Drop link is number 7 Here http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...23&hg=31&fg=10
The trailing arm is listed as wishbone here: RealOEM.com * BMW E53 X5 4.4i Service Kit for A-arm / Value Line

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Change my rear Tires on the e39 235/45/17 to 245/45/17 and e53 315/35/20. 2nd this month. Left n right side fml. Lol.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...62001f60ac.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...71bcaaab58.jpg




Video right Here>>>>
https://vimeo.com/112836124

Brought her home!
 

After a cracked cylinder head and three months in the shop, we cranked it this morning and I brought her home. Spent the rest of the day cleaning mold and grease. A little more detailing to do tomorrow. It's so nice to know that she's clean and sleeping soundly in my garage again!

Replaced the front right hand outer CV joint boot. I had neither the time nor inclination to do the job myself at the moment, so booked it into a BMW specialist (indy) who just happens to be around the corner from my office. The PO had changed the front left outer boot.

This afternoon after work.....cleanup the grease which is everywhere....

It's been a while since I last posted on here. Got back home for Thanksgiving break last night and put the snow tires on. Perfect timing and it is a snowy/slushy mess in NJ right now.

Finished up my suspension rebuild project by getting a proper alignment. Before on top and after in bottom.

I had them set rear toe to .01 based on recommendations here.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...c9f3c7e55f.jpg


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Clean and wash it.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps9vkthouv.jpg

Tam she is looking good sorry to hear about the front iS spoiler is it getting fixed soon?

Ouch. Didnt see it till RB mentioned it.

TMV, any pics of those DRL's on, and night shots maybe?

RB, my lawyer and the other parties insurance are figuring it out. I let them do their thing, then it will be fixed.
g300d, pic of them on, at sun downs, is here http://www.xoutpost.com/1017397-post4988.html

last weekend, i wet sanded my headlights. not sure if it made much of a difference in the long term but immediately after they looked slick!

^Put a clear cover on it for long lasting result.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...6528edfc5c.jpg

Installed titanium grills. Wasn't sure at first - but after getting them both in it really lifts the look of the front end.


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Got it, thanks!

I'm sort of warming up to titanium kidneys on silver (my truck is silver too). I may try them soon, probably with black surrounds though.

Hope the bumper issue gets sorted soon, looks like that will need to be $$$ replaced, ugh.

Noice!!

Titanium looks really snazzy on the darker colored cars, and matches your silver sports package mesh nicely.

Thanks fellas. Today I threw 25mm h&r spacers on the back and a set of 10.5 rears on the front. Muhahahahaha. It looks mean as fuu - can't wait till my eibach and bilstein arrive - 40mm should compliment nicely.


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No fair! Need pics of that square setup!! I have a 2nd set of 87's in the garage, waiting to be refinished and squared up on the X! :thumbup:

Changed my front pass door handle carrier this morning. Took me all of 70 minutes, thanks to some great writeups on the forum! Also installed my HID projector fogs, lovin em!! :)

I love the titanium! Considered painting mine black, but haven't, just really like the front end with them...

I gave up on the idea of replacing the radiator with an all aluminium unit, could purchase FIVE OEM Behr rads for the $1000 cost of one Zionsville unit!

Ordered from AutohausAZ, Behr OEM rad ($211), genuine BMW lower rad hose ($40) and genuine BMW cooling fan sensor ($39). No tax and free shipping, $290 total.

^ Agreed! I have had great luck with AutohausAZ as well. Solid selection, pricing and quick ship that's free. I work at a dealer and there are some items that can't even touch their pricing even with my employee discount which can be very good depending on the item.

I spent around 4hrs online shopping prices on the items, AutohausAZ is WAY less then any online seller (was seeing around $300 for the rad ALONE with shipping).

AutohausAZs prices/free shipping is like getting the hose and fan switch for FREE!

Nice mate! That is what I use, 25mm on rear. Post some pics. :)

Is your radiator bad James or is this preventative maintenance?

FCP Groton has some very good clearance prices right now too. I didn't see the Behr radiator at the price you got (I think they were at $245), but I stocked up on a bunch or fasteners, clips, and retainers that always seem to break when servicing something.

2002 X5 3.0 266,700 miles
2004 325i 116,800 miles

TiAgX5, I'm a big fan of autohausaz. Generally good prices and excellent service. I have used them for years for bimmer and benz parts, maintenance stuff.

The OE radiator is starting to leak at the left upper seam.

The lower hose and aux fan switch are preventative maint (these are still OE too).

