Build Log: M57 X5

[ucsbwsr]

Been a minute. The move to Colorado has been a long 5-month process from start to finish but here we are at the end. The new garage is getting a make over and once complete I should have a nice space to work in and continue my automotive projects.

Let's start with a few Colorado lifestyle pics






Exterior door which will be installed as a side door in the garage.


Scored a deal on some Swisstrax (again)




Before

After


Collecting kayaks from relatives


My plan was to have both my white E61 and black E39 Touring shipped from CA-CO but transit companies were a bunch of smoke and mirrors so I drove the E61 (knocked out the 15 hour drive in 1 day) and since the E39 doesn't run I drove the X5 out to CA, picked up a UHaul trailer, and towed it back to CO. My father accompanied me on the drive which was awesome.

With the white wagon out in CO we were just missing one....


E39 loaded up in CA. Trailer + wagon should be about 6,500lbs. I had my pellet grill and some other household items inside the X5. Of course I forgot my keys for the E39 and had to call AAA to gain access and then drilled out my steering column to delete the steering lock. (Thanks YouTube)

CA-CO is roughly 1,100 miles so 2,200 round trip. Long but driving the drive on the 15 and i70 is absolutely beautiful. Postcard shit.



We broke the drive up with a stop in St George, UT for sleep.


"Trucks"


More scenery (and pee break)


Surprisingly the tongue weight was <500lbs.


Made it!



Fuel Economy. Blue is outbound CO-CA going 80+mph. Red is CA-CO return while towing, 60mph average I would say. This trucks a beast. 20+mpg towing 6,000+lbs up and over the Rockies is impressive.


#AlwaysDirty in Colorado

[ucsbwsr]

Not too much to report as most of my time has been spent remodeling the garage in which progress has been slow since other house projects keep getting in the way. Plan is to have the garage done before winter.

Colorado is a tricky place to live if you like to keep your vehicles clean (but worth it).

The X5 did receive an oil change (5k interval) but aside from that is has just been getting used. Odometer recently rolled over 120,000 miles. 40,000+ of which are under my ownership during the past 3.5 years.


Finally big the bullet and bought an EV. This is the only EV will own for a long time.


Oil Change




2nd wash in 3 months :/ Deeper clean with fender liners and brakes getting some love.


Deep clean followed by driving through peanut butter mud. Can't win! lol



Colorado Fall colors

[Henn28]

Great looking X! and I love the wagons too.

[Best4x4xFAR]

Hope a two post lift is part of the garage renovations (jealous)..

[ucsbwsr]

Originally Posted by Henn28

Great looking X! and I love the wagons too.

Wagons are the best!

Originally Posted by Best4x4xFAR

Hope a two post lift is part of the garage renovations (jealous)..

Yup, I have a 30a 240v outlet ran in the ceiling in prep for a Bendpak.

[crystalworks]

That is a really cool housing situation. Can't say I've seen a house with the taller single garage door next to the double. Looks good, and super functional.

Nice cars, as always.

[ucsbwsr]

I am pleased to say I have some catching up to do on the build thread since the X5 has received some love recently.

We will start with some remaining pics from Fall in CO and peanut butter mud.



Fall then turned to Winter...



My excitement for the M57 X5 platform grows as Santjer Performance Development charges forward with development. It's nice to see a tuner FINALLY get the M57 to it's true potential. Delete + Tune is fun but this is the sort of performance I am after. You can put the hurt on X5Ms or SRT8s and then add some salt to the wound since you get 2-3x the fuel economy.

SPD now has their dual HPFP setup available for the X5, it paired with larger injectors, Tim's hybrid turbos (the turbo I run), and valve springs -this is the result. From where my X5 stands it's roughly $5k to get to this level, sign me up! The 1LE Camaro wheels look great on his X5, wonder where he got the idea!




I had some poor turbo response which turned out being a vacuum leak. Ever since my original deletes I had a vac line running to my EGR pressure converter with the output capped and the cap was deteriorated. The vac system is now capped at the main vac line and the EGR PC is now fully disconnected. I was scratching my head a bit since M57s should have 28+in/hg and I was only getting 24. It wasn't until I had a conversation with my buddy who is a pilot and me mentioned vacuum decreases as elevation increases, factoring in my ~5,500ft the conversion makes my 24in/hg a near perfect 29in/hg at sea level.





