Haven't seen a better deal on one of these. It's perfect. Going to buy this car unless someone spots a legit flaw.
>>28660255
>>28660255Depends on your skillset and definition of "deal"
>>28660255Don't these have a fault with the soft closing door mechanism where it can fail under certain conditions?Or am I thinking of the 7 series during this time?
>>28660264I don't think the E46 had soft closing doors, though I could be wrong. These cars have bigger faults, like the rear strut towers cracking because the metal is very thin back there.
>>28660269Yes but in the OPs 2nd post this area has been professionally reinforced.
>>28660262Not a deal at any skill level.
>>28660255Subframe reinforcement is a good sign. You might want to ask if/when the rod bearings and vanos hub were done.
>>28660315Replacing rod bearings as preventative maintenance is a thing?
>>28660320On E46 Ms it basically is, yeah. Typically around every 100k. I've always compared them to airplanes, where you replace stuff based on time rather than obvious need and they'll be very reliable if you keep up but can fail suddenly and catastrophically if you don't.That said it's been 8-10 years since I worked on them regularly and maybe somebody's figured out a better bearing material or something, and the blackstone analysis is probably a good sign.
>>28660255>Last oil lab test result: August 2024.Needs a up to date test Seems like a fairly clean E46 though.
>>28660320Expect a $4k bill, with a 25% chance the tech fucks up and your engine fails within the next 1,000 miles.
>>28660320BMW's M cars of that time were not designed for everyday reliable driving. The S85 is notorious for rod bearings. Turns out race car engines are not designed to be reliable, who knew!
>>28660365jeez, is that what it costs these days? $4k would get you the whole package when I was doing it, subframe+rod bearings+vanos. I know it varied a lot by region though, prices were a lot lower in the competitive LA area where we were and I always heard you'd pay several times as much for any of those jobs on the east coast. >>28660369Depends on how you look at it, I guess. You do that preventative job every 100kish miles, which is probably at least 6-8 years for most people, and then you have a pretty dependable engine.
>>28660255It's slow, old, ugly, unreliable, and overpriced compared to other used cars with similar price or performance figures.It also has over 180k miles on the odometer lmaoIf you really want that specific model for some reason, the engine's been rebuilt or at least inspected recently (idgaf about oil change reports), and there isn't anything that the seller hasn't mentioned then it's an acceptable example
>>28660255Nostalgia is sickness in this case.That car is from times that are already spent and lived through.
>>28660369>Turns out race car engines are not designed to be reliable, who knew!The inverse is true for rotaries, Mazda 787B versus RX7 13B twin turbo reliability.tldr OP just buy a 787B
>>28660288Can't you just replace the quarter panels? and the non-oem wheels being fucked shouldn't be a big deal anyway.
>>28660409Am I doing it right?
>>28660255Fuckload of miles and overpriced
Miles are high but it's what it's worth ATM. Seems like the entry price for E46M ownership is $22k as high as $30k. The big 3 cost like $5-7k on average to get done (rod bearings alone are $2500). This is from looking for 5 mins in the Northeast region which has imo the cheapest BMWs since a lot of them were sold here new....but we also have rust. For some cars like BMWs Cali is pricier due to demand, for the turbo cars Cali is cheaper thanks to CARB https://www.fb.com/share/1GxJrTiQHw/https://www.fb.com/share/1AHW8ducmi/https://www.fb.com/share/1ENXfGfWrX/https://www.fb.com/share/1PNV6RjXZd/
>>28660406It's not nostalgia, this was one of the last great BMWs.
>>28660491>just replace the quarter panelslol. Anyway, if the rust is that visible on the outside, then it must be terrible under the car.
