The 540's were only made between 93 and 96, most were autos.

The engine has an issue with a coating on the bores called Nikasil. Bore wear caused by using fuel with a high sulphur content, and lots of short journeys can contribute.

There is plenty of info regarding Nikasil in M60 V8 engines on this forum and the net.

Andy '93 540i auto

If you want all out perfromance you could always go for an E34 M5. As Andy says most of the 540's were autos which IMO doesn't lend itself to being sporty although i'm sure others will disagree. There were a few 540 sports with a manual box but they are like rocking horse S**t.

well,mine has a k+n panel filter,the end of the airbox chopped off and a superchip.all this raised the power to 310hp from 286hp.mine has nitrous on top which adds another 100hp but thats usually reserved for the drag strip.

  as standard they come with an "open" diff which is extremely long legged and not much kop for sprinting,more for cruising(if it could reach it fifth gear is geared for 195mph! and they hit the speed limiter in fourth!) the way round this is to fit the diff from an m5.i have had a look on the oem parts website and the driveshafts are the same so there shouldn't be any probs fitting one.the 3.6's and five speed 3.8 m5's come with a 3.93:1 diff which would be excellent for acceleration  but the top speed would be down to 140ish in fifth.the six speed m5's had a 3.23:1 diff which would give you 170ish top end if deristricted.the other benifit of the m5 diff is it is a limited slip diff.this is the one i am going to try and find over the winter.

  they are never going to be quick off the line being an auto.i think standard 0-60 is 7seconds.but they will match a standard cossie or scooby up the drag strip(14.8 seconds for the 1/4)

                             bryan 

Peter Fenwick wrote: If you want all out perfromance you could always go for an E34 M5. As Andy says most of the 540's were autos which IMO doesn't lend itself to being sporty although i'm sure others will disagree. There were a few 540 sports with a manual box but they are like rocking horse S**t.

E34 540i sports were only ever made for the USA 200 in total 65 being auto`s 135 being 6 speed manuals, they were a limited production series created by BMW M GmbH all were left hand drive.

E34 M30 535i SPORT



                                

i personally love the 535i, the m30 is a sweeeeeet engine and bullit proof.

dangerous100, did you have the car mapped for the nitrous when running a 100 shot ?

Peter Fenwick wrote: As Andy says most of the 540's were autos which IMO doesn't lend itself to being sporty although i'm sure others will disagree.

Yup.

I disagree

A big enough engine powering a car thru an autobox will still be quick.  You will still be able to eat and spit out everything bar an M5.

200+ bhp is more than adequate for being sporty IMO.  You have 286bhp and I can assure you that will be plenty even though it is thru an autobox.

My Vauxhall Senator 3.0i 24V was 204bhp and automatic and it would leave my E39 for dead. On the Sennie forum we used to boast about how many BMWs we would leave at the lights as I'm sure Tetleysmooth will agree!

Sennie 0-60 8.2 secs, my E39 0-60 9.7 secs.  Woeful in comparison innit!

1.5 seconds of a difference from another 500 cc and 34 bhp, can make all the difference.  My E39 is adequate for what I want it to do, not brilliant but o.k. the Sennie was definitely quicker.  I do less overtaking in the E39 than I did in the Sennie purely for the reason that it is slower.  But it is a better car.

A manual 523i will do 0-60 in 8.something seconds, the auto is much slower in comparison but that is only with 170 horses to play with, you have over 100 more, that's like a Ford Focus engine plus my 6 pot from my E39.

4 litres worth, 286 bhp and the sexy V8 noise would beat a 6 pot 3.5 litre IMO any day.

Andrew

"4 litres worth, 286 bhp and the sexy V8 noise would beat a 6 pot 3.5 litre IMO any day."

Andrew have you driven both the 3.5 and the 4.0?

"A manual 523i will do 0-60 in 8.something seconds, the auto is much slower in comparison but that is only with 170 horses to play with, you have over 100 more, that's like a Ford Focus engine plus my 6 pot from my E39".

It really does not work like that.

A auto box will never be/feel as sporty as a manual not ever, and a manual 535 is a bloody quick car where as a auto is more leisurely power.

