A Viewer Gave Me their Broken BMW for FREE. Its Rare Spec makes it worth MORE than an M5 

HUGE THANKS to Alex! One of the most generous guys in the world! If you want a shot at winning this Rare E39 Enter HERE: bit.ly/3vBq6N7

A free E39, transmission issues, and a charity giveaway? Count us in, we've got your back. Parts should be there soon Sam! 🤘🏻

that guy Alex is a solid dude. Gives away his car and then goes and helps to work on it afterward.

His wife preferred a manual transmission. He married the right one. Awesome find!

So this dude is not only give you/charity the car, but he's also helping you fix it, that's a stand-up guy right there. 👍

You can tell Alex and his family really love that car. I know they will miss it and kind of regret giving it away, but it's going to a great cause.

👍 My 3 year old went through fetal surgery for Spina Bifida, allowing him to walk on his own now with a prior prognosis of being paralyzed waste down. Awesome cause your are supporting. You have my entry and my wife has shared it on a private spina bifida page for more traffic!

Good job, Sam. Spina Bifida of Jacksonville are good people doing great things.

My grandma died from spina bifida, don't have much money but donated $20 to help the young man. 🙏

When you go to look at a used car from a private seller, you hope and pray the entire drive over that he’s cool and meticulous about his toys like Alex is. 🤘🏻

In Europe, these 530i in great condition, satnav, massage seats, atc. are about 7000$, this one is about 2000-3000$.

I just sold my 2002 530i 5-speed, what a great car. I still have a 1998 540i Stick, two 2000 528i’s (one auto one stick), and an 02 M5. The E39 is a phenomenal car, I’ve had like 20 of them at least. Glad they’re finally getting the respect they deserve but seeing that BaT listing makes me regret selling my 02 530i

My brother had spina bifida. He went to Jacksonville all the time for check ups. This is a great cause.

Broken bolts - heat the shank to a high level, induction heaters are good for this; weld a nut on the end (or a bar like an old bolt at right angles). Gently tap it one way, then the other until it starts to move - do not use sheer force. If necessary use more heat then let it cool and so on until it breaks the corrosion bond. It will come out but patience is key. To my way of thinking saving the original thread is better than drilling/heli coiling which will not be accurate if done in situ.

If the winner is local (or willing to drive back to Amelia next year) we will give them a free entry into Cars & Coffee at the Concours in 2022

The gentleman who helped you get transmission of the car would be fascinating to learn more about. Please consider interviewing him.

That interview with Alex was like an episode of of VinWiki. He's even got that deep Ed Bolian voice.

My beautiful niece has Spina Bifida. Kudos to you, Sam.

23:30 - The Jamaican Priest is smart. he knows when to step in. Jah Bless

Great that Alex is getting into the repairs too. What a champ. You might think he was Canadian, he's so nice.

Next time youre holding a transmission in the air, and the master wants to lecture you, ya just gotta stand there and take it.

Tip:- Cut some threads on the broken stud, turn two nuts on it, then start turning the first (inner) nut anticlockwise.

re: bolts / studs, I'd love to see how an inductive bolt heater would work.

They give you a free car. Obviously they are hoping for a meet and greet with your step Mom.

Heat is your friend! Rosebud tip on an Oxy-Acetylene torch will expand the aluminum and break tension holding those bolts.

My 2 cents on removing the stuck studs. Being from Minnesota, where we have major rust, I would start by spraying it with pb blaster or home made rust penetrant. Reapply often for several days if possible, or at least overnight. Try to remove but be careful not to break. I like impacts, but be careful not to give it to much if you have a high torque impact. Next heat. Studs almost red hot an slow to cool. The heat and the cooling will free some of the rust. Be careful not to apply to mush heat to the aluminum housings. Multiple cycles of heat and penetrant if needed. Next step is a high torque impact. The impact will work better than a breaker bar in freeing the stuck stud. Now if you break a stud. Carbide bits for Dremel or drills works best on harden steel. You can use a bolt with a hole drilled in the center of it if the stud breaks off deep in the hole as a guide to not damage a hole.

Those holes are from when Volvo installed thermocouples for their testing

20k? Don’t believe it. You can find lower mileage examples of these cars in Germany starting from about 3k.

E39 Owner, that much water is getting in from above. Vapour barriers in the doors are notorious for leaking and the water tracks onto the tread plate area (where you have the Door Sill Protectors) where water gets into those sills(UK)/Rockers(US) and with the way the water tracks it fills the foot wells up with water too. I actually did a video as I kept getting water in those areas to see how it tracked, the rear doors are more than likely the culprit.

