93FIM5

So Ive finally started sorting the chassis and brake system and a few other odds and ends on the M5 with the immediate goal to be mechanically sorted for a road trip with a buddy to Bimmerfest East (Bimmerfest East 2012 Event Registration!) . After the road trip I'll be taking care of the exterior and after that the car will be getting a stand alone ECU. The long term goal is to have the chassis sorted and ready for a turbo system on a rebuilt engine.

So to start I dropped both subframes and cleaned the chassis looking for any rust or areas that had damaged seam sealer, paying special attention to the side skirts, jack points, and wheel wells. Lucking no rust was found but I did have a few areas where the seam sealer and under body coating had been worn through so I ground those down to bare metal and hit with Wurth High Zinc Primer then Wurth Seam sealer.





With the subframes out I cleaned them up and ground off any surface rust and again painted it with High Zinc Primer and then with Wurth Matte Black paint. One of the things that I figured could be replaced while the front subframe was out were the engine mounts and all new hardware.



I went ahead and re-tapped the chassis holes for the front support and subframe to make sure things were able to be properly torqued.



I'm also replacing all the steering components minus the box which is still in good shape and new hardware.



With the front subframe down I replaced the oil pan gasket and sender oring along with all new hardware and torqued to spec with Loctite 246.



You can see the JB Racing aluminum flywheel in the above pic, Im debating on a couple of options for when I rebuild the engine in terms of a clutch and possibly a new flywheel. Definitely want to avoid the on/off of a lot of high power clutch setups. A small project I'm tackling to hold me over till the car is turboed is deleting the secondary air injection system. Since the S38 AC system uses the secondary air injection pump to tension the AC belt you need to use the 535i bracket and compressor lines as well as do a little strain relieving on the temperature sensor on the compressor. I need to get pics of my solution up later. Here is the new bracket and new hardware torqued and installed with Loctite.







Here are the plates I machined up to delete the secondary air injection rail and feed hose.



And installed on the headers and torqued down.



So getting back to the suspension, tearing apart all the bushings in the E34 is pretty painful but I built a few tools that made it real easy to replace all the rear subframe bushings including the dreaded rear trailing arm bushings.



Oh yes



Here is the rear trailing arm puller in action.



The rear trailing arm bushings and the diff support bushings are being replaced with OEM units whereas the rear subframe bushings are Powerflex. Little note I found interesting the standard E34 uses a rubber bushing with metal pin bonded in rubber whereas the M5 uses a rotary bearing setup in the rear trailing arms, one more little difference brought to you by M . The front suspension rebuild consists of all new hardware and 850csi arms and Mooseheads in OEM BMW (Lemforder) arms. Most importantly in the overall rebuild are the Ground Control bits.



Adjustable front swaybar end links



Here are the rear units installed and torqued down, along with being fully adjustable the Ground control pieces allow me to eliminate the SLS system and all its added weight and complexity.



I also removed the lines for the SLS that run forward and replaced the mounting brackets and just for kick the mounting clamps for the fuel lines and cleaned everything a bit more. Hardware.



Old



New



Fuel lines as well.



With everything dropped Im also adding a set of Stoptech stainless lines from Turner Motorsport.



Old front



New front



New rear



I noticed I had a slight leak from the drivers side output shaft so since the rear subframe is dropped I decided to reseal the diff as well as a little side project while waiting for parts to come in.



Next on the list is replacing the gaskets and hardware for the oil return pipe for the head and coolant feed line for the head. With those addressed I'll be able to get the front subframe and suspension mounted back up along with the headers. Im also working on building a remote mount windshield washer reservoir that will live behind the passenger fender so that I have more room behind the passenger headlight assembly.

93FIM5

Got the rest of the brake hardware in last week, Im thinking I'll just clean up the calipers with new bleed screws and caps since I plan on going with a BBK kit in the near future.



This weekend I got around to taking care of the oil return pipe from the head. New gaskets and hardware.



Installed



I also got around to installing the S50 tensioner, really happy with this over the S38 unit.



Removed the pipe from the side of the head to replace the orings on it and clean it up. Removed.



Cleaned with new hardware and orings.



