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+--- Thread: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell (/Thread-Signing-a-5-year-lease-of-Hell)
Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - phyrrus9 - 11-30-2016
So, about a year and a half ago, I bought a used BMW M5 (E39, 2000) for half the list price. For $5,500 I expected to have some issues, but nothing I hadn't seen before and I was prepared to put a little money into it for some extra power.
I actually got the idea for this thread after watching this video, and because the E36 and the E39 share most of their components and the E39 is chassis is actually based on the E36, I figured I would write up a thread on the troubles and experiences I've had during my ownership of one.
So, to get started, there were a few things I did the moment I bought the car.
1. I removed the 4.4L 390ish HP V8 from the car and installed the M54B32HP 3.2L I6 engine (from the M3 CSL)
2. Strapped 2 small turbochargers (from the early WRX class) to it
3. Added high duration camshafts
All was good at this point, the car came off the dyno at just over 400HP, with 2/3 of the engine weight, I was pretty happy.
This is when the issues started happening..
1. Driving down a long hill kicked on the EML light (there's pretty much no documentation on this, but basically it limited the car to what felt like 1HP until a stopped restart)
2. Idling before 145 degrees the engine would stall at random points
These were sort of expected.. The first issue turned out to be both camshaft position sensors faulting because the new cams were ground 2 degrees off, but the timing marks weren't changed. So, I had to replace the sensors and retard the camshafts, took about a week but fixed that. The second problem I attribute to the cams being different and not functioning optimally until the engine is at least a little warm (still haven't fixed it)
So, with that fixed, my next issue was that the clutch wouldn't hold power until my foot had been off it for about half a second.. In my head I was thinking $$$ for an upgraded clutch, but 3 days of research into it I found out that BMW installed a delay valve on this model only (because they only offered a 6 speed manual) to help new drivers with clutch control. It allowed the clutch to be disengaged at any speed but always engaged smoothly and slowly. So, after a few hours in the machine shop I made a fitting with the same dimensions as the valve but with no restriction and installed it. All was good, except (from years of driving a manual) I could feel that the clutch was worn from it (though I expected it for 90k miles).
While I was saving up money to buy a $2,500 upgraded clutch I decided to strip it to bare metal, kill the rear seats, and isntall some sparco racing seats. I knew the front seats were pretty heavy, but not as heavy as they actually were. I make a living doing engine rebuilds (among other things), so I frequently have to carry around (drained of water and oil) engines, but when I tried to lift the front seats up I couldn't get them more than 2 inches off the floor. I ended up needing an engine lift to hoist them out of the car, and then weighed them. Each front seat came in at 395lbs (dear lord!). Weighed my new seats and they came in at 29lbs each.. Talk about weight reduction.
But, that's not the end of it.. see on this model BMW used different mount points (because of the seat belts), so I had to build myself a set of brackets to even get the seats into the car.. A few days later I had it all shiny metal with racing seats, but I had a bigger issue.
Most seat belts use a mechanical tensioner, when too much force is applied forward, they lock and curl back a little bit to hold you in.. Not these! These ones used a locking pin like you would expect, but the tensioner was an explosive charge that pushed a piston with a cable welded to it.. So, I got to do 3 weeks of research into it to defuse the bombs hooked up to my seat belts.
Alright, all that done I finally decided I hated the standard belts, so I cut them all out and installed racing harnesses, despite 4 points being pretty expensive this one went by pretty easily.
Next up was the new clutch. I finally had the cash to buy a single mass (stock is dual mass, springs make it absorb the engine torque to make the car less jumpy off the line) lightweight flywheel (dropping 1lb of rotational mass is much like gaining 5HP as far as responsiveness goes, the new flywheel was 29lbs lighter than stock), stage 4 6-puck rigid hub disc (normally they use a sprung hub to further reduce torque off the line and make it smoother). I set off to replace this on a friday night in my driveway. I needed to buy myself a $120 set of sockets because BMW used a really obscure bolt type on the transmission, and I spent a good 4 hours pulling it off (about how long this job would have taken on a front wheel drive car). With it off I had everything installed in about an hour except for the transmission. Which, with BMW using 10 splines instead of the standard 26-31, was a major pain. It ended up taking me until sunday morning to finally get the thing on. Once I had it on I reinstalled the slave cylinder (the thing that actually makes the clutch work), and pushed the pedal down to test. It went straight to the floor, I heard a bang, and it stayed down. Now this only means one of 2 things, 1. the clutch pressure plate shattered (pretty unlikely with it being brand new) or 2. the slave cylinder has just exploded and is useless.
Well, it was #2.. It was misaligned on the fork and the pin shot out of the piston and was presumably lost inside the transmission. I actually got extremely lucky and there was some grease left on the end of the pin, so it stuck to the top of the fork and I didn't have to start all over. I fixed it all up and pushed it down again. Same thing. Took me 4 tries to finally align it properly (and blindly) but I got it.
So, I installed the driveshaft and went for a ride. The clutch smoked the tires at every stop, but it bit hard and held strong. The only issue was with the exhaust off it was deafeningly loud. So, I spent another 3 hours reinstalling all that.
Sweet, it's perfect I thought.. I was wrong. 2 weeks later the radiator exploded, so I replaced that, but it would still randomly overheat. After a while I finally got it to almost never overheat, so I was happy. But the more I drove it the more frequent it became. So, something was wrong. Replaced the aux pump, the tank, and some hoses. Fixed!
