BMW E39 M5 touring build #2
Discussion
bolidemichael said:
It's quite something to be confident in tackling both mechanicals and electricals.
Barry, I mentioned this thread to the marketing guys at OH when I saw them today at the Sunday Service. They'll be inviting some RC owners to display their vehicles at the PH25 event in Bicester, so if you're around it may be worth submitting an application, if you haven't already done so.
Ticket bought and application submitted so lets see!Barry, I mentioned this thread to the marketing guys at OH when I saw them today at the Sunday Service. They'll be inviting some RC owners to display their vehicles at the PH25 event in Bicester, so if you're around it may be worth submitting an application, if you haven't already done so.
More weekend progress......
Carrying on with the wiring changes meant the upper dashboard needed to come out to run the additional wiring into the existing loom taping it all in with the correct Tessa tape.
With the dash out and the steering column stripped down, the ignition lock barrel housing needed to be swapped over as on the automatic cars, there is a start interlock cable (visible in the first pic) that prevents the key from being removed unless it is in Park. Simply removing the cable isn't enough as the cable has a sprung loaded pin to push a lever in the housing to release the key. After drilling out the sheer bolts, it was swapped over for the manual spec lock barrel housing.
If you look closely you can see the right housing has a threaded hole for the cable and the left housing has a blind hole.
Dash top back in, the M5 instrument cluster was fitted in place. Keith from AK speedo had done the business before hand sorting the usual dead pixels.
Waiting in the wings were the M5 front seats in black nappa heritage leather. These had received some restoration work from Barker restorations as they were looking a bit tired when pulled from the donor M5.
All four doors received new membranes. A common water ingress point on the E39 (and other BMW's) due to either the butyl tape which holds them on coming unstuck due to age or by some beastly action where someone has been in there replacing a window reg or central locking actuator.
Someone had been in both rear doors I suspect the try and reseal them due to the first reason but they had used some sealant that was a nightmare to get off the door before I could reapply fresh butyl tape. Each rear door took over an hour to clean where as the unmolested fronts only took 10 min to remove the 20 year old butyl tape.
A lucky score was a nice upgrade for this project......
..... but before we get to that, for anyone that knows E39's will appreciate this pic. For those that don't, the door cads can suffer from water damage from the aforementioned membrane issues. A set of door cards were found of which none had any water ingress damage being a black mouldy mess of weakened card.
The door cards were of the complete leather variety, ie a fully leather trimmed panel bar the door top. Complete leather was an expensive option on the M5 so it was nice to find a complete set with its accompanying parts.
Those parts being the whole lower dashboard and centre console.
M5 specific switch pack with the all important SPORT button.
An overall snap of of the interior progress with one of the seats fitted.
One aspect not mentioned so far in the post is the wood. Ah BMW wood!
To many, any attempt at wood in anything other than a big slab across the dash and door tops in a Rolls or Jag is just not going to cut it. Many types of "wood" have been offered in BMW's over the years including the E39 in general.
On the M5 a wood veneer called Buryere was offered and was only available on the M5 which comprised of the usual dash, door strips and gear lever surround plus the gear knob and hand brake lever.
The donor M5 was specced with this trim which is relatively rare compared to the more common M5 specific titan shadow trim but the previous owner had started to replace the wood with the very common silver trim from a lesser M sport model.
Sadly whoever removed the wood had damaged a few pieces resulting a some cracks and bent pieces. A heat gun managed to straighten out the bent parts so I will have to hunt to replace the cracked parts as they are all NLA from BMW.
Carrying on with the wiring changes meant the upper dashboard needed to come out to run the additional wiring into the existing loom taping it all in with the correct Tessa tape.
With the dash out and the steering column stripped down, the ignition lock barrel housing needed to be swapped over as on the automatic cars, there is a start interlock cable (visible in the first pic) that prevents the key from being removed unless it is in Park. Simply removing the cable isn't enough as the cable has a sprung loaded pin to push a lever in the housing to release the key. After drilling out the sheer bolts, it was swapped over for the manual spec lock barrel housing.