Replaced my battery and got to use the God-knows-how-many-piece ratchet set I bought a while back. Probably should have got someone to do it because now my back is hurtin like the iron curtain. :P

Autohausaz, FCPeuro, and blunttech are my parts suppliers of choice. Have ordered bucketloads from all of them for the BMW fleet we run... Right now it seems like FCP has better pricing on most of the E53 stuff I've needed.

installed LED interior lights :cool:

did you buy a set of bulbs? and did you replace all interior?
and was it as simple as a plug and play?
pics!

Pics?i am still not convinced to switch to LED's but I just might after I see a few good photos.
Are they a lot brighter than stock?

Renewed my plates online. :P

not today but a week ago I changed the oil in differentials and transfer case...I was too cheap to pay 60$ to have a shop reset the TC adaptations so I ordered the software and cable from the romanian guy tonight for 35$ so I can do it myself;)

I did all mine with a good kit from Ebay. ~$35 and the light is much more pleasing to the eye (for me). I prefer sunlight/light in the 5-6000 kelvin range. I'll try to get pics but they never come out right with LED interior lights.

EDIT: Here you go. Quality kit. He sells it pretty hard in his description... but it IS a nice kit.

18x BMW x5 E53 White LED Interior Lighting Kit | eBay

Well.... snapped outside door handle due to cold weather... Will be replacing this weekend.
Sigh....

^ patients and a hair dryer work wonders :)

I switced over quite some time ago. Really like them. Brighter and white. Very updated, state of art look. Bought as complete set. Plug and play.

Bought all the parts needed to replace the wear items in the rear suspension. Only upgrade from stock is power flex swaybar bushings, otherwise Lemforder/Meyle HD (subframe bushings) parts.

I'll be doing the install Christmas week. Oddly enough, I bought the parts from FCP, ECS, and BavAuto. Each was cheaper on one thing or the other. ECS had the power flex bushings and the replacement bushings for the lower control arms (instead of $300 arms each side I spent $35 or $40 on bushings each side...) that no one else had. Ymmv.

Picked it up after having the transfer case and front CV axles replaced. And drove it shake-free for the first time since August. And drove it. And drove it some more. With no particular place to go.

I love it!!

Discovered that a DISA valve can last 267,190 miles and its failure causes misfires in cylinder #1 and #6. Wasn't such a bad thing after the X5 ran like a top on a 450 mile trip yesterday delivering 22.4 mpg at an average 72 MPH though. And as a bonus, my friendly neighborhood dealer discovered a split outer CV boot! (Trouble is, my bonus becomes his bonus):rolleyes:

2002 X5 3.0 267,200 miles
2004 325i 116,800 miles

New splash screen and nav maps
 

New splash screen :)

Nice!

Hey Fernando, is your boost gauge electronic or a vacc line? How did you run it through the firewall, and where is a good place to tap it? (thinking once I take the vacc line off the EGR instead of blocking it with a bolt I could just route the line straight to the boost gauge)

replaced the rear arms and rear links as well as the rose bushes and integral links so the rear is tip top now! just need to get her aligned then possibly some winter tyres as Americas snow is on its way to the uk aparantly! cant be seen stuck in my x5 can I!!!

Boost gauge is vaccum(the electric ones accumulate oil vapour in the box converter and fail!)
I run the wires/pipe through the fire wall on the left ,just behind the Webasto,as you can also easily access it from inside.
NOOOOOO!!!!! You cant get the vac line from EGR valve ...This is VACCUM ,you need BOOST ,completely different!Anywhere from turbo to intercooler pipe to inlet manifold pipe.I prefer to fit as near to manifold as possible to get a true reading to engine .
Remove the egr valve which is part of the inlet manifold and drill a hole there to insert the fitting..Look at the pics...:)

I always thought the BMW MPG gauge was a vacuum gauge.

Would be better if in the 3.0D the MPG gauge was a boost gauge !A lot easier:D
On my M3-E30 ,no MPG gauge but an oil pressure gauge!Much more useful :)

Thanks Fernando

If the boost sensor on an electronic gauge gets damaged by oil vapor, wouldn't the mechanical gauge suffer the same fate? Do you have one of those foam filters inline?

Also, what is max boost pressure you see? 1.4 bar?

Oil vapour has a lot more pipe to travel to get to mechanical boost gauge.On the mechanical boost gauge side theres a restrictor ,like 1mm diametre ,to avoid flickering of gauge when the car is not boosting.Oil vapour is harder to get through !Yes they both have inline filters.The other thing is ,an electric boost gauge costs 5x more than a mechanical one and I feel the mechanical is more accurate.
Regarding the boost pressure,mine is still the pre facelift!I have the actual map for the car and standard it does 1.25 with peaks of 1.4 and never falls below 0.9 bar on full acceleration.I can confirm that in practise,the boost readings are an exact match to these figures.I remapped mine a while ago and boost is higher throughout the revs but boost peak is only slightly altered (1.7).Yours should have pretty much the same figures,as on the facelift ,Bmw fitted an even bigger turbo and injuectors,so they didn t need to raise boost at all.

