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      12-01-2016, 05:04 PM   #1
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Adoption of the Blue Beast

Gents,

A few months ago I was searching the forums for info on Mods for my wife's X5. I had occasionally been searching for an X5M that would fulfill my need for an ///M car and keep some practicality for daily driving, but there were never any for sale on the island of Oahu. I came across a build journal for M5Guy's MCB X5M and thought to myself that this vehicle build was so incredibly impressive and how lucky I'd be just to spot it while driving around the island. I followed the thread but hadn't been on for some time before one morning with a simple google search I came across a sale posting for a Monte Carlo Blue X5M for sale at the local BMW. I knew there was only one truck like it, I left work early and went to check it out. Within a few hours the papers were signed and I owned the Blue Beast.

IMG_1833
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I'm writing regretfully now. Not because of the purchase but because after only a few weeks of ownership the truck has been damaged. On my way to work a lifted jeep rear ended me at a stop light. Thankfully, the jeep's front bumper only struck in one location and didn't damage the exhaust or diffuser. I'm taking her in today for the damage estimate. Hopefully she is in and out with no trouble. Insurance is waiving my deductible and covering rental so no problem there.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/NxYWFv]
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      12-01-2016, 05:53 PM   #2
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Ouch,,, sorry to hear that....
BTW where did you get that X5M logo in front kidney grill?
I've been looking for one for my X5M.
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      12-01-2016, 06:05 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cbakking View Post
Ouch,,, sorry to hear that....
BTW where did you get that X5M logo in front kidney grill?
I've been looking for one for my X5M.
Silly, expensive DIY. The Lettering is from an F85 ordered on ECStuning for $37 plus shipping. The rest is sheet metal cut into 2 plates, bolts secured with metal epoxy to one of the plates, drill holes in the other plate, rust proof enamel spray paint, nuts in the back with locktight. I took photos of the DIY, but haven't had time to upload.
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      12-01-2016, 09:40 PM   #4
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Glad to see that this car is still on the forum!
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      12-02-2016, 12:01 PM   #5
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now, we know where Kimo's car went!
congrats, you got yourself perfect beast
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      12-02-2016, 07:48 PM   #6
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headlights FTW
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      12-03-2016, 09:52 PM   #7
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One of my favorites, congrats!
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      12-05-2016, 02:49 PM   #8
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Glad to see it went to an enthusiast's home. Good luck with her, I'm sure she'll serve you well!
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      12-05-2016, 04:44 PM   #9
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Thanks guys, I'll take care of her the best I can. As far as the accident, I went through the dealer's recommended body shop and insurance is covering everything. She goes in next week and will be out by Christmas.
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      12-05-2016, 07:47 PM   #10
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3 weeks for a rear end job? I would think a week, tops.
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      12-05-2016, 10:52 PM   #11
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It's Hawaii so the body shops stay packed. The guy was very cautious when I asked for a round about timeline during the inspection saying that there could be more things wrong when they start to pull it apart. When I got the estimate he stated 12 day turnaround. The shop has excellent reviews and they are the go-to shop on the island. The long wait for turn-in is their backlog and the wait for parts. They are only using new OEM parts ordered from the dealership other than the new diffuser.
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      12-22-2016, 03:17 PM   #12
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Just got her back yesterday! I'm happy to be out of the 2016 Dodge Challenger rental car...I was surprised to find that it barely fit in my garage; how the heck is a coupe with barely any interior space and loads of blind spots longer than an X5? Anyway...I'm still waiting on the new diffuser to come in and then the body shop will install that also. For those who don't know: The Vorsteiner CF Rear Diffuser for the E70 X5M was discontinued. After several emails and phone calls with Vorsteiner and different shops, Vorsteiner let me know that they still produce the part on a special order basis with a 4-6 week turn around. Kevin at EAS hooked me up with a great deal and I ordered the new diffuser last week. Vorsteiner also dropped the MSRP to $1295 for the part so if you're looking to get one then contact a distributor and let them know they can still order them, but will just take longer.
[IMG][/IMG]
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      03-21-2017, 12:34 AM   #13
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Big Update

I’ve been busy with my wife’s truck lately, but have finally gotten around to bringing back the beast!



After the accident in November, my body shop worked with BMW to get all the OE parts to bring her back. The rear diffuser had about a 4” hairline crack on the very top near where the car hit me. Vorsteiner has officially discontinued this part, but they did a special order and really anyone who wants to wait 6 weeks for the part can do the same. I got the truck back nice and fresh and the shop installed the diffuser when it came in. I also threw on a set of gloss black badges from IND on the rear end.



