Spec X5 Overland Build

[Factory6speed]

Cool thread I don't think I saw all this

The berryman chemdip (comes in a paint bucket) and is the best I've found to clean Pistons. Just don't let it sit in there forever and rinse it good. It eats the carbon.

For about a year I've been trying to get this b58 in the car. I kept getting strange readings with the plasticgauge and had get the mic set and dial gauge going. I don't know about this particular engine but the b58 everything is torque to yield so you can't really get anywhere with the factory bolts. Then with the ARP studs the problem I was having was the lube was getting under the cap and not letting things bottom all the way out. I had to mix and match the slightly oversized bearings as I had the crank machined, but I was able to get everything right to 0.0020. Caps 1-4 & 7 started at 0.0025 and then caps five and six were way up to 0.0031. The 0.0026 oversized set just in the upper half, and then in both halves on five and six put everything in spec. On the rod caps I had to use the same oversized set just on the upper half across all six. The rod bolt stretch gauge from summit racing was pretty good. It fit in real nice.

[Henn28]

Thanks again for the tipper on the bearing shell decoder ring methodology Bimmerbreaker. My crank looks and measures to within OE specs, so I'm going to order OE size/color main cap bearings. I have 5 new yellow (OE size) block shells that I ordered after using the plastigauge on bearing journal number one. As far as number 5 goes, which doesn't have a color dot, or it somehow wore off (not likely I think, given the other dots looked like new), I'll measure it again as precisely as I can, and order the shell that make sense. Then I'll plastigauge that number 5 journal to make sure its it the correct size. I found a good discussion about BMW bearings (Bimmer World maybe?) that mentioned some builders think that BMW tolerances are too tight, because they want to use the lightest oil weight possible for fuel economy.

As far as the oil pan goes, I've never seen a RWD M62 (540i) oil pan, but in RealOEM it looks like the lower sump is at the front of the pan. It looks to be very, very shallow, though unlike the X5 sump. Based on your info, and the fact that Luminus from the E24 BimmerForums board tells me that there are no oil pan problems with the M62 swap, I'll find an ebay upper oil pan from a manual transmission, early 2000's E39 to put on my motor. I'll also need to convert the oil pump to the RWD version...not sure what that entails yet (beyond finding a good used pump), but I'm sure its a different pump, chain, and pickup tubes, at a minimum.

I think your dry sump set-up is a bridge too far for me at this point (especially since I need AC), but assuming there are no fit problems in the E24, I do want your 420G transmission (and 4.6 intake, for sure).

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Factory6speed

Cool thread I don't think I saw all this

The berryman chemdip (comes in a paint bucket) and is the best I've found to clean Pistons. Just don't let it sit in there forever and rinse it good. It eats the carbon.

For about a year I've been trying to get this b58 in the car. I kept getting strange readings with the plasticgauge and had get the mic set and dial gauge going. I don't know about this particular engine but the b58 everything is torque to yield so you can't really get anywhere with the factory bolts. Then with the ARP studs the problem I was having was the lube was getting under the cap and not letting things bottom all the way out. I had to mix and match the slightly oversized bearings as I had the crank machined, but I was able to get everything right to 0.0020. Caps 1-4 & 7 started at 0.0025 and then caps five and six were way up to 0.0031. The 0.0026 oversized set just in the upper half, and then in both halves on five and six put everything in spec. On the rod caps I had to use the same oversized set just on the upper half across all six. The rod bolt stretch gauge from summit racing was pretty good. It fit in real nice.

Thanks...its all on a long, slow burn. That probably good though as my ADD would get me sidetracked if I had lots of uninterrupted time to to work on the X5 and this motor.

Is the B58 going into your X5? I think that is the motor in my wifes x5 50e. Love the straight sixes...so smooth and linear with the power, and man that thing has tons of power. An e53 with one in it would be a monster!

I'm very happy I looks like I won't have to get my crank machined, which would lead to having to fool with different size bearing shells from the OE ones. It is interesting to me that BMW doesn't call for using a micrometer on the journals, only plastiguage. Plastigauge seems far from an exact science to me, which would seem to indicate there is some decent wiggle room in the bearing specs.

I did find an important note in TIS for the M62 that requires all new con-rod shells if you change your main bearing shells. Ugh. Probably good insurance anyway, but it all adds up!

[BimmerBreaker]

What chassis are you planning on putting that engine in? A factory front sump won't fit in an E36. There are custom oil pans sold specifically for E36 M62 fitment sold by Cybul and Adamat

Into a car that was originally front sump (E30, E34, E24, etc...) the factory M62 RWD oil pan can be made to work or, in the case of the E30, work with very minimal modifications.

I'm not trying to sell you my dry sump - just trying to steer you in the right direction
All M60/M62 engines are front sump. E39's actually had models with rear sump (all I6 models) and front sump (all V8 models). They have completely different subframes, suspensions and steering assemblies (V8's use a steering box, I6's use a rack) to account for this. This is part of why my next swap is probably going to be an N62 E39 - I want the lighter aluminum I6 subframe and better suspension along with a steering rack - but with the V8 power. The E39 V8 subframes are steel, the steering box sacrifices a lot of feel.

