E53 X5 Overland Build

[Henn28]

Hi all,

At JimLev's recommendation I thought I'd start a thread on an X5 Overland build that I have been working on for the past few months, now that its back on the road and sorted for a while and before I tackle the leaky M62 that sits under its hood. I'm a recently joined member and appreciate all the corporate knowledge and willingness to share hard lessons learned on this site and at X Outpost. Compared to many of the amazing builds I read about here, mine is fully amateur hour meets Sanford and Son!

I've had several M3s and a Z3 over the years, but all are gone except for a 2002 E53 X5 4.4i which we bought new for my wife as a daily driver. After 12 years of commuting and kid hauling, she transitioned to a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and the X5 entered into a long phase of benign neglect as a kid and dog car. I kept it because I wanted a big piece of metal with lots of airbags around my kids as they learned to drive around New Orleans. During this time I replacing almost every suspension component and bushing to stop insane levels of squeaking and had to spring for a fully remanufactured transmission in 2019 after the original unit gave up the ghost 2 blocks from my house. We'd been running it in sport mode for 3 years to mitigate chatter and slipping. I kept up with oil changes too, not because it got many miles, but rather because it dumped a quart or two a month on the driveway. Flash forward to pandemic times and I'm casting about looking for a project. I figured at my age I'd have a Gen 1 Camaro or 911 to wrench on, but kids college bills have ensured that wont happen...but the X5 is sitting in my driveway. I happen across a story of an Indy BMW place near Chicago that did an E53 overland build, which although way too zombie apocalypse for me, is very cool. Fluid Motor Union is also one of the very few that makes a spacer lift of any sort dedicated to the E53, so my project was launched.

My goals are to have a daily driver E53 Overland style X5 that I don't have to think twice about driving any distance in. I have broken the project into three parts, which are not exclusive: Exterior, interior and engine/mechanical. Money, time, general necessity (i.e. something is broken and needs to be fixed), and what I think I'd like to do next determine what I work on and in what order. In general though I'm leaving the interior until the end of the project, but the car will need a nice refresh of the interior that takes into account my two bird dogs and 14 hour drives to the mid-west to go bird hunting.

As you can see below, the car was in pretty poor shape visually, but thanks to a fresh transmission and newer suspension bits, in decent shape mechanically. Its never been in an accident and is rust free. The 4.4 motor is fine for running around town these days, but leaking out of every crevice and low on compression in a few holes. I intended on replacing or rebuilding it, with a goal of more power...Its a project car so why not. Much more on this to follow as what's possible and available for the M62 has been a real learning curve.


My general plan in "phase 1" has been to get the lift done, get some nice wheels and tires on the car to suit the build I'm after, take care of a lot of deferred maintenance and get the roof and hood repainted. Phase one I'm happy to report is complete after a lot of skinned knuckles and, according to my wife, too much money. She's somewhat unaware that we are entering into phase 2.

The following is complete (I'll give a full accounting of the process and issues so far in a follow-up post):
- New 4.8 cluster from Pixels with a reprogrammed DME to match. I finally know how many miles are on the thing again (151k).
- Ebay seat memory controller to fix the memory and steering wheel adjustment failure.
- New (to me) OEM headlights.
- New rear subframe bushings. The old ones didn't look bad at all, but the car was broken down anyway for the...
- Installed Fluid Motor Union 1.5" lift. I elected to keep the OEM rear air suspension as I reallly like the way the car rides on them, and mine has been pretty reliable.
- Fabricated new brackets for the self leveling suspension sensors to compensate for the lift.
- Two new Arnot air springs. These are the second set since new - not bad I think.
- New right front axle
- Oil change with synthetic high mileage oil. The high mileage seems to do a good job of slowing the leaks and I use it in my 1993 grand cherokee as well (dog and airport car).
- 275/70/16 Yokohama Geolander AT tires riding on Method Race Wheel 16" bronze rims. This combo results in a 32.2"-ish set up which is about the max one can run on one of these cars without removing the front bumper. Even still I had to deal with some minor tire rubbing (heat gun) and some suspension/caliper rubbing from the suspension and brakes on the insides of the wheels (angle grinder).
- Full alignment
- Hood and roof painted in Ford Lead Foot Gray by a local hot rod and custom shop. fenders, doors, trunk, etc. aren't in terrible shape so I am saving some money by keeping those Topaz Blue right now. I'd love to go British Racing Green on below the window at some point for a nice two tone look, but that's real money.
- Misc plastic bits, grills and badges to replace faded or missing OEM pieces.
- I wanted to have a new fuel filter installed by now but Pelican sent me the wrong one.
- I have an amazing Kenwood unit on order from Crutchfield, but the chip shortage has delayed it until who knows when.

Here's where its at today:




The X is back on the road and running great with the modifications so far. In fact my daughter took it to work today. Around town you generally wouldn't know the difference and on the highway it seems just a tiny bit less planted on uneven roads, probably because it is around a total of 3" higher with the lift and wheels/tires. The Yokohama Geolanders are known for having very good behavior on the highway for an AT tire, but still are definitely not the Goodyear Eagles I was running. The steering wheel is a somewhat more responsive to the horrible potholes we have here in New Orleans and I suspect that 1) rack is going bad and 2) the tires simply bounce a little more and translate that through to the wheel. Nothing cosmic though. I also need to replace my sway bar bushings and links which may have something affect on this? These are the only bits I didn't refresh several years ago with the rest of the suspension.

My next post will have a full accounting of the process to this point and where I'm at with the motor.

[Henn28]

The first thing I felt I needed to get squared away was the lift, wheels and tires. I didn’t want anything absurd looking and I didn’t want to mess with spacers, adaptors or lots of metal work just to get the fit right. There is a great thread on XOutpost on E53 overland builds, despite being a reasonably rare thing to do. Wheels and tires as it turned out, took some serious noodling because no adaptors means finding 5x120 spacing, or settling for 5x4.75”, which will bolt up, albeit with wobble bolts. Either way there isn’t a very good selection of wheels available for an overland style build. A related issue is what offset to run. Stock BMW wheels can take bigger tires, but not much wider. Lower offset wheels in 5x120 are limited in availability, but can take significantly wider tires in the case of say, zero or even negative offset wheels. Overland/offroad appropriate whees though are generally smaller diameter and, as it turns out, inner clearance is an issue below 17”!

I finally decided on Method Race Wheel model 701s because 1) they came in 5x120 and a 72.6mm hub-centric bore, 2) they came in bronze and 3) they came in zero offset. On the downside, they only came in 16” in the 5x120 pattern and aren’t cheap. To be fair, I don’t think Method had E53 X5s in mind when they made the wheels in that size, and they make an excellent off-road race tested product. I should point out here that the extent of my off roading is on farm roads and defined 4x4 trails when hunting. Nothing cosmic, but muddy and very snowy and/or wet at times.