If you look closely you can see the right housing has a threaded hole for the cable and the left housing has a blind hole.
Dash top back in, the M5 instrument cluster was fitted in place. Keith from AK speedo had done the business before hand sorting the usual dead pixels.
Waiting in the wings were the M5 front seats in black nappa heritage leather. These had received some restoration work from Barker restorations as they were looking a bit tired when pulled from the donor M5.
All four doors received new membranes. A common water ingress point on the E39 (and other BMW's) due to either the butyl tape which holds them on coming unstuck due to age or by some beastly action where someone has been in there replacing a window reg or central locking actuator.
Someone had been in both rear doors I suspect the try and reseal them due to the first reason but they had used some sealant that was a nightmare to get off the door before I could reapply fresh butyl tape. Each rear door took over an hour to clean where as the unmolested fronts only took 10 min to remove the 20 year old butyl tape.
A lucky score was a nice upgrade for this project......
..... but before we get to that, for anyone that knows E39's will appreciate this pic. For those that don't, the door cads can suffer from water damage from the aforementioned membrane issues. A set of door cards were found of which none had any water ingress damage being a black mouldy mess of weakened card.
The door cards were of the complete leather variety, ie a fully leather trimmed panel bar the door top. Complete leather was an expensive option on the M5 so it was nice to find a complete set with its accompanying parts.
Those parts being the whole lower dashboard and centre console.
M5 specific switch pack with the all important SPORT button.
An overall snap of of the interior progress with one of the seats fitted.
One aspect not mentioned so far in the post is the wood. Ah BMW wood!
To many, any attempt at wood in anything other than a big slab across the dash and door tops in a Rolls or Jag is just not going to cut it. Many types of "wood" have been offered in BMW's over the years including the E39 in general.
On the M5 a wood veneer called Buryere was offered and was only available on the M5 which comprised of the usual dash, door strips and gear lever surround plus the gear knob and hand brake lever.
The donor M5 was specced with this trim which is relatively rare compared to the more common M5 specific titan shadow trim but the previous owner had started to replace the wood with the very common silver trim from a lesser M sport model.
Sadly whoever removed the wood had damaged a few pieces resulting a some cracks and bent pieces. A heat gun managed to straighten out the bent parts so I will have to hunt to replace the cracked parts as they are all NLA from BMW.
Edited by BSSBMW on Sunday 19th March 23:28
Edited by BSSBMW on Sunday 19th March 23:29
BSSBMW said:
Thanks for the comments everyone!
I have lost count of the number of people that have asked to buy it if I ever sell this one, how many of those are serious I don't know but if I do ever come to sell it I think the fair way would be to auction it off.
I imagine lots of people say they're interested until the actual nitty gritty of money was discussed. Davie_GLA said:
Bravo mate. You could do well here and churn these out to order!
I didn't read the last one fully but will now.
Can l be added to the list of prospective new owner?
Thanks but they are to labour intensive to be a profitable business proposition.I didn't read the last one fully but will now.
Can l be added to the list of prospective new owner?
I have lost count of the number of people that have asked to buy it if I ever sell this one, how many of those are serious I don't know but if I do ever come to sell it I think the fair way would be to auction it off.
That said even if it was new M3 money I know which one is more desirable.
Barry,
This is looking fantastic, I am big fan of the wood trim in this. I swapped out the aluminium trim in previous E39 for wood, personally I much prefer it.
The extended leather is a subtle but great touch. Do you have a plan for the rear seat yet? Will you re-trim the touring rear in a heritage style to match the fronts and swap the headrests over?
Looking forward to hopefully seeing it in the flesh when it’s completed.
Cheers.
This is looking fantastic, I am big fan of the wood trim in this. I swapped out the aluminium trim in previous E39 for wood, personally I much prefer it.
