Scouring Craigslist for cheap cars is a bad idea. It's an even worse idea to do it late at night after a few drinks.
World, meet our latest bad decision: This 1998 BMW M3. We picked it up for $800.
What's it missing? The drivetrain and most of the suspension bits that made the M3 special. We've got a …
What?! I can't believe you're going to ruin the perfect dynamics of the E36 with an American V8 swap, blah, blah, blah, complain, whine, etc. There got that out of the way.
Cool project. Any idea what the story was on how this car got in such rough shape?
Why do you hate Bavaria? 
NickD, we got bits and pieces of a few different stories (the seller really was speechless when we told him James Clay was the one asking questions), but as far as we can tell this car was just on the losing end of somebody with more projects than resources. Its parts were used for something better. And I totally understand–it happens to all of us.
Big thanks to James and Rennie for coming along, by the way. They instantly spotted what was and wasn't from a real M3, which made negotiations quite easy.
crud- with this recent talk, too bad you don't have an ecoboost 2.0l in the corner....
A few drinks? How smashed were you? . This is gonna be good.
Bad idea nothing... V8 BMW sounds like a great decision to me!
Having owned both an E36 and an LS1 Camaro, I wholeheartedly condone this marriage
I'm sorry, where was the bad idea?
Will this sell magazines? Yes.
Will this generate a bunch of buzz on online forums? Yes.
I'm not seeing how this is a bad idea, either.
Genius! Can't wait!!
Nice choice of power plant. I don't have one lying around, and I couldn't afford what a decent one costs with a transmission around here. So the '94 E36 swap I'm in the middle of is a 302 Ford with T5. It's called the Fubari. Limits my horsepower ceiling (gasp, will a 400hp E36 be powerful enough?) but keeps the weight down 100 pounds or so. If I had the LS in the garage, I probably would've gone with that.
This is a great project. I'm sure you (and your readers) will enjoy. Good luck!
What is the endgame? Autocross, Rally cross ,Dorrrifto,V8 Supercar? Or just nerf bars and air horns for Bike week?
At this point, the goal is Time Trails. Should be fun.
Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. June of 2020 issue?
The seller of this V8 M3 claims to have invested over $90k. Will be interesting to see if you can do it for less.
1997 M3 with LS2 stroker (FS in FL)
Just need to do it for less than the $33K asking price
So are you fabbing all your swap parts? Vorschlag here in DFW sells swap kits for putting LS engines in both the E30 and E36 chassis.
Vorschlag's stuff looks really swag. But speaking of beating the $33k asking price . . . .
Well, the 'inexpensive' M3's on the market just went up in value...thanks GRM!
Seriously, joyed you are taking this on. I've been tempted...
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