There are two things you need to understand about Steven Lin; he's the general manager of iForged Performance Alloys and one of the longest serving members of the Europrojektz car club. Knowing his background, we expect him to produce a glorious car, worthy of every magazine and auto show award. Fortunately, he didn't disappoint when he unveiled his custom '99 BMW 540i at Hot Import Nights and then at the SEMA Convention in '06.
To begin Steven's tale, he knew the founder of iForged, Vincent Wong, at UC Irvine where they shared the same major. During their college terms, Vincent began his new business endeavor and Steven became his right hand man, even taking sales calls during class. When they graduated, Vincent and Steven began full-time operation of the wheel company.
Around the same time, Steven also joined Europrojektz (EP). "We were only a few European cars but I've been with the car crew since 2002," he explained. "There weren't too many heavily modded cars back then. In fact, my first project was an '02 Audi A4 1.8T. It had the basic mods like a Kerscher kit, wheels, suspension, chip, intake and exhaust."
After working on the car he eventually reconsidered the Audi's progress and realized higher aspirations. "When I had the Audi, every A4 was repetitive. I wanted something different. As far as I could tell, there weren't many modded 5-Series' out there, especially the E39 platform. So I began a new project and the BMW was my first serious project car."
Steven's 540i came factory-equipped with a hefty 4.4 liter V8. The sedan boasts 282hp and 310 lb/ft of torque. To initiate the engine work, he increased power to 296hp with a software upgrade and Magnaflow exhaust, but yearned for more. "After driving it for a while I got used to the power," he stated. "At the time, VF-Engineering was developing a supercharger kit. Nik Saran at VF installed the first kit on his own car but then installed and tuned the second one on mine."
With the freshly blown motor, Steve's 5er safely made 344whp and 335 lb/ft of torque. "The power is quite linear," he reported. "Once I get the car into high rpms, it really moves. It's a freeway monster."
He upgraded the clutch on the stock six-speed transmission to a Spec stage 3+ to handle the added power. A UUC Motorwerks short shifter quickened his gear changes so he could accelerate even faster.
Handling was also important to the overall package, so FK Konigsport coilovers were fitted to lower and stiffen the car.