About a month later the battery died for the first time overnight. I took it for a fluke, maybe I left something on. Jumped it, ran fine for another month or so, then it started doing it every day. So, I installed a charger in the car and kept it plugged in, worked fine because it wouldnt die unless left for 8+ hours.. Until that wasnt true anymore. It would occasionally not want to start, but if you held the key down for 5+ seconds the starter would run again and it would work fine.. I took nothing of it and just dealt with it (bad move).
Driving home one day it acted like it was a dead battery, so I just gave it a push and started it that way. Went home and plugged it in. Got in it about 4 hours later to go get food and the starter made its normal (but more high pitched noise) and it didnt start. After trying it 5 or 6 times suddenly nothing. Yay, a blown starter. Some of you may remember me complaining about this on discord, it required me to take apart half the engine to get to it, but I got it. Wow, that solved everything it seemed, battery stopped dying and it started flawlessly. I took out the charger and went on my way. Until I got stranded somewhere after leaving the car for 15 minutes.. Roommate jumped it for me, and I came home and realized the battery was shot. So, replaced that and unhooked a crapload of computer stuff inside the car. That FINALLY fixed it.
Next up was revenge of the cooling system.. overheats completely random but every run. Fun. Water pump was due for replacement so I picked one up and when I took the old one out I saw the issue. The fins looked like someone shoved a metal rod into it.. just gone. So, replaced that and all was good.
Until yesterday..When it spiked a temp at a stoplight.. Oh joy...what now? Turns out I could stick my hand into the fan while it was hot and running and actually spin it backwards.. So, the fan clutch was shot.. Yay..thats a $300 part.. instead of replacing it I decided to just lock it.. 5 attempts at that later and I finally got it. Retuned the turbos and fuel management and now she sounds and feels great..
Can't wait until the next issue :/
TL;DR
After about $20,000 and working on the thing every day, I finally have a car that will break 200mph and put a smile on anyones face any day. Issue free (for now)
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - Oni - 11-30-2016
BMW = Big Money Waste
Spoiler:
You should add a TL;DR, because -- wow.
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - phyrrus9 - 11-30-2016
(11-30-2016, 09:14 PM)Oni Wrote: BMW = Big Money Waste
Spoiler:
You should add a TL;DR, because -- wow.
Could be worse... I could have bought a chevrolet and admitted to having tiny genitals
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - pvnk - 11-30-2016
(11-30-2016, 09:19 PM)phyrrus9 Wrote:(11-30-2016, 09:14 PM)Oni Wrote: BMW = Big Money Waste
Spoiler:
You should add a TL;DR, because -- wow.
Could be worse... I could have bought a chevrolet and admitted to having tiny genitals
I'm not sure that's how it works.
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - Oni - 11-30-2016
(11-30-2016, 09:19 PM)phyrrus9 Wrote:(11-30-2016, 09:14 PM)Oni Wrote: BMW = Big Money Waste
Spoiler:
You should add a TL;DR, because -- wow.
Could be worse... I could have bought a chevrolet and admitted to having tiny genitals
At least you wouldn't have to waste as much time/money.
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - phyrrus9 - 11-30-2016
(11-30-2016, 09:57 PM)Oni Wrote:(11-30-2016, 09:19 PM)phyrrus9 Wrote:(11-30-2016, 09:14 PM)Oni Wrote: BMW = Big Money Waste
Spoiler:
You should add a TL;DR, because -- wow.
Could be worse... I could have bought a chevrolet and admitted to having tiny genitals
At least you wouldn't have to waste as much time/money.
But I can actually see out of my windscreen
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - roger_smith - 12-01-2016
holy ass balls tl;dr. Didn't even read the tl;dr because I was already completely overwhelmed by the tl;dr wall-o-text I was met by after clicking.
damn.
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - insidious - 12-01-2016
Holys Shit man
This is why when I get to buying a car I'm just going to get a shitty one that will last for max time w/o needing repair. Fuck repairs n' shit and flashiness
Just need something to get from point A to B without dying
I like motorcycles, though. Might get a nice one of those. Those are fun to work on too, I think.
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - Oni - 12-01-2016
(12-01-2016, 05:33 AM)insidious Wrote: Holys Shit man
This is why when I get to buying a car I'm just going to get a shitty one that will last for max time w/o needing repair. Fuck repairs n' shit and flashiness
Just need something to get from point A to B without dying
I like motorcycles, though. Might get a nice one of those. Those are fun to work on too, I think.
I've had relatives and friends that used bikes, half got severely injured. If you do, be more than careful.
RE: Signing a 5 year lease of Hell - insidious - 12-01-2016
(12-01-2016, 05:35 AM)Oni Wrote:(12-01-2016, 05:33 AM)insidious Wrote: Holys Shit man
This is why when I get to buying a car I'm just going to get a shitty one that will last for max time w/o needing repair. Fuck repairs n' shit and flashiness
Just need something to get from point A to B without dying
I like motorcycles, though. Might get a nice one of those. Those are fun to work on too, I think.
I've had relatives and friends that used bikes, half got severely injured. If you do, be more than careful.
I'd probably drive it once in a blue moon just because I'd prefer driving a car, it's more convenient