E39 Build: 6.0 LS. Coils. Burnouts.

[philohlean]

Haha props to you for working, and what's more painting, with the garage door open in Buffalo. Can't have been fun. Great stuff as always, one of my favorite e39's!

[nsogiba]

found a fun photo from Fall '14, after a night of booting it around the streets with buddies in an M5 and a V8 A6




More NVH fixes. Due to the weird offset shifter I never really came up with a way to close up the hole I made so I was always getting a lot of gear noise (from trans), fumes when sitting still, exhaust sound, etc. Wasn't unbearable by any means but just enough to be annoying.

Here we go:


Problem solved, right?


Few minutes later:


I ended up removing the duct that feeds the rear vent since nobody ever sits back there, and making up a blockoff for the that HVAC outlet so it's not pissing air inside the center console. Still have to put some new sheetmetal in there to cover the shifter hole partially - it's a weird shape that doesn't really fit the rubber boot I bought. No pics of that

Moving on to the front end of the car - mounted up my new power steering cooler. I initially used the OEM one with no problems but since I no longer have the factory condenser tray in place, the condenser needs to be mounted in a way that gets in the way of the OEM cooler. So I tossed that guy and installed this nice Derale unit. Since the condenser fittings will be on the passenger side, I decided to mount the cooler on the driver's side right behind the kidney grill for ideal airflow. The kit came with those thru-style zip ties that mount the cooler directly to the radiator, but I didn't really like the idea of those two rubbing against each other - plus they look crappy and have the potential to break. So, I used the old aux fan mounting studs to mount the cooler directly to the core support.

OEM Aux Fan mount studs


Smash em out and you get this. Drilled 1 new hole to comfortably mount the cooler.


Put a longer bolt in and insulate against vibration


Trimmed some of the spacers that originally held the fan and voila


The included cooler return line (rubber) goes directly to the GM LS1 power steering reservoir and was a perfect fit for it. On the supply side (low pressure steering box -> cooler) I needed to adapt from the BMW line to the Derale line, so I reused some brass fittings I had used in the past to adapt these lines to the OEM cooler. Filled the system and no leaks, but I'll have to double check once I fire it up since the system still needs to be bled.


In the theme of cleaning things up I decided to revise my upper rad hose. I used a generic hose (forgot when kind) but had to cut it to orient the one end correctly. No big deal, I used a plumbing style barb hose splicer which worked fine but looked cheap and rigged. I also found it annoying when filling the cooling system since the VW coolant bottle is routed down to the heater lines through a fairly small diameter hose and took forever to fill and burp. Killed two birds with one stone by finding "Radiator Hose Fillers" on good ole Summit and adding a traditional radiator cap as well. If I had known these existed I would have used them in the first place


Installed:


I tied the bleed vent on that fill neck into the coolant line that connects the steam vent on the heads and the small nipple on the C5 radiator.

[andybob]

This is such a solid build. Nice work man.

[nsogiba]

You're just amazing.

I've been following this for so long and I just love how you made it work all work and the detail you've put into it.

Great job.

Thoughts on changing it from 540i to 560i? :P

Thought about 560i, but it just looks so much better with no badge. 99% of people wouldn't know that a 560i doesn't exist.

[MrViicc]

You're just amazing.

I've been following this for so long and I just love how you made it work all work and the detail you've put into it.

Great job.

Thoughts on changing it from 540i to 560i? :P

[TeckniX]

Looking good and I like the ghetto paintbooth that still has proper ventilation lol

[nsogiba]

Traditional Buffalo Subaru hooning





naturally, need to take apart a working car



My buddy Tim graciously donated a spare ambient temp sensor, which had been broken since before when I bought the car in '11



The mantra I had always held while building the car was "get it on the road, work out the bugs, and enjoy it". Safe to say most of the bugs are worked out so it was time to turn some attention to the generally ratty engine bay. I removed all the front accesory drive parts and started to refinish them. The whole setup definitely had a junkyard Joe Dirt feel to it. All parts were scrubbed, soaked in a degreaser, cleaned and dried, and then silver engine enameled + clearcoated


LS6 Intake manifold and throttle body disassembled, painted


during paint process- thankfully dried without the gloss finish, but retained the metallic. The paint is a dark gray metallic Rustoleum. I took a gamble on it as I didn't know how it would come out but it looks great.



Engine covers, even after a cleaning, were still faded and stained 10 year old parts, so they got paint too. Still tossing around ideas for a final scheme








only the finest downdraft ventilated paint booth



























All this started because I wanted to mount the condenser to begin putting together AC, but the OEM power steering cooler was in the way. So I chucked that guy in the trash and bought a nicer finned Derale unit, which can be mounted out of the way. Removed the pump to change up the lines and realized the bracket looked like junk, so it was a snowball effect from there.

[fire730]

I figured the difference between the iron and aluminum block wasn't enough to worry about but I just wanted to hear someone else say it. Lol.

[nsogiba]

Ultimate sleeper=)

That's what I was going for. I am hoping to get deep into the 12s this summer with some more serious rubber.

Awesome build dude, really cool seeing something this nice so local!

Awesome build. Bought my E39 wagon with every intention of performing an LS swap.

Mine is definitely underpowered with only having the 2.5 in it.

Most people use the aluminum blocks. Have you noticed any problems (weight wise) by having the iron block in your car?

I'm not looking to upset the handling abilities of the car but the cost / availability of the iron block LS motors are definitely more plentiful.

The E39 platform is already close to 4000 lbs to begin with, so you're not going to have a Lotus-like platform even if you stick a block made of foam under the hood. The iron LS only weighs 80lbs more than the aluminum counterpart which is fairly negligible in my opinion, especially when 1 average passenger going for a ride with you weighs twice that. Add in the fact that the iron stuff is FAR cheaper and more plentiful (and makes the same power) and it's a no brainer. If I were starting with a much lighter chassis (E36, Miata, etc) I would definitely have considered an aluminum block.

Hard work friend, I think the driving pleasure is the synonim to your car.

The Ultimate Burnout Machine.

[Tuning Geek]

Hard work friend, I think the driving pleasure is the synonim to your car.

[fire730]

Awesome build. Bought my E39 wagon with every intention of performing an LS swap.

Mine is definitely underpowered with only having the 2.5 in it.

Most people use the aluminum blocks. Have you noticed any problems (weight wise) by having the iron block in your car?

I'm not looking to upset the handling abilities of the car but the cost / availability of the iron block LS motors are definitely more plentiful.

[bsweitzer99]

Awesome build dude, really cool seeing something this nice so local!

[Earl]

Ultimate sleeper=)

[nsogiba]

No way, it looks completely stock on the outside minus low ride height and the vanity plate. I love rolling up to lights with the cutouts open, big cam lope, and watching peoples' reactions

[PastaBatman]

Totally needs a supercharger in the future!


Anyways haha totally awesome build, putting american muscle in a E39, i ain't even mad!