What do you think? Bit of car trouble advice.

[L33 LEG]

Thought i may aswell get some advice of you, even though at the end of the day it's my choice but always good to get some opinions :thumb:

Basically i have 3 cars which most of you know (my nova, bm coupe and a bm cab). The plan this year was to save up and at somepoint during summer put the cab up for sale and then the money would go towards a new car (95% on getting an old sl500). Anyway, the cab had been sorned since last december and this past week i got it mot ready, i went down to get it tested this morning and before i got there the engine overheated, just like the last engine did :roll:

Im not sure what is up with it yet, but theres a high chance the block is cracked as it was left over winter without much antifreeze in and didnt get touched. So theres also a good chance that il need to buy a new engine and fit it (probably around £400).

My choices are to fix the car, mot it and sell it or to break it.

Last year i had it up for sale dor around £3.8k and had a bit of interest even though it was quite highly priced, i would be looking to selling it for around that when and if it was all fixed and would hope for £3.5k. To do this i will have to fix or fit a new engine and have the cost of mot and tax. Selling the car may also take a while as it has a few problems, ie. the roof motor doesnt work so has to be a manual and it is a 328 on the logbook but has a 2.5 fitted (looks a bit dodgy to some people).

Breaking it would be very easy to do, i have easily enough time and space to break the car fully. I will get somewhere in the region of £1500 i reckon but it saves me taxing/moting the car and also fixing other problems or dropping the price dramatically due to the problems.

So i should get a bit more money selling the car complete but it will be a lot more hassle and even then i may not make money. Splitting it will be the easier option but would be such a shame weighing in a near mint convertable shell.

What would you guys do? Either way, i am taking my private plate off this week just incase it gets to a point it's too late to take it off.

[NovaLad]

Keep it and come back to it mate as it's a lovely car! especially for the summer.

Sure you can make enough money off your drug dealing lol.

But on a serious note... i'd keep it and try and save up from scratch for a new or newer car. :)
Afterall you have the space to store parts and cars anyway.
Sell some spares you have.

[MK999]

Fix it, usually it's a choice between money or saving the car/shell, as you say your situation is win-possible win on fixing it.

[L33 LEG]

Keep it and come back to it mate as it's a lovely car! especially for the summer.

Sure you can make enough money off your drug dealing lol.

But on a serious note... i'd keep it and try and save up from scratch for a new or newer car. :)
Afterall you have the space to store parts and cars anyway.
Sell some spares you have.

The plan was to always sell the car this summer anyway so no matter how much i like the car and no matter how nice it has looked all polished up in my garage this week Lol, it was always going to go one way or the other.

I can't save up the money that i need from scratch, itl take forever on my crap wage so i needed to sell this car to get one. I have just did a quick add up of what i could get stripping it and it was just short of £1700

The sensible thing would be to fix it and mot it then at least i can enjoy driving it during summer and sell it at some point. But i dont want to chuck more money at it and taxing it for it to break again. If i was to break it i will have to make my mind up now before making an even bigger loss.

[draper]

sell it for 2k with a suspect blown engine ? best of both worlds then

[NovaLad]

As above but maybe keep some bits back that you could make some extra dough off. :)
:thumb:

[L33 LEG]

sell it for 2k with a suspect blown engine ? best of both worlds then

The only people who will want to buy it will be looking to breaking it and will only want to pay £1k tops imo. I will have to deal with the asian population and there's no way i could sell the car for that kind of price, they'll come and knock me down on every single thing. You can buy decent enough working ones for that price, but the condition and mods i have with a working engine i should get top value.

[blue_peg_16v]

change the motor and flog it, cant see how braking its less hastle tbf if you remove all the parts thats gonna take a couple of days engine could be changed in that time

[L33 LEG]

I could easily change the engine in a few days and breaking it will take the same time i agree. But its the hassle of putting the car up for sale and having a load of cocks coming around telling me that my car is only worth half of what i have it for sale as.

I really should just fix it though, i suppose eventually il get a buyer. Il have a good look at it this week and see what the problem is.

[L14MNP]

Fix it on the cheap. Keep you eyes peeled for the parts you need.

What's up with the roof, power going to motor?

[L33 LEG]

I think the motor to lift up the rear panel is broke. When i bought the car the roof lifted but the panel wouldnt (they have 2 motors).

If i was to fit a new engine it would make sense to get a 2.8 again, but then i run the risk of getting a knackered one again.

