Mykk

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.





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:



Most BMW enthusiasts hate it, I like it.

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





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







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.



Installed some seats:



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.



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





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.




Spec lightweight single mass flywheel, Spec StageII kevlar clutch:









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.





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.





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









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.

Mykk

A few updates on Project Ares: Replaced a siezed Spec clutch with a Luk clutch. Removed 2.93:1 rear gear for 3.62:1 LSD, Remove Bosch Motronic DME and installed and tuning a DIY EFI called Speeduino after converting the ignition system to a waste spark MSD set up.

Mykk

Started building a new engine: M62 shortblock, M60B40 heads and cams with M60 double roller timing set up. Eaton M112 supercharger from a Jaguar.