Based on XOutpost info and some back and forth with a guy who was running 17” cragers with 265s, I had originally thought I could run 285/70/16s. This would be a 31.2ish total diameter, which I thought I could make work and fill the wells very nicely, while the 285/75/16 would be closer to 32+, which would mean taking off the front bumper. But as it turns out, 285/70/16s is an uncommon size. I need the car to behave on the highway so some research led me to either Yokohama Geolander ATs or the ubiquitous BF Goodrich TA KO2s. The Geolanders are generally considered to have better highway manners (trading off some AT manners), while still being respectable off road, and they cost a lot less. This decision necessitated a smaller width, which is how I ended up buying five 275/70/16s and four 16” Method Race Wheel model 701s in bronze. The fifth tire was to replace one that blew up on the mounting machine and that the place wouldn’t admit to screwing up. Nor would they give me my wheel back until I paid the bill. Planting the flag over $100 bucks to risk losing a $250 wheel seemed stupid even to me, as frustrating as it was.

The end result of the tire/wheel combo I chose is 1.9” taller, .9” farter away from the inside of the wheel well and 2.1 more inches of poke that the 255/50/18s Eagles I had on the car. Meanwhile, I sprung for the Fluid Motor Union 1.5” lift and while I waited for it to arrive I installed the 4.8 instrument cluster and reprogrammed DME that I had received back from Pixels. Seamless, plug and play, etc. Works great and highly recommend Pixels for this solution to burnt out clusters.

My daughter and I also pulled the seat and only broke a few plastic bits to get the seat memory controller out and replace it with an Ebay unit. Worked like a champ and I’m now enjoying seat memory and working steering column adjustment for the first time in a decade. My steering wheel movement is a bit ratchet going in and out, so I think it needs some grease maybe after not working for a decade.
I found a set of OEM E53 headlights being offered on XOutpost.com and grabbed them. I’m not a huge fan of halo units any longer and the 17 year old lights I bought were somehow crystal clear and still had the original bulbs in them. Although I did notice some condensation in one of them after a rainstorm so I’ve got to find and seal something. I also need to adjust them as I’m sure I’m blinding everyone in front of me.

FMU lift kit arrived and fortunately was reasonably self-explanatory because the instructions consist of a 10 min YouTube video. A few issues cropped up like the rear shock bolts provided were about an 8^th too long, but a few stacked washers fixed this, and it took me a while to realize that I needed to pull the front strut locating pin out because the FMU lift doesn’t accommodate it. It’s important to ensure the struts are positioned as inboard in the towers as possible to compensate for the camber change due to the lift. Despite looking way out of whack initially (car needed to be driven and settle), a subsequent alignment confirmed that the front camber was within tolerance. I also put in the new Arnot air springs and subframe bushings in while I had it torn apart.


The self leveling suspension was a bit painful. The car initially compensated by dropping the rear by 1.5 inches. I should have driven it for a day or two as I think it would have figured it out. As it was, I fabricated new mounting brackets for the sensors, but overshot. I think the car jacked itself back up, which was then added to my fabricated fix. I then tried to monkey with the software to drop it to the right height, but only one side came down…pure amateur hour. Finally, after a couple more tweaks of my mounting brackets the height is roughly where I want it, but now my perfect alignment is slightly out! Painful.
The other problem was that the tires rubbed a little bit at full lock and the calipers and control arm knuckle were rubbing the inside of the wheels and took 2/3rds of my weights off. An hour with an angle grinder and another balancing (static only) job and everything clears. I had to take about a 32^nd or so off the back of the calipers, especially the outside back edge, and the low-point edge of the control arm knuckle. 17s would fit with no problem, and perhaps some other 16s would fit. Still though, I’m super happy with the Method wheels and the fact they are hub centric with no spacer and bolt right up with no adaptors. They are made for lug nuts I think, so deep well sockets don’t work. A normal 19mm socket fits best. 45 min with the heat gun reshaping the spots where the tires were rubbing took care of that. It didn’t take a lot as they were just barely rubbing at full lock.

Finally, it was off to paint for the hood and roof. Found a great custom shop in town that had a little time and room in their shop and was willing to take my project. Its was funny to see the X5 leaking all over the guys shop next to $100k+ custom mustang and Chevy builds with 30k blown big blocks.
I got the car back a week or so ago and finished up this phase with:

• An oil change with high mileage synthetic
• Window clips on both front windows and a new regulator on the right. How BMW felt that this system was properly engineered is beyond me.
• New right front axle
• The aborted attempt to R/R the fuel filter. Pelican sent me one that was twice as long and the connections were different than my OEM filter. The rubber on the vacuum hose disintegrated on me as I was struggling with it too which subsequently lead to some codes and a service engine soon light. New filter in route from Pelican.
• Chased down a few squeaks and rattles that weren't there before I started this project, mostly with success.

The next step in my build is to address the motor. My 4.4 has low compression and a very poor leak-down test in two of 8 cylinders, and average to below average in the other 6. So, after much research and uncharacteristic waffling, I’ve ordered what I think will be a new replacement long block 4.6L, and will update this thread once it becomes clear what is going to show up and if it matches what I think I ordered. In the meantime I'm once again enjoying the smell of oil and coolant dripping on a hot M62TUB44.

[Henn28]

While I wait for what I hope to be an M62TUB46 long block to show up in a few weeks, I've started thinking about how to integrate a rear spare tire carrier into the E53. No way the OEM spare will cut it now should one of the Yokohama's blow so I could either go the basket/spare on the roof way that is often seen, or a swing arm rear spare carrier. The spare on in the basket looks cool, but I carry a Thule box when I'm on a road trip. My dogs are spoiled and get the back.

My goal is to simply for it not to look "ratchet" as my kids would say. I interpret this to mean that I'd like the finished product to look like it came from the factory with the thing on it, or at least a competent aftermarket MFR! This means that I'm going to try first to integrate it into the existing rear bumper if I can. Beyond the fact that I like the look of the E53, custom bumpers and brush bars are expensive.

This leaves me with two options, that I can see. My first choice would be to mount two 250 degree sprinter van rear door type hinges on the corners of the rear quarter and fender and mount the spare swing arm on those. Unfortunately from what I can tell there simply isn't much meat behind the sheet metal in these areas and I'm doubtful that this solution could support a 50+ LB tire on the end of a 2+ foot swing arm. I'm going to pull the right rear tail light this weekend and see what may be back there, and what can be potentially beefed up.

The second option is to fabricate a support that would come off the right side of the trailer hitch beam and could support a spindle that would come up through the right corner of the bumper and support the swing arm. This is a common solution on after market bumpers and the spindles used regularly support the entire weight of the carrier and tire. In either case a "landing pad" would need to be fabricated at the other end (non-hinge end) of the carrier to support and secure the thing when it is closed.

I took the bumper off today to see what I'm dealing with, clean 20 years of dirt and leaves out, and take some pics.






Inside of the rear bumper cover at the right rear corner

[workingonit71]

Why a swing-away spare tire mount? If you're not able to make one yourself, why not use a receiver hitch mount, that can swing away, or one that'll drop down, away from the tailgate? I can't tell if I see a receiver already mounted under the bumper support or not, and you don't state if you tow anything at present.

If you don't have a receiver, they're about $150, and a simple drop-down carrier is about $120, making the combination very easy to install and afford, without possibly damaging your X5.

If you do tow, there are double-stacked receiver extensions that'll let you carry the spare, and still tow.

If you still want to have it swing-away, there are receiver-mounted arms already made (but expensive), or you could adapt a grill/bike/scooter carrier, which range from $150 and up.

Look at Expedition Portal forum https://expeditionportal.com/forum/ for examples and more ideas.

