Road trip story & Project thread: 2001 Titanium Silver e39 M5

[Sreten]

Hell. Yes.

This thing is awesome. I have such a hard-on for 80's/retro/synthwave shit. Gimme them flippy headlights and knight rider interior all day.

Pumped to see this thing cleaned up with some M-Parallels

I feel the same way. Pop-up headlights are the coolest thing in the world. (though the right one doesn't feel like popping up anymore )

You'll be disappointed, but it will be getting original 16" cross spoke style 8 wheels for now. I'd have a tough time choosing between M Pars and CSi throwing stars but both sets are hard to find for E31 and would set me back good money. Doesn't make sense to spend big €€€ on wheels until the car is up and running. Also, for TUV it's better to have original sofa wheels since '91 E31 didn't come with 18" wheels and they will make a fuss about it cause Germany.

Good story. At least you made efforts to see the car in person and got a good vibe from it.

Edit : I just noticed the buttons have Spanish words.

Thanks! It's was sketchy but I got a good feeling about it and I learned not to buy a car sight unseen. Best deals are made in person next to the car.

I noticed that later as well, I think it's pretty interesting. 😊

Precisely why I loved my "88 Prelude si so much

Looking forward to see you work your magic on it

Thanks, Rob. Older cars are just better. Period.

Such a cool looking car. I cant totally appreciate why you picked it up. Really miss the old button layouts for the hazard lights and AC with everything being right in the center console. One part about the E46 I really miss that the E82 doesn't have. I loved having the hazard light button right below the shifter, right where it should be!

Gimme that old BMW engineering

True that. The placement makes it easy to toggle them for a flash or two as a "thank you" when someone lets me in. Tryna bring that Japanese road culture to the dirty south.

Totally agree, the button layout is just spot on, designed for the driver. I use the hazard lights in the same manner.

E31 cockpit is a powerful place to sit. Surrounded by quality materials with a glorious driving position - it really is an ultimate driving machine. The whip has amazing options - heated front seats, EDC suspension, electric steering column adjustment, auto dip mirror, sunroof, cassette holder, power rear sunblind that works!

[Sreten]

Update time.

With 2 cars in the garage, the pile of parts kept getting bigger.



With the arrival of cold weather, it was time to address the cooling system on the M5. The thermostat was stuck open and in need of replacing but while in there, I decided to address other components as part of preventive maintenance.

New parts laid out.



Lots of stuff in the way of getting to the water pump so the disassembly begins.

MAFs and radiator shroud removed.





One of the bolts of the water pump is obstructed by the vibration damper hence the removal of it is required.

Locked the vibration damper with 8 mm drill bit and removed the crank pulley which revealed 4 bolts that secure vibration damper in place.







Vibration damper removed.



Coming back to the top and preparing to the pull the thermostat housing out. Quick tip - spray a dab of WD-40 on the tstat pipe O-rings, it will make the removal that much easier.





Pipe connection.



The water pump was next. Before removing the tstat and wp, I drained the coolant from the block.







Cleaned up the gunk as best as I could and mounted new wp gasket.



New wp installed and bolts torqued to 10 Nm. The gasket likes to pop out from its seating position so installing a couple of bolts before pushing the water pump in place will stop that from happening.



Next was reinstalling the vibration damper. It's important to use new bolts as these are stretch bolts torqued to 60 Nm and then 2 times 50° torque angle.



I bought this cheap and flimsy torque angle gauge but it served the purpose perfectly. Before doing the bolts, I practiced on my old trolley jack. 😄





Crank pulley, belts and new water pump pulley installed.



New thermostat and new O-rings installed all lubed up with trusty technisches vaselin. I bought Behr 79°C and Gates 82°C thermostat. Gates is I think the same as Stant in the US and I was thinking it would be better if the car runs a little hotter in winter days but I went with Behr at the end.
The rubber O-ring on Gates is inferior to one on Behr and I'm pretty sure it would leak unless sealant is used. Maybe next time I'll give Gates a shot.









All buttoned up along with new hoses and temp sensors.



Started the beast, checked for leaks and there weren't any. Followed up with a test drive and got perfect readings.



Job well done. Overall not a terrible job just tedious.

