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Hi all, Here’s my Topaz blue 2002 E39 540i M Sport. Picked this up from @hqstu three months ago and have since completed over 6,000km. The condition of this vehicle is a testament to extensive work completed by HQSTU previously documented on his e38/39 Central DHB post. Certainly surprises people when you tell them it now has over 296,000km on clock. With all the big jobs already completed by HQSTU very little work has been required. Replaced number 8 coil with genuine BMW coil but after another coil failed the following month I decided to replace the remaining 7 original coils with new matching Bosch coils, this time from FCP. Replaced the rain light sensor (RLS) to restore function of the auto wipers, $32 from Pick a Part. A few other things to sort. There’s always something to fix on a 20 year old BMW.

Certifier came out on Thursday and was happy so am free to bond the roof on now. Popped some epoxy primer over the bare welded areas today, and where I had ground a spot for the welders earth. As far as the roof itself, I wet sanded (400 grit) the clear coat to remove the orange peel and reduce the fish eyes. Applied additional clear to the fish eyes which i will sand back flat tomorrow ready for some more coats of clear. If we can't get it good enough straight off the gun then I will be sanding and buffing before final trim and bonding to the car.

Hey you're the guy that had this up for sale in 2017! Do you run a workshop?

was already bent when i got the car, suspect it was probably done in metal folder. Its up there with one of the worst cars i've owned. Constant problems, all common, and ended up with PTSD hearing the BING BONG noise whenever i drove it. Horrible car, its no wonder people say BMWs are unreliable. It was nice to drive when it worked though 🤣

If you'd dug a little deeper you'd find a thread on here if it being sold previously. It has/had a lot of good bits on it but looks like its a fair bit rougher now than it was. When it was first listed by the current owner they had only recently got it from Turners, and had a bunch of warning lights on, so I'd go into it with eyes wide open. Its a heck of a car for not much money, but it could also be an incredible amount of pain since it has the N54 and no service history. I believe it says its a manual because its DCT, not auto.

looks like the valueline rear bumper part number 51128222609 to me.

Got some base coat onto the trim pieces ... has been a bit of a faff as the 3M glazing putty dissolved the primer so had to apply it a lot thicker than I would have liked. The primer also never really dried hard so presented some issues when sanding the putty. Will get some 2k clear on them at least and see how they go ... might be getting redone in the future if they turn ugly. Had them all tucked in the bathroom today with two heaters running to dry out the primer as fully as it was ever going to be. Managed to get to about 35 degrees in there. Also got the rest of the back ordered parts from BMW so once clear of the trim pieces and roof project i'll be able to progress the head unit install also with the centred mounting piece. No idea what the colour is, just lucky dipped it from the swatches at the car paint shop 😜