[Henn28]

Good question. I’ve been focused on trying to gin up something that looks non-aftermarket. I know that will not sit right with some because BMW doesn’t build stuff like overland vehicles. But who ever thought they’d give official support to the drift world? I also am of the mind that it’s a project, so why not fabricate an elegant solution.

At any rate, will do to so some research into the hitch solution. I do tow with the car, and my grand Cherokee, but perhaps there is a good answer if the fabrication road gets too long and expensive.

[Henn28]

A quick update on the X...very quick as its been a slow couple of weeks here in New Orleans. Way too hot and humid to do anything serious outside on the cars.

CSF Boss 8066 oil cooler arrived, which I will pair with the gulf oil filter housing I got from Bentley/Rolls. I plan on installing it on the front, below the bumper bar and set slightly into the bumper cover. The 8066 has AN 10 fittings welded in at a 40ish degree angle so the lines can disappear quickly into the cover and run easily up to the housing. Last step before cutting plastic is to order the lines and adapters, but I need to pull the front bumper and estimate with string how much hose I'll need. I'm thinking about having Pegasus fab the lines with crimps to make them more bullet proof, but the measurements need to be more than a swag then. The CSF cooler is a beast and its bar design should do fine below the bumper on the front cover.

My brand new M62TUB46 arrived in the US from Germany last week. GetBMWParts.com cracked the tri-wall and snapped a few pics to verify that it was in fact a long block. This was a big relief to me since it was listed by BMW as a "Short Block" x5 4.6 motor. I've got to give props to the gents at GetBMWParts.com as they took the time to sort this out for me when other places didn't. They were sure, based on their experience, that it was what we call a "long block", based on having ordered motors from BMW for other clients and having motors with heads and water pumps installed, show up, despite being listed as short blocks in BMWs parts system. An actual short block may have been a show-stopper for me as finding heads with cams is tough it seems. The engine will be on a truck this week to the garage where I'll do the work over the next couple/few months. Pics to follow.

The rear spare carrier is on hold while I focus money on the motor build. I plan on pulling the healthy accessories from my 4.4 but installing new wear items like pulleys, seals, hoses. I'd like to build up an intake and install it before I drop my 4.4, just to save lift time, however, I need to sort out if it is worth putting the M6x manifold with the longer/larger runners on it or if I'm asking for some sort of DME or other problems.

Below is one of the pics the parts manager at GetBMWParts.com and which shows heads, water pump and a valley pan installed. Aside from the valley plumbing, flex plate, starter, intake and everything on the front of the motor, most of which I'll take from my 4.4, I suspect I'll need to install the hub and crank pulley, which should be painful.



It's going to be tough not to go nuts and buy new parts for the motor that I could rob from my 4.4, or find used, where appropriate Unfortunately the harmonic balancer is a $600 piece, and one which I may spring for. Unless I can find a nice used piece in excellent shape.

[Henn28]

Got the intake ordered plus a bunch of used pieces for the new motor and turned my attention to the oil cooler while I'm waiting for the motor to show up. I had a plan in my head for a bracket that quickly became unworkable and possibly not strong enough, so I roped in my friend with the custom hot rod shop for help. He took a quick look at it and had it solved.

We hung a bracket that he fabricated from the 10mm bolts that hold the bumper cover on. Everything is accessible from the outside and the arms are very short so movement should be minimal.

Bracket:


Bracket installed back in my driveway:


Cooler installed with security torx bolts.


I looked at other locations on the front bumper cover (vertically), and set into the front bumper cover but where it ended up works great and is best for running the lines into the cover and right up to the filter housing. Any higher and the bumper bar would need to be contended with. The rubber grommets I bought where too narrow for the mounting bolts so rather than make the mounting holes bigger and resort to washers I'll need to find new grometts with wider throats, or just resort to rubber washers. I'm also waiting for my 10 AN lines, fittings and adaptors to arrive from Pegasus.

[purplecty]

How much was a new M62tub46?

[Henn28]

$11k - Not crazy money, but not an easy check to write either, that’s for sure. BMW list was for around $18k, depending on where I looked. An LS3 swap might be cheaper all in, even with a GM tranny. But my X5 is very clean, no rust, single owner (me), I still really like it and in a world where every build and swap has been done, I figured I’d do something that I would enjoy and would be my version of the factory off-road kitted Toyota, Ford and Chevy trucks.

I’d like to think there will be far fewer headaches though than with a serious swap like an LS, given that the 4.6 came in the E53 X5, but my experience with all things BMW hasn’t been one of fewer headaches.

speaking of LS swaps, there is a beautiful LS swapped 5 series wagon on Bring a Trailer right now. Perfectly done.

[Henn28]

The engine arrived today and I got it off the truck, into the garage and unpacked enough to see what I had bought and would be dealing with. I can say with certainty that a motor listed as a "short block" in RealOEM is actually what we would consider a long block here in the us.

Its a brand new, super shiny M62TUB46, which made it over from Germany in one piece as best as I can tell, with a forest of cardboard around it. $120 in shipping expense gets you a flight across the Atlantic on United and a truck from Maryland to New Orleans, in my case. The whole process from order to opening the box was about 2 months.

It includes:
- Heads and valve covers
- Rear main and cover
- crank hub installed (this surprised me because the picture didn't have the hub installed)
- Water pump installed but no pully on it
- Valley pan installed, but no coolant pipes or rear x-pipe/accumulator.
- I think I can feel an E53 oil pan set-up at the bottom of the box.

It comes with a tiny bag of goodies, including the hardware to install the dipstick (which presumably is somewhere in the box) and some locating dowels which I think are to align the transmission on the block.

Beyond that there is one paragraph of instructions in 20 different languages, with helpful hints like "read the instructions", "fill with approved oil", and other tidbits.

Finally, tucked inside is what I think is a build ticket and if Google translate is to be believed, lists the production day (27May2020), the employees and BMW office involved in building it. Based on this, I suspect they build out of production motors, one at a time, to replace inventory, until they run out of parts.

I'm hopeful that all the big ticket fasteners are witness marked, which will allow me to sleep better knowing everything is torqued. I can't imagine that they, for example, install a crank hub or valve cover, but don't torque it fully. Witness marks would make me sleep better.

[Henn28]

installed a sirius antenna on my rear spoiler yesterday. I chose to put a hole in the middle of the deck, tack the antenna down with a dot of caulk and cover it with a cheap ebay sharkfin. I left a couple feet of slack in coiled in the space between the spoiler cover and the lower spoiler base that it bolts to so the lid can be placed up on the roof to work under the cover (washer hose, etc.). Other than that, I'll have to run a new one, or cut and splice a new one in if the spoiler cover has to come fully off the car.

Running the cable was the challenge, as expected. A coat hanger taped to the plug end of the cable and a liberal squirt of WD4 helped the antenna cable slide through the left hand rubber tube/protector that runs from the hatch to the car. I poked a coat hangar wire through first, put a small loop in it around the antenna plug and further secured it with electrical tape. The biggest challenge was the fact that the wire had to be pushed into the roof cavity about 3" to the spot where the OEM wires and washer tube exit the cavity on top of the headliner, then do a 180 and come back to the pillar. After dropping the pillar cover and pulling the headliner down a few inches, you can squeeze a finger or two in between the liner and the lower roof structure to catch the wire as you poke around with it. Too many sharp edges.

