Nabs' E39 540i Daily Driver

[bANONYMOUS]

I've always thought that my builds were kind of boring...

Says the person with the most popular builds on the forum lol

[Nabs]

Says the person with the most popular builds on the forum lol

The M3 thread? I believe that's only because I've been consistently updating it for the last 3.5 years and it's one of the oldest threads. I'm sure if all the other people that had builds kept updating theirs they would be a lot more popular.

Had a bit of a lazy day but also a good day today. I was finally able to get one of the thrust arm bushings to go into the arm with a homemade tool but then I noticed it wasn't properly orientated so trying to get that back out was hell. I had to rent the puller tool again the other day and this time I got one that someone had broken a bolt on and replaced it with a shitty bolt so it bent and messed everything up, ended up getting the old bushing stuck in the arm when I was using it to push out the new one safely.

I left that and finally went back under the middle of the car to tackle the fuel filter bracket that had a bolt broken off in it. Ended up drilling it out and using a tap to make new threads in the hole.

Then I went to the broken transmission brace bolts. These were a little harder since they were directly above the exhaust and broken pretty much flush with the frame. Had to cut the drill bits in order to get them to fit, even with a right angle drill.


I was able to drill and tap all 3 on the one side that had all 3 bolts break. On the other side I just chased the threads since two of the bolts came out without breaking and on the third one my extractor had broken in it and I couldn't get it out.



All mounted up with the new trans bushings


Probably going to town tomorrow with the M3 to enjoy the nice weather and get that ready for an oil change and storage and also pick up a few more parts and tools that I need. I have a bunch of parts waiting at the border so I have to go pick those up on Tuesday and I'm hoping to have everything other than the trunk done by the weekend but have the trunk ready to weld.

[Nabs]

Finally fixed the broken gummy fan button. I ended up heating up a piece of a paper clip and melting it into the button then used some JB weld to reinforce it. Did the same thing with the new extremely fragile cupholder that I broke



I also finished up wrapping the old wood trim in a matte silver vinyl, I think it looks 100x better than before. The wood was also starting to crack in some areas so this cover all that up. There's a couple small blemishes, mainly dust under the vinyl, but I'm happy with it.




This isn't my picture but just wanted to show a comparison since I don't have a good interior picture from before


I still have to dye the steering wheel to finish up the interior and you can see I also got rid of the hole in the cluster trim and put in a proper fog light switch. I'm not entirely sure if I should wrap the trim for the headunit or not...?

[Snidd]

Wow, that silver looks beautiful!

[20Specv12]

Dude looks mint! Good job!

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[TGunnell]

That wrap turned out great. I want to do a wood grain wrap on some interior components in my truck.

[Nabs]

Wow, that silver looks beautiful!

Dude looks mint! Good job!

Thanks guys!

That wrap turned out great. I want to do a wood grain wrap on some interior components in my truck.

Thanks! I'm assuming that they're flat panels, which would make it easier to do, unless they're really small pieces. I can definitely help out too, if you want. I had a hard time with the sharp corners on the smaller door pieces, just trying to make sure that the cuts were hidden and there wasn't any bunching of the vinyl on the corners. I got my stuff from Vvivid.com and I think it came to about $50 for a 5'x5' sheet, which was way more than I needed but gave me extra incase I messed up and I ended up only using about half of the sheet.

[bANONYMOUS]

That wrap looks awesome, and that's a pretty decent price on that vinyl

[PurpleBilmer]

There was tons of stuff I wanted to fix on this car, all the previous southern Ontario owners this car had and how many hands were under that hood and fucking around with it were enough to make me just want to enjoy it for the time it lasted. And I did...your taking on every little thing that someone fucked with for a winter car, if it was a real m5 I could understand it, but a 1998 540i is not rare, for Thunder Bay maybe, there's maybe 3...but I hope you haven't had to spend more money than this car is worth...which I can guarantee you have. I can't wait to see it when it's done because I'm sure it will be awesome...it just surprising your going to put the work into it

[Nabs]

There was tons of stuff I wanted to fix on this car, all the previous southern Ontario owners this car had and how many hands were under that hood and fucking around with it were enough to make me just want to enjoy it for the time it lasted. And I did...your taking on every little thing that someone fucked with for a winter car, if it was a real m5 I could understand it, but a 1998 540i is not rare, for Thunder Bay maybe, there's maybe 3...but I hope you haven't had to spend more money than this car is worth...which I can guarantee you have. I can't wait to see it when it's done because I'm sure it will be awesome...it just surprising your going to put the work into it

Ya, I totally understand what you mean, with 17 owners there's a lot of people that mess things up. I definitely want to enjoy it and I understand it's not a rare car and I've spent more on all the parts than I did on the car but it still makes sense to me. The way I justify it is that I could have gone and bought another 540i in really good condition for about the same amount that I've spent on this one but at the end of the day there would still be things that I would want to fix or change on it. This way I can have the satisfaction of fixing the car myself and making it my own and exactly the way I want it. I'm still planning on doing more to it in the spring with the wheels and paint.

