Unicorn Swap: 2000 BMW 540i Touring 6-Speed
If you are not a total BMW fanboy goober, you might not understand this next car. But I hope to transform you into a BMW fanboy goober by the end of this article, so that might be moot point. Hang on, lemme back up. The E39 generation BMW 5-series could be had in 540i V8 6-speed version or a wicked wagon called a Touring Sports Wagon…but you couldn’t get a V8, 6-speed, and wagon from the factory for whatever reason. Today’s example fixes that by shoving the 6-speed from a sedan into the wagon body, but the seller, alarmingly, says it needs “quite a bit of work”. Not sure what that means…but I think it merits a second look. Find this 2000 BMW 540i Touring 6-Speed offered for $8,500 in Hopewell, NJ via craigslist. Tip from Cory.
From the seller;
2000 BWW 540it
condition: fair
cryptocurrency ok
cylinders: 8 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 133000
paint color: black
size: mid-size
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: wagon
2000 BMW 540iT with 6-speed Swap completed
Rare black on black
This car needs quite a bit of work but has the potential to be great. I just paid $4400 in parts and labor to Kassel Performance to have this transmission swap performed. The car will need suspension parts and a few other things, but if you are a BMW enthusiast and care to put forth the effort to finish the car, this is one badass project. Comes with all the extra parts from the swap, as well as some other odds and ends.
540i 540iT 740i 740il E39 E38 E36 V8 BMW M5 M6 swap Swapped manual 6 speed 6 spd 6spd build project conversion converted M3 528i 530i 540i Touring Wagon
See a better way to drive a wagon? tips@dailyturismo.com
Paid all that $ & now doesn’t want to finish the car? Methinks something untoward has popped up during the discovery phase of the trial. Probably computer related?
I had a 325i wagon of similar vintage that I considered doing the same with. On the forums at that time there was a guy who had posted a long thread with just such a conversion who seemed to inspire a large number of copies. The OP was evidently an incredibly talented mechanic, unfortunately many of his followers did not seem to possess the same skillsets!
Overpriced even if there is no rust. At this point it is a half done conversion.
Danger Ahead Will Robinson!
Owning a 01 325 wagon five speed I say buy em the way they were built……….a cautionary tale here………a friend had to replace the engine in his 03 540(?) 4 door slushbox. He buys the complete engine and has the shop that sold him the car, that needed a new engine( thats another story), install the engine. Never runs correctly again. Low power mode etc,
I, being the right hand of the BMW god hook him up with a BMW god who takes pity on this poor sod and takes in his long wounded steed into the slaughterhouse. About 1300 or so dollars later his steed emerges with all sorts of peripheral smog related (MAF etc, oil return lines, hoses etc) replaced. Apparently the shop that installed the engine couldnt figure it out. While still throwing codes and needing some low speed driving to reset it for the smog patrol, it now drives as it should.
So……………….