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FS: 2001 BMW "560i" Sport - LSx/T56 swap
Contact: PM, or call/text 716 949 7424
Name: Norbert O.
Time for a new project, so I am putting this one up for sale. I have enjoyed my time immensely with this car but I'm ready for a new challenge and need to see this car go to a good home first. With all the time and money I've invested in the vehicle, it is my intent to be honest and up front about the condition of the vehicle, the work that has been performed, and any items that need attention.
The E39 platform needs no introduction and I believe this is the ultimate "OEM+" incarnation of the platform. German comfort, luxury, and refinement with brute American power in a bulletproof mechanical package. The best of both worlds.
First off, the build is fully documented on here and multiple other forums.
LQ4/T56 into 2001 BMW 540i - LS1TECH
THE BASICS
Year: 2001
Make: BMW
Model: E39 540i Sport
VIN: WBADN53431GC97529
Location: Lancaster NY 14086
Color: Jet Black
Engine: 6.0L Gen 3 LSx (iron block) V8
Transmission: 6 Speed manual
Drivetrain: Rear Wheel Drive
Title Status: No accidents, no liens
Price: $18,500
Chassis Mileage: 145,5xx. This will (very) slowly go up as I currently enjoy the car when weather is nice).
Engine Mileage: 3,806
Transmission and Differential Mileage since complete rebuilds for each: approximately 20K
FACTORY BMW FEATURES AND OPTIONS
Sport Package
Power adjustable/heated Seats
Power locks/keyless entry
Power Sun Roof
All automatic power windows. One touch down and up for all 4 doors.
Power tilt and telescope steering wheel with memory
Steering wheel controls for audio settings and volume
Sport seats, ///M Sport stitched leather steering wheel
Rear electric privacy sunshade
Side rear privacy sunshades
Integrated home garage door opener
Xenon/High Intensity Discharge headlamps, OEM Facelift Celis
BMW Business CD/FM/AM/AUX Input, with DSP option
Factory clear sidemarker indicators
Shadowline exterior trim
INTERIOR
Black leather seating throughout in overall great condition. The driver's seat is showing some minor wear on the left bolster, and the stitching is slowly coming apart on the seat bottom (a 3" section roughly), but I believe this could easily be repaired by a good upholstery shop. There are no rips or tears on any of the seats. The passenger and rear seat looks barely used. All power adjustments and heating elements work normally.
Steering wheel is a leather wrapped and stitched 3-spoke unit with "///M" logo at the bottom. The leather is starting to show its' age at the topmost part of the wheel, but it still in good shape.
The rear power sunshade has had the problematic plastic clips replaced with high quality (and expensive) aluminum parts and works flawlessly. The passenger rear sunshade (main window) has a broken plastic handle and is currently retracted. The driver's side rear sunshade functions normally. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had passengers ride in the rear in the past few years so I never use them, and the issue has never bothered me.
Interior trim is the original Vavona and has been wrapped in 3M "Brushed Stainless Steel" vinyl. I redyed the rear parcel shelf to pure black again, it looks new.
The HVAC panel buttons, which are known to break and fall off, are all present, in great shape and operate like new.
The main (High) gauge cluster and Business CD/OBC pixel displays were recently professionally rebuilt (with new glass in the OBC) and work as new. The interior is completely stock with the exception of the BMW OEM AUX function that I added a few years ago.
EXTERIOR
Paint color is "Jet Black".
Facelift Celis OEM Hella "Angel Eye" Headlights with OEM Xenon HID
Facelift Celis OEM Hella Taillights
M-Sport (t-bar) M5-Style front bumper
M5 rear bumper with quad exhaust tips
Slimmbones finned rear diffuser
Shadowline window and door trim
"560i" badging to reflect engine displacement
Matte Black lower trim
M-Parallel replica 18" wheels in like new shape (8.5" width front, 9.5" width rear)
M5 Rear Lip Spoiler
The car recently underwent a professional, 2 stage, 20 hour detail just a few months ago in which it was washed, clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed. The detail was performed by SheerLuxe Detailing, and Brian did a great job of making the car look new again. I also took this opportunity to recondition the headlights by wetsanding, compounding, and polishing the lenses until they looked new. Upper headlight seals were also replaced at this time.
