After a week of full on Sanford and Sons in my driveway, my E53 is back on tires and the sweet smell of a slow drip of coolant on a hot 4.4L motor is evident again.

Its still very much a work in progress, but so far I've
- Replaced the instrument cluster with a 4.8 unit and a reprogrammed DME from Pixels.


- Installed new Arnott air springs (found a slow leak on one), new rear subframe bushings and the FMU 1.5" lift. Lots of lessons learned in general and some trial and error since the "instructions" for this kit are a 8 minute YouTube video. A few issues cropped up like the rear shock bolts being about 1/8th too long (a few washers on each fixed this) and it taking me way too long to sort out that I needed to pull the front strut locating pin out so get the lift on the top of the strut. It was late in the day, I was tired, etc.


I threw the stock wheels back on for a test drive and commenced a lengthy battle with the self leveling rear suspension. Initially it compensated for the lift by dropping about 1.5 inches, so I added a new sensor mount that dropped the sensor by 1.5". Problem solved...not really because now the car is riding about 3/4" high in the back. Either the car came to its senses, or I suspect that my fabrication simply isn't tight enough to accurate move the sensor, given it is measuring angle on a 3" arm. Its good enough for now though since the car is going to paint (hood and roof) this coming week. I'll probably need to get the suspension recalibrated, or figure out which software to use and how to do this myself.

Other than that its riding very nicely with the new subframe bushings. I will note that my initial test drive resulted in a nasty clunk from the left front on every bump, which ended up being the swing support upper bolt that some average mechanic failed to put a final torque on in his driveway.

My average fabrication work below (identical bracket on other side):


In retrospect a longer arm would have done the trick more precisely I suspect, except I was worried about crafting a robust enough attachment point(s) on a lower arm which would still allow for free play.

I've got three new wheels and tires ready to go on the car, but there was an issue with the fourth during mounting. Looks like a defective tire, so hopefully Tire Rack will see it that way too.

After the paint job I've got a fuel filter and oil change job to do, two window regulators/clips to fix, a lower radiator hose to install and a Pioneer unit to install, if it ever gets off of backorder at Crutchfield. I also want to get a look at the timing chain guides (camera down the oil filler) and at a minimum put a new tensioner in.