This is the content we all know and love.. welcome back samcrac

Happy to have bought a ticket! Glad to see all of the people coming together to help such a good cause.

Good video and it’s good that it’s going towards a good cause. As far as the $20k evaluation, I think that’s very wishful thinking. That car is worth $7k at best to the right bmw enthusiast but to the average person probably more like $4-5k.

I don't think I've ever seen an e39 without a sunroof. Looks like a very nice car

The Volvo story sounds pretty credible. Volvo currently have the only registered Tesla Model Y in Sweden at the moment (it's not sold in Europe yet), for exactly that purpose.

I bought a new 2001 E39 530 sport, manual transmission, the first year they came out. Mine was Orient Blue, grey interior. Options were comfort seats, and rear window shades. I got my 530 the first year the new 3.0 liter engine came out. My wife had a 2000 528 sport, with a manual transmission. Sold my 530 around 2008, I needed more room, so I got a Volvo V70R. It was just an awesome car, super smooth ride but cornered great. Great to see another 530 after so many years!

Amazing car. I had a 530i SE Manual (in the UK). I bought it at 6 yrs old with 120k miles on the clock, for £3500 and sold it for £2500 a year later. Silky smooth engine and built like a tank. Wish i'd kept it. Enjoy!

Bought my tickets! I have missed my E39 ever since I sold it! Very similar spec minus the manual

Broken/Seized Bolts Tip - Heat and wax. If you heat the area in the housing around the broken bolt and then press a crayon or candle to the treads the heat will pull the wax into the treads and with your extractor it should come out easily. This works like a champ with rusty nuts and bolts. I haven’t tried it with aluminum bolts seized in an iron block but it’s easy enough to try.

What a great way to flip this for an amazing cause! Everyone involved make the world a better place! God bless all of you...

As much as I love the 530's, I've had 4 of them, proper M-sports all 4. But no one in their right mind would pay BAT prices for one of those, half of what the one one BAT went for is high even. My most expensive one cost me $3000 bucks, a 1 owner Imola red over black interior, high miler but in a very desirable spec.

Amazing video and excited, but please please please don’t helicoil, you could tap it and make inserts that are 10x more reliable than helicoils. When you go to take that trans out again after using helicoils it is going to be a doosey and you’re prob gonna have to tap and insert new threads anyways

Thanks for the great plug for Carly. Finally pushed me over to get one.

This is so awesome!!

Sam, this BMW was 100% a R&D car for Volvo. What the car manufacturers do is have someone buy a brand new vehicle. They will then buy it from them used, so there is no paper trail from the BMW dealer to the BMW manufacturers corporate lawyers. They do this to get around various law & regulations & they pay a pretty good profit to the mules to keep quite. I worked for a major manufacturer in Alabama for several years. We did this as well. We had about 10 or 12 different vehicles from different car companies. We would truck them in an enclosed truck and take them all apart in the R&D area away from prying eyes, and once we figured out the secrets we put them somewhat back together and sold them on the used car market. This is very common in the car industry. If I were you, I would get some torque specs and go around and torque down major components, chances are it was not done to spec. Hope this helps.

23:15 that's some carribean experience right there! =)

@Samcrac, The easiest way to get the bolts out is to get a well charged 12V battery, and a set of really heavy jumper cables. 1. Undo the ground cables off the engine. 2. Attach the jumper cables to the battery regularly. 3. Attach the negative of the 'car' end to the motor close to where the bolt you're trying to remove is located, but not to any mating surfaces as they can get marred. 4. Place the positive of the 'car' end of the jumper cables onto the bolt. Hold till it gets really hot. The bolt will get white hot if you let it. This is preferred. 5. While the bolt is still really hot, place a candle (any kind really, I use almost burnt up birthday candles) onto the stud as close to where it threads in as possible. 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 2-3 more times. 7. Let cool. 8. When cool, work the stud back and forth a bit with vice grips. You'll feel it free up, then turn it out a bit more till it binds a bit again, and then work it back and forth some more. You should be able to spin it out pretty quickly after it frees up one turn. 9. Do the next one. 10. When all the bolts are out, crack a wobbly pop, and raise a toast not having to machine an engine inside the car. The electricity breaks down the galvanic corrosion that's holding those bolts in, and frees them up. The heat expands the bolt more than the housing, causing the bolt to compress in the hot state, them shrink as it cools. I did that after I broke 3 trans pan bolts on grandma's car. Everyone of them came out really easily after that. It's a lot harder to read/write than to actually do.

