E82 128i: when your projected "track car" turns into your daily

In reply to docwyte :

We used to have USAA, but switched over to State Farm a few years ago, to the tune of considerable savings. We are also both from here, but I lived all over the country as well before coming back. I love the scenery here, but one of the last fly-and-drives I did resulted in driving a 1999 Miata Sport (that I wanted in order to run in SCCA ES) through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee- I fell in love on that drive and we've been considering a move to Tennessee ever since. We'll probably hold off until the older kids graduate and start moving out. I also have family here, but over the last few years my mother, grandparents and brother passed away, followed by my other brother moving out of state, so there's not much left to hold me here anymore. 

I didn't know you guys were small business owners- very cool! If you don't mind me asking/sharing on a public forum, what kind of businesses? 

Honestly, I'm not sure if I would replace the 128i. I've been tossing around ideas, but I don't have much of a need per se. Like most of the addicts on this board, I've owned 30-something odd cars (not counting my wife's cars) over the years- I don't miss most of them, but I occasionally give thoughts to getting another one of them: 

-EK Civic hatchback. My last EK was a dog-slow POS, but I loved that car. I added sway bars/Type R/Si controls arms and it was a hoot to pitch around! The best part is I didn't give a damn about it getting scratched up. With a set of Blizzak's, that was one of the best snow cars I've ever owned. It was a straight beater! There's something to be said about a car that you give yourself permission to not worry about and don't care if it's parked outside. My main issue is I'm then stuck paying insurance and maintenance on another old car. 

-Another NC Miata. AKA, my favorite Miata. When I owned my last NC, I drove it considerably more than my S2000- mostly just because I felt like it was more disposable, so I again gave myself permission to really hoon around in that car, not worrying about scratches or parking it outside. But again, that would be another older 3rd vehicle to pay for that serves no extra purpose. 

-Another Jeep Wrangler. I've kicked around the idea of picking up another TJ. I don't think I would hit the trails much anymore- most of the trail buddies I used to go with to trails occasionally, moved out of state during the pandemic. I was never a huge off-road guy, but I can't deny that sometimes driving a Jeep around at low speeds or finding random things to run over is a bit of fun. Although I don't know that I miss the life of "identify what's leaking this week!" 

-Since selling my wife's Suburban and then selling my Xterra, the smarter thing to do would be to buy another utility oriented vehicle. Honestly, we don't need the extra utility very often (almost never), and if we do, Home Depot truck rentals are cheap, but having a boxy vehicle is a nice convenience. I would enjoy a 4Runner, but man, those things don't depreciate and I can't stomach their prices for the very seldom I would need one. When I last owned my Xtrerra, I think I only drove it ~1000 miles in a year, and that was when it was my winter beater (the Mazda 3 Turbo is AWD- a winter beater is no longer needed). A fairly rare Jeep LJ (essentially a TJ Unlimited with more storage space/longer wheelbase) might fit the bill here, but I'm not sure I'm passionate enough to make the investment. 

-I've considered selling both the 128i and the Mazda 3 Turbo and replacing them both with one of the recently popular ute-truck-things: I've driven both the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. I liked them both, but in the end, I preferred my Mazda 3 Turbo for a daily-esque vehicle. The extra utility would be nice, but I found myself driving the Mazda for hours in a plethora of traffic recently- relatively stress-free, no knee pain, very comfortable and easy to drive. I couldn't justify it to myself. 

I've also considered just selling the 128i and investing the money. Or using the sale as an excuse to do what I've been talking about doing for years: putting a Science of Speed Supercharger on the S2000. 

And I agree, if you're not tracking a car, most of the more powerful sports car out there are just too fast/powerful for the street. Here in the last few months I drove and reviewed a few cars I was interested in as faster alternatives: 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/random-car-reviews-tales-from-a-nut-with-too-much-time-on-his-hands/262322/page3/

I absolutely loved the F87 BMW M2 6MT I drove... but I couldn't see replacing my S2000 for it. They're just different experiences and as fun as the M2 was, my little Honda is just a different kind of fun I wouldn't be willing to part with. I would absolutely replace the 128i with the M2 if the prices were anywhere close to comparable- they're not even remotely close lol. I can't justify the extra cash difference in price between the 2. 

I enjoyed driving a C7 Corvette 7MT w/Z51 package, but you are absolutely correct, the car is too fast to really be enjoyed on the street. Although I drove my 128i to the dealership and after driving the C7, I drove back home in the E82, only to find the 128i now felt slightly clumsy (probably just the higher seating position), a bit more disconnected, painfully slow (by comparison) and like a massive downgrade for a "sports car"... whereas I took my S2000 out later that evening and again, had more fun in my torque-less little Honda than I did the big powerful Vette. 