It's exactly like my M3 in my mind, yeah I realize it's different since it's an M3 but it doesn't seem like that to me. It's something I can work on and enjoy but in a sightly different way

[Mitsubaru]

Ya, I totally understand what you mean, with 17 owners there's a lot of people that mess things up. I definitely want to enjoy it and I understand it's not a rare car and I've spent more on all the parts than I did on the car but it still makes sense to me. The way I justify it is that I could have gone and bought another 540i in really good condition for about the same amount that I've spent on this one but at the end of the day there would still be things that I would want to fix or change on it. This way I can have the satisfaction of fixing the car myself and making it my own and exactly the way I want it. I'm still planning on doing more to it in the spring with the wheels and paint.

It's exactly like my M3 in my mind, yeah I realize it's different since it's an M3 but it doesn't seem like that to me. It's something I can work on and enjoy but in a sightly different way

True car guy right here. It's a hobby and a passion for you NABS. The mindset isn't dollar signs. It's basically building something with your own two hands and coming out the other side with something that is truly yours and nothing out there like it. Good job on your builds. It's truly amazing what you've accomplished. I could never have put in that much time and dedication to any of my cars, hence why I'm leasing my car now lol. Let's be honest. Buying a car is no investment. Other than a few collectibles, any car you put money into is going to be a waste. But our love and passion for cars outweighs any sort of business sense. Keep em coming.

[Nabs]

MORE PARTS!!!



I accidentally broke the stud for the positive terminal in the engine bay so I got a new one since the stud itself isn't replaceable


One of the fuel lines to the rail had seen better days so it was time to replace it



Today I'm pulling off the driver door and trying to finish installing the thrust arm bushings and just kind of buttoning things together with all the random screws, rivets and bolts that I needed and finally got. I had ordered a used door about a month ago but for whatever reason the place didn't process the order and I never received it, I'm hoping it'll be here by next week and I'm hoping to have the car done for next weekend, if I don't find anything else that I want to fix

- - - Updated - - -

I got the door off today, it was really quite easy, just time consuming since I had to remove everything to transfer over to the new door.

Started by removing the connector from the door to the body, then removing the glass and mirror


After the glass was out I got the regulator out, which happened to have a few bolts loose and was causing the window to rattle when closing the door.


Then I took off both the inner and outer handles, lock mechanism and wiring


There were two bolts that had to come off, one on each hinge and the door came off



Then I tackled the sunroof. You can see the common broken piece on these things that cause the tilt function not to work. Usually you have to buy a kit from BMW but I found the piece for $10 on eBay.


I did have to order the kit though for one side since the main slider was also broken. I later found out that you have to remove the entire sunroof assembly from the car to fix it so I quickly plastic welded it then filled the cavities with some JB Weld and it's holding up. I just have to mount the glass and then I can close it for the winter.




I also finished up with everything engine related and was finally able to put the cover on. I had to source a used one since they're $300 new.


It's slowly coming together

[bANONYMOUS]

I must have missed it, but why do you need a new door?
I like the trick with JB weld, I've done that a few times, as long as its clean it holds up for a long long time

[Nabs]

I guess that was the post I deleted, oops.

I don't know how it happened but the area that holds the door brake is all bent, as well as the attachment point on the frame, and the door is really thick in that area, so I figured by the time I try and take it to a shop and get it fixed it'll just be cheaper to get another door with absolutely no damage or rust. I just wish I knew earlier so I would have picked it up when I was in Brainerd and saved on shipping. Luckily I was able to bend back the attachment point on the frame so everything should go back together quite easily, or at least I hope so.

[Nabs]

Haven't done much in the last week since I went on a last minute trip. Before I left I flushed the power steering system and cleaned up the hoses and changed the crush washers to make sure there were no leaks. I also started the engine for the first time in over a month, found one leak right where the upper timing cover gasket and valve cover gasket meet. I have to pull the valve cover off again and trim the upper timing cover gasket and put some rtv there.

Today I finally got one of the thrust arm bushings completely in and the other is giving me a hard time right now so I left it for another day.

Also found more cancer on the front side of the rear quarters. One side is already flaking and crumbling so those will have to be cutout and redone in the spring


Taped up the car to get it ready for paint. Also ground down all the rusted areas on the fenders and rear quarters and applied a rust converter. I'll start filling in those areas tomorrow and hopefully have it fully primed by the end of the day