Build Log: M57 X5

[FellowsheepTech]

Just got ATM 3.5” downpipe (apparently the first one) and VERY impressed so far. He seems to be active on the NABMWDO group fwiw


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[ucsbwsr]

Originally Posted by FellowsheepTech

Just got ATM 3.5” downpipe (apparently the first one) and VERY impressed so far. He seems to be active on the NABMWDO group fwiw

So they revised the DP from 3" to 3.5"? Curious if they will revise their X5D exhaust as well. 3.5" seems the way to go (ideally).

[ucsbwsr]

Played around with the with configuring an inlet system. There might be some subtle changes but I am pretty confident the setup I sketched out will work.

The OEM system seems to perform well for what it is, the goal with this system is to achieve similar filtration and low intake temps while shortening the intake systems length. There are some high HP 335ds which essentially run an ultra short; filter - MAF - turbo inlet pipe. The benefits of the short run and high flow seem to outweigh disadvantage of having the filter in the engine bay and sucking hot air. I hope to have a system that is as short as possible while introducing cold air. Turbo noises and having a unique inlet which cleans up the engine bay are bonuses.

The key to the system will be a 3.5" 90 degree oval pipe made by CXRacing. This X5M intake was the closest thing I found to what I want to achieve.


Here is a scribble of the system. It's worth noting the OEM air filter is a larger 9.5x12" panel filter and looking that size up on K&N's website it should flow ~600cfm, that's K&N's panel filter and is thinner than the Bosch unit BMW uses so I assume the stock filter flows a bit less, maybe 500-550cfm.

K&N offers two filters that will work, the RC-5000 which flows 600cfm and the RC-5040 which flows 1,000cfm. I might see if I can atuff the 5040 but if it's too much hassle then the its nice to know the 5000 essentially flows the same as stock.


Conveniently the OEM turbo inlet pipe houses the PCV connection


With the upper portion of the pipe being removable there is a nice flange to clamp onto


Here is the everything but the turbo inlet pipe installed


The next 2 photos show the MAF mocked up and spaced as if there was a 3" to 2.5" reducer between it and the turbo inlet pipe. Off the MAF will be a 3.5"-3" reducing 90 degree silicone elbow directly connected to a 45 degree elbow which connects to the oval pipe. The goal is to have the oval pipe inline with the vehicle and have the silicone do the bending but if space is limited then I might skip the 45 bend and run the pipe direclty off the 90 degree elbow, we shall see.



When reinstalling the turbo inlet pipe the PCV pipe split, you can see it was cracked in multiple locations. I had some heater hose lying around which fit well.



I am excited to delete this leaking CCV system in favor for a vented oil catch can.


Upgraded the switch for my QTP exhaust valve, not sure if I will end up using a wireless controlled but if I do a hardwired switch this toggle is much easier to operate and offers a cleaner design.


Did a few 0-60 runs, 6.5 was the best but it was also on a slightly uphill road so I expect a 6.3 could have been achieved. Not very exciting but nice to have some sort of baseline before power increases. Currently running JBD @10 and a trans tune.


Speaking of trans tune I was having some delay in acceleration from a standstill, part of it seems to be electronic off the pedal but there is also an elastic like delay which I assume is related to the torque converter. Rod's trans tune does manipulate the TC so I asked him about it and he sent and updated file V12.3 to HP5 IIRC.



In the continued spirit of preventative maintenance I replaced the fuel filter.

Turns out the one installed was dated 2014... overdue!


New filter installed, notice 2019 date.


I also noticed some water ingress via the cowls and I am aware the injector related issues this can cause and although I live in San Diego where precipitation isn't so common, I still wanted to nip it in the butt.



Central cowl piece removed, notice the ends where the oem foam has been smashed and morphed into a goo.


I cleaned off the edges and installed some OCI butyl. I do a lot of headlight work so I conveniently had this laying around. I laid a thick bead at each end.



With the panel reinstalled you can see the excess squishing out. This is what I wanted to make sure there were no gaps but its a bit of an eye sore and butyl can be a mess especially when warm so I trimmed it with a razor and gave it a leak test. Good to go!



