GA: 1999 BMW E36 M3/2/5, clean, alpine white, TCKline, TRM, AKG - 149k miles

[ThreeD]

SOLD

Details: turnkey street/track E36 M3/2/5 with 149,xxx miles

With a heavy heart I am posting my 1999 E36 M3 (M3/2/5) up for sale. It’s a car I had never planned on selling, and over the last 7 years that I owned it, built it as such. But I bought it back when I needed a car to do it all, and now that I have a daily driver, I want a more track-focused toy. There’s no room in the garage for both of them, so this one has to go.

It was built to be a car that, number one, is fun to drive, and number two, reliable, that can handle the street, autocross, canyons, and track. In my opinion, it strikes a great balance for an M3. It still has full interior, stereo, and the GROM Bluetooth setup, so I drive it around town frequently and even occasionally carry four people in it; but it is more than happy when it’s in the mountains, on an autocross course, or on the track.

I am the fourth owner, it’s spent most of its life in Florida and then was in the DMV area when I owned it until I recently moved down to Atlanta – it has mostly been kept out of the snow/salt, and as a result, the chassis is completely rust free and I have never had to deal with any rusty bolts on this car. It’s been a daily driver in the past but for the past few years has been a weekend car. The car has been nearly entirely rebuilt, with all the typical E36 issues addressed during my ownership: bushings, ball joints, cooling system, clutch/driveline, headliner sag, head gasket, etc, etc, etc. Almost all the work has been done by myself, the work that has not been done by myself has been done by shops that mostly do work on vintage and race-prepped BMWs.

I have tracked it and autocrossed it (last track time in 2015), it performed flawlessly in both situations, but in the last couple years I haven’t had as much time to bring it out on track. I have been in two accidents with it – one in 2013 when I hit a curb, and one in 2014 (rear ended someone at 5mph). Both times the car was fully repaired professionally and the chassis has been checked on a frame machine to ensure that it is straight – as a result though, the car does not wear all original paint and panels, the drivers fender, front bumper, nose panel have been replaced, and the left side of the car as well as the nose of the car has been repainted. The hood, doors, rear bumper, and trunk are all original. The paint is in great condition, and shows well. The engine, like most S52s, burns a good amount of oil, around 1qt/500mi, which has been pretty constant since I’ve owned the car.

Everything works on the car including the radio, Bluetooth, HVAC, windows, lights, cruise control, wipers, etc etc etc. The only thing that doesn’t work is the ASC (due to a broken clip on the ASC throttle body), and the passenger seatbelt tensioner occasionally trips the airbag light.

Exterior: Solid 8.5/10. Shows well, but has a chip on the front bumper where someone egged the bumper and I couldn’t get it off fast enough. All exterior seals have been replaced, none are cracking. Always waxed/sealed, and I paint corrected it a couple years ago.

Interior: 8.5/10. Leather is in great condition as well with a new ZHP knob ; steering wheel could be re-wrapped, but headliner/etc have all been replaced. Has the dreaded E36 glovebox sag though.

Maintenance and modification list
(I am definitely forgetting some things)

Engine:
VAC ATI crank damper with accessory AC pulley
K&N short ram intake
M50 manifold, Eurosport M50 conversion kit
TRM 93 octane M50 tune
Umnitza TSE exhaust
Dr Vanos Stage 1 (around 145k miles)
NGK BKR6E spark plugs (around 140k miles)
New valve cover gasket (around 140k miles)
New OE BMW head gasket (around 140k miles)
New primary/secondary chain tensioners (around 140k miles)
New primary/secondary chain guides (around 140k miles)
New secondary and primary chains (around 140k miles)
New OE BMW oil pan gasket (around 140k miles)
New AC tensioner, compressor, pulley, belt (around 130k miles)
New drive belt (around 143k miles)
OE oil filter housing gasket (around 130k miles)
OE rear main seal (around 130k miles)
New power steering lines and reservoir (around 110k miles)
Z3 oil pickup tube (around 110k miles)