Installed



My helper this weekend.



With those pieces taken care of I installed the headers with new gaskets and hardware.



Got the motor mount cleaned up and new hardware, also chased the mounts.



Installed



Finished buttoning up the diff and got fluid in from Turner motorsport.



Thats it so far, I'm waiting on a few more parts from the dealer to get back to work this weekend.

93FIM5

So as a side project Im currently toying with what type of covers to run on the M5, I recently traded for some turbines and Im thinking of having the rims and turbines painted flat black while leaving the BMW logo with its original colors. But while the covers are out being refinished and to clean up the look of the rims a little Im going to 3D print off some center caps and use OEM decals. Here is my prototype for fitment, the final version will be printed at a higher resolution, in black, with a domed emblem area, and a set of locating legs, just thought Id share.

Steve Mac

Great job you're doing there plenty of attention to detail!

Just one note on the diff oil, is it LSD oil? I ask because thes diffs require the correct oil or become noisy when turning at low speeds. Castrol syntrax is what was specced and what I used after rebuilding mine.

Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing

__________________
Steve Mac
_________________

If knowledge is power,,,how brainy are my Babies

1995 Fjord grey M5 she's a lady
2001 740i Individual Smooooooooooov
2005 325iA Grey and great
Hey, its only wrong if you get caught

Rorschach

Wow.

It's like looking at a documentary of 'how it's made'.

Thank you for the pictures and informations.

By any chance, do you have all the pictures in high resolution format?

LE:
And for the exhaust deletion plates, are these, or you made them?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-euro-M5-...349657&vxp=mtr

Thank you.

93FIM5

Thanks! Ive used the same oil for a while now without any issues and its specced for LSD with the proper additive thanks again for looking out and pointing that out for people . Here you go.


Here are some updates on whats been done last week and a little over the weekend. Replaced the brake reservoir and grommets. Old.



New parts.



Installed.



Got around to pulling the throttle bodies so I can replace the gaskets and orings and then do a throttle balance. Plenum off.



GF unbolting the throttles.



Throttles pulled.



Ports look good and clean.



Since I'm deleting the secondary air injection system I cleaned up a few of the vacuum lines and pulled the old EM valve and cleaned the head and block up. The rest of the lines are around a year old and everything was still nice and soft. Before.



New vacuum parts.



Hrm, forgot to take a pic of the finished product lol.

Anyways, I also pulled the fuel injectors and Im sending them off today to Witch Hunter Performance to get cleaned and rebuilt, WitchHunter Performance - Injector Cleaning & Flow Testing Services . Injectors.



Cleaned up and replaced the hardware, gasket, sensors, and oil filter kit for the filter housing.



Cleaned the motor mount arm and installed with new hardware.



Motor mount arm and filter housing installed on cleaned block.



Finally I installed the rear subframe mount with new hardware.



Installed.



Overall its moving along well, being picky is pricey mainly in time. For example I'm waiting on a new bolt for the steering box so I can stuff the front subframe back up with all the suspension. I also ordered some Mercedes citric acid cleaner and picked up some Shout to descale and degrease the cooling system along with all new hoses and hose clamps. Water pump and thermostat are around a year old and I think I'm going to leave them alone for the time being since I plan on upgrading the cooling system with a different water pump and thermostat design along with a new radiator after Bfest. I need to pickup one of the vacuum tools you showed Jon, thats a nice setup. I should have more updates later this week where it will start looking more like a car and finally be off its jack stand home.

93FIM5

Thanks for the compliments! I do have them in higher resolution. I made mine and a few more just to use up the material which I guess I could sell if people are interested, mine are made of 304 stainless like the ones you found but mine are a little thicker. Nice find at a good price!

AseanAero

93FIM5 , did you notice any difference in performance removing the secondary air system ?

93FIM5

I will let you know when the car is back on the ground next week, Im still installing and sorting through a lot. Honestly Im not expecting any gain maybe 1 or 2 hp but it wont be noticeable. What will be noticeable is the weight loss especially as I keep losing weight off the nose of the car with the other modifications I have planned.

AseanAero

Why did the oil filter housing require replacing ?