E34 M30 535i SPORT



                                

chippeduk- no the car was not mapped for the 100shot.its just a standard superchip,the gas was added later.it is on a progressive controller though.i have only stopped at a 100 shot because the fuel pump cant deliver anymore fuel.next step is a bigger fuel pump and a 150shot.for the record that will be circa 460hp on gas.

    i would like the supercharger conversion and gas which should give nearly 600hp on gas,but unless one pops up on ebay its a bit out of my price range.

 zeeny-i think the manual 535i does 0-60 in 7.5 seconds.so the 540i is still half a second quicker to sixty.after that the gap just gets wider and wider.0-100 for the 540i is about 15 seconds(hampererd by long gearing,it nearly does it in third!)mine can do it in 14.5 seconds off gas and 12.5 seconds on gas.thats speedo readings.

   the straight six(535)does sound better out of the box but a few choice mods can have the v8 singing.

  these cars are both big heavy lumps(mine weighs 1740kgs with me in it and has manual seats and no aircon so is probably as light as its gonna get)so a well driven hot hatch is gonna be all over you from the lights,its higher up where they shine through.first gear is also quite long which makes it seem worse,and fourth is also a pain in the ****.

   they do 40mph in first,70 in second,100 in third,155 in fourth(see the big gap) and fifth is irrelevent other than cruising.

                    bryan

how do you knock the timing back at full pelt then ?

you would be wise to have this retarded 4degree.

Hello Dangerious

one day soon, could you put together a thread about your mods

fitting tips, cost etc, your car and the way you want to use it sound very interesting.

i drive an e34 535i auto sport and in my opinion you can't go wrong with an m30.its done 161k and still goes like stink.

i was looking for a manual but this very nice 1990 auto came up and i couldn't resist! every time i drive it i have a smile on my face,the kickdown is ferocious and the noise is great.

I think Peter has stated the manual auto debate again!!!!

All good stuff.

b8alk wrote: "4 litres worth, 286 bhp and the sexy V8 noise would beat a 6 pot 3.5 litre IMO any day."

A six pot is still a six pot if it is 2.5 or 3.5 litres.  Yes one will have more power but they still work the same.  A V8 is a completely different engine and that is what I would want.  I have owned two 6 pot cars and if I had a chance of owning a V8 over another 6 pot, the V8 would win.

b8alk wrote: Andrew have you driven both the 3.5 and the 4.0?

No I haven't driven either of those.  I presume you have driven a 540i then? You had one of those lovely big Hartge (excuse the spelling if that is wrong) 535i E34.  Nice car......

b8alk wrote: "A manual 523i will do 0-60 in 8.something seconds, the auto is much slower in comparison but that is only with 170 horses to play with, you have over 100 more, that's like a Ford Focus engine plus my 6 pot from my E39". It really does not work like that.

What doesn't work like that?

The fact that you take a 170 bhp and you add 100+ bhp more from an ordinary family car you get around the bhp of a 4.0 litre BMW engine? 170 +100 and a bit = 270 and a bit.

I have driven a 1.6 Focus company pool car which has around 100 horses and if feels adequate for what it is.  I then get in my 170 bhp E39 and it feels so much quicker.  Add the two together and you will have, IMO, something that will really fly!

b8alk wrote: a auto is more leisurely power.

They can still shift once you knock them into sports mode.  Slight delay, granted but it'll still beat them ordinary cars.

The point I was making was that if you have more than 200 bhp you will have a quick car regardless if it is manual or auto. 

Those ordinary Fords and Vauxhalls on the roads will have what say 130 bhp on average. 

Andrew

b8alk wrote: Peter Fenwick wrote: If you want all out perfromance you could always go for an E34 M5. As Andy says most of the 540's were autos which IMO doesn't lend itself to being sporty although i'm sure others will disagree. There were a few 540 sports with a manual box but they are like rocking horse S**t.   E34 540i sports were only ever made for the USA 200 in total 65 being auto`s 135 being 6 speed manuals, they were a limited production series created by BMW M GmbH all were left hand drive.

Oh, well I've actually seen a RHD 540 manual with a 6 speed box.

Peter Fenwick wrote: Oh, well I've actually seen a RHD 540 manual with a 6 speed box.

That would be a license to burn rear tyres.  Sounds fun, great for loads of tyre smoke.  I was behind an E34 540i this afternoon when I was returning from site.  Certainly roared off from the lights, didn't even attempt to keep up with him. 

Looked a bit tired and starting to rust around the boot lid.  M plate I think it was.  Shifty looking bloke driving it though.

V8.....drool.....slober....

Site agent I met with today has a MG ZT V8.  More dribbling noises.... T'is a 4.6 Mustang engine he was telling me which means it is easy to convert to a turbocharged engine apparently.

