540i/6 Sport

3827 Views 20 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Jose, Apr 22, 2017

Jose

Discussion Starter · Jun 10, 2015

Hey guys, Going to use this to keep track of everything with the car.
Hopefully this one runs better than my last 540i that had some serious electrical gremlin issues.

Details

1997 BMW 540i 6 Speed Sport
Purchase Price: $2,000
158k miles
4.4L V8 - 282HP / 310 Trq
Black Exterior
Tan Interior
M Sport 3 Piece BBS BMW Wheels
A/C Blows Cold
Heat blows hot
Powered Seats
Heated Seats
Heated Steering Wheel
Windows all work
Has the bmw phone, and it still works and stores numbers.... lol

It's all stock, maybe less than stock so I'll be working on cleaning it up.
I have some plans for it but all minor.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jun 10, 2015

Update#1
Received all the maintenance parts to get the car running smoothly for the road.
Wanted to get this stuff done before hand so I didn't have to worry about these major
items.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 10, 2015 (Edited)

It's a N/A 4.4L v8 in several different variants for the e39. I know it throws people off because its a 540, But it's actually a 4.4L motor. This is why you'll see owners change the badges to "544"
The pro's would be the powa, powa and more powa. hp/trq, while the cons would be a few maintenance items that
are known for going bad, and probably your MPG because you'll play with it....
None too terrible, like the Valley Pan job the box above is for.

Here's a thread. Ignore the people quoting $900 for a water pump. These cars are almost
20 years old. Buy one known for reliability for $80 brand new and install it yourself. Some of these people... :Shakes Head:

Seriously though, The thread is full of ex I6 owners who bought the v8 and never turned back just because having over 300trq, and some of the variants have over 300hp in stock form just make for a fun car. We're not talking about race cars but for a 4 door sedan with a 6 Speed getrag tranny it makes it fun to drive.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?702128-E39-V8-over-I6-Pros-and-cons

Now if you want some more power, VF Engineering has taken care of that.
For 6k you can be over 400hp/trq. E39 M5 Level, without all the cost of
an M5, Maintenance of an M5 etc...

http://vf-engineering.com/540-740-1997-03/

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 10, 2015 (Edited)

lol, Sounds good. Let me get this Valley Pan job done and maybe next week/weekend.
Cars/Coffee the 20th I'm finally off, if you want to make the drive.

I really need to find a hood, this one is just so trashed. :/

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 10, 2015

Yeah I've heard that about him.

Lol, Yeah the airbox and other engine bay pieces are in the back seat.
No reason to reinstall if they have to be removed for the VP job anyway.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 10, 2015

^^ Thanks, Yeah my e36 has the trunk harness problem so I'm familiar with that.
So far so good though! Even a perfect cluster with no bad pixels!

In test mode:

Called insurance guy, $21 for liability and $50 for Full Coverage. Annual of 254 for liability and 600 for full.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 10, 2015 (Edited)

Yeah I'm certainly happy to have a fully working cluster, like you said it's really rare.

Well i pulled the intake manifold and whoever replaced the valley pan JB Welded or used a steel stick on a water pipe.... I mean seriously. wtf lol.

Oh well, I'll order that too. Looks like it won't be going back together today.

Not a big deal. I'll just order one since their like 8 bucks or something and use this time to continue on, clean as much as I possibly can
while I'm in there.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jul 1, 2015 (Edited)

So I finally got around to paying it some attention.
Got everything apart, ordered the new water pipe and got that in the mail.

Cleaning.... Doing a alot of cleaning. So dirty, grimy and oily. I'll spend a couple more hours cleaning it tonight and I'll get around to piecing it back together.

Bought an Inch lbs torque wrench since none of the auto store's had under 10ft lbs.
I need 5, 7, 8.5 etc... Sure I could do 10 but even then the trq wrench that goes from 10-150 isn't calibrated at the lower end, it's in the middle. So the lower end could be 15-20 when it's suppose to be 10.

Look forward to spending some time on it tonight and make some progress.
Also look forward to dropping the oil pan, and using the borescope with video to see what kind of shape
the "New" guides are in....

Yeah its a bit cleaner than it was before.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 18, 2015

Got the car back together and running.... Success!
Spent $300 on the repair when the shop quoted me $2,600. SCORE!

Unfortunately for me, I went for a drive and got codes for all 4 knock sensors.
I cleared them and they came back so looks like I gotta take em all off again...

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #19 · Aug 15, 2015

Thanks, I love em too.

Knock Sensors in the mail so once that gets here I will get the exhaust done and
hopefully start daily driving this.

Been driving the e36 so haven't paid it much attention. With the house sold in 2 weeks,
Im hoping that changed very soon.

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Jose

Discussion Starter · #21 · Apr 22, 2017

who knows. I sold that car early last year.

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