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Couldn't find the old press on 3.25", I must have thrown it out after switching to a hub style pulley. Sorry about thatOriginally Posted by ThaDoubleJ
Yes, I'd do the plate for the 3.25" as Philly suggests. It will have more slip otherwise and you won't be as happy, especially since you already have altitude working against you.
I couldn't find any diy for the orings either. Just some random pics of the area. Only things I can add are, remove the drive belt and unmount the power steering pump (not the lines) so it can move more freely, remove the driver side engine mount completely and remove the top nut of the passenger side mount so you can get plenty of lift on the engine. Have some wobbly bits handy and be ready to curse quite a bit. Took me 3-4 hrs from start to finish, cleaning of the area included. And no, you don't have to drain your oil but it'll be cleaner if you remove your oil filter housing cap and filter so most of the oil drains back to the engine before you remove the lines. There will still be some leakage but not much. When reinstalling the oil lines and hold down plate, put them together as they should be and wrap the filter side of the lines after the mounting plate with electrical tape before setting them into position and trying to get the bolt in and tightened. Remove tape after.
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Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
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All good on the pulley, maybe someone has one laying around and they'll drop in. I'll start the cursing now before I begin the work, sounds like a bear of a job.
Once I do settle on a final pulley size for the 8ish PSI that I want, can anyone recommend a place to send it to have it turned down to fit?
Last edited by ThaDoubleJ; 07-27-2022 at 10:27 PM.
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Well, after all this I'm defeated by 18 bucks worth of O-rings. No matter what angle I come at the nut holding the lines into the engine mount I can't get a tool on it. The hard lines are at just the right angle that I can't get in from the top, unless maybe I remove whatever this brake doodad is, can't figure out how to reach it from the bottom, front or rear. I'm going to call around tomorrow and see what my options are for a flat bed to get it to an indy shop. After my little trip to Appalachia and my 14 year old going into HS, funds aren't there so I'll probably have to call it for the year and miss another season driving.
Question for you all, are you working on this absurd car by yourselves? I feel like without a lift and a 114lb assistant there's just no way to get to certain things. I've got a 100lb kid, but with 96 hours a month to spend with her, I hate to waste it sticking her underneath the car.
3 years of ownership, 2800 miles driving, 2800 hours wrenching.
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Ouch. Yeah. It's tough. I unbolted the brake precharge pump. I think I got to the bolt from the top using 1/4" tools and a wobble. You ain't even get to finagling the bracket out either. Beast of a job. But is very possible for one person. Don't let it Beat you. Try putting a socket and extension on the nut to bring it closer to the side of the head then attach another extension from the top while pushing the brake pump to the side. Hard to see there but again. It's possible. Maybe the engine isn't jacked up high enough to provide you with clearance too.
I used lethal performance for new pulleys. They're mustang focused but will cut a pulley for you. They knew what I needed for my griptec pulley and hub without me telling them anything but the car make and model and the type of SC kit. They already had the VF kit specs.
And yes, I do just about everything on my car myself. Rarely have a helper except to hold a flashlight. I do have a quick jack lift too but it ain't like I can stand under the car while working on it.
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Last edited by H3adBussa; 07-28-2022 at 10:01 PM.
Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
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Tried with the engine jacked way up, then in the middle, and then dropped down again. Tried stacking a couple 3/8 wobbles, but my second one seems to have walked off. I had to walk away from the car before I broke something (other than my Surefire light that I smashed on the ground when the battery died). Maybe I'll try again tomorrow, not sure, pretty frustrated.
It doesn't help that I don't even like the car if I'm being honest. It's uncomfortable, slow, wallows through corners like my Town Car and other than my house is the most expensive thing I've ever owned. I get that it's 20 years old and has 120k on it and needs everything freshened up, but I've had Japanese cars deep into a quarter million miles that didn't feel so worn out and tired as this one does. This whole BMW thing is much more glorious when they're either under warranty or owned by someone else it seems. Hell, my Silverado has 270 on it, I did a 6.0 swap and a new trans in my driveway in the snow and it wasn't 1/8 the work I've got into the E39 which is now, again, undriveable. Rant over, I'm going to bed.
