E39-SOURCE-M5

2010: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

All cars have a story, and I’m about to get very carried away telling mine. It’ll be long, detailed, and full of links to YouTube videos and website articles that I have written through the process. This is nearly a decade in the making, after all.

Sunday, July 18th, 2010. 6:42pm. The corner of Village Way and Library Street, in the midwestern town of Hudson, Ohio. I was in the downtown area of my community with my grandparents at a concert on our square. During intermission, we always took a little stroll to get some ice cream. This stroll happened to be a tad more expensive, but much more fun. My M5 was poorly backed in to a spot, showing it’s age with the pre-facelift headlights, a gaudy front license plate, and more than a handful of stone chips in the hood and front bumper. There was an orange For Sale sign on the inside of the windshield, displaying the car’s year, make, model, and the owner’s phone number. I snapped a few photos with my iPhone 4, hence the exact aforementioned date and time. My grandparents were a lot less excited about the car than I was.

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2011: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2011

By this point, I had learned that I could not afford to have any service/maintenance/upgrades carried out through BMW dealerships. I was on my own. And I found that there was very little quality DIY content available online. After spending years making technology DIYs on YouTube, I toyed with the idea of switching to cars. In 2011, I created E39Source DIYs for the shift knob, parking brake handle, center console trim, cup-holders, and I replaced a failed rear park distance control sensor. Mechanically, I replaced the front brake rotors and pads, fixed a squeaky window, and had my parking brake shoes replaced. I also replaced the front bumper, fog lights, grills, and had the hood and front bumper repainted. In December, I bought a Peake R5/FCX-3 code reader. This kept me busy and poor for a long while. I found that 11 codes had been reported to the computer. I let Dave Walter BMW in Akron, Ohio do some diagnostics, and then I spent a month with the car in and out of service getting work done. The thermostat, water pump, spark plugs, O2 sensors, and several different sensors replaced. This removed all but 1 code: code AA, secondary air. This is the one that you don’t want. I let BMW try some solution through the engine to remove the carbon build-up in the system, and it still didn’t totally fix the problem. According to my full service history on the car, the engine had been removed in 2008, and the carbon channels had been drilled out.

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2012: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2012

Fa t n eat b lts. My cluster’s pixels were committing suicide by the day. It turns out, somebody saw one of my videos showing the problem on YouTube. He sent me a message, telling me how to get BMW of North America to help fix the problem for less than the cost of a whole new cluster. This guy had a 2003 525iA do the same thing, and he is now partly responsible for this website, and one of my closest friends. Thank you, Bobby. I now have a face-lift working cluster.

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2013: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2013

Navigation. In the 2001 model year, BMW upgraded the E39’s navigation display to a 16:9 widescreen instrument. The computer also got upgraded. I took this a step further, and bought a MKIV computer in addition to 16:9 display. Big upgrade for this car, DVD readability and all!

I spent much of 2013 fixing the larger issues. They weren’t even large, but they bothered me. I replaced intake camshaft sensors, installed new floor matts and white fog bulbs, changed transmission and differentialoils, replaced control arms and tie rods, added LED license plate lights, had some more minor rust marks removed, changed shifter bushings, added a UUC Evo 3 short shift kit, replaced the FSU and blower motor and replaced my mass air flow sensors.

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2014: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2014

Things will get crazy this year. I have decided to make this car as nice as I can afford to. That means every screw, every clip, every bracket, every everything has to be present, and in good working condition. They also need to look good. I ordered over 400 new parts for this car this year. It got new OEM style 65 wheels, new tires, chassis braces, instrument cluster bezel, switches, knobs, fan clutch, engine fan, door sills, M-audio subs, front bumper, trim, fog lights, rear bumper, trim, diffuser, facelift steering wheel, a total over-haul in electronics, all exterior door trim, coolant expansion tank, new filters, parking brake rebuild, rear brake overhaul, M3 oil cap, oil return hoses, and all mounting and installation hardware associated with these things. That huge list represents less than 1/4 of the parts replaced. I want this car to look amazing, it deserves to. It was a 7/10 to begin with, but by selling all of the old parts still worth using, I can afford a 9/10. I also installed the Shark Injector software to remove the AA code, and make the car a bit more fun.

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2015: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2015

Spring 2015 started with body work. I had the new side mirrors painted, rust removed from one rocker panel, and various other minor rust spot corrections. The car is now rust free! I did the brake fluid when new lines were installed, and got fresh coolant after a thermostat replacement. At 188,026 miles now, this car is more capable than any 2003 model I’ve ever seen. A full euro lighting conversion, all OEM parts, a short shift kit, Shark tune, M-audio woofers, SIRIUS XM, aux, upgraded navigation, fresh vitals, etc. 2015 carried on with a ton of improvements: 18mm Eibach rear sway bar, beast power brackets, front PDC retrofit, aluminum pedals, Eisenmann Race 4x76mm axle-back exhaust, fresh Pilot Super Sport tires, an oil change, OE front rotors and Hawk HPS pads, new front calipers, PDR, seat trims and buttons, and various other hardware and small trim bits. I also replaced all of the interior Titan-line trim. The center console, dashboard trims, door trims, all fresh. The old stuff was in okay condition, but it tends to get glossier with age. The fresh trim set is more of a matte finish, and freshens up the interior quite nicely. Seemingly, right after I ordered the fresh interior trim set, the prices on this stuff skyrocketed. I think I got one of the last sets.

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2016: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2016

In March of 2016, the roads cleared enough for me to take the car into the shop. The plans had grown though. Not only was it getting a rebuilt 2002 engine and 2003 differential, but a full driveline, brake, gear linkage, and suspension refresh. Anything under the car that wasn’t set for at least 100,000 miles was to be rebuilt/replaced.

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2017: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2017

January, 2017

My original engine now in New York.

I got bored enough in January to reach out to the new owner of my old S62, and see what he had found out with it. He bought my used engine to install in a project car of his. He told me a year ago that he planned to rebuild it before installing it in another car. I received several photos of my old engine opened up, and taken apart. After 192,000 miles, the bottom end still looked clean, with no sludge or anything worrisome. The connecting rod bearings certainly showed some wear, but nothing that would have caused catastrophic failure. The new owner even said that the timing chain guides (original) still appeared to be quite strong. This engine had a lot of life left.

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2018: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2018

For April Fools day, Kennan had the great idea to film an E39Source Intro- in the voice and grandeur of US President Donald J. Tump. You have to see this video!

Kennan filming Trump’s intro with my M5.

The April Fools video was a HUUUUGGEE success.

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2019: The Story: Ryan’s 2000 BMW E39 M5:

2019

E39Source is now an LLC, with a brick and mortar location. We rented a 3,500 square foot shop up in Escondido, 30 miles north of San Diego. We had two lifts installed, and got a badass set of tools. You can read more about what E39Source is doing now here.

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