When I picked the truck up from the dealer it still had a couple suspension mods Kimo installed: Powerflex thrust arm bushings and Powerflex sway bar bushings. I ordered a set of 25mm spacers for the rear and picked up a set of 25mm spacers for the front from Kimo. So now the car sits flush on all four corners.



My income is a bit modest so I’ve been looking for the best options to bring the beast back inexpensively without trashing it. Used downpipes fell through so I looked at a cheaper new option and decided to go with catless Ultimate-Racing downpipes. They hooked me up with a forum member discount and super cheap shipping to Hawaii. I wanted cats but decided on catless to remove the heat from the engine bay. I took a page from Kimo’s book and went catless but also ordered Mil.Spec 200 cell weld in cats.



While waiting on the pipes and cats I wanted to check out options to reduce heat. The best option would be coated DPs and PTP blanket, but lack of exhaust coating locations on Oahu and cost of the blankets led me to wrapping and individual blankets. I went with Thermal Zero blankets and wraps off Amazon, which was cheaper than direct from their website. These were the “lava” blankets and wrap which don’t require soaking before wrapping.



I got the downpipes in after a lengthy stay with Customs at the Canada-US border. The next day they were wrapped. The pipes look very well done, and they came with the bolts welded on, which is a huge help with installation. They did not come with new nuts like in the picture so I grabbed some from the dealer when buying new gaskets. Gaskets were a very expense at the dealer (3 X pelican cost) so make sure you order online.




I can get access to a lift bay but it would require a 25 min drive to get there and then I’d have to wait hours for the truck to cool down so I decided to install at home. I got the truck on jack stands the night before and started on installation first thing in the morning. The install took 6.5 hours but I had to go back and spend another hour trying to fix the heat shield.




Having already disassembled most of the engine bay stuff before to do spark plugs, this DIY was fairly easy. I followed the akra install instructions and things went pretty smooth. I will say that the Akra instructions only show the easy half of the engine bay and the easy half under the car. The disassembly of the passenger side of the engine bay and the driver side of under the car were the hardest. You need a u joint and long extensions to loosen/tighten the pipes under the car and to remove the lower heat shields. To get at stuff in the back of the engine bay you need to be really tall or just climb inside. I’m only 5’7” and I actually spent a lot of time kneeling in the engine bay on top of the forward brace. I had to remove the airbox to do this and made sure I had jack stands under the subframe forward of the axles. Once I got the old downpipes out the new ones went right in…easy to feel around, line up, and drop into the midpipes from above. The turbo blankets took me a while to get in since there is very little space, this accounted for probably 90 min of my install time. I tightened the blankets down with exhaust ties. When I first tried to install the heat shield it wouldn’t go so I figured I’d see how the temps were with it off.



First thing I noticed on startup is that it was super loud! I thought it was too loud but that was just cold start. I drove around until I got up to operating temp and pulled back into the garage. I immediately noticed that there was smoke pouring out from under the car…then out from all seems around the engine bay. I popped the hood and found that it was just the wrap and blankets breaking in. I double checked the torque on the pipes just to make sure there were no leaks under the truck. Once it cooled down I gave the heat shield another shot and found I was misaligning it the first time. This time it went right on, but was still a tight fit around the turbos. All of the bolts went on to secure the heat shield, but the ones closest to the turbos barely grab.





The next step was the tune. I was able to link up with Kimo and grab the Velos Stage 2+ tune for the Blue Beast. After a short install the beast is back!



I still need to get the Mil.Spec cats welded in, which should be next week. Other than that, my wife says I’m done for a while…but looking forward I’m thinking:

-Dinan Springs (Keep high ride height and EDC but eliminate some of the gap)
-BMC filters
-Painted Reflectors
-Upgraded Paddle Shifter/Pedals
-F85 Rotors (I’m about to throw on new pads with stock rotors, so this won’t be for a while)
-Megan Racing Axle Back Exhaust (Maybe; I’m not sure about losing the flap function)
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Last edited by jandref321; 03-21-2017 at 12:54 AM.. Reason: spelling error
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      03-21-2017, 07:38 AM   #14
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good stuff
truck looks clean, gotta love Hawaii weather!
nice to see that such a inspirational car went to good hands!
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      03-21-2017, 08:32 AM   #15
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Great write up! I think catless downpipes with stock exhaust is the best of both worlds. Cold start is loud, but in regular driving mode you would never know the exhaust is modified. Hit the M button and all of the sudden the sound is transformed to a deep, throaty note all the way through the RPM band.