Didn't stop there though. Replaced diff fluid - the fluid that came out was nice and clean so it was replaced not long ago by the PO.
New tranny fluid - I originally put OE BMW MTF LT-2 fluid which was fine but kinda crunchy compared to what I had on the previous M5.
I went for a new Liqui Moly product - Top Tec MTF 5200 75W-80 which is BMW MTF LT-2 approved. The 2nd gear is still notchy when cold but once warmed up the shifting is much smoother.
I'll leave it in for now but I might go back to Motul DCTF which had the best cold start performance. I know Royal Purple Synchromax is amongst popular for M5 but it's quite pricey in Europe.



Early oil change. I probably said too many times that I love Liqui Moly products but one thing that bothers me about their 10w60 is that it's slow to get up to temperature, just seems a bit thick in cold weather. I tried BMW branded 10w60 in previous M5 and oil was much quicker to warm up. I pulled the spec sheet for BMW 10w60 and Shell 10w60 and they are identical so I found a good deal on Shell 10w60 and picked that up.



The cold start seems quieter and it is a bit quicker to get up to temperature with Shell, other than that it's the same. So far I'm happy.

New fuel filter which was a waste of time and money. The previous owner replaced it last year judging by the production date. Still, it's a relatively cheap piece of mind.







Got a good deal on OE Bosch MAFs so chucked them on quickly. Not sure if mine were ever replaced hence the decision to refresh them.



That's it as far as the M5 goes. I'm getting ready to rebuild the alternator since bearings are shot and replace shifter bushings, the gear knob has too much slop for my taste.


The project E31 850 revival is underway.

The 8er arrived a week and a half ago. A polish guy picked up the car in Spain on Monday 5pm and delivered it in Frankfurt on Wednesday 4pm. Express delivery considering it's a 1.150 miles long journey!







I ended up renting another parking spot in the garage where my M5 sleeps. Not ideal for this type of a project but couldn't find anything better at the time so I pushed it into the spot there.

I was anxious to hear the engine run but first I did a series of checking and replacing stuff.
First, I got 12V on both fuel pumps and they were activating and buzzing.



Replaced fuel filters and surrounding lines which were rock hard. Fuel was on reserve and it didn't feel right opening the fuel tank at this point so I added 20 L of fresh fuel to mix it up.





Old filter indeed.





Replaced distributor caps & rotors. They had a date stamp from '91 so likey original.





Replaced skanky spark plugs. At the recommendation from E31 guys I went NGK BKR6EK plugs at the end.







Nasty air filters from '94.





Fresh oil. The oil that came out was actually looking fresh and nice color. They told me it was replaced recently so that might be true.



Hooked up new batteries and drained a bit of old coolant out.







Then I decided to try and start it. Took some effort but the old girl fired up! After a few seconds, a whining noise appeared so I shut it off. I overlooked to check the PS fluid canister and surely morons filled it with ATF instead of Pentosin and mesh filter wasn't secured.



Brake booster and power steering share the same fluid. I pumped the brake pedal like 30 times which pushed the fluid from the brake pressure accumulator to the reservoir and I sucked out as much as I could from the canister and then removed the drain plug on the PS pump and filled with correct CHF 7.1 fluid. I plan to repeat this every time before starting the car until it's entirely green. Also, the brake booster is leaking heavily so that's on the list as well.











Fired it up again and PS pump complained for a few seconds but then it went quiet. Here's a short video:



(brake booster leaked fluid all over the exhaust hence the smoke from the front right, I think)

I was able to move it back and forth and I'm super happy about that considering I bought it as a non-runner!
It does idle kinda lumpy and I think it went into a limp mode so it won't rev past 3k rpm. After few minutes it started puffing blueish smoke so I had to shut it off, I'm hoping it's residual stuff and the car just needs to work but we'll see next time I start it. I also plan to flush the engine with a cleaner down the road.

Next, I replaced the VCV valves as this cleared up blue smoke on the previous 850i.



Before the arrival of the car, I picked up some nice original 16" style 8 wheels with fairly newish rubber. I bought them from an older gentleman from Cologne, these came off his Japan import 840Ci with 43k miles so the condition is appropriate.







Couldn't wait to remove those totally wrong wheels that were just an eyesore on E31. These are much better looking and pleasing to the eye.

Before starting it again it's just a must to flush out the coolant. It's nasty looking and full of gunk so I started removing stuff for inspection and to replace the thermostat.



One sad looking thermostat.





Radiator drain hole was actually clogged and only started draining once I poked it through with a screwriver. The water pump is spinning noise-free and has no play.