2 new rear tires

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...2b9baa2355.jpg

Got her a new set of eyes


2002 BMW X5 E53 3.0i

"If you ain't first, you're last"

^Hopefully NOT the chromed eBay headlights.

So this just came in... Not really what did I do today... but what I'll be doing in the near future.

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...5/CAM00419.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...5/CAM00421.jpg

Curious how the avant 2 is going to look and work in your car.post some pics when you're done or just start a new official Avin avant 2 thread just like the Dynavin N6 one .
That way people know their options .

Please do keep us updates. I am leaning towards the Avin over the Dynaivn.

@ tmv those lights look like the generic Sonar.

^The rings look too thick, with chrome housing. Hopefully they are NOT the ugly kind.

Front and rear Bosch Icons. Oreilly's has 10$ off a set of Icons .
24" A for drivers side
21" B for passenger( instead of 22" recommended size which is too big-see pic)
18" A for the rear

Here the pic for the 21" B on passenger side.just perfect
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/...pscdc57cd3.jpg

Will do. I intend to do a full install guide and review video. I am a mobile electronics installer after all. Bought every accessory you can get for it too so I'll detail how well everything goes in and works...

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Replaced al the globes in the dash cluster, blocked off the EGR, cleaned the inner barrels on all wheels and installed black BMW centre caps. It never ends.

Keen to see Dynavin install vid. I'll be putting mine in over the next few weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to start with installing the reverse camera. Trying not to do too much at once and be forced to rush it.http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...2cc2c2dfc3.jpg

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...cda0d93094.jpg

Dynavin planning.....


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^ are you done yet ? jk lol. just a suggestion while your taking pics of your install of the dynavin, maybe you can make a separate thread for us guys/gals that are interested in it . (if you don`t mind). :thumbup:

There's a huge thread that I started about the install of the N6 where others have posted their install and experience as well.
Would be nice to consolidate that thread rather than start a new one so people have all the information in one place;) ...just a suggestion

Another broken windshield, another OEM. This one paid for by INSCO.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps21880dbf.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps980c3b56.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ps48aeb231.jpg

Do you have a glass rider? Or is that something your state mandates of insurance companies? I have had to replace 3 over the last couple years on my dime... :(

Are you doing to have to move that radar detector now? I thought they did not work through the comfort glass (which I am only assuming that is due to the cutout looking things).

What is comfort glass?

Replaced fluid in both diffs, transferase, and performed a transmission service.
Also added smoked laminx to the fogs, 6k hids, smoked side markers, LED plate bulbs, coded it with updates, and lowered it.

https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/...4b&oe=55124B5C

https://scontent-a-ams.xx.fbcdn.net/...d9&oe=5502F27E

All work was performed by MP Motorsports in Queens, NY. If anyone in the tristate wants a REALLY good independent then these guys are it.

0 deductible glass.

Nope works fine as it sits.

Sittin' pretty!! :thumbup:

Installed a new MAF. Idles smooth as silk again!

2002 X5 3.0 267,300 miles
2004 325i 116,900 miles

Christmas kit ordered! Haha

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...961EA.png.jpeg

Mam4.6 - Where did you pick-up the front/rear lower spoilers? I've especially been looking for the rear one.


Got my DIS/GT1 laptop working again. Set minimum valve lift to 0.3 mm for Valvetronic intermediate levers. No more rough idle or jerky acceleration.

Was your question for 525iT_FEEN? He posted the original pics. I have a pre-facelift IS.

Oops. Yes it was. Sorry for the oversight.

No worries! Hope you find one... That front skirt on the 4.8s look HOT! Makes me wish I had one... :)

Tell me more... I have a "rough" idle sometimes where the idle seems to dip too low, not fluctuate, just dip down to ~600rpms. It never happens if I have the AC on since that bumps it up and keeps it there. This seems like what you are describing...

If you put this on the X5..........:banghead:

Haha will that bother you?

Amazon had a sale last year, it may have been a misprint or something but they were only $2.50 shipped a set. So I bought some for my cars, family members, and friends. Hilarity ensued.

:thumbup:

SOON.

Cleaned out catalytic converter and fitted both cv joint boots on right side.

