wanted: anyone selling a e36 m3

[juice_]

looking at buyin an m3 e36 mostly interested in the 3.2L and also in black less than $25 000

[torque124]

How about this one:

1997 BMW M3 E36 Private Cars For Sale in NSW - carsales.com.au

This looks alright , if you can put up with the color.

You need to stretch a bit more for a 1996+ model I am afraid... Not in that price bracket yet.

[juice_]

from what i have seen on some sites there have been several ranging from 23 000 to 26 000. not a fan of the convertible tho

[torque124]

Yes, there have been. With over 200,000 kays and the clunkomatic SMG gearbox .

The one I showed you is not a convertible, mine is not for sale

[juice_]

sorry i wrote my reply before i realised there ws a link in your post i thought the one you were refering to was the pics that show up in yor signiture area.

ok i know very little about these cars but im dead keen on an e36 m3. i know i could go search thru threads but ill ask here first.

what are the pros and cons of these cars? what are the usual problems to occur? what should i look out for when inspecting one? is there a major difference between the 3.0 litre and 3.2 litre not just engine performance but overall car. if i were to do some engine mods, nothin any major than cams is there any befit to having the 3.2?

ive notice alot have 200 thou ks plus on most of the cars ive looked at would this be a bit of a problem? or are they stil relitivly reliable at this point


much apriciated for any input

also what is with the gearbox there are a few options? what is the beter choice? i dont mind an auto and the version apprears to have a h patern shifting. i did a wiki search and the power figure are 210 kw for 3 litlre and 236 for 3.2 but it says that for the ero version but us version is the same for both so what are the stock figure for here?

[torque124]

Americans got robbed on the M3 E36... They never got the Euro "real" M engine we have here... Don't worry about those specs ; the "evo" model ( 99 ) has this :

Power 236kW @ 7400rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3250-3250rpm
Acceleration 0-100Km/h (secs) 5.5

This is the engine that you want ; the 3.2L . Forget about people telling you about the 3.0L ( first, single vanos type engine )... That is an older engine with less displacement and with a - as mentioned - variable intake camshaft only. The 3.2 L EVO has both intake and exhaust variable cams... hence the term "dual " Vanos.

It is a pleasure to drive, it has a *almost* turbo like kick from 2500 RPMS, and pulls in any gear.. really ! I can drive mine in 4th gear most of the time between 30 to 100 kays/h with no hesitation or problems what so ever.

I would be very carefull buying an automatic, as they are not really automatic in true sense with a torque converter, but an electromagnetic type dual clutch automatic gear selector, which needs replacement at about 100,000 kays. Price for replacement ? 16,000 dollars. Enough said, stay away from it. Buy a manual.

200,000 kays is very easily reachable on these cars, but it needs a very tight maintenance schedule to get there reliably... so service history every 10,000 kays is a must if you buy one well worn example.

They do not respond to mods well... neither. I mean if you want more power cheap, buy a turbocharged car. I chipped my other car ( an Audi A3 turbo ) and got 100 (no joke!) Nm of torque for just software ; no hardware needed !.

There are ALOT of usual problems to occur as they are getting old, and getting a good example takes time and patience. It took over 7 months to find mine, and I settled for a Convertible just because I could not find a coupe in good condition ... All the ones you see nowadays have been thrashed or tracked to death.... You have to pay into the early 40K to get a low kay unmarked example.

Good luck

[juice_]

so for what they are being a 3.2 litre 6 puttin our 236kw is a decent amont and modding it will not get much gain as they are fairly powerful in stock form. what about ecu programing or exhaust can anything be gained from that as that would be as far as i would go with mods

my current car is a 5lt v8 falcon and in its stock form it puts out 167kw in non tickford form. the highest output it mad stock in the last of its series is 220kw which is stil less than the bmw motor. i spent 2500 on the gearbox as its an auto and had many problems after about 6 months of ownin it being from more load on the gearbbox from much larger wheels and it is a much better drive now but i will ask the same people who did the work on my car about the bmw box and see what my options are

[torque124]

Again, changing stock components will only yield noise or such... Maybe you lose performance , not gain. You need to throw big money in performance cams and couple that with exhaust to gain anything... Really not worth it.

