Well, the time has come.
I bought a new car.
Saturday I go in with the cash and retrieve my new contraption. :(

Pics or :ban:

Trust me, you wouldn't like my choice

Trust me, you wouldn't like my choice

Do tell.:)

It's white. :shifty

It's white. :shifty
Let's hear it, it can't be that bad. and where is/what happened to your bimma? I love your car.

he bought a civic!!!!?!?!??! :shifty

318is.....

1997 M3 Vert.
My one of my moms coworkers was selling it with 69k miles for $6,500.
The bad:
*Automatic
*The roof is stuck down, but the hard top is in place
*Rear Shock Mount Failure....boo

Even with those problems, its hard to pass up an opportunity like this. I was never really a fan of verts, but I sat in in the other day, and its actually quite nice.

Black on Alpinewise
(oh and btw...I'm still keeping the old calypso... :shifty


and just so its clear...im sooooooo in debt right now its not even funny.

ooo good choice sir. auto sucks but... o well. congrats on teh new mthrizzle (p.s. chicks love verts)

6 speed Vert. Do et....and that's a sweet pick up man. If you don't end up buying it I friggin will..

Buy it fred.

I just have to check with my father ( :shifty ) to make sure I can pull it off.

Side Question: Does anybody know how to install a chip in the damn 402 DME? I just bought a chip from DDM tuning and realized that I have no idea how to put it in.

You push it into the board. :)

thats sweet man, rear shock mounts is an easy fix

NICE


the computer is on the pass side of the car, just take it out (alittle tricky) and pull the old chip out and push the new one in, simple....... but screw it im bored ill find the link i have for you

http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/Mult_Chip_Install/Mult_Chip_Install.htm


and since im such a good person heres something to try on the top, its from one of the guys in NH with a red vert, hes on bf.c. forgot his sn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boiybaJkMrI&feature=related
if you hear the motors running try this, if not then new motors for you. but the lever he shows, if i saw that i would pull it :D then wonder what i did

Nice dude... do I hear a manual swap coming? :D

there's nothing like cruising around in a convertible.....congrats!

That's awesome, congrats!

its not a definite yet, but 98% will do.
No tranny swap yet. Now that I will have a reliable car, I'm going to experiment more with the Calypso.

Theres no such thing as a 97 M3 vert:confused

NICE (cuz it's auto)

Fixed. :D

Theres no such thing as a 97 M3 vert:confused

That's what I wanted to say. And because it's OBDII, you're going to use software, not chips, unless you're replacing the whole DME.

I'm confused.

You are buying not just a 'new' car, but 'another' car. You'll have two E36's?

In fact you are buying a 97 for $6500 that needs some work?

I thought your car needs $6500 in work?

To me - and this is coming from someone that has had 2+ cars at a time over the last three years. This is not a good idea.

From past experience I would take the money and COMPLETELY fix the car I have that I know EVERYTHING about.

Look at it this way - although you know this person selling the car you REALLY don't know what the true condition is. It is of the mileage that MANY stupid little things (like rear shock mounts) start to break. This could be costly and put the car out of commission.

You also have another car that you know has $6500 in work that is needed. From experience what will end up happening is that one of your cars will always be in the shop and some days BOTH will be giving you problems.

I say either FIX the one you have and make her wonderful again or get some $$ from the one you have buy this new one and take the $$ and put it in the new one to insure it's reliability.

All you'll end up doing is work for your cars and don't get me wrong many of us do the same thing but if I had to do it over I'd do it WAY differently.

Fred, I think you are asking for trouble. Don't make a knee jerk reaction. Especially for a WHITE AUTO car. You'll regreat it when BOTH are in the shop and you have to ask mom, dad, grandma, grampa, the mob, or anyone else for the cash to get at least one fixed.

Just my .02

I'm confused.

You are buying not just a 'new' car, but 'another' car. You'll have two E36's?

In fact you are buying a 97 for $6500 that needs some work?

I thought your car needs $6500 in work?

To me - and this is coming from someone that has had 2+ cars at a time over the last three years. This is not a good idea.

From past experience I would take the money and COMPLETELY fix the car I have that I know EVERYTHING about.

Look at it this way - although you know this person selling the car you REALLY don't know what the true condition is. It is of the mileage that MANY stupid little things (like rear shock mounts) start to break. This could be costly and put the car out of commission.

You also have another car that you know has $6500 in work that is needed. From experience what will end up happening is that one of your cars will always be in the shop and some days BOTH will be giving you problems.

I say either FIX the one you have and make her wonderful again or get some $$ from the one you have buy this new one and take the $$ and put it in the new one to insure it's reliability.

All you'll end up doing is work for your cars and don't get me wrong many of us do the same thing but if I had to do it over I'd do it WAY differently.

