And Presenting, the ZHPs' New Roommate...

[BCS_ZHP]

Sorry for the long delay, promised some photos, been busy running around all day, a good bit of it in vain.

My favorite place in the whole world, that showcase of inefficiency and no commonsense, DMV, they jerked me around for almost 2 hours and did not issue me tags or a title today. Because it was an out of state title (NY) which came with a letter from the Buffalo Police Credit Union stating the lien had been satisfied, my glorious DMV insisted on calling the bank to verify that the letter signed by them on their letterhead was in fact genuine. What do you think the chances are of the loan dept of the Buffalo Police Credit Union being open on a Saturday. So I have to go back on Monday to let DMV call the credit union to verify the previous owner's payoff letter is real.

And then a trip to my local dealership, which was preceded by a call to ask if the parts I was looking for were in stock. I explained it wasn't the normal E39 bumper, the pieces I needed were under the front corners and extending into the wheelwells. The jerk on the phone assured me its a common replacement part, they should have it in stock, they're too busy for him to look it up for a phone customer, I need to come in. So get there and find my favorite parts guy, Dewain (not the jerk on the phone), explain what I bought, what I'm looking for and he says, "they didn't make that many of those with the special M-Tech II bumper, we have to special order anything associated with that bumper." And he says you normally call first so I can have your stuff waiting, explain the jerk and he says one of the service writers was helping them for a while when it was real busy. Arggh! All I was able to get today was wiper blade refills for the 540 and the same under the bumper corner & front of the wheel well piece for the right side of both ZHPs.

Without further adieu, my new ride...
4465447344724471447044694468446744664474

[kayger12]

Ridiculously gorgeous car, Bruce.

Well done!!

[BCS_ZHP]

Had a set of new style center caps in my garage, that was the first mod. Tomorrow planning to attack those nasty headlight covers. A good buffing is coming, should take care of most of the scratches but there's definitely some front end gravel rash that buffing won't fix.

Does anyone recall who it was that wrapped trim pieces in faux carbon fiber vinyl? I'm thinking that's what the interior needs, need to find out what that would cost me.

[Hornung418]

Excellent!

Sent from my P.O.S. DroidX

[BCS_ZHP]

Keith,
Gary shares a good bit of the credit on this acquisition. Same situation as our buddy Jamie, the dealer and I negotiated but are a little bit apart, we're both dug in purely on principle, and playing the waiting game. Gary says if he were in the market for this type of car, this is the one he'd buy no question. Then he hooks me up with his indy (Kevin) for the PPI and I find out that Kevin used to have a E39 M5 has regrets for selling it. Further, Kevin tells me if he were in the market for a V8 E39, this would be it because it wasn't abused, some neglected or overdue maintenance but not abused. The icing on the cake, Kevin works with me attacking the list of corrective maintenance and overdue preventative maintenance, he does most of it but I still have a bit more to do. And he saves me at least a grand compared to what it would have cost me to get it done in Virginia. Kevin's wife even picked me up from the airport, took me back to their shop where they were just finishing it up around 5:30 last night. The Little Speed Shop in Rochester, NY, great people and only $75/hr labor rate. If you're close by you have to stop by to meet him and see the race cars he's building in the back.
Bruce

[Johnmadd]

Had a set of new style center caps in my garage, that was the first mod. Tomorrow planning to attack those nasty headlight covers. A good buffing is coming, should take care of most of the scratches but there's definitely some front end gravel rash that buffing won't fix.

Does anyone recall who it was that wrapped trim pieces in faux carbon fiber vinyl? I'm thinking that's what the interior needs, need to find out what that would cost me.

Nice car Bruce. :thumbsup

I was looking at a black one a few years ago just like that. I thought they came with dual exhaust?

I thought the lenses were replaceable but my boss at work recently told me he had to replace the whole assembly for $1500.

Nacho was the guy doing the wraps. I would look into di-noc if I were you, pm sockethead, he has experience with this product.

[Go Horns!]

:drool

I want one of these. And I love the color.

[brettbimmer]

Beautiful E39 Bruce! Hope she brings you many years of driving bliss!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[BCS_ZHP]

John - its true duals back to about middle of the vehicle, then combines into one larger pipe. This creates some back pressure but far downstream from the engine. Gary's Indy who is also a racer, confirmed that's the way they do it on all of their race cars. He said you have to create some back pressure to make more power, the trick is finding the exact right location to combine the separate pipes to get the desired amount of back pressure.

For this car, the system is quiet when you start out and then you get that V8 growl from about 3K rpms & on.

[Hornung418]

Is that stock though? Looks silly with a single exhaust tip :(

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[Johnmadd]

Noice!

