Talk me into or out of buying this super eta

[nando]

Sounds fishy. Get the vin/build date - I bet its an '87, not an '88, and $2500 is way too much. Also look at the motor and get pics.

Basically the claim is it's an 88, but the body doesn't match. And the wheel arches look wrong. For all you know it was chopped together from 2 different cars. Or, it's really an '87 and not a seta.

[nando]

some 88's had old tails, depends on build date

Wrong

[e30jake]

i agree. look for 885 head casting or the 2.5/2.7 just to be sure

Was already planning on doing this anyway. The marks I'm looking for are right between cylinder 5 and 6 above the exhaust, right?

Sounds fishy. Get the vin/build date - I bet its an '87, not an '88, and $2500 is way too much. Also look at the motor and get pics.

Basically the claim is it's an 88, but the body doesn't match. And the wheel arches look wrong. For all you know it was chopped together from 2 different cars. Or, it's really an '87 and not a seta.

I asked the guy if he was sure it was an 88 and he insisted it was. After talking on the phone he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would lie about it, but that doesn't mean he isn't just wrong about it. As far as the wheel arches, 88 was the first year of the low arches weren't they? They look right to me based on the last picture. In case it is an 87 though, which month did they switch to the seta?

[kamotors]

so it appears to have the right front end for the 88 but the rear is completely wrong. check under the hood, the super eta has the I valve cover and cooling system.. I believe they also have two ports on the end plate of the intake manifold for vacuum to the FPR. my friend just bought an 88 super eta so I got to look it over pretty good.

[e30jake]

so it appears to have the right front end for the 88 but the rear is completely wrong. check under the hood, the super eta has the I valve cover and cooling system.. I believe they also have to ports on the end plate of the intake manifold for vacuum to the FPR. my friend just bought an 88 super eta so I got to look it over pretty good.

What are the differences in the manifolds? And for the cooling system, the easiest to tell the difference is which side the coolant reservoir is on, right? Which side is for which?

[kamotors]

coolant tank on the driver side is how late models are setup. the super eta still has the skinny intake manifold of early e's so thats not a dead giveaway.

[pandaboo911]

there's nothing super about a super eta

[bmw325csi]

To out early lights on a late car would mean that that car was in a serious wreck. The quarters would have to have changed. I call 87

[Vivek]

The arches look early. If the shop that fixed it accidentally put on the wrong tail lights, they're completely incompetent because every panel around them is different (quarters and rear section between the tails). It also has no rear valence. They forget to put that on too?

It's not an 88. Don't buy it.

[e30jake]

The arches look early. If the shop that fixed it accidentally put on the wrong tail lights, they're completely incompetent because every panel around them is different (quarters and rear section between the tails). It also has no rear valence. They forget to put that on too?

It's not an 88. Don't buy it.

I won't be able to know for sure on the arches until I get there and compare them to my car. The shop didn't accidentally put on the wrong tail lights either. The guy said the parts car they found had them, so the shop used them. Same with the rear bumper. The rear side markers are thicker than the front ones. This guy was going to pay a shop 500 bucks to replace a window regulator, so I wouldn't be surprised if they realized after they bought the parts that they were wrong, charged the guy more to make it work, and he didn't think anything of it, or something along those lines. First thing I'm doing tomorrow when I go see it is running the VIN on my phone.

[agent]

The VIN isn't in the listing?

[Vivek]

I won't be able to know for sure on the arches until I get there and compare them to my car. The shop didn't accidentally put on the wrong tail lights either. The guy said the parts car they found had them, so the shop used them. Same with the rear bumper. The rear side markers are thicker than the front ones. This guy was going to pay a shop 500 bucks to replace a window regulator, so I wouldn't be surprised if they realized after they bought the parts that they were wrong, charged the guy more to make it work, and he didn't think anything of it, or something along those lines. First thing I'm doing tomorrow when I go see it is running the VIN on my phone.

You realize that to do that they'll have to cut and weld both the quarter panels and the whole back panel, right? And they also seem to have cut out the entire rear valance for this and put on an early one. It's either not and 88 or it was in a major rear-end collision. Either way I'd stay away. The only thing it has going for it as an 88 is the front valance and ellipsoids. Those are about the easiest things to change.

[e30jake]

The VIN isn't in the listing?

No, it isn't. It was a listing that basically just said "call for details." He didn't have it on hand when I spoke to him either.

You realize that to do that they'll have to cut and weld both the quarter panels and the whole back panel, right? And they also seem to have cut out the entire rear valance for this and put on an early one. It's either not and 88 or it was in a major rear-end collision. Either way I'd stay away. The only thing it has going for it as an 88 is the front valance and ellipsoids. Those are about the easiest things to change.

I understand that the back panel would have been replaced, but I don't follow on why the quarter panels would have had to be cut? I am definitely be getting more details on how it was repaired and who did the repair work, and see if I can see anything by pulling out the trunk lining.

Edit: Oh, because you think it has early wheel arches?

[SpeicherBimmer]

Run the VIN and go from there..no sense speculating on this when the VIN knows all. Either way, seems fishy.

[nando]

99.999% chance it's an 87 with an 88 front valance bolted on.

and even if it were a seta, it's still not worth that much money.