B10 V8 M5 Steering Box & Roll Bars

[finch]

Hi Fella's just wanted to say for anybody who has not done this conversion i can thouroughly recommend it. The M5 Steering Box with the Servotronic has fantastic feel so much quicker lock to lock then whirling away with the Spanish Galeon 540 box.

The M5 roll bars really reduce the body roll and i can honestly say they are the best value for money mod you can do to a V8 E39 £40 off fleabay !!

Now i just have to get around to fitting the M5 Brakes and M5 diff i have laying on my garage floor

[Drew]

how's it on steering feedback with the M5 box?

I can't say I've ever noticed body excessive roll, or that the speed lock to lock has ever worried me, but my V8S has a bit of a dead spot, no real feel or feedback, about dead ahead which makes for constant adjustment on a motorway run. Not the end of the world but I'd be up for an improvement!!

cheers

[finch]

My V8 really did wander around at the dead ahead especially on the motorway. It got to the point where i really did not like driving it and i was going to sell it. On having a conversation with Phil Crouch i decided to change the bush in the idler arm replace the centre drag link and track rod ends basically replace everything on the steering. This stopped the wandering around at the dead ahead position and if you have not had your idler arm bush i recommend having it done on your next service. The M5 box is just the icing on the cake as it is so much quicker so the input needed so much less. It makes the car feel a lot more nimble.

Re the Roll bars i think your V8S might have the M5 ones fitted i know that one of the improvements over the was thicker roll bars. So i imagine they just raided the M5 parts bin.

[Drew]

nice. I'll speak to Phil to see what's what. Did he put your M5 steering box in?

[finch]

No i'm fairly handy with the spanners so did it myself. You have to run 2 wires upto the GM3 located behind the glove box (general body electrics module) connect upto pin 9 & 11 and have the car coded for servotronic and off you go all very simple.

Servotronic increases and decreases the amount of power assist relative to speed and works really well.

I have the part numbers for the 2 pins with wire attached and the plug connecter with 2 wires attached (to connect up to the servotronic control module on the M5 box)

The 540i box fitted to the V8 B10 is 3.6 turns lock to lock the M5 box is 2.9 turns lock to lock

[BarryM]

I had Lee Shannon fit an M5 steering box this week after I’d run the wiring up to the GM3 and updated the ZCS coding…..unfortunately I forgot to do the final change in NCS Expert so after Lee installed it I drove home without servotronic but it was surprisingly easy to drive. After a quick update today it’s working a treat, looking forward to taking the car out for a proper drive soon! I also had the gearbox sump replaced as it was rusting badly and had the oil changed for the second time in my 10 year ownership, touch wood I’ve not had any gearbox problems.