I'm not sure which spoilers you mean? My car is a factory 4.8iS so any flares, valances, or diffusers that you see come stock.

Today I parked it and shipped off the ABS module to get repaired. :(

But maybe if the weather gets nicer I'll pull of the back bumper and color match the rear diffuser.

Lower control arms right and left. Paired up with the thrust rod bushings a couple weeks ago and all is quiet and fresh up front. I would rather not have withdrawn from the maintenance fund so close to Christmas, but it is what it is!

And it is... Soooo sweet!

You can set your own values for min valve lift? So if someone had a intermediate lifters issue could they potentially adjust these values to avoid doing the actual repair for a while longer? What is the exact purpose of you manually setting the lifter height to .3mm?

ordered some non run-flat continental winter tyres! hopefully there better over the rough roads we have here and then done an oil and filter change just for the hell of it in the freezing cold weather we got.

^^^Josh are you sending to BBA reman? I haven't had time to park mine yet to send it out but I will soon

I just fitted the aux input cable on the back of my 2003 monitor,however I find the volume is somewhat lower than on the radio,so i have to keep lowering / increasing the volume according to what audio mode I am in.Is this normal,does anyone know?I also get lower volume from other external audio input devices ,such as dvd player !:dunno:

When in AUX mode, presets 1-6 are different input levels; just pick the one that is closest to your radio volume to alleviate the difference between AUX and radio.

Thanks:thumbup:
I will try that after my battery charges up,as it discharged after aux input install:(

Many thanks..just like you said ,the volume control is in the presets buttons under AUX mode

Yeah that is who I went with. Hopefully it is repairable, I really would rather not buy their remaned one.

And so far their customer service has been really helpful. I ended up sending it in a week after I bought the service and they had no problems with that.

I'm dealing with the same although I'm going through Matt @ Cheap ABS, he matched BBA's price ($110 shipped and returned) and is a bit closer to me in VA. I bought the auction after thanksgiving but won't send it till New Year he told me no problem at all take my time and once he receives it it will be rebuilt in 2 days tops and sent back promptly. Good service and he literally emails me back within the hour.

Haha there's no ugly on or near my X5..unless she drives thru Boston lmao

Believe it or not it was all plug & play. Even the warning canceler came connected. Good ol eBay


2002 BMW X5 E53 3.0i

"If you ain't first, you're last"

Maybe a better pic without the headlights on so we can see what housings?

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Changed the badge on the hood/bonnet over to match my center caps http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...08435b6617.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...d145898d0c.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...0df9d31d55.jpg


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Also picked him up a room mate - 2012 C300 http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...cb24753bb6.jpg


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Got the diagnostic software from the Romanian seller on eBay..
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/...psb0a62d90.jpg

^ I got mine last year, and have yet to use it. (I`m a chicken lol). I do have it installed on the laptop and have played with it a bit.

I got that working for my '08 535i, but for some reason couldn't get it to connect to the X5. I have the older version with a serial connection that seems to work for the X5. Slow as hell though. I need more time to tinker with 5.7 and SSS.

After 10 hours straight, Dynavin is IN. So beat that I couldn't be bothered playing around with it, but it looks good so far.


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Replaced my emblem on the trunk. It was gettin pretty bad...

10 hours doesn't sound like a plug and play job. What were the time eaters?

Installed the cargo net Ukran sold me.
Washed it twice in three days (salting already) SMH.

I'm guessing running the backup camera wires, extended fakra cable, and any other accessories... microphone, etc.

I'll be doing my Avin Avant 2 this week... the wife is off Wed til Mon so I can actually spend a bunch of time in the garage. I expect it to take at least 2 days @ 8 hours each.

I did upgrade the factory MKIV to v32 firmware today. Did it just because... never know if we decide to sell the factory nav stuff we can say it has been updated.

Interested to know most difficult and time eating parts of the install as considerations to going to an aftermarket unit.

I'll put a post up in the Dynavin thread to keep it all in one place. Learned a few tips and tricks (the hard way) that might help people going down this road.

I painted the lower diffuser. Please excuse the lousy pictures.

http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/v...psuu4l6pht.jpg

http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/v...pszfovfdm8.jpg

I am glad I did it, it came out decent. I have some touch up to do. It really changes the rear of the X5 in my opinion.

Good work, you hardly notice that there is actually a lip there when it's just the standard black plastic piece.

Reckon you might want to get some rock-blocker film from Lamin-X or similar on the side/underneath sections though. Especially with the deep tread pattern on those tyres. Going to be throwing rocks at your nice new paint otherwise.

Thanks. I agree. I was thinking of getting some clear bra to put on there once the paint fully cures. Hopefully it holds up through the winter, I did lay down a pretty thick clear coat.

