any experience with the e36 m3?

milgo

milgo

milgo

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21 Aug 2003
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651
Location
Essex
Hello,

Just starting to have a look around for an oldish fast car. All my previous cars have been pretty old and i'm currently knocking about in a 1978 polo with a 900cc engine. I did want to get a workshop so that i could build a nice sleeper but it seems impossible to find one reasonably priced.

So what i'm after is a car that won't have suffered from much rust and has a fairly strong engine thats going to last me without needing a full rebuild. Something that is a good performer as standard that i can build on. It would only be used for weekends and possibly track days.

Maximum to spend is £5000 but less is better really. For this price the e36 m3 is do-able, i know they have a poor image but its a brilliant car from what i've heard. If i was looking at an m3 for under £4000 am i going to end up with problems? there are some available for around £3600 with 130k. What sort of milage are the engines capable of before major work?

The other car which tickles my fancy is the lancer evo 1. Old enough to insure as a classic which is good for my wallet! Can get them on import so rot isn't an issue and generally they are cheaper than the m3 and with about half the mileage. But again, does anyone know how long these engines last before they start having major problems? I've seen a nice standard one on 60,000 miles but they are quite highly strained engines.
 
Trying to do an E36 M3 on a tight budget is asking for trouble, and a car with 130K on the clock could be quite tired. I am no expert on (anything!) E36 M3's, but I do know a number of guys who run them as track toys, stripped out and cut down for the purpose, and swear by them, though they are looking at around £10K - £15K not £5K.
 
Only really keen on the m3. Don't really fancy any of the other bmw models. I do like the e30 m3's more but prices on them are pretty high and being older they will need more work to keep nice. I know my budget is quite small for a car like that but seeing as it won't be covering much milage i wouldn't have thought running costs would not be too bad. I've had a couple of old vw GTI's and a g40 which have all done just over the 100k mark. All those ever needed was a head gasket and they kept running strong. I'm not a stranger to working on cars so servicing and most other jobs arn't an issue, only space for doing major jobs like changing gearboxes etc is a problem.

What i'm after is something in the big league. Ive had my share of fast hot hatches and i'm after something thats a step up. I hear what you are saying though about a tight budget, this is why i'm considering something like an old evo.
 
A G40 and a GTi are not running highly stressed engines, you are making a big move up in performance from a GTi and G40, you can't really compare those to an M3, different kettle of fish with different price tags. As I have said before on these sort of threads, you are buying a £40K car for £3K, but you will still have £40K price tags should it go wrong, as they can, not least the Vanos units.
 
Stay away from SMG model e36 m3.

EVO's are nice, but vanos problems may surface.

A well looked after 3.0 M3 is probably the best bet...7-10k will usually get you a good one, all things being equal.
 
I'd be more inclined to go down the Nissan 200SX route and spend the change from £5k making it go much, much faster.
 
Don't have any decent pictures penski, got this one on my phone taken at night.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j136/milgo1/DSC00056.jpg
Brilliant little car, probably one of my favorites.

I hear what you are saying housemaster, i just can't help but wonder if it is possible though if im doing all the labour myself. Did your mates spend £10k on the original car? Or is that including all their modifications?
I expect you and others are right, my budget would have to go up for the initial purchase.

Ed i'm not really into jap though really from the 90's era, only the evo appeals. I love old jap cars like the ae86, lancer 2000 and old starlets etc. If the styling didn't matter to me then it would be a brilliant choice, no doubt they are great for the money.
 
My friends were spending about £10K on their cars and using them as track cars only, no road use, and on top of that they then needed to add the additional costs. £15K would buy you a very well sorted and sensibly modified E36 M3 track car, with the right bits and right weight reductions I would suggest, but as with all these things it really depends how serious you want to be and where you put your priorities. You could go out and buy a car for £4K and it might be a jem, but at the same time and I'd suggest more likely, it could be a dog and cost you a few grand.
 
milgo said:
Ed i'm not really into jap though really from the 90's era
Click to expand...
It maybe the only option with your criteria. Jap metal may not look good but at £5k or less, with spankability and reliability, they're hard to beat. I'm trying to think of alternatives but end up coming back to Jap stock.

Capri 2.8i? Nasty Sapph RS? Cav Turbo?
 
Mmmmmpolo...

If you're not already there, get on Retro Rides. :)

Five grand would build you a hell of a car. That orange 2 door kadett (with C20XE) I posted a few weeks back was up for 3.5k...

220-250bhp, sub 900kg, caged and ready to go on sticky track rubber for five grand.

*n
 
cheers housemaster i'll jump on there and have a look.

I hear you ed, no question out of the box the jap wagons are brilliant. I work for fords so an old turbo would make sense as i get up to 60% off parts. But again just don't like the image or build of the rs models.

Penski i go on retro rides from time to time. Thats what i want to do, build a track car from something like that. But its just finding the space and i dont want to get other people to do all the work, no fun!
 
Start a thread on RR "Five grand to build a weekend/track toy...What would you do?" and see the responses. :)

What are the chances of you getting a council lockup?

*n
 
Shuv/Kadett: 750 for a mintyminty one.
C20XE: 250 for a 'built' one.
Box: 150
Axle: 150
Bike TBs and manifold: 300
ECU + bits to make it work: 400
Brakes: 500
Suspension: 500
Cage, seats and harnesses: 750

Get on it.

*n
 
Thats the reason why i'd only like the m3, because from where i'm standing it has the best image of that model range, and also how a car feels to drive is important. You can't argue that it's not a good car. Where as a ford escort RS is just really chavvy in my opinion, unless someone keeps it really clean and standard on the outside, then its cool. There are a lot of variables :) I don't mind people thinking i have a rubbish car, (clearly as i have a 78 polo) but i wouldn't want to be seen as being too common. I'm sure you understand even though my explination is poor.

There are some little garages round my way, but not really with enough room to work on a car properly. Might be worth thinking about again though. There are some shipping containers for rent about half an hour away. Not very wide but they have enough length to store and run machinery in the back. The original plan was to trick out my polo with a g40 engine.
 
The M3 is excellent to drive, there is no disputing this. But it is also an E36 3 Series - this is the epitome of chav culture right now. Your average useless car-chav aspires to the day when he too can own a 318 Coupe that looks like an M3. Very few E36's are left which are not owned by this sort of person. It has even more of a chav image than the Escort RS Cosworth.

It's a great car ruined by the people who wish to own them.

For £5k, the only way is Japanese.
 
I was talking more about the escort 1.6 rs rather than the cosworth. Again the cosworth is a cool respectable car in my opinion as long as it isnt ruined with silly wheels etc. I still wouldn't mind having an e36 m3 because it is the real deal and not a look-a-like.

Penski vauxhalls are silly cheap to modify. You are making me think about that route again :/
 
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