FAO Fox: Buying a E39 530i Sport

They are black but have the blue two-tone panel in them. I only bought them for the door handles though, of course. The blue could always be died black or you could just nick the handles.

They are sadly not immaculate - a couple of little scrapes and I would have given them a good feed and maybe even restoration/dye (well I would have definatley dyed them as they are the wrong colour for me!). I'd have to get some good photos for you to see if they make the grade if you're really interested.

Anyway I'm just going to salivate a bit more about why I no longer need these ;)
 
Caramel. Nappa. Full leather. :)

Lower dash too.

I guess you're in no rush - I'm on a boat for a few weeks after which I can get you some slightly rubbish photos that my old man took. Possibly can get those to you sooner if my wife can find them. To get decent photos might have to wait till I next pop back to UK. They're fine really - no significant damage or anything like that, but you have high standards.
 
[TW]Fox;22860599 said:
What do you mean by which projectors? The bulb type?

Sorry, I mean like the name of the projector (i.e. Morimoto/D2S). I believe, at some point, BMW used the D2S projector - just not sure if it's on the E39.

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/index.php?cPath=25

That might be quite useful - as they all do look quite different (but they don't have them all obviously).
 
[TW]Fox;22860477 said:
Sounds like its going to the handles that might be of use.

Lucky you with the nappa :p

Yeah I probably wouldn't have used the leather panel myself either even dyed cos I don't really like the 'ostrich' leather texture that the standard M5 interiors have. So just the handles. The rest is the same as a non M door card. Unless you had the full leather option that is ;)
 
I've seen quite a few nice facelift E65s I'm really trying to ignore at the moment, someone please tell me the electrics fail every 500 miles to dissuade me :D
 
What interior do you currently have Liam?

Is there a reputable HID retrofit kit make/model?

It depends, if you're after one of those cheap-ish kits that are all over eBay - they're not fantastic. If you're quite DIY-prone, you could get a decent projector and do it all yourself, and it'd be better than the OEM (providing you do it right). The RX-AFS/TSX-R is a fantastic projector - and cheap.

EDIT: you'd have to check if they fit the E39 headlights - but they do fit the Alfa GT's headlights, so they should.
 
You don't need to change the projector, the E39 already has decent projectors irrepsective of whether it has factory Xenons or not. You just need a decent enough kit - one of the £60 ones from hids-direct will be more than suitable.
 
[TW]Fox;22860656 said:
Handles in good condition?

Yeah I was talking only really about the handles above as they are the interesting part ofthe door cards. They're very good but not immaculate and would probably benefit from a clean and condition/feed. Sadly there's not much to choose from when it comes to E39 extended/full leather parts. I dont think I'll ever see a leather RHD upper dash or an alcantara headliner :(.

What interior do you currently have Liam?

Currently just a standard beige interior but with a couple of nice options - comfort seats and rear and side blinds. It also has black dash and door tops as opposed to the brown which you normally see on beige interiors which I'm very glad of. I'm not sure if this was an option, a model year change, or cos mine is a sport with the black headlining and maybe they removed the brown to match that.

I've not changed much yet other than retrofitting heated front seats and will do the rears also (never an option but can be done). I've also already got a black carpet to fit as I dont like light carpets. I'll also retrofit the ski hatch. Oh and footwell cargo nets, E38 illuminated interior door handles... ...

I long for more leather so I picked up a leather centre console/arm rest and these M5 door cards which have leather door pulls. This essentially gives me the 'extended leather' option which M5s, Champagne IIs and petrol Ageans have.

What I reeeeeally want is the awesome and incredibly rare (except on US M5s where it was bizarrely a no cost option instead of the thousands for the rest of us) 'complete leather' option which basically plasters every square inch with leather and stitching. So I've fortunately found some M5 Caramel (best colour also imho) full leather door cards (which is why my existing M5 door cards are going spare) and the lower dash section. I'll then have to dye the rest caramel to match, which is OK as I'd like to re-dye my seats anyway to rejuvinate them (not that they're bad).

That will then leave me wanting the leather upper dash (the best bit of the complete leather option really) and a few other little bits I'm not bothered with. I'll never find that for sale but may consider getting it done. Then there's the alcantara headliner and pillars, sigh, where will it stop :). Actually I know where it will stop - right there. There's also the alcantara boot lining uber-ridiculous-rare option but I really wouldn't bother with that - just too impractical.
 
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My E39 530i has a coolant leak (again!).

It's catching coolant on the near side of the engine, just behind the oil filter housing (in the little valleys on the casting that usually fill with oil if the oil filter housing seal is leaking). Before I start a thread, just wondered whether anyone has any idea where it might be coming from?
 
Had a new one of both the waterpump and thermostat and housing fitted about 2 months ago, but I won't write either off yet. Both were OEM parts.
 
Few pics:

Context:

E39Leak01.jpg


Pool of coolant in area as circled in photo above (highest position i can find with leaked coolant):

E39Leak02.jpg


Rear of OFH for posterity:

E39Leak04.jpg


Thermostat housing area (dry):

E39Leak03.jpg


Could it be the heater inlet pipe? Looks like a behatch of a job if so.
 
E39CoolingSystemDiagram.png


Specifically item 8 and possibly item 5 (or is it 6). Anyhow, the pipe that goes in just beneath 8.
 
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