Radiator looks good from the outside and water is moving freely so I'll give it a chance for now though I might just replace it. I'll flush it thoroughly before putting it back as well as cleaning the expansion tank, hoses and I armed myself with enough coolant flushing products to flush the entire system. I also have new belts, tensioner and pulleys coming.

Once I'm satisfied I'll start it again and let it warm up so stay tuned.
Still a long way to go for this machine but progress is being made.

[704sw]

Phenomenal update as always! The work you’re able to do in the space you’ve rented is truly very impressive.

Those Style 8s are going to look great, but I’d love to see what it could look like wearing some M Pars.

[Sreten]

M Pars would hit the spot but these will do for now.

Man, I dream of having a proper garage with proper tools and normal working environment one day. Working in these conditions just sucks.
Conveniently, the house keeper that rented me this spot forgot to mention that when it rains outside it also rains inside, right in the middle of the spot hence the need for car cover. Meanwhile, I'm looking for something better but it's very difficult to find something that fits the bill.

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[Hornung418]

M Pars would hit the spot but these will do for now.

Man, I dream of having a proper garage with proper tools and normal working environment one day. Working in these conditions just sucks.
Conveniently, the house keeper that rented me this spot forgot to mention that when it rains outside it also rains inside, right in the middle of the spot hence the need for car cover. Meanwhile, I'm looking for something better but it's very difficult to find something that fits the bill.

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Could you get a pop up tent to place over the car and then affix a tarp to control the runoff? Something like EZ UP or Quick Shade?

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[Sreten]

That crossed my mind but I'm already getting enough weird looks as it as and grief for storing stuff behind the car. They even got hissy when I left a half-full bottle of windshield washer fluid out. Technically I'm not even supposed to work there but I'm being cautious and catch all fluid that comes out of the car, put them in containers and recycle later.

This garage will be getting renovated beginning of next year so I need to find a new home anyway.

[ZHPizza]

Amazing update. I don't think I could get through that much in two weeks with a proper garage and lift. I don't know how you do it.

Can't wait to see the 8er on the correct wheels. I love how meaty the tires look on 16's.

[RUS_ZHP]

You are staing on top of the maintenance as usual. As well as giving a proper update.
I cannot beilve air filer is from 94?! How come people ignore the basic maintenance, I don't know.
Well, e31 in good hands for sure!
Are planning to run m5 during the winter months? I forgot what is your daily car?

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[Sreten]

Amazing update. I don't think I could get through that much in two weeks with a proper garage and lift. I don't know how you do it.

Can't wait to see the 8er on the correct wheels. I love how meaty the tires look on 16's.

The new wheels do look cushy. I try to be fast but methodical at the same time and do the work whenever I have time to spare. But it's difficult with a full-time job and you always end up sacrificing something else so planning is key.

I was about to start it again on Wednesday but the thread on one of the belt tensioners stripped completely and now I'm waiting for a new one to arrive.

You are staing on top of the maintenance as usual. As well as giving a proper update.
I cannot beilve air filer is from 94?! How come people ignore the basic maintenance, I don't know.
Well, e31 in good hands for sure!
Are planning to run m5 during the winter months? I forgot what is your daily car?

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Danke! I came to the conclusion that car maintenance in southern European countries basically goes like this: drive it until it breaks down, so I'm not that surprised by 24 years old filters! Admittedly incredible run for a pair of filters.

I don't have a daily since I leave in the city and there's no need for one. I hate driving in Frankfurt, traffic and roads are terrible and I have a monthly ticket for public transportation through my work. U-Bahn is quicker and easier to move around the city, albeit boring and I must admit I miss daily driving, but every time I need to drive somewhere during rush hours and get stuck in traffic, I get a reminder I'd go mad sitting in traffic every day.

Winter in Frankfurt is really mild with hardly any snow so I plan to use it whenever the weather is good enough and there's no salt on the roads. It won't see any snow but I do need to get winter tires since temperatures are low, however, that's not so easy.

17" style 66 wheels which are meant as winter wheels for the M5 can't fit on mine because of BBK up front and no one makes winter rubber in 275/35 R18 stock size. Well, Kumho does but I'd rather not drive at all then drive on those crappy tires, I did that last winter and never again.
I might try 245/40 R18 and all 4 corners, many on M5board had this setup for winter on stock wheels without issues so it could work, I don't plan to drive a lot anyway.

[ZHPizza]

Can you not get all seasons in Deutschland? That's the ticket for enjoying cold-but-not-snowy driving.