Alpine003

Oh man that sucks. Seriously I think the stars were aligning for us or something. LOL

I had a very similar accident and admittedly, I've been putting the repair on the back burner for awhile now.





I hope you get yours fixed soon.

ucsbwsr

After replacing a dead battery the wagon sprung to life on first crank, didn't miss a beat which was reassuring.

Next order of business was replacing a lower control arm. I bought a cheap Delphi unit as I will be replacing the entire subframe, control arms, knuckles, and steering rack to M5 spec so cheap made sense for the time being.

Thankfully the new control arm has seem to of resolved all alignment issues, I am sure it isn't 100% in spec but there is not noticeable pull and everything feels as it did previously. I took the wagon around the neighborhood to get the engine and fluids up to temp.



The vinyl on the roof and Plasti-Dip on the shark fin were in rough shape from sitting in the San Diego sun. They served me well for 5 years but it was time to retire them. The paint underneath looks fantastic after a cleaning and clay bar session. I plan to go back to black (hopefully paint) but for now I will stay with the white while I focus on more pressing matters.








Nice to have her back in the garage.

ucsbwsr

Yes, very similar damage. Did the reinforcement that runs from the front of the sub fender to the radiator support (behind the headlight) get damaged? If so, the repair should be pretty straight forward, just pop out the old one and pop in the new one should be <$1,000. If that isn't damaged then it looks like the damage is limited to headlight, hood, bumper, and fender. Not cheap to replace and paint them but they are all "bolt ons" which is nice. You might have some luck finding AW E60s being parted out. I have more of an uphill battle since I run OEM M5 body panels so I will likely source cheap ones without damage and have them repainted.

Alpine003

ucsbwsr

Took advantage of some local LKQ yards and collected parts for the E61 and the E39 Touring.

For the E61:
- Hood (only $51!)
- Lower engine reinforcement (for RWD/M5 subframe conversion)
- Headlight bracket
- OEM Roundel
- Hood release cables

For the E39:
- Door sill moldings
- Driver door weather stripping
- Black lower seat and rail trim
- Tool kit tools, tow hook, glovebox flashlight

Score


I started to pull a RWD subframe for my E61 but realized it was damaged halfway into the extraction, bummer. There is another E60 there which might be an acceptable donor.


Wagon doing wagon things


Might go back for some RWD parts off this 528i


The hood cleaned up nicely, there is one scratch which will need some body filler but no other major damage.


Engine reinforcement looks brand new after a powerwash.

ucsbwsr

There has been a lot of progress made on my RWD/M5 subframe conversion. All major parts have arrived or are in the mail. Some were collected from local pick your part yards, some through local dismantlers, some via eBay, and some are brand new.

The main motive for doing this is to run the quicker M5 steering rack but coming from AWD it requires EVERYTHING be converted; subframe, spindles, control arms, sway bar, engine mounts, engine brackets. Kind of annoying but in addition to the M5 steering rack this will save 40-50lbs off the front end, not to mention all the wear items I sourced are low mileage or new so the E61 defy it's odometer reading.


90+F day, gravel, hand tools, no engine hoist, love it.


Cleaned up nicely


Here is a pic of my current, soon to be old, steel AWD subframe, the RWD/M5 unit is aluminum and saves about 22lbs with the subframe alone.


Here is where we stand. Sway bar end links and brackets are in the mail, passenger side engine mount and some hardware will be reused from the E61. Also, I found out the E60 M5 sway bar is 26mm, E61 M5 and E63 sways are 28mm, and the E64 or E63 with competition pack have 29mm so naturally I snagged one from an e64! Convertibles are good for something!





The support which connects the sub fender and radiator support which was damaged in my accident arrived with it's required rivets and glue, the glue was as expensive as the support! This repair should be done by next week which is great since it means I can bolt a headlight and fender to it and legally drive the E61.




I already have the headlight washer system deleted so while my bumper is replaced I am considering deleting the washer caps as well as the PDC system since having that on the front of a car is silly IMO.
Here is a quick photoshop of what it would look like:


With the completion of the E61's repair on the horizon that means the e39's services will no longer be needed and it will be up for sale. I am contemplating swapping a manual into it prior to selling as manual V8 wagons make the world a better place!

FuzzyWuzzy

The more complete AWD to RWD work you do, the less guess work I'll end up doing at a later date.

Gonna toss in a LS at some point to really make my life easier?

ucsbwsr

I would love to have an LS at some point. Either a nasty but streetable N/A build with mild cam and bolt-ons or a twin turbo setup that has fast turbo response and makes nice power on pump gas. But that won't be in this wagon. I really like the character (mainly exhaust note) and power of the N54, this build has also been comprehensive and all the components are balanced and work well together.

535xrayindigo

Gadabout