Regarding the drop. I currently have H&R 1.2's and while I love the look, the ride can be slightly stiff on uneven pavement and going over speed bumps. Would be interested to see how much the Dinan kit will actually drop if you go with it. I was thinking about switching but there is not much info or reviews of this setup unfortunately. There was an older kit pre-2014 that came with new top shock mounts. This drop is rated for .75" drop but the consensus was that it settled at an inch. The newer kit offers just the springs and the rear links only but there is an optional supplemental ride quality and handling kit which is basically just shorter bump stops for another $215. (Are shorter bump stops necessary?) There are only 1 or 2 reviews with the newer kit and they both said the drop was only .75" all said and done. Not sure if that is enough...

Also - Can you take measurements from ground to fender on all 4 corners and post them? I forgot to take measurements before I dropped mine and I would like to know how much I actually came down. I'm at 29.75" from ground to fender in the front and 30.75" in the rear on the 1.2" kit.
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      03-22-2017, 12:15 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boneca View Post
good stuff
truck looks clean, gotta love Hawaii weather!
nice to see that such a inspirational car went to good hands!
Thanks, I'm glad I could take her in!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dpie89 View Post
Great write up! I think catless downpipes with stock exhaust is the best of both worlds. Cold start is loud, but in regular driving mode you would never know the exhaust is modified. Hit the M button and all of the sudden the sound is transformed to a deep, throaty note all the way through the RPM band.

Regarding the drop. I currently have H&R 1.2's and while I love the look, the ride can be slightly stiff on uneven pavement and going over speed bumps. Would be interested to see how much the Dinan kit will actually drop if you go with it. I was thinking about switching but there is not much info or reviews of this setup unfortunately. There was an older kit pre-2014 that came with new top shock mounts. This drop is rated for .75" drop but the consensus was that it settled at an inch. The newer kit offers just the springs and the rear links only but there is an optional supplemental ride quality and handling kit which is basically just shorter bump stops for another $215. (Are shorter bump stops necessary?) There are only 1 or 2 reviews with the newer kit and they both said the drop was only .75" all said and done. Not sure if that is enough...

Also - Can you take measurements from ground to fender on all 4 corners and post them? I forgot to take measurements before I dropped mine and I would like to know how much I actually came down. I'm at 29.75" from ground to fender in the front and 30.75" in the rear on the 1.2" kit.
The sound of catless is definitely nice with the stock exhaust. I was a little disappointed at first with the heat shield removed as I thought it sounded like a turbo diesel F-350 or something when spooling, but the sound has grown on me. I'm eager to see how it sounds after removing the resonators and installing the cats. I'm not sure I'd want to run other exhaust mods if it gets too loud and unrefined.

I've read that the Dinan bump stops are just OE ones cut down 10mm. I'm not sure I'd want to destroy my bump stops so when I get to that point I'll have to make a decision of whether and additional $250 is worth precut bump stops. I'd like to lower the car for better stance and remove some gap above the wheels but I still want the EDC and I do not want the truck too low...I enjoy the fact that it still has ground clearance to miss the parking stops and I think I clear my driveway by about .75" also so I'd still need to be careful pulling in and out...1.2" would be a no-go.

I measured all four corners and came out with 31.5" on both fronts and 31.75 driver rear and 31.25 passenger rear. I started the truck to see if the height difference corrected, but it did not. I'm not sure if this is a spring issue, alignment, or BMW accounted for my bum in the driver seat. I've read it could be the level sensor also? I suppose springs are preventative maintenance anyway at 60k miles?
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      03-22-2017, 01:58 PM   #17
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I checked the heights again after driving to work this morning before I left for work and it was still at 31.25" so no additional droop. When I got to work I measured again and both rear are at 31.75" so it probably leveled back out when driving. I'll keep an eye on it but probably a small leak. I'll need to convince the wife that the DINAN spring kit is necessary when changing rear air springs.
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      03-23-2017, 02:17 AM   #18
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Amazing...
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      03-23-2017, 08:35 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jandref321 View Post
I checked the heights again after driving to work this morning before I left for work and it was still at 31.25" so no additional droop. When I got to work I measured again and both rear are at 31.75" so it probably leveled back out when driving. I'll keep an eye on it but probably a small leak. I'll need to convince the wife that the DINAN spring kit is necessary when changing rear air springs.
Thanks again! I will definitely be following your thread. Interested to see how you like the Dinan springs and if the 200 cell cats in the mid pipes effect the sound of the exhaust with downpipes. Those are 2 things I'm thinking about doing myself.
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      03-30-2017, 12:40 AM   #20
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Mil.Spec 200 Cell Cats Installed

Hey guys, I finally got around to getting the cats installed today. I went to a local shop, the same guy who did the Disa tips on the beast for M5Guy, and had them install the cats in place of the stock resonators. The Mil.Spec cats are pretty small so they had to fabricate the extra pipe. I didn't get pics on the lift so took them when I got home.