I really enjoyed driving the Lotus Evora, but after driving it, I honestly didn't think I would get much use out of it on the street, for a long list of reasons listed in my review. 

At this point, I have no idea if I would replace the 128i and if I did, I'm not sure what I would replace it with... or if I would just use a sudden infusion of not-budgeted-for cash to pull the trigger on a supercharger for the S2000... 

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

The 128 is an extra car right now that doesn't really serve a specific purpose.  If you decide to sell it, replacing it with nothing is probably the best choice, unless you sell it and another car to buy something else.

I don't use my 911 nearly as much as I'd like, and I didn't track it at all this season.  It would make more sense to sell it and the Touareg and buy something like an E63 AMG wagon.  Probably have some money left in the bank and have a far more fun daily driver that I could occasionally track when I wanted to.  However the 911 is a car I always wanted to own, so I doubt I'll sell it anytime soon.

I have a dental practice and my wife owns a day care.  So for us to leave the Denver area is more complicated as we'd need to sell both businesses, the buildings and our house. 

In reply to docwyte :

I've kind of come to the same conclusion. I've considered selling both the 128i and the Mazda 3 Turbo and replacing them both with one of the recently popular ute-truck-things: I've driven both the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. I liked them both (a lot actually), but in the end, I preferred my Mazda 3 Turbo for a daily-esque vehicle. The extra utility would be nice, but I found myself driving the Mazda for hours in a plethora of traffic recently- it's relatively stress-free, no knee pain, very comfortable and easy to drive. I couldn't justify it to myself. 

An E63 AMG wagon is just about a unicorn vehicle that would be very tempting if I was in that market! But getting rid of your tuned-to-your-tastes 996 Turbo would be a tough pill to swallow. And getting rid of the car you've always wanted is hard to walk away from... but, to play Devil's advocate, your high-powered Turbo is probably a lot of car if it's not on a racetrack. 

I've had my S2000 for ~5 years now. This is my 2nd S2000 and I swore I would never sell it after being in a position where selling my 1st one made sense, financially. I sometimes think about selling it, but almost always during the winter when I'm not driving it much. I have an extra set of wheels in my basement- I really need to put some more winter-friendly rubber on it and start enjoying it throughout more of the year. This is by far the longest I've ever owned a car (aside from the S2000, my previously longest held car was only 2.5 years). I just can't seem to find anything that puts a bigger smile on my face. 

Ahhh, that makes sense. Yeah, those are very strong ties that would be hard to break. We're in a different position. We have enough equity in our house that if we sold it, we could probably buy a pretty decent place in Tennessee, cash and only have to pay utilities/food/taxes and continue saving for retirement, so we could both switch careers if we wanted/needed without too much concern in loss of wages... and honestly, the State of Colorado has not been kind to my profession in recent years- I would love to leave this place if the opportunity arose. 

You can't sell the 128i until you find and write about a set of tires that you like.

..Sorry 😂

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Haha, yeah, if I had to buy UHP all-seasons again, I would go with the Bridgestone Potenza Sport AS in the OEM size, mostly due to TR's comparison test: 

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=324

Or maybe just skip the all-season market and put a real summer tire on the car. 

So, today I washed the 128i, took photos and posted it for sale on FB and CL... it sat up there for a couple of hours before I had a change of heart and deleted the ads. I'm going to hold onto it for a while longer. For whatever reason, I'm not done with this car yet. 

Either way, I figured I would post up the photos I took for the for sale ads so they didn't go to waste: 

^^^Before I took the photos, I also swapped the BMW M shift knob back on. 

Not that it is fun to dwell on insurance rates but I think a big part of the problem with these cars (and my E90) is they've (at least the high mileage/tired ones) hit the bottom of the depreciation curve and a lot of the people picking them up aren't the greatest, most responsible drivers causing rates to go high on them. Don't get me wrong, all rates have gone through the roof but just the comparisons I did between a few cars the E90 was by far the worst.

I've seen it myself, I'll be sitting in the right lane in the E28 heading to the track, cruise set at 15 km/h over (slow here!) and some kid in an E90, tinted taillights, dented, rusted etc driving like a jack ass cutting through traffic will see me and slow to give a thumbs up and all I can think is how I do not want to be associated with them at all.

