[M5 Jed]

The Unicorn gets an a$$lift

So these days, facelifts, nose jobs, gastric bypass, belly tucks, breast lift, breast augmentations are so common here in plastic OC, so why not a nip and tuck for the unicorn...

- Started to cut out the non-essential sheet metal in the trunk area, primarily the spare wheel well and the battery hole.
- Towed the Unicorn to the shop to finally complete the trunk floor surgery
- Took a solid day to remove all the remaining sheet metal after the main bulk cut of the spare wheel well
- Fitted the M5 false floor where the well use to be, fits like a glove!!!
- Will finish in a couple of days the new floor section where the old battery use to be and the outside muffler hanger mounts and the final long reinforcement bar that runs the whole length of the trunk width

 

[reekoon]

can't recall but i'll say it anyways. THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME. Bet of both worlds. Would do it my self if;

A. had the time
B. had a place to work
C. had the know how

give me a peep when you decide to sell it

 

[M5 Jed]

Interesting Fog Light trim alternative

These grilled fog light trims came on the E39 M5 I recently acquired. I've never seen these type before, but they matched the mesh on the center bumper grille. The trims below are the Dinan modified version to let more air in where the cone filters are located, but the grilled versions have that nice finished look and somewhat functional to filter out large rocks and bugs from entering the air filter area. So I used the grilled trims for the wagon.

 

[reekoon]

Any idea where one could acquire those?

 

[M5 Jed]

Prepping some cosmetics

For some reason earlier this summer I was really motivated and had an over supply of elbow grease, so I started sanding the rear bumper, rear hatch spoiler and trunk lip spoiler. The first two pieces are obviously going on the wagon, the OEM trunk lip I just wanted to take back to primer state so its ready for any color, for future use. I was going to sand down the white CF hood too but I ran out of elbow grease, lol.

Block sand, 2 coats of flex primer, block wet sand, another 2 coats of flex primer, block wet sand again, then have a mango/orange/carrot smoothie.

 

[M5 Jed]

Any idea where one could acquire those?

Honestly I don't know where you can buy these, I've never seen them for sale anywhere before. It was just a lucky thing that they came on a car I acquired recently.

 

[x3izM]

Very nice Jed! Gotta check it out when it's complete



PS: They sell those mesh fog covers on ebay.

 

[CSBM5]

Wow, nice to see it progressing along Jed! I can't wait to see the finished wagon.

One of the things that stood out the most to me was that tii in the background with your car on the lift.

Regards,
Chuck

 

[m5mel]

WOWWWWW Jed your amazing !!!!! Even spraying!!!! I had no idea......your gonna need a big shop to put all these projects in.... Is the ronin m stroked or stock?

 

[M5 Jed]

Very nice Jed! Gotta check it out when it's complete



PS: They sell those mesh fog covers on ebay.

By all means come on down!


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[M5 Jed]

Wow, nice to see it progressing along Jed! I can't wait to see the finished wagon.

One of the things that stood out the most to me was that tii in the background with your car on the lift.

Regards,
Chuck

You have a good eye chuck! Unfortunately I cannot comment on that project.


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[M5 Jed]

WOWWWWW Jed your amazing !!!!! Even spraying!!!! I had no idea......your gonna need a big shop to put all these projects in.... Is the ronin m stroked or stock?

I love painting! It's one of my favorite parts of the build, coz there is a certain level of artistry to achieve the right finish, aside from the time-tested procedures established by the pros. I've done lots of painting before from all my past rides, experience certainly helps hone dem skills!!!

3,000 sq. ft. Is not bad for starters. I'm in a mansion now compared to the 400 sq. ft. 2-car garage I was using. I'm thrilled that I will be finally able to park the E60 inside again. Just need to move a few more things.


The Ronin M5 is just the US spec 3.6 stock motor, but who knows, down the road I could totally consider stroking it. Right now I'm just enjoying the heck out of it, a fun and bulletproof car.





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[M5 Jed]

...that someday I can fit 380mm brake rotors inside 18" Dinan wheels. I made it so...

I'll post this short video for now, will post details and pics later down the road. I'm tired and it was an expensive dream...I need a vacation!!!


Test fitting 380mm rotors on 18" Dinan wheels - YouTube

Remember this? Posting details now...

So, I picked up a Rotora BBK summer of last year with the intention of fitting them under 18" Dinan Champion wheels. At first try, the wheel was able to sit on the hub but the back of the wheel wasn't sitting flush against the hub. It needed a few mm clearance. I stared at the whole area for a few hours, and came back stared it again a few more hours the next day. Determined not to give up so easily, I decided to machine certain areas of the BBK to give me the clearance I needed.