I still have this super annoying *squeal* which happens at lower RPM and vanishes at the 3,000rpm crossover. It sounds like an exhaust or boost leak and I haven't been able to find any signs or exhaust leak from the manifold or turbo connections, no signs of carbon leaking. I have replaced my ATM silicone pipes once already; they weep so much oil it's hard to ID any potential boost leaks. Eventually I will build a mainly aluminum up-pipe from the intercooler to intake with some Vanjen clamps or similar. I did notice some signs of weeping from one of my swirlflap plugs so I ordered a new set of o-rings. I doubt this is my main issue but any amount of boost that's contained is a good thing.


As you can see in this photo the flap for the lower tailgate had broken all of it's plastic tabs for spring retention so it was just flopping around. Hilariously used beat-up ones are sold on eBay for $140 and a new OEM part was $160 from FCP. No brainer.



From multiple times adjusting and readjusting the lower latch eyelet in hopes of getting a tight seal on the cargo hatch I damaged the threads on the unit so I snagged a used lower latch assembly from a fellow diesel owner. It was a very easy repair.


My 2 biggest complaints with the X5 are it's poor ride quality and noise from the interior -both road/wind noise and more so the banging, creaking, and crackling of the interior. It is now time to quiet this thing down. I will be adding sound deadening materials in phases as I am able to tackle the projects, I just completed what can be considered Phase 1 which included adding Kilmat to the doors, rear hatch, and cargo floor.

I did an uncharacteristically poor job photo-documenting the project, my apologies. Here is a photo as I started the cargo floor, when I was done every section of visible metal was covered and the sections of floor which weren't covered by the carpet has Noico Red 8mm closed cell foam laid on top. My X5 originally had a 3rd row which was removed but the OEM carpet has quiet thick foam under it so I didn't add any CCF under as I thought it would be redundant.


It's cold in Colorado but with a couple 50+F days I utilized the sunshine to warm the X5, butyl, and myself.


Here is another "before" photo which has no "after" lol. Both of these D-pillar areas by the taillights got the treatment. With the fuse panels removed you can access a large cavity which reaches towards the fuel cap. I was able to stuff an entire 16"x10" sheet of Kilmat up there and it was nearly out of sight. All metal was covered with Kilmat and CCF.


Hey! A before/after photo! This isn't a very critical area for sound deadening but it does show the detail work involved. Especially on the tailgate there are multiple locations for clips to mount that you must be aware of, much like this.



Lower and upper tailgate complete


With every trim piece removed I am adding some felt tape between plastic-plastic connections to hush the cracks and squeaks. This has been veryn effective so far and I can't wait to do the rest of the interior. STFU interior!
My driveway has a 10 degree pitch and when I would back up at an angle the cargo area would make all kinds of noises when the chassis flexed, the felt greatly reduces these noises.



I don't have any photos of the doors but I installed Kilmat on the outer panels (installed on the inside of the exterior door panels), no CCF as I wasn't confident there would be clearance for the windows when rolled down. I am very happy with the results, the most noticeable difference is the solid "thud" the doors now have, be gone hollow resonance! Hopefully the video works, if not this is the link, if you can't hear the difference get better speakers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKrVnQc9uCs

[Happy]

Originally Posted by ucsbwsr

Fall then turned to Winter...

I came outside to this exact sight one day. But not in Colorado, it was in Houston Texas LoL..

Originally Posted by ucsbwsr

I had some poor turbo response which turned out being a vacuum leak.

I kept blowing these type of caps off of the back of my manifold constantly. It took me a while to figure it out. A smoke test would have saved me a whole lot of frustration.

Those are some pretty strong numbers!! I’ll be sticking around for your update.


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

[Jfos7451]

I'm not sure if I missed it and sorry if I did. But did you ever get a chance to test your intake against the stock intake on a dyno?

[ucsbwsr]

Originally Posted by Jfos7451

I'm not sure if I missed it and sorry if I did. But did you ever get a chance to test your intake against the stock intake on a dyno?