young newbie

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

hi guys, been rifting through the forum, randomly came across it as i was googling away, and very impressed with the knowledge of the members on here so thought it would be very handy to join, im 21 and just swapped my knackered e36 coupe mtech rep for this clean 523i p reg, its the first bmw iv had of this caliper but i have only had a couple, first was a 316i coupe e30 second which i sold to my dad was a 318i e36 convertible and the previous coupe mtech rep 316i, i dont know alot about the 5 series and want to learn as much as i can so il be hammering your technical sections with random and sometimes silly questions so apologies! anyways heres some pics, all comments good or bad feel free

engine really deserved a clean so 5 minutes after having it home whacked out the old rag and wd40.. (only thing i had)

iv had these alloys for my previous e36 and was half way through refurbing them before i swapped cars, id love to fit them but im 80 percent sure the centre bore sizes between e39 and e36 are different, with the e39 being a few mm bigger? iv been looking over the internet trying to find somewhere to get them drilled but no luck so far, so if anyones knows anywhere in the uk let me know please! lol im based in cambridge city, anyways heres the wheels

this is how they looked on e36, look great with the stretch!

day of recieving them hence the tape from packaging

started with a very quick rub down and sprayed with a cheap can of wheel silver just to see if id like to keep them silver, will be doing the proper job with the gun, after hopefully having them bored out abit, they have tremendous lacquer peel as you can see, ignore the paint run in the top picture was rushing it abit will be flatting them out properly tommorow, im not an expert sprayer iv only done full resprays on 3 cars and 2 sets of alloys but im picking it up as i go!

couple of questions i have about the car, is it an se model? pre facelift or facelift, can i fit sport suspension? what are the best alloys specs to fit? as in offset inch width, these are 17 9j et35's, oh and wheres the brake fluid resvoir located!? :S lol

il be looking to change the body as well, as i said im 21 and unfortunatly guys i liek to be different so dont hate me to much! id like to be normal and just fit an mtech kit but i found a mafia promotion kit which i think looks great! also like to fit angel eyes, can the angel rings be fitted to standard lights? or do i have to buy the headlights with angel eyes?

woudl like a nice toned exhaust nothing barry boy! definatley lowered slightly 40mm front and rear maybe? window spoiler would be nice touch, unsure what to do with the wooden trim inside, maybe carbon wrap as i did on my merc 190 (sorry again) different rear lights? cant think of much else at the moment but im sure some more ebay searching will reveal a list full of mods to be done!

[tame39 1]

nice car it is an se pre facelift model these cars respond better to sutle mods oem+ and dont tend to wear body kits to well imho have a look on the projects section for some ideas and inspiration chi's is a good place to start,good luck and happy motoring

[karl1 451]

hello and welcome. your wheels will fit with some spacers that will bring the centre bore down. and would prob look better as well with a suitable drop to go with it.

[syncrofred 365]

Welcome mate. As no-one has told you yet, take off the pollen filter on the drivers side. ( that flat black plastic thing just under the windscreen) and you find the master cylinder etc under there.

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

hello and welcome. your wheels will fit with some spacers that will bring the centre bore down. and would prob look better as well with a suitable drop to go with it.

hi thanks for the welcome thats some great news as i cant find anywhere to have them drilled! will i need hubcentric spacers or can i just get some cheap ebay jobbys? and next purchase are some coilovers!

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Welcome mate. As no-one has told you yet, take off the pollen filter on the drivers side. ( that flat black plastic thing just under the windscreen) and you find the master cylinder etc under there.

thanks for the welcome bud, eventually found the cylinder in the end through google image searching, bit silly for me to not think of looking under the filter seeing as thats where all cylinders are generally located in the bay lol

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Hi thanks for the welcome chap

I will start off oem but eventually i know il stray from the path and you lot will hate me for it lol i just like to do my oown thing seeing as Im the one driving it at the end of the day. I wot be going done the big kit and loud exhaust route just what i think looks nice but different if that makes sense

[aldo. 113]

Welcome to the forum!

I guess the most of us here prefer the OEM look, but still I'm sure we're all excited to see what you do! Start a thread in the 'project' section of your progress...

[Maca 93]

hi thanks for the welcome thats some great news as i cant find anywhere to have them drilled! will i need hubcentric spacers or can i just get some cheap ebay jobbys? and next purchase are some coilovers!

Welcome along, and steer clear of cheap jobbies, you will need to go for the hubcentric ones, so they will be e39 bore. on the inside and E36 on the out side. If they are actually e36 wheels then you will also need about 20mm front and 15 rear to give you some where in the region of the right off set. Maybe even 30 and 20. Then you will alos need longer wheel bolts.

