Seeing as how I did not want this to happen again, I was after a gauge system that I could install to alert the driver from potential overheating better than the stock gauges do. Being a diesel guy, I was already aware of the Banks iDash and they had released a compact gauge system that would do just the trick. I used a suction cup mount on the dash by the drivers A pillar, and then installed four sensors (oil pressure, oil temperature, coolant temperature, and coolant level). I bought a new oil filter cap for the oil pressure and temp sensors, then I bought an aluminum thermostat housing and drilled and tapped into it for a coolant temp sensor, and finally I used the stock coolant level sensor location on the bottom of the expansion tank to interpret coolant level (this car did not come with a coolant level sensor installed).
As things were looking up for our E53 ownership, I always had in the back of my mind how cool it would be to turn this thing into a 4.6is clone car…a 3.0is so to speak. I really liked the look of the front and rear lower valences and 20” style 87s on those cars and thought how cool it would be to turn this car into that. It just so happened that at the right time, where I live in Winnipeg, there was a guy parting out an Imola Red 4.6is. I immediately messaged the guy and asked to buy the bumpers, wheels, and rear fender flares and got them all for about 500 bucks. Had I have known more about 4.6is cars I would have also grabbed the gauge cluster and exhaust tips too, but I had still pretty limited knowledge of these cars at the time. It also had a red interior which was kind of neat to see. I don't think they sold many red 4.6is with red interior in Canada. I'm sure it was quite rare now that I think back about it.
Since the tires were shot on these wheels, it wouldn’t be until the following summer (this summer) that I found a set of proper sized tires for these rims and get them installed on the car. I was still busy in the mean time trying to track down where that annoying ticking/knocking noise was coming from in the engine bay. I ended up replacing the lifters TWICE, replaced the stock exhaust manifolds with headers, timing chain tensioner, fluids, etc trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. I also installed a down stream cat, deleted the SAP, and installed the EU2 tune roughly the same time. I still have no idea what the noise is but the car runs and drives fine. The noise is quiet at start up and gets louder as the engine comes up to temp.
Deleting the SAP and installing headers didn’t do the trick, but it did free up a few ponies.
All of this brings us to just a few weeks ago, when I was on the hunt for a decent set of 315s and 275s for the style 87s. I ended up finding a complete lightly used set of wheels off an F15 with rims and got them for a good price. Once I had the tires swapped over and got the style 87s on I HAD to take some pics. The wheels totally change the look of the car.
