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Raleigh Wrenchfest Weekends: Dec 3-4 and Dec 10-11

3K views 42 replies 9 participants last post by  CSBM5 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, for those of you in the area who want to come hang out and shoot the breeze, Paul (blackknight) will be in town and we'll be doing a lot of misc. BMW-related activities both weekends.

This coming weekend we'll be partially assembling RVAE34's (Brandon's) new caramel/black E38 interior and also doing an E39 M5 clutch replacement as well as an E46 330Cic valve cover gasket job. We plan to start prepping the E39 525iT for the M54B30 swap as well, which brings us to...

Next weekend is the M54 swap into the touring. More hard core of course, but fun just the same.

Feel free to join.
 
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#2 ·
I'm totally down for this! Those guys always do some really cool stuff :).
 
#7 · (Edited)
Brand new clutch with all the trimmings (guide tube, fork, pin, spring, etc) installed and working perfectly! It's so sweet to once again feel the M5's clutch pedal light and smooth with a perfect engagement point. Now the quest for 800-1000 shifts under moderate conditions is at hand. ;)

Special thanks to Paul (blackknight530i) for his experience, skill, and awesome special tools like the slave bleed tool that works amazingly well (literally took 2 mins or less to bleed a new slave cylinder once hooked up)! Special thanks also to Brain (Redshift) for the use of his incredible shop, tools, knowledge and whatever it takes attitude to getting things done. Working with these two guys is a blast and their infectious optimism and "we're going to make this work" attitudes are awesome. Thanks also to Jeff (don't think he's a member here) for help all through the job, no matter what needed to be done (like helping me detail, lol, some of the underside of the car where my prior diff had a front seal leak many, many years ago). Finally thanks to Asim (auaq) for stopping by just in time to lend great experience during the final mounting of the transmission and dealing with the 5,6,7 whatever number of conjoined extensions required to get to the top bolts install/torquing.

Dinan exhaust is now off the car and ready to be sold. It's in incredible condition as even though I've had the exhaust for almost 9 years, it's only seen about 20k miles of use since then and none of it in the rain. My original exhaust cans are being remounted this week as they've been neatly stored all these years. Next up is swapping back in my stock springs and struts which I removed at 28k miles back in 2006. Also planned is pulling out my original front wheels in as-new condition I took off back in 2004 to run rear/squared setup, so I'll have two immaculate condition 9.5" rears for sale at some point in the next couple of months also.
 
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#9 · (Edited)
The E39 craziness that has come out of Brian's shop in the past two years is beyond comprehension(i.e. 6MT into his 540 wagon, M5 suspesion/LSD/etc, then S/C, not enough, so S62 transplant, not enough, so ESS S/C install on S62, not enough, so custom tune + meth/h2O injection; then a 530i to M5 conversion; a 525iT auto to manual, etc, etc, etc). Perhaps we should change his username to MrE39. Now I have Brian twisting my arm on doing the auto to 6MT conversion on my E91...so much so that I think it's going to have to happen next year. MrE39 might learn some fun lessons he wished he hadn't learned at that point though lol.
 
#12 ·
LOL, pay me back? I thought I was still paying you back with the free labor.

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#20 ·
The more the merrier :).

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#22 ·
Hey guys, we've been really quiet today, but it's for a good reason. We got a ton done, even with some issues changing the rear diff mount bushings and axles. I'll post more of an update later tonight, but we got the old engine and transmission out and the new engine and transmission in today, as well as changed the rear control arms. All we have left for tomorrow is finishing hooking up the dme, install radiator, driveshaft, differential, brakes, and fill and bleed the coolant, power steering fluid, and clutch fluid.

If people still want to come, we'll have a few things left to do, but unfortunately the big stuff is mostly done.

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#23 ·
All we have left for tomorrow is finishing hooking up the dme, install radiator, driveshaft, differential, brakes, and fill and bleed the coolant, power steering fluid, and clutch fluid.
There was once a time when I thought that doing all that listed above actually took a while...
 
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#25 ·
Hey guys, I just got home a little while ago after a long, yet smooth and uneventful drive home from Brian's. It has been one hell of a weekend, but we got so much stuff done and very little stress. I'll likely post up some pics once I get them from the others that took them .

Saturday was the day the majority of the progress was made, but we still got a ton of stuff done today, including doing a cluster swap on an e53 X5, DSC module swap and coding on Auaq's M5, Evo3 and DSSR installation on my buddy Stephen's 2002 e46 330i, as if doing an engine, transmission and drivetrain swap, rear suspension overhaul, and wheel bearing replacement wasn't enough for a planned 2 day weekend, LOL. We also got the shop all cleaned up and ready for Brian to do his work this week, which is basically how it was when we got there Friday night. The difference is now we were able to disassemble the 525it engine and transmission and remove all the suspension arms and such so that it takes up a lot less shop space now. He now has 2 M54b25 engines in the shop (1 sold and 1 available), but at least they're kind of hiding in a corner.

The, now, "530it/6" has the M54b30, S6S-420g, 3.15 540it differential and axles, refreshed front and rear suspension, Koni Struts, new diff mount bushings, and a new driver side rear wheel bearing. Everything bolted up properly and we actually had all the hardware we needed this time . The diff mount bushings gave us the most issues, mainly because we didn't have the proper BMW tool and weren't able to rent it by this weekend (next weekend would have been the earliest, but that wasn't going to work). We followed theshafro's idea and used a bottle jack and a few pieces from a standard press tool kit to press out and reinstall the new rear diff bushings. We plan to buy the proper tool and rent it out for future diff mount bushing jobs, because it makes the job a 30 minute job instead of a 3 hour job.

