OEM Overhaul of a Tired BMW E39 530i Touring - Project Rottweil: P3

We are satisfied before and after flying Pistons and have a spare parts party. Returning to the third installment of the Rottweil

project

, in the previous episode we performed extensive engine maintenance on this neglected E39 Touring and now the heartbreaking party continues with original and OE parts for the suspension and brakes that we are going to completely

overhaul

everything we are about to do now and what I have done so far is based on my long term experience with these cars as well as research. I firmly believe in preventive maintenance. As at a certain point in the life of the car due to age in kilometres, many components are on the verge of failure, so why go all out at the beginning of the

project

and have a problem-free car for years to come?

Let's dig deeper, thank you. Now I can connect the line while we're here, we can also disconnect the wheel speed sensor. Wow, did you take this car off road or what wheel bearing isn't that bad, but since we're reconditioning the entire suspension this is cheap. I'm doing everything, absolutely everything, time to pop the kneecap, okay, different approach, jackhammer, here we go, this is much easier than torturing yourself with this thing. I really hate the fact that I'm doing this in the 4 pole sleeve now. I can't put the jackhammer here so I don't cut this one. Now we have to loosen and lower the steering knuckle to remove the control arm, but I quickly wanted to show you how the strut is installed on the steering.

Move this R here as to the right it should be aligned with this gap on the steering knuckle and obviously on the left side L as to the left should be aligned with The Gap. I think this is aluminum and you know what that means, it sure is. That doesn't make me very happy, first let's deal with the steering knuckle and wheel bearing knock that gives me some wheel bearing removed, time to do some magic. This is my aquablast 1215 steam jet cabinet for Vixen surface treatments and once that part comes off, it will look better than new.

I promise you that yes, I love this machine. Now we need to protect this finish and for that we will use ACF 50. I did a little test and steam applied these two covers. This is the one that is treated with ACF-50, this is the one that has not been treated. I left them out for about a month and as you can see this one started to rust nicely, it still looks perfect so it will preserve this beautiful finish for hopefully at least a few years so this is like a clear film, pieces new, we have OE wheel bearings and a new original brake guard that I also coated and protected with ACF 50.

Now we can attack the strut and here it is very important that we install the spring correctly, otherwise we can end up with a strange ride height on some models the end of the spring here sits completely on the end of the spring pad, but on E39 this is not the case. This is the correct spring installation. These are the instructions that come. with the wrong Zacks shock, right, so let's clean this up, take a marker, make a mark on the rubber pad, then transfer it to the new strut, put a mark on the body and that way we know where to put the spring .

It has the spring compressor unlike the previous one, this one is designed to be used with a slightly impact modified 22 mil O2 intake tool, foreign to the pump, this strut was replaced and is in perfect condition, there is nothing wrong with it. bad. I can tell it was replaced. Looking at the sticker you can see it says Zacks. The originals say bogey. I think what is the old name of the company and they have the BMW logo. Also, they don't last 140,000 miles with Zack shocks that you might be able to get. 100,000 miles and then they'll start leaking or get really weak but this one is good, someone replaced it not long ago so I'm going to put it on the shelf and we're upgrading to the M sport shocks.

I had them on my original E39 with factory M sport springs and I love the suspension on that car, it was one of the best cars I've ever owned and I want the same for this one because the combination of comfort and sportiness is perfect, this is aluminum. So if you'll excuse me for a second, I need to do something, a few explosions in seconds and this is what we have. I don't know if you can tell now, but this will be one of the best mechanically sorted E39s. Tourings, on the left is the E90 xDrive strut mount and on the right is the standard E39 and as you can see it's higher than the one on the left so we'll use the e91, it's going to go lower. the front is enough and we don't need to use the lowering springs, the old spring pad and that's where the spring should go.

This is the M Sport spring slightly shorter than the standard one. You can see a clear difference using all Sam sport shocks. By the way, different bump stops, this is the part number of the new M sport strut spring pad, you are supposed to put this on the device, but although I have one, it is not exactly suitable for this, so the washer and strut mounting nut are new. This is how the spring sits on the top and bottom the same as before and I compared it to the pictures of my E39 M5 that I took six years ago when I did this job and the position of the spring is exactly the same so these I'm going to save because they are not in such bad condition.

