RHD PNZR

[Mateo8]

Let me introduce you to my car (some of you may know already because I bought it from the Bridgewater area), I drive a 2000 BMW 540it.  It is a v8 station wagon and is painted glacier green over a black interior.  When I bought the car everything worked great and I had about a week of normal driving then it stated running rough, turned out it was a bad coil pack on cylinder 8, $60 and 5 min of work later I was back running 100%.  I drove the car off and on until about early May and that a when a cam position sensor went out on me so I decided to bite the bullet and whilst I is was working on the engine I decided to refresh the cooling system and may as well do the timing chain guides because PO didn't  know the last time they were done.  The job took about a month and the now I thought I had 120k of future trouble free miles because the engine held great compressino and had fantastic leakdown numbers when I got it back together. Well turns out I did not clean out the oil inside the cam bolt housings and all 4 cam bolts backed out when the car was running.  After a couple of months of trouble shooting(all of which can be found  if you want the thread I can PM it to you) I finally figured out it was the valves that must not be properly seating/sealing when it needs to be sealed. Turns out I was right and I had 13 bent intake and 2 bent exhaust valves, ok now I know why they say the "The most expensive BMW is a cheap BMW) but new heads  were pretty cheap and now I have an engine that will be nearly new, so the m5 conversion I was planning on this summer may have to be pushed back so I can enjoy this car in its stock form for a bit.  I will try and get some better photos of the car next time I am back home

                   

[Deceus]

"The most expensive BMW is a cheap BMW"

Thank god I have you guys to learn that lesson for me haha. I've always been tempted by some cheaper higher mileage BMWs as a "fun commuter" but seeing the stuff you guys go through, I don't think I could do it.

[Mateo8]

"The most expensive BMW is a cheap BMW"

Thank god I have you guys to learn that lesson for me haha. I've always been tempted by some cheaper higher mileage BMWs as a "fun commuter" but seeing the stuff you guys go through, I don't think I could do it.

With all cars you will have to do maintenance on it, when you get higher in miles the more expensive they tend to get, but total on parts to get the wagon running, after I screwed up the timing job because I'm an idiot, I've only put $1350 into the car.  These are all the new (non-cosmetic) parts in I can think of right now:

- all new timing chains (main and cams)
- all new guides (main and secondaries)
- all new tensioners (main and secondaries)
- all new PCV, PCC, intake manifold, valley pan gaskets
- new water pump
- new oil pan gasket
- new timing cover gaskets
- new valve cover gaskets
- remanufactured VANOS units
- remanufactured heads
- flushed cooling system
- new trans oil cooler
- oil change with new filter
- new cam position sensors

If you do not do the work yourself it is true an old BMW will bleed you wallet dry, but if you do the work on your own cars it is a lot of fun.  BMW's are built like legos, and since the sedan and wagon are the same car underneath for the most part, the parts are not that expensive or hard to get as there are a ton of the sedans around

[Kaan]

RJ get in here and start fapp'n

[Senor_Taylor]

Youch. That is an expensive mistake. BMWs with 2 banks scare me.

[Mateo8]

Youch. That is an expensive mistake. BMWs with 2 banks scare me.

Two banks will always be more expensive than one just with the number of parts involved. Speaking on the number of parts, here are all the parts (don't have the exhaust valves or 4 intake valves in the picture) of both heads     

but when running right it is butter smooth with that great low-end torque, and an endless mile eater

[.RJ]

why is this thing RHD and where did it come from? Its not old enough to import.

[Mateo8]

why is this thing RHD and where did it come from?  Its not old enough to import.

the thing is RHD because it is a UK spec car, which luckily comes along with a ton of the euro spec goodies like the parabolic mirrors, the slimmer euro dash and the center arm rest to name a few.  The car came into the country as a diplomatic vehicle, from what I can tell from the previous history of the car is that is was most likely a trade in at the local Nova BMW dealership allowed to stay in the country because it was federalized and was "substantially similar" to the US model and was sold to a wholesaler where it made its way out to Colorado, then to South Carolina, then finally it ended up in the Bridgewater area in 2010.  
     

[ViPER1313]

Welcome to MM. M60 gang! If you want to view my slow decent into madness - http://forum.mmsports.org/showthread.php?tid=11574

[Mateo8]

I bought the car for the specific reason it was not 25 years old yet and it is RHD. I was in the market for a car that is about to hit their bottom on the depreciation curve such as a higher milage 996.1 cars (I love the "glove box" on the early 996s) or a cult classic in the making such as a well taken care of non-1991 BMW e31 850ci/I, but when I saw this and I knew it would be the perfect car for me. The car does have high miles so I had no problem, at first, with the idea of throwing away the drivetrain to swap in the e39 m5 drivetrain to have the ultimate fast wagon, but the more and more I delve into the numbers for production on this car I feel guilty putting modern BMW stuff (like Brian's wagon that sold for $72k on BaT) into the car and think I will go the OEM+ route when I do finally decide to do the swap (remanufactured engine, transmission, and differential). But that swap at the earliest will occur in August so I have time to prep for that

[davej]

Ah man, August is so far away. There's no guarantee I'll still have mywagon for us to terrorize the area. I'll try my hardest to keep it for a full year, or maybe more!