The sound did change slightly with these on. The turbo spool and exhaust note is still very strong, but very slightly muffled. The only real major difference I noticed was the reduction of the garble when letting off the gas at high RPM. It's still there but sounds a little better; loud but refined. I'm pleased.

The smell was the big change. I've been driving in forward into my garage since the catless DPs but yesterday backed in and it was aweful when I hopped out of the truck. Today when I backed in I could smell it, but barely. When out and about I couldn't smell it at all. I parked outside, let it idle, took a knee next to the pipes, and couldn't smell anything. It's likely just closed areas that you'll notice.

I held onto the stock resonators and was surprised how little packing they have...pretty much just straight pipe with a thin single layer of packing. Picture is out of focus, but you can see a bit on the adjacent resonator:

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      04-25-2017, 09:53 PM   #21
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Reflector Paint and Intake

Hey guys,
Couple updates…I was looking at some painted reflectors like a month ago and thinking that I might just be able to do them myself. I’d done my wife’s reflectors on her X5 3.0si using plastidip for the rear and universal silver metallic for the front. Those turned out great and barely noticeable different in paint since the universal has slightly smaller flakes. For this I wanted to make sure that the paint actually matched so I looked for a company that makes OE colors in a spray can. I found Paintscratch.com which had Monte Carlo Blue Metallic shipped to Hawaii for around $35.



I didn’t realize that they had to ship it by boat since it’s an aerosol, so it took about 3 weeks to reach me. I pulled out the stock reflectors, did a quick 120 grit and 2000 grit rub down, taped off the gray holders, and painted. The paint came out very thin so it took 5 or 6 coats to get full color. I did a light wet sand, very light since I used the whole can on the four reflectors, then I did the clear coat. They came out pretty good, I should have put more clear coat on, but I was worried about messing it up…never been good with clear coat.





Interestingly, when I went to get some engine enamel from the autoparts store, I saw a close match paint for Monte Carlo Blue: Toyota Pearl Blue. I bought a can just to mess with and see if I could create a carbon fiber effect with silver and blue. The color is very close. Again, I think that the only difference is the cheap can has smaller flakes.



Last Update is that I’ve been working on some DIY intake tubes for the M and have neared completion. I did a test fit this morning after running some errands and everything fit great…until I pulled it all back apart and found that the fiberglass/resin had softened due to the engine heat. I don’t think it would actually melt, but would soften up too much to hold a seal if I tightened the rubber boot on. The plan now is to buy a length of sheet metal and bend it to fit the interior of the tubing end, then use metal epoxy to fix it in place. This would reinforce the part that gets the most heat. In researching the DIY I found that other people did this from the beginning, but for some reason I didn’t deem it necessary…should have done it right the first time.



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      04-27-2017, 01:41 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jandref321 View Post
Hey guys,
Couple updates…I was looking at some painted reflectors like a month ago and thinking that I might just be able to do them myself. I’d done my wife’s reflectors on her X5 3.0si using plastidip for the rear and universal silver metallic for the front. Those turned out great and barely noticeable different in paint since the universal has slightly smaller flakes. For this I wanted to make sure that the paint actually matched so I looked for a company that makes OE colors in a spray can. I found Paintscratch.com which had Monte Carlo Blue Metallic shipped to Hawaii for around $35.



I didn’t realize that they had to ship it by boat since it’s an aerosol, so it took about 3 weeks to reach me. I pulled out the stock reflectors, did a quick 120 grit and 2000 grit rub down, taped off the gray holders, and painted. The paint came out very thin so it took 5 or 6 coats to get full color. I did a light wet sand, very light since I used the whole can on the four reflectors, then I did the clear coat. They came out pretty good, I should have put more clear coat on, but I was worried about messing it up…never been good with clear coat.





Interestingly, when I went to get some engine enamel from the autoparts store, I saw a close match paint for Monte Carlo Blue: Toyota Pearl Blue. I bought a can just to mess with and see if I could create a carbon fiber effect with silver and blue. The color is very close. Again, I think that the only difference is the cheap can has smaller flakes.



Last Update is that I’ve been working on some DIY intake tubes for the M and have neared completion. I did a test fit this morning after running some errands and everything fit great…until I pulled it all back apart and found that the fiberglass/resin had softened due to the engine heat. I don’t think it would actually melt, but would soften up too much to hold a seal if I tightened the rubber boot on. The plan now is to buy a length of sheet metal and bend it to fit the interior of the tubing end, then use metal epoxy to fix it in place. This would reinforce the part that gets the most heat. In researching the DIY I found that other people did this from the beginning, but for some reason I didn’t deem it necessary…should have done it right the first time.



Maybe you should use the sheet metal as a heat shield, but I also think it wouldn't fit or look good. Anyways, how are the fitments with the filters? It seems to be cutting it quite close for me
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