You never know when you're going to need them. You know maybe 10 years from now these parts will be issued with brand new mineral lymphatic control arms and sway bar links. and OE Bosch real speed sensors before we proceed with the reassembly, a mandatory cleaning is needed and we also need to remove this thing here because it needs to be replaced. We also need to remove all the rusty screws because we are going to replace them. All purpose cleaner here new screws I have this plastic here from Liquid Molly that I've been trying like new, it's not sticky or slimy, the plastic absorbs it and it smells good too so I use it to treat the end of the engine bay. pretty good I let it soak in and then I can apply another coat and start on new nuts for the top bracket and there's a pin here that we need to align the steering hubs and the control arm pay attention this one says r like on the left not like right, this goes in first, don't forget a washer here and then a nut, run well, I'm going to go find Hugh Jackman lately, he's been giving me a lot of excuses, like I need to film or whatever . pay you enough, make sure you place the thread correctly, yes Bob, your uncle says that strangely because next time I come in a little drunk and hungover and start wondering if I pressed that thing, yes, I sure did and you can see that the r is scratched. up with the space in the steering wheel speed sensor towards the back It clips onto the clip that is connected to the stabilizer bar links this is the right one the silver one the black one goes on the left a washer goes here strange so we have the speed sensor headlight level with a new sway bar link, the old one was just a solid rusty plug that on the bushings was always finger tight and then the final torque is done with the car on the ground and the suspension fully loaded if we had to tighten the bushings. now and then lower the car to the ground, this bushing here will twist and wear out pretty quickly and that's one side where the brakes we'll do a little bit later, now we're going to copy and paste on the other side, no I'll show you the whole thing. process, but we can just pop this ball joint because it's always fun, the other one came out on its own, so it was okay, yeah, pop the ball joints, now we're going to use Jack Bauer on the rear suspension and brakes.

Fun fact, these wheels will never be on this car again. I have a different game in the corner over there. The tire is new. Oh, the rear ones are original. The Sharks. It's going to be the brake line. I don't even know. Maybe he is. blocking the camera completely I don't know, the four post lift sucks, where do you connect the brake shoes now, oh these were replaced by Bosch, that's why they look so good, so I guess we're not going to connect them now, Let's disconnect them. the air springs, so we need to take out the fuses for the pump air system 49 and 50.

The fuse is 49 and 50. Are these two here strange? Now we are going to slowly open the line and let the air out. I need to connect this line so that dirt and dust cannot get into the line. Now with the pliers we can depress the clip and lift this connection so that there is a nut on the other side to access the top bracket. We need to remove this cover. I just removed the left side shock and could you see that huge crack in the body, I've never seen anything so peculiar before and now the bottom bolt that holds the spring.

I hope you can see it, but the rubber has a lot of cracks. everywhere and that's why we're going to replace it preventive maintenance. This is probably a 20+ year old Hawaiian bar and I soaked it a few days ago. It's still an absolute nightmare to get off the little sway bar, I'm not going to replace the ball joint, so we need to take off this nut and this bolt here, ah, now once we get this giant bolt out here, the trailing arm is going to want to pop off completely. up, that's because these bushings here are tight at a normal ride height and they want to return to their natural state. position, so you're going to loosen this one here, remove the one on the back completely, but first we need to mark the position of this one because it's an eccentric bolt that's used to align the wheels.

You can also do it on this side and then. One in the back we are going to remove completely because that way it will be easier to push down the trailing arm. I forgot to disconnect the sway bar to level the headlights and there's the ball joint and you can see how it is. It moves easily now we can remove the rust loser from the integral link now I need to remove a circlip here we have to dig first. Very good, these are new components for the rear suspension. We have OE Zacks Sharks Photo Control Arms or Elm Bilstein Air Springs.