Anyways, the car looks great in the pics above, such cool little cars. Glad you are keeping it for now but can understand selling it, hopefully when it does change hands it goes to someone that will appreciate it (and not do something to drive insurance rates even higher on them).

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

There are a lot of places where homes are much cheaper than here, but neither my wife nor I really want to live there.  The places we want to live are even more expensive than here, plus family/businesses.  Even when we retire and sell our businesses I doubt we'll leave here.

In reply to adam525i :

That's a fair point. Technically my 128i is considerably cheaper than my Mazda 3 Turbo to insure; which shouldn't be shocking as the Mazda is much newer and worth more money. 

What was shocking was that before I switched it over to Hagerty, my S2000 was cheaper to insure than my 128i. In stock form the S2000 is faster, far more oversteer prone, worth at least 3 times (maybe 4 times) the money, undoubtedly less safe (it doesn't even have a roof!), the same model year (they're both 2008's) and yet it was still cheaper than the 128i when both of them were being insured by State Farm. I suspect that has something to do with the aforementioned people that are now able to buy these cars... by comparison, the S2000 has continued to appreciate every year since I bought it and with them being so old, they're now harder for a certain crowd of people to finance, leading me to believe most of them are currently owned by adults, which is likely why it's cheaper to insure. 

Honestly, what made me change my mind about selling it last night was going through old autocross/track photos with my S2000, CRX and old Miata's. I realized I've put a ton of work into the BMW with the intention of tracking it and yet it's never even been on track. If I sell it, at some point I'll likely get another itch to track something and have to start all over again. The more I think about it, I need to at least use the car for its intended purpose before I consider selling it, otherwise my large investment in time, money and effort was in vain. Worst case scenario, if I sell it next year, it's worth no less money than it's worth now, presumably. Might as well stick with the original plan and eat the extra insurance bill in the meantime. 

I think I'm just getting antsy- I bought the Mazda 3 Turbo (almost) cash, just spent a hefty sum of cash on the 128i (Bilstein's, 3SIM DISA's+tune, Euro airbox, Continental tires, etc), I just bought a new set of winter tires for the Mazda- the last time I owned a Mazda 3 Turbo, I tried running the stock Bridgestone tires in the winter and slid through a couple of intersections- I just ordered a new set of winter tires to avoid death... and I need to bite the bullet on tires for the S2000- the Michelin PSS tires on it are almost down to 2/32nds and a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires aren't cheap! Translation: my car budget is all tapped out for the season! 

Before I head out to HPR, I know I need to spend a good bit more money to make sure the car is safe- I've planned on installing an oil pan baffle (I am not looking forward to dropping that oil pan/subframe- I'm debating paying a local BMW shop), buying new brake pads/rotors, and new wheels/summer tires to avoid completely destroying the all-season Continental's... I know I won't have the funds to do all of that until at least next year, due to dropping so much cash in the past few months. I lack patience haha! 

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

I hear ya on the oil pan. I need to do the seal (and hoping it's not the RMS too) but I'm terrified of being under the car. Labor is $140 at my local indy and it's a 6 hour job. 

Feels like the money would be better put into something (nearly anything) but there's something about the naturally aspirated straight 6 and chassis that is near sublime. 

In reply to EchoTreeSix :

I've seen a video and a forum write-up... it's not the worst looking job in the world, but I'm not terribly fond of doing it. $840 doesn't sound too terrible! I'm torn on paying someone... if it was just a oil pan gasket, I would likely pay someone $840, but I need them to also weld a baffle into the oil pan. I have serious trust issues. I have an old friend of mine who used to be a Master Mechanic at one of the larger dealerships in the state- I've heard a few stories about charging customers for work that was never completed. Hence why I pretty much always do my own work. It would be impossible for me to tell if the work was done, otherwise, as I don't believe there's any way to see if the baffle is actually in there... maybe  I could see it through the drain hole? 

Can you buy a pan with the baffle already in place? Then it's just a parts swap...

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Well, about that... it's complicated. 

