E39 540i project or addiction?

[540iMauler]

I have been tinkering with my 98 E39 540i 6 speed for years. You know, 1st the cold air intake, then the little muffler. Since BME parts are not like moding a Vette stuff is costly. Well I have had the car for ever, got it in 2000 with 11k on it. has 50k now.

I come from New Jersey and all we cared about was IROC Camaro's (I am laughing too) well anything with a V8. I love the sound. My family own a funeral home and we had these Pontiac things that looked like a Hurse (used to transport coffins mainly empty or pick up's from train, planes etc) just lifted with posi and a 421 V8. I would take that out and SCHOOL everything. They were light. All members of BMW forum get discounts ;-). Wear seat belts PLEASE... So many people would not have had a ride in the Pontiac if they did.

Anyway back to the point. I was going to get an M3 until my wife started to get a bulge in her stomach which is now my son. The 3 was too small. I saw the 540i and fell in love then noticed the manual and ran out and got one.

Mine is one of the LAST or is the last non VANOS M62 (per my research with BMW in Dingolfing Germany). At first I was a bit bummed until I learned that cams cannot be fitted to an M62 with VANOS. Dinan Makes a set for the S62 but that is not my deal.

You can get one of these 540's for 10k with some miles on them but most BMW people take the proper care of them. I have driven one with almost 300k on it and you know it was fine. Needed a new steering wheel cover but other then that i was legit.

As I said it started with cold air intake then went with all Dinan had for the car up to Stage 4, EvoSport pulleys, and cat back Magnaflow (poorly done too). Dynoed it with all Dinan at over 80 degrees and it made 277 at the wheels. E46 M3 stock makes 235 rwhp according to VF Engineering.

My Story:

I am like most of you and never happy with what I have. IT is a sickness. I don't drink, no drugs (anymore) I know no one like a quitter, I am not into clothes, just watches, this is my deal the car, oh and my 202 rwhp Yamaha R1.

I finally broke and got the VF Engineering Supercharger (a marvelous feat of engineering), if anyone has a 540 GO GET THE VF kit. The ESS one is tuned for Euro fuel and higher octane, in CA we have 91 which is what GIAC tunes with.

My 540 makes over 400 rwhp on 6psi. Runs like it did before. VF kit is good to go. I bolted it on myself in a week after work just a few hours a day. Started right up. BIG difference. Had to get a Quaife due to the one tire fire. Went with 3.46 final drive, another HUGE difference.

Found it suffered from heat soak if running the car slow or in traffic which in CA is the norm. Also found out a tank of VP 116 octane is near $200 US Dollars a tank so I got the Labonte Methanol injection system from Group 5 in San Diego (HUGE help). It took a tank of fuel or so before the car saw the octane boost. The Methanol is equivalent to running race fuel, I think it equates to 116 octane. Once the table adjusted I was shock at the difference in response and power. I have run 5 tanks of 91 octane and it only used a small amount of the Methanol (you mix Methanol with DI water) got the MEthanol from the local motorcycle shop in San Diego Lees Cycle off Aero Drive. Another huge HUGE benefit is it cools the intake charge a lot, I remember a couple hundred degrees (don't hold me to that Labonte Motorsports can tell you)

VF Engineering (did I mention this kit is beautiful) made the kit to integrate flawlessly. They went the conservative route and made it so anyone with hand tools, box of Bandaids and a garage can install it at home. It is also fully reversible. I even got the Vortech V3 self oiler so did not even need to tap into the oil line. If anyone need the instructions let me know I will email them to you. tmauger@cox.net - Once installed you could hear the blower from outside but inside same as usual... until you jump on it. Best way to tell you what it is like... in short feels like there is a big block like a 454 under the hood. And get this, if you drive normally the gas mileage is... ready.... better, way better, especially on the freeway. And lets talk about knocking down the freeway at 65 mph, drop into 3rd and nail it, good lord passing has never been so fun. The speedo acts like the RPM gauge, it sweeps across the gauge. Later in this story you will see I had to drop the final drive from the 3.15 to 3.46 (E60 530 gearing) which help with the regular stuff like acceleration, keeping the rpm's up in the boost zone but a beneficial side effect is the 540 tends to always do 80 mph in 6th, it seems to be its cruising speed. BMW speedo's are off a bit so it is a little less maybe 76 or so either way a ticket in the eyes of the man. The 3.46 set up seems to like 72 mph with the correction 69 ish, a little better for the man.

