Fix things before selling?

[Edward Smith]

I'm thinking about selling my M5 that I've had for about 9 years - looking to get into something else.

It's got about 150K on it, but the tensioners have never been done. Everytime I ask my mechanic (who's very experienced in old M cars) about it, he says it's not making noise at startup, so in his opinion it doesn't need it.

Anyway, since the tensioner situation is pretty well known, I'm wondering if it would be worth it to have it done before I sell the car, or not - I'm concerned I'd even be able to sell the car at all without having it done.

Do you think I'd be able to recoup the investment (or get close, anyway) with a higher selling price?

Of course, what probably would happen is that I'd have the tensioner done, feel more confident about ringing the car out, and fall back in love with it, and not be able to sell it..

[Bruce in Canada]

easier to sell and better price. you may not get it all back, but the ease of sale is worth something.

The timing rail job is not so bad if you have the tools for the main hub nut. It should be only a few hours work with all the necessary parts and tools.

[Edward Smith]

What are the required tools for the main hub nut?

Is this one of them?

http://www.zdmak.com/wbstore/main.asp?action=PROD&PROD=BMW3034-3&CTM

What other special tools might I need?

[Bruce in Canada]

I did a very bad thing and I jambed the starter ring gear to keep the crank from turning when you undo and do up the nut. To defend myself, I used a hardened tool, that fit well in the access hole and deep into the notch of the teeth.

The hard part is getting the right torque device to both undo and then equally importanly REdo. the nut.
DO not use a torch to heat the nut. You can warm it to help, but if you get it red, you will destroy the properties of the nut and maybe the end of the crankshaft.
I did not use a torch at all and my nut came off.

Some have managed to use a supery heavy duty 3/4 drive impact gun to get the nut off. THis is good, but means you have to take the air conditioning condensor out. I did not want to touch my AC because it is working well. I uses a torque multiplier, that I borrowed from the maintenance department at the factory where I work. It worked perfectly. the only issue is that there is a certain amount of "wind up". as you apply torque, the reaction arm has to flex, and whatever is holding the crank has to flex as the torque builds up.
YOu only have about half a turn to swing the wrench, and if the multiplier is 3:1 the nut only gets 1/6 of a turn, minus the "wind up". It took me a few set ups to get everything to work.

once the nut is off the job is fairly straight forward. I did a write up on it 2 years ago.. and I will help with the details .. email me and we can get on the phone ...

Beyond all the work, It is absolutely CRITICAL to get the nut back on to the right torque. I feel this is the single biggest reason tehre have been hub failures, and why Frank Fahey made a better hub.
THe factory hub is fine if and only if you get it attached properly.

[88m53453]

a few hours ? please define few. LOL

[Bruce in Canada]

like all jobs, the first time is slow.. the repeats are faster.
As a home mechanic... research of every detail saves tons of time.

I did my job in one day.. - a long day but a few beers along the way too... and keep in mind that I clean (and paint, lube or whatever) most parts so that it re-assebles easily. Id rather spend the time cleaning up dirty threads and then spin them on with fingers, than fight with a wrench to tighten them down..