[BCS_ZHP]

Justin - yes, stock. Over on another forum the M-Sport guys poo-poo on their own kind who have converted to true duals or even just to a dual tip exit.

[bimmeryota]

IMO the best e39 non m ever...congrats

love m parallels!!!

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Love the E39. Great acquisition, Bruce.

[midlandtech]

Love the car... My buddy has a silver one... Really fun car


~Steve
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GMATT]

Bruce.............Finally! Love the car and the color. Don't forget Colby wheel, if you decide to have the wheel wrapped. He is a sponsor here and I think the wheel wrap is $200.00ish.

Best of luck with the car, the little I drove it, was a "blast"!

[DasMechaniKer]

Gorgeous e39 Bruce!! I love the color and she looks to be in awesome condition. We went on a ride with someone who had an e39 540 a while back. Man did it sound awesome, especially in those parkway tunnels!!

[Au2bahn]

Nice purchase. Love that style.

When are you swinging by Ashburn ?

Sent from my DROID RAZR

[BCS_ZHP]

Parking problem, the fit is too tight for all 3. So we're going to have a family lottery today. Mama gets a spot no matter what (I'm not stupid), the lottery is whether Preston or I get the other spot. And the second lottery is between the first round winner and my wife to see who gets the single garage slot. Our kids and all of their friends exit/enter thru the garage, so we can't make it as tight as this photo or the car closest to the house is going to get damaged inadvertently by the in & out traffic.

[danewilson77]

Very nice looking.........

Dog...

Hehe

Garage.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[BCS_ZHP]

Sugar Bear, aka Sugar, Bear, B, Miss B, Queen B, Big Dog, -- our 8-1/2 year old pal doesn't want to be left out. She will be omnipresent during the Columbus Day get together, always weasels her way into the frame.

[BCS_ZHP]

Oops lost my signature photo. What should I use to edit a photo down to smaller size to fit our site parameters?

[BCS_ZHP]

Some pix of the bumper damage. Left rear, I'm going to live with that for now as there are more important things I want to do. Left front has a crack and needs a new "pork chop" wheel well piece, that will fix most of this. Right front just needs a new "pork chop".

[derbo]

nice e39! My favorite bodystyle of the 5 :)

01-03 sport packages came with the mtech II bumpers for 540is :)

My buddy has one and he races with us all the time

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/294629_10150369886553482_812707559_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/423511_10100359307242265_2045748697_n.jpg

[Ryans323i]

Absolutely beautiful 540i Bruce. Really love the color. My mom used to have a 540 and it was a beast. Congrats.

Btw, the stable is perfection!

[Mike V]

I love the color and V8s make fun noises. Even in the wife's boring X5, the V8 sound is addicting.

Put the 540i in the single slot and park the two ZHPs really close together in a configuration of passenger door to passenger door (so that driver can still easily get in)? I would do that before parking anything outside.

[Hornung418]

You beat me to it, Mike! That would be my suggestion as well, Bruce. e39 is wider...give it the single side and move the trashcans a little toward that side so Preston and the Missus can get as much space in the double.

[danewilson77]

Oops lost my signature photo. What should I use to edit a photo down to smaller size to fit our site parameters?

Use the edit feature in PB or you can crop in paint as well.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[SoarinZHP]

That sure is a nice E39!

[Oli77]

Nice car! is it manual?

How does it shift ? Great color.

[Hermes]

Congrats on the beautiful new car!

Just wondering but did they make a 540 M Sport touring? I saw one a while ago and thought it must have been a 525 with different badge and body kit since it had that single exhaust tip but now I'm not so sure...

[das boots]

Great acquisition. Welcome to the E39 fold. E39...the last of the great 5'ers. You might have to relocate the fridge to a different spot.

[terraphantm]

Congrats on the beautiful new car!

Just wondering but did they make a 540 M Sport touring? I saw one a while ago and thought it must have been a 525 with different badge and body kit since it had that single exhaust tip but now I'm not so sure...

Yes they did. Only 69 made it to the US though.

[Hornung418]

Heh...69 *chuckles*

[zhpnsnv]

Awesome!!! If Preston pulls in front first wouldn't the garage situation work, or is there no place to open the door on that side either?

[BCS_ZHP]

I definitely have some more work to do in this area, the Commander in Chief of the House (but not the garage or yard) is standing fast on her semi-private parking spot. We'll get it worked out here in the coming days.

[johnrando]

There are the pics. Sweet ride!

[imola red zhp]

Love that color great addition...

sent from dennis' personal electronic device

[BCS_ZHP]

Nice car! is it manual?

How does it shift ? Great color.

