BMW E39 M5 Touring Build – Part 2
Putting the M into an E39 Touring… Words Barry Sheward/Jeff Heywood - Photos Barry Sheward
In the first instalment we covered how BMR supremo Barry Sheward purchased an E39 540iSE Touring which was, over a period of months, to be transformed into an M5 Touring. The first part covered the total stripdown of the Touring, including the drivetrain removal, plus how the engine and gearbox was extracted from the donor M5 Saloon. The first part ended with the M5 donor heading for the great crusher in the sky, while the Touring’s body shell was off to the bodyshop. Part two follows the Touring as it undergoes surgery to transform it from a load-lugger into a genuine BMW M car, just as it would have left the factory floor at Dingolfing. There’s always a hiccup, though, and a replacement boot floor has prolonged the Touring’s stay at the bodyshop… On arrival at the bodyshop, before any cutting and welding had taken place, the Touring’s underside was given a thorough power washing using various chemical washing agents to remove years of built up mud and road grime. The process revealled a reasonably clean underside. All four wheel arches received the same
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attention to make sure there wasn’t any rust lurking anywhere. Only the jacking points and a few small patches had suffered from corrosion, which is unusual on a UK E39 that has seen the worst the British weather could throw at it and many liberal dosings of road salt. Most E39s suffer from corrosion along some of the
panel seam joints, which are surprisingly only spot welded. The areas for treatment have been marked off on the photo, the main areas for concern being the rear jacking points. The next job for the bodyshop was to prepare the boot floor. Barry had liberated one from the M5 Saloon donor car to www.bmwcarclubgb.uk
