Interesting developments and setbacks this weekend...
I've been researching BMW E39 rear suspension more & more, and found that the Touring (wagon) setup is different from the sedan, in a way that could be advantageous to swapping into a 245. The sedan has tall dampers that live in shock towers in the trunk / hat shelf area. The wagon however has the dampers laid down at more than 45 degrees, from the lower arm and attached to the subframe on a specific bracket. The only springs are airbags and there's a pair of accumulator tanks and a nice compressor assembly that lives in a little hat under the spare tire. All very nicely packaged and enticing for Volvo use.
The local junkyard (LKQ Pick Your Part in Wilmington) now has an auto email alert system, so I set it up to tell me whenever they get any new E39 into the yards. I check the photos to see if it's a wagon, which of course it usually isn't. Last week there was a nice '99 528i touring that popped up however, so Michele and I headed over there on Saturday morning to harvest the subframe. I found the car, checked with the cashier to get a price, which was $232 for the "Rear axle assy, independent D to D" plus rotors, calipers, and the rear sway bar. So we spend about 2 hours pulling the thing out (photo above)...cart it over on a wheelbarrow, get up to the same exact cashier, and he pulls out the "oh, you got a bunch of extra parts on there mang" line.
Ok, so I figure they are going to tack on $50 or $100 for the airbags, and whatever else they feel like charging me for. I'm not new to this and expect a bit of that. But this guy was out of control, and racked up an $800 price tag for the whole assembly, not counting the air compressor. Would've been $900 with tax! The guys told me "that's not what you asked for a while ago" (it was...) and "that's not a rear independent axle assembly." Yes it Effing is! What the hell is a "rear axle assy, independent D to D" if it's not this?!? I told them to shove it and I left the yard empty handed. Super frustrating but I felt like it was extortion to pay them $900 for this. It was all 528i stuff, so small brakes, small diff compared to 540i, and I likely would've replaced the axles, bags, bearings, seals, etc... I was down for $200 - $300 for an experiment, but they went over the line.
If I do pursue the E39 rear suspension / axle idea further I'll probably get a running driving beater and part it out. Or just buy this same exact thing from a bimmerforums member parting one out. Arggh.