Say you had a wrecked M3...What would you do?

[JasonJ75]

Wife got T-boned last year in the M3 (98 M3/4), car was totalled (some damage to passenger front wheel) otherwise it was all structural. I bought the car back with the intent to part it out and sell the bits. However, having only sold a couple parts and deciding shipping is a bigger pain in the ass than I thought I've decided to dump all the parts into a shell.

Is there any reason to not get a 318 as opposed to a 325? The entire drive train and suspension of the M3 will be going onto it along with any necessary interior parts.

[Bremsen]

Engine harness is different. You could find an OBDI 325 and just swap the drivetrain to run on OBDI. Swapping in the OBDII would be a pain IMO.

[Hammdy]

No, swapping in an OBDII setup wouldn't be hard at all as long as you have everything from the donor car. You would make more money parting it out, but trust me it is a bitch and a half. I'd say get the 318 and do the swap.

[ACS320i]

///M ti!

[TrunkImpaired]

I'd give all the parts to the first college student from Tyler, TX with a 318ti that asked for it. I would also pay shipping :D .



But on a more likely note, there is no reason that a 32X would work any better as a recipient than a 318. Since you are swapping the suspension it would not matter. I could actaully seeing the 318 being preferred since whoever gets this will know it's not a "true" M3, just has all the goodies and the 318 VIN would have lower insurance costs than a 32X would.

[themadhatter]

get the 325i/is. it'll have everything you need to swap the 3.2L to obd1 and the steering rack, suspension etc are setup for the larger and heavier motor.

[funkmasta]

Second the opinion of the 325i/is. More parts that mate directly to the M3 parts, and its already setup for a 6 cyl. I would get a 325i, so that you can reuse all the parts (seats door panels, black uppers, etc)

[1996 328ti]

///M ti!

Exactly! :buttrock

[JasonJ75]

I'd give all the parts to the first college student from Tyler, TX with a 318ti that asked for it. I would also pay shipping :D .


Funny, I had someone from Tyler, TX steal my CC and make a collect call. You haven't ever worked for BMP have you? :confused :D

Anyway...Thanks for the advice, a couple follow up questions.

Lemme show you pics of the donor car and go from there.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267720

I plan on moving everything over (minus stuff I upgrade). Suspension is a non-issue as everything from the M3 gets transplanted, and assuming I get a sedan all the interior bits should transfer as well correct?

[alsteel]

Hey Jason, your E30 wouldn't happen to be Red with a M badge on the front grill would it?

[JasonJ75]

Hey Jason, your E30 wouldn't happen to be Red with a M badge on the front grill would it?

Nope, its silver, but it does have the M badge....Previous owner put it on there and the grill faded around it. So rather than take it off and have the mark I decided to leave it. The trunk badge went in the garbage though.

I'm pseudo rice...:D

You're the second person that has asked about it...Some guy at Home Depot briefly mistook it for an M. The damn badge is a noose around my neck. ;)

[alsteel]

Dude!! That was me! And it was Lowe's at Dulles Town Center. Your wife has dark hair. LOL!!! I was there buying doors with my wife, she was parked right in front of me, I was in a green Ford Explorer. I saw the M badge and thought "Dayum, dont see too many M3 E30's" and went to compliment her on it and check it out. Then I saw the 325is and was like, "owned"!

I was thinking red cuz it had a red interior. Small world man! She told me about your wrecked M3 and she said something about parting it out. I asked her about the exhaust (cuz I'm looking for one for my 328i) and she said you already sold it (damn!) and was thinking about putting parts in a new E36 body. I told her that if you ever wanted to sell any parts give me a shout! Didn't talk too much cuz it was freaking COLD and windy!

If you still want to sell some parts we should hook up, I'm local. :D

BTW: Saw the pics from the other thread,t hat was a nasty accident. Was that local?

[Croak]

Thirdeded :D

Fourtheded. ;)

Seriously, the 325 will make it a much simpler job, and allow you go go OBD1 at nearly no extra cost.

[JasonJ75]

Dude!! That was me! And it was Lowe's at Dulles Town Center. Your wife has dark hair. LOL!!! I was there buying doors with my wife, she was parked right in front of me, I was in a green Ford Explorer. I saw the M badge and thought "Dayum, dont see too many M3 E30's" and went to compliment her on it and check it out. Then I saw the 325is and was like, "owned"!

I was thinking red cuz it had a red interior. Small world man! She told me about your wrecked M3 and she said something about parting it out. I asked her about the exhaust (cuz I'm looking for one for my 328i) and she said you already sold it (damn!) and was thinking about putting parts in a new E36 body. I told her that if you ever wanted to sell any parts give me a shout! Didn't talk too much cuz it was freaking COLD and windy!

If you still want to sell some parts we should hook up, I'm local. :D

BTW: Saw the pics from the other thread,t hat was a nasty accident. Was that local?

Oh yeah, you're right...She does always go to Lowes, and she came home and told me about it. Talk about a small damn world!!

Yeah, owned would be the exact word I said when she told me someone walked up to her and asked about the car being an M3...I was like, great, anyone who 1) recognizes an E30M3, and 2) goes to the trouble of complimenting said M3 is going to think I'm a serious dumbass for having that badge...haha...Too funny...

Anyway, interestingly enough I still have the AA exhaust (FedEx bent (barely) the tips in shipping so I got $300 out of 'em and still ended up with the exhaust). Hopefully if this project works out I'll be putting it on the new car, but I'll drop you a line before anything gets towed away/trashed/sold.

The accident happened at the intersection of Pacific/Waxpool (just down the street from BMW of Sterling/right at the corner of Wegmans and AOL).

Got another question for everyone...I had initially been set on OBDI, but in doing my searches quite a few people were of the opinion that the OBDI advantage is really not all that any more and that the OBDII hax0r skilz had advanced to the point of matching OBDI. Could someone confirm/deny this? If ODBI really does give me gains above and beyond a reprogrammed OBDII, there really isn't any debate.

[funkmasta]

Yes, practically EVERYTHING will transplant over. There will be a few minor differences though (shifter surround etc).

[alsteel]

Oh yeah, you're right...She does always go to Lowes, and she came home and told me about it. Talk about a small damn world!!

Yeah, owned ..Too funny...but I'll drop you a line before anything gets towed away/trashed/sold.

LOL! She prob thought I was some leg-humper rolling up for the digits! :D

After I was owned like that I thought, I'm going up on BFC and bitch about some poser that M badged his 325... LMAO!

Sweet! I'll PM you for more info. Good luck on the E36 search, btw, get a 32X and do the OBDI swap. If you wait till spring, I'm doing a crapload of mods to mine, including the OBDI/II swap and hope to have some dyno #'s.

[JasonJ75]

Sweet! I'll PM you for more info. Good luck on the E36 search, btw, get a 32X and do the OBDI swap. If you wait till spring, I'm doing a crapload of mods to mine, including the OBDI/II swap and hope to have some dyno #'s.


That'll be awesome to have someone local going through the same pain. I probably won't get started until spring anyway..Still have to work on getting the engine out and finding a suitable shell.