Danny's 540i6 - This Time It's Orient Blue!

[nike32]

I was surprised that I have full set, usually they are all lost.

Lähetetty minun ONEPLUS A5010 laitteesta Tapatalkilla

[dannyzabolotny]

The other day I finally addressed an annoyance that the car had since the day I bought it— the thrust arms. They had that typical 55mph steering wheel shimmy and it was driving me nuts (city speed limits here are 45mph, meaning 50-55mph is a speed I drove a lot). I got a set of Lemforder thrust arms from FCP Euro, and to be honest I was dreading the job a little bit, knowing that this 540i6 had spent most of its life in Connecticut.

In reality, the thrust arm job went pretty smoothly. I sprayed the ball joints on both sides with ample amounts of PB Blaster and used the Harbor Freight ball joint separator tool + a large sledgehammer to get them out. It took about 15 minutes per side, which is really not bad all things considered. As expected the old thrust arms were pretty beat:





Both were original from 2000, and the new ones looked awesome in comparison:



I tightened the thrust arm bushings at ride height after driving back and forth a little bit to settle the suspension. I'm pleased to say that the thrust arm replacement has completely eliminated all of the steering wheel shimmy I was having. The handling feels a little tighter overall and it just seems like the car soaks up road imperfections even better than before. I drove home doing a steady 100mph with complete smoothness— job well done, I'd say!

This Saturday, my friend and I are driving out to Las Vegas (again, lol) for Radwood. For those who have been living under a rock, Radwood is a newer type of car show, celebrating cars from 1980-1999, which is a time period that's usually fairly under-represented in most mainstream car shows (which either want pre-1975 classics or just new expensive cars). I know my 540i/6 is a 2000 model, but visually it looks the same as a 1997, so I should be good to go. I made one quick modification earlier today to get the car looking more period-correct.

Before:



After:



Now all of my lighting matches properly all around the car, whereas those aftermarket Depo tails stuck out like a sore thumb on an otherwise pre-facelift car. I still plan on facelifting this car, but for now I'll just rock the oldschool original look.

[Jason5driver]

I really like the old-school amber tails with your color car !
But, I am old-school... lol.

[itsbrokeagain]

I dig it as well. I think I'm the only one around here rocking a prefacelift wagon with actual pre Celis amber taillights..

[dannyzabolotny]

On Friday I did the last bits of preparation for Radwood, I washed the car and replaced the fuel filter. It was starting to get dark by the time I finished washing the car, but it still looked awesome:





The fuel filter looked fairly old but I couldn't find a discernible date stamp on it so I'm not 100% sure how old it was. According to the service records it was last changed in 2014 so it's at least 5 years old. I know the fuel pressure regulator was starting to go out though, because I had really long cranking on starts whenever the car sat for a while (like for a whole work day).



I'm happy to report that the new fuel filter fixed all of the starting issues. No more long cranks— it fires right up, every single time.

With the car all prepped, my friend Brad and I headed out to Las Vegas on Saturday morning. We were able to go non-stop at a pretty consistent 100-110mph, traffic was light and there were almost no cops (we had Waze running as well). The 540i6 performed admirably, keeping both of us very comfortable the whole way. The best part is that the car still averaged 22mpg (calculated at the pump) despite the speed and running the AC pretty hard the whole way. That 2.81 diff really helps with high speed economy, haha. I'll miss that a bit when I swap to a 3.15 at some point down the line.

We arrived at our hotel (Trump Hotel) with plenty of time to spare, and after a fantastic lunch we headed out to Radwood which was quite literally down the block at the Las Vegas Convention Center.



Need a new front bumper soon, this one's got some pretty gnarly paint chips:



The E39 got lots of love from the attendees, with many people there currently owning or having owned several E39's— it's the most wonderful disease. Other rad BMW's I saw:

E28 that was converted to Euro spec:



Mint condition E34 M5 in Hellrot:



And my favorite BMW at the show, this jaw-droppingly beautiful 850csi in Oxford Green. It was all original aside from some super rare E31-specific Racing Dynamics wheels. This one had 120k miles, the owner actually drives it pretty regularly which I love seeing. The things I would do for that car, mmmmm.







