Hey guys,
I'm checking out an M3 tomorrow and could use some advice. I've seen the car already and spoke with the owner quite a bit. It has a bit over 100k on it but has been sitting for a few months. The car is a bit of a project but the owner has owned it for a long time and is very passionate about the car, 2nd owner, so I know he is well intentioned/vested in it. The cosmetics don't bother me much but I'm slightly concerned about the engine:
He bought the turner 2.5L kit for it sometime back and had a shop do all the work. Somehow they messed it up and the bore was wrong and after a few hundred miles he had to redo it all. I'll get more specifics on it but he has all the receipts of the whole history. He ended up putting the bottom end together himself the second time to avoid any machine shop errors. He says it has had a couple thousand miles on it since the 2nd build and will get the battery charged and what not so I can drive it and check it out in depth. He mentioned that it has some lifter noise at idle but smooths out during normal operating conditions. He said this was normal for M3s. Is this true? Should I be concerned? He redid all the timing components and associated stuff while in there.
What else should I look for aside from the obvious? I know what rod knock sounds like lol. I'm a fairly competent car guy and have built a few engines, done the high hp game in other vehicles, etc. I was going to do a compression test on it while there but what else is reasonable to do tomorrow? I can't really test the bottom end out in his driveway. Would some sort of pre-purchase inspection be worthwhile? I don't know if any shops really know this car around here.
Really excited about this prospect but I don't want to let that blind me. It's not a small chunk of change for me. Thanks for any advice!
Gabe
I'm checking out an M3 tomorrow and could use some advice. I've seen the car already and spoke with the owner quite a bit. It has a bit over 100k on it but has been sitting for a few months. The car is a bit of a project but the owner has owned it for a long time and is very passionate about the car, 2nd owner, so I know he is well intentioned/vested in it. The cosmetics don't bother me much but I'm slightly concerned about the engine:
He bought the turner 2.5L kit for it sometime back and had a shop do all the work. Somehow they messed it up and the bore was wrong and after a few hundred miles he had to redo it all. I'll get more specifics on it but he has all the receipts of the whole history. He ended up putting the bottom end together himself the second time to avoid any machine shop errors. He says it has had a couple thousand miles on it since the 2nd build and will get the battery charged and what not so I can drive it and check it out in depth. He mentioned that it has some lifter noise at idle but smooths out during normal operating conditions. He said this was normal for M3s. Is this true? Should I be concerned? He redid all the timing components and associated stuff while in there.
What else should I look for aside from the obvious? I know what rod knock sounds like lol. I'm a fairly competent car guy and have built a few engines, done the high hp game in other vehicles, etc. I was going to do a compression test on it while there but what else is reasonable to do tomorrow? I can't really test the bottom end out in his driveway. Would some sort of pre-purchase inspection be worthwhile? I don't know if any shops really know this car around here.
Really excited about this prospect but I don't want to let that blind me. It's not a small chunk of change for me. Thanks for any advice!
Gabe
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