Hi all. Instead of clogging various threads with sideshow discussion I figured it was time to maybe document it in one place here. Sorry for the following text wall....got almost 2 years to condense here. Beginning to current pics will be in 2nd post.

Picked up my 2008 535xiT in January 2018 with 94k miles on it, but luckily the previous owner took good care of it. Options include..

-Heated Seats/Wheel
-Premium
-Logic7
-HBA & LDW
-HUD & Night Vision
-Rear Sun Shades
-Ventilated Multi-Contour Seats
-Sport Package

He had originally leased it, then did a "Pass Through" at lease maturity where it was CPO'd and he re-purchased it. Despite being Certified, he still spent $13k on it over the years servicing it at the dealership...*gulp*

As expected it came to me with a lot of documentation, my initial diag with ISTA at the dealer I purchased from revealed the battery was on it's last legs, and my visual inspection revealed the VCG, and Oil Pan were leaking, as well as some bubbling on the tailgate but thanks to that 12 year/unl mile BMW rust warranty, I wasn't terribly concerned.

Some of the major things done 36 months or less before I bought it were:
-Tailgate Hydro Pump
-Rear Air Springs & Compressor
-Turbos
-Injectors
-HPFP
-Water Pump(lol) as of 9/17/19 it was having it's third installed at 111k.
& many other...less expensive odds and ends.

Once I'd completed the 4 hour trek home a few things were clear to me.
-My keyless entry/comfort access weren't working properly & my radio was staticy whenever I hit the brakes
-I had at least one bent wheel/out of round tire
-The hood roundel finished flying off on the highway
-I needed tint done ASAP

Fast Forward to now and it's had...quite a bit done, including the above...

Maintenance:
-Front Ball Joints
-Tension Arm Bushes
-Trans Service(Valve Body Seals, Mechatronics Sleeve, Filter & Fluid) didn't do the solenoids as it was shifting fine, mainly for peace of mind.
-Plugs/Coils
-Diversity Antenna
-Tailgate Replaced
-Tie Rods(Inner/Outer)
-Belt & Pulleys/Tensioner
-LF Axle Shaft

Interior:
-E61 M5 Black Headliner, Pillars, Euro Visors
-P3 Vent Gauge
-M5 Gauge Cluster(Warmup Lights & Oil Temp Working)
-LED Lighting
-Coded ///M HUD
-Pending HU_NBT Retrofit w/DIY CAN Microcontroller...have parts, just a matter of time -_-

Exterior:
-LED Sidemarkers
-Genuine Mtech Front Bumper & Side Skirts(got them for free from a 550i, hence the black accents at first)
-Full LED Swap in Front & Rear Lamp Assemblies
-ISC Street Comfort Coilovers
-12mm Front Spacers and 20mm Rear

Driveline/Various Performance Bits:
-Synapse BOV/CP(e90 version but was able to make it fit with little fuss)
-Burger DCI
-Wagner Clone Intercooler
-Powerstop Drilled/Slotted Rotors & Ceramic Pads
-Powerflex CAB's & Sway Bar Bushes
-Custom Tune flashed with MHD and the XHP Stg 3 Trans Flash
-All Vac tubing to silicone
-Dinan Axleback Exhaust
-New Water Pump, Thermostat, and Puller fan w/ECS Silicone Hoses & Water Wetter. Adjusted temp targets down in the tune for better heat management.
-RB PCV Valve

Car had been stunningly reliable until the last 90 days or so, really just after 110k miles.. then suddenly became incredibly needy. Hoping this is it for awhile so my reserves recover a bit :/

 

1/23/18-Delivery Day. A friend and I took the 4 hour-ish ride from Cincy to Akron in my 540i6 and of course had a blast on the way back

March 2018-Post Tint, Cleaning day for them both.

There's a Jeremy Clarkson fan.

Nearing the big 100k

Post P3 Install

Evening of Mtech install

Yay for Dinan

Beginning of the shit show that was the powerflex CAB install

Road trip from Cincy to Asheville-10/2018

Another day, another Subaru EJ25 in the back of a wagon

Before Paint Work

After Paint Work

In Process Replacing Headliner w/M5 bits

UK Spec M5 Headliner-Complete

ISC Coilover Install-8/2019

8/2019

9/6/19

 

Nice car. Lots of cool stuff. I have a similar 2010, less miles and always old man driven (I count myself int there). Would love to have the night vision.

Curious about the M5 cluster retro and the NBT as well. I have the newer CIC but I’ll check it out.

I have ave some options retro fits I hope to do next 12 months or so. Still catching up maintenance. Trans left and then some bodywork.

 

Very nice. Always nice to see more E61s. Rare as hen's teeth around here. I picked mine up last November from a 60-something yr old couple whose wife drove and babied it.
Had a slight misfire, non-functional hatch glass, and a cargo area full of water when I bought it, so a walnut blast, new plugs, new rear hatch glass release, and a huge cleaning out of drain lines front and back (plus gasket maker on the sunroof hose attachment nipples) were in order for me.