The extended leather is a subtle but great touch. Do you have a plan for the rear seat yet? Will you re-trim the touring rear in a heritage style to match the fronts and swap the headrests over?
Looking forward to hopefully seeing it in the flesh when it’s completed.
Cheers.
Chunkychucky said:
Epic, love seeing these updates! Just when I think it can't get any better, Heritage leather too so no Ostrich 
Still working on a bank I can rob to buy this one when it's finished given I missed the first one!
Agreed, I much prefer the Heritage leather as well. Caramel would be lovely the black works with the grey.Still working on a bank I can rob to buy this one when it's finished given I missed the first one!
CB 987 said:
Barry,
This is looking fantastic, I am big fan of the wood trim in this. I swapped out the aluminium trim in previous E39 for wood, personally I much prefer it.
The extended leather is a subtle but great touch. Do you have a plan for the rear seat yet? Will you re-trim the touring rear in a heritage style to match the fronts and swap the headrests over?
Looking forward to hopefully seeing it in the flesh when it’s completed.
Cheers.
I have the M5 rear head rests to go in and will be getting the rear bench trimmed to match.This is looking fantastic, I am big fan of the wood trim in this. I swapped out the aluminium trim in previous E39 for wood, personally I much prefer it.
The extended leather is a subtle but great touch. Do you have a plan for the rear seat yet? Will you re-trim the touring rear in a heritage style to match the fronts and swap the headrests over?
Looking forward to hopefully seeing it in the flesh when it’s completed.
Cheers.
More weekend progress.
The inside of the car is pretty much back together minus the rear seat. The Load shackles have been left off as I need to gain access later on to where the rear air springs connect and also as the plastic load sill cover is looking decidedly tires so will be replaced with a new one.
All of the wiring and electrical components for the audio and nav and back where they belong. As with the green M5T, I've retained the self levelling rear air suspension so the compressor now fits in the section in front of the battery tray. The eagle eyed will spot a hydraulic unit resting just in front, this is the pump for the powered tailgate, a feature the green car didn't have so I need to make a bracket for this plus one for the SLS control unit.
Various new parts piling up getting ready for the major mechanical work.
The remaining M5 fuel supply system fitted up with all new pipework and filter.
A couple of other remaining bits of wiring were finished off in the engine bay in preparation for the engine installation.
Until next weeks update!
The inside of the car is pretty much back together minus the rear seat. The Load shackles have been left off as I need to gain access later on to where the rear air springs connect and also as the plastic load sill cover is looking decidedly tires so will be replaced with a new one.
All of the wiring and electrical components for the audio and nav and back where they belong. As with the green M5T, I've retained the self levelling rear air suspension so the compressor now fits in the section in front of the battery tray. The eagle eyed will spot a hydraulic unit resting just in front, this is the pump for the powered tailgate, a feature the green car didn't have so I need to make a bracket for this plus one for the SLS control unit.
Various new parts piling up getting ready for the major mechanical work.
The remaining M5 fuel supply system fitted up with all new pipework and filter.
A couple of other remaining bits of wiring were finished off in the engine bay in preparation for the engine installation.
Until next weeks update!
Sf_Manta said:
This is absolutely on OEM+ level for restorations
Stven? from M539 Restorations on Youtube would be proud of this!
I agree - Sreten - https://www.instagram.com/m539_restorations/?hl=en & https://www.youtube.com/c/M539Restorations?app=des...Stven? from M539 Restorations on Youtube would be proud of this!
and yes he would; he's in the middle of restoring an E39 530i touring which he's going to supercharge 
E90_M3Ross said:
That looks utterly terrifying 
Same here - the mechanical work looks OK(ish) but the wiring....nah. OP - great work as always. I love the interior of the E39; its such a classy, well made place to sit. Yours looks even better with the extended leather.
Edited by Court_S on Monday 27th March 11:31
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