I left the wire coiled up in the amp cubby hole as it started pouring, and my next task could be just as challenging...running it all the way up front and up to the radio cavity.

The impetus for finally getting to this project is that after a 5 month chip related wait Crutchfield has finally put my Kenwood (model DMX9707S) touchscreen receiver in the mail. I admit to becoming a satellite radio cripple thanks to my wife's grand cherokee. My E53 does not have a DSP button or nav screen so I think this will make the install easier.


77E73323-FD22-4554-B50C-BBAC4C762F1D.jpeg

On another note, I’m looking forward I some respects to pulling the 4.4 out of my car as it will give me an opportunity to address the ever more sloppy and jerky steering in it, and the squeaky and often stiff steering wheel. Tough to tell what the problem is. I recently retorqued the torx nut holding the upper and lower shafts together with no improvement.

[Henn28]

Its been a slow few weeks on my X project due to weather and work, however, I was able to get down to the garage today to unbox the motor and get it on a stand. I couldn't find the dipstick tube that I thought would be in the box, which is odd since BMW included the mounting hardware for the tube. In addition to the water pump and the crank hub being installed, I was also happy to find that the thing has spark plugs as well as the oil sensor in the bottom of the oil pan.

I'm still waiting on knock sensors to get delivered before I can set up the coolant pipes and manifold in the valley and then I'll turn my attention to the front of the motor. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get a new/remanufactured Bosch alternator and perhaps a power steering pump, along with all new pulleys and associated gear as well as a complete coolant and vacuum hose replacement effort. I plan on doing the intake last as I'd like to install the motor and do a pressure test on it before closing up the valley. Plus I am going to rob the fuel rail, injectors and harness from my 4.4 motor. Aside from the fuel set-up, I think in terms of major parts I should only have to pull the front diff and exhaust headers from my 4.4 after I pull it.

Had to make a second trip to the hardware store to get M10 bolts long enough to clear the engine stand mounting bracket spacers. I think I ended up at 80 MM long.
IMG_20210915_1413387.jpg
Very excited to see a crank hub installed.
IMG_20210915_1413469.jpg
I'm sorely tempted to get the valve covers powder coated, but am leaning towards using that time and money elsewhere in the build.
IMG_20210915_1413525.jpg
The engine was sitting in a large pool of oil in the box (it was wrapped in a very heavy duty plastic bag) which I think had drained from every crevice during shipping. I can only assume they spray it and perhaps fill it with a preservative oil after they build it and before it goes into inventory. The
IMG_20210915_1414066.jpg

On another note, almost all of the parts I need for my radio upgrade have arrived and I've spent a little time sorting out the wiring mess. I am looking forward to joining the 21st century in terms of car audio.

[MauiM3Mania]

Nice garage/shop.. including the Nassau Blue (?) '67 Corvette.

[Henn28]

Nice garage/shop.. including the Nassau Blue (?) '67 Corvette.

Its a club that you buy into and can store and work on your cars at...lifts, tools, etc. A big warehouse that the owner bought several years ago and turned into a big shop and car storage facility, which is nice because houses with garages are very few and far between in New Orleans proper. There are several nice M cars, and GT porsches, and lots of resto-mod and muscle cars members are storing there. That Vette is pristine.

[Henn28]

I’m waiting for a critical mass of parts to arrive fort he motor, so I spent the morning running the Sirius antenna wire and Boyo backup camera video wire from the rear cubbies to the gaping hole in the dash that used to be my stock, non-DSP and no nav stereo. I mounted the Boyo on the underside of the spoiler lip, behind the 3rd brake light and ran the video line from the right hand trunk cubby (one with the fuse box) across the trunk at the tailgate (along the existing bundle, to the Sirius wire in the left cubby. Wrapped them up with the black fabric electrical tape and ran both up the left sils to under the dead pedal and across the drivers footwell into the receiver/cd player void in the dash. Hardest part here was getting the dead pedal loose enough to work the wires under it.


Tapped into the speed sensor wire in one of the plugs into the instrument cluster and ran it to the receiver hole. Finished the morning by running the Kenwood gps antenna through the dash and into the door gasket at the top of the dead pedal, then up to the base of the pillar and around to the front of the instrument cluster on the dash. I was able to hide the wire almost all the way by forcing it into the gaps with just a short run to where it mounts.


Next I need to figure out where and how to mount the Kenwood microphone and find clean reverse power to finish the wiring. The aftermarket frame/bezel has lots of surface area around the double DIN Kenwood so maybe I can drill a hole and make a decent friction for the mic. Hopefully too my 2002 E53 won’t have the PWS issues with the power from the lighting module. If so I’ll go the relay route at the rear fuse box. Pics when I get smarter on posting better ones.

regarding the motor, I’m still waiting on bolts for the knock sensors to arrive. Once they do I’ll install them, the valley plumbing and rear coolant manifold, and the oil filter housing flange, after I figure out what size bolts the flange takes. BMW has left this as a big mystery.

[Henn28]

The Kenwood is in and working. I was shocked that it powered right up and after a few system tweaks in the receiver it sounds great. My old phone is holding everyone back at this point as it can’t handle Android auto or mirror to the unit. It also takes crappy pics obviously. Regardless though I’m excited to have Sirius, bluetooth, a backup camera and pretty good sounding tunes from my OEM speakers. A speaker upgrade is on the list at some point.

I ended up wiring a relay off the rear power outlets (cigarette type in the trunk) and the back up lights for the camera trigger/power and I ran the two aux USB cables into the ash tray. I thought this would be a temp solution but when I close the lid it seems like a pretty clean solution. In the final analysis putting the reverse cam under the spoiler lip isn’t optimal due to tier very wide angle and the slope of the hatch/back of the car. There is still a bit of car behind the camera, and the added elevation to the camera isn’t helpful. However, the lines in the Kenwood can be set to be helpful and it’s 99% better then nothing. Also, balked at pulling the tailgate apart and drilling holes in metal. I can always get a new spoiler underside if for some reason it needs to come out. It looks pretty cool up there too.
FDA29DB1-E251-4143-9965-E4ED79345CF3.jpeg

ive got everything roughly in place (there’s a ton of wiring stuffed behind that receiver) and will finalize it after a couple weeks of driving to make sure it stays working. It’s it set into the dash as far as i will eventually stuff it, but I didn’t want to force it in there before securing and taping up all the wires and connections. I also would like to craft a nicer bezel, or match the veneer in the car some day. Black plastic is…well…black plastic.

F279CDBE-A7F8-40DF-B60A-1161AD22B72F.jpeg

[Henn28]

Had a couple hours today so I headed to the garage to install knock sensors and the valley plumbing.

The knock sensors are new but the rear x-manifold and pipes are eBay pieces. I Got some good lessons learned from Jicaino and used Permatex #85420 on the manifold and block (either side of the gaskets). The manifold cleaned up nicely but it is used so the permatex can’t hurt I think. A liberal amount of mechanics grease on the o-rings helped the pipes pop in and should help with the seal. I’m hopeful I don’t regret buying used parts, I plan on pressure testing the system after I get the motor in and before putting the intake on.