Ok now for the good stuff. I am adding a liquid to air after/intercooler, 10 to 11 ish psi of boost, VAC cams (only on non VANOS... mine is a 98 with 50k miles), *(still considering a set of stage 2 VAC heads and Valve train), dual exhaust (the only way to do this proper is swapping the 540 trunk floor with the E39 M5 floor). I have seen this done with a sawzall however the proper way is a little more HELP i can't stop. O yea, get the UUC V12 Kevlar clutch and lighter fly wheel that helps a ton, plus the added 150 hp eats the OEM clutch and the rear tires.

Seems every time I launch the car there is a big cloud of smoke and screaming from the tires, go figure. I did KW coil overs, sway bars, Dinan Monoballs, All new control arms and the rest of the suspension (all heavy duty from a 750 i think) EvoSport Pulleys, SuperSprint Headers, 100 cell metal cats, dual 3" to MagnaFlow 14612 (I think) and well a ton more like Alcantara interior, LED Angel Eyes, Xenon, LED tail lights.. 370mm M5 steering wheel. Dinan strut tower braces front and rear, UUC short shifter Gen 3 (smooth), OZ SuperLeggera III 19x9.5 fr 19x10.5 rear, OMG I am a fool. More money then brains.

Must say it is a FAST car, cleans up on everything. Give 600cc sport bikes a big shock. Final hp numbers will be out soon since the cams, bigger boost and water to air cooler. looking for 550 at the wheels.

Everyone says why did I not buy an M5 well in short, repairs are 1/2, VANOS is expensive WHEN is fails, and well my Financial Advisor aka Wife was not down with the M5. I raced 1000cc Sport Bikes and have a tendency to drive slidways. 540 is lighter, easy to mod, and surprises everyone especially M5's old and new. Yea E60 M5's, Must be the 400 pound foot of torque.

I have seen mad mods on 150k plus cars that run fine. This is a car that you can mod, beat on, and put 5 people in and 3 set of clubs.

I have had 17 BMW's and the 540 E39 is my Favorite. Well at least I tell myself that, I am past the point of no return.

[mattmartindrift]

that's a long post and welcome(ish).


cars will always be an addiction. period.

[blackxs]

Its an addiction. Do you have a dyno sheet of your car making 400+hp?

[mattmartindrift]

also, have there been any REAL vanos "failures" outside of the 1-in-10000 fluke?

[02540ico]

The VF website claims 350-360rwhp @ 6psi (stock 540i), very impressive, although at a $6K pricetag! Overpriced considering it looks like they're using a standard Vortech charger, which can be had for $2500-3000 for other vehicles. Does look like a nice system though. Also, they show the 96-98 540i as having single vanos, and the 97-03 having double vanos.

[cdb3113]

You have realized most of my dreams for this car, without posting pictures. That is like torture, you know. Evil.

[chucksrt]

Sounds nice. Now here it comes....

[jhstealth]

i want pics asap

[SpeedsterBek]

We want pics NOW!

Also, get rid of that clutch fan and install a decent electric fan (Mark VIII or Taurus fan) if you haven't done so already

[dinan e39]

better yet, go with zionsville radiator and expansion tank.

dang, with all that money spent you could've supercharged and M5 for 620hp. anyway, it doesn't matter because you're doing something most of us would love to do. keep up the good work and we'd love to see some pics.

[TJ3]

WOW! Insane mod list.

[Wolfen]

Originally Posted by 02540ico

The VF website claims 350-360rwhp @ 6psi (stock 540i), very impressive, although at a $6K pricetag! Overpriced considering it looks like they're using a standard Vortech charger, which can be had for $2500-3000 for other vehicles. Does look like a nice system though. Also, they show the 96-98 540i as having single vanos, and the 97-03 having double vanos.

My 97 M62 has no Vanos

[chucksrt]

Bump for Pics........................

[540iMauler]

Ok all, thank you for your responses, Sorry for the tortured delay had business trip. Car is still at the body shop. the M5 floor is in. Now the headers, cats, and dual 3" are getting installed. I am working on adding pix, sorry 1st time.

