Jordi's E53 Mod/Service History Thread(picture heavy)
Hi all, I thought it would be a good idea to document the journey of my X5 here. Purchased 4th of November 2019 from my uncle who had used it as a tow car for his flower business and as a family car. After he got a new car to replace the X5, the X5 was put up for sale but there was not much interest.
At that time I was looking to get a E39 540i Touring for towing my track car to some circuits in Europe. No way I was buying an X5... but after thinking for a while I kind of liked the idea and I always thought the E53 looks very good. This one had also proved to be pretty reliable, so I went ahead and bought it! The car is originally from Germany, I don't remember where exactly but it was imported to The Netherlands when it was only 6 months old in 2000. 2000 E53 X5 - 4.4i Topaz Blue Metallic 364 309.000 km / 192003 miles Quote:
Exterior Modded stock headlights Black Kidney grilles LED Puddle lights LED Door handles EZ Front lip AC Schnitzer rear spoiler Quad 4 inch exhaust tips Roof rail delete Interior LED Ambient lighting Paddle shifters 10.25 inch Android Head Unit 10 Inch Subwoofer Playstation 4 linked to headrest screens Engine & Transmission Rebuilt engine in 2013 Rebuilt transmission in 2020 Dual exhaust cut outs after cats Suspension Style 168 wheels 20mm spacers front 25mm spacers rear Complete new front and rear suspension parts (2019) Lowered air suspension Project Silver Camber and Toe arms (soon) BC Racing front coilovers (soon) 2019 This is how it was sitting in the grass under a tree for months before I bought it. The X5 was almost completely stock, minus the dual exhaust cut outs after the cats and rear headrest screens. It's very very loud once the valve opens. :bustingup The white Renault Clio RS is my track car that I use to compete in Time Attack. https://i.imgur.com/rSBoFWbl.jpg?1 The night of purchase, of course at the gas station as the tank was empty :rofl: https://i.imgur.com/kDbuE4cl.jpg First inspections and service history checks: https://i.imgur.com/jc6xeIAl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/j0i0QG1l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/KyVDkRRl.jpg First wash done, went to the local automatic car wash which also cleans the underside. I normally wash all cars by hand but I had to make an exeption for this time. https://i.imgur.com/aSdaKFml.jpg?1 Turns out the engine had been rebuilt 90k km ago, good to know. As the last maintenance was overdue I wanted to replace all filters and fluids soon. The car had a wobble when braking above 60km/u, a local garage told my uncle that the suspension bushing in the front had to be replaced soon. Ofcourse I started looking for mods to make the car stand out more. I polished the dull headlights, what a difference: https://i.imgur.com/V8Ked9wl.jpg E70 rear wiper arm https://i.imgur.com/ufWDrAol.jpg E53 full interior LED kit https://i.imgur.com/oRqlymDl.jpg Cleaning and Polishing done https://i.imgur.com/6aVk6Dol.jpg https://i.imgur.com/XkM0BK1l.jpg Towing my uncles flower trailer, no flowers inside this time but a 1000kg car, off to the dyno for tuning :D https://i.imgur.com/r97WgE3l.jpg Black Kidneys: https://i.imgur.com/o3j8zBQl.jpg I always liked the angel eye look that BMW had, so I got a set of led rings off Ebay. No regrets! I added LED highbeams and fog lights too. Error codes coded out with NCS Expert. Black kidneys added too https://i.imgur.com/2Y4JcYzl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/skbyMH8l.jpg 10.25 inch Android headunit, rear view camera, and 10 inch subwoofer added. I later added a rubber strip to complete it. https://i.imgur.com/lBdFqral.jpg https://i.imgur.com/mQmK6hGl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/BukF8Kwl.jpg After this I was finally able to get on the ramps to replace all the suspension arms in the front and the rear. I could not see much wear on the front suspension arms but decided to replace them anyways. The rear Toe arms were completely stuk on the subframe side. I could not get the bolt loose. I broke a few tools and decided to give up on this one and come back later. Same thing for the rear balljoint. I did not have the correct tool to get it out so this will be done later. https://i.imgur.com/qNkc88Rl.jpg 2020 Unfortunately 2020 didn't start very good for the X5, when driving to work one day the gearbox decided it had enough and destroyed itself when driving off in 1st/2nd gear. Common issue as the valve body wears out. A complete rebuild had to be done, normally I do everything myself but this was too difficult so A specialist shop carried out the work for me. Getriebenotprogramm = Transmission Failsafe https://i.imgur.com/PGnF89Dl.jpg 1.5 weeks later, guess who is back and guess who missed