I found a good machine shop in my area...expensive but good. They were able to shave off some material on the caliper mounting brackets' face - the side facing calipers and the edge of the rotor rings. Removing some material from these areas permitted the caliper to come closer to the center bore and at the same time, move away from the inner barrel of the wheel. The solution was simple enough so off to the machine shop I went. The fit and finish by the machine shop was superb, impeccable. Notice how much closer the cross drilling is to the edge compared to the rear rotors which weren't machined.

This was trial and error #1.

 

[M5 Jed]

So I mounted on one side the front kit, and...still not enough clearance! The wheel this time was able to sit flush against the hub but it would not turn. The inner barrel was hitting the spine of the caliper. So I stared at it again, went for lunch and stared at it some more after lunch. Busted out some precision measuring instruments like a micrometer and dial caliper. It looked like I can shave off a few mm from the feet of the calipers where it touches the brackets. These 2-3 mm extra should give me the clearance I need to let the wheel spin freely.

I know what's going through your mind...Jed is butchering this BBK. Those were my same thoughts, but I'm so in deep with this that there is no turning back, gotta push on through!

This was trial and error #2.

 

[M5 Jed]

A few more days later and I get the parts back from the machine shop for a second time. Fitted the parts on the car, and...WE GOT CLEARANCE CLARENCE!!! Woot woot!!!

But, the back edge of the caliper was hitting against the arm of the steering knuckle where it bolts to the tie rod. Apparently, since I've moved the whole brake assembly much closer to the center bore, the provisioned clearance that Rotora built into to the kit with respect to the steering knuckle arm was completely removed. So, guess what? I stared at it some more, and came to the conclusion that the arm itself could handle a bit of a shave without compromising its integrity. That arm is pretty solid and beefy, so if I grinded away a mm or two in a large patch, it would reduce the weakening of that area to a minimum as material was taken away. See the black Sharpie marks to guide me while I gave the arm a Brazilian trim.

This little adventure proved to be nerve racking, frustrating and at the same time very fulfilling that the objective was reached. Building on small successes, it works wonders on morale and motivation.

This was trial and success!!! Onwards and forwards we go...

 

[M5 Jed]

So the above BBK update was from May, almost 6 months ago. Where does the time go???

In the next 3-4 months after that, a few opportunities came up to pick up other wheel sets, not necessarily for this wagon project but for the other cars I have, at least that was the argument to myself. The opportunities were attractive enough that I couldn't pass them up. So now I'm faced with which wheels to use. How quickly I forgot the fun trauma fitting the BBK under 18" wheels left me and my wallet? If I went with 19", all of that work would have been for naught. I would also have to re-bore the 19" wheels to slip onto the E39 hub. But 19" Champions would look ridiculous sick on the wagon I think! Then there's the rare find of the century, 18" E39 M5 fitment Dinan Fikse FM5s. I didn't even know these existed. It will be interesting to find out if the 3-pc. 18" Fikses have the same inner barrel clearance as the 18" Champions. We'll find out soon enough...

 

[Jahdave]

You Sir are an amazing man with skill sets and drive to create automotive joy. Great job solving the problems with the BBK.:goldcup:

 

[Dking078]

DINAN... Wheel... Overload!

This Bimmerfest is gonna be good!

 

[M5 Jed]

Welding in M5 trunk floor & exhaust hangers...

- After test fitting the main trunk floor into position, I sanded/grinded away all the shrapnel and burrs from all the cutting and drilling.
- There is a small area towards the left forward area of the M5 trunk floor that doesn't quite reach the back wall of the wagon's trunk (where the rear shock upper mount access panels are located), so a small patch of leftover sheet metal had to be welded in place to cover the hole. This is due simply to the design difference between the sedan and wagon trunk floor. This is really good, because out of all the comprehensive conversion I'm doing, this is a very small "fabrication" part that needed to be done.
- Sprayed all the welding contact points with grey Weld-Thru primer so once it is welded in place, all the internal structural parts that become hidden during welding will be rustproofed and weatherproofed.
- Welder started to fill in all the holes that were drilled and reinforced other sections where the sheet metal overlapped. For the most part, we used the actual holes from drilling the spot welds to guide the positioning of the panels. This way, everything will go in perfectly straight.
- After a full day, we got the main trunk floor welded in place - fitment is pretty precise, I'm very pleased.

 

[M5 Jed]

more welding continued...

- Following pics show the left side muffler hanger getting welded in.
- Ran out of the grey Weld-Thru primer, went back to paint supply store and they ran out too. Luckily they had another similar product, Copperweld primer, supposedly its better because it has copper in it, better for conducting electricity.
- Applied the Copperweld on the underside of all the panels that were being welded. Its damn good stuff! I LOVE GOOOOOLD!!!
- Last piece to be welded in place is the long horizontal brace at the rear-most, underside of the floor; that ties in all the panels that were added for the conversion.
- Final test: fitment of the battery tray. One word, FACTOREEEE!!!!!

Now that the welding is done, its a mad dash back home and finish this never-ending soap opera build.