Intro... its not an M5, but its close...

Justin517 · 2nd August 2012, 17:56

Hello, I'm Justin and I own a 2003 540i/6 M-tech... its not an M5 but I like it a lot. I have always loved the E39 and finally found a clean one and fell in love with it. I could have bought an M5 but I liked the slightly lower price tag, slightly lower insurance, slightly lower parts costs, and the better mileage the M62 offers over the S62 under most conditions... the car is not my daily driver (I have a company truck) but it does get used for some road trips and on the weekends.

I have added some M5 parts though. I picked up a healthy LSD diff (break-away torque measured at 72 ft/lbs!) and M5 rear sway, along with some other BMW and aftermarket bits. It was stupid that BMW didnt offer an LSD as at least an option on the 540i sport. Completely transformed the car.

Next on the list is coilovers... likely plain Bilstein PSS, I have read mixed reviews but it seems the people who complain about them are simply too low and are on the bump-stops and/or getting coil-bind. I am also considering BC but I honestly don't care to adjust anything, I'm more of a set-it and forget it type of guy.

Eventually I will want more horsepower and won't care about mileage much.... I'm kind of in the air on whether I should build an N/A M62 (increased displacement, M60 intake, 4.6 cams, evolve headers), just go with a supercharger, or look into an S62 swap.

Anyway, here she is:

I have had quite a few VAG products (B5 A4, MKII GTI, 200q wagon, Coupe Quattro 20vT) an E34 535i, a '79 Monte carlo that I built a 355 for and drag raced with, and a few SUV's. We are likely picking up an E46 330Cic for the g/f possibly by this weekend.

Anyway... hope you guys don't mind if I hang out here from time to time, I like it much better than most the other BMW forums.

mzarif · 2nd August 2012, 18:03

Welcome, clean car! love those wheels!

yellowgixxer · 2nd August 2012, 19:20

You're welcome here - that's a nice clean car and there's nothing wrong with the reasons you made that choice...

Just don't go putting M5 badges on it though...

YG

Justin517 · 2nd August 2012, 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowgixxer

You're welcome here - that's a nice clean car and there's nothing wrong with the reasons you made that choice...

Just don't go putting M5 badges on it though...

YG

Thank you very much.

I would never put M5 badges on it, I don't care to debadge either.. I'm proud of my somewhat rare (in the US anyway) 540i.

Project5 · 2nd August 2012, 19:32

Welcome, I'm fairly new here also. I, like you, went the 540i-6 route to begin with. I however got the bug for more power early ( like 6 weeks) so I sold the 540 and went with the M. Nice looking car you have there, congrats!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

M5 London · 2nd August 2012, 19:34

Welcome !!

Nice 540i/6 !

I also see you had a MKII GTi and also a Quattro 20V (do your mean UR Quattro) .....very cool both of them !!

PS I have a MKII Rallye (pretty stock) and also Corrado 16V (heavily modded) but both in storage

Justin517 · 2nd August 2012, 20:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by M5 London

Welcome !!

Nice 540i/6 !

I also see you had a MKII GTi and also a Quattro 20V (do your mean UR Quattro) .....very cool both of them !!

PS I have a MKII Rallye (pretty stock) and also Corrado 16V (heavily modded) but both in storage

My Coupe Quattro was just a Coupe Quattro... it originally had the N/A 7A 5-cylinder but I purchased it as a project with a built 20vT that was apart.

it was pretty hack, but it was cheap and fast. I sold it early on before I could really finish it though:

While I'm posting pics of cars...

The GTI was also a beater... I actually bought it needing a clutch and other love for $300, put another $500 into it (used bilsteins, a carpet, clutch, shifter rebuild, etc) and drove it rather than my '03 pathfinder when I was commuting 120 miles RT a day for work and fas was close to $5 a gallon back in 2008. It was a fun cheap little car, and I ended up selling it for $750 when I was done with it... it saved me about $2k in gas while I had it.

My A4 was what got me into Euro cars... I replaced the tired turbo with a slightly bigger K03 sport, 3" test pipe and 2.75" exhaust, custom dahlback tubne, vogtlands, bilsteins and H-sport sways... it was a fun little car:

This was my wagon... I loved it but sold it to my best friend when I was buying the E39... I'll probably buy it back at some point:

And this was my monte carlo that I built over 10 years ago when I was 17:

My other cars were much more lame than these, I wont bore you with them.