honestly, you could pick up a non running e36 for about 3500 dollars, rust free, mint interior, clean exterior, etc.i highly suggest you look the car over well. check the tires for abnormal wear, burnouts are abusive. also, make sure to check every guage, and button inside. my e30 had a swap, and the wiring was ruined, nothing worked like it should have. don't make the same mistake i did. but, there's still nothing like owning a straight six that will make you giddy every time you start it up.

 

Are you joking? for $3500, you could pick up a perfectly running E36. The one that OP is getting should cost no more then $2k (even that's a bit generous imo).

IDK what it is about american mechanics not wanting to touch BMWs. I had the same issues when I tried to take my car to the shops. Because of that, I had to do the work myself. Honestly - everything is basically the same on all cars. IDK why changing a HG would be hard for someone who is mechanically inclined. All you really have to do is disconnect everything from the head, remove the valve cover and undo the head bolts. It's time consuming, due to the amount of things you have to remove, but it's totally doable. As far as hydrolocking - you grandpa could be right. However - you should also note that bad HG doesn't mean that you can't start the car. You should also make sure that the head is not warped. If the HG is blown - there is a possibility that the car may have overheated and cracked the head.

It's also pretty odd that this car has a blown HG. That's very uncommon on m50 motors. I sold my 525 (similar motor as E36) a few months ago with 260,000 miles on the clock. The HG was never replaced on it. It never smoked and burned very little oil.

Now that I think about it, I wouldn't recommend buying that car. It could become a huge money pit. Look elsewhere. IDK what your budget is, but you can get a lot for sub $10k these days.

 

i bought my e36 for 3k. and its problem free but the rear struts . you can get a non running e36 for lower then 2. or just go find an e30 in a junk yard for cheep as well.

 

the only problem with those is rust. That was the primary reason for me to sell the E34. I'm thinking about possibly buying it back. I'm just not feeling any other cars. As you may know, I was considering buying an integra or Z32TT, but I just cant bring myself to buy a non-BMW

 

you know you cant do it . give in to your german needs.. yeah i was pretty lucky with mine. even tho its got alot of miles on it. the exterior and interor are in fairly great shape and rust free, the motor was also taken to a garage when he first bought it and he went down the list and replaced all the problems but the rear struts. the guy who test drove it before me also took it to a garage and got it looked at and it was problem free. he did put new rotors on that i guess he warped right off the bat.. which sucks but of well. i would have thought about an e30 but they just arn fast enough. ill get my e46 after i graduate

 

Yeah I have decided not to do it I am just going to try and get cash for it and hopefully get a nice 325I.

 

take into consideration the market. in florida, bmws are worth more than they are in ohio. if he was to up his budget to about 5k, he could find an incredibly nice low mileage e36, fully maintained with paperwork.
also, i'd reccomend an e30 over an e36 ANY day of the week. why? because they are pure exstacy. a nice fully loaded late model 325is with low miles can be had for ~2k, and they're plenty quick. my old 325i with a 2.79 diff ran a 15.8 on firestone fr380s.. a 325is would have a 3.73 LSD, which would make it a lot quicker than my old car. not to mention the way the interior feels like it was made for the driver, everything is angled towards the driver, and it was nice. the big problem with the e30 is the rear trailing arm suspension design, and the 4x100 hubs. but, the e36's do look better when modded right. a good friend of mine actually picked up a turbo 325is for 2200 dollars. it ran a 12.4 on kuhmo ecstas.. you can find them all day long, but you REALLY have to be careful about the older bmw's. lots of people neglect them after a while.

 

um idk. cars in good condition tend to be cheeper in florida then up here. i grew up in ohio .. but thats just my opinion

 

meh, 15.8 is not all that impressive - I would expect better. My bone stock E34 2.5l ran 15.9. That car weighs 3500lbs too