[Mateo8]

So after a year and a half of owning it I was contemplating trading it straight up for a Millennium Edition 996 with 90k miles on it.  The 996 was in ok-ish condition, but did not have the IMS addressed.   I was going to commit on the trade, but only after I had slept on it over the 4th of July weekend.  Unlucky for the Porsche owner I was watching some old episodes of Top Gear and stumbled upon something interesting to say the least...

Top Gear background:
   

A closer inspection: 
   

Lightweight Style 49 wheels:
   

The car's color is Glacier Green, a very rare color only offered for a couple of years, my wagon is 1/1 color combo for e39 540i wagons.  I thought there was no way this was my car so I zoomed in, but to my surprise the car was sporting some really rare Lightweight Style 49 wheels, thats odd... my car came from factory with those wheels... but surely there has to be the standard sunroof on this car, right???? Wrong....no sunroof, exactly like mine (only e39 540i produced apparently without the standard sunroof).  You never know what you're getting when you buy a used car, but man if they could talk they sure would have stories to tell

I'm lucky to own it, and now I will be very reluctant to sell it knowing more about its past

   

[Senor_Taylor]

Someone wanted to trade straight up for a 996? You're not college age are you? That would be wild, but also would 100% get vandalized.

[Mateo8]

Someone wanted to trade straight up for a 996? You're not college age are you? That would be wild, but also would 100% get vandalized.

I am finishing up senior year with the stupid COVID regulations unfortunately.  Like the BMW, the 996 would not have spent more than a select few weekends down at JMU to avoid that precise reason.  The 996 Millennium Edition is a Carrera 4, where as I prefer the Carrera 2, but it is a car I would have a hard time losing money on.  The 540i touring market has taken off recently, which reflects the current e39 m5 market, (EAG has one lister for $60k and the only other RHD variant is available on Hexagonclassics.com for £20k, which doesn't include transport and federalization costs into the USA) where as poorly sorted 540it will sell for $7-10k.  It is one of the easiest cars I have ever worked on, and is a very robust car when sorted.  The 996 market has not really taken off, other than gt3 and gt2 models (the turbo is slowly getting there) but the base 996 911 is looking like it is not going to appreciate (just like the e31 8 series unfortunately).  School duty is reserved for my '97 4Runner 5-speed with factory locker (I seem only to buy cars I can make a buck on).  This weekend the BMW is getting a trans flush and will soon be converted by a local shop to be the only documented RHD e39 touring m5, then well see what it sells for on BaT, or I might just keep it, TBH its all up in the air rn

[Scott]

I would  of traded a 5 series wagon for a 996 in a heart beat.   PPI have the oil analyzed every time, and if no issues, don't worry about IMS until it's time for a clutch.

[ScottyB]

LOL that Top Gear connection is epic. First, that you had the eyes to even spot that in an episode, and second, that it appears its your car which is amazing. how in the hell that all just lined up is nuts.

[Mateo8]

LOL that Top Gear connection is epic.  First, that you had the eyes to even spot that in an episode, and second, that it appears its your car which is amazing.  how in the hell that all just lined up is nuts.

It's easy to recognize the very unique color, Glacier Green, as it was a super rare color on the e39.  There was only 1 touring painted in the color, but to be sure, I had to watch the episode a couple of times to make sure it had the style 49 wheels and it did not have a sunroof to confirm it was my car.   Also, thank god they tested the new LP640 in the episode, so I could date the episode film which confirms it was filmed at least 3 months before my car had its initial importation paperwork was filed.  As a person that if I have any luck it is bad luck, it is nice to finally catch a break 

In other news BMW Performance mag wants to run a couple of articles of the car on its journey to become the first documented RHD e39 touring m5 conversion.  The conversion has been done only once before and I have been in contact with the builder for the past couple of months making sure I have all the correct parts and the things to watch out for during the conversion 

Will keep this thread updated as more details emerge and as the project progresses

[Sijray21]

very cool story and i'm glad you didn't trade it! i'm hoping this turns into one of those BaT auction explosions if you ever decide to sell it.

[Mateo8]

Update to the wagon m5 swap:  I have provided a 500 word write up for Bimmer Performance magazine introducing the car and the future plans, it will be the first of hopefully 5 total articles on the m5 conversion (4 short write ups and 1 feature length wrap up the m5 swap).  I am hoping to take HD pictures of the car tomorrow (GoPro and a Nikon from 2012 so idk how they will turn out).  I would like to get photos at sunrise, noon, sunset and night to show the "color shift" Glacier Green has (it ranges from metallic blue, to metallic light green, to silver), but there is a F1 race tomorrow (massive Vettel fan, unfortunate since he joined Ferrari) and I need to change the clutch in the 4Runner so idk how free I will be.  But I'll keep this thread updated

[Senor_Taylor]

This is more serious than I thought. Amazing

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