Sorry to hear about your loss. The coolant system in these cars are certainly a weak spot. If you decide to go with a stock replacement or a 6 cylinder make sure that you perform the necessary upgrades. $2500 seems to be very expensive for essentially two days of work, if I were closer I would gladly help you replace it.
What should I do?
1) scrap this car (sad outcome but might be the most practical way to recoup some funds and requires no further investment)
If you decide to go this route I'd be interested (if we can work out the logistics).
2) Put an M42 in there and bring it back to life. I'd hope to do some fun road trips and maybe a track day or two. It could break again of course, but if it does not, the resale value for the car would be pretty good ( I assume?).
Preventative maintenance is key to longevity, radiator, water pump all new hoses, etc. This may be the best decision for the long run, this car will be the equivalent of an E30 318is in the next 10 years or so.
3) Swap to a stronger motor: The shop told me they would do this, but they would basically offer me a "Blank Check" for the labor. Meaning they won't give me any quote. I now a lot of guys swap s50 and s52 into this car. Does this kinda of swap typically require custom fabrication? Is it easy? How does this impact the resale value of the car in the future?
The ceiling for appreciation is somewhat dictated by the prices of equivalent M3s, but the overall performance is hard to beat. I would actually look at installing an S54 if you decided to make this type of investment.
Last edited by dahamler; 07-21-2015 at 03:41 AM. |