My "engine acoustics" were chewed up from a rat at some point and contaminated with carbon via boost leaks so I trimmed up the eye sore a bit and I decided not to install the OEM engine cover, because of this I also removed the oil filler neck extension. I like to tidy up the engine bay as I go and keep things minimal as it makes it easier to wrench.

[ucsbwsr]

Replacing vacuum lines turned into bypassing the low pressure EGR cooler and deleting the high pressure EGR cooler.

OEM vac lines had ~80,000 miles on them and were nice and toasty. Even with expanding pliers I wasn't able to get the lines off the nipples without cutting them with a razor. The last vac line I replaced was for the low pressure EGR cooler (located under the LP turbo) and accidentally broke the plastic nipple off. After doing some research I sounded like this wasn't worth repairing since I plan to delete it eventually and the non functional valve should only throw a CEL, not put the X5 into limp.

After learning my EGR delete intake pipe could be installed without limp mode I decided now was a good tie to do that as well. Even while on a stock tune I like having this done to slow carbon build up and have a nice bump in engine efficiency.

The e61 that's for sale gets the garage so the workshop moved to the driveway.



Roasted and toasted!




The best tip I have is to figure out how to remove this rear solenoid, reaching many of the vac lines is awkward but these two are impossible unless you pop the solenoid out.


I didn't see any holes but the lines were not in good shape



Farewell cooler






With the braces out I hit them with some sandpaper and applied some top coat, hopefully they stay looking fresh, I am a bit fan of brushed metals, especially in engine bays.

[MillerMav]

Looks great! You have me more motivated than ever to get my deletes on order and get the ball rolling. I miss my old X5 engine bay that was free of that huge EGR cooler. It just looks so much better.

[ucsbwsr]

First things first, welcome the new garage mate: Oliver! Soon to be 3 month old Blue Merle Australian Shepard.




Back to the basics: fresh oil



Next project was to run the wiring for my paddles, the electrical pins are in the mail so I figured it would be good to get the wiring done. I started by removing the wheel so confirm the M-sport paddles are configured like other M-sport paddles with resistors ...and they are. M-sport owners on other chassis remove the resistors to create a simple switch, others add additional resistors but in the spirit of KISS, I will explore a coding option I read about which will allow communication, if now then I have the other more permanent options to explore.




After some poking around I decided to run the wiring in this manner from the SZL; through the fire wall just above the dead pedal, from just under the brake booster out another grommet to the driver wheel well, up and over the transmission, and back to the electrical connector. There might have been a more direct way but this was fairly easy to access and the wiring is away from all the hot items on the passenger side.


Grommet above the dead pedal


View of the grommet below the brake booster


Thread the needle


In this pic you can see the wire ran behond the wheel liner. Wiring is tucked away as I wait for the pins to arrive.


Next project was aligning the rear tailgate which was pulled over to the passenger side. Using NewTIS I found the instructions for aligning the gate and played around with the loosing the bolts which connect the hinge to the body and the gate, it was a pain and didn't really work. To access these bolts you had to remove the spoiler.


Here is before



It isn't perfect but the most beneficial adjustment came from correcting the latch catch. If you lowered the tailgate down manually to where it was almost shut you could see it was pretty straight but then got all crooked when latched, DOH! I should have paid closer attention, removing the spoiler and playing with the main hinge wasn't necessary SMH. I also noticed the passenger side "bottom-out pad"? was about 5 millimeters higher so I brought that down to level. Maybe it was raised earlier to eliminate tailgate rattle? We shall see.


Here is after, not perfect but much better



Added some fresh felt tape to the latch catch.


Last project was fabbing up a PCV delete plate which will eventually house a bulkhead fitting and allow me to run an oil catch can. Just as others have done I used 1/3" aluminum hacked it up with an angle grinder and a Dremel. Considering my lack of metal fabrication experience and relatively primitive tools I am happy with the outcome. I bought a small vented Mishimoto "style" OCC but I know the Provent is the go-to for the M57 with a few internal mods. TBH the Provent is huge and looks like hell so I will see if I can get satisfactory results for another style OCC, if not then I will revert to the Provent and it's unsightly "do they really need to be this large of a diameter" hoses.







