Ok, rebuild it, have it rebuilt, or sell it?

[mybmwhabit]

Hi all:

Picked up a fairly straight and clean 83 e21 a few months ago. Took it in to one mechanic for a look see and he says "it's a pretty good little car, runs good." I take it into another mechanic and he says I need an $8,500 , "maybe more" refresh, which includes head work, new piston rings and a clutch. This sounds a bit on the expensive side.

Car is a little pokey, definitely needs a tie rod end on the drivers side and a guibo for sure.

I was thinking maybe just find a used engine and do a swap.

Any thoughts, advice, possible budget scenarios?

Thank you in advance.

[m60b30530i]

What is his reason for the rebuild ? I would take it to one more shop that likes old BMW. I get this in my area all the time. Other shops give out huge estimates because a: they don't want to work on the car or b: they think they are going to make $$$

[Yonkers320is]

Does it smoke when starting or during load, like going up hill? Run a couple bottles of fuel and valve cleaner, and drive the car. The tie rod you can do yourself for 40 bucks. Clutch shouldn't be more than 600 plus the parts.

I have had 2, one with 430k km and the other has 200k and don't need rings or rebuild yet...

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[OLD MAN]

Does it smoke when starting or during load, like going up hill? Run a couple bottles of fuel and valve cleaner, and drive the car. The tie rod you can do yourself for 40 bucks. Clutch shouldn't be more than 600 plus the parts.

I have had 2, one with 430k km and the other has 200k and don't need rings or rebuild yet...

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I have two also both over 200,000 run good.

Tune up and new injectors can make a world of difference! The shop says it needs $8,500 dollars of work needs to pay some bills. M10s are really easy to build putting them in not real bad just a lot of little things to do.

[Yonkers320is]

I have two also both over 200,000 run good.

Tune up and new injectors can make a world of difference! The shop says it needs $8,500 dollars of work needs to pay some bills. M10s are really easy to build putting them in not real bad just a lot of little things to do.

Yes, plus maybe replace the fuel filter, tune up, and like OLD MAN says new injectors and seals. These motors were from the time BMW did stuff that lasted forever.

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[jaredmac11]

Regarding mechanics... Im hot and cold with em. I have a mechanic I go to every year to get a laundry list and pay for his time. Completely honest dude. then last time he quoted up $3000 of stuff and gave me a list of stuff that wasnt close to valid. Sometimes I feel like they are beholden to a shop owner, bills, etc.

Take his quote as an opinion and if youre really serious maybe get another opinion.

[okieflats]

I was thinking maybe just find a used engine and do a swap.

Yeah, that's a great idea: find a more worn-out used engine for cheap and do a swap.

[mybmwhabit]

24879875_1964462423768511_7463705613806008291_o.jpg

Thanks for all the advice. Really appreciate it. Soon as it gets a little warmer here in the Pacific Northwest and I get a little caught up on work, I'm going to spend a few weekends in the garage getting my hands dirty. That's kind of the reason I bought the little bugger in the first place. Can't do much more to my 235 than mount a set of wheels! hahah. It's actually a pretty clean car. Said mechanic got it up on the lift and said it was in great shape physically.

- - - Updated - - -

And I hear what you're saying on the "laundry list." When I picked up my e46 last year (2001 330Ci with 27k original miles) I took it into the local dealer and the tech came out saying the car didn't need anything. That's never happened in my life ever!

[amarino]

For $8,500 you can get a nice built engine from a reputable place like Top End Performance and then have $4,000 left over for everything else.

https://www.racetep.com/engine-perfo...s-and-building


I've done a cylinder head replacement / refresh when overheating AND head gasket breaking (2 separate occasions) but haven't dived into the bottom end yet. Mine smokes sometimes when doing a combination of engine braking then stepping on the gas but otherwise runs good. No reason to take it apart if I can still drive it.

[okieflats]

get the head overhauled, then install new injectors and injector seals.



then you can do a compression test and leak-down test to maybe decide if you have bottom end blow-by and could use new rings. new rings and crankshaft bearings if you want to go the next step, but you can probably do without bottom-end work.

[OLD MAN]

Another thought on this, I have rebuilt and reinstalled three M10 so far, they all still ran so-so. One of the biggest issues that is really hard to deal with and address are the 35+ year old wiring harnesses in our cars. Hard to do and $$$ if you can find one but I am sure most of our E21's would run way better with new wiring harnesses!