new to me 05 6spd got some questions
 

hey all, just picked up this 05 6spd with 161k to replace my 01 5spd with 247k on it. its a sport model with rear springs. my 01 is also a sport but has rear air ride. can i swap the rear air ride from the 01 into the 05 and put the springs into the 01? in my searching i only found people with air ride issues or removing air ride to install springs, not the other way around. if there is a thread on it already a link would be appreciated. the pano roof cover also only moves a few inches at a time, i assume this is not how its supposed to work. also wondering if these have the front driveshaft spline issues like the pre facelift ones do. thanks for any help and if theres any other facelift issues i should look out for lmk. ive had my 01 for 110k miles so not new to the e53 platform, just my first facelift one.

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What I do to test for cross compatibility is search for the part on the newer model and see if real oem shows that part on the older model.

(Or when real oem doesn't differentiate, just look for the year range).

The issue you'll have other than coding is: does the newer model have the wiring harness just in case it might have air springs. (look for that harness in the older car and look for empty connectors in the new one).

I loved having air spring since I would often carry 1000# of tools and even tow a trailer at the same time. I'm definitely in approval of the project.

thanks. i picked it up friday night and have been so busy with putting the turbo motor back in my drift car for a event in a week i havent had anytime to even look at it for any of the wiring and stuff.

There was a thread here recently about putting the air springs on over the coils. It's probably right down on the first page or so if you scroll down.

The pano roof you can try initializing it just by holding the button, and use the manual crank, but the tracks are probably all dirty and jammed up with leaves etc. So you'll probably break some of the plastic parts in the track if you force it to move. You're probably going to have to drop it out and buy the repair kits. It's not as bad as you'd think.

scrolled back about 10 pages and couldnt find anything on converting to bags. the pano roof i am more than happy to leave closed and never touch again. would have loved for it to be a slick top

new to me 05 6spd got some questions
 

Found this in e70 thread. This is my prime concern. I searched a bit for a thread where somebody did this and had no luck.

I've seen in the past where somebody reverse an air spring delete.

If you find that thread you'd find most of what you need to know if you find that e53 unlike e70 were prewired for air possible. (I think the odds are fair this is the case. I used to find capped off wiring quite regulatory on my e53s).

For inspiration;

https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...uspension.html

Here is the recent thread where someone was talking about putting air springs on. https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...oil-shock.html

If the sunroof is not leaking and the glass is all securely attached to the car never touch the button. I wasn't that lucky and had to do the repair.

That's the exact thread I referred to about putting air back in that was removed. Unfortunately iirc, the air was never coded out so didn't need to be coded back in

Nice ride. Facelift versions don't have trouble with front splines. I thought they did and bought an aluminum spacer. Since mine is an '06, I passed on the spacer to a board member. So cool to have the original window sticker.

good to hear about the front driveshaft! that was 1 of things that left me stranded before

interesting, so coding is possibly the only concern which can be taken care of fairly easily i assume. hopefully thursday i'll finally be able to dig more into it

It's worth noting that the coil spring suspension actually holds cargo and/or tows quite well.

I'd say that the primary benefit on the E53 is probably actually ride quality, and you really want the 4-wheel air for that. (I've considered it, but haven't been sufficiently motivated.)

I too tow with a four-wheel-coil car and I haven't experienced any sagging in the rear. It's the most stable car I have ever towed with, in fact. I do use a WDH though.

new to me 05 6spd got some questions
 

When I'm loaded and towing my coil car is pretty sagged but toughed it out.

The one time I really really missed the air was when I put 500# on my tail rack and still had maybe 700# inside! That was a slow ride home from home Depot!

Other than the 3-4 times when really loaded the springs have been perfectly fine and the car rides nicer than my wife's old X5 that had rear air front spring.

I think what I need is just a preload shock or something to give some extra support just when loaded down.

got back from a 1700 mile camper trip. camper is a friends that I borrowed and is a bit large for the m54. 3500lb dry weight and shaped like a brick. probably had another 1300lbs of cargo and people inside. managed to maintain 65mph on the flats in 5th gear, 4th up the hills and 6th down hill. got 11mpg avg.

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also plugged in the air pump for the rear airride to see it if will power up without coding and it didnt. also found out it has a RR level sensor but the LR sensor isnt there. I did however find the harness tucked above the plastic arch

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know your vehicle's limits, and watch out for overloading!
 

My wife used to do "catastrophe insurance adjusting" and bought a 2007 Palomino Puma 20QB to have her own housing while doing her insurance work. It worked out fine, being towed behind her '98 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup (which we still have), that had/has the 5.7L V8, 4L60E transmission, 3.73 rear gears, and had the engine power boosted via a custom tune, bigger injectors, etc., and the transmission custom built for towing just before we bought it from my race-car building friend. It also had the light 1500 springs replaced with new 2500 springs.

As I stated, it was a good combo, until she took a 2-month business trip up to Minnesota, driving thru the Ozarks and Missouri, where she visited with relatives on both ends of the trip. On the way back, she called me to complain about the truck having trouble going up hills...no power... so she had to often drop it down into second at times. That worried me, but I couldn't travel up there to see, so I had to wait until she got back to check the truck out.

It turned out that she had been collecting antiques (junk) on the trip, and had stuffed the bed of the truck full, as well as half the trailer. As if that wasn't enough, when I looked into the cross-body storage in the nose of the trailer, it was jam-packed full of "interesting" rocks that she had also collected in the hills of Missouri. The truck wa probably 1000 lbs overweight, and the little trailer even more so. No wonder the truck wasn't as peppy as it should've been. No report on the gas mileage, though.

I made sure that she understood NEVER to repeat the overloading mistake on any future trips (there were only a couple more trips, using her truck & trailer, and thereafter several more via her '08 Cobalt Coupe, without trailer, before she switched jobs...Hurricane Sandy did her in). She still overpacks for even overnight trips to her mother's ranch, only 45 miles away...some people never learn. Kids!!! (she's 14 years younger than I)

Man that's awesome. Looks like a really nice weekend. Very encouraging to see the m54 pulling something like that. I hope it can handle a small trailer with a gutted e36.

Do you think that rear door dent will pop out? Curious what you're going to do about that one. Mine has some similar love taps. I don't understand how people hit things..

A PDR guy can get the rear door dents out

The dent in the rear corner is worse…


All of em are badges of honor, I say…

Some badges of honor are tough to swallow.. I’m just saying’.. LoL..


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

The rear door dimple should easily pop out. You have remove the door panel and raise the window. It's what I would try. As for the smaller ones, I agree. A DPR specialist can take them out. Mine has one where I can reach it. Tools are needed to pop it out.

Thin cloth between dry-ice and paint on a hot hot day will sometimes pop a dent straight out.

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