Honorable mentions go to the supercharged Avus Blue E36 M3 and supercharged Imola Red Z3M, which I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of. And of course, all the sweet non-BMW classics that I saw as well, like the Cummins-swapped Lamborghini LM002, dozens of clean air-cooled Porsches, and DeLorean with a Lotus Esprit twin-turbo V8 swapped in.

Overall, Radwood Las Vegas was fantastic. It didn't have a ton of people but every person I met there was awesome and had a really cool car— definitely a case of quality over quantity.

After Radwood, I met up with a fellow E39 fanatic with a clean 540i6:



The next morning, Brad and I headed back to Phoenix, but not before stopping at the Hoover Dam. My phone couldn't quite capture how huge it was, it was crazy. We also took a tour of the power plant and some of the underground tunnels underneath the dam, super cool stuff.





After that, we rocketed home, maintaining a slightly slower 90mph average due to all the Sunday night traffic. Lots more cops on the way back too, but Waze kept us on top of all of that so there weren't any close calls. Got 23mpg though, not bad.

At this point I've had this 540i6 for exactly 1 month, and I'm still very pleased with it. It's getting pretty close to 127,000 miles now, so in the first month of ownership I added almost 4000 miles. In May I have three LA trips planned, so I'll be at 130k soon enough.

[Ed CT]

Nice! Sounds like you had a great Bimmer weekend.
Gotta love that E34 M5 and 850 csi.

[dannyzabolotny]

There's been quite a bit of work done to the 540i/6 the past few weeks. My weekends have been pretty busy so I've been burning the midnight oil at the shop getting it all done— I wouldn't have it any other way!

The first thing was addressing an annoyance that I've had in the car since buying it— the janky shift knob. It was super old and dry and the boot frame was broken so it didn't stay in place at all, particularly when shifting into 4th and 6th gears:





I got a new Genuine BMW shift boot, and while it was fairly expensive at over $100, it was totally worth it since I use it every single day.





Eventually I'll get a proper 6-speed ZHP knob, but this 5-speed one does the job just fine for now.

Next up was replacing the belt tensioners and idler pulleys, as they were making some noise and were all very loose. Before/after:



After replacing all of that, I still had a high-pitched squealing noise which I diagnosed as being the alternator. The other day I tackled that job, along with replacing all the crusty old radiator hoses. The crazy thing is that most of the radiator hoses were original from 2000, with one being from 2003. You can really see how the upper hose was deteriorating, but somehow it never leaked so I got lucky there.



Old:



New:



I also replaced the fan shroud, since a Behr one was fairly inexpensive and the old fan shroud was starting to crack and have those nasty little fiberglass particles that make my hands itchy every time I work near it. The radiator itself is from 2003, but has no leaks and is a Genuine BMW radiator, so I'm gonna leave it there until it actually needs replacing.

Swapping the alternator was super easy since I already had the cooling system drained; I installed a rebuilt Bosch alternator from my parts pile, whereas the alternator that came out of this 540i was original with noticeably worn bearings.

Once it was all done:



I'm happy to say that all the squealing noises are now gone, hooray! It was super loud before and made my 540i sound like a total beater. This weekend my goal is to replace the motor mounts, transmission mounts, transmission fluid, and do an oil change. Then it'll be ready for Bimmerfest

[dannyzabolotny]

Earlier today I put the 540i6 on the lift and did a bunch of work to it. This was my first time getting a good look at the underbody as well, and I'm pleased to say that everything looks pretty good. Aside from the most minor surface corrosion on some bolts, there's really no traces of this car's former life in Connecticut. Whoever owned it back then did an excellent job of keeping the underbody clean despite driving it in the snow (as evidenced from the multiple snow tire installations in the stack of service records).









As mentioned in the previous post, on the agenda for today was replacing the motor mounts, transmission mounts, transmission fluid, and an oil change.



I started with the oil change, since I wanted to get the oil out while it was still warm from the drive to the shop. Having a lift makes the simplest things more enjoyable, like oil changes. No mess and no laying on my back, it's a win-win!