Looks great! Adds character... :thumbup: Now all you need are some IS tips on there!! :D

Lookin good Josh! Did you sand it smooth fear?

First?

I did not sand it smooth. I thought about it, but decided against it in the event that either I did a poor job or if the color didn't come out right I could go back and it would look stock. I also didn't know exactly where to tape it off so I left myself an out. If I end up having to do it again, I'd sand it smooth, use a real paint gun, and probably have a shop mix up a better paint match. I just used the rattle cans from paintscratch which ended up turning out better than I anticipated.

for a spray bomb ,you did an awsome job bud. what grit did you sand it with?

Installed the Bluefin Superchip ECU reflash.

Took literally 15 minutes to download my map, upload to the Internet and send to the UK, receive re flashed map, load into handset, upload to vehicle ....and then.....instant 50hp and 100nM of torque.

To say I am pleased is an understatement. This thing now feels like it could pull a house over!

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...75dfbca300.jpg


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Hmm ive been looking at these Bluefin jobbies too, I had a vehicle remaped at jf automotive and was happy with it but never really thought it warranted the 300 odd quid it cost. ive got the pre facelift but drove a facelift and felt a lot better, aparantly the Bluefin map makes it the same power as the facelift model so may look into this now if your happy with the results

Wish we had diesel e53's here... :(

Summer tires off and mounted the winter wheels.

Now just missing ABS module refurb, Valve covers, chain guides, rear LCA bushings.... :( No pressure....

LOL 1 thing at a time, you'll get there... :)

Winter Tires went on Sunday, it was 50F but back to the 30's the rest of the week

alternator bracket
 

Resealed the alt bracket on the 4.8 what a pain in the ass .

I've heard quite a bit of talk about ABS module refurbs the last while. Is this something that should be done preventatively, or just wait till it makes itself known?

Its definitely a common failure on the pre-facelift models with the Bosch 5.7. If you don't get the ABS trifecta of lights intermittently there shouldn't be any reason to send it out now. I've had the intermittent trifecta for a year and a half (about 10 times in the past 1.5 years) and lived with it but will send out by new year for repair, finally.

I reckon you should have a chat to jason @BWChiptune. He's on the xdrivers.co.uk forum. I tried to get in touch with him as he has done remote tunes for Australian customers before, but he went quiet so I moved on. He will do a custom tune for you with pretty good reviews. Not sure on his pricing, but for the Bluefin you're going to be looking at about the 300GBP mark.

It might seem expensive, but in terms of $per/kw(bhp) gained you just cannot beat.

The Bluefin appears to alter fuel injection open time, fuel rail pressure and transmission shift map as when I was loading the tune in, it triggered all those faults on the display (they went away as soon as the tune was finished loading).

Got it, thanks! Hasn't showed up since I had it, so I think I'll hold off till it does...

ahh sweet, I got quoted nearly 800 pounds for a engine remap and gearbox remap and thought it cant be worth that much in the ling run. I may even go down the route of the Bluefin tbh but a custom remap is always better, ill try track him down as he may be able to flash it and do some other bits and bobs at same time like delete the air suspension completely from the ecu etc, well see, just put two winter tyres on the back today that aren't runflats to see how the difference in ride is and omg the fronts are getting done next week now as is sublime compared to runflats.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...bad8e9f448.jpg


2002 BMW X5 E53 3.0i

"If you ain't first, you're last"

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Had it in for a transmission fluid change. Shifts very smooth now. Can barely feel it unless I really get on it. (112k miles)

Friday will be new brake pads so I don't sound like a garbage truck anymore.

My 535 is in for turbos, so I've got a rental this week. Convinced my wife to trade today and got to take the X5 to work. 1.5h each way. I gave it a good run. $70 in gas for 350km (in Canadian $$) - but it felt sooooo good.

cost of gas for my 3.0I for 384 km cost me 63.00 canadian. using 91 octane

Nice, my 4.4 didn't do too bad then :). It has the 4.8 exhaust and I love winding it out and ripping through the gears. Perma-grin all the time. She's much quicker with the winters on too. These are 19" non-RFT. The summers are the 20" and RFT - pigs in unsprung weight.

nice . my wife has a 2011 ford escape v6 and that thing is a pig on gas ,to go 256 km would cost around 60.00 canadian.

