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First article with backstory on the car, on it's old Work Meisters:
Video just after mounting the HRE:
Great write up by Mike of the car in it's current state:
This car has been my project for the past two years, as well as my daily driver. You may be familiar with it as it's been on the Stanceworks home page three times, and has been to many shows in Southern California. I had been wanting to build an e38 ever since I learned to drive in my fathers 1996 750iL, a car that really left a lasting impression. In my opinion it is the best 7 Series BMW has ever produced, and a timeless design. Much as I tried to build my previous e28 to be the "ultimate" example, I tried to do the same here with the resources available to me. When you google e38, it is the first image result, so perhaps I succeeded to some degree. Point being, I poured a whole lot of passion into the car, and I hope it shows.
The car is a 2000 740iL that I purchased from a friend in early 2014. He had recently acquired it from his father, and it had been his daily driver for a number of years. It has always been a California car, and has no rust or corrosion of any kind. I believe the car to be original paint from the doors back, and the front of that car has been resprayed at some point in it’s life. The Carfax shows no accidents.
The chassis has 242,000 miles on it, but a big part of the appeal of the car for me was that at 210,000 miles, the motor and transmission were swapped with a 40,000 mile motor and transmission out of a 2001 740i Sport. The driveline on the car thus has approximately 70,000 miles on it currently, and as you will see with the rest of the maintenance below, almost all wear items on the car have been replaced. I’ve driven many different e38s, and M60/62 powered cars, and this is the strongest I have personally encountered. Although the chassis mileage is high, the car drives as a car of far, far less miles. It was my daily driver for the vast majority of my ownership, and has proven itself to be extremely reliable. While it has been used as a show car, and went to Sema in 2014, it is what I would consider a driver that represents very well and is meant to be enjoyed.
When I acquired the car it was was stock. I have listed the modification below. I am including the price of the parts without labor to help give an understanding of what is on the car.
Exterior:
First set of HRE 309 ever built, and this car was the promotional car for the wheels. Went to Sema 2014 on these. They are 20x9.5" and 20x10.5", and are just under $9000 retail.
I do have a set of genuine 20x9” and 20x10” Alpina Softlines that I could put the car on instead of the HRE. These are the real deal correct wheels for an e38, in the proper sizing, bolt pattern and sizing. These are my "grail" wheels for the car, and while the package is cheaper with them, they are by no means "cheap" wheels. They are straight and true, but would need a refinish to be perfect, I would estimate their worth to be approximately $2000 in their current state, retail of course being far higher.
Car has nearly new Nitto NT555 G2s on the HRE that were mounted less than 1000 Miles ago. ($800)
Every piece of glass on the car, windshield and moonroof included, was covered with 60% Wincos Ceramic Tint by Signature Glass Tinting in Costa Mesa in 2014. This is a super high quality tint that blocks nearly all UV, and a huge amount of heat, it also gives the greenish-blue tinge to the windows I am very fond of. This is protected by a 10 year warranty and if you damage the tint on any panel they will replace it free of charge, receipt is included with the car. ($735)
Brand new OEM headlight lenses, new clear turn signals, tail lights, side markers, and new glass fog lights. I also just put on new kidney grilles. ($700)
Replica Alpina Front Lip fitted, and painted, along with side skirts and lower portion of the rear bumper in a matching Schwartz Black by high end shop in Costa Mesa. ($1000)
Interior:
Full interior swap to Lavender Grau (Purple) not ever available on a facelift car, and only available on two rare colors that came in 1995-1998. This included the seats, door panels, lower dash, center console, floor mats and seat belts. The vehicle originally had a black interior and I chose to keep the black carpet as I like the contrast it provides. Hard to put a price on this, but as you can imagine this was not cheap to do, nor a small undertaking.
I also sourced a 750iL full leather wrapped dashboard, as well as the actual wood rear C-Pillar lights, and rear wood ashtrays. Again, hard to say actual value, certainly not cheap but significantly improved the interior feel over a standard 740il.
E46 M3 ZCP Alcantara Steering Wheel and Round Airbag. All controls work perfectly and this is a plug and play upgrade. I do have the factory 4 Spoke wheel I will include as well. All in this upgrade cost ($800)
Full Bavsound Stage One Speaker Upgrade, Trunk Ghost Subwoofer System, and Soundplicity Control III iPod/Bluetooth Integration. ($2000)
750iL Full Leather Wrapped Dashboard, rear wood ashtrays, and wood C-Pillar lights ($1000)
Interior Lighting was updated to LED all around, and I have an OEM BMW Sunshade I will also include with the car.
Drivetrain/Suspension:
Airlift Performance Struts and Airlift V2 Management along with upgraded Viair compressors and 5 Gallon tank. Also included adjustable Camber Plates for the front. This setup has approximately 10,000 miles on it, and functions perfectly. It is not a "show" setup and is all hidden in the spare tire well. ($4200)
I upgraded to UUC Polyurethane bushings in the front control arms as it’s a pinch style bushing factory, which tears quickly with the air setup.