The car was just going to be stock, you all know how that goes.

Supercharged M5 easy this fun.

I have a battle set up as soon as mine is done against the 2000 E39 M5 Dinan S3.

[540iMauler]

OK, I am new. For some reason if I am on other posts it tells me that people are replying and for some reason I am not getting that.

As for the $6000 costing too much, the fan is yes 2500, this is the V3 self oil so 3k, all brackets, GAIC tuning, etc. seemed like a good deal. Now the Quaife and 3.46 final drive that was near as much, 4500, headers, 3200, cats, 400, new trunk floor lord only knows.

I love this car, it is a bland old 540i from WAYYYY back in 98, how fast could it be????


VAC will be doing the heads and cams Stage 2 since our ECU is only good up to 550 600 hp, I do not want stand alone engine management. (I say that, remember all I wanted was stg 1 Dinan, and Eisenmann muffler.

BTW - I have TONS of cool parts. I have a New UUC flywheel for the v8 clutch not used, steering wheel and air bag for 97 and 98 single stage, UUC gen 1 short shift, Eisenmann SS E39 muffler, full headliner interior in great shape and much much more.

The car will be in magazines soon so there are pictures I am not to post. I might accidentally forget on purpose.

[540iMauler]

I am having VAC do the heads, valve train, and cams. They looked at the mill (Jersey for Engine) and said it was one of the last build without VANOS. I struggle now as it is only $1800 more to get the full ported and polished heads, I will have the fan off, power coating heads, replacing all of the gaskets and ARP head bolts. I feel like just doing the stage III and run it like I stole it. I also think while in there why not jerk the block and do it from the bottom up. Sorry that is the addiction talking.

I am going to see the final M5 floor graft on Monday so please be patient, me and my triple ADD are waiting and it is hard.

Trust me this will be worth it.

[Cyrix2k]

very, very nice. That car is hardly a 540 at this point. Could you provide details on the steering wheel if you don't mind?

[540iMauler]

dinan E39 - thanks - ordered the fan and radiator.

steering wheel is a 370mm from an E36 M3, single stage airbag (mine is a Feb of 1998) needs to say single stage. had the wheel redone, made the grip like the new M3, I have big hands so I like the thick wheel. The oem wheel is 398mm so the 28mm less helps my 6 foot 2 inch self get in and out.

A bizarre side benefit is the steering is a bit quicker and lock to lock is over a 1/2 less in rotations. email Dimitri Maar <dimitrimaar@bk.ru> he is good, very very good.

Wolfen - please see the pix of my engine, I looked a few times and see no VANOS. VAC the people making CAMS see no VANOS. VAC said this must be on of the last ones without it. Apparently if I had VANOS cams would be an impossibility or not doable.

I know what everything says, buy you cannot argue with the facts, my Feb 1998 E39 540 has no VANOS. I wished I had it until I started in on the cam mod.

I am sorry gents, what does "Bump for Pics........................" mean?

Hello... AGAIN... I have some dyno work. Had the car dynoed on same dyno the day I picked up my super charger from VF Engineering. My car had pulleys, cold air intake by Benfer, stage 4 Dinan software, Air MAss Sensor. Eisenmann street exhaust from the resonator back, replaced the resonator with Magnapack, Sun hyper ground, and hyper voltage, and that is all in the hp dept. car made 277 rwhp naturally aspirated. 6psi VF with a bad clutch made 367 rwhp.

Photobucket (Videos)

Photobucket (Videos)

Plug that into a browser it is a dyno run the day after I installed it in my garage after work hours.

[acefreely02]

he said 227 whp stock? but you say 277? 277 sounds way more realistic. mabe the guy read wrong?

either way still cool build.

[Cyrix2k]

He said 277 whp with all the Dinan mods NA. Keep in mind the number will vary depending on the dyno used.