Snatched some new goodies up. The HRE's will be dissassembled and upsized to 20's over the winter with a new finish and in 4.8iS friendly sizes ;)

The seats I snagged from a guy parting a 4.8iS out in Western MA. They were a very good deal and I've decided that as much as I like the backrest on my comfort seats the seat bottom just doesn't have enough bolster for me so those will be up for sale soon.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/NL...E=w389-h519-no

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/lJ...A=w389-h519-no

The seats will be cleaned up and installed over the weekend. They look much better in person then in this crappy Iphone pic. Don't mind all the rubbish (doing renovations).

The sport seats look great. I remember SlickGT1 was swapping his seats recently and be aware they may not plug and play, you most likely have to swap the modules and airbag equipment over to your new seats I think. You might have to PM him to double check.

What are you going to sell the comfort seats for? Shoot me a PM, always wanted to get rid of my standard seats.

Yea I was reading his thread earlier. I'm sure I'm in for a treat but I'm going to still try and just plug them in first to see what happens. If I have to go as deep as swapping modules I'm going to do some measurements and see if I can't mate the seat backs from my comfort seats to the base of the sport seats (if the leather pattern matches) and make comfort sport seats like the e38s (one of my all time favorite seats).

If they swap over with no headache (which is what im hoping for) i'll sell the comforts complete (minus headrests because i'm not giving those up).

Nice catch, Feen. Sportsitze are sweet, sweet, sweet. Love mine in truffelbroun .......

Today was pretty much the final step in getting this thing caught up and in good shape. I hope.

New front brake pads today - Power Stop Ceramics. The PO did new pads and rotors, but whatever they put on there was making me sound like a garbage truck at every stop, so we swapped them out this morning and it's nice and quiet.

So, it was far from painful, far from inexpensive, but I'm real happy with the truck now. It drives nice, stops nice, rides nice, and looks nice. Let's hope for at least a few months of trouble-free enjoyment. :)

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Put Rimskinz on today, they're not the best things to look at but they help me sleep at night knowing the wheels stand a fighting chance when my missus takes the X out.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...b64be62a09.jpghttp://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...fd6432e493.jpg


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Wtf I never heard of that

Me either... learn something new every day.

Referring to the Rimskins?


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525iT_Feen, who is parting out a 4.8is in Mass? I need some door panels for mine. Please let me know!

Yes, never seen em before. Don't like the look... but if they help and your SO drives the X a lot... I could see them easily paying off.

Got my Gummi Pflege and hazard/lock switch today. Something to do next week. Hopefully my Menzerna SF 4000 will be here Monday...

Couple of oil spots on the ground. Dime size, but it now means the weeping has made it past the drip trays. Looking under it I also see a swollen front left inner CV boot. Some grease is spotting out. I'll get it in to my indie to assess. Maybe it'll be something simple. Ahahahaha.

put the x5 in the shop today to thaw out the passenger front latch assembly. wouldn`t open from inside or outside, all good now.

I looked at it. Because I can't do anything else until my ABS module gets back on the 29th :(

well when back out to try the drivers door it opened put wouldn`t latch, had to direct heat with hair dryer on the latch mechanism, and then I was good to go. I guess in the summer I will have to take the door panel off and lube the metal moving parts on the latch inside the door, probably rusted up a bit.

I've had that happen with the E36 locks and a few times on these when really cold. I have a heat gun if it gets bad or annoying. Just did that on my inlaws E39 528 and it freed up.

Very exciting day for mine. Put her on the battery charger all day because my alternator is on its way out and I won't be able to get her in for repair until after the new year. Seems to be OK for now as long as I top her up every couple days.

What's a little odd is that it'll run at 11-11.5v for the first 5 or 10 minutes, then it goes up to about 14v and stays there. I popped into my local indy and he confirmed that the alternator is throwing codes. Thankfully I bought her with a warranty so I won't be paying for this one.

My once a year oil change was today at 77k miles. 8 fresh quarts of Rotella T6 and a Mann filter, and a magnetic drain plug from www.drainplugmagnets.com

Also finally installed the skid plate but the X is filthy I'll snap a pic when she is clean

RB , do you change your magnetic plug each time you do your oil change?
Or is it the only one that was non magnetic ?

Nope it's a lifetime plug I just change the crush washer at each oil change. Highly recommended to get one.

Removed and cleaned the ICV with throttle body cleaner yet the vibes during idle still persist. I now suspect the motor mounts.

Today was a great day placed a order at ecs tuning for both the e53 and my 540. The e53 is getting new front wheel bearings as well as a rebuild of the stick shift bushings. But the big news is today I placed my order for the new radio from avinusa. After a year of watching and waiting finally made up my mind. The 540 also got some love with all the parts needed to completely rebuild the front suspension.

