Alright, I found an 88' Alpineweiss 325is, its got 140k on it, the cloth sport seats are good, ok looking bay, clean body b/w bottlecaps. Only prob, it's an auto......whats the general consensus, 5spd swap or stay clear? Another thing, what would YOU pay for this car? Sorry no pics right now, i'll see if I can come up with some.
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"If your going to make a mistake, make it a 100mph."....."But only on the racetrack"..... -
I don't know much about how intensive that swap would be, but my gut instinct says to buy a car equipped with a manual from the factory. That said, I know someone who is selling a clean 91 325is that was previously a slushie. He works at the same shop where the PO of my car works. It's very clean - I don't wanna spam, so PM me if you are interested.I Timothy 2:1-2 -
Some Bimmer nuts that I know claim engines in cars equipped with automatics are generally in better shape than a manual equipped car with the same miles. And, I think they are probably right based on how I see manuals being driven (including the way I drive mine).
OTOH, I just transfered an engine with 160k from an automatic into a manual car and the compression test showed 140 110 110 130 130 140.
Wasn't too impressed with that. Bear in mind that 140 is about all we get in a compression test at the altitude where I live (5000 ft).Richard
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If it really is a clean car i would pay 3000-4000. I have the same car for sale that you have just made a post about. I can give you some details and pictures if you want, pm me. And yes its an auto also.Comment
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Yeah, send some pix. Propwash2@hotmail.com . If I buy an auto, it will become a manual. I just can't do the auto thing. My Audi A4 was an auto and it killed me every time i wasnted to run a nice back road real hard. What should I pay for the tranny and other parts, i'm def thinking salvage yard."If your going to make a mistake, make it a 100mph."....."But only on the racetrack".....Comment
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I have to ask, was it Lost?Comment
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5 speed swap = Cake
If you can get the parts cheap enough.. do the swap. The first time I ever touched a transmission mechnically was to do the 5 speed swap on my 87 325i.Comment
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I had a couple kids who work for me run the tests and read the results after 4 cycles. The schrader valve in the gauge was a little erratic. Don't think they noticed that. I reran the test today myself. Everything was pretty much about 130 straight across. At our altitude, atmospheric pressure is about 13 psi. If the compression were 10 to 1, that would be about 130 psi wouldn't it? At sea level, where the atmospheric pressure is 15 psi, a compression test should show about 150 psi, nicht wahr?
At any rate, the engine from the automatic car is looking better now.Richard
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I just checked the Haynes Manual 142 to 156 is where it should be.
Compression ratio and compression aren't too related, cam timing and lots of other variables affect your compression.
I've had 11:1 compression ratio motors do ~200psi and other times i've had 9:1 motors hit the same number.Comment
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I think a lot also depends on the kind of tester you use. If you have one of those short ones that pushes the gauge right into the sparkplug hole, then you'll get higher readings than if you use one like mine that has a foot long hose on it.
Also, temperature and humidity probably play a big role. Today was about 45 degrees here and possibly very humid as it just rained. Another thing has to do with the gasoline.. If you don't pull the plug on your fuel pump it probably has some effect.Richard
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