It's an '85 with an automatic. Price is a little wheeling and dealing, but no money. Runs and drives, 200K, very little rust. What are the problem areas. Why would I not want it other than not particularly liking BMWs. It is one of my favorite body styles, so that's a plus. Is it going to have the limited life cooling system? Are the transmissions a bomb waiting to happen?
Talk me out of it...or into it.
Rust. . . .. Did I say rust? A good friend had an 87 M6 and it returned to earth leaving a wonderful engine and drivetrain in his garage.
The car in question.
And it comes with these.
Window motors and regulators......and the trans. Other than those specifics, should be decent. Expect the specific parts to be expensive.
Not a direct comparison,but I bought an '83 633 5 spd several years ago. Had to replace the water pump but don't recall having any significant problems. It was a pleasant car.
She sold it a kid down the street who drove it for 4 or 5 years & AFAIK, he had no problems with it.
Super tough 3.5L engine, chain driven cam. I'd love to drive one as a daily.
The M30 engine is indestructible. The cooling system is not like the e36. It should also be pretty simple to swap a manual transmission in.
Cutter is a good person to ask. IIRC he has (or had) quite a few 6's, including a beautiful M6 that is selling.
A 6 is definitely on the top of my list. I keep going back and forth with the idea of trading the 944 for one.
Mechanically they are pretty much the same as an e28 5 series car, which means they can go hundreds of thousands of miles if properly cared for. They're pretty DIY friendly, and mechanical parts are readily available for not much money. The 6 series cars tend to have more fragile interiors and are more expensive to fix in that regard (the one in the picture above has an open seam on the passenger seat and the driver's seat appears to be a Recaro from some other kind of car.) It also has a dash cover which usually mean the dash vinyl has a lot of cracks. Rust can be an issue on the body. The automatic transmission takes some of the fun out of them, and I think there is an issue with the auto trans where revving the engine with the transmission in neutral can cause damage.
edit: the extra wheels appear to be off an e39 5 series 540i, which means you need hubcentric rings to run them on the e24. However, the rings are cheap and easy to get on eBay.
Those are e36 16" wheels.
chandlerGTi wrote: Those are e36 16" wheels.
They look like E39 17" Style 32s to me.
Des is correct. The E36 version is higher offest. . . .
There's a gold automatic near me for $5000. Forget the mileage but it's over 100k.
Having worked on a few as well as M5s of similar vintage they are great cars. The auto can be sketchy. Rusty rear shock towers are the enemy.
It's sitting in the driveway and the deal is done. I also now understand why some of you like them so much. It drives very well for a 200k mile car. The engine is still smooth as silk at anything above an idle and the transmission shifts as good as any automatic I have ever driven. It doesn't handle as crisp as the Super Coupe, but it feels a lot more poised and predictable. This is the 1st BMW I've driven and so far I like it. Whether it's worth the cost of upkeep, we'll see.
It does have some quirks though.
Cold idle is rough. It smooths out significantly as it warms up but still isn't perfect. Probably a sensor issue when cold. Not sure about the hot idle, I'll have to do some digging.
The valves are in dire need of adjusting. That will be on the top of the list of things to do. Could also be causing the poor hot idle. They sound like they might have last been set in the 90s...with a ruler.
It's due for a set of shocks. They aren't totally dead, but they are on their last legs.
The A/C needs a vacuum and charge. The PO changed the bad hose but hasn't had it charged yet.
I'm not sure how long I'll keep it but it should be fun to tinker with for a while.
Check the various rubber parts around the intake and vacuum system. That might help with the cold idle - I've had one that had a big tear in the intake boot and still ran ok when hot, but didn't really want to know when it was cold.
These engines tend to get kind of tappety at 200k miles. :) What happens is the the top of valve gets worn, so when you adjust the valve gap with a flat feeler gauge it's still a little loose. What some people do is adjust them by measuring the gap on the other end of the rocker arm, where it rubs against the camshaft.
The gap on the valve side with the engine cold is .012", if you adjust using the cam side the gap should be .008". There's a FAQ about valve adjustment over on the mye28.com website: http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=28172 (the site is a little slow tonight for some reason so be patient waiting for it to open.)
To adjust the valves, I strongly reccomend you get part # 113070 from www.Bavauto.com It will make the job real simple.
For parts Steve is the best:
www.blunttech.com
You might find upkeep much cheaper than you think. Parts are pretty cheap as long as you avoid the dealer.
Nice car bud! Theres two that same color at different dealerships in Joplin Missouri, I looked at one, stupid money for a 200k car at 6800 bucks, otherwise my 13 year old would already have it for when she turns 16. Sounds like all the major issues have been hit here, just wanted to say nice find and shop around for parts on the interwebs, you can find stuff very cheap every so often.
I remember seeing one for sale with 267k miles and it still looked very nice. Mileage isn't as important as care for german cars, sitting killed more than running. Damn I wish mercedes had developed an I6 like bmw. I met a guy with an original M6 who said it made big power with intake throttle bodies, it was a hell of a nice car, guy spent countless hour working on that thing. I always loved the landsharks, only thing it needs is euro bumpers and allpenis sp? rims.
One of those is on my short list of cars to eventually replace my CSX or Trans Am if I ever decide to sell them. I'm jealous. Nice car!
I've started to develop some sort of condition. I'll call it the classic euro itch. I suppose it's good, albeit more expensive that ointment won't solve this particular strain. 
Also..
benzbaronDaryn wrote: only thing it needs is euro bumpers and allpenis sp? rims.
Haha...I think you mean Alpinas?
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