Motor will be delivered next Monday and I'm slowly ordering parts, at a rate that won't get my wife's attention hopefully.
Its going to be a slow build on the engine now, given what looks like a hectic fall work schedule, so I plan on buying parts to match the pace. I did grab a long runner intake from Ebay which should be 100% common with the injection and CCV set-up from my 4.4. I'll swap over everything that looks good and replace all the seals and rubber bits. I also bought a coolant accumulator and valley pipes off of ebay as they were dirt cheap and I should be able to clean them up well and get that part assembled, rather than have to pull that junk off my motor after I drop it.
I need to spring for a crank hub and harmonic balancer, once I confirm that the engine doesn't have these pieces on it from the factory. I'll also buy new pulleys for the AC and alternator drives since they are pretty cheap and can be bought pre-assembled. I'd love to buy a fresh alternator since this needs to go in first on the front of them motor, but the one in my 4.4 is about 10 years old and going strong, so the money is probably better spent elsewhere. I may take it to a local rebuild shop for a once-over and new bearings perhaps.
I'm considering pulling the valve covers from the new motor so I can get a fresh dose of assembly grease on all the important bits up top. I'm assuming the stuff that is in there is 15+ years old. If I do that, then I'll get the covers powder coated.
I've mocked up by oil cooler set-up and bought 8' of 10 AN braided hose and the adaptors and fittings required. A clean bracket off the front bumper bar is in work and I've got the plastic cover marked out for the cuts that I will need to make when the time comes.
I've been giving a lot of thought to what DME software would be best, and have gotten some good advice from the e39 forum. Since I'm keeping my 4.4 torque converter and transmission I want to make sure I won't be throwing SES lights and other codes. The good news is that there are guys who have put the 4.6 into 4.4 e39 cars and are running stock 4.4 TCs and gearboxes. One guy in particular is running that combo with a Dinan stage 3 and a tune from DUDMD which makes the whole thing seemless. And he hasn't burnt up his 4.4 TC. My tranny and TC are two years young, so buying a 4.6 unit isn't in the cards if I can find a software solution. I'd rather spend the money elsewhere on the car. So it seems the decision comes down to updating a 4.6 DME software load to work with the 4.6 tranny and TC, or updating my 4.4 DME to optimize the 4.6 motor I'm putting in. It doesn't seem that either choice would be a problem for DUDMD.
In other news...I turned my attention to the oil cooler while I'm waiting for the motor to show up. I had a plan in my head for a bracket that quickly became unworkable and possibly not strong enough, so I roped in my friend with the custom hot rod shop for help. He took a quick look at it and had it solved in 2 minutes.
We hung a bracket that he fabricated from the 10mm bolts that hold the bumper cover on. Everything is accessible from the outside and the arms are very short so movement should be minimal. I need to find wider grommets as the ones I bought wouldn't accommodate the security torx bolts I mounted the cooler with, once they were installed. Or maybe I'll just go with rubber washers.
Bracket:
Bracket mounted back in my driveway:
Cooler mounted:
Waiting for the 10AN lines and fittings from Pegasus to show up, then I can drop the new filter housing in, assemble and run the lines, connect it all and hope for no leaks. The location I went with is good for running the lines directly in and up to the housing. The CSF cooler has male 10 an fittings set at 45 degrees into the side of the cooler already and I'll probably run the lines for a few inches at least out front as they are cool black braided lines. Form and function is my goal.