Does Anybody Know Anything About This Car? 325i with M3 Lump

[da4x4turbo]

Hi Guys,

Spotted this car on Autotrader. Very interested in it. I rang up to ask the guy about it, but he wasn't exactly helpful. It was almost as if he expected the car to sell itself.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/ww ... x_mileage=

No service history, and he's admitted that he put the clock back to 87000 to tally with the mileage originally on the engine.

Does anyone reckon it would still be worth a look? I personally reckon it's too much of a risk.

I would only be willing to pay 5ish for it if there's no paperwork. There's potential for a lot of heartache if it goes wrong!

Any comments from anyone would be well recieved.

[zimmerbimmer1]

HMM, Black Engine bay when the car is white.

[da4x4turbo]

Yeah there's a lot of things that don't add up. The guy was quite frankly a bit of an arsehole too.

It's not exactly cheap either. But still obviously worth something.

Does anybody know of something similar for sale?

[pnd]

this car has been for sale for a very long time which may well be an indication to stay clear. These conversions are not a piece of cake (cue someone who says they are) and there are some dodgy ones out there, approach with caution and enlist expert help to look at the car.

[da4x4turbo]

I would count myself as an e30 expert cos I've had over 40 of them!

So I would know exactly what's what with the actual car.

The only experience of the e36 m3 that i have though is that I once had a Z3 M-Roadster once. Not quite the same thing, but I'd have some idea of what to expect.

Maybe I should start a poll about whather I should go for it or not.

[snoops]

this has come up before, the seller said that he left under the bonnet black as part of a white/black color scheme

[oliwally]

was in total bmw i think,car was black from factory and got a full respray in white. has funky swedish style inlet manifold to clear brake servo.
Think the guy was called shaz or something,as for is it worth it? dunno but i do like it

[fuzzy]

this was posted up in the cars for sale section recently by the owner who is a member on here. it looks nice enough in the pics and im sure the question of the black engine bay was down to him choosing to have the bay black as a contrast. iirc of course.

[projectmick]

Was in PBMW a month or so ago, (which prob explains why he thought it would sell itself) and obviously they said the car was great etc etc. I do remember reading the black engine bay has been done puposefully, it is starting to become a bit of a trend (something nicked from the vw scene)

I would like to think the car is in good nick, although the seats didn't look as nice in the mag IIRC

Part of the reason it hasn't sold is prob the fact that its £7000, and a lot of people just don't have that money floating around to buy an 80's coupe.

[da4x4turbo]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Yeah it is a lot of money, but as i said, due to the lack of history etc I am not going to pay 7k for it. Unless he would move substantially then it's simply not worth it.

I have the money lying around to buy something like this and have been looking for a while. (Also I don't want an M3 before anyone suggests that)

I have an E92 320Cd M-Sport for day to day driving, but i never managed to shake the E30 bug. As long as the engine was sound all i would change on this car is the steering. 4 turns lock to lock is too much these days.

Is there any Zoners in London that would be willing to go and look at it with me?

[Rosc0PColtrane]

That looks lovely.

It's worth what you'll pay for it. You can guarantee it cost more than £7k to build, but anything over £5k is a lot of money for a twenty year old car, which isn't some concourse-showroom mile, rarity, locked up in a hermatically sealed cocoon.

[fuzzy]

how much did bigpimpins m3 touring go for roughly? wasnt that about £5G?

[da4x4turbo]

Yeah it definitely cost more than 7k, but as you said, It's only worth what someone would pay for it.

Personally, it seems to me like something is wrong when someone would go to that much effort to build this and then not bother holding on to the paperwork from the original car.

Dunno what to do.

[bss325i]

Be aware of any S50 conversion that uses a "custom" inlet manifold to fit it in, this can potentialy rob it of power.

Give the last seven digits of the chassis number or the reg (if original) to any BMW dealer and they will be able to tell you what the original colour was when new so may help with why the engine bay is still black.

[Dave_M3]

That is a seriouslt nice E30! It's everything you could possibly want to do to an E30 apart from a quick rack. S50, 5 stud and good brakes, interior, BBS RSs, respray...
That's alot of money...

If you want to have a look to familarise whats what in how the engine should fit in to an E30 a friend of mine is building a iS with an E36 M3 engine at the moment.
And no, it wasn't an iS that was one of yours, lol.

I'll sort ya out with that shitty steering if you want to get this one, but the problem is that for a Z3 E36 or E46 rack to fit in to an E30 with an S50, the manifold has to be made with it in mind.


One thing though....
Of all the people that bang on about the 4 pot handling! Suppose at least you have that in your daily driver

[da4x4turbo]

I'll have a think about it over the next few days and myb ring him and offer him money at the weekend. He either takes it or the cars not worth it.

Cheers for all the comments, and if anyone else knows anything about it i'd love to hear.

[pugboy]

Looks nice if you are in to bling I guess. I'm always slightly cautious of cars with silly lights fitted, but then maybe that means its just been built for show and probably not been anywhere near a track.

Personally for £7k I would want history for the engine or receipts for it being rebuilt prior to installation.

Something else to consider is was it a proper sport to start with? If so a decent one of those is worth a few grand to start with which helps justify the asking price.

[Jhonno]

Something else to consider is was it a proper sport to start with? If so a decent one of those is worth a few grand to start with which helps justify the asking price.

No it wasnt... beige headlining