welder I can redo my radiator mounts and, I just ordered aluminum -6an male fittings to weld onto 3' of hardline tubing(x2 bc they are right next to each other for feed and return) for my trans cooler lines to get rid of long straight runs of hose and replace it with hard line. Since the hoses currently run on top of the rear subrame and to the cooler which is in the spare tire area. You have to snake out the hoses for removal.
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[mrallande5020]

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[JimLev]

Nice job boxing in the front mount.

[mrallande5020]

These are pics I found on here of ppl reinforcing the mount due to it breaking or cracking. I started to pull the trigger on a rear trunk project. Involves adding tubing for frame-rail and strut-tower reinforcement and getting rid of the spare tire section as a whole. I'm not sure if I want to cut out the rear seat backrest section to replace it with a nice smooth section of sheet metal or not since no one will be sitting there to begin with. And the same for the rear parcel shelf but for a amplifier and speaker show case. While I was back there I cut out alot of wires that were no longer being used or just weren't bc of options that the car doesn't have like a phone for example. When I started with the wires I got overwhelmed since they go all the way towards the front of the car. And I had already dealt with removing the dash and everything else up front. But to do it the right way looks like I will be again taking almost everything out gain.
IMG_2758.JPGIMG_2759.JPGIMG_2785.JPGThis is somewhat the idea I am going for. I think it looks super clean but this is in a e30 or older bmw.
IMG_2781.jpgIMG_2784.jpgAnd this is my process. Think I will cut the back section as well.

[mrallande5020]

New additions. Also a buddy's M3 that is decked with sexy rims, brakes, 4.10 geared diff, all new rear subframe with bushings etc, and some type of engine tune. He t-boned someone while coming to a stop and whole front end was totaled(this is the second time he pretty much totaled it). We plan on doing a tube front-end and chopping the frame-rails off and plating them to build off of. This is if he does not change his mind.
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