After the oil change I replaced the transmission fluid. The old fluid that came out was quite black and smelled burnt, so it was certainly due for a change. I put in Redline fluid until it started seeping out the fill hole. I also installed new drain and fill plugs because why not?

With that done, I moved onto replacing the transmission mounts. It was fairly uneventful, but what was interesting is that despite the mounts looking fine upon initial visual inspection, when compared to the new mounts it was very clear how compressed and worn out the old mounts were.





The last thing on the list was replacing the motor mounts. It went very quickly, I had the old mounts removed and the new mounts installed in under 20 minutes. Which is crazy considering it took me like 3 hours to replace the motor mounts the first time I ever did them a few years back on my M-Sport. The old mounts were quite worn, with the driver's side mount being completely split apart and oozing hydraulic fluid.





The new mounts that I installed were M5 mounts, which should be a little stiffer and more durable long-term. New parts always look super nice on an old car:



With all of the work complete, it was time for the test drive. My initial impression was that the shifter was very smooth and I didn't have to fight the transmission to put it in gear. The new mounts all around have significantly decreased the NVH in the cabin, and the shifter no longer flops around when I rev the engine. I'll see how the new transmission fluid feels tomorrow on a cold startup, but so far I'm quite pleased with it.

[dannyzabolotny]

Didn't have much to do today so I grabbed a friend and drove up north to Lake Bartlett. Not for the lake, but for the fun road leading to it. One branch of that road is super tight twisty turns, while the other consists of rapid elevation changes and high-speed sweepers. The E39 definitely feels more at home on the latter. The new mounts and new transmission fluid make a very noticeable difference in hard driving— gear changes were quick and effortless, and the engine didn't feel like it was trying to fly out every time I revved it hard. I definitely need more grip than the rear 255's can provide, but that will come in due time once I get some M-Pars. The stock suspension still feels awesome, especially on bumps and dips in the road. The more I drive this 540i/6, the more I appreciate how well-engineered it is in stock form.

And of course, obligatory glamour shots:







Tomorrow I'm going on a quick run to LA and back to pick up my girlfriend from LAX. Should be a fun little drive!

[amancuso]

Sweet buy! Love what you've done so far and thumbs up on returning to the ambers. Prefacelifts just look "right" when they are sent back to their original look. With so many nowadays with cheapo depos and facelifted lights ham fisted onto the rears, the stock look is rare, especially on a super clean car like yours.

[dannyzabolotny]

Sweet buy! Love what you've done so far and thumbs up on returning to the ambers. Prefacelifts just look "right" when they are sent back to their original look. With so many nowadays with cheapo depos and facelifted lights ham fisted onto the rears, the stock look is rare, especially on a super clean car like yours.

Thanks! I do intend to facelift it at some point, but I’m really not in a big rush since the current lights work incredibly well. The previous owner polished and rebuilt the headlights so they’re quite good. When I do get around to facelifting it, it will only be with Hella headlights and the Hella retrofit tails for a clean install— no eBay junk for this car!

One unintended benefit of sticking with a very stock prefacelift look is that cops seem to completely ignore me. The other day I blazed last a few cops doing double the speed limit and I didn’t even get a second glance, haha. My red wagon, on the other hand, always got pulled over for doing 10 over.

[dannyzabolotny]

Thought I'd update this thread to conclude the story— the 540i/6 has been sold. I threw it on BaT and got $5k for it. Not bad considering the cosmetic issues it had, and it was a relatively painless process overall, with the only negative being how long it took to list the car there, almost a month in my case! All in all, I broke even on it, which is not bad considering how much money I dumped into it— usually I sell my cars at a huge loss (I think I lost like $10k on the red 540it I sold a while back). Here's the last photo I took of the 540i/6 as the new owner drove it away. It's staying local so maybe I'll see it around town one day.



