AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

Any thought of changing the badging from 540i to 560i?

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

a friend and i (that's his Anthracite M5 in the above pics) had an impromptu run. he was sitting at a light in the left lane, with the right lane empty. i pulled up to him on the right in 2nd gear when the light turned green, and he immediately launched hard. i paused and grabbed 1st and dumped the clutch, so he initially had a strong hit, but i was reeling him in. i would love to try again for real from a dig and possibly some rolling action as well.

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

I'm glad someone brought that up. it's been sitting in the back of my mind, and I haven't committed to one decision. I have the 650iL badge in my kitchen drawer, and originally had the intention of ditching the "L", rearranging the 5 and 6, and have 560i as you mentioned. however, the percentage of people on the road that actually know what a 540i is, let alone a 560i, is close to none. so, i'm possibly going for something a BIT more obvious, while still being subtle. the car is completely stock on the outside save for the exhaust tip which still looks factory.

i am thinking about the following badges, anyone have input?

2005-2006 GTO 6.0 Badge



Keeping in line with the German theme, this is a 6.0 badge off a W12-engined VW Phaeton



and this is a Ford F350 Powerstroke badge, but I like how it's subtle and black. unfortunately being originally off a truck the badge is physically large (over 4" long) and would look tacky IMO on the back of my car.


if you guys have any other badging ideas i'd love to hear them.

BlueMaxCougar

Got my vote so far.

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

In my mind that's kind of the beauty of it - nobody notices/cares about badging on cars other than "car people". Car people would see the abnormal/unique badge and be like, "I wonder what that's about?"

Of the other options you posted, I would agree with BlueMax that the GTO badge is the best of the three. The fact that it's a GM badge and thus gives a nod to the engine's origin is a nice touch (even if it's not quite the same as the GTO's engine, it's close enough). As you said, the F150 badge would be huge and look out of place. There are some 6.0L options on Ebay, not sure how big they are, though.

vazfx16

NICE!

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

got together with a few friends over the weekend and did some pulls from 40 and 60

Beat a supercharged, non-intercooled E36 M3 sedan (automatic) by about a car. The M3 is on about 7 lbs and has 3.91 gears, intake/tune/exhaust. We went from 55-110, which put me right at the mid/top of 2nd gear to start with.

Also beat my very good friend's 2000 M5 (see above, it's the Anthracite model) with exhaust and tune by about 2-3 cars. It was interesting see his car billow some smoke as he blew all the carbon out of the exhaust (no doubt due to VANOS!) through the gears.

Overall a very good time.

vazfx16

That is nice to hear. So you give your swap two thumbs up? LOL
One question: Did you get your ac running? I can't remember if you had. I am there now and wondering what for the custom lines.

Thanks for the updates.

Ironfreak

I'm going down on Friday to look at an lq4 for my e30. I have read through your thread but there is a lot of information there. What all did you have done to your motor? I know you talked about milling the heads .30, if so did you have any head-intake issues?

When you mated it to the t56, did you have to use a spacer on the back of the crank as some people have mentioned?

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

No AC. We only have 1 week a year (in July) in Buffalo when the temp climbs above 80, so the windows do just fine. Besides, that way I can enjoy the fresh air outside.

I may have beat those two but the car still feels "slow" sometimes since I drive it every day. Sometimes when it's loud and smelly and stumbles due to the tune I'm like



but then I rip it to redline and do some donuts and I'm like




Heads milled .026". That was not the final goal--I asked them to measure the stock chamber volume and machine however much they had to, to achieve a 66cc chamber (down from stock 72cc). I did some "calculations" and guessed about .030", so I wasn't far off. If I have any head intake issues I sure can't tell. No vacuum leaks. For reference, I'm sitting at work right now with a set of digital calipers, and .026" comes out to about 9 sheets of yellow legal pad paper tightly stacked.

You CANNOT use a spacer on the back of the crank on an LQ4 with a T56. It is only for use with autos. Some of the earlier LQ4s (pre 2001 I think) have the spacer machined as one part of the crank, which is why you can't use those with a T56.The spacer is under the flexplate, so you may have to pull that off to verify. The later LQ4s also had aluminum heads (like mine), so it's pretty much a no brainer.

Ironfreak

Awesome. So you are using a modified GTO pan, how think would you say that the pan is. I know that sounds like an odd questions, but I have a Lincoln squarewave tig, it's only 175 amps though. aluminum over 1/8 I'd have to preheat to about 300 deg. if I wanted to weld it.

