neilv

So I may as well start a build thread because chances are I'm going to modify this thing a bit as it goes along. I picked up an 07 E61 530xi 6spd car for winter duty. I grabbed an 09 335i M-sport 6spd rwd car for a daily and being never winter driven I decided to keep it that way. Last year I took the long time family hauler; Volvo V70 T5 and had that last winter. Even though its been dead reliable and fairly quick; The Automatic transmission(my first) just never sat right. So while contemplating a manual swap or selling and getting a manual one, someone made me an offer good enough and I took it. So I was on the hunt for fairly reliable, fun to drive, manual wagon (AWD was a bonus). Not knowing the E61s came in manual this popped up and I grabbed it( Idea was an E91 sport or B7 3.2 S-line)

Canada got ~34 530 and ~33 535 manual wagons according to the vin list. Finding one in okay shape/decent mileage and rust free while staying in budget actually worked out well. I was actually aiming for a N52 wagon (Already have 2 modded N54 cars, 2 modded summer toys and 1 race car) but the truth is I wouldn't have turned down an N54 either.

The colour (Amethyst grey) wasn't my choice but its not the worst either. I would have preferred the Sport seats/steering wheel too but the interior colour is cool and unique. Its a priority one option for Canada and a few european countries. Amethyst Dakota(Rozenholz) was only available on a few exterior colours and only pre-lci; only 5 wagons were spec'ed with it and only 1 manual. I also looked and only 7 E60/E61 cars had sport amethyst dakota seats; 4 were pre-production prototypes and 1 of the others was written off. I also got lucky it has some nice features like Logic 7 stereo, rear heated seats and also no BS sensors like night vision, active cruise, or lane detection. NAV is also not needed but I already have a screen in the car so may as well (E90 was lucky enough to have a non-idrive dash). Parking sensors I never care for but for a big car like this in the driveway I actually dont hate it.


So far I have:
new car buying maintenance( changed every single fluid to synthetic, filters, overhauled the brakes and cleaned the engine bay/underneath, new plugs, serp belt/pulleys, clean sunroof drains)
Charcoal filter delete
de-badge hatch
claybar, polish, nano/ceramic coating
pulled front alignment pin(max neg camber)
E90 LED plate lights
Homelink rearview mirror
Black grills
New waterpump/thermostat/some hoses
New battery
flush/fill hatch fluid/new hatch strut
clutch CDV delete
brake wear sensors deleted
serpentine/tensioner/pulleys
and some other TLC that the car needed

My first impressions of the car: steering wheel really sucks(heated is nice though), seats are flat and have absolutely no bolstering, its slow, feels really heavy and the suspension is floaty/horrible/boat feeling. Other than that it drives pretty well.

The wheels came with the car (17x8 +20 w/ 245 Blizzaks); I like the rear fitment but the front is just a touch too far out even with the neg camber increase. I'm thinking some 18" style 162s I have laying around with a 5/12 spacers on them.

The other cars being the main focus and where money should go; This wont be a huge build. But what comes up cheap/locally/at scrap yards, Ill make something of it. Here is what I have planned:
medium window tint
Sport/M-sport steering wheel
Tan sport(not-comfort) seats and re-dye Amethyst
Front lowering springs(since H&Rs suck I'm looking into E90 ZHP springs) w/struts of course
LM2
Euro E61 LCI tails
LCI xenon headlights
CIC swap
rwd 535/545/550 front brake swap(aluminum hat rotors) and possibly the rear + RWD hub swap
M5/M6 rear sway bar
M-sport front bumper
Black window trim(I despise chrome)
535 oil cooler possibly

And for engine mods I feel this are all you can really do:
MILV's
secondary cat delete
N53 exhaust manifolds
Tune

And for pictures sake; here is my Summer daily, Race car and the previous winter wagon

MysticRob

I dig that color on the E61, helps blend in the shiny window bits that I don't like on mine. Keep us updated please, always nice to read about these awesome cars getting some lovin'.

Smith_Jason

Last summer I had the perfect winter wagon. Was a 2006 M sport E61 6 speed and it was Oxford Green, cool car, didn't work out the way I wanted and it ended up down the road in Calgary. Fast forward and I'm now driving a N54/E61 - I'm a glutton for punishment.

Looks like you've sorted out most the things that need attention on these. Best of luck

FuzzyWuzzy

Wait. There's a VIN list for our wagons? I wanna see that.