The E53 was able to use a V8 with the steering rack because of how deep the engine sat in the bay relative to the firewall (and because it was designed for a V8 with a rack from the get-go). Z8 also uses a rack but it was designed for use as a V8 from the get-go. It also has a unique oil pan - it is very possible it is the "missing link" in that it's factory oil pan may allow fitment into a rear sump subframe. But my friend who bought one has yet to test it...

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker

What chassis are you planning on putting that engine in? A factory front sump won't fit in an E36. There are custom oil pans sold specifically for E36 M62 fitment sold by Cybul and Adamat

Into a car that was originally front sump (E30, E34, E24, etc...) the factory M62 RWD oil pan can be made to work or, in the case of the E30, work with very minimal modifications.

I'm not trying to sell you my dry sump - just trying to steer you in the right direction
All M60/M62 engines are front sump. E39's actually had models with rear sump (all I6 models) and front sump (all V8 models). They have completely different subframes, suspensions and steering assemblies (V8's use a steering box, I6's use a rack) to account for this. This is part of why my next swap is probably going to be an N62 E39 - I want the lighter aluminum I6 subframe and better suspension along with a steering rack - but with the V8 power. The E39 V8 subframes are steel, the steering box sacrifices a lot of feel.

The E53 was able to use a V8 with the steering rack because of how deep the engine sat in the bay relative to the firewall (and because it was designed for a V8 with a rack from the get-go). Z8 also uses a rack but it was designed for use as a V8 from the get-go. It also has a unique oil pan - it is very possible it is the "missing link" in that it's factory oil pan may allow fitment into a rear sump subframe. But my friend who bought one has yet to test it...

I was thinking of an E36 swap, but after reading a great write-up from Luminus on the E24 section of the other forum...I want one. I've always loved the E24 and a v8 swapped 6 series should be a blast. It helps too that althought some parts are getting scarce it seems, things like coil-overs and other aftermarket stuff to bring the experience into the 20th century (hopefully) are still begin made. I haven't made a decision though between the E36 and E24, but am leaning heavily towards the E24. The only thing I know for sure is that it will have an M62 in it, and it will be British Racing Green.

Luminums tells me that the M62 will go right in, although its tight. He did end up dropping the subframe a bit with spacers, which I don't know if it is for pan clearance, or hood clearance. He's going to send me some pics and more detailed info on his swap experience. Finding a (mostly) rust free car that isn't crazy money could be the long pole in the tent. The OBD2 motor in the E24 worries me a bit, but mostly because this is one area (coding) that I know very little about right now. I've got to think smart guys like DudMD can sort pretty much anything out. For his part, Luminus runs his M62 on a stand-alone ECU I think.

Why don't you shove that S62 you have into the E39?

[BimmerBreaker]

Originally Posted by Henn28

I was thinking of an E36 swap, but after reading a great write-up from Luminus on the E24 section of the other forum...I want one. I've always loved the E24 and a v8 swapped 6 series should be a blast. It helps too that althought some parts are getting scarce it seems, things like coil-overs and other aftermarket stuff to bring the experience into the 20th century (hopefully) are still begin made. I haven't made a decision though between the E36 and E24, but am leaning heavily towards the E24. The only thing I know for sure is that it will have an M62 in it, and it will be British Racing Green.

Luminums tells me that the M62 will go right in, although its tight. He did end up dropping the subframe a bit with spacers, which I don't know if it is for pan clearance, or hood clearance. He's going to send me some pics and more detailed info on his swap experience. Finding a (mostly) rust free car that isn't crazy money could be the long pole in the tent. The OBD2 motor in the E24 worries me a bit, but mostly because this is one area (coding) that I know very little about right now. I've got to think smart guys like DudMD can sort pretty much anything out. For his part, Luminus runs his M62 on a stand-alone ECU I think.

E24 will be harder in some ways, easier in others - the good thing about that swap is that the E32 is very similar, so a lot of E32 parts can be utilized where required. I think you'll end up needing to do things like the remote mount brake booster, but the physical fitment of the engine itself will be a little easier than on the E36.

I'm not a big fan of dropping the subframe because it affects the suspension geometry. This is typically done for sump clearance, on some models people will just modify the sump slightly to let it fit over the subframe without the spacers.
Please share a link once you start either swap - I'd like to follow along

Originally Posted by Henn28

Why don't you shove that S62 you have into the E39?

I want to keep the tight handling of the I6 with the steering rack, better suspension and lighter subframe and other bits.

I also know of someone with an N62 4.8 making 400 wheel horsepower that revs to 7000rpm using S65 headers and a standalone DME. He had it dynoed at 450whp when pushed to 7500rpm but bumped it down for reliability reasons as it is a track car.