>>28660725>then it must be terrible under the car.Not always true: There are several notable examples where the body panels will rust in the same spot for basically all cars no matter where they are in the country because of how the metal was folded. In rear quarter panels its usually a metal pocket that holds water encouraging rust in that 1 specific area. Conversely, Jeep Wranglers had several years of issues where the frame accidentally trapped water and would rust out quickly while the body was okay. I think Jeep was giving away new frames to compensate for it, possibly Toyota and Ford more recently too. I'm not saying thats exactly whats happening here some there are BMW autists that know more, but just because theres 1 spot of rust on a car doesn't mean the entire thing is fucked.
>>28660255>blackstone oil reportnot sure there's such thing as a safer car to buy 2nd hand if this faggot is big enough on maintenance to actually get his oil analyzed.
>>28660725>>28660491people do it on subarus, but they have donor parts. I imagine this would be custom (or is looks like you can buy rear quarter panels for about $900/each and weld them in). I would never buy a car like that though because you're going to put $40k of work into it to fix all the neglected issues and it still won't be as nice as OP's.
>>28660743>There are several notable examples where the body panels will rust in the same spot for basically all cars no matter where they are in the countryimprezas are so notorious for quarter panel rust that subiesaver exists as a company solely making replacement weld in panels
>>28660754not sure about future generations, but gc8 subarus, the front left fender matches perfectly with the back right, front right to back left, so people pull fenders from junk yard cars to weld inor they just buy the weld in panels for like $100-150
>>28660776for most cars that don't work that way I imagine it goes like this:>buy a rear clip from an wrecked car (increasingly scarce) or custom fab something>weld it in and cut out the rust>paintI'm guessing that's a $5-10k job in america. From what I can see on the e46 m3, it's about $2k in parts, probably at least $2k in paint-work (my local shop was cheap), then the labor costs of cutting & welding. So best case what, $5-6k? Worst case around $10k. Just for fucking fenders.
>>28660798I got a $4500 estimate for this. that bimmer is easily 8k+ at a professional shop.
>>28660859Where u at, Californicate?y it cost so muchaho
>>28660255Never buy a modified car. Especially not a dune coon magnet like these.
How does it pass California smog with an aftermarket cold air intake and exhaust? Also it’s notable that the AC was recharged although none of the ac components seemed to have been replaced.
>>28661327Here are the seller's responses:1. It passes smog because both of these mods are certified CARB legal. 2. After 20 years a recharge is normal because no system is perfectly sealed.
>>28660798Rear fenders are a problem on most cars because they are bonded and spot welded (multi-layer) to the unibody, so it's a seamless transition into the B/C pillar and roof, not just bolted on like the fronts which benefit from the body break in the door and hood.The only way to do it otherwise is to cut and patch. If you can't do body work at the metal to metal patch level, or willing to buy a mig welder and learn, then you shouldn't be buying cars with body damage, especially rear quarter or roof damage.
>>28660262>s54 with 159k milesNeeds rod bearings at bare minimum. and since it was starved for oil you're better off rebuilding the engine. >>28660288Super fucked, you'd be 15k into this easily with an engine rebuild on top of rust/paint/body work.
>>28660381Needing to tear down your engine every 100k is not exactly a hallmark of dependability.
>>28661778It is if it's part of the maintenance schedule.
>>28661787It's really not.In fact, I would say it's indicative that your engine is actually the opposite of dependable. Lots of engines out there that don't eat their rod bearings every 100k miles.
>>28661788But this engine isn't marketed as an economy engine. Peak performance engines require more maintenance.
>>28661792Again, lots of performance engines that you can depend on to not need a full teardown every 100k
>>28661797>a full teardownRod bearings can be done from below with the engine in the car.
>>28661812Why didn't they design the engine to not eat rod bearings instead?
>>28661788It’s very dependable, just higher maintenance. If you can’t afford to drop the oil pan and change bearing every 3-4 years old performance probably isn’t for you.
>>28661849Every engine design decision is a choice of trade-offs. For M-class customers, performance offset the increase in maintenance.
>>28661857>>28661862One more time, lots of performance engines out there that don't need you to do that shit.
>>28661863High revving nature makes it harder on bearings, it’s a trade off.
