My Project E39 Build Thread

[BimmerE39]

Hey all, before I get into anything crazy here I just want to take a second to introduce myself. My name is Gareth, I'm 23 years old, currently live in Connecticut and attend school at CCSU, and I guess you can say I have a gross addiction to anything involving cars so I guess that puts me in the right place here. I've trolled the threads here anonymously for a few years and have seen a lot of great builds. Why it took my so long to just take the time and join I'll never know but I suppose it's more important that I finally did. I'm looking forward to learning and seeing more great stuff from this forum and I hope I can add a few things as well.

Without further adieu I introduce my current project car/daily driver...

2000 BMW 528i (AKA Layla)

I got this car back when I was 17. I made a deal with my parents that I needed to be able to pay for 75% of the car and they would cover the rest. They wanted me buying a good car so I started saving money when I was 16 and just horded it away. Eventually I saved enough money and was able to buy a car. This is what she looked like stock...

I think this photo was taken back in March 2007

I never had any intentions on modifying this car but after 4 years of ownership things were starting to get boring and I bit the bullet and started spending money. Unfortunately being 20 at the time and not as worldly as I am now I made a huge mistake with my first mod...a really sweet Best Buy sound system. I know what you're thinking right about now...what the hell were you thinking? Well, I wasn't thinking and I wasted my money but I guess it was a good lesson learned. During this time I also bought my first set of wheels and once again I made a mistake on sizes and brand as well. I bought ASA AR1 's in 17x8 on all 4 corners and I thought it was cool. In retrospect it was a poor choice but it was yet another learning experience...

I definitely set the standard for "hella flush" in this photo

Anyways, lets fast forward to the Summer of 2008. It was around this time I guess I saw the light and finally wised up and realized I'd wasted a lot of my money doing stupid mods and it was finally time to stop being cheap and do things right. The first major mod I did was getting rid of my 8 year old stock suspension because it had seen better days. I ordered Bilstein sport struts and shocks, H&R sport springs, new bushings, new UCA's and LCA's, new tie rods, new shock mounts and strut bearings, and new tie rod end links.

No more ugly fender gap...

Next up in the Summer of 2008 was some much needed body work. I ordered a genuine M-Technic body kit, M5 side view mirrors, clear signals, 6000K HID's, and projector headlights with CCFL Angel Eyes. This is when my car started to go from stock to badass. I had the front fender and hood repainted along with the new bumpers. I also chose to have the impact strips sanded down and painted to match the rest of the car. The body shop took about a week to get everything done but patience paid off and I ended up with this...

I also had a 2.5" catback exhaust built for the car at this time as well.

[BimmerE39]

Continuing with my mission on making this car truly mine I started saving money to overhaul my sound system and do it right. I gave up with the Best Buy crap in my car and ripped most of it out because it actually sounded worse than it did stock. So in November 2008 I ordered the following:

Alpine IVA D106

Polk MMC5250

Polk MMC525

Alpine SWR-1222D (2)

Alpine MRP-M1000 (1)

Alpine MRP-F600 (1)

Tsunami PP1010DM (1)

I ended up doing a simple sealed box and an overall clean install on the trunk. I didn't want anything crazy at the time and I was happy with the results.

All the wiring was done properly by a local shop (I still didn't know anything at this time). JL Audio Premium Blue RCA's from the front to the back and all Phoenix Gold wiring. It sounded really solid to me and I loved the system. I especially love the 40 Blue LED's that light the trunk up at night.

In the Spring of 2009 I ordered a new set of wheels and this is when I finally started seeing a direction for my car and I was getting an idea of what I wanted to do with it. Once the wheels were on my car, nice weather rolled around, and one of my good friends was willing to do a photoshoot for me I finally had some glamour shots of my pride and joy. I also upgraded my Angel Eyes to LED's and did a big upgrade on my brakes as well.

[gbsx]

Looks fantastic! I love anything related to BMW's! Keep it looking great and take care of that thing and it'll last a long time!

Can't wait to see more pictures =)

GBS

[BimmerE39]

During the summer of 2009 I did a lot of minor upgrades so I won't bore anyone with those details because the list would be endless. I just spent a lot of time focusing on the details. It wasn't until early 2010 I made more big upgrades to keep my project moving in the right direction.

I did away with all the chrome window trim on my car and converted it to what is known as shadowline trim (flat black)and during this time I removed all of the interior wood trim and wrapped it with a CF vinyl known as Neffy Wrap. It has a dry carbon look to it and it changed the appearance of my interior immensely. When spring time rolled around I also finally had my windows tinted with 35% Huper Optik film. It was costly for window tint but now that it's summer time I'm glad I went with a ceramic film. It definitely helps keep my car cooler when it's in the sun. Here are some photos from May.

[BimmerE39]

So far this Summer I haven't really done a whole lot. I swapped out my original 4 spoke wheel for the 3 spoke sport wheel that came with the sport package, gauge rings, LED license plate lighting, some CF here and there, and ordered more parts which I'm still waiting on my (ACS front splitters).

Old 4 spoke to the new 3 spoke...

I know it seems lame replacing stock with stock but this new wheel is so legit. Definitely made the car more fin to drive and made my interior look less dated.

I had plans to really mod the hell out of this car and I guess I have to an extent, but I wanted this to be an M5 killer one day. Instead, I've taken a real liking to VIP style and since there aren't too many Euro VIP cars in the North East I am going to give it a shot with my 5-series. Currently, I'm looking to install either H&R coilovers or KW's and buying a nice set of 19" wheels with super aggressive offsets. I have a friend who is going to help me retrim the interior (headliner, a pillar, b pillar, c pillar, back deck, and the seats) and I may be redoing my sound system and in car entertainment again. As much as I wanted this car to be fast I just don't see it being realistic. I have a new car coming my way very soon but I'll talk about that when it finally gets here. In the meantime I'll keep cracking on this one and hopefully I'll get it mostly done in the coming year.

Back in late May I finished putting together a video about the changes my car went through over the last 3 years. I titled the video "The Evolution".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CatXP7nMtrY

Edited August 8, 2010 by BimmerE39

[BimmerE39]

Looks fantastic! I love anything related to BMW's! Keep it looking great and take care of that thing and it'll last a long time!

Can't wait to see more pictures =)

GBS

Thanks man! I plan on doing something really big with this car in the coming future. I'll be posting more pictures later when I get back from a local car show. I'm definitely going to get some more pictures.