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Madison - E39 M5 - Thread


vbhargava

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Very excited to be a part of this WI based BMW community. Thought I'd share a little about my car and some of the recent work. Its no garage queen but I like to keep it in good shape 

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Details:

  • Year - 2001
  • Mileage - just rolled over 100k
  • Exterior - Carbon Black
  • Interior - 2 tone black and grey
  • Origin - Colorado = no rust!!:
  • Modifications when purchased: Tubi Style Exhaust; ipod integration

Since acquiring the car about a year ago I've been doing some preemptive & required maintenance and modifications. Luckily Kelly Moss is right around the corner and they have a BMW master tech so anything I cant do in the driveway gets taken to them. 

  • Suspension refresh - control arms, integral links, bushings
  • PSS9 coilovers - stock struts were starting to go out. Wanted to make this a weekend backroads beast with occasional autoXing mixed in. More to come on these.
  • E60 shift lever + F10 Shift knob - love the shorter throws while still maintaining a stock look and feel
  • Upgraded steel sway bar brackets - lets see how long they last. E39 M5 are known to rip the stock ones apart
  • Camshaft sensor replacement - If you have done this before you know how much this sucks. Spent ~10 hours for 4 sensors since BMW puts them between the engine and firewall behind a metal bracket. 
  • VANOS solenoid refresh
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This summer was a little testing due to all of the above maintenance but I fell back in love with the car on weekend drives

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Next up:

  • Get the PSS9s adjusted to provide a better ride
  • Shark Injector Euro tune
  • Minor cosmetic things
  • OEM wheels - Anyone have Style 65 wheels for sale?
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1 minute ago, P_Roloff said:

Glad to see you made your way over here! Looking forward to seeing the progress you make over this winter.

Unfortunately, no garage space to work on it so everything will need to wait until the snow melts and the salt is washed away. That E30 should be an interesting change from M5 but let's see if things work out. 

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2 hours ago, vbhargava said:

huh...at what point should I consider doing the rod bearings?

You're probably okay for a while at 100k. just something to keep in mind if you ever have the upper oil pan off for some reason. These were mine after 154k:

Old bearings are all out and new WPC treated ones are in 🖒

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Cylinder 8 bearing definitely looks the worst, but minus the first two cylinders they all look pretty worn, very glad I decided to change them.

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  • 2 months later...

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