The vehicle has never been involved in any type of accident or moving collision. However, in the interest of being honest, I have had two "incidents" - someone backed into the front left fender in 2013, and I made contact on the right side with a deer in May 2014. Both times the damage was minor enough that I just bought OEM parts reclaimed from cars being parted out and installed them myself (fenders, passenger mirror). There is no evidence of this impacts minus a few dings on the passenger side from the deer.
During the spring of 2014 I had the M5 bumpers, hood, and fenders painted and installed (mostly because they were stone chipped and sandblasted).
ENGINE
The engine was rebuilt top to bottom in May 2015 with many brand new components. The rebuild has under 4,000 miles on it. I had a professional speed shop (J & L Performance Racing Engines - Home) assemble the bottom end, and I put together the top end myself. The engine build is documented in great detail here:
370 Build for my BMW - LS1TECH
6.0L iron block LSx "LQ4" RPO (370 cubic inch)
stock crankshaft, .010" undersize mains
SCAT Forged I-Beam rods, ARP rod bolts
4.030" overbore flat top pistons, Speed-Pro Hypereutectic
All new Clevite P bearings for mains, rods, and cam.
New LS7 Lifters
New LS3 GM headgaskets
ARP headbolts
Stock low mileage "241" heads, unmodified
New valve and seals
New PRC dual valve springs, Titanium valve retainers
All new OEM GM gaskets (water pump, front/rear covers, oil pan, you name it)
New OEM GM LS2 timing set (chain and gears)
Camshaft is a TSP 228R (228/228, .588/.588 @ 112* LSA)
Texas Speed 5/16" 7.400" pushrods
GTO oil pan, pickup tube, windage tray, modified to fit chassis
Induction:
Stock LS6 intake manifold, new intake manifold gaskets
LS6 throttle body
LS6 fuel rail, with 42lb Ford Greentop injectors
3.5" aluminum intake pipe, large K&N reuseable cone filter
"Use Only Approved BMW Parts" sticker
Exhaust:
1st Gen Cadillac CTS-V cast iron manifolds
OEM BMW exhaust with E39 M5 catalytic converters.
3" exhaust cutout before all mufflers/ resonators
Dual exhaust from y-resonator to rear of car, quad tips
Accessories:
4th Gen LS1 F-body application
Alternator, power steering pump, water pump, idler pulleys, and crank balancer were all replaced about 10K miles ago as a winter project. I also refinished all accessory brackets to clean up the engine bay.
The factory BMW resonator and mufflers (scuba tanks) are retained which leave the car very quiet with the cutout closed. The intake technically is louder than the exhaust in this mode. Open up the cutout, and it's a whole different animal - loud, pissed off, obnoxious is the best way to describe it. The cutout must be opened up from underneath the car, but is set up to accept an off the shelf QTP 3 inch electrically operated cutout. I primarily drive the car on weekends with my wife and occasionally to work now, so I don't open the cutout much anymore.
DRIVETRAIN
4th Gen LS1 F-Body T56
Professionally rebuilt to Stage 2 specifications by Texas Drivetrain Performance
(20,000 miles since transmission rebuild)
MGW Shifter (great piece!)
White "cue ball" style shift knob
Stage 2 TDP Diamond clutch, 20,000 miles on it
18lb Texas Drivetrain Performance Diamond lightweight flywheel
New OEM GM pilot bearing
E39 M5 LSD Differential with rare 3.91 ratio, complete rebuild documented here:
LQ4/T56 into 2001 BMW 540i - Page 8 - LS1TECH
The rebuild of the diff included all new bearings, seals, clutches/dogs, ARP ring gear bolts, and a painted case and cover.
Asymmetrical axle diameters (M5 D/S, 540i P/S)
In the last 10K miles I have also installed 4x new subframe-to-body bushings, 3x new differential-to-subframe bushings, and a new driveshaft center support bearing.
