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The 'you need an E36' thread

636K views 2K replies 286 participants last post by  The Sage 
#1 · (Edited)
So much love for the E30 in the other thread... how about some E36 love?
And, while the love for E30 pushes the buying ability into the stratosphere, the E36s remain affordable and, in MANY cases, cleaner and cheaper to purchase!















 
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#62 ·
I love them but I could never live with the steering wheel. Any upgrades that keep the airbag? Not that a 13-18 year old airbag would be that great. Well there are some 18 year old airbags that I'd love to cushion my face at a high rate of speed, but that's neither here nor there.
 
#70 ·
I just bought a nicely kept 1997 M3 Sedan. Its in amazingly good shape, never seen a winter despite living all of its life in Vermont. Everything except the radio works, has a few light mods (drilled rotors, bilstein shocks, wheels). Only issue I had originally is that its an automatic, but for my purposes (daily driver in city traffic, occasional baby hauler), I kind of like having it. Has 136k miles, and I bought it for $5900, which as far as I can tell is a very decent price.
 
#72 ·
Posted this one here before, but last year we found this '93 325i for $1200 and drove it home for my kid's GF.



It's needed a water pump and a coil pack and a basic tuenup, but that's it mechanically. It also needed both front window regulators because the PO trashed them trying to install a **** stereo system. Luckily he hadn't had it long enough to truly trash it and was using the money to go buy another Civic. It's been a good car for her since we got it.
 
#110 ·
US spec S50/S52 have vanos... it's just a single vanos (intake side). Euro motor is double vanos I believe, like later E46 engines.

The great thing about the US S52 is it's simplicity, reliability, less maintenance, and can handle boost pretty well. With a cut-ring gasket or something along those lines and ARP head bolts, people can achieve 500hp with turbo, using the factory DME. Some of the best companies that sell forced induction solutions and tuning have been able to tune the factory ECU to be able to handle very high HP... not sure what the highest is, but I think there's 600hp cars running around.
 
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