Programmed the on-board homelink garage door opener to work with my door opener! Works like a charm and to think - I've owned the car for nearly 4 years now. I recall trying to set it up unsuccessfully right after I got the car. Anyway - works now!


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Threatened to tow it into the Houston Ship Channel...with no fluids or battery, of course.

Love Homelink its one of my favorite features, love being able to open both doors while my wife only has an opener for her side.

I didn't do anything, but my girlfriend surprised me with some LED tails for my birthday. score. Can't wait to get these working.

http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/v...psidbmldbn.jpg

You'll love em! Email Caesar @ Lightwerkz so he can send you the capacitor fix for the adaptive brake lights on 03-06 models.

Oh awesome. Thank you. I thought the flickering was due to the cold monitoring that needs to be programmed off. Apparently there is another flickering from the adaptive braking. I'll email him and get that sent out.

those tailights should lookawsome, take pics when in stalled :)

Got the new radiator/lower hose/aux fan sensor installed. No more leaks!

^ thats awsome, 1 less thing to worry about, to bad it took awhile for the rad with all the shipping hassles.

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Installed my freshly resprayed 4.6is rear bumper.

Mother of god that was a hard job to do solo.

Original bumper had arch extensions but no lower spoiler. Had to move all the PDC and arch flares and reinforcement bar over to the new bumper, all was going well until I realised the previous owner had obviously been rear ended (and poorly repaired which is why I was getting the new bar painted in the first place). Reo was bent as was the bumper shock mount - which of course was part of the tow bar kit, which meant it was not available as a single item. And of course the bolts were welded on for some unknown reason so had to cut those off, go and find replacement bolts - take the entire interior out of the rear because the bolts passed through to the inside of the body......then had to put it all back together and try line up the bumper, by myself, with out scratching it or the car,

It took me 6 hours, and it was honestly a Christmas miracle that I didn't scratch anything, but it's on!

Now for the front lip....

Is this the spyder one or other brand.?


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It felt good to drive the X again after 2 weeks of using the "transportation appliance" Honda Accord.

I didn't notice the 2nd radiator was damaged until the OE rad was removed, left the X on jackstands until the 3rd "double boxed" unit came in.

Joshdub, a girlfriend that would buy her guy LED taillights is a keeper. As we say down south, you may have "outkicked [outpunted] your coverage." :)

They are the Spyder brand.


That is true. She is the best. She always has great gifts.

One of those projects from hell, I am surprised when a project does take less time than it should and everything goes better than expectations, maybe that is half empty club. Glad it turned out as you wanted.

I remember the days when my car was my only transportation and regardless of went wrong I had to get it fixed to get to work the next day. Some of the best shade tree engineering came from DIYers in that squeeze.

New tires, Fuzion Touring. Balance may be off a little, some vibration at 70+.

Damn I wish my home link worked with my new overhead door openers.


I swear, my cars are like a girlfriend.*
Sometimes its a rough ride, sometimes its smooth motorin'.*
Sometimes she doesnt like how i treat her and sometimes i dont like how she behaves.*
BUT at the end of the day, she loves it when I am inside her.

Just went through 5 days of enduring the installation from hell (and I was a mobile electronics installer professionally)... pretty straight forward but very labor and time intensive. But Avin Avant 2 is in. Have to do some tweaking with my rear view cam splice as it's getting interference, but other than that...

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...l/DSC_0107.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...l/DSC_0156.jpg

A detailed install PDF and thread will be posted soon. Took 81 pics to detail the install one painful step at a time.

What warranted the removal of everything? I can't wait to see what you wrote. I want to go with the avant 2 as well. At least these interiors are easy to take apart!

Whoa! I salute this project. I have to say I have no guts / probably the skill set to take this on (maybe with gran patron and pinching my ego.. I might but the day after ... What have I done!!!.... Just kidding)

How much do you charge on an average labor wise for this particular installation?

Why did you have to disassemble this much for Avant? Thought they should be plug and play with little modification.
Some sound deadening?

With factory nav you have to run the extension fakra cable from the tire well. I also was running cabling for the backup camera and 6 channels worth of RCA's for future system upgrades. I don't want to ever take it apart again to this extent. You'll see what I mean when I do the pdf and thread. You're right, they come apart easy... but you still have to take your time to avoid breaking the plastic panels if you want to avoid future rattles. It took at least a whole day and a half for me to do it.

LOL, with the forthcoming DIY... almost anyone should be able to do it with the right tools. Most of it anyway... I would not recommend my backup camera install to anyone but seasoned mobile electronics installers or guys familiar with auto wiring. Running things from the tail gate is an experience and using the camera I did took HEAVY modification.

