E30 M3 Inspection Help

[GT BMW E30]

Sorry but I gotta say this "Epic Fail". Either close the deal or pass it on to someone and make a few dollars for referral.

[Todd Black 88]

Nice. That is a very valuable car in today's market.

One owner
74,000 Kms

[Powling]

They stated from the beginning that they weren't sure if they wanted to sell or not yet, but would entertain offers and a viewing to look it over.

[spdracrm3]

sounds like the've been doing some homework and now realize the value of the car and its rising value and are now hesitant to sell so quickly.......hopefully not and you can still get a killer deal .

looks very nice so far

[Powling]

Finally got to view the car this morning. We didn't start it because it didn't have a battery installed, and we had limited time to look at the car. Long story short, they don't know if they want to sell it yet or not, I'm doing my best to convince them to sell it to me. Continually working on it. Pics below.

A few corrections from the original post info:
• 73,000km not 60,000km
• Black interior not tan

[Powling]

I'd be impressed if OP merely posts pics

I can understand your hesitation, way too many people don't come through with pics in threads like these. As of right now, I'm going to view the car tomorrow. Just waiting for the owner to confirm timing.

I'll be sure to take lots of pics and update tomorrow after/if I see the car.

[Stanley Rockafella]

I'd be impressed if OP merely posts pics

[dnguyen1963]

They are not here because OP has not seen the car yet.

[DER E30]

I came here for the pics! Where are they?

[Shock(/\)ave]

Thanks! I'll be sure to contact you if I need anything!

If you aren't interested in being shown what to look out for on a good low mileage car, or an inspection of the car you're about to buy, there's no need to contact me.

I assume this is the kind of information you were after besides three pages of "BUY IT NOW SIGHT UNSEEN!"

That's easy to write when it's not their money on the line. ;)

Buyers have been burned badly by rushing into things, but when you're dealing with a rare car that's in high demand in a market like this one, you have to be prepared to act and take as many precautions as possible without losing the car to someone else.

I wouldn't chance waiting until spring to pull the trigger.

If you do, there's a very strong chance it'll be sold to someone else. I would have missed out on all three of the cars in my signature if I didn't act quickly and make the deal happen.

[steve68]

If you buy join Fillipo's M3 sig group, so much knowledge there, they will help with anything, some guys are here too,

I have a 62K M3, guy want to buy it from me during thanksgiving for 5K, told him it can sit in my garage,

[Aveman]

Haha exactly, but a lot of people have provided good information on pricing which helps too.

Yeah if anything it was good motivation I bet, one thing I agree with is if it looks good to you I wouldn't chance waiting until spring to pull the trigger.

The motor is what can get costly on these cars so you can determine a lot just by hearing it run, you should be able to detect things like rod knock etc. If you hear valve clatter don't be too worried as this motor naturally has some valve clatter. It has a bucket and shim valve train and they tend to be noisy, your typical car has hydraulic lifters so you'll hear next to no valve clatter.

By not test driving the car your worst case scenario would be the synchros are shot in the tranny, which would be highly unlikely with 60K. Next would be the wheel bearings are no good and the suspension needs work. This will be part of the maintenance you should be prepared to deal with as it's sat so much.

[Powling]

No problem, glad to help. I assume this is the kind of information you were after besides three pages of "BUY IT NOW SIGHT UNSEEN!"

Haha exactly, but a lot of people have provided good information on pricing which helps too.

[Aveman]

Thanks a lot for going into such detail, this will help A LOT when I see / start the car. Much appreciated!

No problem, glad to help. I assume this is the kind of information you were after besides three pages of "BUY IT NOW SIGHT UNSEEN!"

[Powling]

This could really work out! From your description it sounds like a 45 to 65K car in today's market. If you can get it for anything under 30K I'd say you did quite well. It was only a few years ago that 30K would be top dollar and there aren't too many collectors in Toronto to compete with.

I had a 1900 M3 that was an original Canadian spec car. It was one of approximately 125 cars that were ever shipped to Canada. I lived in Mississauga and sold it back in 2011 for about 18K. It had 200,000 KMs on it.

It was hard to sell, many tire kickers. I had many people from the states interested, I eventually sold it to someone from Montreal.

A car with 60K that has mostly sat is going to need tons of maintenance but when you're done it's still a 60K car or 37K mile car so it should be an investment grade car. It's older than 25 years old so you'll have the entire US market to sell it to in the future.

Even though she claims it was mostly garage kept and never winter driven I'd thoroughly check the windshield cowl for rust, lift up the rubber seal around the window and take a peak. Check in the trunk on the left side under the factory jack cover, look for rust in that crevasse. Also pull the battery cover on the right side of the trunk and do the same. Check along the bottom of the doors and around the sunroof seal. Check on the firewall and behind the shock towers, you're looking for splitting or rusting.

When you start the motor listen for piston slap when the motor is cold, listen for timing chain slap when cold and once warmed up listen to see if the valves are in adjustment. Check the front right side of the timing cover for an oil leak. If it's leaking the cylinder head has to come off to fix it properly and that could get costly. Look between were the engine and the transmission meet for an oil leak that would indicate the real main seal is leaking.

When the car is running put your head in front of the drivers rear wheel and listen for a humming/high pitched sound from the external fuel pump which would indicate it's on it's way out. With the engine running see if you can hear a clatter sound coming from the transmission that goes away when you push in the clutch, that would be an indication of the transmission input shaft bearing going. If you rev it up and it seems to have a hesitation before really revving it'll probably need a set of intake manifold gaskets. Check the toolkit in the trunk to ensure the spark plug tool is there. They go for $400 used and are specific to the E30 M3.

I recently got back into an E30 M3, check this thread:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=342191

I specifically looked for a California car so I wouldn't have to deal with any rust.

Good luck! If I think of anything else I'll update the thread.

Thanks a lot for going into such detail, this will help A LOT when I see / start the car. Much appreciated!