driving it? Me :D https://i.imgur.com/dBel0kcl.jpg Added LEDs and resistors to the puddle lights in the mirror https://i.imgur.com/5kIhwlql.jpg Decided to try black running boards, still liking it. All rubber pieces came out without damage. Not bad. :D https://i.imgur.com/pXctoOdl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/TZXGtzNl.jpg Needed to wash it real bad. https://i.imgur.com/gR6KETll.jpg?1 Roof rail delete. https://i.imgur.com/e37S6syl.jpg After replacing the front suspension arms the shaking was still present, so I purchased a set of new Brembo rotors and pads. Turns out the rotors were warped. At the same time I replaced the regular front suspension with air suspension, running a custom setup that I discussed here https://i.imgur.com/itjLiI4l.jpg Rear air needed some more lowering to match, which I did later. https://i.imgur.com/xPBAmDsl.jpg The car had a Kenwood DVD system with 2 rear headrest screens. Unfortunately the Kenwood DVD unit did no longer work. It would not recognise DVD's. I came across an awesome idea online, adding a Playstation to the car. This was actually pretty easy and fun. It's a PS3 Slim, connected to a 12v converter, running a HDMI to AV box. I have hacked the PS3 to be able to run games from the hard drive as getting to the CD changer is not easy. https://i.imgur.com/6U1VOIxl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DF0MbB5l.jpg I really like the E39 M5 clocks and I wanted to give the same look to my X5, Silver Rings, red needles (permanent marker) and an M badge were added. The M badge wont be approved by everyone but I think it looks good and is not nearly as bad as an M badge on the trunk ;) https://i.imgur.com/A58Wjhjl.jpg Next mod, paddle shifters! I used a new clockspring with pins for a heated steering wheel, wired that to the up and down shift wires. The paddles I used are from an F model, exactly like these. Before you comment on my worn steering wheel, keep reading / looking, I'm not done yet. :D https://i.imgur.com/6ABUCKEl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/3Lu2eubl.jpg Small lip spoiler added :cool: https://i.imgur.com/fJ9UUFtl.jpg Another quite ''big'' mod done: Led door handles and interior ambient lighting in the doors and dome. 5mm amber LEDs added in the original positions, giving a brighter amber light but not too much. https://i.imgur.com/5VNxC7Ol.jpg https://i.imgur.com/a0CyI3ol.jpg https://i.imgur.com/SBRcUDol.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tl9ATPsl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/LyW3iTGl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/qEHNkt0l.jpg Family photo: :rofl: https://i.imgur.com/ZPEq5NEl.jpg Few nicer pictures, weather is getting better :D (added quad 4 inch exhaust tips and EZ Lip) https://i.imgur.com/q4QtZR5l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Lyjntzel.jpg https://i.imgur.com/RkNQYuXl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/ZEofl3wl.jpg Refurbished the original 309.000 km steering wheel with leather paint. Works great and stays on very good. https://i.imgur.com/z8hZBMrl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/mnCWa5Wl.jpg Black plastics painted black. They started fading. Looks very good now! https://i.imgur.com/OZN8rvzl.jpg Photo shoot time: https://i.imgur.com/1KigciMl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/4Sc1eL7l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Cnx7qSZl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/x934tlnl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/fLtShgAl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/NOupxAIl.jpg Back at it again with the flower trailer :D https://i.imgur.com/L8wDIJdl.jpg |
Lots of nice work. Way to keep it on the road. :thumbup: Thanks for sharing.
|
Looks great! Lot of work and love put into this one. :thumbup:
|
Gorgeous X and outstanding work! One of the niecest on the road! Are those the original headlights modified?
|
Thanks! Haven't thought of selling it at all. :cool:
If anyone needs info on modifications or the parts I used please ask. Yes these are the original headlights, I have removed the inner plastic lenses and added the halo's and chrome colored indicators. I might make a DIY topic for this one as I took many pictures when taking them apart :-) |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Yes they can be baked open but I used a heatgun to get the lenses off. |
Heel mooi! Goed gedaan. Nieuwsgierig, wat koste het repareren van de versnellingsbak en waar laten doen?
|
Great looking X5! Very fond of your LED mods! Thanks for sharing!
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:20 AM. |
vBulletin, Copyright 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.6.0
© 2017 Xoutpost.com. All rights reserved.