Thicker M Sport rear stabilizer bar link, this one measures 15 millimeters and the standard that is on the car at the moment is 13 and then of course we have shock mounts, new bushings, stabilizer bar links and bubble gaskets to Press the kneecap in and out. I need this special tool. I bought it on Amazon many years ago. I think it cost about 70 euros and was manufactured by Asta. It works quite well. I used it last time in Project to buy it. In fact, it's very simple: you take the smallest glass and put it in. at this end here then the largest one at this end then the threaded bolt goes here then the nut and this is how we are going to take out the ball joint to press it, we simply swap the cups, the largest one goes on this end the smallest one here and then that one there and then this one here and this is how you're going to put it in now we can put this rubber block between the axle carrier and the body of the car, okay, something to help it slide easier.

Just once you feel like you hit bottom, you're there when you clip it, make sure it's hooked. Replace the stabilizer bar link. Now it's a real pain to get to this one because the driveshaft is in the way once you bolt the trailing arm back. Oh, absolutely. destroyed there's a washer here strange so a washer here goes there and then a new knot here new integral link now all these bushings here this this all of that is stored with the suspension on the ground and fully loaded so we're just going to finger tighten all the way around and then we will move on to replacing the control arms, so with our fingers now we are going to replace the wheel speed sensor, the control arm and the guide link that are screwed in there are also a millionaire eccentric, so I need to mark its position.

I'm wearing a mask because of the brake dust and all the trash around here. Rust loser. First we are going to disconnect the wheel speed sensor. It's on the other side. The wheel speed sensor broke and this part here is left behind. on the carrier, so what I did I used the self tapping screws, screwed it all the way in and then took it out with pliers, otherwise you would have to take this whole thing apart, remove the ball joint nut to stop the ball joint from rotating. mil deep glass and ratchet sugar net 21 now I'm going to transfer this plastic to the new, shiny new one, and these are specific from left to right and this is the old one, the rubber on the ball joint is shot and this Didn't happen tooth inspection, okay, this one is closed too, don't lose that washer, now we can replace this little stabilizer bar for the self-leveling headlights, the bottom one is frozen, there's a new one, new wheel speed sensor, you know?

Bilstein air spring, this is made in the UK and there are specific sites. You can see this one says re as in Rex. Now we need to align this notch herewith the notch in the bracket and then we can start installing the bolt. a good twist now spread it out before I forget about this stupid cone here perfect now we can do the shocks we need this plate from the old shock Ed I can barely press it yeah that shot is completely blown out it should bounce good foreigner well you ride and you're crazy this one is ready As you can imagine, we first have to do a little spring cleaning before entering.

I'll crunch this to set the bolt. Start the meshuggernat again. Finger-tighten the dust cap. Liquid film to prevent rust from spreading further here. Rust on the surface. That's no, do the stabilizer bar first before the shock absorbers, now you're going to get some air into the springs. I think I finally found a setup on the rear axle impa spokes, so let's do that F1, yeah, it's working, that'll do. For now there is enough air there to lower the car to the ground safely and then we can do the final ride height adjustment with impaw or ISTA, but before we can do that we need to fix the brakes, now we need to reset the brakes.

At the rear we are stagnant but we are going for an improvement at the front. These are the four-piston Brembo aluminum calipers on the E38 728i have advantages over the stock

530i

brakes: they are much lighter for the piston action compared to a single disc. The disc size remains the same, but we can use better E46 M3 floating rotors and the added advantage that they visually look better. I bought these as defective for 120 euros, we also need custom brackets to mount them, which cost 150 euros, some paper, it's a relatively cheap OEM, plus an upgrade, my tool is bending, it's frozen time to explode, actually They are two piece calipers, so if you remove these four bolts here we should be able to separate them, which will make it much easier to blow them up, paint them and restore them.