24:56 Bro drinkin the malt liquor on the job 😂😂😂 Respect

I’m a marine mechanic and deal with broken bolts in aluminum all the time. Heat and cool the studs letting the aluminum soak the heat up multiple times. Soaking with penetrating oil in between cycles. They will come out without drilling

Rasta to the rescue 💪🏾

Heat - Heat - Heat. Corrosion by two different metals is the culprit. Make sure you use never-seize on the bolts going back in. On the broken bolts. Make sure you drill straight. Would not use heli-coils but use the time sert. We use them on military tactical vehicles!!!

"No wood.... not a good job!" that was what she said!

LOVE that you re helping a GREAT charity and doing the work, showing you are blessed and can pass that on

2:02 W166 poking out to say hi, looks exactly like mine!

Bolt extraction: take a fullt charged car battery, connect the + to the stud the - to the block. Let the stud get red hot, i mean glowing hot, disconnect the battery, take a vice grip and it will come right out. I use this trick for broken of exhaust manifold bolts. Same problem, steel bolt aluminium block.

Alex , seems like a really nice guy , I’d really like to the whole story about the car and what it went through at Volvo , love this 5 series my favorite body style

You can do a plethora of things. An old shop trick my mentor taught me for stripped studs/bolts was put a grinder to the top and make it a deep, straight line. From there use a tool with the proper attachment (impact and I’ve seen him use an air tool) and the stud/bolt will come out. Otherwise, flatten either side on the top of the stud so you get 2 flat places to put vice grips on. Heat + vice grips + some cursing while tugging at it should do the trick. The trick in the first place was to slightly lift the trans and use some ATF+acetone the bolts

Hello I have an E39 as well only different, mine is an M5 ESS superchargerd.. I have all the original parts as well

Cleaning the snapped off bolt up really well, and then welding a nut onto it serves two purposes: 1) Get's a good amount of heat into the bolt to help un-seize it from the aluminium casting 2) Gives a good grip to get a socket and ratchet/breaker bar on to loosen it

Hey man, I have a detailing business in the area, I’d love to be a part of the project and get the e39 refreshed and protected! Let me know!!

If the bolts are aluminum like you said, using heat is counter productive. Aluminum expands faster then steel. You could use liquid nitrogen or dry ice to cool down the bolt, spray more penetrant, and they should extract a little easier

20k for a normal E39? wth they are supeer cheap in Germany

I like the previous owner coming in to watch. Kind of like "this old car" where someone comes in and fixes problems they've been struggling with. You should do more videos like that where you help people diagnose their inexplicable car problems.

Ill be spending $680 tonight on 48 raffle tickets. Definitely love this car and want to see it go to a good home. And I'll donate to ant good cause to be able to drive this

God bless you Sam, I am a wheelchair user myself. I was born with Spina Bifida 29 years ago. Seeing this video made me happy to see you’re partnering with Spina Bifida charity 💪🏽

Customer states: “My car sounds like the ocean!”

Also weld nuts onto the broken off bolts. The heat will allow them to free up and come out. It might take a couple tries but it works.

I like these Eurocharger guys, they are always fun, especially that old dude with his accent :D

my son bought a e39 525i it was ok but he has done work on the car and brought it up that nobody would sell it is FANTASTIC you will have to wait for his video ..... AND GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE ESPECIALLY THE WINNER . it going to a good cause.

No use a mig welder, Copper tubing is used to protect the aluminum threads,

Nearly $20k? This guy will get a heart attack seeing this 😂😂

I had an e39 once with an automatic. Best driving car I have ever owned!

A e39 Was the first car i bought, the best car i ever owned, allways worked Was great to drive comfortable and sporty and looks that still turn my head after years and years

Every time I think I might want another BMW, I watch a video like this and come to my senses.

Why not weld sockets or nuts on those etorx bolts? The heat alone would have prob broken then free

Awesome! I got to donate to a wonderful cause.. 100% that is great.. I sometimes think - you is a good guy - Samcrac! LOL!... BTW, if I'm the fortunate one, I will keep it as original as I get it... very interesting story behind this car. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

23:15 I wonder if that's German's cousin from flying Wheels lol

Heat stud and use your tool to extract. If it snaps then progressively drill out bolt to point of most of bolt gone. Use a good pick or screw driver to remove what is left. Chase with correct size tap. I had to do this hundreds of times while removing broken off exhaust studs on Jeep exhaust manifold recalls. The factory was very generous with allowing all of .3ths of a hour to do this. Most of the time it was the rear bolt near the firewall!

