A bunch of stuff happened.
First, I stumbled upon a much nicer 540i that also needed Vanos / timing chain work. The Dinan engine I bought for the blue 540i was immediately dropped into the new car. In six days I managed to rip it all apart, get the new engine in, put it all back together and start using it as my daily driver. The engine didn't need to be swapped, but it was the quickest way to get it up and running...
It makes good power and the body cleaned up nicely
It got a short shifter from an E60 545i and a weighted knob that was destined for my E46 M3 once the manual transmission conversion happens
Boring shots of the interior after a thorough cleaning and conditioning
And here it is with the M635CSi
Sadly, the 535is was sold and moved to Texas. The new owner has just about finished with the body restoration, though.
After a while of driving the grey 540i every day and enjoying every mile, I remembered that the blue 540i still needed to be put together. Since I stole the engine that was originally intended for this car, it received the one that was removed from the grey one. It ran fine but the timing chain guides were shot and as a result it made some pretty scary noises.
Removing the cam sprockets was a harrowing experience. On the right hand bank my helper was lifted off of the ground twice while I broke the bolts loose. All four came loose with a mighty crack that told me they had never been off before. You can see pieces of timing chain guide on the front of the oil pan. They were all over the place, especially near the oil vapor separator.
Since it was apart for guides I decided to re-seal the Vanos units and modify them with Beisan Systems' pressing tool.
The bolt gets torqued to 100ft/lbs and then one more full turn past that. I had to use a 4ft pipe on the end of my breaker bar for the last half-turn. Quite a lot of force to shift the inner portion of the unit less than one millimeter!
Fitting the new o-rings and teflon rings is tricky but not too bad if you take your time.
Reassembly was fun. It was tricky to find a quality T55 bit with 1/2" drive. I ended up using a 3/8" OTC bit with a 3/8" CDI torque wrench and they both did fine.
Don't get these wrong! I did a double take despite the directions being pretty clear. The orientation of these looks odd when you do both heads at the same time.
Cleaning and buttoning things up
Probably should have painted the valve covers...
The clutch was relatively low mileage so it was reused. The transmission was filled with Royal Purple Synchromax and bolted to the engine.
Installation was a breeze the second time... I had to take the drivers side exhaust manifold off and install it while the engine was hanging above its mounts. Still only took about 20 minutes to poke it in and get it settled.
A few hours of hooking things up and she finally came to life. It was a huge relief to see it fire up with no engine leaks or warning lights. Once the lifter noise died down it was very quiet - much quieter than the engine that I swapped into the grey car. If you've got Vanos noise on startup or once the engine is up to temperature, I absolutely suggest getting the press from Beisan.
The very next day the radiator started leaking. It could have always leaked I suppose. The car never ran for me before the engine swap. In went a new Nissens radiator and a new fan clutch for good measure.
I polished the body again and worked on the interior. It's just about done now and will hopefully be sold soon.
The winter started happening and the Jeep needed a bunch of new suspension. Leaf spring replacement can be a hateful job when the mounting bolts are corroded in place. Ended up having to cut all of them out.
I apologize for the lack of retro stuff up until now. Next in line is the M635. Just ordered all of the replacement rear bumper parts for it and we should be seeing some sheet metal pretty soon. Here's the current state of things:
Since the original interior and drivetrain were robbed from this car long ago I am toying with a few different ideas for a new engine. Currently there's an M30B35 in there and it runs alright, but being that this is a genuine M635CSi I feel like it should have something a bit more special. The S52 or S54 come to mind since they stick with the original design of the car. The S54 is exotic but the S52 is a simpler conversion and much less expensive. We will see how things go in the coming months.
First, I stumbled upon a much nicer 540i that also needed Vanos / timing chain work. The Dinan engine I bought for the blue 540i was immediately dropped into the new car. In six days I managed to rip it all apart, get the new engine in, put it all back together and start using it as my daily driver. The engine didn't need to be swapped, but it was the quickest way to get it up and running...
It makes good power and the body cleaned up nicely
It got a short shifter from an E60 545i and a weighted knob that was destined for my E46 M3 once the manual transmission conversion happens
Boring shots of the interior after a thorough cleaning and conditioning
And here it is with the M635CSi
Sadly, the 535is was sold and moved to Texas. The new owner has just about finished with the body restoration, though.
After a while of driving the grey 540i every day and enjoying every mile, I remembered that the blue 540i still needed to be put together. Since I stole the engine that was originally intended for this car, it received the one that was removed from the grey one. It ran fine but the timing chain guides were shot and as a result it made some pretty scary noises.
Removing the cam sprockets was a harrowing experience. On the right hand bank my helper was lifted off of the ground twice while I broke the bolts loose. All four came loose with a mighty crack that told me they had never been off before. You can see pieces of timing chain guide on the front of the oil pan. They were all over the place, especially near the oil vapor separator.
Since it was apart for guides I decided to re-seal the Vanos units and modify them with Beisan Systems' pressing tool.
The bolt gets torqued to 100ft/lbs and then one more full turn past that. I had to use a 4ft pipe on the end of my breaker bar for the last half-turn. Quite a lot of force to shift the inner portion of the unit less than one millimeter!
Fitting the new o-rings and teflon rings is tricky but not too bad if you take your time.
Reassembly was fun. It was tricky to find a quality T55 bit with 1/2" drive. I ended up using a 3/8" OTC bit with a 3/8" CDI torque wrench and they both did fine.
Don't get these wrong! I did a double take despite the directions being pretty clear. The orientation of these looks odd when you do both heads at the same time.
Cleaning and buttoning things up
Probably should have painted the valve covers...
The clutch was relatively low mileage so it was reused. The transmission was filled with Royal Purple Synchromax and bolted to the engine.
Installation was a breeze the second time... I had to take the drivers side exhaust manifold off and install it while the engine was hanging above its mounts. Still only took about 20 minutes to poke it in and get it settled.
A few hours of hooking things up and she finally came to life. It was a huge relief to see it fire up with no engine leaks or warning lights. Once the lifter noise died down it was very quiet - much quieter than the engine that I swapped into the grey car. If you've got Vanos noise on startup or once the engine is up to temperature, I absolutely suggest getting the press from Beisan.
The very next day the radiator started leaking. It could have always leaked I suppose. The car never ran for me before the engine swap. In went a new Nissens radiator and a new fan clutch for good measure.
I polished the body again and worked on the interior. It's just about done now and will hopefully be sold soon.
The winter started happening and the Jeep needed a bunch of new suspension. Leaf spring replacement can be a hateful job when the mounting bolts are corroded in place. Ended up having to cut all of them out.
I apologize for the lack of retro stuff up until now. Next in line is the M635. Just ordered all of the replacement rear bumper parts for it and we should be seeing some sheet metal pretty soon. Here's the current state of things:
Since the original interior and drivetrain were robbed from this car long ago I am toying with a few different ideas for a new engine. Currently there's an M30B35 in there and it runs alright, but being that this is a genuine M635CSi I feel like it should have something a bit more special. The S52 or S54 come to mind since they stick with the original design of the car. The S54 is exotic but the S52 is a simpler conversion and much less expensive. We will see how things go in the coming months.