Look, we separated them successfully. The blasting is done. Now we're going to burst the compressed pistons there. Get ready. That is. One, it's like a bullet, please, Jesus Christ, it's okay. I'm going to put this in the vise and try to move it a little bit because it's not all the way down, so if I can move it just a millimeter to loosen it up. up, okay kids, what I'm about to do is very dangerous, so please don't try this at home and use a safe to rest at least that should save you. I'm going to put the hood on, oh yeah, that's not going to come out. man, no, okay, this one moved, oh, it moved, I need a bigger screwdriver, ah, finally, that stubborn bastard of a one, by the way, and it took me like half an hour to get it off, this one doesn't even move, so I pressed an extension. inside the piston and I'm going to try to turn it, let's see if it works, yeah, it's turning, okay, hopefully we can loosen it up like this, yeah, look at that genius, what a battle this was, time to see if this caliper is okay. usable or not, there's the seal, good.

I have cleaned the rim now I need to see if the piston actually slides in or not. I need a nice small one, this is how it should slide smoothly here, this lip here doesn't matter much what matters is that the groove with an O ring is nice and underneath it that it's nice and clean, that it goes in and out without any obstacles . I have to make sure to clean the groove here where the boot sits and test the fit. This is not good so I'm going to check each caliper and make sure that the piston moves smoothly without the O ring because if it doesn't then we'll have problems and I'm also going to make sure that this groove all around is clean and that the sleeve dust seal can be installed correctly and then we will start preparing this for painting once it is done and make sure all the grooves are clean and the piston moves freely.

Now I'll use rough Scotch Brite. and just scrape the surface because with steam cleaning the surface is very smooth and you have to scrape it a little so that the paint adheres better to the outside. It's a nice piston, really nice and clean inside. This piston is perfect, totally reusable. We can remove the bleed screws and tubes completely because we need to clean the calipers thoroughly before closing them for repainting. You have a lot of explaining to do if you're your partner, he just walked in and can't see what you're watching, tell him it's not porn, just a guy doing a manly job.

Okay, we'll start with the rear calipers and brackets because they're smaller and seem a little easier to paint, so now I'm going to use a lot of Bray cleaner. with a straw blow out all the passages, hole the whole caliper and then we're going to dip it in this pain, dilute the greaser, whatever it is, then we can mask the air like we don't want to paint like the inside of the hole and then we're ready to paint clean carbonias. I'll put it in here, let it sit for a few minutes and then take it out and do another round of brake cleaner.

Yes, here because this needs. so it's perfectly flat when you screw it into the bracket here we can reinstall it and the bleed screw great, this is the foliatek metallic silver paint that I've used in the past on the Carzua Project, actually the paint that you brush on and the finish. It's fantastic, it was also two component and it's like epoxy, it just seems indestructible, so this time I decided to try this spray which is also two component, it should be very similar to that one but much faster to apply, so I'm going to heat it up this with a heat gun because it's a little cold outside and then mix it.

I think I need to drill the bottle from the bottom and then I have essentially a few hours to use it and then you can throw it away because there are two of them. components no, no, okay, we have to relocate the overspray is just huge from this spray bottle and the finished Alpina is on the other side of this wall and I don't want to get oversprayed, so there's a tree in the corner of the garden. dark so we'll do it there, it's perfect. I know what you're thinking. If this isn't an ideal setup, then I don't know what is.

We're going to do two or three coats and we're supposed to do that. wait five minutes in between. I'm going to let this dry overnight inside. Now I'm going home for dinner and tomorrow we'll open a new bottle. If you're wondering why I'm doing this in the middle of the night that's how the dice rolled. It took me a whole day to remove those stupid pistons from the calipers. Good morning. They look beautiful according to the instructions. They dry to the touch after three or four hours. They dry after 24 hours and are then final. hardness is achieved after seven days and on Project In the Project cologne I used specific tweezer paint in the spray can. a component that lasted about a couple of weeks and then rusted away at Project Karzuru.

I used that two part foliated epoxy and they still look absolutely perfect and this has that epoxy feel to it which I really like so I hope this works. They last as long as those because the finish is gorgeous. Now I can remove the tape. These are original parts and we are going to reuse old pistons because they are in perfect condition, not a single scratch or imperfection anywhere. I bought a rebuild kit. From Auto friend, this is a spare part made in Spain, good quality. I used it on Project CARS, it works well and the kit comes with a new piston, but I feel more comfortable using the original part than the replacement and you have everything you need here too.