SUSPENSION
E39 M5 KW ST Coilovers
E39 M5 OEM rear sway bar
The following components have been replaced with new OEM parts in the last 20K miles or less:
Front sway bar links
Front upper thrust arms
Front lower control arms
Rear sway bar links
Rear sway bar brackets replaced with steel M3 units, new bushings at that time as well
Rear upper shock mounts
BRAKING
Front and rear pads and rotors were replaced less than 10k miles ago.
WHEELS/TIRES
Front: M-Parallel replica, 18x8.5, like new condition. 245/45/18 tires in very good condition (approx 10k miles on them)
Rear: M-Parallel replica, 18x9.5 with dished lip design. 275/35/18 tires with some life left, will need to be replaced next summer. Can you blame me?
SWAP SPECIFICS
I performed the swap by myself in my garage and took my time to make sure everything was robust and done correctly. The engine mounts and transmission crossmember are made of steel square stock and are very beefy. They are mounted to new OEM BMW M5 rubber isolator mounts. I could go into more specifics here and write an even longer book but I feel that I've documented almost every single detail in my various build threads. I would be happy to answer any other questions if you want more detail.
The vehicle passes New York State Inspection with no issues - there is an OBD2 plug in the factory location that the shop plugs in to, which is connected to the GM computer. There are no tricks or "hook ups" you need to have at a shop - I have had it inspected twice already by two different shops and they didn't even notice the car was swapped. Just walk in, ask for an inspection, and go on your merry way. The check engine light is triggered by the GM ECU and functions normally. There are of course no codes being thrown.
All gauges work normally: tachometer, speedometer, fuel level gauge, coolant temp, odometer, etc. The instant fuel economy gauge does not work, but can be made to. I never found it to be important as I was having too much fun driving the car to worry about fuel economy. I have recorded between 22-24 mpg while cruising on the highway over long distances, but good luck keeping your foot out of it. Interior heat and all other creature comforts work normally with the exception of A/C. See below for more on that.
The DSC (traction control) is not functional, but the car keeps traction very well unless you are asking for trouble.
PERFORMANCE
The best time the car ever ran was a 12.923 @ 114.64. The current best is 13.2 @ 108 on old street tires - with some sticky tires, you could be deep into the 12s. The car is capable of solid 2.0x 60' times on street tires. I really have only ever run it at the track twice. I have an extra pair of 15" E39 alloy wheels that would make for a great drag pack that I can include for the right price. Matter of fact, I also have an extra set of 4 16" alloys that I could include as well. I bought them as a spare set and never really used them for anything.
POPULARITY/FUN FACTOR
The car was featured on the blog "Car Throttle" last year as well as "AutoEvolution"
BMW E39 540i Has a 6-Liter Truck Engine and More Power than an M5 - Video
It's a fun car and a real head turner. People wave, point at the license plate, and constantly motion for me to roll down the window so they can find out what's under the hood. I've heard it referred to as a "4 door Corvette" and "M5 on steriods". It's fun to take it to car shows and watch the double takes people do when they walk by a BMW and see what's under the hood.
NEGATIVES
Again, in the interest of being honest, there are a few things that could be considered an issue:
The car doesn't have working A/C. It has been on my to-do list for years now and I've slowly been gathering the parts to complete it, including: LS1 A/C compressor, custom A/C lines, A/C condenser already mounted, brand new A/C drier, all the HVAC cluster wiring, etc. Lately I just haven't had the time to put it together. All it needs to be functional is to install the compressor and lines and wire it up to the GM ECU. I will include all these parts in the sale of the vehicle.
The tune is about 98% perfect. I have spent quite a bit of money with a local tuner to get the driveability very good, but 1 out of 10 times it will have a rev hang or stumble when coming to a stop. Again, I just haven't had the time to fix it - if I did i would just borrow my buddy's HPTuners and perfect it. The WOT tune is spot on. Give it hell and don't look back.
Keyless entry does not work. I am assuming a dead internal battery in they key since it worked when I bought the car. I just always lock the car using the door cylinder.
Overall it has been a fantastic car to me and I've loved owning it, but it's just time for a new project. At this time I'm not looking for any trades, serious buyers only please.
