Introduction to my newish 530i...

I've had some good luck on EBay recently....managed to pick up this storage center console for $100. Luckily i had a new handle just waiting around for this purpose. I'll be installing it tomorrow...









Also started rewrapping my interior trim with 3M 1080 Brushed Titanium Wrap....looks good so far.







It's coming along nicely....

That's border line artistic work right there, nice job!

Got lucky on Bimmerforums. A Southern California (SpeedSource) company request for local E39 owners to volunteer for test fitment of some new DEPO Smoked Headlights. Lucky me...I happen to see the thread shortly after they posted it and was the first to reply. As compensation for my time and travel I got to keep the new headlights. Took my car over to them this morning and here are the results:

Old:





New:
















I wasn't sure about smoked corners at first, but it's grown on me in the couple of hours that I've had them now. Seems to flow well with the black grills.

Installed this Trunk Storage Compartment today...it'll be the perfect spot to store my little electric tire inflator:

Originally Posted by Albo

I wasn't sure about smoked corners at first, but it's grown on me in the couple of hours that I've had them now. Seems to flow well with the black grills.

I like.

Originally Posted by AnotherGeezer

I like.

Can't beat free!

Spent the last few days with my cousin looking at E39's for his daughter. Came across this nice clean 1998 528i after a few 525's and 530's let us down (as did their owners).

He bought this car with 73,000 miles on it for $6,700. Clean body and interior. Dealer replace a belt tensioner, front and rear cupholders, front rotors and recharged the AC free of charge. Picked it up today and drove the 40 miles home. This car, totally unmolested, reminded me about the inherent goodness that is instilled deep within each one of these cars. In a sense, I was jealous on the ride home. My car will EAT this thing on any twisty road and run and hide from it in a straight line, but I had forgotten the serenity of a bone-stock E39. Smooth, responsive, peaceful bliss on the road.

I love these cars..... Here it is:












I HAD to drive my car along one of the twistiest roads in the area on my way home to remind myself why I made the compromises I did to the inherent goodness of my car. I am a performance junky, but at heart...I just love BMW's!

Now, we'll see if my cousin will actually let HIS DAUGHTER drive the car :-)

Originally Posted by Albo

Can't beat free!

wow really free!!! lucky you.

Originally Posted by Albo

Spent the last few days with my cousin looking at E39's for his daughter. Came across this nice clean 1998 528i after a few 525's and 530's let us down (as did their owners).

He bought this car with 73,000 miles on it for $6,700. Clean body and interior. Dealer replace a belt tensioner, front and rear cupholders, front rotors and recharged the AC free of charge. Picked it up today and drove the 40 miles home. This car, totally unmolested, reminded me about the inherent goodness that is instilled deep within each one of these cars. In a sense, I was jealous on the ride home. My car will EAT this thing on any twisty road and run and hide from it in a straight line, but I had forgotten the serenity of a bone-stock E39. Smooth, responsive, peaceful bliss on the road.

I love these cars..... Here it is:












I HAD to drive my car along one of the twistiest roads in the area on my way home to remind myself why I made the compromises I did to the inherent goodness of my car. I am a performance junky, but at heart...I just love BMW's!

Now, we'll see if my cousin will actually let HIS DAUGHTER drive the car :-)

Agreed. I am tempted to do buy a second E39, this time a totally unmolested bone stock 528i non-sport model.

Originally Posted by teklord69

Agreed. I am tempted to do buy a second E39, this time a totally unmolested bone stock 528i non-sport model.

Not an e39 for me, but i will be looking shortly for an unmolested E36 to use as a Daily Driver.

Had these Blue/White Carbon Fiber emblems sitting around for a while so I finally decided to install them.

Trunk:





Steering Wheel:









Hood:

Finished installing my rewrapped interior trim. Much happier with the finished product. I used 3M Brushed Titanium 1080 vinyl...excellent stuff:











Excuse the headunit....I've got more adjustments to make.

Good job Albo. Send me your old emblems if you dont want them. I have the blk CF from the PO, that I don't like.

Originally Posted by tmvE39/E53/Z32

Good job Albo. Send me your old emblems if you dont want them. I have the blk CF from the PO, that I don't like.

Sorry bud, but all I have is the trunk emblem. The hood one was toast (clearcoat peeling and oth posts broke during removal). The steering wheel emblem is an aplique that goes over the OEM emblem.

If you want the trunk emblem, PM me your addy and I'll drop in the mail tomorrow. That way you only have to buy the hood.

Nice car. Conversion is flawless. I have the same Pioneer head unit, PO installed it a few months before a bought the car. 540i sport looks with v-6 gas mileage sounds like a winner to me, good job.

@Albo what sort of cup holder set up do you have? I've been searching for a proven set up that works well and holds up over time.

Originally Posted by Ktaylor757

Nice car. Conversion is flawless. I have the same Pioneer head unit, PO installed it a few months before a bought the car. 540i sport looks with v-6 gas mileage sounds like a winner to me, good job.

Thanks for the compliments, but I assure you the car looks better in pictures than in real life. There are a few fit and finish items that need addressing.

I'm not really happy with the Appradio as-is. I would like to see if I can hack it to gain better functionality.

Originally Posted by DinanBimmer

@Albo what sort of cup holder set up do you have? I've been searching for a proven set up that works well and holds up over time.

I've tried everything. I've settled on this cupholder I bought off of eBay along with a set of Ultimate Cupholders for bigger items (Smart Water, etc)

gooooooooood work done how i wish to get mine to this status

Cool thanks!

ordering that cupholder today. Broke one of my originals within 2 weeks of owning he car.

Originally Posted by Ktaylor757

ordering that cupholder today. Broke one of my originals within 2 weeks of owning he car.

I like this one because it privde more lateral support then some of the other cheap options out there. I used to have the one with the open sides and my drink would tip over fairly easily. This one holds things in place pretty well.

Started installing the AMG Paddle Shifters in my car yesterday. Ntt quite done yet, but here's a step by step of how I did it:

Mercedes AMG Paddles:







Start by removing the sheathing on the two wires attached to the paddles:







Mark an outline of the shape of the paddles base on the back of the steering wheel:





I decided to use a rotary tool instead of a bladed instrument to cut out the holes. Not a great idea, but then again..I'm not as praticed with using a Dremel-type tool. Those with more experience may do better.



Start cutting to expose the metal backing plate that runs behind the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions:







Drill two holes in each metal plate. One for the mounting hole on the paddles and one to run the wires from the paddles into the steering wheel.

Looks like a hackjob, but at least it won't be visible with the wheel mounted back on the car.

I started out by removing the steering wheel to gain access to the clock spring. Here you can see the old CS with the blank connector in the upper left had side of the connector cluster. We will be replacing this with the CS from a heated steering wheel so we have two pins in that location so we can pass the actuation signal for the paddles.





Start out by removing the four (4) Torx bolts on each corner and unplugging the four (4) connectors on the back of the CS.



Remove the control stalks from the original CS and transplant them onto the new one. I didn't document this, but it should be fairly intuitive.

I then spent some time mounting up the paddles to the steering wheel. this require a little trial and error until you get them to sit and function just right. I had to trim the out border of the cutouts I mad a couple time with an exacto knife to get fitment 100%.