I need to rebuild the caliper, but I prefer to use original and OE parts whenever possible and available. I also got this space specifically for when we build calipers that are safe to use on the inside of the caliper to grease and lubricate the O.-ring as well as the pistons so everything can be put back together nice and easy, first blood orange blood, the casing make sure it is seated correctly on all sides and grease now you can place the casing over the piston make sure it is seated correctly and then pull it off. up and now we can lubricate the piston and then push it in, so make sure it engages properly because it's like a metal spring inside that keeps it in place.

The sleeves will use a little silicone spray on the outside to make it easier. To install it, the 80 brake pin repair manual will tell you to use grease here, but the BMW repair manual will tell you not to use grease here, because this end is open and once you put grease in there, it will trap dirt from the road and wear out this bushing and the pin at least that's the theory behind it there is a lot of debate about this people do it both ways I have done it both ways and both are absolutely fine just choose the one that makes the most sense for you and what makes you feel most comfortable I usually do whatever my mood tells me today Mahmoud says no grease, move it back and forth a couple of times, just check the repair manual again and it says installation only clean the guide screws, do not grease the new bleed screw and the cover, this is ready, we will put the covers back on later because they still need to be installed on the car, it has been approximately three and a half hours since I painted them, They're dry but far from cured, so I'm going to have to be careful how I handle them here.

I couldn't get original parts so we will have to use Auto Buddy, nothing else is available but again it comes with everything we need here. New pistons and there are different sizes. a smaller diameter and a larger one and then I bought new pipes, this was straight from the dealer and then the pins in the spring that hold the brake pads in place were compressed there, those are the o-rings installed, the reason why The reason we had two stuck pistons is because one of them was completely missing this rubber boot and then the other one broke and this upper lip started to corrode, which is what was preventing the piston from coming out, so I smoothed it out and now the piston can move up and down freely in those holes, clean the piston, pull it all the way down, make sure it seats properly, press it in, you want to make sure they are installed and seated correctly because that's the only thing that Prevents dirt, water and anything else from entering the brake caliper. and destroying it, all good.

I'm going to repeat and do this with the rest of them. Now I can screw them back together and the way you match them up is that the smaller piston matches the smaller one on the bottom, so it's not this one. that's how I also repainted the bolt heads now the end nice and tight that feels when you right click on a new tube I'll explode it compressed there because you never knew that finally the bleed screws say aloha to the new parts it took me like 20 minutes to do all this, we have our calipers beautifully refinished, then stainless steel brake lines from Pro Brake 160 euros for the six and I chose the OEM look, then we have bullet hole brake rotors, these are E46 front rotors M3 which are drilled and floating, such a big improvement over the original

530i

, then for the brake pads I went with red stuff from EBC.

I've heard and read good things about them, never tried them myself so I'm curious to see how they will perform and then I have special brackets we need to mount these Brembo calipers. I bought them from a company called epitec and here it says Li like on the links and here there are ears on Rex, but for some reason the links are straight and Rex remains. It took me like 20 minutes Figure that out, so we have Molly fluid brake pad sensors, brake fluid and brake paste, it's blue, so I like it. We are going to apply brake paste only to the lip, not to the contact surface itself, which must be clean and free of grease.

The rotors are specific to each side, it says here on the side where it goes which one is stamped with r as in I think we would establish that outside first, we need to mount the bracket on the caliper, insert it. I'm going to hit the pins on the outside. brake shoes spin freely now I'm going to pull the handbrake two clicks and we should feel the drag of the shoes, if not then we need to extend the shoes a little more perfect and now if I lower the handbrake spinning freely don't forget brake line caps brake pad wear sensor and that's it these are the two brake lines that are often overlooked in the engine bay these are also rubber brake lines and because they are right next to the exhaust manifold the engine develops cracks and then bursts and then you have brake fluid dripping onto the exhaust manifold, you get flames, you catch fire and your car burns to the ground.