Pictures to follow.
Contact: PM, or call/text 716 949 7424
Name: Norbert O.
Time for a new project, so I am putting this one up for sale. I have enjoyed my time immensely with this car but I'm ready for a new challenge and need to see this car go to a good home first. With all the time and money I've invested in the vehicle, it is my intent to be honest and up front about the condition of the vehicle, the work that has been performed, and any items that need attention.
The E39 platform needs no introduction and I believe this is the ultimate "OEM+" incarnation of the platform. German comfort, luxury, and refinement with brute American power in a bulletproof mechanical package. The best of both worlds.
First off, the build is fully documented on here and multiple other forums.
LQ4/T56 into 2001 BMW 540i - LS1TECH
THE BASICS
Year: 2001
Make: BMW
Model: E39 540i Sport
VIN: WBADN53431GC97529
Location: Lancaster NY 14086
Color: Jet Black
Engine: 6.0L Gen 3 LSx (iron block) V8
Transmission: 6 Speed manual
Drivetrain: Rear Wheel Drive
Title Status: No accidents, no liens
Price: $18,500
Chassis Mileage: 145,5xx. This will (very) slowly go up as I currently enjoy the car when weather is nice).
Engine Mileage: 3,806
Transmission and Differential Mileage since complete rebuilds for each: approximately 20K
FACTORY BMW FEATURES AND OPTIONS
Sport Package
Power adjustable/heated Seats
Power locks/keyless entry
Power Sun Roof
All automatic power windows. One touch down and up for all 4 doors.
Power tilt and telescope steering wheel with memory
Steering wheel controls for audio settings and volume
Sport seats, ///M Sport stitched leather steering wheel
Rear electric privacy sunshade
Side rear privacy sunshades
Integrated home garage door opener
Xenon/High Intensity Discharge headlamps, OEM Facelift Celis
BMW Business CD/FM/AM/AUX Input, with DSP option
Factory clear sidemarker indicators
Shadowline exterior trim
INTERIOR
Black leather seating throughout in overall great condition. The driver's seat is showing some minor wear on the left bolster, and the stitching is slowly coming apart on the seat bottom (a 3" section roughly), but I believe this could easily be repaired by a good upholstery shop. There are no rips or tears on any of the seats. The passenger and rear seat looks barely used. All power adjustments and heating elements work normally.
Steering wheel is a leather wrapped and stitched 3-spoke unit with "///M" logo at the bottom. The leather is starting to show its' age at the topmost part of the wheel, but it still in good shape.
The rear power sunshade has had the problematic plastic clips replaced with high quality (and expensive) aluminum parts and works flawlessly. The passenger rear sunshade (main window) has a broken plastic handle and is currently retracted. The driver's side rear sunshade functions normally. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had passengers ride in the rear in the past few years so I never use them, and the issue has never bothered me.
Interior trim is the original Vavona and has been wrapped in 3M "Brushed Stainless Steel" vinyl. I redyed the rear parcel shelf to pure black again, it looks new.
The HVAC panel buttons, which are known to break and fall off, are all present, in great shape and operate like new.
The main (High) gauge cluster and Business CD/OBC pixel displays were recently professionally rebuilt (with new glass in the OBC) and work as new. The interior is completely stock with the exception of the BMW OEM AUX function that I added a few years ago.
EXTERIOR
Paint color is "Jet Black".
Facelift Celis OEM Hella "Angel Eye" Headlights with OEM Xenon HID
Facelift Celis OEM Hella Taillights
M-Sport (t-bar) M5-Style front bumper
M5 rear bumper with quad exhaust tips
Slimmbones finned rear diffuser
Shadowline window and door trim
"560i" badging to reflect engine displacement
Matte Black lower trim
M-Parallel replica 18" wheels in like new shape (8.5" width front, 9.5" width rear)
M5 Rear Lip Spoiler
The car recently underwent a professional, 2 stage, 20 hour detail just a few months ago in which it was washed, clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed. The detail was performed by SheerLuxe Detailing, and Brian did a great job of making the car look new again. I also took this opportunity to recondition the headlights by wetsanding, compounding, and polishing the lenses until they looked new. Upper headlight seals were also replaced at this time.