Oli77 -- absolutely 3 pedals, that's what made the search tough. Shifting, clutch action is great, i'm going to order a ZHP ahift knob because the one on there is too tall, might look into a UUC SSK too, but down the road. Again I was looking for AW but topaz is one of my other favorite Bimmerworld colors.

[Hornung418]

So why does the M Sport have amber corners and reflectors, but clear side markers and tail lights? That seems odd. I like the amber on Topasblau, but I think the clears looks more sophisticated.

[cannan]

Love those 540 M-Sports, I didn't even know they made them in that color. I've seen a few black ones and even a sterling grey here and there but never the blue or alpine white. Is that Avus blue?

Which DMV location have you been frequenting? I found the best of luck and person-ability at the Westfields location, and I use word person-ability lightly.

[Hornung418]

Topasblau Metallic.

[quikryptonite]

Wow, I love that car. I was looking at some 540i when I was in the market. Well done.

[jayjay_dee]

sweet ride...

[Daddyoh]

I like that color too. My son has an '03 X5 in Topasblau over sandbeige - Beautiful! Plus, I'm green with envy on that M-sport.

[BCS_ZHP]

Wow, still discovering how unique this E39 is. Found a site that said of the correct number of 2003 E39 M-sports produced with a maunal was 1190 vehicles, not 1265 as reported in some sites. By color break down, only 58 vehicles were topaz blue. Of that, 22 had beige interior, 21 had gray interior, and only 15 had black interior. Not positive, but I might have just bought a 1 of 15 car.

Did a little detective work, found and talked to the 2nd owner today, he was rushed so he agreed to continue the dialogue with me later. His brother-in-law works as the GM for a BMW dealer and did a 6 month search to find this car for him 4-5 years ago, to find the topaz/black combination. He got the car via his B-I-L, copo, and as i suspected it's never been touched body or paint-wise. The sad part is he turned in all the service records from day 1 with the car and they seem to have been lost in the transaction between 2nd owner and 3rd owner (me). We're both going to inquire to see if we can find them.

Bruce

[Newjack]

I'm so jealous of this car. I love the E39, and that blue is simply gorgeous!

[danewilson77]

Good chicken Bruce.

[terraphantm]

So why does the M Sport have amber corners and reflectors, but clear side markers and tail lights? That seems odd. I like the amber on Topasblau, but I think the clears looks more sophisticated.

Because legally you need to have ambers in the front, and apparently BMW didn't feel like designing a bumper that can accept amber reflectors. Even the M5 had amber corners in the front.

[Hornung418]

Hmmm so can you bake the lights and replace the lenses and reflectors or do you have to buy the whole unit?

[terraphantm]

Hmmm so can you bake the lights and replace the lenses and reflectors or do you have to buy the whole unit?

Not sure - it might be possible to bake them and replace the reflectors like in the facelift coupe... but finding those reflectors will be the hard part. The few who get clears usually just order the Euro headlights.

[BCS_ZHP]

I'm going to attack the brakes, refresh everything, getting wheel shake from warped & lipped front rotors. So which vendor is offering the best brake deals nowadays? I had been going with Ray (Smilez) but he's disappeared off the net.

[danewilson77]

I'm going to attack the brakes, refresh everything, getting wheel shake from warped & lipped front rotors. So which vendor is offering the best brake deals nowadays? I had been going with Ray (Smilez) but he's disappeared off the net.

Facebook?

[328ioc]

I'm going to attack the brakes, refresh everything, getting wheel shake from warped & lipped front rotors. So which vendor is offering the best brake deals nowadays? I had been going with Ray (Smilez) but he's disappeared off the net.

I was able yo get in touch with him through pm about a month or so ago. Have you tried that.

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[BCS_ZHP]

Yeah, have tried PM, cell voice messages, & texts, nothing from him.

Anyone heard of PowerStop brand in brakes? Found a package with slotted & drilled rotors, zinc coated, & ceramic pads for both front & rear for $350 with free shipping. I might take a chance on it.

[onepercent]

E39 5-series is my all-time favorite larger sedan. Congrats on the purchase of a very fine individual!

[das boots]

Yeah, have tried PM, cell voice messages, & texts, nothing from him.

Anyone heard of PowerStop brand in brakes? Found a package with slotted & drilled rotors, zinc coated, & ceramic pads for both front & rear for $350 with free shipping. I might take a chance on it.

I have an extra set of Cool Carbon (fronts) for the E39. Will let go cheap....

[cannan]

I've always purchased through Zeckhausen, they seem to have competitive prices and good selection on brakes.

[CERF04ZHP]

e39 540... one of my favorites.