These engines were manually made by people who knew and also cared; sorry but your Falcon is not really worth comparing to a M3, no matter what year or shape. They are lightyears away in design, manufacturing tolerance and reliability

Let's not mention the fun factor, the M3 will raise the hair on your arms, every driven one ?

[morerevsm3]

you can get reasonable gains from bolt on mods, my 3 litre when I got it with high flow cats made 171 RWKW, replacing the flywheel and better flowing muffler lifted it to 191 RWKW, and got the car into 12 sec 1/4 miles...I have yet to see a 3.2 post a 12 second slip, so there is not really much difference in output of the 2 even standard

[juice_]

i know my falcon cant compare to the m3 but what i was getting at is that it is a large motor with very basic technology yet stil puts out a reletive low output. altho these motors are higly restictive and are capable of producing mass amouts of power. my bigest issuse is the amout of fuel it consumes, it is fun to drive as it has big touque due to the displacement and hard and fast shifting auto. as for reliablity its stil pretty much up there its done 260 tho ks and stil goin strong and has never had a problem even with the more than frequent thrashing it feels no differnet to drive. it guzzles roughly 18litres to the 100ks so it is quite expensive to run and almost not worth owning so i want somethin different. ive read that these concume about 9 litres to the 100ks not sure if it differs from 3.0 to 3.2. also what are the specs of the engine havent seen it anywhere apart from the vanos is it similar to vtech with mutiple cam profiles or just variable valve timing? what about internals are they forged?

im keen top know what the difference between the two cars are if i can be convinced to get a 3.0l ill do it. the 3.2 seems more appealing but i want to modify and it seems that the 3.0 has more potential with mods

also what are the stud patterns for the wheels are they a 5 and what is the pcd?

[torque124]

Originally Posted by morerevsm3

you can get reasonable gains from bolt on mods, my 3 litre when I got it with high flow cats made 171 RWKW, replacing the flywheel and better flowing muffler lifted it to 191 RWKW, and got the car into 12 sec 1/4 miles...I have yet to see a 3.2 post a 12 second slip, so there is not really much difference in output of the 2 even standard

I have driven both ... the 3.2 is more torquey and more pleasant to drive.

What you are doing there with the exhaust and muffler is what BMW has done in fact with the 3.2 motor from 1996 on... It already has a better flowing exhaust all around than the old one.

They improved the breathing of the engine in order to get extra 26KW and 30Nm, plus dual Vanos , etc.

The later M3 is hard to modify to get more power reliably... These cars are not the perfect drag cars. Get a VL turbo if that's what you want.

The M3 is the sum of all parts, driving pleasure, connecting with the road in the twisties and handling. And let's not forget the soundtrack


I just hate to see nice cars like the M3 modified and raped only to be sold for nothing a year down the track. Keep it original and enjoy it.

But again, each to it's own

[juice_]

i dont want no drag car im interested in bemers mostly for their all round performance. if thasts wat i wanted id bomb out my falcon but all its really good for is goin side ways and doin skids but i want somethin i can throw around a corner and and stick to the road. the m3 is a decent car to start with but i have a habit of modifiying and i want somethin that can be. also i need something that can compete with my mates mr2, its light fast and nimble but when it comes to twists and bends it shits all over my ford and now he is putting a superchared v6 in it. also i want somethin that looks good. bmw are damn sexy cars and the m3 is a respectable car. my falcon looks neat its a very unknown modle its dumped on black centered 20s and it looks tuff but in the end is stil a falcon

ideal what i want is a black m3, lowered, big rims maybe 20s with black centres of coarse big dish crome lip needs to fill the guards nicely, remove stock spoiler maybe get a flat one thats more like a lip, lower lip extension on front bar. also i want a nice fairly loud tuff exhaust note i want it to sound aggressive and intimifdating like i think a set of cams would really set it off which is why im leaning more towards the 3 litre. initially id be more than satisfied with the stock performance but i always crave for more so i want the ability to be able to tune it

[torque124]

Not sure if it is your cup of tea, but in thatt case buy an Audi S3 8L 2001 or so, chip it, put a down pipe and it will shit all over the Mr2.

Actually it will have legs over any M3, period.

[juice_]

yeah but i like the look of the m3

[torque124]

Here's one VERY CHEAP. It won't be there long :

Used AUDI S3 MY2001 QUATTRO 2001 - New South Wales - CarPoint Australia