Cooling system:
OE BMW water pump (around 120k miles)
OE BMW expansion tank (around 120k miles)
OE BMW thermostat (around 120k miles)
Aluminum thermostat housing (140k miles)
Behr Z3M S54 radiator (around 130k miles)
Mechanical fan delete
Low-temp aux fan switch and manual aux-fan override
All cooling hoses replaced including head to heater valve hose (around 120k miles)
Motion motorsport radiator baffle

Drivetrain:
New OE DMF flywheel (around 143k miles)
New OE Sachs pressure plate, clutch disk, (around 143k miles)
New Bosch starter (143k miles)
Shifter rebuild, new OE guibo, driveshaft CSB, shift detents, pivot pin, shift fork, pilot bearing, etc etc etc (around 130k miles)
MaxPSI welded diff bolt reinforcement
OE clutch master cylinder (around 100k miles)
Bimmerworld covered stainless clutch line (around 130k miles)

Chassis/reinforcement:
AKG RTAB pockets reinforcements
AKG rear sway bar reinforcements

Suspension and steering:
E46 330i ZHP steering rack, new OE steering guibo (around 140k miles)
TCK SA coilovers ; rear shocks are Koni 8210-1159 (they are a little clunky, but work well) – around 120k miles
Hyperco 550lb/650lb springs
Vorshlag camber plates
12mm front spacers
Rogue RSM
New Lemforder front control arms (around 120k miles)
New Lemforder front tie rods (around 120k miles)
Whiteline 27mm front sway bar (around 130k miles)
Motion Motorsport adjustable front sway bar links (around 130k miles)
New front wheel bearings (around 130k miles)
New rear wheel bearings (around 120k miles)
New rear LCA (around 120k miles)
All bushings in rear replaced: Lemforder OE RTABs + Vorshlag limiters, Lemforder ball joints, diff bushigns, subframe bushings (around 110k miles)
OE ebrake cables (around 110k miles)

Interior:
AKG clutch pedal bushing (no slop, but pretty squeaky)
Re-wrapped headliner and A/B/C pillar (100-120k miles)
ZHP knob
GROM Bluetooth / auxiliary input
C43 radio
Has the 99 3 spoke wheel and rear headrests

Exterior:
Rep Umnitza front bumper
DEPO headlights with city lights
DEPO clear corners all around
LBF fix (no low beam failure warning light)

Wheels/tires/brakes:
PFC06 endurance racing brake pads, about 15-20% left in the front, finished off the rears already
Stoptech street performance brake pads (a lot of pad life left) all 4 corners
Bimmerworld covered stainless brake lines all around
Regular rotors all around, with one extra set as spares
TR motorsport C2 17x8.5” wheels
245/40/17 Hankook RS4 tires with 80-90% life in front
245/40/17 Hankook RS3 in the rear, around 10-20% life in rear, recently flipped

Pics below:






































Final:
This is not a perfect, low-mileage, mint, near stock M3, so for those of you who are looking for one, this is not the right car for you. It IS a turnkey, rust-free, clean-titled, straight-bodied, well-maintained, pretty-much-entirely-rebuilt M3 for those of you looking for a M3 that is ready-to-drive out of the box, street or on track.

I like to be upfront about what I am selling, and have listed all the issues that I am aware of. Let me know if you have any questions. I am not in a rush to sell, the price is fairly firm, but I am aware that winter is not the best season to sell a sports car.

For those of you wondering about trades – I am only interested in 06+ AP2 S2000s with less than 80k on the clock, with cash on my end.

Best,
Chris

[NickRay]

So nice. Saw it on Fb too. GLWS, well worth the price.

[jayjaya29]

I've known/worked on this car since 2011, can vouch for its condition and appearance. Chris has taken great care of it, will be sad to see it go.

[propcar]

Not that this car needs any more recommendations, but I just saw it on friday and it makes me wish I could sell mine to buy this one. It's got everything done I'd want to do and has the black interior I wish mine had. Super clean car. At this price it's a no-brainer if you're in the E36 M3 market.

[jpwrx2002]

Beautiful car

[ThreeD]

Sold. I miss it already. Thank you Bimmerforums for the years of support!