And If I remember right you're running the LS6 intake and stock cam? Or did you get a used cam. I have looked at so many threads I can't keep it straight.

On the wiring harness, and I'll go back through your thread to find some of that info you posted.....but, I'm not running, AC, PS, it'll have manual brakes, infact I have been working on a insert plate to make my own gauge cluster to replace the factory. My questions is, would I have any need to splice into my remaining harness that's in the car? About all that's going to remain is the harness for lights, windows, radio stuff like that.

I apologize if these sound like silly questions, just trying to wrap my head around the wiring aspect, I absolutely hate that part of any project.

Thanks!

PS, your build is sick, I thoroughly wasted about 2 hours of time reading it all the other day!

vazfx16

I can dig what you are saying.
Here in Seattle, the temps are not an issue much, but the moisture during the non-Summer months could use AC to defrost windows.

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

Old tires were shot, and I sold my old M-Parallel reps that were sized for a 3 series.



Perfect excuse to buy some real wheels, M-Par reps in M5 fitment. Staggered setup, 18x8 & 18x9.5.





Oh, and finally invested in the most important thing one can have in a garage.

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

Ironfreak

neeeddss muurrrloooww.

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

Ok, time for a big update. I have been busy with a ton of crap, so I'll try to let the pictures do most of the talking.

Got my new M-Parallel reps on, and they fit/ride great. Wheel gap was pretty pronounced afterwards, especially in the rear.




I wrapped the interior trim with 3M Aluminum vinyl, but didn't like the way it came out. It was too bright and looked odd and discolored in the sun.


So I ordered up the stainless steel finish, and got to work.



Much better.


Made one of these for a friend


Buying this has been taking up the majority of my spare time. We hopefully close next week.



I finally gave the winter beater some much needed maintenance in the form of pads/rotors all around, as well as a general tune up and inspection. I also finished installing all the parts the the deer destroyed back in May.



My fiancee surprised me with a trip to Vegas for my 25th birthday.


So I had to ensure that this fat lard was well fed while we were gone.


Vacation was great. Returned back to work, and as I was driving to lunch one day, this happened:


Turns out crappy non-penetrating porous welds don't hold up well to aggressive shifts. Lesson learned: don't be a stubborn idiot and try to keep on welding after gas has run out.


Luckily my weld quality is also improving. I cut up a new block at work and welded it all up. I think it came out nice.



I came across a great deal on M5Board and had to jump on it.




While in there, I also replaced the rear pads, rotors, wear sensor, and rear sway bar end links, which were completely shot (.125" play).



I have yet to take pictures with my "good" camera, but I'm very happy with how they came out. I still need to add spacers in the rear and adjust the height side to side.


Took a trip down to Ellicottville this past weekend for our annual "fall drive". That's my friend Tim (technician117 over on M5Board) on the left, his girlfriend Danielle in the middle, and my fiancee Melissa on the right. LS 540 vs M5 on the way down was a fun time. We swapped cars as well for half the trip to compare differences...yes, it is a dramatically different driving experience in every way, despite being neck and neck from a roll.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Care to elaborate?

Andrew

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

The M5 has OEM "refinement", or what I like to call the luxury factor, in the driving inputs. Nothing to do with interior comfort or anything; clutch is extremely light effort (to the point where I found it hard to modulate, but then again I'm used to my car), and the throttle was very touchy, with a very narrow range of motion. The shifter was also effortless (a one finger shift is possible at all times), and the throw was stupid short. Imagine a George Clooney character on his way to an executive meeting, that's the type of input. Effortless power. The S62 also spins much higher on the highway due to the trans gearing (probably close to 3k at 80mph), making it easier to overtake without downshifting. Passing only requires a slight prod of the throttle. In contrast, the T56 gearing in mine means it's spinning at 2k (or so) in 6th at 80. You can still easily pass without downshifting, you just need a bit more throttle.

My car is like the caveman version of that. Clutch is much stiffer, throttle is drive by cable, stiffer, and the pedal travel is almost twice as much (this is due to the cam profile of the truck throttle body, it isn't matched to the motion ratio on the E39 pedal). I have an LS6 throttle body that I experimented with and the pedal travel is like stock.. Shifter on mine takes a firm hand to shift while at speed. Instead of George Clooney, imagine Jason Statham.

vazfx16

looks great
thanks for the comparison

You say you and your buddy's car are neck and neck. His M5 has mods?

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

George Clooney vs. Jason Statham - gotta love it!