The vehicle has never been involved in any type of accident or moving collision. However, in the interest of being honest, I have had two "incidents" - someone backed into the front left fender in 2013, and I made contact on the right side with a deer in May 2014. Both times the damage was minor enough that I just bought OEM parts reclaimed from cars being parted out and installed them myself (fenders, passenger mirror). There is no evidence of this impacts minus a few dings on the passenger side from the deer.
During the spring of 2014 I had the M5 bumpers, hood, and fenders painted and installed (mostly because they were stone chipped and sandblasted).
ENGINE
The engine was rebuilt top to bottom in May 2015 with many brand new components. The rebuild has under 4,000 miles on it. I had a professional speed shop (J & L Performance Racing Engines - Home) assemble the bottom end, and I put together the top end myself. The engine build is documented in great detail here:
370 Build for my BMW - LS1TECH
6.0L iron block LSx "LQ4" RPO (370 cubic inch)
stock crankshaft, .010" undersize mains
SCAT Forged I-Beam rods, ARP rod bolts
4.030" overbore flat top pistons, Speed-Pro Hypereutectic
All new Clevite P bearings for mains, rods, and cam.
New LS7 Lifters
New LS3 GM headgaskets
ARP headbolts
Stock low mileage "241" heads, unmodified
New valve and seals
New PRC dual valve springs, Titanium valve retainers
All new OEM GM gaskets (water pump, front/rear covers, oil pan, you name it)
New OEM GM LS2 timing set (chain and gears)
Camshaft is a TSP 228R (228/228, .588/.588 @ 112* LSA)
Texas Speed 5/16" 7.400" pushrods
GTO oil pan, pickup tube, windage tray, modified to fit chassis
Induction:
Stock LS6 intake manifold, new intake manifold gaskets
LS6 throttle body
LS6 fuel rail, with 42lb Ford Greentop injectors
3.5" aluminum intake pipe, large K&N reuseable cone filter
"Use Only Approved BMW Parts" sticker
Exhaust:
1st Gen Cadillac CTS-V cast iron manifolds
OEM BMW exhaust with E39 M5 catalytic converters.
3" exhaust cutout before all mufflers/ resonators
Dual exhaust from y-resonator to rear of car, quad tips
Accessories:
4th Gen LS1 F-body application
Alternator, power steering pump, water pump, idler pulleys, and crank balancer were all replaced about 10K miles ago as a winter project. I also refinished all accessory brackets to clean up the engine bay.
The factory BMW resonator and mufflers (scuba tanks) are retained which leave the car very quiet with the cutout closed. The intake technically is louder than the exhaust in this mode. Open up the cutout, and it's a whole different animal - loud, pissed off, obnoxious is the best way to describe it. The cutout must be opened up from underneath the car, but is set up to accept an off the shelf QTP 3 inch electrically operated cutout. I primarily drive the car on weekends with my wife and occasionally to work now, so I don't open the cutout much anymore.
DRIVETRAIN
4th Gen LS1 F-Body T56
Professionally rebuilt to Stage 2 specifications by Texas Drivetrain Performance
(20,000 miles since transmission rebuild)
MGW Shifter (great piece!)
White "cue ball" style shift knob
Stage 2 TDP Diamond clutch, 20,000 miles on it
18lb Texas Drivetrain Performance Diamond lightweight flywheel
New OEM GM pilot bearing
E39 M5 LSD Differential with rare 3.91 ratio, complete rebuild documented here:
LQ4/T56 into 2001 BMW 540i - Page 8 - LS1TECH
The rebuild of the diff included all new bearings, seals, clutches/dogs, ARP ring gear bolts, and a painted case and cover.
Asymmetrical axle diameters (M5 D/S, 540i P/S)
In the last 10K miles I have also installed 4x new subframe-to-body bushings, 3x new differential-to-subframe bushings, and a new driveshaft center support bearing.