BMW, in their infinite wisdom, gave the manual and automatic transmission cars 2 separate oil pans. The manual cars received a stamped steel oil pan, while the automatic cars received an aluminum oil pan. Pictured here, the automatic pan on top, manual pan on bottom: 



Why does this matter? Well, the only company that I'm aware of that makes an oil pan baffle for the N52 is Condor Speed: 

https://www.condorspeedshop.com/products/n52-oil-pan-baffle-kit-e9x?srsltid=AfmBOoqUKcT_HXM7o9rvlstS_Ey86oRwQjctdB0z9yUkqtM8-BFah6Xs

^^^What you'll notice is that the Condor Speed baffle is steel... translation: it needs to be welded to a steel oil pan (i.e. manual). What's the problem with that? Because seemingly 97% (I'm making that number up, but it does seem accurate) of all E8x & E9x N52 powered cars seem to be automatics, it's nearly impossible to find a manual/steel oil pan. None of the cars at local junkyards I've found have one. On eBay there are countless aluminum oil pans for around $100 or so... right now I've found a grand total of 1 steel oil pan on eBay and it's $450 (they know what they have, unfortunately). New ones are $900+, and yes, that's including the cheap knock-off brands from Rock Auto: 




Now, you can make an aluminum pan work, I've read of guys online doing it, but it does require a good bit of customization. In order to get the aluminum pan to fit on a manual car, you need to cut off a few welded on nuts from the transmission backing plate: 




You can see what it looks like with them cut off in this photo: 




Then you can buy an aluminum N54 oil pan baffle, here are a couple of popular ones:

https://advancedautofab.com/p/aaf-oil-pan-baffle-n54/

https://store.vacmotorsports.com/vac-motorsports-oil-pan-baffle-bmw-n54-p1435.aspx

But they're not a direct fit, so you'll have to modify them a bit to make them work in an aluminum N52 oil pan. 

You also need longer oil pan bolts for an aluminum oil pan (manual/steel pan bolts are shorter), although this isn't a big deal, as all of these bolts are 1 time use, so it's not like I wouldn't be buying new bolts anyway. 

So, technically, you can buy a new oil pan, have someone weld in a baffle and give it to a shop to have them install it, but if you want to run a manual/steel pan, it's going to cost you a good bit of extra cash, and if you want to run the aluminum pan, it will require some modification of the transmission backing plate as well as of the baffle itself (as the only aluminum baffles I'm aware of are only made for N54/N55 turbo engine oil pans). 

Alternately, BimmerWorld does make a fully built aftermarket baffled oil pan you can just buy: 

https://www.bimmerworld.com/Engine/BMW-Oil-System/BimmerWorld-E8X-E9X-Race-Oil-Pan-Assembly.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8rW2BhAgEiwAoRO5rB6TQ5QoUAs3ftEFel5wERNiRpZlV-IgpL-qcJWicy4aS-j0v6lGuBoCj5sQAvD_BwE

^^^Note, it's a jaw dropping $2,249.99 AND it has no provisioning for your OEM oil level/condition sensors (they have to be deleted). Which, they even admit in their description, they had no problem with a basic oil pan baffle on 200tw tires and only started having oil starvation issues when they switched over to slicks. It's overkill for someone like me that would only be using 200tw rubber anyway. 

Outside of BimmerWorld's highly expensive pan, the answer is, no: no one else makes a pan with a baffle already in place. I wish it was like the Honda world where I could just buy a relatively cheap solution from a company like Moroso and be done with it. 

That's a very nice summary of the oil pan situation with these cars!

My plan is to grab an aluminum pan at a u-pull yard when convenient (hey look at that N52 laying on its side! I think I'll pull the pan off) and then modify an N54 baffle to work. I like the idea of the aluminum pan not rusting out up here as well as it should hopefully transfer more heat out of the oil.

The 330i will see track time in a few weeks at Mosport but only on 300 tw tires, I'll make sure the oil is always at the max full line and don't expect to have any problems.

I guess I'll clean up the mostly in good condition steel pan to sell onto someone else.

In reply to adam525i :

Not a bad plan! Not sure if it matters much, but there's something I should probably share:

Your 330i pan is actually a bit different than later (2007+) model years. For whatever reason, the 2006 only 330i and 325i had a different oil pan, with the manual versions coming with some kind of oil return line drain tube: 

^^^People installing a baffle into the 2006 specific pans actually have to cut 4 inches off of that tube, shown in Condor's video: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxfb81bQWgg&t=34s

I'm sure there's some way to plug or re-route that line, but you might want to do some searching to make sure you don't run into issues since you have a 330i (later 328i's don't have that tube). 

I've already ordered the Condor Speed baffle, so I plan on sticking with a steel pan. I actually had the same idea last year and picked up a dirt cheap aluminum pan before I realized they weren't the same. When I found out it would involve cutting the transmission backing plate and customizing an N54 baffle, I shied away from the idea a bit. Not sure how much the baffle needs to be modified, only heard it from a couple of the guys on the N52 centric FB group(s). It also doesn't hurt that the steel Condor Speed baffle is half the price of the aluminum N54 baffles lol. 