Alex is a real champ

Drill a hole down the middle of the bolt, then inject liquid nitrogen into the hole, this will freeze the bolt and shrink it down, if you can't get your hands on liquid nitrogen, then liquid butane (like from lighter recharge bottles) works pretty good as well, just make sure you do it in a well ventilated area and keep flames away, less you extract the bolt with a fireball.

130k miles, stick shift e39… that’s a lot of money he’s giving away.

Alternating torch to heat the stud and surrounding material, then dry ice on the stud to shrink it down. Try to turn out the stud. Repeat until success or resigned to drilling.

Yeah Man Rastaman ✊🏾🇯🇲🇪🇹

Heat the case with a torch and cool the shank with the liquid from canned air duster (Use a bit of tin foil or paper to direct the liquid to cool only the shank). Use a pipe wrench or some other positive grip wrench.

18000$ or 20000$ for an old e39 😂🤣,maybe 1500€ to a full spec M5 e39 10000€ but the price you say made me 🤪😜😅🤣,that 3 series is more expensive but still not 18-20k ...

Always hit the head of the bolt before attempting to unscrew by whatever means, this shocks the threads especially if there is corrosion between dissimilar metals, and in this case no more head to the bolt, hit the end of the shaft. One good solid rap is usually the trick, and will then allow penetrating oil through, once you get it to unscrew even a little, work it in and out, rather than just keep drawing it out

The mystic Rasta Guru has returned.

Weld on a nut, for the flush broken studs use a center punch-drill 1/16 no more than 3/16 depth a washer bigger than the bolt. A nut same size or equal to it and tack it in let cool finish welding the hole to nut. Old school tricks I've learned done it many times on intake and exhaust studs and there's a few RU-vid videos of old timers doing this trick also

17:56 Sounds like a good beat for a song LMAO 😂

Weld a nut on the “stud” heat the case and turn it a little. Apply penetrating oil. Work the stud in and out with more heat. Keep repeating until the studs are out. Run a tap in to clean out the threads and use anti seize on your new bolts. Very nice car. Stepmom would look good in this BMW.

His wife daily drives manual BMW

Heat then quench with atf repeat a few times. You can spray penitent before the next heat cycle the heat will draw it in before burning it off clearing the path for atf to reach deeper.

That Jamaican dude is a boss!..I knew that when he laughed at you on that I8.

Heat with a propane torch, apply automatic trans fluid ATF and let cool . Get a small hammer and whack stud sharply when cool. Wipe off excess oil, heat again. Vice grip the stud and put turning pressure, at the same time hit end of stud with small hammer sharply and firmly. Aluminum will expand more than the steel bolts, they should turn out. If your threads are damaged, Helicoil the housing. Those shoulder bolts may be the alignment pins as well, be careful. Cast aluminum is fragile, don't beat on it. Always run a tap into the holes and clean out debris, I use WD 40 with the plastic tube then follow with compressed air.

Neat trick is to use candle wax. If you light a candle and let the wax drip onto the threads it will work its way in between the threads and where it's threaded in. Let it cool for a few minutes and it should come out (more) easily. Worked like a charm on some exhaust manifold bolts on one of my cars and one of my motorcycles.

Will Step mom take us for a ride if we win? =)

THE BEAT WHEN YOU GUYS ARE DROPPING THE EXHAUST IS A BANGER! ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO SAM ;)

Is it safe to watch this guy's videos again or are we still knee deep into the creepy stripper experiment....

Hi Sam, What lubricant did you use? Try PB Blaster and let it sit. When the bolt begins to move, tighten it slightly then loosen it again. PB Blaster again and let sit a few minutes, then tighten and loosen again. Repeat until the bolt starts to remove easier - go slow, and maybe PB Blaster a few more times while removing. Of course heat works wonders. BTW, You might want to put some light oil or WD40 down the window openings to help protect where the water accumulated. Drain the light oil and reinstall the plugs. Regards,

Finally a video without step mom. That joke got old months ago. This is the Samcrac content we love not “Step Mom Garage”

If you can get your hands on some winbro alumtap cutting fluid, #40416 , or tap magic aluminum cutting fluid,the trick is to find it with 111 Trichloroethane. They remade the formula to be safe,(but it just is cutting fluid without the trichlor,) You apply that to the broken stud , the trichlor does the Penetration , you have about 30 seconds to get the stud moving then you will feel it bind up again. Re apply and continue. If you have to drill those studs out, get screw machine length , 135° split point , cobalt drills . Don't go fast with your drill, 400 or 500 rpm is all you want. Use regular cutting oil. Then use the twist screw extractors you drive in , I'm guessing you will use a 1/4" drill bit, possibly 5/16 "