I'm going to start a new build thread for the car, likely when I have more pictures of the swap, so look forward to that . All in all, we spent a total of 19 working hours on just the 525it/5->530it/6 conversion this weekend, which I believe is the shortest full drivetrain swap we've ever done. I guess you could add about another 2-3 hours if you include taking the M54b30 out of the 530i a few months ago, but still, not too bad.

To all the guys who helped, I can't thank you enough for all of it. We wouldn't have completed nearly as much as we did if it wasn't for you guys. Brian and I have gotten pretty quick at this stuff, but there's no way the two of us alone could have accomplished this in just a couple days. Shoutouts go to Redshift, Auaq, Reefin' Dude, BimmrMeUpSnotty (so nice to meet you dude!), and my Charlotte buddies (Stephen and Jeff). You guys are awesome! I also want to thank Brian's family for putting up with having a bunch of car guys hanging out all weekend, once again .
 
#26 ·
I know it's lame (since Paul drives from Charlotte), but wish Brian's house was a bit closer to mine, we could have dueling garages going on, lol.

Chuck, are you planning to sell your M? I kinda have mine for sale now, a local friend has expressed interest. I bought a '68 GT350 Shelby convertible, although I will probably end up selling that too.

If I keep my M, I might be interested in Dinan exhaust.
 
#27 ·
I'm not sure if I'm going to sell it or not. I've had it for 13 years, so it will be hard to let go; however, I have rarely driven it the past four years (less than 500 miles/year). I love the car and know how much I'll miss it too. I sold my 1972 Bavaria back in 1994 and regretted it shortly thereafter especially after seeing how the buyer left the car out in a field to die.

If you want to buy the Dinan exhaust, let me know soon. Brian was going to post it in local places for me today, and if no hits there, I'm going to post it here on the board and then eBay shortly thereafter.

I still recall driving a friend's '68 Shelby GT500KR vert back in high school in 1975. I think he paid $3500 for the car, and it was in great shape. Nobody wanted old muscle cars then as leaded gas was almost gone, and they were viewed as gas hogs, etc. I used to drive that car a fair amount, and it wasn't the best feeling thing to pilot, lol, with awful steering etc. :)


Chuck
 
#28 ·
Here are some pictures that were taken on Saturday during the wrenchfest. Unfortunately, nobody thought to take pics on Sunday, but most of the work was already done anyways, so oh well.



Yes, it took 4 people using a bottle jack and some press pieces to get the rear diff mount bushings out. Having the correct tool for the job would have definitely made this a 10 minute affair, but nobody had it to rent for this weekend, so we made lemonade, or whatever.









It's amazing how stable the whole thing is when still attached to the subframe, especially with the transmission and suspension still attached. The engine that came out was just sitting on a wheel/tire, but the new one going in was sitting on a rolling furniture platform dolly (first time we've done that and it worked perfectly for lining up the subframe to the car.





Stance Nation Brah!!!



Out with the old, in with the new




Jeff looks tired, LOL

 
#34 ·
I completely agree on the sticky thread.

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#38 · (Edited)
Clutch change update: I've lost count on shifts and gentle/moderate take-offs after I passed 500, but I've been carefully breaking in the new clutch with moderate rpm (nothing over 3500rpm), moderate throttle (normal driving) shifts. The clutch feels fantastic. The car is so much more enjoyable to drive with smooth, quiet clutch operation.

I've driven the car more this week including to Henry's Muffler Shop on Lacy Ave here in town to get the stock exhaust cans welded back on. Henry's did a perfect job and ensured it was level/perfect -- great shop! It's been 9 years since I had the stock exhaust on the car, and it's amazing how quiet it is! Given that the stock cans flow very well (i.e. nothing to be gained really by changing them), the quiet nature of the stock exhaust perfectly fits the q-ship nature of the E39 M5 imo. That said, I do miss the rumble of the Dinan system at startup and the wicked wail at high rpms.

I was asked about the old clutch, and I had to say that a huge majority of typical drivers would not have changed the clutch when I did since they would wait until the car wasn't functional any longer or close to it. Mine still gripped ok in normal driving but would slip on aggressive runs through the gears on each change if you weren't very careful; however, the fork/pin/guide tube/pp springs were very "creaky" coupled with a heavy pedal effort (typical E39 stuff). Very annoying. All that is GONE with the all new parts including a new flex coupling which was needed. Pedal pressure is light, extremely smooth and completely silent. lovelove
 
#40 · (Edited)
No, the flywheel was changed at 25k miles when clutch was done the first time. I bought the car with 12k miles on it, and the original owner had slipped it under power apparently since it was soft from the beginning. I'm at 66k miles now. The flywheel surface looked excellent and the dual mass part is still functioning fine.
 
#41 · (Edited)
Following on for future 2017 wrenchfest, Paul/Brian, if I do a 6MT swap in my E91, I assume I need to flash the DME with a 6MT calibration? Do either of you know anything about an E9x 6MT swap in that regard? I already have the diff I have to swap, and I just need to rebuild it with a different ratio and install an LSD -- I may tackle this myself as a side project over the winter.
 
#42 ·
Should be pretty much the same as e39 swaps, but I'll read up on it more. Have you looked into whether or not you need a different driveshaft as well?

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