I am fairly confident that with S65 headers and a proper tune an N62 on stock DME will make at least as much HP as an S62's 394 crank hp and certainly with more torque. My current 4.8 build will be making ~370hp and ~515n-m torque (S62 makes 500N-m) on the stock 4.8 headers.

This way it will be the best of both worlds - E39 I6 handling with M5 performance.

[Factory6speed]

Originally Posted by Henn28

Thanks...its all on a long, slow burn. That probably good though as my ADD would get me sidetracked if I had lots of uninterrupted time to to work on the X5 and this motor.

Is the B58 going into your X5? I think that is the motor in my wifes x5 50e. Love the straight sixes...so smooth and linear with the power, and man that thing has tons of power. An e53 with one in it would be a monster!

Ha. No, I wish. The X5 is OBD2 and we have emissions inspection, I don't think there's any way I could get everything to say "ready". In a few years I might be able to have it exempt.

The new to me E36 is a 93 OBD1 so I can put about whatever in there and pass inspection. There are already kits in the works for that swap. I'll be doing the m52 swap into that one in a couple months to get a feel.

But now currently I am rebuilding the super clean donor engine I bought, but destroyed, just trying to change the rear main seal. I had never did that before, and I didn't center punch the drill, and the drill walked over and put a nice scratch on the crank. Sometimes you learn by destroying. So I am reusing the crank from my stock motor that blew up into this clean donor motor and redid the clearances. All good really I still have a good core to rebuild later if I can get the crank snout fixed and may put it into the E36. I just had to spend some money on tools and learn how to do all this which is okay. B58 into e53 would be cool, but the m54 is pretty close, I think a good supercharger would do the trick. Tonight I did the valvetronic springs on that one and the m52 m54 is so much simpler.

[Henn28]

Sounds like some great projects Gents. Looking forward to tracking them!

This is my first full teardown and rebuild too Factory. I’m Not too worried about the teardown, it’s the rebuild part that I need to tame my ADD for! The good news is that I’m not going too far off the reservation and aside from the 4.6 cams it will be a stock 4.4. I’ll definitely keep my thread updated here and on BimmerForums.

Right now I’m down to cleaning carbon off of pistons and waiting for the machine shop to finish the heads. I do need to finalize the amount needed to take out of the piston top valve reliefs, relative to how much material is there to take. Based on discussions with JimLev, I think I’m going to do the full 1.5mm from the intake pockets, and maybe .5 from the exhaust sides reliefs. Apparently there is lots of exhaust valve clearance to begin with, which I assume means those valves are shorter. I have a new pair of intake and exhaust valves I can measure to make sure. Once I make a decision, I’ll drop the pistons off at the shop that is doing the heads, and they can mic them, and then cut the reliefs deeper.

In the meantime, I’m waiting on my spare transfer case bolts, as well as some misc parts to change while the stiffener plate is off to swap transfer cases in my x5. At the risk of exciting the “bolt wars “, I did finally spring g for new stiffener plate bolts. Ouch…but I’ve reused mine 4 or 5 times now so I’m not sure I trust them any longer. Next time it comes off maybe I’ll swap them for 12.9, normal torque bolts.

I would have made a ton of mistakes on the m62 already if it wasn’t for advice and lessons learned from guys here and over there. The e32 and e24 sharing parts fact, for example. Thank you BimmerBreaker. The Indy shop in town has an e24 M6 that has been parked in their lot for a decade or more. The owner dropped it off for a restoration, then never paid, so they never touched it. They offered him 5k and he refused but that was several years ago. If it’s not a rust bucket maybe he’ll take cash now for it. Apparently he moved out of the country. I wouldn’t normally mod a classic M car like that, but it’s a basket case. I suspect it’s got too much rust tho to make it worth paying anything for.

I too am not a huge fan of dropping the subframe, and I’ve asked him for some more input on why. Perhaps the pan can be modified, if that’s the reason. Or a big 60’s muscle car scoop on the hood, if it is just too tall ;-). Although a tastefully done power dome, like the e46 M3 I used to own might be nice.

Frankly I think one of the reasons I have always loved the e24 is the suicide hood…and that shark nose of course.

A couple shots from my piston cleaning and crank journal measuring efforts. I’m struggling to get all the carbon out of the ring grooves. I’m amazed at how much has built up behind the rings. The journals all measure to within OE (new) specs, but I’m going to have the machine shop re-measure when the polish it, be fore I order the cap shells.

[Bmwe5320023.0]

Locking diff has dropped!! Ecstunning finally did it, just 4 available at this point, not sure if i made the cut, projected ship date is January 13. Locking diff + winch will be fantastic for overlanding!

[x5Alpine]

Let me know who you use to restore your seats. Every place that I have found, their final product doesn't have the right "shape and form" that a new OEM seat would have. I am looking to try a place in Connecticut called prestige auto leather, he goes by "BMWrestoredseats" on instagram.