5Series.net - Forums - Project Ares: E34 540i/6

Hey Guys, here's a little build thread on my E34 540i/6. It's my project daily driver that I've been putting together as a fun hot street build, replacing or modifying along the way as I see fit to my own personal tastes.

I picked up the car non-running. It would crank but not fire.

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The car came with 18 M-parallel copy wheels. The chrome is destroyed on each, so I dismounted the tires and now the wheels are a coffee table in my apartment.

It took me a while but I found that the harmonic damper was installed clocked incorrectly so the DME was sending fuel and spark timing way off into no mans land. Once it was running I took care of a few leaks and then drove it for a year and a half, slowly modifying things along the way.

I made a grill for it:

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Most BMW enthusiasts hate it, I like it.

Then I traded the wheels off of a junk car that came through my shop.

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Replaced all of the broke engine & trans mounts for a set of RevShift Poly 95a mounts:

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For computer tuning I'm running an Ostrich 2.0 chip emulator installed in a Bosch 404 DME loaded with my own tunes via TunerProRT. I eventually want to get that MAFT-PRO piggyback unit to take primary fueling control as it has wideband O2 AFR tracking capability.

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Installed some seats:

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After daily driving for 1.5 years it came time to address the clutch, as it was already grabbing at the end of the pedal stroke since day one.

I opt'd to pull the drivetrain, clean things up. Replace & modify a few things.

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I also wanted to dial in some custom cam timing, and add a few bolt on's while it was out:

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The OE cam timing uses a 246°/242° duration on a 109°ICL with 108°LSA. I advanced intake cams and retarded exhaust cams for a 106°ICL./106°LSA. Nothing drastic, just a little increase in dynamic compression and valve overlap.

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Spec lightweight single mass flywheel, Spec StageII kevlar clutch:

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Cleaned up and painted the engine bay/body/frame. Removed ABS pump, installed manual brake bias valve. Removed leaking 540i steering gear, installed 525i steering gear converter to manual steering.

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On the way in those aftermarket headers didn't come close to sitting in the body of the car. So the OE manifolds went back on, after a header wrap treatment.

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I then tackled the control arms, and then also lowered the front end a bit.

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It's going in for an alignment and to have new exhaust pipes made this week. I'll keep modifying it, and tweaking it. The computer tuning and speed density conversion will take a bit. I have toyed with idea of adding nitrous. But really, the only other major mod I have planned is to rid of the 2.91:1 open rear differential and rebuild it using E46 M3 210mm 3.64:1 gears and limited slip carrier.