Also, wagon looks great. List of mods look pretty good, too. I will suggest though that for the rear sway bar, go with the Dinan Adjustable M5; a couple MM or so thicker and typically the same price or even cheaper than stock, at least they were when I did this mod and shopping on eBay.

You'd be correct in terms of those engine mods. There is the ESS supercharger kit for $5k if you're feeling up to it, as well.

neilv

Thanks guys! Colour is unusual but I'm sure it'll grow on me; Just hope it looks clean with all the winter dirt/slush unlike black.

Rear sway I'll likely wait until there is an M5/M6 part out locally but surprising the Dinan bar is cheaper than expected.

For the numbers list of manual E61's for North America(pre-lci #0-12 were press cars and ~10% of total went to canada)

2006: B799000 to B799188 (189)
2007: B799189 to B799334 (146)
2008: CW98000 to CW98130 (131)
2009: CW98131 to CW98215 (85)
2010 CW98216 to CW98327 (112)

Sickfinga over on maxbimmer has access and can get a few cool production numbers of your specific car. Damn good guy for doing this.

Wagon Master

For those looking for VIN related data, here is a great thread with an abundance of info.

https://5series.net/forums/e61-touri...l-e61s-142515/

neilv

So I've managed to get a few things done on the car. I ended up coding down the level of assist for the servotronic steering. Factory it is set to highest (wert9) which made steering feel horrible and much like a corolla. I tried wert1(factory sport button settings) which made the steering feel fantastic but it was legit 0 assist; felt like my manual steering cars so a bit much under 40km. I switched it to wert2 and its better but still a little light; Id like something in between ideally but for now it does drive much much nicer.

These are some of the spares I had before:
Combox telematic
CIC screen
Homelink rearview
E90 LCI LED plate lights
Sealed IBS
AUX/USB plug

As well as there was an 07 550 m-sport car at a local yard so I managed to snag a few things from the car:
M-sport steering wheel (not heated so still unsure about swapping)
M-sport dead pedal
M-sport sill trims
LCI headlight switch/panel
Rwd strut top covers (05 530 technically)


Front+Rear calipers/rotors/pads (348F/345R)
rotors and pads look a few months old in the front and weeks old in the rear. front rotors are coated but the rears are genuine BMW 2pc aluminum hat rotors. Not one for getting used brake parts but these look like they were JUST installed. Also grabbed the front dust shields to see if they bolt on or if I can just drill new holes.


M-sport non-ARS rear sway (16mm)
Black leather covered center console
Door mirrors (LED ambient lighting versions); One of mine is corroding on the body so why not right.


Maybe I'll get to install some of it over the holiday break

neilv

E90 LED plate lights; They might just a touch brighter than stock but have the LED temperature light and less draw. I'm glad they arn't much brighter than stock; like the stupid ones that are like spot lights for the license plate. Just why would you want to be showing that off from 50 feet away in the dark...


As well I got my replacement mirrors mounted. Came with power folding and the LED ambient lighting as well as my heated/power/autodim; Coded in the lighting and its kinda cool I guess but I'll never use power folding so I didn't bother.


LCI light switch, M-sport dead pedal and M-sport sill trims swapped from the 550


And the difference between the XI(12mm) and the pre-lci 550 M sport(16mm) rear sway. It was a U.S car so it was very clean under and for only $12, seems like good performance per dollar (M5 is 18mm and ~$400 here). Not a jaw dropping change but for spitired corners, it is 100% noticeable

rice_rocket88

Wow, definitely admire the time and effort you can spend on the car.. sounds like fun! Just a comment about the steering wheel wert programming.. you should be able to add in a few lines with mph/kph limits to change the steering assist based upon your speed. I enabled the sport mode myself on my LCI e60 and it was great on the highway but completely horrible in the parking lot. I don't remember the exact line code, but it was literally duplicating the existing one and adding in a speed threshold.

neilv

Thanks! I've been working on the steering a bit more and this is what I've come up with; Still a little light at parking lot speeds but the rest is pretty good. As close to the amazing steering feel that the E90 chassis has:

GESCHWIN_WERTE_KOMFORT_KGM
Wert_02
Wert_03
Wert_06

STROMWERTE_KOMFORT_KGM
Wert_02
Wert_03

I'm also still trying to find if I can turn on the throttle(EDK) setting for sport mode without pressing the button. I'm searching all the modules still.