[540iMauler]

Sorry for confusion, they assume a bone stock E39 540 makes 225 to 230 - they said 227 rwhp, to be in the middle. The stage 4 Dinan, for the 98 is stg 4 software, mass air sensor, cold air intake. Optional Eisenmann resonator back (like a slip on for a cycle). I also had power pulleys, Sun Hyper Ground, Hyper Voltage, and the resonator deleted replaced with a MagnaFlow. The later 540's can do the throttle body since the 98 and older had a larger on and the intake and exhaust runners on the pre 99 cars were a good bit bigger. If you have a newer 540 got get the intake of your buddies 97 or 98 (-;; that was my first run on a Dyno EVER (with that car) and it made 277 rwhp on the same dyno 6 days earlier, same time of day not sure about the heat I would guess 80deg F+ inside the shop both days. I did not put the car on a dyno prior to the Dinan stage 4. 277 is healthy, E46 M3 make 235 to 245 rwhp stock. E39 M5 make 335 rwhp on a good bone stock car. My car the day it left VF would run away from E39 M5's at 367 rwhp (300 pounds less to deal with).

The car was like I wanted, It was perfect, handles PERFECTLY (ground control camber plates, coil overs, sway bars, tower braces, monoballs, all 750il suspension parts, help. For the size you would NEVER know what you were driving.

Serious gents, you can drive A R O U N D cars. it goes like this, green light, save your clutch since everything is new, get it in 2nd gear, by now they are 3 cars lengths ahead corvettes, mustangs, M cars, and then you lean on the blower and watch as the cars are heading back at you like light to a black hole. Well not that DAMN 09 Nissan GTR. My homie has one and I am determined to shut that pile down. the AWD on the Nissan really helps put his 480 hp down while I am donating a rubber surface to the city.

It is great, the car makes so much torque and hp that it just works well all together. Works so well I am willing to spend another 30k building a real stage 3 540i for the masses. This will be a cult car. People already mob on me when I am out, what is it, 6 speed?? V8??? Most folks do not know BMW makes a muscle car. I had a guy offer me $25,000 for the car in 2003, with just the stage 4 engine set up and all the other bits, like wheels, suspension etc.

I am working with a company now, that will take the stg 1 VF, Dinan, or ESS kit and add a water exchange cooler inntercooler, 10 to 11 psi (5psi more). kit should be $3500 ish and make another 100 ish on top of the 150 the supercharger makes. $9500 gets you 250 more rwph. so stock 227rwhp + 250 more = 477rwhp @ the 15% more at the fly wheel for manual that is ...... 549 fwhp not bad for a car you can get for $15,000 add $10,000 and you know own a land born missile.

Then your madness can begin with the suspension, wheels, do dads, it is a sickness.

Get down with the sickness!

I have a TON of parts for sale. Anyone doing a 540i build contact me and see if I have the parts. I am not a store of seller, I am a hobbyist and enthusiast that has bought and re bought tried and retried. I have new stuff that never made the build due to a change in direction, like I have a brand new in box UUC V8 lightened flywheel and hardware, I went with the V12 due to the goal of 550 rwhp. I have several exhausts like an Eisenmann with 4500 miles on it in excellent shape, MagnaFlow 14816 new in box, and a ton of OEM parts like a full interior (headliner, handles, lights, wood dark trim) grey excellent. The head liner was replaced in 2007 by insurance after my car got broken into and the thief yanked my snowboard out and slit the headliner. 1998 oem steering wheel and air bag, cabin filter housings, Cold Air Intake, etc.

Also if you have questions ask, I have tried EVERYTHING and can save someone time, energy, and effort. tmauger@cox.net is my email.

I have seen people PM however I am not familiar with this as I am a newbie.

Thank you for reading and talking f it was not for you all I would have no one to speak to. My family is tired of this car deal.

[jdjg]

just

[540iMauler]

jdjg? where did I loose you?

Or are those cute little faces, you telling me to chill, and the vomiting one is well... self explanatory.

Either way thank you, made me feel good.

[OJwerks]

wow...just wow, love everthing you have done... im amazed you had not posted more about your car much earlier ?? I like the way you mod the car.. thats a really sick 540i. would be awesome to see a driving video clip ... Ive been wanting to see a top-speed run on a supercharged 540i but cant seem to find one..

[RDR-EURO]

Very nice car you have. It almost looks like mine with the exact same wheels. But I wish I had a supercharger in mines also.
By the way when you change out your pullies with the evosport pullies. Did you feel any difference in it and if your car ran hotter with them installed? I wanted to pick those up also for my car and was wondering if it is worth it to buy it?