BMW E39 Interior Project complete! MANY PICS!

[tobytoblerone 3]

My ultimate driving machine is near completion!

Recently i acquired interior parts from a 96 e39.

I got the following for $200, an absolute steal!!!

- Beige leather interior seats

- Beige leather door cards

- center console with all the good bits like leather parking stick, wood trim, cigarette lighter etc

- entire lower dash

- original HIGH radio display + 6 disc cd stacker

Then i fitted it all into my e39 to create the ultimate driving environment =)

First i'll show you pictures of the completed interior then followed with the process which took two days. Me having to remove the parts from the donor car and then cleaning the filthy interior and installing it (the door cards were a PITA). The interior is my replica of the champagne M5 individual interior, a very clean looking luxurious interior. I also have my previous all black leather interior up for grabs if anyone is interested. Have the front and rear seats, beige door cards. Center console, entire lower dash and armrest etc.

The hardest part was separating the leather trim from the door cards. The rear door card leather trim pieces are glued to card, the glue is a very tough glue that pretty much marries anything it touches. The leather trim is backed onto a piece of fiber wood and will most likely break in several places (i managed to get one trim in one piece without breaking the wood lol) This involved carefully prying up the leather from in several places.

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This is the back of the door card, we want to remove the metal piece and melt or cut off the 5 black plastic pieces that help secure the arm rest.

I used a soldering iron to melt the plastic pieces off that also help hold the arm rest on, no need to redo these as the metal piece holds the arm just as well.

grasp the handle firmly and pull up hard.

remove the beige leather piece from the donor door card, no need to be careful with this one as its rubbish anyways!

Card completed: Beautiful

Now for the front door cards, these are much simpler as they are not glued on at all. Instead they are held on in the same way as the arm rest so its just a matter of melting the plastic pieces off and pulling it off.

I have my black leather interior as a spare now and will be selling them on trademe if anyone is interested. I saved the black leather door inserts too and those will go along with the black leather seats. The only flaw in this project is that the e39 i got these from was a pre-facelift base model that supprisingly had no door airbags. My car has front door airbags and i will keep an eye out for any beige door cards with airbags to address this issue. Until then the beige remains in place lol.

Edited April 15, 2011 by tobytoblerone

[mossline 15]

Yeah man that looks fantastic! I would love to do the same to my plain old black interior. There is a black ex-UK E39 on trademe and has been for a while (due the the owner not being able to get over the fact the car was worth over 100k when new and wants wayy too much for it now) and it looks the dogs bollocks!

Good work man!

[Tristan 338]

That looks awesome, man!

Especially the black/beige contrast particularly with the speakers.

I also want your centre console armrest!

[DrphTa 5]

That looks tits

Congrats

[Apex 693]

Well-done. Looks a lot more premium with the contrast.

[bimmer boy 21]

Looks damn awesome! Looks way more exciting than a plain color.

But I did notice one thing, tell you changed the tan carpet in the drivers door card for a black one? cos it seems none of the other doors are following the trend...

[*Glenn* 855]

Very well done... I realy like that

[Greg111 13]

It does look very good, very individual.

[Nobimmer 694]

Woah that looks mint mate well done.

[tobytoblerone 3]

Looks damn awesome! Looks way more exciting than a plain color.

But I did notice one thing, tell you changed the tan carpet in the drivers door card for a black one? cos it seems none of the other doors are following the trend...

Yeah the black interior looked nice, just a bit too boring and executive for me. I was trialling the storage bin being beige on the drivers door, the first bin where the leather trim meets the beige bin, I think it looks very striking so i changed all the doors to the beige storage bin.

[bimmer boy 21]

Yeah the black interior looked nice, just a bit too boring and executive for me. I was trialling the storage bin being beige on the drivers door, the first bin where the leather trim meets the beige bin, I think it looks very striking so i changed all the doors to the beige storage bin.

Yeah I quite like it being beige also as it continues the lines of the leather insert down more and again makes the contrast pop more. I just wondered why only one was done but I stand corrected now. It looks great!!

[tobytoblerone 3]

It does look very good, very individual.

I plan on getting the 'bmw individual' door sills hehe

[Greg111 13]

I plan on getting the 'bmw individual' door sills hehe

Ha might cost ya a bit, i'm currently working on an E39 F/L that's had the full Individual package, special cars indeed.

[hotwire 352]

Very well done - I like it as an option. That said - I do still like the "Black" as well

[e38king 1]

awesome, very well done.

I wish I had your time and patience ( not too mention skills )

[1rotty 40]

That is seriously cool -very nicely done mate

[tobytoblerone 3]

That is seriously cool -very nicely done mate

thanks, nice 540 you have. im hoping to get a black 540 to put this interior into... my e39 is silver and well the interior is nice, it would look much nicer in a black e39!

[westy 614]

+1 positive reaction.