SnowMongoose
SnowMongoose SuperDork
1/23/20 2:20 a.m.

Cut and paste from FB marketplace ad: (formatting looks derpy here, sorry)

"204k miles. Good running, fairly straight (minor dings), no rust, E36 coupe, Grey on Black. Interior is in good shape. New head liner. 5sp trans and fresh clutch/pplate.

Sitting on H&R springs, bilstein shocks/struts, heavy anti-roll bars and poly bushings. M50 with S50 cams, Turner tune chip. Just replaced coolant systems (radiator (mishimoto), pump, hoses, tank, t-stat, housing).

New accessory drive belts, pulleys and tensioners and new engine mounts too. Head has been gone through with M52 valves, springs (bee hive), retainers, seals, valve buckets, head gasket.

VANOS completely rebuilt. 6 New coil extensions. Cold air intake/filter setup. Schnieder SS cat back and muffler with tip. Aftermarket 'M' style 16" wheels. EURO HID headlights.

I just went through it and rebuilt the head and addressed the major issues it had after a failed head gasket. I want to keep it and continue driving it but I have too many cars in the fleet, need to thin the herd. It is by no means perfect and there are a few issues that need to be addressed like the door cards."

 

Main concern looks to be rolling the dice on the quality of this guys work. (with a side of high mileage and questions like 'what's wrong with the door cards that you haven't pictured?' and 'a few issues?')

Ad is local and has been up a while so I figure close to 2k is doable.

 

Aim would be DDable  (first) track car. (Handful of track day experience, do not like risking my 'nice' DD)

 

What say BMW savvy folks?

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
1/23/20 6:42 a.m.

If those things have been done well, for $2k..........E36 M3 I'll buy it for that.

ZOO
ZOO GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/23/20 6:48 a.m.

If there's no rust I wouldn't worry about anything.  Everything else can be solved.  E36 coupes are getting rarer.

ebonyandivory
ebonyandivory PowerDork
1/23/20 6:49 a.m.

He sounds like he knows these cars in general and that one specifically. 
 

Id buy it and then see if I can get the burned rubber out of the wheel wells.

Olemiss540
Olemiss540 New Reader
1/23/20 7:13 a.m.

I'd say if they took the time to fix the headliner and window regulators, they are probably a pretty good owner.

Everything is easy to fix and no glaring major hard to solve issues so pull the trigger.

Always get a PPI just to get a good baseline for projects coming at you and I promise there will always be something to tinker on for the weekend to keep it tip top. Perfectly balanced, silky smooth 6, and amazing aftermarket support. Should be able to drop some decent lap times too!

02Pilot
02Pilot SuperDork
1/23/20 7:15 a.m.

I don't see how you go too far wrong at that price.

spandak
spandak Reader
1/23/20 9:09 a.m.

The door cards in E36s are junk. All of them. So that's not a flag to me. The rest of it looks pretty decent. I had to address all of those points (almost) on my 200k E36. For me it ended up being good money after bad as the car didn't pass emissions here and my best option was to scrap if. They're still old cars and at that mileage mine was starting to feel loose. But if this one feels tight I think it would be fine

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/23/20 9:44 a.m.

not crashed not rusty with good aftermarket suspension and fresh clutch?  all day every day.

ProDarwin
ProDarwin UltimaDork
1/23/20 9:49 a.m.

The only question I have is:  Was any other damage done when the headgasket failed (and why did it fail)?  And was this job done well?

Otherwise seems like a great buy

 

I just went through it and rebuilt the head and addressed the major issues it had after a failed head gasket

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
1/23/20 9:51 a.m.
Olemiss540 said:

I'd say if they took the time to fix the headliner and window regulators, they are probably a pretty good owner.

Everything is easy to fix and no glaring major hard to solve issues so pull the trigger.

Always get a PPI just to get a good baseline for projects coming at you and I promise there will always be something to tinker on for the weekend to keep it tip top. Perfectly balanced, silky smooth 6, and amazing aftermarket support. Should be able to drop some decent lap times too!

I wouldn't bother with a PPI on a $2k car. 

Look it over, take it for a drive, if everything seems good, go for it.

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