>>28661863At 333 hp, the 3.2l S54 was the best performing engine in that size.
>>28661857this is why I get ford 302s and blast them with boost until they break. 20psi is very reliable I just need to change the engine out every 20k.
>>28661890>ford 302sAren't those getting hard to find?
>>28661706Wow thanks, Bob Vila. So glad you could tell us the obvious things.
>>28661890More power to ya but replacing an engine every year that might fail randomly is not the same as a known wear part on an engine. Iirc they should last close to double if you aren’t banging limiters at 8k+ it’s just a standard procedure now.
>>28661680Then go for it, the region on the map has exclusively white people, no kids, and the guy knows what he’s talking about
>>28661871>>28661873Great and all, but none of that means its dependable. Besides being able to depend on needing a major service every 100k miles
>>28662341name some engines like it made during the same time periodonly one i can think of is the honda f20c
>>28662341It’s not gonna randomly shit itself so it’s dependable. The timelines are well known and documented, it’s easy to avoid breakages.
>>28662350dependable engines need belts at 100k, not bottom end work
>>28662361Welcome to performance engines, sacrifices are made and this really isn’t a big deal.
>>28662367You know Corvette engines can make it over 200k miles without opening the engine, right?
>>28662367Sure, but those sacrifices mean I wouldn't necessarily call the engine dependable. It's really not that complicated.
>>28662386I think the latest vette goes to like 8500 but all the rest go to 6500. Big difference for bearing wear. The detuned s54 that stayed under 8 tend to last pretty well. Plus 20 years of advancement they might be ok. Wait till you hear about having to adjust valves every 30k, I’m sure you will bitch about that.
>>28662394You can call it anything you’d like desu, it’s a dependable motor. No real problems except for VANOS seal which isn’t catastrophic.
>>28662386The closest Corvette engine that's equal to the S54 is the LS7 that likes to drop valves instead
>>28662402He's a dumbass bumpkin, just ignore. Never done a rod bearing in his life, so he thinks doing one with an oil pan drop, once every 5 years, is some kind of insane thing.
>>28661140caliradothey severely overestimated the amount of rust that would be there and how easy of a job it was.
>>28661893no. I don't know why you would want a 302 over a SBC unless you really needed the height clearance. A whiteblock would be cool too
>>28662853Ford 302 is 100 pounds lighter and has short 3" stroke for max revs.
>>28662464>drop valvesThat's a manufacturing defect that repaired by warranty, not a ridiculous preventative maintenance requirement.
>>28661910The one that's in there has lasted 3 years so far which isn't all that bad >replacing an engine every year that might fail randomly is not the same as a known wear part on an engineI agree but the same logic extends to a regular service engine bearing change. That's kind of absurd for a road vehicle. It's similar to Ferrari using belts on their cars and putting them in a hard place to get to. They know what they're doing and you shouldn't excuse it. What I don't understand is my 951 requiring timing belts every 7 years and that being a massive issue for people, and the same being true for Ferrari owners; but when bmw does a similar shithead move with its regular engine bearing replacements it's normal and a standard procedure. >>28662853personally I think it's a more well thought out engine over the chebby. I do wish the fords had cheaper parts but I scour Detroit for used stuff
>>28663349>it's a more well thought out engine over the chebbyIt took Ford almost 7 years to catch up (Sept 1954 vs July 1961) with the chevy, so they had a lot of thinking time.
>>28663580the Windsor was also Ford's 5th OHV V8 so they had more opportunities to work out major kinks
>>28663610Too bad they didn't work out the block splitting.
>>28660255>Going to buy this carThen why is the ad still up?
>>28662464There are LS7 powered helicopters... When has anybody ever swapped a BMW engine into anything that flies?
>>28660259whole list is a flaw and bmw is a flaw
>>28660369None of those engines are racing engines, the only BMWs to get a somewhat racing engine would be ones with the M88. And the M30/ M12 if they count.
