BreakMyWindow

Weekend turned out well for maintenance items : 1.) Replace both rear control arms 2.) Replace timing chain tensioner In typical fashion, the first control arm took me 2 hours as I was mucking about with tools and getting my vice grips to grip on the ball joint thread end. I had also installed the new control arm with the cable routed underneath it, so I couldn't secure it to the control arm. The second one was done in 45 mins. Below are a few pics and notes for reference that should help if some one else plans on DIY'ing the control arms in their e39 sedan. Remove wheel, and use as additional support in case the car falls on your head.. Unsecure the cables first from the control arm and be careful not to damage them when removing the nuts. 18mm for the connection to the sub-frame. 21mm for the connection to the hub carrier. tightening torque 110 and 142Nm respectively. Nuts must be torqued in the normal position, which can be achieved by jacking up on the hub carrier to the position when fully loaded with a full tank of gas. In my case it was approx 34.5cm from centre of wheel to wheel arch. Get a damned good grip on the thread end of the ball joint side of the control arm. You can use a 10mm spanner, but that nut is pretty tight and you will probably end up rounding the thread end like I did on first attempt. The drivers side control arm removal is a lot easier in this regard as to counter-act against removing the nut, you can place the vice grips up against the shock absorber making removing the nut a breeze. Bolt for connection to sub frame goes in towards the rear of the car. The ball joint on the passenger side control arm was f**ked, no resistance at all, nothing left of the rubber boot either. This was an original item as it was date coded 99' Drivers side, not too far behind from f**kedville, still had some resistance, but still very loose compared to the new items. Rubber boot a gonner as well. I did a visual on the other control arms known as guide links, and they appeared fine, the rubber boots were in good order, probably some looseness in the ball joints as they are original, but I'll leave them for now. The rear sway bar brackets felt a bit loose, so I'll be doing those along with the sway bar bushes soon. As for the timing chain tensioner, it took 20mins to replace. After 170kms the original one was still good, and came out in one piece. Oh well, preventative maintenance ftw.

Coolant temp. Test no.7 in the 'secret' obd in the dash shows it in real time.

Dual mass fly wheels are not only BMW specific, many late model manual cars use them. It's not so much to protect the gearbox, but to avoid complaints about harshness and noise that a single mass flywheel produces - Not suited to the character of luxury barges as per turbolizzard's comments. There are some high mileage M5's around the globe with their original clutches. Mines done 171k's now, and still doesn't slip in 6th at 1500rpm full load up a hill. I've found a tech document that suggests that the Sachs dual-mass flywheels should be replaced after the second clutch change. Unless of course the flywheel doesn't pass inspection during the 1st clutch change. http://understeer.com/pdf/dualmass.pdf

Seems far too cheap!

re the Blue 328i on TM for 12k : 'This car has been fastidiously cared for and maintained.' ...with cheap Chinese tyres... Back in 2007 when I was looking for my first bimmer I was offered a very tidy (with Michelin tyres lol lol) black 328i M-sport in manual, nz new FSH for 12k This guy is dreaming at that price.

Possibly, feeling a bit sluggish after driving in stop/start traffic, or when the radiator fan turns on? The M62tu runs a lot hotter in terms of KTMP. My old 540i used to in summer range between 100 - 106 deg. C Where as the M5 sits between 78 and 90 deg C. Not sure about the M62tu, but the s62 dme does use KTMP as an input for when controlling ignition timing and fueling.

behind the bumper, under the headlight at the beginning of the inlet tract. This should give a more accurate reading of sucked air temp. There is I reckon about 30 - 50hp difference in power when the sensor is heat soaked. very noticeable when putting the hammer down...

More progress for this coming weekend : - New timing chain tensioner (preventative maintenance, and should quieten the idle down a bit) - New rear upper control arms. LH side ball joint is shot. Causes a rear shimmy at around 100+ km/h and a bit of nervousness in my experience. - Relocating the Inlet air temp sensor. As the sensor is built in to the MAF, during summer, the sensor does get terribly heat soacked. This means excessive ignition retard, and more fuel resulting in 540i performance :-P More on this coming soon...

Up north collecting pohutakawa needles.

Several oinkey oinks on the way up to Tutukaka this weekend. Of course all strategically parked by the passing lane straights.

Restoration is coming along nicely. Bumper and all the bits around it are back on. Got a few suspension bits to sort so the cosmetic resto. side will be taking a break. Some pics I took after a wash and a wax earlier this week.

Very nice addition there Jooles. Sucks about the smaller mirror size though. Can you still auto-dip the left mirror when reversing?

Beautiful Gsd! I am looking to get a male pup next September. So hard to find males up here in akl...can u recommend a good breeder in the north island?

Interesting history!!

Willing to donate my old lego technic super car for the cause!

I can think of better things to do than mow lawns on xmas (unless you have a ride-on mower and you need to perfect your corner entry) I used to work at the Warehouse when I was a student, and yeah f**k it was unbearable listening to Mariah Carey's "all i want for xmas" come on every 2 hours.Working till midnight there during xmas made it even worse.

BMworkshop I am pretty sure still rebuild transmissions.

Could be a wheel speed sensor. Get it scanned.

I'm not sure, it's a mod/hack for the v8 cars. Certainly tightens up the turn-in and braking feeling. Yeah, as per Jooles - Gutted rear mufflers. It's got a nice growl, but when it comes on cam it's a bit raspy. I like it though, wish there were more tunnels..

If you're ever up in AKL let me know and I'll be happy to hook the Gt1 system up.

Yes that pesky sticker is quite difficult to remove. I think it will need some heating up... off to go break the other halves hair dryer

Happy Face! Finally got DIS and TIS working on an old work laptop. Josh (Hybrid) may know if I'm correct but it appears that the DME s'ware version is from 2003 ? Even though the car was built in Sep 99' possible DME swap out, or s'ware update ? Had a quick play around in GT1, in particular with the VANOS test, which looks to be in good shape. There is a whole heap of misleading info on the net about getting DIS to run on a laptop. If anyones interested, pm me and I can give you all the details about what you need to get it running. Also another update on the Bumper, finally got it back. Looks a lot better now, just need to fit all the trim pieces and new lower compartment covers. The headlights and fog lamps are niceley pitted, so they will be getting some attention during my summer break.

Lowered on 'Makita special' springs g. It just doesn't make financial sense for GM to keep producing the commonwhore in OZ. I reckon even if the Commodore was still to be made off-shore, how many generations of Australians are out there that would be put off by the fact that the commodore is no longer made in 'Straya ?

That is a seriously good looking car! Can't wait for them to become 20k NZD. Interesting to see Mitsi Turbo chargers are used. They're bloody good units in my experience with them back in the vr4 days...

The msport people normaly refer to is the m-tech 2 spec e39. You get the m5 look a like bumpers and a revised m-tech 2 suspension (m5 springs in the rear on the 540i models). Prior to that you got m-tech 1 e39's with low slung suspension and a couple of other sporty options. This one was not a factory m-tech 1 or 2 equipped e39. But who cares, may as well be now with the upgrades mentioned. Not like it's a collectors car.