I wasn’t sure what torque to put on the M6 w/washer manifold bolts as I couldn’t find this info anywhere, so I went with 15 to 20 NM as this is close to the torque put on similar gasketted/sealed pieces that attach to the block. It wasn’t an exact science as I have a very nice but way too large for this job electronic torque wrench, and a very old beam type I use for low torque values. I need to bite the bullet and get a torque Wrench for torquing low values.

valley plumbing.jpg

Up next when I have time will be installing an alternator, a power steering pump, oil hoses to block flange and dip-stick tube. Then I’ll put the pulleys and drives on, including the balancer, and it will finally be time to pull the 4.4 out of my X5. Once it’s out I’ll rob the flywheel, starter and right front axle carrier and install them on the 4.6. I’ll get all new hoses, CCV crap and rubber parts on that I can at this point, either in the engine bay or on the motor.

I’m hoping to leave the front diff and left axle in the car and just bolt it back up with new gaskets/o-rings when I put the new motor in. I’m not sure though that there is enough play in it to work the right axle free of the diff so it can come out with the motor. Otherwise I’ll pull it out too and swap it to the 4.6 on the stand. Pulling axles can be a pita, so I’m looking to minimize brain damage.

[Henn28]

Slow going on my build lately, but I installed a Bosch rebuilt alternator yesterday on my 4.6 motor. 10 minute job with new bolts, bit of dielectric grease around the pre-installed water jacket seal and a drop of blue threadlocker on the M6 bolts. I couldn't find a torque value anywhere for those bolts, which seemed odd, so I turned them to about 15 or 20nm with my crappy torque wrench.


Backorder parts and long shipping times are really slowing me down on my engine build. I have some time off in early December that I'm planning on doing the engine swap during, assuming the rest of my parts come in. At the end of the day I can rob parts from my 4.4 when I pull it out, but would like to keep that motor as complete as possible for a possible future project. I will need to pull the AC compressor bracket and the oil separator return (hard) as new pieces seem silly to spend money on, and ebay pieces have issues, or are still too expensive. Used return lines in particular are missing the heat shield where the line passes by the manifold.


I did get a huge box of hoses in, but I'm waiting on a dipstick tube, one hydraulic belt tensioner (the AC came fully assembled, including the bracket, but no tensioner or bracket on my "refresh" kit on the water pump side), a second CCV valve (first was broken from ECS/Turner) and a bunch of bolts and a ton of misc fasteners. I'm still trying to decide if I want to spring for a "new" LUK steering pump, or try to find somewhere to rebuild the pump from the 4.4. I also did receive the ebay secondary air pump tube (to the heads) and gave it to the fabricator who will make blank-off plates from it.


Since I'm in a holding pattern for parts I decided to fully build the long runner intake I bought on ebay. I cleaned and painted (flat black) the intake and ordered a used fuel rail complete with injectors from an ebay seller I've been using. It will be drop shipped to Injector RX in Houston who will clean and test the injectors, and fully clean the rail so I can paint or powder coat it flat black too. I expect to have to buy an injector or two, but hopefully the majority of them will be good and I can save $60+/ each.


I bought some black stainless nuts and bolts to mount the rail and intake as my goal is to leave the cover off the motor. The secondary air pump delete and perhaps some re-routing of other vacuum lines should make for a nice clean look with the flat black intake and rail.

[Henn28]

I had some spare time today to assemble it for the 4.6. It's a mostly Ebay sourced assembly:
- Long runner intake from eBay.
- used fuel rail and injectors that I had cleaned and flow tested by InjectorRX in Houston (surprisingly all 8 cleaned up to within factory flow specs)
- New throttle flange and CCV valve
- New gaskets and o-rings
- swapped in hex bolts for the OEM torx
- new black stainless fuel rail bolts and washers

Since I'm deleting the secondary air pump including air line and vacuum lines, etc. leaving the engine cover off should make for a nice look. The harness boxes on the valve covers are a bit ugly, but I'm not sure what can be done about those. I primed and painted everything a flat black. If it doesn't hold up then I'll take the rail from my 4.4 that is coming out and have it powder coated flat black. I am also going to hit the hex bolts with some flat black before I install the manifold.

My plan is to install the new motor without the intake so I can pressure test the coolant system then drop it on top as one of the last pieces after the swap.

The next week should have the last of my misc fasteners arriving so I can install the power steering pump, the accessory drive pulley assembly(s) and the new aluminum pulleys on the accessories themselves. I've still got a few parts stuck in transit, or with BMW, but nothing I can't rob from my old motor if needed. I'm shooting for the 6th of December to start the motor swap.
Intake.jpg

in other news, I finally got myself squared away with inpa. I had read enough forum posts about how challenging it was to set up, keep running, etc. that I was nervous that an IT rock like me would goon it up. However my homemade rear air spring brackets could only get me “so” close in equally accounting for my roughly 2” lift. Mike’s easy Bmw tools was just that, so easy a caveman like me could do it. After the install, one K DCAN cable later and I was in business. Shockingly easy.

I ended up using the timed suspension adjust function to tweak the rear air springs successfully and both level the car laterally and find a good rear ride height. Next up for the suspension will be Range Rover L322 front spring conversion struts so I can actually gain about 2” suspension travel a do away with the spacer lifts.

[Henn28]

Its swap time . Monday was a half day devoted to gettign the car positioned, draining fluids, organizing parts, tools, etc. and basic prep. I pulled the cowl, drained the fluids (other than the front diff), labeled and detached lots of plugs and vacuum tubes, pulled the intake track entirely, pulled the splash guard and other subframe covers and dropped the middle exhaust section (headers back). Things went smoothly other than one of the copper header nuts decided to strip. 45 min of surgery with a sawsall paid off and I was able to pound the stud back through/pry off the nut remnants. Additionally, there are lots of broken and/or very fragile vacuum tubes to sort out and the need for a giant hex bit (22 mm maybe?) to pull the front diff drain plug were my lessons learned for today. (Update...17mm if I recall. I bought a set of huge hex drivers from Northern Tool...less than a pint of oil came out.) Tons of oil all over the bottom end. I can confirm the oil pan covers and the rear main for starters, but the vanos seems clean somehow. I also think the front diff is leaking from the casing but can’t find a gasket on realoem for it. Anyone done this work?

Four days of prep total and it's finally ready to go...aside from having to pull the axles still. The past two days have been spent finishing the breakdown of the oil soaked and tired 4.4. Today I had time while I wait for an open bay at the garage, I'm a member of (on the lift currently) to start swapping parts, brackets, etc. to the new motor, after a good cleaning. I've never seen a dirtier motor in my life ... layers of oil gook measured in MM in places. The stiffener plate hides all manners of evil. Out of sight out of mind I suppose. Now that I've done it once I think I could do the prep in two long days. I'll reposition it tomorrow into a spot where I can put it on jack stands which will allow me to pull the axels and then the motor. Short story is that the lift is shared so I decided to use the time I had on it by breaking the 4.4 down completely and pull it out of the top minus the transmission on jackstands, when the lift was needed by other members. Its ready to go, including pulling the radiator, unbolting the flywheel from the torque converter, pulling the wiring harness, starter, every hose and fluid line, etc. The starter was a PITA, but the harness was pretty easy. Lots of steps to pull it out, but the hardest part was pulling the starter wires as they snake around and under the motor. With the cowl out there is a lot of room behind the motor and I think I can even get a wrench on the top transmission torx bolts. I can see them anyway. This would be a huge win as the extension and wobble game that would be needed to hit them from underneath will probably give me a stroke if I have to go that way.