You should be charging for this info!

I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and the welder out when it comes to oil pans, here's what I built for my M30 on the E28. Adds 3 litres of capacity in the sump and 4 trap doors to keep the oil around the pickup, the most important one is that little one in the bottom right corner that prevents the oil pump from sucking air in through the oil pressure regulator when the base of it is not covered in oil.

For some reason I think @M2pilot may have swapped his 128i to an aluminum oil pan. If not him then another GRM'r who will hopefully chime in. 

In reply to adam525i :

That's awesome! Solid-looking welding on that kick-out! 

I unfortunately have no welding equipment and no welding skills to speak of. I really need to fix that one of these days. 

I just received my N52 steel oil pan, Condor Speed Shop oil pan baffle: 



It'll probably be a while before I actually get around to installing it, or potentially paying a local shop. It's destined to sit in my garage next to my 135i OEM oil cooler, likely for a few more months. 

Had a few lights pop up on the dash over the past few days: 

-TPMS light (it got cold and rained a couple days ago). 
-"Light out" light (reverse light bulb was out). 
-The seat belt/airbag light came on again while driving over another bumpy road. 

The tires were just a couple PSI lower than normal. No big deal, except that it took me several tries to get the damn light to reset. I think you're just supposed to press the reset button once, then release it and hold it for 5+ seconds. I had to try this several times before it finally reset itself, not sure why. My timing maybe? Either way, it's off now. 

I replaced the reverse light bulb. Very easy in this car, can be done in 60-120 seconds. 

I read the fault codes to figure out which seat belt retractor was acting up this time. It was the Belt Force Limiter, Left. I don't remember the fault code, but it might have been 9419. Either way, it was the driver's side seat belt this time. Rather than just reset it again, since I now had a brand new seat belt in the garage, I just installed the new belt. Very easy job, no real instructions needed, just pull the rear seat, pop out a few trim panels, remove the old belt and put the new one in the way the old one came out. The only "problem" was that I barely fit in the back of this little car! The whole job likely only took me about ~40 minutes, taking my time, no tutorial needed. Afterwards, I just used my BMW scan tool to clear the code. Viola! 








^^^Interestingly, when I pulled the old seat belt out, I noticed the black bolt that bolts to the upper portion of the pillar was scratched up, indicating that it has been removed before. I can only assume that someone swapped in a used seat belt previously after the accident that wasn't exactly mint. 1.5 years later and I'm still fixing things that someone else half-assed.  

The car has thrown a code for the right seat belt in the past as well ( 941A I believe). It was throwing no such code today. If the right one ever throws a code again, I'll swap in the brand new right/passenger side belt I also have sitting in my garage. For reference, these things weren't exactly cheap and they're not easy to get a hold of, as the way they mount in the car is different from the E90/E92 versions if I'm not mistaken. 

If you think it's hard fitting in the back of a 128, try stuffing yourself in the back of a 996 to adjust the Suspension rebound/compression!

I took the car out for a test run yesterday while wearing a helmet. I'm a bit on the bigger/taller side (6'2", ~217 lbs, 34" inseam, 34" waist) and wanted to make sure I could drive the car around while wearing a helmet, which, I can! For reference the car has an accursed moonroof (slick top cars with a manual are seemingly unicorns). Driving the car around with a helmet, it's very close to the headliner. On smooth pavement it was seemingly fine, but my helmet bumped the headliner when going over bumps in the road. 

I'll likely end up with a set of aftermarket seats eventually, but that might be a ways off. 

I found a post on the E90 boards, claiming you can gain about 3/16" by removing the tabs/welded on washers on the bottom of the seat rails, so I figured, what the hell, I'll give it a shot. 

As you can see, the seat rails don't sit flush against the floor: 




Here are the tabs in question: 






I started to use a chisel and hammer, then a set of pliers/vice grips, thinking I would just rotate the tab back and forth until it broke off: 





^^^That would probably work, but after messing with it for a couple of minutes, I got impatient and just pulled out the angle grinder. Viola, no more tabs. 


I measured the tabs and it looks like they're only about ~2mm: 




So, it's not much. Is it worth 20 minutes of your time? Maybe. It gave me an extra 2mm of headroom with a helmet. I took the car on another drive and it seemed like my head/helmet was less likely to bump the headliner with a helmet on, so I'll call that a win. The guys on the E90 boards claim this is good for either 3/16" or 1/4"- which, the seat rails in an E90/E92/E93 might be different, you'll have to check. On my manual sport seat E82, it was only worth 2mm. 