I have some electrical gremlins with the right side view mirror (over adjusts when backing) and if I leave it parked too long the date and time reset (I travel a lot), but otherwise I love it with the MHD Stage 1 and xHP Stage 1 engine and tranny tunes on it.

 

How bad was the rust on the tailgate that they replaced it? I have heard others say online that BMW won't fix it unless the rust makes an actual hole through the panel. I had a tiny bubble on my tailgate last fall so I just sanded it down and hand-painted over it. Wondering if I should have left it and taken to BMW for warranty...

I also look forward to hearing about your NBT adventures and what all you have to do. I've seen kits from places like bimmerretrofit.com, but it's pricey stuff.

 

Before I agreed to even make an offer on mine I had the PO get the hatch replaced via the BMW corrosion warranty. I’ve helped a couple people with this.

 

Thanks a lot! The night vision is neat but to be 100% honest half the time I do forget it's there. I'd much rather have the ACC >

The M5 cluster was a bit of a....cluster. It was listed as a 2009 MY Cluster but upon taking it apart we quickly realized that was not the case, so after a few trials we finally landed on placing the M5 cluster face over the cars original cluster backing, which ultimately worked. I still need to program the EEPROM chip in order for the tamper dot to go away and my CBS to work correctly. But I'm not getting any errors or anything from it. The hilarious part was doing the key read here at the dealership and it showed it as having 10.6 million miles(maximum value the clusters EEPROM can hold). The odometer however is showing correctly. Just a matter of getting around to doing it, since it's pretty low priority atm.

My buddy and I now have 2 NBT retrofits under our belts, one is in my E39 and the other in his wife's '04 E60 530i. Last year we did a...interior revamp on the latter. Her car was originally venetian beige, no nav, etc. We did E66 760li Front Seats, black carpet, NBT, Silverstone M5 door panels & console. We dyed her original dash to silverstone(actually turned out fantastic), leather wrapped pillars, m5 headliner, all kinds of stuff. It started when a sunroof drain leak went unnoticed for an extended period and much of the interior was beyond saving....so since we're maniacs we went all out. Both were done with Raspberry Pi can controllers.


Removing the sea of beige



Leather pillars with contrast stitching

CBS all set

Pre LCI E60 M5 seat button panel re-purposed to control the E66 seat functions.



Rare as hens teeth, haha I like that.

I recently had the cargo area water leak from the passenger rear drain. Turns out it was just a clog, corrected with some compressed air and a tiny hose clamp. I recently had an issue like that with the mirror. Started after I replaced the battery(lol). Drove it for a couple of days without registering it. Once I registered the battery, it went away. That paired with the time and date issue, sounds like there is definitely some sort of power management/battery issue. Have you had it tested?

Shortly after I got the car in March of 18, I found some bubbling under the window trim and submitted a claim with BMW. They required 2 quotes to proceed. One shop quoted replacement of the hatch, while the other was convinced they could refinish it and the rust wouldn't come back. I own an e39, I know you can't sand down rust and paint over it for permanent results. Sure enough, less than a year later it returned...and it was far more aggressive, not only was the paint bubbling but blistering and cracking as well.. So, submitted another claim, but this time it wasn't only the tailgate. I found some under the "shadowline door trim" on both passenger side doors, so I got photos for this as well and submitted those. BMW approved a $4,900 estimate to strip and refinish the passenger doors, blend it into the fender and quarter/bumper covers, and replacement of the rear tailgate. I was blown away but I wasn't going to look into the gift horses mouth.

I've really wanted to purchase a retrofit adapter, if nothing else to dump it and see what makes it tick and maybe glean insight to how they do a couple of things here and there but ultimately the Pi is such an inexpensive solution(there were some man hours that went into the script that makes it all work, mind you) that it's hard to justify the additional expense at this point in time. Since the wagon has HUD though, I would really like to make sure that is functional in concert with NBT.

 

Was the comfort access due to battery in fob died? Not programmed? Or had to reconfigure wiring? And I have same issue with radio, how’d you fix it? Thanks

 

...Can you divulge who sold you your anthracite headliner?

Every UK seller on eBay I've dealt with act like it's near impossible to do without charging me $500 and folding the liner in half.

 

@ThatNewGuy, I'm strongly considering getting that exact exhaust for my car with the same engine. How would you describe the sound? "V8-ish", "M5-ish", "OEM+", "Obviously aftermaket", "hear me before you see me?", "my neighbors hate me"...?

Any chance you can upload a sound clip to YT?

Is there any drone with the automatic transmission?

$1,300USD is a lot for a one-can, double-tip axle-back. That's why I ask.