Crystalworks Imola Red 4.8is Mod/Service History Thread

[crystalworks]

Time to start a build log/maintenance thread on the new e53 acquisition that so many of you were kind enough to advise me on a few months back. Time flies huh?

For those of you unfamiliar, it was an interesting (and scary at times) purchase... the full story can be found here: Possible 4.8is Purchase.. Help And Info Request. And the "epic" journey to get it home can be found here: Possible 4.8is Purchase Turns Into Actual Purchase.

On to the log:

August 24, 2015

- After getting the X home from California the chrome mirror caps had to go... they were an eyesore and I thank the heavens there wasn't any more chrome scattered over the exterior of the vehicle. Also took off the little blind spot mirrors from the wing mirrors. Felt they were unnecessary and just made it look like the truck was being driven by a senior... no offense to seniors. $0.00

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- Also gave the X an oil change. I wasn't sure what the dealership used and I wasn't taking any chances. I threw 5qts of Valvoline Synpower full synth 10w30, 2.5qts of Valvoline VR1 20w50, and a quart of Lucas oil additive. The above has helped to mitigate smoking from the valve stem seals nicely. Never does it during normal driving now, but will if I leave it idling for 10 minutes or so. Not bad. Will check the CCV diaphragms in the near future. At any rate, the interior of the engine and the chain looks nice and clean. I had the oil filter kit here already from the previous X5 and already had the Lucas so it was a cheap oil change. $26.95





- Had a good luck around the underside of the X and noticed (and replaced) a missing heat shield fastener underneath. Underside of the truck is pretty clean save for some oil that ran off during the trip home because the dealership's lube tech did not install a new crush washer or did not torque the drain plug properly. Not sure which. It does not leak anymore after I did the change.



- Removed the Beyern center caps from the wheels and installed the BMW roundel caps I had from my old X5's original wheels. $0.00

August 25, 2015

- Installed the missing heat shield nut mentioned above. (07146949380) $1.38

- Purchased an imola red BMW paint stick. OUCH! (51910419762) $30.49

- Purchased OEM e53 sunshade. (82110008342) $58.50

- Got Texas vehicle inspection. $7.00

August 29, 2015

- Purchased and installed new front hood emblem and grommets because worn emblems bother my OCD. (51148132375 & 51141807495) $38.21



- Cut/polished/waxed the hood of the X5 with the intentions of doing the whole vehicle. Turns out the imola needs paint correction beyond my capabilities/patience level so it will have to be done by the same guys who did the previous X5.

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- Painted hood vents semi gloss black. Came out okay but will order some new black ones and have them professionally painted. Had paint here. $0.00

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September 03, 2015

- I was fortunate enough to discover on the trip back that the X's previous owner had installed a BSW stealth sub setup. After some tuning and fiddling with the DSP to get a nice balance of bass frequencies between the interior speakers and the sub it sounds pretty decent. It's definitely not as good as my 12" setups in other cars, but definitely doable for the foreseeable future. I do hate not having independent control of the sub from the DSP though. Takes constant fiddling depending on what you are listening to.

Anyway, the previous install was a hack job (by my standards) which I should have guessed by how it was tuned. I know BSW actually recommends installing it this way... but it wasn't going to fly for me. I still have to go see how much the tray the PO threw away is going to cost me... the one that goes where they mounted the amp. So I fixed it. $0.00

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Yay! No more duct tape! Also, tuning is now as easy as changing CD's in the changer. Which was also a nice discovery... didn't realize a certain model of BMW CD changer was actually MP3 CD compatible. This one is...

September 10, 2015

- Installed some gloss black grilles that I had purchased off of ebay. On my previous X5 I had the OE titaniums painted gloss to match the sport trim. Looked okay but I wanted something a little more durable so I finally found these. Previously I had looked for over a year and not found any gloss black offerings for the e53, only flat/matte black. $78.00





The quality of them is okay... for their price. Had to do some modifying of the clips to get them to click in nicely and even then used some spots of silicon in strategic places to tighten them up. I hate grilles rattling when opening/closing bonnets