I've seen it many times, so if you have an E39 E38, I think also make sure you replace them and avoid possible fires. clean the connections and these are also different sizes so you can't mix them up, finger tapping can start, oh that was mild stainless steel, a new brake fluidity, threemillion bars of pressure for the front calipers, first we bleed the outside bleed screw and then the inside, before putting the wheels back on, I want to quickly replace the windshield washer pump that leaves behind this part of the fender liner, they go bad with quite often and I just want to do it because I'm already here and then you're wondering how the lift points rust in 39. look at how much mud is there, first let's do the old level sensor, as you can see it's corroded, new, a new rubber washer, this is for the headlight washers, new washer, new OE Continental pump new washer again another OE Continental pump there we are going to replace the level sensor pumps and clean the mud finally the wheels oh yes, these are BBS tires original 17 inch Style 42 for E39, my favorite wheels for non-sport E39 in In fact, what my original E39 had and I wanted exactly the same for this car because they look beautiful.

I bought them many moons ago, obviously used but in very good condition, no rashes anywhere and they are in their original condition, never restored, which is exactly how I like it. them because when people restore them they usually go for a chrome trim, which I don't like at all, it's too flashy for me, this is perfect, it's semi matte and silver in the middle, which is how it was from the factory, if the memory does not fail me. true, I think I paid around 800 euros for these, which is a good deal considering the condition and the fact that it has new 2021 summer continental tires with nice deep treads, so I'm pretty happy with these foreigners for the front of.

I need 10 mil spacers to clear the new calipers and I'm going to act like I know that. Okay, right now I put in 20 grand and that's why it seems so ridiculous, but those are the only ones I have lying around and all we need. What you need to do now is just roll the car back and forth so you can finish the suspension, so you're going to do that now, then you adjust the right rear height to the M sport suspension and then you tighten the bushings, the brakes They work now, that's more similar. I love it. the sleek lines of the standard E39 facelift, right now you're going to start adjusting the right rear height with right height adjustment ISTA Sport Suspension, so a target ride height level of 345 plus minus three millimeters, so we're measuring from the center of the wheel on the right to the highest point of the wheel arch and this is 364 millimeters at the rear left three six two correct height adjustment is necessary the vehicle is adjusted in the next step oh, it is going down now I need to measure again look at those 345 millimeters, you know the car tastes the same three hundred and forty four thousand very good thrust in the bushings 110 newton meters but since we can tighten with the nut, which is the correct way to do it, we will increase the value of torque in 10 and we will tighten with the bolt, which is 121 newton strange meters, so we align the marks that we put now on the massive nut and the bolt that goes through the ball joint 256 millimeters my torque wrench only goes up to 200 so let's go to tighten it to 200 and then I'm going to use a breaker bar and give it a little bit more perfect and now the guide link 60 unit meters there's no way you can put the torque wrench in there so we're going to do it by hand and then when we go to align, they are going to ruin that bolt anyway.

Ah, finally finished, we will finish the third part. here at the beginning of the first episode of this project the trunk was full of spare parts and now not so much this more or less concludes the Mechanical Rejuvenation of this vehicle and the next step is to get it to respect the teeth for that I have to deal with some loose ends like replacing the internal tail lights that are completely cut out, fixing the mirrors, the wiper blades and the one in the back as well and then in the next episode we will put this thing back in its place on the road and go for a first trip, then we have to take care of the interior, fix the exterior and then the supercharger will come.

I'm still waiting for an infinite response. That's the supercharger I plan to use because it has tooth paper and is a proven setup for the M54 engine, so I'm looking forward to the next episode being on the Chicago Alpena B7 Project. It's right there, freshly detailed and looks absolutely beautiful. I have to do some finishing touches there and then that episode continues. I will come as always thank you very much for watching I hope you enjoyed this episode of French Fest and I will see you very soon ciao and finally I have to replace the shock absorbers here.