SUSPENSION
E39 M5 KW ST Coilovers
E39 M5 OEM rear sway bar
The following components have been replaced with new OEM parts in the last 20K miles or less:
Front sway bar links
Front upper thrust arms
Front lower control arms
Rear sway bar links
Rear sway bar brackets replaced with steel M3 units, new bushings at that time as well
Rear upper shock mounts
BRAKING
Front and rear pads and rotors were replaced less than 10k miles ago.
WHEELS/TIRES
Front: M-Parallel replica, 18x8.5, like new condition. 245/45/18 tires in very good condition (approx 10k miles on them)
Rear: M-Parallel replica, 18x9.5 with dished lip design. 275/35/18 tires with some life left, will need to be replaced next summer. Can you blame me?
SWAP SPECIFICS
I performed the swap by myself in my garage and took my time to make sure everything was robust and done correctly. The engine mounts and transmission crossmember are made of steel square stock and are very beefy. They are mounted to new OEM BMW M5 rubber isolator mounts. I could go into more specifics here and write an even longer book but I feel that I've documented almost every single detail in my various build threads. I would be happy to answer any other questions if you want more detail.
The vehicle passes New York State Inspection with no issues - there is an OBD2 plug in the factory location that the shop plugs in to, which is connected to the GM computer. There are no tricks or "hook ups" you need to have at a shop - I have had it inspected twice already by two different shops and they didn't even notice the car was swapped. Just walk in, ask for an inspection, and go on your merry way. The check engine light is triggered by the GM ECU and functions normally. There are of course no codes being thrown.
All gauges work normally: tachometer, speedometer, fuel level gauge, coolant temp, odometer, etc. The instant fuel economy gauge does not work, but can be made to. I never found it to be important as I was having too much fun driving the car to worry about fuel economy. I have recorded between 22-24 mpg while cruising on the highway over long distances, but good luck keeping your foot out of it. Interior heat and all other creature comforts work normally with the exception of A/C. See below for more on that.
The DSC (traction control) is not functional, but the car keeps traction very well unless you are asking for trouble.
PERFORMANCE
The best time the car ever ran was a 12.923 @ 114.64. The current best is 13.2 @ 108 on old street tires - with some sticky tires, you could be deep into the 12s. The car is capable of solid 2.0x 60' times on street tires. I really have only ever run it at the track twice. I have an extra pair of 15" E39 alloy wheels that would make for a great drag pack that I can include for the right price. Matter of fact, I also have an extra set of 4 16" alloys that I could include as well. I bought them as a spare set and never really used them for anything.
POPULARITY/FUN FACTOR
The car was featured on the blog "Car Throttle" last year as well as "AutoEvolution"
BMW E39 540i Has a 6-Liter Truck Engine and More Power than an M5 - Video
It's a fun car and a real head turner. People wave, point at the license plate, and constantly motion for me to roll down the window so they can find out what's under the hood. I've heard it referred to as a "4 door Corvette" and "M5 on steriods". It's fun to take it to car shows and watch the double takes people do when they walk by a BMW and see what's under the hood.
NEGATIVES
Again, in the interest of being honest, there are a few things that could be considered an issue:
The car doesn't have working A/C. It has been on my to-do list for years now and I've slowly been gathering the parts to complete it, including: LS1 A/C compressor, custom A/C lines, A/C condenser already mounted, brand new A/C drier, all the HVAC cluster wiring, etc. Lately I just haven't had the time to put it together. All it needs to be functional is to install the compressor and lines and wire it up to the GM ECU. I will include all these parts in the sale of the vehicle.
The tune is about 98% perfect. I have spent quite a bit of money with a local tuner to get the driveability very good, but 1 out of 10 times it will have a rev hang or stumble when coming to a stop. Again, I just haven't had the time to fix it - if I did i would just borrow my buddy's HPTuners and perfect it. The WOT tune is spot on. Give it hell and don't look back.
Keyless entry does not work. I am assuming a dead internal battery in they key since it worked when I bought the car. I just always lock the car using the door cylinder.
Overall it has been a fantastic car to me and I've loved owning it, but it's just time for a new project. At this time I'm not looking for any trades, serious buyers only please.
Pictures to follow.
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