Jordi's E53 Mod/Service History Thread(picture heavy) - Page 11

guntherrex · #1 09-25-2020, 05:20 AM

ah no problem, I'm glad they went to someone who can fix em up!

I'm from IJmuiden so not that far... you have any tips for a place that's good with beemers like this? (without breaking the bank immediately?)

I'd like to work on the car more myself but I don't have a place for it unfortunately

SpookX5 · #2 09-27-2020, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guntherrex

ah no problem, I'm glad they went to someone who can fix em up!

I'm from IJmuiden so not that far... you have any tips for a place that's good with beemers like this? (without breaking the bank immediately?)

I'd like to work on the car more myself but I don't have a place for it unfortunately

I try to do everything myself and rarely go to a shop. Except for tires, alignment, A/C and big jobs like a transmission rebuild.
I'm lucky to have a place to work on the car and we have a lift there too, so makes some jobs way easier. Sorry but I dont know of any good places that do BMW's

The Style 87's have been stripped and re powdercoated in anthracite:

They are perfect!

I bougt an used EHC module from Latvia and got it swapped in when it came in. It was not working right away. INPA told me right rear sensor was getting no voltage, strange because the sensor is new, so I tought it must be a wiring issue. I swapped back in one of my old sensors just to try, then checked with INPA and voltage at the rear right sensor was good. Turns out the new sensor was already broken...

I deleted all fault codes in the EHC and was hoping it would raise up but not yet! I left the car overnight, when I came back the next day and unlocked it I heard some buzzing, it was the air compressor running and raising the X5 to about max height

It must have a mind of it's own but it is working great now!

I think the module that was swapped out was broken in my case.

Sky high

I lowered it back down to about 69cm measured from the bottom wheel edge to the fender so the front and rear sit at the same height. No pictures but it drives 10x better! Need to get it booked in for an alignment soon now that all suspension parts are good.

I added better trunk lights, these are the same ones that are in the bottom of the doors.

New center caps for the Style 87 wheels

I will bring the car to the shop tuesday to swap the tires from the Style 168 to the Style 87 and balance them.
The bigger emblem is the one for the trunk, current one has a weird spot on it.

c-bass · #3 09-27-2020, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpookX5

New center caps for the Style 87 wheels

I will bring the car to the shop tuesday to swap the tires from the Style 168 to the Style 87 and balance them.
The bigger emblem is the one for the trunk, current one has a weird spot on it.

Are those from the dealer?

I ordered some Amazon center caps and they were crap quality. Looks like the majority of the aftermarket caps look to be the same build.

crystalworks · #4 09-27-2020, 11:49 AM

Those style 87's are gorgeous.

Happy · #5 09-27-2020, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Those style 87's are gorgeous.

Yeah they are! That E53 looks great as well! Im glad it’s back home!

SpookX5 · #6 10-01-2020, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Those style 87's are gorgeous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by c-bass

Are those from the dealer?
I ordered some Amazon center caps and they were crap quality. Looks like the majority of the aftermarket caps look to be the same build.

No, I bought some cheap ones, about 8 USD for 4 pieces! They look good, now how long do they last... I've seen that BMW sells ''floating center caps''. They are next level center caps, but I could not resist the cheap center caps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy

Yeah they are! That E53 looks great as well! Im glad it’s back home!

Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by guntherrex

damn those wheels look good in grey

I'm still getting used to it.

Now trying to sell the Style 168's, asking price is 400 eur (470 USD). Might be a little steep because they have some marks, will see if there is any interest.

Overboost · #7 10-01-2020, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpookX5

No, I bought some cheap ones, about 8 USD for 4 pieces! They look good, now how long do they last... I've seen that BMW sells ''floating center caps''. They are next level center caps, but I could not resist the cheap center caps.

Would love to see a link for those. How was the fit? I could use some new ones myself.

SpookX5 · #8 10-10-2020, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overboost

Would love to see a link for those. How was the fit? I could use some new ones myself.

Ahh I'm late again, sorry OB.
I got the same ones as Purplecty posted. The price made me question the build quality but fitment is good.

Also replaced the rear badge(non OEM item) as the old one had some small damage.

My twin brother was approched by a local who had heard the story about my X5 that was stolen and found again. She still had some tow mirrors laying around that she didn't need anymore as they sold their E53 and got an E70 instead. The E53 tow mirrors didn't fit the E70. They had someone with an E83 X3 try them but it didn't work either.
I think these are kind of rare nowadays, I could't find them for sale new or used.
She didn't want any money for it at all! I want to give them at least a small amount of money to show my dignity. They will be moving away soon too

OEM BMW E53 tow mirrors, perfect fit!

Ever since I removed the resonator with simple straight pipe I was not 100% happy with the exhaust. Change is needed.
2.5'' stamped X pipe along with some 2.5'' tubing was bought:

I'm still running the dual 2.5'' electronic cut outs after the cats. One of them is fitted perfectly out of sight but the other can be seen from the side, I want to relocate the cutouts to the place where the original resonator used to be.
So I'm thinking of doing it this way:
Stock headers -> Stock cats -> 2.25'' to 2.5'' converter -> 2.5'' X pipe -> 2.5'' cut outs -> stock rear muffler flanges to stock muffler.
If the cut outs do not fit there I will probably get rid of them.

If this is still too quiet then I will have a go at cutting open the stock rear mufflers and modify them. Either leave them empty or weld in perforated tube with sound absorbtion and stuffing. Probably the latter as the other option is essentially a straight pipe from the cats.

Why not replace the rear mufflers completely, you ask? I want to keep my current tips and I could not find new tips that are nearly the same and if they exist they are pricey.

When I get all this done I will post up some soundchecks and pictures of the exhaust and inside the mufflers but it might be november/december by then :-)

Since I regularly like to use my paddles I decided to extend them a little

Weather has been shit out here so still no high quality pictures of the freshly powdercoated Style 87's