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It has been a few years since my last project (E46 M3 Sedan), and while I'd initially purchased my E39 as a reliable daily driver (specifically not to be modified), I needed something to do a bit of a resto-mod on. An N54 is pretty similar to an M54 though, right? 😁 The subject in question is a 2002 E39 530i touring, purchased in 2018 from a fellow Bimmersport member. Since purchase, I've put around 30,000km on the clock, performed a full suspension refresh (all bushes, bearing, shocks, struts, air springs) and manual conversion. Unfortunately the vehicle was purchased with some clearcoat issues, which have only gotten worse. As this vehicle is still a daily driver, I've also picked up a 2003 520i insurance write-off to use for development / mockup - the pictures below will be of this car. For a donor, a 2008 E82 135i insurance write-off was used. Unfortunately, this vehicle was fitted with an automatic transmission, something I'm not interested in for this project so a GS6-53BZ was sourced from the UK and imported. The underlying theme for this project is "if BMW were to have made it" - I'll be trying to keep everything looking as factory as possible, so no aftermarket BOVs or pod filters. 😀 This theme also flows through to the electrical architecture of the vehicle, I'll be keeping the factory E8x modules (thankfully the donor vehicle came with an MSD81) and aiming for full integration with the E39 instrument cluster via a custom CAN translator of my own design. The vehicle will have fully-functional A/C, DSC and cruise control. The translator I've developed has been proven in the manual HellBM 135d. The first step with the mockup car was stripping out everything not needed: Initial test fitting was performed with a spare N52 parts motor with a GS6-53BZ bolted up: With it generally looking good, an N54 parts motor was made available and put in instead, allowing test fitting of turbos, etc. Looking doable on the exhaust side: Going to need to do something about the rear turbo's coolant line: Enough sump clearance: Tons of room on the intake side: Some shims underneath to get it all lined up: Sway bar at full droop, clears ok: Just need to get an engine mount to join A to B and we'll be done in no time 😉 Bolted up a few more parts, still clearing ok: Starting to work on some mockup engine mount arms so that we can remove the shims, these will only be temporary: Looking pretty tight on the exhaust side: Onto some temporary gearbox mounts: With the temporary mounts made I could then start designing some more final mounts. A 3D print of the design for testing fitment: Same again for the gearbox: The exhaust-side mount ended up being rather tricky, requiring many iterations: Final design of the exhaust-side mount: While that was going on, I took a look at fitting the oil cooler - a factory item on E39 540i's built for the Gulf region: For fueling, I'm wanting to use an E82 135i pump in the E39 holder. The fuel lines will be the factory-fitted E39 M5 lines, filter and 5 bar fuel pressure regulator. Unfortunately, the E82 fuel filter sock won't suit in an E39, so a mockup adapter was 3D printed (in PLA, this will be printed properly in carbon fiber reinforced nylon). Another item to tackle is the coolant radiator, condenser, intercooler and power steering radiator pack. Initially I'd planned on using an E60 535i radiator but found the dimensions won't work in an E39. The E82 pack seemed like the best choice, here attached with some temporary mounts (again, will be 3d printed properly in carbon fiber reinforced nylon): 4 Picked up a 540i rear diff and half shafts, it should handle things a little better than the 530i items: Started mocking up a top cover panel for the radiator: The intake-side engine mount arm machined in T6061-T6 arrived: Fits perfectly: With the N54 having the A/C compressor on the opposite side of the motor (compared to M54), we started working on custom A/C hardlines. This one will run from the E39 bulkhead, around the back of the motor to the intake side, and will have a flexible section running under the manifold area to the compressor: I'm also working on some mounting brackets for it: The next items are sorting out the coolant / power steering / oil line situation which is underway currently. Unfortunately, the supplier sent the wrong size hardline which has caused a bit of a delay on this aspect. Another item we're working on is relocating the DSC module to behind the headlight - the E39 units often get baked in the factory location, leading to failure and other weird issues. The DSC module to be used is a DSC8+ module from a facelift E60 rather than the (unreliable, relatively expensive) DSC5.7 factory-fitted in the E39.