Gawd nows why you would want to make a scarily fast car, faster.   18 months old and it cost him £11k after the Rover collapse.

Andrew

Hi Andrew, yes i have driven a 540 e34 but only an auto, and yes i have had an hartge and a e34 b10 bi turbo one of the fastest bmw`s ever built and its a 6 pot 3.5  m30 i do belive

But yes the 540 is a powerfull car ,only imo if the guys wants a sporty e34 i would go for a manual not an auto ,and peter not all manual 540`s were sports, so yes when you say you have seen a manual 540 in rhd i do not doubt you, but it would not have been a sport (v5)

E34 M30 535i SPORT



                                

if i could have found a manual when i was looking i would of had it.end of!  as it is there were two on ebay the week after i bought mine,sods law or what.it depends what you want it for really.mine was bought for a road car plus track and drag car.

                  bryan

Unless most of your time is spent at a drag strip I've always felt that 30-70mph is a much more accurate, real world performance indicator - the 540iA posts 6.7s 0-60mph and 5.2s 30-70mph. This latter time indicates a car with serious performance. Having just come from a BMW with 325hp sraight six that weighs approx. 200kg lighter I can assure you that the 540i would be left wondering where the ZM went off the lights but with kickdown from say 50-70mph I can't honestly say there's anything in it - although there's much less drama in the 540i.

It really depends how you want to use your performance. The 540i isn't a sports car, it's a luxury car and one of the car's biggest luxuries is the effortless pull of the big V8 engine. The 535i engine is more highly stressed (bhp/ltr) and perhaps the biggest indicator of the character of both engines is that the 540i has more torque than power, while the 535 has less torque than power (my 540 maybe nearly 40bhp down on my ZM but it's nearly 30lb.ft up).

for a grand i would probably go k+n panel filter(£40),chop the end off the airbox(free) and a superchip(£293).i also run mine on optimax.i dont think you see much gain from an exhaust and they are bloody expensive for a decent stainless.

  i would also take a look at an m5 six speed diff,as it has a slightly higher ratio for improved acceleration.this is what i am looking for next.

   if you can find one you might get a secondhand supercharger kit for a grand(i haven't found one yet).which will give you 406bhp.the cheapest i have found so far is from ess which is about £3500.

  other than that theres not much about for the engine i am afraid.

                                            bryan

Bencolem, I have a 540  6 speed manual whaich was Chipped by Jayson & has the mod from dangerous & Your Zm wont leave mine in any situation at all!

Scoobys, Twin turbo Mits,3000zx's all tried none have lost or beat it yet!

I have a Maserati Ghibli & that would struggle to lose this Beemer,Jayson did a great Job!

dangerous : things I dont like on it are the steering ,I think the M5 rack might fit.I also am on the lookout for a s\chager & have been toying with the idea that the jag V8 system would fit???

Or what about a E\s\charger??

Should just re-iterate what has already been said about the gearing of the 540iA on this thread. The gearing is so long in top that - whilst its no a lot slower than the ZM than from say 50-90mph it really doesn't pull anywhere near as fast above 110mph (research obviously not conducted on the public highway officer).

Chasseur, glad you like your 540 with a manual box and this is not meant with any disrespect, but there would honestly be no situation that I can think of where your car would be as quick as the ZM (apart from when carrying four people I suppose!). No disrepect, I'm sure your's is a very quick car but it wouldn't be as quick as the ZM - even with the M3 CSL it's still the fastest accelerating production BMW that EVO magazine have tested and if your 540 is by no means disgraced in a sraight line (which I'm sure it wouldn't be) it wouldn't see where it went in the twisties! Anyway, this is meant to be a 5 series discussion board and I certainly shouldn't be highjacking it with ZM threads!

P.S.

I've been advised that an exhaust would be a much more effective (albeit expensive) performance upgrade than an intake modification...

i cant comment on the exhaust ben, but as you can only legally do cat back,and the fact that it looks pretty much straight through as it is.the noise would be nice but until my factory one drops off i think i will leave it alone.i was quoted around £300 for a two box system or £500 for a three box system.both of these were from powerflow.

    i think if you are allready accelerating from say 70 (so it is in third gear)then its not two bad over the ton.but,and its a big but,if you are cruising at a ton and nail it the gearbox has no where to go but fourth gear and takes ages to pick up speed.i got caught napping by an a4 tdi the other day and could not catch him let alone over take him untill i was pushing 130-140(a4 was probably flat out by then?)

  this is one reason why i am looking at a higher ratio diff from an m5.

                  bryan