BMW E61 Wagon. Fitment is finally aggressive enough to post in this forum, PIC HEAVY

[E30cruiser]

very nice.

[ucsbwsr]

I keep neglecting this thread as I spend most of my time on other forums (and working on my car) but you guys deserve some love, here is an update-DUMP!

I probably missed some things but this should do for now, of course more to come:

- Sport steering wheel
- Custom Valvetronic Exhaust
- RB Turbos
- Custom Turbo Inlets
- LPFP upgrade
- 6spd Manual Swap!!!!


Evan


Retrofitted a 7" VRSF Intercooler intended for the E9X chassis: How To: Fit a 7" VRSF Intercooler to your E6X N54 chassis - N54Tech.com - Your Source for International Turbo BMW Racing Discussion




Replaced Front Control Arms


Flushed the R Diff, Power Steering, and ATF Fluids, did the ATF X2 and replaced the pan/filter, These are all BMW "Lifetime" Fluids, lol.



Rear Hatch wasn't 100% so I replaced the gas strut and filled the hydraulic pump with fresh fluid


Custom Exhaust including AR DPs. Also added ER Charge Pipe with Meth bungs and a Tial BOV



RB PCV Valve and OCC were installed


While installing my charge pipe, I dropped a screw in the intake tube, DON'T DO THAT, getting to the front turbo is not cake-walk. I had some help from Pliney making sure it doesn't happen again....




Custom Gauge Cluster






Very Custom Headlights with Quad Projectors: Projector Retrofit #2: BMW E61 Sportwagen. Quad: modded oem + MH1, Morimoto DSP, Custom Orion V2












Installed an EZ Lip. Front Bumper was also resprayed and a clear bra was installed, also on the side mirrors.



LED Cargo/Puddle Lights





Custom Tail Lights






Discovered what E85 was and how to launch the wagon:










Replaced the hacked up battery/pump cover with an M-sport piece



Purchased a BavTech cable from a fellow member, Thanks Christian! ...and updated my car with the BMS Pump Backend Flash.


Installed some Constrained Layer Damper Tiles and Ducting Insulation to help exhaust drone ...didn't really work.




Replaced some dying LED license plate lights.


Freshened up the engine bay






Freshened up the interior with oem black pieces, misc interior trim, rear cargo cover, upper and lower B-pillars, and seat belts.








Some more goodies added today...

LED interior lighting


My machined pedals arrived, I ran these on my M5 and love them, pricey but totally worth it.


You drill holes right into your oem pedals.


All mounted


Detail


My Data-logging cable was ran like this and it drove me crazy, I tried to run it through the wire wall once and failed, I wasn't taking no for an answer this time.


The tutorials I saw for 335s and E60 M5s didn't apply to me, I had to cut a hole in the plastic to route the cable.


I used some flashlights to help locate where the hole needed to be


Hole and hanger used for feeding the cable through


Much better


I drained my BMS Oil Catch Can while I had my engine bay apart, a fair amount of oil from maybe 1 year of use


Swapped the e-brake handle for an aluminum one, before


After


Much better, a sport steering wheel and round air bag is next.

[ucsbwsr]

Last but not least, dropped the training wheels and replaced the 19x10 rears with 19x11s. When I originally ordered my F14 SDCs it was 19x10 or 19x12 but now they offer 11s. One of my rear 19x10s has a flat spot, and is torqued/twisted out of alignment beyond repair so instead of replacing with a 10" I chose to order a pair of 11s.

The 275 Hankook V12 remains the rubber of choice. Although the rears are visibly more stretched than I was expecting on the 11, the stretch front-to-rear matches better than before.

On to pics and comments,
Evan

Before ordering my 19x11s I pulled the 20mm spacer off my old 19x10 setup and did some highway driving and test the inner clearance under hard compressions, the Bay Area is great for this.


For reference, this is how my old 19x10 setup was for about a year, 19x10 et4

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-p0MrmpndAqY/VN47Flt9I2I/AAAAAAAAJiM/p7VZ9wLyJzI/w1215-h911-no/IMG_5108.JPG

I added a 3mm spacer in addition to a give an et1 which would give a better idea of my outer clearance on the 19x11.


Pulling the trigger


New wheels are in


With the rear air suspension fairly dumped and no tire, things are close


You can see where I was rubbing with the 19x10 et 24 (no 20mm spacer) on the inner wheel liner.


Closer


The main rubbing was the tire on here


The 19x11s with new rubber mounted, I dumped the rear air suspension with INPA to test clearances.


It touches at full dump but it's all good brah!


Stretch every day!


At my daily ride height, not as low as some of you may prefer but I do wagon things like carry stuff, go to the mountains, ride mountain bikes and drive off road, etc.

[Tony Soprano]

singlehandedly the baddest touring I've seen in a LONG time. well done.

[Khalil]

This is one amazing wagon!
Loving all the small/custom stuff you've done.

[SebastienPeek]

Yep, this is awesome, single handedly gained my respect for the newer tourings.

[sterling archer]

you sir... are awesome!

[electricalbox]

Great looking car and once I saw the Pliny of the Elder I knew you were doing the right thing.

[ucsbwsr]

Great looking car and once I saw the Pliny of the Elder I knew you were doing the right thing.

Good eye. I could have stuffed a towel into the intake pipe to keep a screw from falling in and blowing my turbo again but why would I, Pliney handled that for me.



Thanks for the kind words, I am glad other appreciate the awesomeness of wagons, here are some more pictures.

Evan

[Tonny]

Beautifull

[BMW BRAD]

You've got some serious skillz Evan! Sure wish I had those headlights on my e60..........

[DER E30]

I have to admit I almost clicked out of this thread after the first few posts but am glad I stayed! Looks very clean! Love the lighting mods! THe tails came out awesome!

[Briejen]

Very nice mods on this car man... thumbs up...

[ThatGuyWithACamera]

Ohhhhhh man. This is so badass. I love everything that you're doing with this car.

[ucsbwsr]

You've got some serious skillz Evan! Sure wish I had those headlights on my e60..........

E60 headlights are no cake-walk, mainly due to the opening and sealing. I was stoked that my the Mini H1 projectors fit into the angel eye/corner light bowl, it may be the first E60 with quad projectors, can't confirm. Most of the other modded E60 headlights have dummy projector lenses installed in that spot, stupid IMO.

I have a couple E60 headlights in my possession that I am tinkering with, once I get sealant dialed I will be ready to do builds for other people, there are a couple guys from the M5Board who are patiently waiting for me to reach that point. I just want to make sure my work is perfect before I start touching other headlights. If you are interested, let me know.

I have to admit I almost clicked out of this thread after the first few posts but am glad I stayed! Looks very clean! Love the lighting mods! THe tails came out awesome!

I almost started another thread as sometimes updates can get overlooked in build threads. But I appreciate your perseverance! I am glad that you are glad that you stayed. There should be some fun updates in the future.

Very nice mods on this car man... thumbs up...

Thanks!

Ohhhhhh man. This is so badass. I love everything that you're doing with this car.

Thanks to you too!

Evan