Thanks to the mod who fixed my title.


Anyway, down to bidnez.



I went to look at this 1981 635CSi Euro that is out of town.


VIN# WBAEC4103B5580981

If someone can do a carfax, I'd greatly appreciate it.


I think it's got a M90 in it. I can clearly see the two hoses coming off the oil filter and they goto an oil cooler that is mounted in front of the bottom of the radiator. It was VERY hot when I looked at it and had a hard time seeing engine #'s in the blazing sunlight.
It was so friggin hot I didnt have time to get the exposure set right.. so these were the best shots I could get.. bit saturated, but they get the point across.

Here's the engine bay:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0104-2.jpg


and the two hoses coming off the oil filter

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0103-2.jpg


So can anybody tell just from those pics if its a M90?




The rust was horrible.


Strut towers-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0109-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0108-1.jpg

I didnt think they looked too bad, just some minor rust thru away from the head of the towers and not horribly bad yet.


The body-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0115.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0110-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0118.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0112-1.jpg



Interior-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0114.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0113.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/SeekerG/DSCN0116.jpg



He's askin $500 for it, but since there's something wrong with gettin it to run, it'll have to be trailered home and that'd cost me about 150 more for trailer rental.

Is she too far gone?

My biggest gripe is the autotragic. Wish it was manual instead.

The wheels and the seats are cool, but it does appear to be pretty far gone. I'd take a jack up there and look under it before making the final call but I've got to say its not looking good.

Forgot to mention that the driver's seat rear fastening points were severed.. you could tilt the seat and frame up towards the front.
I wanted to pull the carpet up...

And I didnt get to try electrical..he said all the windows worked. 2yrs ago...


Wonder if there's a widebody kit for these baby's to cover up those rear wheel arches.

Do you know whats wrong with the engine?

that rust around the strut towers is probably the worst place to have rust on the whole car. it's a very structural area. certainly quite a project there.

I could be wrong, but it looks like an M30 to me, based on the throttle body and manifold layout. However I thought the M30 was introduced from '82 onwards..?

Overall the car looks like it needs a lot of work. It appears to have pretty bad rust in pretty bad places.

I can understand why he'd want $500 for it, but I'd offer him half that.

I just ran the VIN through RealOEM and it identifies it as an M30.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do?vin=5580981&kind=P&arch=0

I just ran the VIN through RealOEM and it identifies it as an M30.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do?vin=5580981&kind=P&arch=0

Looks like you're right.

Did a VIN decode here

http://www.bmwarchiv.de/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html

its in german, but the results were accurate. M30 engine.

Realoem is not entirely accurate about the M30 designation. You can put in any car that has a m90 and it shows m30.

Unless this engine has been replaced it should be a m90. Look at the block below ith intake and look for a white "L" pained on the side of the block and look for the 3,5 casting on the block as well.

This car is way too rusty to repair expecially considering that examples without rust are readily available. Every body panel has issues except the gas flap and the doors are most likely rotted at the inside bottom.

You are doing the guy a favor by removing it so offer him a couple of hundred dollars and part it out. I am interested in the seats. The engine is worth something the diff may be LS but is most likely a 3.07 gear. The trans is really not worth much. The dash, from what I can see, is not cracked and it appears to have factory air.

Good luck.

I would stay away. The cost of repairing the rust alone would fetch you a decent example of an E24--and you'd get to hunt for a manual tranny as well.

As much as it hurts, it isn't worth saving. That thing would require a huge investment, and still probably be rusty again in a few years...

I thought all M90's looked like this: (Click it)
188461



It seems like some early M30's had that same look, then switched to the "stacked" version later...

Realoem is not entirely accurate about the M30 designation. You can put in any car that has a m90 and it shows m30.

Same with the other VIN decoders. It does the same thing for the M88, reading out as S38. I think it's because the code in the software superceded the older engine with the new.


You are doing the guy a favor by removing it so offer him a couple of hundred dollars and part it out. I am interested in the seats. The engine is worth something the diff may be LS but is most likely a 3.07 gear. The trans is really not worth much. The dash, from what I can see, is not cracked and it appears to have factory air.

If you can part it you'll probably get your money back, then scrap the shell. What colour is the interior? If that dash is uncracked and a medium brown (Nutria 0181 is the colour code, I can't tell if it's black or brown from the pics) I'd give you $150 plus shipping for it.

It's definitely not a car to buy with the intent of repairing it. There're a lot of better ones out there (and you could drop the M90 into one, if you wanted).

It looks pretty wasted to me.

Still lots of good parts on it, though. You could make a tidy profit by parting it out on ebay, if you have the time and inclination to do so.

I thought all M90's looked like this: (Click it)




It seems like some early M30's had that same look, then switched to the "stacked" version later... Usually your right, but with BMW it could be a M90 with the newer intake manifold as they tend to do running changes on the line. The only way to be sure is to check the block for the white L, or actually measure the bore & stroke.

Same with the other VIN decoders. It does the same thing for the M88, reading out as S38. I think it's because the code in the software superceded the older engine with the new.



If you can part it you'll probably get your money back, then scrap the shell. What colour is the interior? If that dash is uncracked and a medium brown (Nutria 0181 is the colour code, I can't tell if it's black or brown from the pics) I'd give you $150 plus shipping for it.

It's definitely not a car to buy with the intent of repairing it. There're a lot of better ones out there (and you could drop the M90 into one, if you wanted).

Part it, that is way to rusty for the road IMHO.

I thought all M90's looked like this: (Click it)




It seems like some early M30's had that same look, then switched to the "stacked" version later...

Thats my M90 that is in my euro project currently... well kind of since its been partially torn down and getting prepped for its new home! :redspot

Back to the point. I also wanted to save a euro about 4 months ago. Bought it for more than he wants for his and brought it back and had a reputable restoration expert (recommended by engine builder) to look at my euro. In body work alone, which was in better shape than yours from appearance, was going to be in excess of 15000 dollars.

Now I have the Euro almost completely stripped and it isn't pretty.... Behind the dash was more rust. Behind the fenders was more rust. Don't even want to talk about the wiring...

It never ended! :mad

In short I'm going to end up cutting up the euro and saving all the good bits, euro bumpers, engine, trans, diff, etc. Pretty much anything mechanical and transform some poor 633 auto.

Sorry for the bad news but... it is worth parting out since some bits and pieces can be rather rare.

Maybe this car could be a good canidate for a track car for someone. Just trying to throw some ideas out there. :)

No way I would track that car. The strut towers are rotted and those cars were prone to rear diff mount fatigue without rust issues. I would be willing to bet that if the carpet were pulled up in the front footwells, you will find the floorboards are barely attached. Pull the rear seats and you are likely to find rot on the rear shock towers and the rear unibody above the rear crossmember is likely to have issues.

I would rather take a crash damaged car that needed a core support and had a bent strut tower and repair it to make a track car. It is next to impossible to stiffen a rusted unibody without make a complete tube chassis vehicle.


Wth the amount of rust showing on this, I can only imagine how much is hidden. This one needs to be gracefully put to rest and the parts used to keep others running strong.

Well I decided to not get it.

Greatly appreciate your comments.

As fugly as those seats looked.. they sure were comfey to sit in.

good call,

usually when you do the math .. ie.

$500 to buy it
$150 for a trailer
$1000 to repair and repaint
$250 for manual gearbox etc. etc.

you are looking at buying twice the car for the same outlay without any of the work