Right..!!

Bryston powered Maggie’s for me. Serious sound, period!

Indeed the cabin of an E53 is not an ideal environment for superior quality listening. But it seems Wayne you know, that I know what sounds good. Now granted, I am not comparing the E53 DSP system to Maggie’s in a dedicated sound room, power by individual Bryston amps. I’m saying I am shocked that I can hear the instruments and vocals in a way that is a bit perplexing for a 20 year old sound system, which is in the cabin of a motor vehicle. Anyone who knows Magnepan, knows what I mean by actually hearing the instruments and vocals properly.

Definitely OCD! LoL.. :bustingup


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

[QUOTE=nick325xit 5spd;1225545]The reason to use AVIN is as follows:
1) Replaces a failing MID or head unit. (My MID's display was ruined.)
2) Sounds VASTLY better than the original head unit.
3) Added functionality such as CarPlay may be desirable.
4) If you DO NOT have DSP, the installation is pretty much direct drop in.

/QUOTE]

So an AVANT4 is almost plug and play?

The CD/Bluetooth wire option increased sound quality. The OEM wiring changes are noticeable. The plug in Bluetooth adapter through radio frequencies doesn't compare. Next year, I'll go for an upgrade to use all the steering wheel buttons.

It's almost plug and play if you do NOT have DSP. Steering wheel controls work out of the box.

My plan to take a couple hours and "pop" on new front pads and rotors in the driveway ended up being a bit of a hassle. The brake work went fine and aside from noticing the rubber dust boot on the right caliper piston was working itself free, the TRW ceramic pads and Zimmerman rotors went on hassle free. I'll need to address the dust boot with a rebuild eventually.

My initial runs up to 40 or 50 mph to bed the pads and rotors seems to indicate that the vibration on braking I was feeling between 60 and 30 mph or so was gone. I haven't had the car out on the hwy though to test for sure. Frankly though I'd be surprised if the brake job fixed the vibration since I wasn't feeling it in the steering wheel. It feels like a classic worn control arm bushing, however, both arms on the front suspension are new and I just had an alignment. The tie rods also check fine, but I do need new front struts soon. Perhaps worn struts can cause vibration on braking? The indy who works on the X occasionally also thinks that the lift, 275 tires, etc. may simply be overcoming the stock bushings. I'll update this when I get the car on the highway. Regardless, it is quite livable and my plan is to keep replacing worn parts over the next several months (struts next probably) until unitl I eliminate everything but bushings at which point maybe I'll switch to stiffer bushings in tension struts first.

At any rate, true to form, the X decided to start rubbing the back of its calipers on the inside of the 16" wheels when I first took it out to bed the pads. I had already taken about 1/32nd off the back of the calipers with a grinder to get the new 16" wheels to fit after the lift, but I supsect they got hotter than normal during the bed down process, and perhaps also the brackets and calipers shifted a nano-fingstrom during the brake change. Back out with the angle grinder. Seems to be fixed, until and unless they get really hot ever I'm sure. I found myself googling brembo X5 conversions and thinking that those massive calipers might work better as they don't look nearly as deep. In fact, the ones I saw don't even have a back to them facing the inside of the rims. Zero point zero chance I will be spending 4k on brakes for the car though!

While under the car trying in vain to check the clearance on my back, I did notice evidence of fluid on the bottom of the bell housing. The motor and subframe stiffener was thankfully clean as a whistle. I was initially getting some oil weeping from quite a few the oil pan bolts when I put the new motor in so I gently retorqued them, which seems to have worked. So unless something oily is leaking down from the back of the motor, I can only assume that the torque converter has small leak. It doesn't seem too cosmic and I'm planning a fluid drain and refresh later this month. More to follow when I get it up on a lift and can take a better look. The last 9 months with a fully leak-free BMW have been heaven, but it was bound to end at some point.

Fully aside, my favorite youtube past time these days is watching the Driftwork guys do major surgery on their BMWs. Specifically their E30 track car is amazing and watching them massage a Drenth sequential gearbox under it is fantastic.

That's the downside of sliding calipers. The clearances change depending on pad wear. You may also want to replace the guide bushings as they allow increased play as they age.

Oil in this location is often valve cover or rear main seal. Rear valve cover leaks can be pretty deceptive unless you just get your hand back there. Generally, it's pretty obvious when ATF is leaking.

Will definitely check the rear valve cover and main. Going to be super bummed if they are leaking as they motor only has 3k on it! Although the packing sheet did say that it was assembled in 2017 so it sat on a shelf in germany for 5 years before I bought it.

The Witch started intermittently making a deep tire skip noise like when an airplane lands, upon inspection I found my rear guibo was shot and since it was only 18 months old I was pissed.

Found that the transfer case oring #27107537631 would leak through #27107539265 and caused oil to come out the output flange and it degraded the guibo. All three changed and so far she's dry.

If you have a strange degradation of your guibo check for slow leaks and just to note there wasn't any noticeable oil wetness due to road dust and it only leaked occasionally when the seal, o-ring lined-up.

See damaged guibo...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...739add3414.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ba0c6a9d94.jpg

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lost my left side wheel arch plastic (back side) in the car wash... got mangles up so need a replacement. Anyone know any decent aftermarket suppliers? (it's a 4.6is), BMW wants 175 bucks for it... guess it's not as crazy as the 550 bucks for a little plastic drip tray in the pano roof...

I doubt you'll find an aftermarket supplier other than somebody parting one out that was damaged enough that they can't sell the whole kit.

That said... This is a good reminder to check the rivets on the rest of your wheel arches. They have to get replaced every time someone goes underneath the wheel liner, and I've seen a lot of examples of mechanics halfassing that.

Wonder if someone's regular (not industrial) 3D printer would handle making one?

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