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It took this contraption to get that nut out. I got the forward upper bolt out next and managed to knock my oil filter off it's safe place into the gravel, so that's a 20 dollar bill in the garbage can
Extensions.jpg
Now I just have the rear upper bolt, but it's behind the power steering gearbox. I had to remove a little bracket that holds the main power cable back to the battery, which I of course somehow poked all the way through the insulator on and melted part of my screwdriver off. Hopefully I didn't kill 17 of my computers on accident. I still can't get that bracket out of the way of the bolt, that cable Ts up to the jump start thing and down to the alternator so I may need to remove it completely.
Do I need to remove the steering gearbox as well? Just watched a guy from either England or Australia do the lines, and with no steering box in the way he's got access to almost the whole thing from the bottom, he can literally reach up and touch these fasteners.
Last edited by ThaDoubleJ; 07-30-2022 at 06:30 PM.
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I can't find a single write up for replacing the steering box on a 540 E39. Plenty for the rack equipped cars, plenty for 740s and old-ass 540s. One for an M5 which requires a lift and dropping the subframe. That seems like the worst thing ever, hopefully it's different in the 540 or maybe I can just scoot it out of the way. That bolt looks to be 1/2" or so from the box, I'm not even sure if I can see clearance above it, can only look at it with one eye at a time so I have no depth perception.
Edit: Yeah, no. That steering box isn't coming out without the subframe at least being lowered. I tried to get my longest offset 13mm wrench on the bolt, no go, not enough clearance between the box and the motor mount, and no where to swing a wrench anyway. There may be clearance at the top, but it almost looks like you'd have to go through the wheel well or something. That'll be tricky since my engine is sitting on a jackstand and I don't think I can use any of the control arms as jack points on the front suspension.
Bussa, hoping you remember how you got in there and can offer some insight, I'm stumped again.
Last edited by ThaDoubleJ; 07-31-2022 at 12:36 AM.
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To the rear side of the mount and under I think there was a shield attached to the subframe and the steering linkage. I removed the shield and disconnected the steering wheel from rack, like I would if removing the driver side manifold, and pushed it out of the way. There was also a plate that held the power wire that goes to the alternator attached to the firewall side of the bracket that needed removal.
I'd really have to be under there to see what I did. I remember having to get at it from the back side and contorting my arm around the subframe I believe.
Check the last post of this thread also
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...racket-removal
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Last edited by H3adBussa; 07-31-2022 at 04:31 PM.
Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
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He called it a bracket, that's why I couldn't find that thread. I kept searching for mount. Good find.
Looks like two people there pulled the upper timing cover off to gain access from the front. RHD guy advocates dropping the subframe.
I'm watching YT videos right now to see if pulling the upper timing cover is a nightmare. I have a pretty good guess. I'm also going to try and get through the wheel well. I just can't get in there from the back, car is too low and I'm too big.
Artifically Aspirated
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Removing the upper timing cover is pretty easy. Take the valve cover off, remove the upper radiator hose, remove the crossover pipe between heads that runs in front of the water pump, and the few remaining parts (purge valve, vanos solenoid, etc).
If you have to remove the PS hoses attached to the steering box get yourself a 19 and 21mm 3/8” drive crows foot and new crush washers. Also remove the aux coolant pump. With the steering box unbolted you can move it around to gain access to the top bolts.
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Had an ignition coil crap out on me today and my spares just so happened to be in a bag where I put an unused, already machined SC pulley. I think it's a 3.33" cause that's what I initially got with my stage 2 kit from Frank (and it lines up better with my 3.33 griptec pulley than my 3.25). PM me if interested. I'll shoot you some pics if you'd like. I think I used a Gates 6pk1478 belt with it.
Thinking back about the upper right bolt, do you have ratcheting wrenches with the inserts that allow sockets to be put on them? I'm thinking I may have used either the wrench itself or the insert and a socket to get that bolt out. Hopefully, you've already solved that issue.
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Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
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Haven't addressed the 5 since I lost my temper. I tried to hire my kid this upcoming weekend to try and get her stick arms in there, but she can't be bothered to intake money, only debits to her accounts.