My uneducated gameplan is to try to pull the axles, bearing carriers and diff/left axle support as single units since they are just going to get bolted on to the new motor. No sense asking for trouble by pulling the axles out of the hubs and the pedestal/diff if I don't need to. Fingers crossed, and I do have the seals needed if I do need to go that route. They will be heavy and awkward, but the garage has a motorcycle jack which could be perfectly. Reaching the top bolts of the diff and right axle pedestal may be the deciding factor. I also changed both Giubos while I was under the car and had to order a few hundred bucks worth of parts that were presented trashed after pulling them out. Most notably were bare wires on the camshaft sensors, lots of vacuum tubing and a fuel tank breather valve that looked fine but the car was throwing a code for it and everything associated with the vacuum plumbing for the brakes. The valve and hoses fell apart basically when I looked at them.

My effort to beautify the M62 can only go so far. I'm deleting the SAP and associated crap, and I painted the intake and rail flat black, but the boxes for the wiring harness are butt-ugly and I'm not smart enough, nor do I have enough time to do anything about them. I've seen some very cool pics of other guys efforts in this respect, so perhaps I'll sort this out when I build a "M60B44" from my old motor.

I've got what I hope to be my final parts (for the motor anyway) in route, but the long pole is the harmonic balancer as my new one showed up with a harline crack in it from Germany. I don't really want to drop the new motor in without it but may have to if it doesn't show up by mid-next week. There's an outside chance I'll have it running by end of next week when my vacation is over, but at a minimum it will be rolling and can be shoved into a corner until I have time to finish which I hope will only be details by then. I've decided to hang onto my stock 4.4 DME for the time being as the car should run just fine on it (as reported by members of this forum who have done 4.6 swaps into 4.4 cars) but will ship it off very soon after the swap to be reprogrammed to fully appreciate the 4.6 motor and delete the secondary air pump logic entirely. I can't stand looking at SES lights.

Resizer_16390801397990.jpgResizer_16390801397991.jpgResizer_16390801397992.jpgResizer_16390801397993.jpg

[Henn28]

The motor went in today, not without some drama, but less than I was expecting. A recap of the past week first:

Last Thursday, Friday and today (Monday) we’re spent finishing the prep work on the old motor, pulling the axles with the steering knuckles, hooking up the hoist, supporting and disconnecting the tranny , and finally pulling the motor out of the top. Initially I used a motor hoist but it ran out of throw with the lower oil pan still in the car. I could have lowered the car off the jackstands, but the shop has a forklift which did the trick. Hooked that mister up to the leveling bar, took the weight and disconnected the hoist. A few bolts on the tranny were a real challenge, especially the ones with nuts on them at the UK starter flange. Awful to get to. Having the intake and cowl off allowed for easier top access to the upper tranny bolts. I did have to remove the diff as well because it wouldn’t clear the power steering rack where it connects to the steering shaft.

Monday and Tuesday were spent pulling the engine mounting brackets, compressor, lots of wiring and hose brackets, headers, flywheel and installing all the above after a really good clean. A little logistics shuffle with the forklift, hoist, and engine stand and we were ready to drop it in this morning. I couldn't pull the ball joints for the tension struts after 20 years of hard use, so I took them to a machine shop yesterday that made quick work of them and replaced the axle seals while they were at it.

I spent 2 hours cleaning my engine bay this morning before the new motor went in. The amount of caked on dirt and oil was pretty amazing. Then I spent an hour looking for the 4 right axle pedestal bolts, which must have gotten swept up and thrown out, before realizing that I had a lot of M8x25 bolts on hand as its a common bolt, and I overbought most bolts as a way to play my slice. One other issue I had was with the new exhaust manifold studs (the ones joining the headers to the mid-section). The knurled section is twice as long on the new ones I bought as it was on the original, and I couldn't drive them all the way into the headers. I went as far as I could, and reused one old one that simply refused to get hammered in more than a MM.

Forklift got hooked up mid morning, I put new motor mounts and transmission dowls in, and we hosted the motor into the bay. The headers barely clear the plastic bits surrounding the electronics and brake booster, and some leverage was needed to make sure it didn't clean off the ABS module. BMW's hoist mounts at opposite ends of opposite banks don't help in the sense that the motor needs to go in with an aft tilt of maybe 20 degrees so the flex plate will slip inside transmission housing, and the lower oil pan will clear the subframe. The position of the hoist mounts on the heads makes the motor twist as much as tilt when adjusting the leveler to go for an aft tilt. 30 min of wrangling, assorted jacking of the transmission and one forklift reposit later, and it finally slipped into the tranny housing. It allowed itself to be bolted up to the tranny, so I'm thinking that's a good sign that it mated to the torque converter. another 2 hours of jacking, prying, etc. and I got all the tranny bolts in and tightened down. I witnessed marked the flywheel/flex plate and torque converted before taking the old motor out (before I took the TQ bolts out), so I'll rotate the motor at the crank hub until the witness marks lines up at 6 o'clock.

After that I celebrated with hooking the AC lines back-up and installing all the cooling hoses on the motor side as the radiator will stay out until I someday get the harmonic balancer in my hands and install it. Tomorrow will be a full court press to get the front suspension back in and the car back on wheels before my vacation is over on Friday. I have a couple days off next week and assuming the balancer comes in I think I could try for a first start then. This assuming that I don't run into any showstoppers with the suspension, etc.

Hindsight is usually 20/20, but in this case I have no idea if leaving the tranny in the car and pulling the motor out of the top was the best way. This was going to be a monster as PITA no matter which way I chose. I am happy that I didn't have to drain the tranny, buy a jack solution for it or pull the entire front of the car off. That said, perhaps I got lucky and could have run into more significant issues doing it the way I did. The side tranny bolts and having to take the front diff off were the most painful issues I ran into. the UK starter bolts/nuts in particular were awful. 18' of wobble extensions and a flexible head got the job done, 5 degrees at a time!

My idea of pulling the axels with the steering knuckles/hubs as one unit was an abject failure since I ended up having to change the tension strut ball joints anyway. The boots were ripped up and I couldn't get them to budge at all. A local steering and suspension machine shop pulled them out in no time, after pulling the axles out.

Resizing the photos for this forum kicked my tired butt this evening, so for the 3 X5 enthusiasts on this board, pics available on the xoutpost board, long running overland build thread: Spec X5 Overland Build - Page 18 - Xoutpost.com

[Henn28]

Progress has come to a screeching halt due to having to go back to work. My one week swap took up two weeks of vacation and off days. Not surprised however, as no amount of reading was going to make that process go faster the first time.

I was able to send the DME off to Kassel Performance to get flashed with the 4.6 ones and zeros, and the secondary air system fully deleted. Both Kassel and DUDMD were at the top of my list to use, and Kassel said “no problem” on the secondary air sys. It hasn’t worked right for years and I’ve ignored the codes. In fact i can count the number of times I’ve even heard it come on in one hand. Not much cold Wx in SoCal and New Orleans, where the car has spent it’s life. Definitely no testing of any sort in Louisiana either.