Fred, I think you are asking for trouble. Don't make a knee jerk reaction. Especially for a WHITE AUTO car. You'll regreat it when BOTH are in the shop and you have to ask mom, dad, grandma, grampa, the mob, or anyone else for the cash to get at least one fixed.

Just my .02

I agree. Keep your car. If you are looking to buy a new car (To you) find one that is sound...not one that needs work.

I'm buying the car itself for $6500 and it needs a little work. The only problems with it are the rear shock mounts and the top. When I said 97, I mean the production date of the car is a 97. The model year is a 1998.

As for the DME Chip, that's for my current OBDI E36.

Howard, After that, I'm going to strongly reconsider this. You always seem to have good advice!

UPDATE:
I just dropped the vert off at the autobody for a thorough look over to spot any more potential problems. It should be done around 1.30pm so I'll let ya' all know then.

High school teachers in service day ftw :buttrock

Where is it, Cote's?

Scott Wrights,
the other E36 is at Cote's :shifty :shifty

I've heard a lot about Scott, my indy recommended that I use him when I eventually get rid of my rust spots. I only have 3 and they're tiny (I had to look for them), but I know they're there, and they bother me.

I've heard a lot about Scott, my indy recommended that I use him when I eventually get rid of my rust spots. I only have 3 and they're tiny (I had to look for them), but I know they're there, and they bother me.

Go to Cote's. There wayyy cheaper and do awesome work.

They turned this:
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j78/HMBand/HPIM0021.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j78/HMBand/HPIM0020-1.jpg

Into this:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j78/HMBand/HPIM0094.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j78/HMBand/HPIM0091.jpg

ps. Dont bash the badge, I'm still waiting to get that taken off.

Going to Cote's could be better. We (Volvo) send a lot of work their way so maybe I could score a discount :D

I've got a guy in Londonderry that does ALL of my work. He's done my E46 twice, the E36 once, the E30 iX once, and currently has my Touring.

Fred, I know that "all that is wrong" is the shock tower mounts but when these suckers hit 100k a bunch of little stuffs goes. Plastic pieces, motors (i.e. window sunroof etc). You are better off taking the cash you have and making sure your 600,000 mile wonder is in top shape. Or get rid of it and just get the 97. Having two E36's with the youngest over 100,000 is dicey at best - espcially since you know one has issues and one is unknown.

Who knows how often the lady drives this car? Maybe only 10 miles a day and she hasn't done enough to push a part over the edge.

Upper mounts need to be replaced. Well I bet the rear shocks should be replaced too. Maybe the spring as that could have caused the mounts to go or the mounts going could cause the suspension to be on its way out.

You see what I am getting at?

Pick one. I'm not saying that you should definitely keep the calypso, I'm just saying that 2 doesn't make much sense (if you can get $$ for the calypso).

I see what you mean howard, and I couldn't agree more. The more that I think about it, i really don't need two cars at this point in my life. Maybe down the road I'll get a few; but not now. The folks that I was going to get the car from are going to pick it up at the body shop in an hour, and I just paid for the look over.
I would much rather have one car running great then have two cars that run mildly.

I <3 bimmerforums for helping me make good decisions lol

They turned your car into an M3?! SICK :shifty haha

They turned your car into an M3?! SICK :shifty haha

haha
If only it were that easy :(

Don't get the vert, just get some CSL reps

theres a 98 328is turbo on craigslist for 6500

theres a 98 328is turbo on craigslist for 6500

Scam or someone else's project. Link?

After seeing a few E30's and Howard's wagon, I think its safe to say that I'm starting to catch the E30 bug.

http://nh.craigslist.org/car/601902339.html

I just emaild the guy, hoping to go have a look at it sometime this week. The mileage might be high, but it might be something nice just to poot around town in.

i got the bug 2 :(


i just paid 1k for one with 131k :D, now i need to put black leather in it and im gold

After seeing a few E30's and Howard's wagon, I think its safe to say that I'm starting to catch the E30 bug.

http://nh.craigslist.org/car/601902339.html

I just emaild the guy, hoping to go have a look at it sometime this week. The mileage might be high, but it might be something nice just to poot around town in.
Said the guy with 600,000 miles on his car

now we are talking Fred!

I still can't endorse 2 cars, but depending on the REAL condition of this car you could get something that runs, runs well, and you DON'T upgrade or fix every little thing.

You would need to use this as a BEATER - not a restoration project.

Also it is a 318 which is a 4 banger - NOT the car to restore - however you can EASILY swap your E36 motor and drive train into it if you ever wanted to.

I also say this thing is worth $1,000 MAX. $1600 and it has been sitting. This guy is on crack.