WWGRMD? E36 M3 content - the car, not the....well...you know

An E36 M3 is on my long list of cars I'd like to own someday. A friend of my brother in law has one that he needs to get rid of - but it's ugly.

Here's the bad side

Here's the less bad side

It's a 1997 with ~150k

Good:

-New front suspension minus struts

-New clutch and flywheel

-Head was cleaned and decked thanks to an external HG leak, reinstalled with ARP studs and an OEM head gasket

-Cooling system just overhauled with a metal impeller water pump, Z3M radiator, silicon hoses, and a SPAL fan with the clutch deleted and a temp switch wired in.

-Second set of wheels with new Conti DW tires, plus a bunch of other spares

-Seller is an M certified BMW tech. He lost storage for the car and bought a WRX.

-It's cheap. Like challenge money cheap.

The bad:

-Won't go into gear. Probably just air in the line, but could be a big problem.

-Exhaust is not on currently

The ugly:

-That rust. For real.

I've talked it over with the wife, and I can probably move on it. But, I also have a Miata (which is staying forever) and a 6 month old, and no garage. Time to work on it is in pretty short supply.

I know that you're just going to tell me to buy it - it's worth more in parts than he's asking, by a large margin - but what sayeth the hive?

F that rust. Wowza.

Not having storage is such a killer. Stored on your own property preferably indoors would make it at least trade bait down the road. Pass. And if you can afford it get a nice one.

Kendall_Jones wrote: F that rust. Wowza.

Yeah. At least it's honest about it though! No surprises.

If I could afford a nice one, I'd buy one, but I worry that the depreciation curve on these is about to start heading upward. I'm approaching it as a drivetrain donor that I can have some fun with for a year or 2 before it's completely used up.

If you had storage, you could make some money parting it out. Or just pulling the motor for a swap. Otherwise pass.

They are great cars though. Love mine

The rust you see isn't the concern. It what isn't seen. These have vulnerable suspension points.

I got tetanus just looking at the pictures.

That said, if you could pick it up for a song, it would may make a good donor.

The guy is a BMW certified tech and you think it might be air in the lines. My money is on it being worse than that.

Those wheels are not right for that car, he could be using them for snows and might be the second set.

cmcgregor wrote:

Kendall_Jones wrote: F that rust. Wowza.

Yeah. At least it's honest about it though! No surprises. If I could afford a nice one, I'd buy one, but I worry that the depreciation curve on these is about to start heading upward. I'm approaching it as a drivetrain donor that I can have some fun with for a year or 2 before it's completely used up.

True dat. Apologies if it seemed harsh. I moved from Detroit to seattle a few years ago & never see rust anymore. I have a 500 dolla 1969 mgb gt with less rust than that.

Even at challenge money you're still looking at hours & hours of broken fasteners pulling that driveline.

It would be worth it as a driveline donor if it worked properly. It doesn't take much to bleed a clutch, try it and see if that fixes it.

Being from New England I'm wondering what those rockers look like.

Being from New England I'm thinking those fenders look like every Dodge and Ford truck bed after 3 years up here.

Exactly. I'd want to know what those plastic side skirts are hiding. Usually they are hiding crushed dreams and air, and you get to see both when they come off.

I've seen a lot worse in LeMons, and you can probably sell off enough bits and bobs to get under the budget limit there.

Or, a decent body shop could probably slap quarters over it, fix the rockers, and respray the affected areas for under a couple thousand. The clutch issue at its worst can't be that bad, clutches are maintenance items after all and you'd have to replace it sooner or later anyway, so the expense there is a non issue.

Life is too short to deal with rust. A couple thousand to fix is a couple thousand better spent on a car without rust.

In reply to Tyler H:

At least around here, good luck finding an E36 M3 that isn't a convertible. You either take rust, you take a car that is a theft liability and useless for trackdays without a rollbar, or you spend a lot of money.

Still want a '95 M3. Must be '95, that was the only year with square wheels, this makes rallycross simpler. This is one of those "wants" that dissolves when met with the reality that a reasonably priced 22 year old M3 is going to have interior plastic worse than a contemporary Grand Am.

Yeah. If i had more time, I'd take it, but there are other things I'd rather be doing than dealing with rust. I do have a welder and I don't care if it's ugly, so I could theoretically cut the panels out of a donor and weld them in, but it's probably outside the scope of what I can handle.

As for the clutch - he said it's probably air, not me. This is a auto-manual swap with 0 miles on it and a brand new clutch and flywheel, so probably there are some other bugs to work out that haven't been discovered yet. The car was at his parent's house on the lift, they sold the house and moved right after he finished wiring. The drivetrain is freshly reinstalled, so pulling it would be fairly easy.

The wheels on it are the second set with snows, yes. He didn't send pictures of the correct set.

I don't know what it looks like under the skirts but he's reinforced the rear suspension mount points and says they're solid. I know him well enough to trust that assessment.

Looks like it's a no for me. Someday....

cmcgregor wrote: This is a auto-manual swap

Oh, it's been modified? Yuck. There's been too much hacking. Too much pain. Walk away. Just walk away. And there will be an end to the horror.

I wouldn't want to deal with the rust.

I'm also very suspicious of it not going into gear. Not a real fan of an auto to manual conversion either. There's going to be much more work there to get it working properly.

Buy the best example you can afford, this isn't it

You're all being so damn REASONABLE. Must be something in the water.

I told him I was passing on it. I'll post up a CL link if anyone's interested in it for parts - not sure what he's gonna list it for but it will be cheap.

Why am I tempted by this car?

Because you're a glutton for punishment?

Buy it and and swap into 318ti or e10?

There's a pickup class at the challenge this year- cut out everything rusty, along with part of the roof, and make yourself a flatbed ute!

Knurled wrote: In reply to Tyler H: At least around here, good luck finding an E36 M3 that isn't a convertible. You either take rust, you take a car that is a theft liability and useless for trackdays without a rollbar, or you spend a lot of money. Still want a '95 M3. Must be '95, that was the only year with square wheels, this makes rallycross simpler. This is one of those "wants" that dissolves when met with the reality that a reasonably priced *22 year old* M3 is going to have interior plastic worse than a contemporary Grand Am.

Here you go, not sure I'd rallycross this one though.

https://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/6066453410.html

docwyte wrote: Because you're a glutton for punishment?

Yup!

That would be a great Locost donor.