For an identical setup to mine... I would charge close to a grand. I had at least 8 hours a day into for 5 days (some days more). So a full week in labor. The install could be done quicker I'm sure, but I am pretty OCD with my wiring and panel alignment.

If you have a non-nav factory setup then it's a lot easier. I pulled the whole interior to run cabling for future amps, extension fakra cable, future sub, plus backup camera. And a few other things as well. Also, my wife wanted me to pull the interior too so she could do her signature detail in the living room. She took 3 days to detail all the panels, carpets, etc. She does an amazing job and now the interior looks brand new.

Clockwork, check my posts. I was able to source an adapter module that allows the older Homelink buttons in our car to work with the newer systems. PM me if you need more help. I use the buttons to open 2 garage doors plus activate exterior lights.

:wow: so you brought interior parts inside and wife clean/detailed them?
I wish my wife is willing to do that....

Yep, I count my lucky stars every time we buy another used vehicle. She makes me pull the whole interior. She's not happy until it looks new... I'll take some after pics. You can see in the pics I took the interior was dirty from PO. A normal cleaning won't take out dog hair, soiling, etc... and the X hadn't been apart yet so she hadn't done her thing on it yet. Now the X smells better, looks better, and sounds better. :)

Still have some things to sort... need illumination wire and to fix some interference I'm getting with the reverse cam. Other than that it's done. I'll get to work on the DIY PDF and review probably this weekend after Christmas.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Merry Christmas bro and that's awesome for your wife you are lucky to have her!

Details on her process/products please. :thumbup:

http://i57.tinypic.com/zx3a80.jpg

That's an E46 M3 vert interior we had here.

Her process is long and arduous. And apparently a closely guarded secret... lol. I just asked her and she wanted no part of sharing it. Women. LOL. ;)

I think I'm on to you. She covered everything in a light coating of peanut butter and the dog took care of the rest. Simple.

My wife and I had a good laugh at that one. Cheers to you. LOL. But seriously she has like 3 cleaning steps and a conditioning step on leather/vinyl with a final wipe down of BMW leather/vinyl conditioner. Carpet she has a 2 or 3 step process depending on the starting point.

Today I was feeling in the generous spirit and took a leap of faith and let my 18 yr old daughter who's back home on leave from the military borrow the X for a trip to her grandmothers. She's has experience driving BMW's though, as she was the primary driver on my E39 for 2 years during high school, so the interior gauges and layout is familiar. I think she fell in love with the 4.8 power though, and wants to keep it. lol. :nanana: NOT!

Spent 350$ at detailersdomain on a bunch of goodies.

Used a can of VHT nightshade to turn the backup and turn indicator portions of the tail lights to all red. Got the idea from FMU's Project X. I think it came out great, and will post pics once I can give it a proper wash.

Quick happy snap http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...68006f2cdd.jpg


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Sweet! I particularly like the "Mad Max" background for the quick snap of a very shiny E53 .....

Man does that look good. Nice shot. I need me some of those running boards. :)

Why not matching titanium hood grilles though?

Thanks mate. Ironically, this shot was taken at the old Geelong Cement plant, which is at the end of the Geelong - Melbourne road - which is exactly where Mad Max 1 was filmed! Excellent pickup!!


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Thanks, I replaced the front grills with eBay specials - they are a surprisingly good quality - have not been able to find matching good grilles. Mine look a bit ratty, plastic is fading, was considering removing them and painting sapphire black?


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I went to put my led tails in, only to find one has had some serious cosmetic damage. The lens is totally marred. Super lame since I thought I checked all of them, but must have missed one in all of the excitement.

replaced broken door handle carrier - I bought 2 brand new OE carriers off ebay for $20 delivered, and today was a nice (but cold) day, so I knocked it out...

As suspected, the window clips are broken, and need replacement - since I am not at home with my stash of the clips, I need to buy the clips for glass, and clips for the door trim, as some of them are guaranteed to break... Dealer opens on monday, so I hope the glass will hold couple more days...

I finished up the reverse camera install today on my Avin Avant 2 setup. Thanks again to Term for his invaluable information.

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...l/DSC_0085.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...l/DSC_0089.jpg

I wired a red LED into the circuit for diagnostic purposes (I'm nerdy). Turns red when the relay is switched and power is sent to the camera and reverse signal wire on the Avin.

Good work crystalworks. What colour was the wire at pin 7 for you - yellow/brown?


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To me it looked like brown/white stripe on pin 7. And the ground on pin 6 was brown/black stripe. I posted in your lost PDC thread as well with them.

Edit: Just looked at my pics... wire could be considered brown/yellow stripe I suppose, but I still lean towards white.