My original plan was to live with the 4.4 DME, which according to smart E39 guys on another board who have done this swap, will run the 4.6 just fine, just not optimally. I would live with the SES light for the air pump until I found time to send the DME off. However since I can’t get back to the car until late next week, and have several days of work left to do, I popped it in the mail. I discussed a subtle tune with Kassel as well. Nothing cosmic as I don’t want to find the limits of the 4.4 OEM ZF tranny. It’s the same basic unit as the 4.6is except that the 4.6 has a different stall speed and an extra clutch. The difference in torque is only around 25 lb/ft so im not too concerned that my relatively fresh 4.4 tranny will give out, but I don’t want to push my luck with a big tune. Frankly, I don’t know how much power is even left in the 4.6 that a tune could get to, but I figured since I was paying for DME work anyway a little tweaking couldn’t hurt. I’d actually be even happy with a a bit more V8 lope at idle and crackle when lifting the gas. Probably not possible with the vanos, but a girl can dream.

Third crank pulley has arrived undamaged finally so late next week I’ll install it, run the belts, install the heater hoses and valve/pump, intake (dreading getting those oil return lines on now that the motor is on), radiator and attach the hoses to it, plumb my oil cooler (AN lines) and install the reservoirs and new hoses. Then it’s up on the lift for the power steering banjo bolts (new crush washers all around), torque the suspension bits and install the starter and front drive shaft and fill the diffs with new fluid. My new tranny bolts finally came in so I’ll swap out the easier ones to get to. I’ll leave the stiffener plate off until after I start the car and trouble shoot any leaks.

My spidey sense tells me I will regret not putting a new steering rack in, but I had to draw the line somewhere financially and time wise. Plus, the bonus of having to pull the motor up a few inches and drop the subframe a few inches for the differential nightmare is that I think I could get a new rack installed in a day if needed. My steering is occasionally stiff and I fear the rack is going, but I did thoroughly degrease the u-joint with the motor out and pack it full of grease just in case this is the cause. The whole shaft assembly seemed secure and not worn.

Then it’s time for oil, coolant and power steering fluid and first start. Two days max I’m hoping as I’d like to break the motor in on the way Iowa to bird hunt. Best laid plans….

I’ve agonized over the break in for a new Alusil motor and official BMW guidance seems to be non-existent, so I’m going with the guidance in the owners manual and an E39 forum member who did this swap. I may use non-synthetic for the first 1000 miles as I have read that synthetic is too slippery and can impede proper ring seating. No way to pre-lube these motors so my fingers are crossed that there is still lots of assembly lube in the important bits after several years of sitting on a shelf in Munich

[Henn28]

Well, didn’t make it to Iowa in my X5, but I can now officially call it a 4.6i and happily report that it is back on the road for a couple days of shake-down testing.

The front axles were by far the most painful part of this project so far. Getting the old motor out and the new one in was tedious and time consuming, but the front axles made this part look like childs play. They didn’t want to come out and really didn’t want to go back in. Additionally getting them back into the hubs was a 45 min exercise each with a 4x4 block and a very large hammer. Bottom line is that the car has 2 new front axles now. After this it was time to put all the parts back in that I had pulled out. Lots of new hoses for coolant and new band clamps all around, the new CSF cooler was hooked up with AN lines (a first for me but quite easy) and my OEM radiator was cleaned and reinstalled. I would have bought a new one but the thing was clean as a whistle after 20 years. My DME arrived last Tuesday so I spent Wednesday tying up loose ends and popping the computer back in.

The cowl went on after I put some orange loktite on the wiper motor bracket bolts that had backed off so badly over 20 years. The upper piece of the cowl is in pretty rough shape (part that houses the air filter) so I need to find a good used part, or spring for new. The cheap plastic fasteners are mostly broken and the flap that covers the filter is hanging on by a few molecules of plastic.

The washer reservoir went on without drama and I added a zip tie to the narrow hose that passes in front-ish of the crank pulley on its way to the right side of the radiator. There is a bracket there for a hose clamp, but the clamp went awol.

Finally I connected the battery, bled the coolant system via the aux pump, which worked great and took maybe 10 min, and it was time to start. After just enough cranking for me to think it was going to be a long month chasing problems down, she fired up! The 4.6 M62 ran a bit rough and with lots of clattering for 10 or 20 seconds, then settled into a decent idle. I ran the rpm up to 2k for a few seconds, then shut it off for a good leak inspection. Turns out I had forgotten to tighten the oil pressure/temp sender on the housing…which is much tougher with the reservoir assembly and brackets in place. Hard lesson learned, but it got done eventually after pulling the coolant reservoir up and over.

Other then that self inflicted wound it was clean, although I must have gotten oil or anti-seize on the left header which produced lots of smoke for a while. After a top off of oil (another quart) and steering fluid it fired right up again and I alternated between idle and 2 to 3k rpm for a minute or two. The power steering pump was making a nasty racket until I went lock to lock several times. After this I torqued the exhaust header bolts to the exhaust flanges a bit more as it seemed like I could hear a slight leak and I think they drew a bit tighter. Maybe because they were getting hot. I worry about stripping those copper bolts.

After another fluid top off and leak check it was time to put the stiffener plate on and take it around the block. The motor sounds great and the X5 drives wonderfully after all the new parts I threw at it. The steering feel over bumps is much better, but not OEM nice so in addition to the tension struts I replaced I think new control arms are in order too. The steering wheel makes a pronounced clunk at times when turned, which had been there but seems to be worse. I suspect the double joint or bushings, etc at the firewall.

I drove it home yesterday where it promptly popped the upper hose off the radiator (installer in a rush I guess) and dumped a gallon on my driveway, but other than that did great. My oil cooler was toasty warm after the trip so it’s nice to know that piece is working.

Next week I’ll get it on the lift for a thorough leak and re-torque check and pending any drama, a final close up. I’m planning on 1000 mi on the oil that is in it now, then a change and the shackles are off!

Issues I’m monitoring/working are:
- bolts holding the oil sender into the lower oil pan seem to be weeping oil a very tiny bit so I may put some thread sealant on them if it keeps up.
- SES light and a bunch of codes. A full reset resulted in the light again but only a couple codes, one being related to the “intake flap…” and the other to the secondary air pump valve. No idea what the former is, but the second one should have been taken care of with my reprogrammed DME.
- I sense a very slight vibration around 60 or 70, which could be the driveshaft with the new splines. Or it could be a wheel balance issue, but I don’t feel it in the steering wheel. Very slight so more trouble shooting is in order and some research on where I might be able to get the shaft balanced. The one driveshaft shop left in New Orleans wouldn’t touch a BMW piece. I think the new spines were the right thing to do as the old ones were showing definite wear and I was able to get another half inch of splines into the Tcase, without pulling the Tcase off. Definite peace of mind.

I’m hopeful that my last parts order of stiffener bolts/nuts and control arms is in sight, before I turn my attention to the speakers, amp, headliner and other interior reconditioning concerns. I also need to get the plug/coil covers cleaned up and painted. The cranky steering will definitely need to be gone over too and the cause of the couple codes I’ve got will need to be tracked down.