It's definitely firmer than a standard M3, but not uncomfortably so; no excess driveline noise in the cabin or anything of that nature. I've been meaning to update this thread for a while - recent (well, around a year ago now) additions include a CSL airbox (Karbonius). Some photos after a wash a while back:

Have had some interest in my '332i' project, so will post up the details here on Bimmersport. This car started life as a 2003 330i m-sport sedan in black sapphire metallic and is being built into an 'M3 sedan'. While the car existed as a standard 330i, I replaced the seats and door cards with black leather units, and retrofitted an NBT from an F30: HellBM then removed the M54B30 and replaced it with an S54B32 & 6-speed manual gearbox: The VANOS was then 'bulletproofed' using the full Beisan kit, uprated cam gear bolts & S62 diaphragm springs, and the valves adjusted: I then rebuilt the donor M3 brake calipers; the front caliper pistons weren't in great shape and were replaced: Caliper carriers media blasted & painted: Calipers prepped & painted (Duplicolor gloss black): Next up was preparing the remaining M3 suspension and driveline components. New Bilstein PSS10 coilovers: Donor M3 subframe bushes removed: CMP Auto Engineering solid subframe bushes were chosen for this car, even though it's intended for street use. The reasoning is two-fold; no movement of the subframe against the RACP should help prevent any future cracking, and the bushes are designed to move the subframe closer to the body to account for reinforcement plates & the vehicle being lowered. The M3 LSD was cleaned, drained and the rear cover replaced: And reinstalled back into the subframe: Trailing arms disassembled, wheel bearings, balljoints replaced & Syncro Design Works monoball RTAB installed: Handbrake shoes & new springs installed: For the front, new CSL kingpins and wheel bearings were used: The old rear suspension & fuel tank were removed from the sedan: And the boot floor removed: No turning back now . A brand-new E46 M3 floor pan was purchased and the centre panel extracted: CMP Auto Engineering reinforcement kit installed: The decision was made to go the 'full way': Donor rear arches extracted & prepared: Test-fitting with M3 rear bumper: Tacked on & then welded fully: View from behind: M3 rear muffler brackets installed (pre-arches): The rear suspension & fuel system were then mostly reinstalled: ECS Tuning Monoball RSMs & reinforcement plates installed: And some more parts removed: A genuine M3 bonnet was then fitted. The guards will be created by joining both sedan and M3 guards: And that's it for now - more to come soon

Thanks Vass, it has been quite a while since I last updated this thread 😊 The car's still going well, no real changes or modifications since the last update.

The amount of effort that's gone into it is kind of impressive but also... somehow nauseating? Won't see another Z3 like it, that's for sure. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/z3/listing/4674093509?bof=hgofd8wg

All that effort on body work and the intake boot gets a roll of duct tape.

What an absolute weapon! Never realized this existed, your latest project thread led me to it. Glad it did. Amazing work!

I think the main factor is the climate. Singaporean imports are notorious for electrical issues due to higher humidity and are worth steering clear of in general. UK & Japanese (depending on region of origin) imports can suffer from rust due to salt on the roads etc. Beyond that I wouldn't read much deeper into it. Both NZ-new and ex Japanese/UK cars can be equally as pampered or neglected when it comes to maintenance, all very much subjective and dependent on the particular car and its owner/s. I guess NZ-new cars are more likely to come with comprehensive service histories as most the paperwork generally get lost during the import process, on purpose or otherwise, but heaps of NZ cars come with zero information as well so... I'd steer clear of any overarching generalizations.

Have been looking into a CSL-style bootlid (Seibon Carbon) and diffuser, but undecided as at yet (have heard mixed reviews re fitment with the CSL-style bootlids). Anyhow, latest updates: I've since fixed the missing lip on the bootlid, left-rear door trim, centre caps and fitted Bimmerworld adjustable rear camber arms. The earlier-style mirror modules (non-ribbon-cable) have also been retrofitted, and the GM coded accordingly, so the M3 mirrors are fully functional on a car that originally used ribbon-cable mirrors. ?

Suspension back in over the long weekend: Also sorted out the wheels for this project - thank you Tom (M3_Power)! The car seeing daylight for the first time in months: Very happy with how it's turning out; a few more jobs to go and then it'll be on to paint.

Thanks Michael & Kyu; definitely special blessings rather than a sacrifice. Only a small update today; have had a review of the welding work with an LVVTA certifier, only minor adjustments required. The arches are currently being filled and smoothed, and are coming along well: And with the front bumper lightly held in place (not properly attached):

eish sorry to hear this bru. onto bigger and better build!