It really is a tough decision tbh, it doesnt help with the car looking so clean and mint at the moment. Really does look stunning and way too good to scrap lol

[Sloth]

find an iron blocked motor and build you 2.8 into that. bombproof 2.8 :D

[Jon_nova1]

make sure it is the block thats cracked first? it may just need filling/low on water lol

[L33 LEG]

I actually think and hoping it was just low on water. Im going to check it all in the morning, hopefully it was nothing lol

[muzzy]

If its a viable option then fix/replace the engine, seems a real shame to break a car like that.

[maddogdaz666]

arnt they 328 a 2.5 anyways? i thought the 323, 325 an 328 was the same engine block just with different parts bolted on? id get it fixed enjoy it an then sell it.

[L33 LEG]

The 2.3 and 2.5s are the same iirc, but as far as i know the 2.8 is a different engine. I should know because i still have the old one lying in the garage lol

Cheers muzzy, it would break my heart stripping a car like that. It really is in such great condition and looks amazing when the sun is out with or without the roof down. Iv been over the moon with it this past week, once i get it running right it should sell no problems really.

[L33 LEG]

On another note, even though i have the 3 cars i still had to go to work in my dad's car tonight lol bloody nova wheel sounds like its about to fall off. rubbing like mad on the arch, sounds like the bearing has collapsed. damn novas lol was only a few days ago it had a major fuel leak Lol.

[maddogdaz666]

[quote=L33 LEG]The 2.3 and 2.5s are the same iirc, but as far as i know the 2.8 is a different engine. I should know because i still have the old one lying in the garage lolquote]

i stand corrected! You learn somethin new everyday! lol! :thumb:

[L33 LEG]

We had a little mess with it this morning. Basically just topped it with water and bled the system, after about half an hour the pipes and heaters eventually got warm and hasnt overheated, so hopefully it was just a case of that Lol.

I have it booked in tomorrow for an mot so fingers crossed lol

[Sloth]

early e36 2.5 uses the m50, later 323 2.5 uses the m52. m50 = 192bhp, m52 170bhp, done for german tax laws. fit an m50 inlet and 192 is back. also if you fit the m50 inolet to a 2.8 it jumps to 230bhp apparently. i have a 1997 323 2.5 single vanos, with the m50 inlet, fast enough...

[L33 LEG]

I get confused with the different engine names and all of that, il look into it all one day. My 2.5 in the coupe is fast enough and i dont feel the need to mess with it just yet.

The plan is next year the coupe will probably be going more in a track direction (full cage, etc) so will then be seeing about tuning the engine.

[dj_wudgey]

fix it! It would be less stress to fix and sell the whole thing in one go!

[L33 LEG]

Im hoping it is sorted now. If it still overheats then il have another think about it all, really hoping i dont have to spend any money on it though, i need to sell it and use that towards my next car.

Who wants to buy it? lol

[maddogdaz666]

fit a new water pump and thermostat if it overheats again. my mate did the same to his E36 325 and it was fine. and he's a massive BMW bummer

[NovaLad]

I bid - £400 lol

[Ben]

lol at it overheats once and the block is cracked, i thought i was pesimistic!

Cant believe its not been said in 3 pages but why not just sell the yaris to buy the SL?

[L14MNP]

Water pump sounds plausible, I hope for your sake it's not the kind with plastic impellors. If it is it's only a matter of when not if. lol

Have you checked the thermostat? My mate had an E36 325/328 (whichever) and he sold it as totally fcuked, needing water pump/possible HG only to find that the new owner bled the system and fitted a new thermostat and voila!
Said mate trusts a garages word 100% though :/

As for the roof. I wonder if you have an inline fuse under the drivers seat? I saw an episode of The Garage (I know, I know) and they sorted an E39 cab with the same roof panel issue. Turned out that the fuse was duff and hidden in a very weird area.

Does it have 12v going to it or not mate?

[L33 LEG]

Ben - i know it was a bit silly saying that and looking for the worst case scenario but the engines are well known for it and my old one did it aswell. I forgot that i took the pipes off over winter and didnt bleed it again, so hopefully it is just a case of that. so panic over lol

L14M - I doubt itl overheat, but if it does il check everything. The thermo seems to be working though as after a while the pipes get hot on each side which indicates it is opening at the right time and theres no sign of the water pump not working.

I havnt really checked the roof properly, iv just been doing it manually (takes all of 20 seconds). The first place i will check though is the fuses :)

MOT booked in at 1.15 by the way.

[L14MNP]

Cool stuff mate. :)

Gl 4 yr MOT etc. LOL

[L33 LEG]

Sorry for dragging on the topic but thought id let you all know that it passed the mot and is back on the road since november and drives pretty much spot on now.

Now i need to get saving lol

[L14MNP]

colonw000p :)

Glad to hear it mate.