[MrMaico]

Nice score Bruce! I've always had a thing for the 5 series and especially the E39. May have looked for one when I started thinking about getting a Bimmer again after a 20 year break.....until I learned about this model they call the ZHP. :-)

[Hornung418]

Bimmerbrakes on e46f sells quality rotors and pads.

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[cakM3]

Very nice Bruce:thumbsup Awesome car!

[BCS_ZHP]

Added a couple of minor mods today:

#1 Before:
4539
#1 After:
4540
#2 Before:
4541
#2 After:
4542
#3 Before (actually during, right headlight is before & left is after):
4543
#3 After:
4544

[cakM3]

Looking great so far Bruce :thumbsup

[bmshen]

Looks great! I bounced back and forth between wanting the ZHP and the 03 e39 m-sport. Wish I had both!!

[BCS_ZHP]

Whoever rotated the photos for me, thank you. Guess I'm just an analog guy who hasn't found the on ramp to the digital highway.

[elric]

Looks great!!

[midlandtech]

I'm diggin the mods thus far... car looks great!

[BCS_ZHP]

Just ordered personalized plates. Toyed around with the family's name, "540 ZHP", "ZHP-ISH", "BIG ZHP", "V8 ZHP", "WANA ZHP", "ZHP DNA", but ended up going with just the plain & simple "M SPORT". 2-4 weeks and it should arrive.

[danewilson77]

Thanks for not taking the "ZHP DNA" one. That's going on mine :) > Ironic, that I have been thinking of that one for about a week now :shifty

[das boots]

#3 Before (actually during, right headlight is before & left is after):
4543
#3 After:
4544

I did not quite get the #3 & 4. Did you replace the OEM angel eyes to aftermarket? You can PM me on what and how you did it.....I have been thinking of the same thing for my '03 530i.

[Johnmadd]

Way to get the modding started. Looks great.

[jayjay_dee]

Car is slowly looking better Bruce, good job!!!

[BCS_ZHP]

I did not quite get the #3 & 4. Did you replace the OEM angel eyes to aftermarket? You can PM me on what and how you did it.....I have been thinking of the same thing for my '03 530i.

Lawrence,
Instead of a PM, the CCFL to LED angel eyes upgrade is applicable to many platforms so replying here.

ECSTuning offers this kit to upgrade the AEs, normally costs $80 and currently on sale for $50, arrived in 2 days. It's very simple (and had to be because they forgot to include the installation instructions), you remove the light source from the back of the headlight housing (a simple twist & turn) and screw the new one in. They also include the correct wiring pigtail to connect this new LED light source to the existing waiting harness.

It took me longer to type this note than to upgrade the AEs.
Bruce

[Smilez]

just found this. bruce text me 951-251-4423 changed my number while back. was going through some personal stuff.

[Smilez]

I'm going to attack the brakes, refresh everything, getting wheel shake from warped & lipped front rotors. So which vendor is offering the best brake deals nowadays? I had been going with Ray (Smilez) but he's disappeared off the net.

sent you text. i'm almost sure we can replace those rotors you bought for free. no need to spend more. i'll try look up your order

[BCS_ZHP]

Ray,
Different car, I sold the one (325ci) you supplied the last set of rotors & pads for. I'll text you.
Bruce

[danewilson77]

Thanks Ray.

[Smilez]

thank you dane for guiding me back to bruce.

[danewilson77]

thank you dane for guiding me back to bruce.

I do what I can.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[das boots]

Lawrence,
Instead of a PM, the CCFL to LED angel eyes upgrade is applicable to many platforms so replying here.

ECSTuning offers this kit to upgrade the AEs, normally costs $80 and currently on sale for $50, arrived in 2 days. It's very simple (and had to be because they forgot to include the installation instructions), you remove the light source from the back of the headlight housing (a simple twist & turn) and screw the new one in. They also include the correct wiring pigtail to connect this new LED light source to the existing waiting harness.

It took me longer to type this note than to upgrade the AEs.
Bruce

I must be doing something wrong on my search for the LEDs and can't seem to find them for the E39. Could you post the URL? If on sale at $50 for the 4 AEs, that is a great price. It is for 4 LEDs, right?

[BCS_ZHP]

Lawrence,
Here's the link:

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E39-540i-M62_4.4L/Lighting/LED/ES2210305/

And yes, the 2 LED light sources included in this kit powered up my 4 AEs.

[das boots]

Got it. Ordered. Thanks. The 530i will look great from the LEDs.

[spoonerDee]

Ow my neck :rofl:

Car looks amazing. Great choice, so jealous.

[BCS_ZHP]

Ordered a programmable OEM key today, car came with just the valet key. Also started replacing the front bumper pork chops, but had to delay to attend my son's high school graduation party (fun, he's done, now the college bills stack up) so will finish that bit of CM up tomorrow.