City got on me for my Dakota in the street, so I had to get that running and moving, which was surprisingly easy and I owe the local Dodge dealership some pizza. Who ever heard of a Dodge that actually works right?
Silveraydo started puking trans fluid on the ground to the tune of 3 quarts and my new fancy high falutin' transmission started slipping, so I had to address that and figured it needed some outer tie rod ends, a wheel bearing and some mighty fancy EBC brakes as well.
Town car needs an alignment, but I want to sit in it while they do it and no one will let me...cause I might get hurt.
Ok, enough about the fleet. I have ratchety wrenches, but not the kind that take a socket. I do have the box end ones with a bend at each end, but once they're on that bolt they can't be swung. I really hope with the wheel liner out I see a pathway for an extension, maybe this weekend if it's not 100 out. This global warming is killing me.
PM inbound.
Artifically Aspirated
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No access to the engine with the wheel liner removed.
Speaking of a Dodge dealer, we were camping up in CO with friends in there camper trailer this last week. His Jeep GC developed a problem with the park assist. He turns it off so he can back up and it turns itself right back on and thinks there’s something behind him which puts the brakes on. He calls the dealer and leaves a message, they never called back.
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Ok, maybe I can get my kid to help next weekend when she's here, she might be able to get her skinny arms in there and figure something out.
Sounds like your friend needs to disable his brakes next. These new cars and their helpful features are getting nuts. I'm reading now that you have to subscribe to heated seats in some cars.
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I'm talking about adapters like these.
GEARWRENCH 3 Pc. Ratcheting Wrench to Square Drive Adapter Set, Metric - 9230D https://a.co/d/8OLn2t7
I have this set
https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tool...B&gclsrc=aw.ds
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Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
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Ah, I hadn't seen those before, I was thinking of these
https://shop.snapon.com/product/Low-...6%22%29/112RTA
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That's a pretty slick kit there. Expensive but nice for sure. If you already have 19, 13 and 10mm ratcheting wrenches, I'd go the cheaper route.
Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
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I do have those sizes, but not long enough to get up in there. I ordered a kit last night with 400mm (15.5 inches or so) wrenches as well as some inserts and similar parts that you linked to, only thing missing is the 1/4" drive which may bite me since it's the smallest, I might just grab one of those too. Kindof pricey at 80 bucks for Chinesium, but this is a pricey game I'm playing I suppose.
Artifically Aspirated
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Here’s what I use.
image.jpg
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I think those are the ones I had in my head.
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This is a cool kit too. Looks like each adapter size matches the wrench size youd have to use with it? So an 8mm wrench with the 8mm socket? And 10mm w 10mm?
Tried to look for this, appears it's been discontinued
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Same thing that will make you smile will make you cry. Was that a piston?
Artifically Aspirated
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Yes, the wrench size matches the socket size. Pretty sure there are other companies that make these too. Maybe at Lowes, HD, Amazon??
It was just thin enough to get the back nuts off the diff so I could swap it.
Last edited by JimLev; 08-16-2022 at 09:39 PM.
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I did an 18mm squeezed in channel locks on those diff nuts, that socket doesn't look so good anymore.
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Took me and the kid 3.5 hours to get that bolt out. She's so small and skinny that she's even able to put two fingers on it, but ultimately it took my 13mm long offset to do the job with the engine jacked up all the way against the strut tower brace. There was a lot of inefficient swearing and throwing stuff (by me, my kid was pretty calm the whole time). Cleaned off the block with brake cleaner, scrubbed the bracket in my 5 gallon bucket parts cleaner and stuck the new o-rings in. I still have about 27 hours of wrenching that bolt back in, tightening the other 4, re-installing the oil lines and generally putting everything back together. The 80 dollar tool I bought was no help, just ended up putting it back in the box and on a shelf.
I received a package from the great state of Georgia containing roughly 40 horsepower (fingers crossed) the other day that I'm also going to install, warranty be damned. Is there a trick to getting the little warranty nanny plastic thing off the front of the pulley or do I just mangle it? I tried prying it away, but there's a soft steel collar behind it that I mangled instead.
Artifically Aspirated
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Good to here it’s done. Might have been quicker to lift the engine up 10”.
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