hunter

Massive Thanks to @Eagle who gave me a hand this weekend to diagnose the clicking from the the front end. removal of the lower control arm showed a broken sleeve in the steering knuckle. With a piece missing from the bottom of the sleeve and the rest of the bottom of the sleeve falling out onto the driveway it was obvious to see where the noise was coming from. So am now looking for a good condition steering knuckle (wheel carrier) as I don’t want to muck around with re-sleeving.

Awesome man. I’ll pm you to tee up a time.

A while since my last update. few mini projects on the go; - Driver seat refurb is holding up well and is super comfy - Xenon project is bubbling along. new lenses arrived yesterday. still need to buy butyl sealant & a heat gun. - Style 66 project. I have a full set of 5 wheels now after buying individual wheels from all over the place, worked out much cheaper than a full set all at once from recent sellers. you just have to be patient. these will eventually be repainted and have new tires. - Suspension - to finish this off, I need to do rear Integral links and carrier bushings, have the parts & saving for some time to pay someone to do it as its fiddly. Not urgent will do before Christmas.

This is an interesting observation. i noted when i replaced mine in the E39 i noted it sits higher than the original height. I also noted that the strut mouints removed form the front where different in design. this was due to one being replaced at some stage. i would say its 5-10 mm difference. did the arcticle mention if the OEM ones were still the same design (lower profile). i love how my car rides but still think the front end sits too high when compared to the back end. I think they are the same between various models too (3,5,1 series) as long as you dont have EDC

Hundred percent Olaf, I can vouch for this approach this is exactly what I did for my E39 drives like new, handles like new and it’s all OEM spec.

Nah, what's that

Apart from what you've mentioned, there are internal differences albeit slight, for the paddles and wiring, clock spring is also different, and extra pins for paddles, (same as heated wheel), other than that it is all the same I've got an SMG paddle one wired into my E39 530i, it's cool in the twisties with paddles

Epic as always.

Hey Boston.. Regarding the suspension kits from FCP I can recommend them I bought one for the E39 and it turned out to be really good just make sure you get a reputable brand and all the brands on there are. I’d also recommend getting the most comprehensive one you can I didn’t and I’m gonna have to go back in and do integral links and rear wheel carrier bushings are before Christmas But it’s also easy to go front and rear separately so that helps

Check you intake boots for splits. My e46 used to do this when I had a split in my intake boot I couldn’t see. also check intake cam sensors

Sweet. I thought they were no longer available. Will give the boys a call tomorrow.

Sounds good @Eagle keen to take a look and you can try my refreshed seat out.

Cleaned up and tested the xenon’s today they work well aside from the adjusters which have turned to shrapnel inside the light bodies. need to fix some stuff in the Toyota then will start buying parts for the lights. looking at adjusters on eBay there are 2 different kinds listed for 2000 on e39. Anyone have any advice on what kind to get.

Will do mate. Will be a while away as I slowly rebuild these xenon’s.

In impromptu project news some xenon’s with broken adjusters came up in FB today I snapped them up. this one might be a slow burn, I might be kidding myself about that. But goal is to hopefully pull them apart, fix adjusters and replace lenses too. not the easiest job in e39 lights but far cheaper than new ones.

You’re welcome to come and try it out

With the drivers seat refreshed it’s super comfy the only issue being now I’m sitting on fresh foam I feel like I’m sitting higher in the car but I’m sure that will bed down. it’s great to have the support on both sides of the seat from the back and from the seat bottom. The reassembly process went without a hitch and I managed to not break any of the old trims which was really good.

Switching to my driver's seat renewal project, to renew my punished 22-year-old driver's seat with as fresh as possible foam. I scored a passenger sport seat back a while ago for the material, and have decided to use the foam and material for the refresh on the driver seat. As well as a new back frame from @hqstu The reason being is the Trimshop believes the outer bolster slackening the current seat has, is due to the seat chassis being bent, rather than just foam deterioration, the shape is defneatly off so doing both makes sense. The bottom is also ruined, with the chassis rail digging into my legs. Rather than muck around trying to find a good condition seat bottom, I've bought a new one from FCP because they are available (for now) and new is best, something the seat back is not readily available as. I will be reusing my material as it was repaired 2 years ago, So, the new seat cushion is a week away, and the back is more or less ready to swap out, so by the end of the month, I should have a decently refreshed driver's throne

Cheers man. Yeah annoying as it’s all new gear. Will track it down. Hasn’t done it today yet haha.

Front Wheel bearings replaced, like to do things in pairs, amazing shipping from Schmeidmann less than a week to NZ. Wheel bearing noise is gone... BUT click in suspension/wheel area remains, suspect one of the new control arms, and end links have gone bung, the saving grace is I got it all from FCP so will be covered by the warranty there. Only does it when turning left, it's not the brakes, as the calliper and pad were removed and checked yesterday too. Will have to put up with it for now and see if it gets more obvious.

The Obligatory 'Ring lap,

The BMW Car Club Trip up North was fantastic, with many new twisties to explore at pace. all in all ~18 cars all up. A fair amount of roadwork too, meant that the stones in the hub issue returned twice. I also have some metallic rattle & a grind coming from somewhere on the bottom of the car when it's warm and I'm turning hard left or right and moving slowly (that's when I can hear it) eg pulling into my garage. Jacking the car up yesterday and removing the front wheels I thought I'd solved at least part of the issue when I found 2 tar clad stones stuck between the spring pad ( and right beneath the lowest coil) and the shock in the front suspension, this would account for the grinding noise when manoeuvring, sure enough, removing these and a heap of other stones, mean the grinding noise has gone but the metallic rattle remains. sounds like it's near the back of the engine, but hard to tell with sound bouncing around the garage. Kerry Mosen is going to put it up on his hoist next week and have a decent look for me. ***update*** removing the undertray yesterday revealed not only were ~5 of the 8 or so screws not properly fastened but one of the larger brackets the tray attaches to was about to fall off due to a loose screw. This was repositioned and tightened. the tray was fully installed with all fasteners done up and additional metallic rattles are now gone. However, I will have a small click when steering when the car is hot (well up to temp) and at low speeds can hear what sounds like fragments of something rattling in a cylinde, around the wheel. think stone in an empty tin can if you rolled it slowly on the ground. I suspect stone fragments or something else in the back of the brake hat/hub from where several stones were stuck in there. removing the wheel shows nothing obvious. ***Update 2*** Noise was determined to be a wheel bearing, drivers side failing. Have ordered 2 fronts from https://www.schmiedmann.com/

Car has been very stable after last round of maintenance. a great trip to tokaanu for the BMW car club annual meet up at Braxmere. Aside for a stone that was lodged in the back of the rotor hat for half the trip all was performing perfectly. Off up North this week for the Autumn fling again with the BMW car club. 3 days of northland B road bliss. In project news I’m on the hunt for a single style 66 front wheel.

I am looking for 1 style 66 front wheel from an E39 m sport. 8x17" Et 20 no tire wanted, just the rim does anyone have a spare lying around that is surplus?

try vmr wheels in the states