Good enough!


Keep it clean!

[crystalworks]

Nice work as always. Beautiful pup. Love the doggos. Wife and I are still getting over losing ours. Maybe when the kids are older...

I think those vacuum lines are going to need doing in the not-so-distant future of the wife's X35d as they look original.

[ucsbwsr]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Nice work as always. Beautiful pup. Love the doggos. Wife and I are still getting over losing ours. Maybe when the kids are older...

I think those vacuum lines are going to need doing in the not-so-distant future of the wife's X35d as they look original.

I wish all dogs lived longer, like birds!

For the vacuum lines when I do mine over somethings I will change are A) replace the OEM lines with a longer lasting aftermarket option and B) reroute some lines more over the valve cover and away from the turbos, a handful of the hot side lines can be shifter about 1-1.5" inward and they should see considerably less heat.

[ucsbwsr]

I finished wiring the paddles and got everything operational. I will be creating a guide explaining the process for E70s, there was info online but it wasn't definitive so I am hoping the consolidation of the necessary steps plus some pointers will be helpful for others. Keep an eye out for a link soon.

In addition to the paddle shift project the maintenance train continued to charge forward with the following:

- Fluidampr harmonic balancer + upgraded alternator pulley
- Water Pump + Thermostat
- New Belts



Removing AC stretch belt


Alternator pulley: Left-Old Right-New


Left: OEM balancer
Right: Fluidampr


OEM HB looked to be in good shape. There was no record of it being replaced in 85k so it's nice to know the Fluidampr is in there now, especially before tuning.


Noted some minor wheeping around the crank hub, not an urgent matter but it will be corrected at some point.


Old vs New




Cleaned, inspected, and greased up.


Refilled cooling system and got up to operating temp.

[ucsbwsr]

Paddles in action!


Also, this chirping noise shown below would happen periodically on start up, usually when the engine hasen't been ran for >12 hours. This was resolved when replacing my harmonic balancer, alternator pulley, and water pump. My guess it was caused by the alternator pulley.


I had some odd locking behavior, the driver door stopped unlocking at all and you needed to utilize the "actual" key however the driver door would lock with the FOB. Gas cap also needed a manual release to open. All other doors were unresponsive. Research said it was either a fuse or lock actuator. Thankfully it was a fuse, I replaced the 15A with 20A.



My initial fog light retrofit utilized 3M VHB which is amazing stuff but it didn't offer the structural rigidity needed for this application and with the heat sinks of the projectors completely exposed there was too much space for water and dirt to ingress so I revised the design.

To mount the LED projector bracket to the fog housing I used my ultra tiny drill bit and some steel wire to create 4 anchor points


Next was JB Weld which completely seals the perimeter and also adds rigidity.


Last were rubber housing caps to seal the rear, these work but they are a little excessive in their volume and the flange that grabs onto the housings could be deeper so I will be trying a different design later to optimize the design.


I gave the X5 a wash immediately after installing the revised fogs and so far so good, next wash will be with a power washer




I finally had the opportunity to take some output pics. Some things to note on these photos: The X5 is parked at a slight angle relative to the wall and the ground also has a slight angle which makes the output scale up in size towards the left. I did a quick aim of the projectors inside the fog housings before installing them into the bumper but never did another aiming once in the bumper, as you can see the driver side is aimed a bit higher and should be lower to match the passenger side.

The passenger side is aimed about as low as it can go, the projector assmebly bottoms out on the fog housing limiting the downward angle. I might be able to improve this a little by mounting the LED projector up a little higher in the fog housing when I join the two assemblies but the improvement will be small. The limited downward aim combined with the relatively high location of the fog lights in the X5's bumper these fog lights are more like supplemental driving lights. That being said with the ho-hum performance of the E70's adaptive xenon lights and the impressive output of the small LED fogs, they do a nice job complimenting the headlight's low beam output and help fill out the beam pattern. Photos are with an iphone and exposure is on auto.

LED fogs only


Low beams only


Low + Fog


Fog only


Here is a video cycling through the lights