I'll likely end up with a set of Recaro's sometime down the line (they're not exactly cheap), but for now, this was free and only took about ~20 minutes of my time, so it was worth it to me. YMMV. 

Well, it finally happened. After months of intermittently checking local junkyard inventories, I finally located a RWD E9x with a manual transmission! Translation: a steel oil pan that I can weld my Condor Speed baffle into! 




^^^This thing has only been on their yard for a few days and yet someone has already dropped the front subframe and left the engine hanging low. Not only did they drop the front subframe, they also disconnected the transmission mounts- this powertrain was barely hanging on by a thread! It would appear that they dropped everything in order to get the OEM exhaust manifold/catalytic converters out. Which makes sense- with our adoption of CARB standards for cats recently, OEM catalytic converters have been going for a pretty penny lately. I suppose I can't complain- they did save me the hassle of dropping it myself! 

So, in order to keep the motor from dropping to the ground and crushing my head, I used a cheap Harbor Freight engine support bar, but in order to connect it, I needed an OEM tow hook... I recently discovered that mine has been lost/pilfered by a previous owner... there were 4 E9x cars on the junk yard lot, I checked all 4 of them, and wouldn't you know it, in the very last one, I found a tow hook in the trunk! 




^^^When I opened that last trunk and pulled out the tow hook, I felt exactly like Link in a Zelda game when you finally locate the dungeon item lol! 

From the time I setup the engine support bar, until the time the oil pan was out, it took me almost exactly 1 hour: 




^^^To be fair, I didn't have to remove any of the engine cowling (to get to the tow hook mount on the engine) and I didn't have to drop the subframe, so a good portion of the work was already done for me. To be clear, I never removed the subframe, it was just dropped; which made getting the pan out a bit of a game of Tetris. On my own car, depending on clearance, I might just remove the subframe entirely, if for no other reason than being able to get a torque wrench in there to torque the new bolts down to spec. 

So, I managed to pick up this unobtanium steel/manual transmission oil pan and a tow hook for the whopping price of $21! There are 2 of them on eBay right now- a 2006 version (with the rod running through it) that's rusted and beat up for $150 and a 2007+ version (no rod inside of it) in very good condition for $450. I haven't found any on forums, FB marketplace, etc. New ones go for $1000+. This was a heck of a score! 

I wiped if off when I got home and found out it was in pretty good shape: 

Unfortunately, the oil pan drain bolt is stripped and the threads don't look too pretty. I ordered a new bolt/drain plug from FCP Euro. When it gets here, I'll verify the thread pitch (I think it's an M12x1.5, but want to double check) and see if I can just chase the threads. 

When I eventually weld in the new baffle and install this thing on my car, I might sell my OEM pan to see if I can more than pay for the engine project- as I'll have to buy a new gasket, all new aluminum bolts, etc. It took a bit of patience and regular checking, but it finally managed to work out. 

The yard would have pulled the cats before the car went out for picking, they likely recoup most of their costs on the cars when they do that. It wouldn't surprise me if that stripped drain plug was also the yard as they'll drop the oil too before setting the cars out, just be glad they actually used the drain plug and didn't just drill a hole in the pan like I've seen some do.

You could always get an M12 x 1.5 (or whatever it happens to be) steel bung welded onto that pan when they weld in the baffle for you if you aren't happy with the thread repair. 

Nice score and glad you didn't have to fight it. My local Pic-N-Save has come through a bunch of times over the years for me.

adam525i said:

The yard would have pulled the cats before the car went out for picking, they likely recoup most of their costs on the cars when they do that. It wouldn't surprise me if that stripped drain plug was also the yard as they'll drop the oil too before setting the cars out, just be glad they actually used the drain plug and didn't just drill a hole in the pan like I've seen some do.

You could always get an M12 x 1.5 (or whatever it happens to be) steel bung welded onto that pan when they weld in the baffle for you if you aren't happy with the thread repair. 

Nice score and glad you didn't have to fight it. My local Pic-N-Save has come through a bunch of times over the years for me.

I didn't realize the yard would have likely pulled the cats, but it makes all the sense in the world. 
 

It also stands to reason that they put a high impact gun on the oil pan drain bolt and zipped it off, stripping it in the process. Not all of the threads on the bolt are missing- it was still hanging onto the pan by a couple of threads. If the threads don't clean up well, I'll for sure have them weld in a new bung.