All in all my “2 week” swap took a bit longer, but the brand new 4.6 sounds fantastic, pulls strong and doesn’t leak (yet!). Still work to do on the car, but I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome of my first swap.

[Henn28]

I guess we take the good with the bad as fans of aging BMWs. Things were going so well with my 4.6 swapped X5 overland project, until they weren't.

After working out the SES light issue detailed in my previous post (just ended up plugging the SAP electric vacuum control valve back in until I have time to install a resistor) I put around 250 problem free miles around town on the car...just enough to learn how absurdly thirsty the 4.6 motor is. I decided it was time for a true shakedown cruise, so I loaded up and drove to eastern OK with the dogs to hunt some quail. Beautiful country, although with a lot less birds than western OK. The X5 did a fantastic job getting us there, bumping around some very remote and unpaved terrain, and then taking us 540 of the 600 miles home. She threw the big belt at the worst possible spot, driving over the Mississippi River 60 miles from home. The belt came off under heavy acceleration going up an on-ramp with nowhere to stop by the time I saw the battery light and lost power steering, followed shortly thereafter by the thermostat "gauge" popping right up to "F'n hot"! I dribbled off the highway at the next opportunity and shut it down. Steam was pouring from the radiator where the crappy plastic expansion part on the upper left meets the aluminum radiator and my accessory belt was wrapped around the fan clutch like a boa, with shards of it littering the engine bay.

My smarter half was super happy to come and rescue me late on a weeknight and I returned to have the car the following day to have it towed to an indy i've been meaning to use in New Orleans. I had wanted to try him out installing some stainless lower brake lines I bought and a full flush/bleed, not with a car on a flatbed! Turns out he seems to be an honest and very knowledgeable guy, especially on all matters M62. It was his father's shop before him and he's owned and built several M62 based cars himself over the years, does his own tuning and so far seems to know his business and gets what I'm trying to do. I also had a let rear axle and some rear ABS sensors in the back and he didn't complain a bit about not using his parts when I asked if he would install them. I discovered a torn left rear boot on the 20 year old axle and the thought of doing another axle almost gave me a stroke. Also, both ABS sensor wire bundles had been rubbing somewhere and the wire covers were worn through.

Flash forward a few days and he calls with good news. He gave the car a good look over at my request since I was concerned that I didn't torque a pulley down correctly, or my rebuilt Luk steering pump siezed, or something else was very wrong and caused the belt to come off. The guys has determined that it looks like the belt came off because it was the wrong one, quite possibly a 4.4 belt. I ordered a complete belt refresh kit from Bimmerworld (both tensioners and belts) and after comparing a new 4.6 belt to the failed one, it looks like the new one is slightly smaller in circumference. We did discuss the fact that I didn't install the small idler or "deflection pulley" that attaches to the power steering pump (pn 11287500560). I wasn't able to determine if this was required on my X5 and/or the 4.6 motor, and since my 4.4 motor didn't have this pulley on it when it pulled the motor, I didn't build the 4.6 with it. He added that one of his 540i based builds had this pulley and it as a pain in the ass so he removed it and drove the car for years without it. I think it is for manual transmission cars, but am still unsure. Regardless, the difference in belt size seems to be the smoking gun in my case. I didn't verify the part number on the belt when I installed it either - stupid mistake.

The good news is that he's started the car and it seems to run fine. It needs a new radiator and as much as I'd like to put an all aluminium radiator in it with an electric fan set-up to replace the clutch driven fan, this will need to wait. He's ordered a Nissens versus a Mahle as he's recently been seeing an unusual number of Mahe's that have failed very soon after installing them. I'd like to run a 16" electric fan set-up before the summer months hit here in New Orleans, and eventually perhaps install a Zionsville aluminum radiator.

I should have the X back next week and I'll need to change the break-in oil. The indy working on my car isn't concerned about it, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the coolant level too until I'm certain I didn't burn up a head gasket or two. It wasn't hot for more than a minute or two, and I'm hoping my monster CSF oil cooler helped keep things cooler internally. I was wondering when that filter housing thermostat would open up, or if it would open up very much at all since it is set at 212, if I remember correctly. Turns out that it opens quite a bit as the cooler was always hot at the inlet side when I would stop the car after more than 30 minutes of driving. I'm not sure what the internal plumbing of the "gulf" oil filter housing is, but wherever the oil is coming from that is opening the thermostat must be hotter than the coolant temp. I suspect the oil coming into the filter comes right out of the block and gets filtered, then goes back to the pan? If it is hot enough coming into the housing it must open the thermostat and get pumped through the cooler and back up to the housing. Best investment I made on this project if it saved me from having to do a head gasket or two.

Next up, after this distraction resolves itself, is a new headliner. Mine is falling down and sagging off the A, B and C pillars so I'm going to change the color to black and hopefully do it in alcantra fabric, if it isn't cost prohibitive. I'm spending time on ebay slowly acquiring all the plastic and other bits I'll need like visors, pillar covers (with the black seat belt guides), cargo tie downs and the sun-roof shade pull. I'm also going to head out to the pick-and-pull and look at the 3 or 4 E53's in stock to see if their seats are better than mine and/or are sport seats. If so I'll grab them and have them recovered to swap out with mine. Otherwise I'll have the bolsters in mine re-worked and then have them re-covered.

[Henn28]

Its been a while since I've updated this thread, for the handful of E53 X5 guys out there. My X is back on the road after two trips to an indy to diagnose and finally (we hope) track down the cause of the cars desire to shred and fling main belts at inopportune times. The first attempt at a fix consisted of a thorough check of my work, pully torques, tensioners, etc., but the car was still shredding the main belt on the front edge of said belt. The next stop was to replace a slightly out of whack alternator pulley, that was found to be bowed in just a bit on a small area of the front edge. It didn't look like it had been dropped or damaged in shipping (FCP Euro rebuilt Bosh unit), but clearly something had happend that I didn't notice when I installed it. Based on the fact that the black finsh was completely gone in the lip where the deformation was, and the metal pulley was actually being worn down there too, I think we have finally found the culprit.

New OE pulley is installed and she's running well. So far I'm not detecting any loss of coolant so hopefully I've dodged a big bullet and did not melt any head gaskets when it overheated for a short time the first time it threw the belt. All in all in the last month the car has had the following done to it while it was in the shop twice:
- New belt and alternator pulley
- New radiator
- Two new rear axles to replace 20 year old OE pieces with blown boots. I went with "remanufactured OEM" by Cardone units that were on sale for $40 each! Even if they only last 5 years I'll be way ahead. They looked fine coming out of the box.
- new stainless braided brake lines on all four corners and a fluid flush and bleed.
- Two new rear ABS sensors to hopefully take care of an intermittent ABS code. So far so good.

The alternator was a remanufactured piece from FCP Euro, but I'm really not sure there is any up-side to complaining to them beyond a plea for them to quality check their stock better for damage before it goes out. I missed the damaged pulley when I installed the alternator and a new pulley from BMW as only $50.

The upside of all of this is that I was able to use a local indy that I've been meaning to for a while and have been happy with his work and prices. The other thing I learned was that the alternator pulley technically needs a special tool to come off and go on, but there is a work around. The pulley nut came off easily with a stubby impact and a firm grip in the belt.