Front Brembo Brakes pictured have been sold. Nearly new factory rotors/pads will be put back on in place of these.
Rear Brakes will be staying with the car and are Adams Rotors Brembo Match drilled rotors, and Hawk HPS Pads that have approximately 10,000 miles.
Much more I am forgetting.
2015 Maintenance performed, all with OEM parts:
Front Suspension:
Front Lower Control Arms
Front Upper Control Arms
UUC Poly Urethane Bushings in Upper Control Arm
Centerlink
Tie Rods
Idler Arm
Rear Suspension:
Upper Front Control Arm
Lower Rear Control Arm
Lower Ball Joint
Supporting Ball Joint Rods
Front Brake Rotors and Pads
Rear Brake Rotors and Pads
Engine:
Crank Position Sensor
Radiator
Fan Shroud
Overflow Tank
Water Pump
BMW Coolant
Oil changed with BMW Synthetic Fluids
Vehicle:
Fuel Evap Test Pump
Windshield Upper Rubber strip replaced
This totaled over $2000 in parts, not including labor. An alignment was performed by 714Tires (well known in Socal) after all of the suspension components were replaced.This was done in the past 10,000 miles, so all items are of course in essentially new condition still.
2016 Maintenance, done by All German Auto In Escondido:
I moved to San Diego for work in early 2016 and lost my easy access to a shop to do work on my car personally. I have receipts for all of this work which will be included with the car. The car had a small oil drip that had been getting progressively worse, and I finally decided to tackle that, along with other recommended items. I at the time wasn't planning to sell the car, so went "all in" in fixing the leak. All of this work was performed in April 2016 and totaled $2600.
All items were OEM:
Engine Mounts
Transmission Mounts
Valve Cover Gaskets left and right
Profile Gaskets left and right
Water Hoses, Power Steering Hoses
Cam Position Sensor O-Ring
Power Steering Cooler Hose
Temperature Sensor
Valve Cover Nut/Bolt Seals
Spark Plugs (Had them done as there was no additional labor to have it done during this job).
Engine Oil and Filter
BMW Coolant
BMW Power Steering Fluid
I am 100% confident I am forgetting more than a handful of other things that have been done, but I hope that gives an overview of the way I have maintained and upgraded the car. It also had a paint correction and ceramic coating performed in 2014, and is always hand washed.
The bad on the car consists of a few things. The biggest issue in need of attention soon is that the headliner just began to sag badly in the rear. I am trying to have this repaired locally before it goes to a new buyer, but am struggling to find somewhere to have this done where I trust the work. Material preference may vary for the next owner so I am tempted to leave it as is. I have it priced with this in mind, but will become more firm on my price if this is remedied before sale.
The rear window regulators are on their way out, likely due to their lack of use. Both front windows work perfectly, and I haven't tackled replacing the rear regulators as I don't typically drive with the windows down. Moonroof functions perfectly. The driver rear quarter window shade retractor broke on me recently, and I am in the process of hunting a replacement down. The main shades, passenger shade, and automatic rear shade all work perfectly.
The paint in the front of the car, although it shines up well, and looks great at 3-4 feet, is definitely showing it's age. I can provide detailed pictures of this to interested buyers. As I used this car as a driver, and would hope the next owner would as well, I didn't opt to have this resprayed. The passenger front fender also has some small rippling from where the wheel caught at one point. The paint is holding on and it's not super noticeable, but I want to mention it for the sake of full disclosure. The car also has a couple door dings that should be able to be pulled out no problem should you desire.
The cluster has the common problem of missing pixels on the display below the speedo/tach. I had planned on eventually upgrading to an e39 M5 cluster, so hadn't had this repaired. There are other smaller things that could be discussed consistent with a car of it's age of course, but that's the "big" issues with the car.
The car is incredibly sorted for an e38. All electronics function as they should, the audio system functions perfectly and has modern amenities such as bluetooth/usb audio streaming, so you can get your music and GPS instructions through the factory head unit. The climate control functions perfectly and the AC blows cold. Runs like a dream with no CELs, and no smoking of any kind, nor any leaks. The suspension components underneath all have right around 10,000 miles on them, and the motor itself has 70,000 miles on it and was just resealed. I don't want to misrepresent the car as perfect, as it's certainly not without it's flaws, but it is an extremely nice example paired with a very rare interior, and very desirable modifications.
I'm extremely passionate about the car, and if you are seriously interested I'd love to chat on the phone about it. I could write double to triple what I have here about the car, and the countless reasons I chose to modify each area just how I did, but this is already a wall of text.
With factory brakes in the front, I am asking $18,300 on the HRE 309s, or $14,800 on the 20" Alpinas. I have the cars clean title in hand. Willing to ship at the buyers expense, and the car is available to be seen in San Diego, CA. I can be reached at 404-432-8859 for further questions and inquiries.
I would also be very interested in trades for older desirable BMWs in good to great condition, or other desirable cars/trucks. Preferably with cash on your end, but depending on what you have it could be a straight trade, or potentially some cash leaving my end.
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