Why did I sell such a clean 540i/6 with no real mechanical issues and a nice interior? You could call it automotive ADHD, indecisiveness, boredom, etc. I can't pinpoint an exact reason I wanted to sell the 540i6, I just never really bonded with it despite the 9k miles I put on it rapidly. I guess it just didn't feel special enough, or maybe I just wanted something different after owning E39's so many times? The funny thing is I almost ended up in another E39 540it shortly after selling the 540i/6, but due to a disagreement over price with the seller, that deal fell through.

I've had an itch to daily drive an older BMW for a little while now, and having an E34 525it + my buddy's E34 540i/6 M-Sport around me didn't help, haha. For a bit, I was on the hunt for a nice E34, but they were either overpriced or completely trashed. I was about to give up my search and buy another cheap E39 to daily, since it was getting hot in Phoenix (it's been hovering around 110º for a few days now) and I needed a car with good AC and some power, neither of which my E34 525it has. And then I saw it on FB Marketplace locally— a clean 1994 740i. So not quite an E34, but an E32. Close enough! I snatched it up for a really good deal, and it's been a blast so far, even with the ultra-slushy 5HP30 transmission.



Those who have been reading my threads for a while will recognize those style 32's from my Anthracite 540i/6 parts car. I've gotten a lot of use out of them— they were previously on the E34 525it prior to being installed on this E32.

So about the E32, it's in fantastic shape overall. 211k miles, essentially a 1-owner car (the guy who I bought it from owned the car for less than a month and put like 200 miles on it). Clean title, Brokatrot over Parchment, and pretty well-loaded with heated seats, lumbar support, servotronic, EDC, extended leather, and a lovely amount of wood trim all over the interior. It's been a southwest car its whole life, starting in Nevada and then moving down to Arizona. I'm super stoked on the E32— it's not too much bigger than an E39 in terms of wheelbase and width, so it still feels quite sporty and has a really good turning radius for a seemingly large car. I also love how simple everything is in the E32— M60B40 with no Vanos, steel window regulators that almost never break, and very little in the way of computers. I've got some fun plans in store for the E32, you can check my thread here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...94-740i-Thread

I'm still gonna be hanging out here to share my knowledge when needed, so I'm not really going anywhere. Just figured I'd update y'all, if anyone even cares, haha.

[JimLev]

Love the E32 style. Nice info and pics in your link. Yes, the front needs to drop about 1".
A friend had a 733 5spd, he is still kicking his ass that he sold it.
So no more E39, lets see how long than lasts.

[Mless5]

Gorgeous color.

[msvphoto]

Great color and looks like an awesome Phoenix cruiser!

[dannyzabolotny]

Love the E32 style. Nice info and pics in your link. Yes, the front needs to drop about 1".
A friend had a 733 5spd, he is still kicking his ass that he sold it.
So no more E39, lets see how long than lasts.

Yeah, it definitely needs a drop. Still debating whether I should do lower springs + shocks or just go with coilovers. I have a buddy locally that has a 735il on BC coilovers and he claims it rides really well, so I'll have to drive that at some point and see for myself. I wouldn't mind a slightly firmer ride if it makes it a bit sportier.

I know a guy with an E32 735i that's got like 600k miles on the original engine, crazy stuff. I'm sure the M60-powered E32's can last just as long with a knowledgeable owner.

I'm never too far away from E39's, both of my best friends have E39 wagons (2002 540it & 2003 525it) so I'm always working on them and riding in them.

Gorgeous color.

Thanks! It's an interesting color in that it changes from purple to red to brown depending on the lighting. It's super dirty right now, can't wait to wash it and really see that color pop.

Great color and looks like an awesome Phoenix cruiser!

Thanks! I just replaced the cabin air filter last night on it (which nobody does because it's a pain in the ass on an E32). The old cabin filter was from 2006, and as you might expect, it was horribly clogged. With the new filter the AC blows really hard and makes the interior uncomfortably cold, even when it's 110º outside. And that's without any tint!

[98OrientBlue]

You filled the i6 trans with ATF?

[dannyzabolotny]

You filled the i6 trans with ATF?

No, I put the Redline stuff in the 420g in the 540i/6. It's a fairly common thing, makes it easier to shift and makes an old transmission feel smoother.