[RumRunner 637]

We;come to the family and a nice car to enter with. As for silly questions shoot they put up with mine so do not worry about it

[trenchy24 93]

Welcome to the forum

Glad to see I'm not the only 21 year old with outstanding taste in vehicles. Just try not to give us a bad name!

Enjoy your 5...you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner

Chris

[v8 boy 75]

looks like a good car there mate, welcome along to the site!

[2002-E39 166]

Hey dude, looking good and a nice colour. I reckon it would look great with a dechrome, bigger alloys as you have mentioned, and the facelift (oem) lights. The rest is up to you. It's completely possible to change the look of an SE dramatically, whilst still keeping it oem. And it doesn't need to cost the earth, this place has saved me hundreds in four years! It would benifit with a deeper front end, I've sourced an Alpina front splitter for mine but have yet to fit it. Good luck, and update this with pics as you go please

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Welcome along, and steer clear of cheap jobbies, you will need to go for the hubcentric ones, so they will be e39 bore. on the inside and E36 on the out side. If they are actually e36 wheels then you will also need about 20mm front and 15 rear to give you some where in the region of the right off set. Maybe even 30 and 20. Then you will alos need longer wheel bolts.

Thanks for the welcome mate. Iv.found a set of hubccentric adaptor spacers but they only seem to come as 15mm spacers is this any good or is it flat out 20mm for the offsets?

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Welcome to the forum

Glad to see I'm not the only 21 year old with outstanding taste in vehicles. Just try not to give us a bad name!

Enjoy your 5...you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner

Chris

Well iv owned some rouGh and dodgy motors already so don't know about outstanding lol but do love the 5 over any other Bimmer i had hopefully i can transform it took as nice as yours bud. And Im guessing where the youngest on here?

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

looks like a good car there mate, welcome along to the site!

Thanks mate give it ccouple of weeks and should look miles different

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Hey dude, looking good and a nice colour. I reckon it would look great with a dechrome, bigger alloys as you have mentioned, and the facelift (oem) lights. The rest is up to you. It's completely possible to change the look of an SE dramatically, whilst still keeping it oem. And it doesn't need to cost the earth, this place has saved me hundreds in four years! It would benifit with a deeper front end, I've sourced an Alpina front splitter for mine but have yet to fit it. Good luck, and update this with pics as you go please

Thanks mate i prefer silver but beggars can't be choosers lol iv found the dechrome kit but il be fitting the coilovers and wheels before i start with the body and engine changes. Yh i want a dramatic change in look but has to be my own unique thing i can't stand to follow everyone else's look so it'll be a marmite car really lol but Im not a Barry boy chav so no need to worry il be sensible within reason....20 inch chrome spinners maybe? Lmao

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Just thinking guys with the dechrome kit can i not just take off the chrome bits and respray black save myself at least 90 quid

[Cambell 70]

Thats what I did, mind and acid etch prime them 1st, then I just used Satin Black from Haflords.

My e39 was BOG standard when I got it, Here are some snaps just before I sold it. It was a cracking looking motor

Next to my mates Imola Red M5

I suppose it depends on your taste but I like it.

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

Cambell yours is inspiration to us with the standards looking to go replica! Or even modified Il be going fairly different with the kit nothing m sport look. Cheers for the tip Il be carrying that out this weekend more then likely. How did you get your bay that clean and gleaming looks cracking!? As with the exhaust id like single, twin pipe or m5 box but pricing for perfect fit is just ridiculously and i really ain't a fan of cutting and welding for hours on the tarmac with axles lol got any hints as to where i can find a cheap box or system straight fit?

[Kiefer Ludman 0]

t?

Its also worth pulling the baffel out of the air box aswel mate can miss it . Car pulls loads better and I am up 1.6 on the mpg. Can't complain at that

Il give that a try this evening bud cheers.

[karl1 451]

cheap mod, rear box delete. one peice of pipe and choose your own tails. sounds fantastic.

[USTBUTLER 412]

Hello & welcome , Nice to see some young ones joining the fold

And Cambell what did you use to get you inner wings to shine like that, looks lovely

Edited June 28, 2012 by Ustbutler

[Cambell 70]

Hello & welcome , Nice to see some young ones joining the fold

And Cambell what did you use to get you inner wings to shine like that, looks lovely

The engine bay was done with "super degreaser", Meguires paint cleaner, Meguires Gold Class Wax and then the whole area done with Autosmart Krill engine dressing.

I have to admit it looked fantastic but unfortunately the Krill must've been old and off as a couple of weeks later it turned a powdery yellow and it was almost impossible to get off. I tried all conventional (some not) methods of getting it off. I eventually got it off almost a year later with Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner but that really f'ked up the silver paint on the engine covers.

The prep work still got it looking great, I'd just use a different engine dressing next time.

[rob-the-viking 307]

Welcome mate. Congrats on getting yourself into an E39 at an early age. Nice cars aren't they! You're not too far from me either.