E34Brian's 2000 E39 M5 Build Thread (Pic Heavy)

[e34brian]

Hi Everyone,

After spending so much money building my car and trying to bring it back to its former glory, I wanted to keep a continually growing build thread documenting the progress.

Car:
2000 BMW E39 M5
WBSDE9343YBZ94531
TiAg on Extended Black Heritage
Build Date: 11/99

Purchased from the 3rd owner on March 27th, 2022 with 129,555 miles in San Mateo, CA:






Got the worst PPI I've ever seen done, but it was on a Sunday morning, so I didn't have many options.
Drove it back home 450 miles with no issues:




Started the car up the two days later and got a wonderful check engine light (this is some sort of untold requirement of buying a used car, isn't it?) (03/29/2022):


The check engine light + all the little damages I was noticing about the car was making me fall out of love with it so I went and got a muffler delete (03/30/2022):




Went under the knife to get its first major service done under my ownership - VCGs, 4 O2 sensors, PCV valves, AC & drive belts, front lower control arms (04/05/2022):






Tried the Autozone headlight kit to temporarily make the headlights look a little better (04/17/2022):






Replaced the lower oil pan as it was leaking oil (04/29/2022):






Bought, modified to fit, and installed the F10 M5 illuminated shift knob (05/03/2022):







New OEM rear bumper from BMW came in (05/12/2022):


Got the front & rear bumpers, door handles, side mirror covers, and roof rails painted:
















Tried doing the timing chain tensioner myself, after unsuccessfully fiddling with it for 3 hours, got it towed to Jed's. Tow truck driver scratched the bottom of my newly painted front bumper & took a screwdriver to the tow hook cover after I explicitly told him he just had to press on the arrow & to be careful since the paint is still only a week old and soft. They denied my claim and told me to take them to court (05/26/2022):








Little meetup & drive with my group (05/28/2022):




Small visual things - new windshield washer fluid cap, side turn signal, windshield trim, B pillar vinyl (06/06/2022):




















Rear M5 badge sticker replaced (don't currently feel like spending $100 to get a new badge, but will eventually get one) (06/07/2022):




Right fender PDR'd. Carfax has a minor damage report from when fender was dented during previous owner's ownership, but thankfully found an amazing PDR guy who was able to get it pulled for me after 7 PDR guys said it was unfixable (06/10/2022):






Windshield cowl replaced (06/15/2022):












Woke up to a nice crack along the front windshield (06/21/2022):


Windshield cowl side pieces too (06/24/2022):


LA M5 Owner's Lunch (06/25/2022):




Found an awesome poster at a dealership, had to take it home with me (06/28/2022):


Euro center armrest installed (07/01/2022):






Getting my style 65's refinished by Jed, this is the loaner set he gave me (07/02/2022):




New rear emblem (07/02/2022):




Fan, fan clutch, and air filters replaced (07/11/2022 - 133,370 miles):








Got my wheels back from Jed! (07/14/2022):








Stickers for my group came in (07/15/2022):


First visit to E39Source! Full inspection, new fuel filter, BeastPower rear sway bar brackets installed, new sway bar end links, and he found that my front right caliper was incorrectly installed 360 degrees, so flipped that back around (07/21/2022):




The car had an airbag light on since I bought it, Ryan found it was the airbag module under the center console, so I ordered a used one off eBay.

My group's pre-meet for the EuroKlasse cruise to San Pedro (07/30/2022):




Dropped my car off at E39Source again for its next major service: Oil change, airbag module coding, new radiator + coolant flush, brake fluid change, transmission fluid change, diff fluid change, driveshaft rebuild, differential bushings + Jed's Unicorn Egg, shifter carrier rebuild, and new rear upper control arm install (08/03/2022).

Hopefully picking the car up next week (08/11/2022), as I'm planning to drive it cross country to Washington D.C. on 08/17/2022!

Pics of car as it currently sits:






$37k into my first 4 months of ownership, but looking forward to keeping this long term.

What's next for the car:
New OEM front windshield
MAF sensors
Seat reupholstery