BMW E36 M3 Pre-purchase info and advice (Part 1 of 3)

[Boarderforlife32]

hey man, i know quite a bit about m3's but have a question about a coupe 1997 e36 m3 that dont have the the bmw stripes on them... help? i have pictures too so if you can pm me thatd be great!

[av7447]

What are you illuminating, your garage walls ???

[fiveightandten]

@av7447 - Yes, i'm illuminating the garage walls. I did a video on pre-purchase advice for people looking to buy a garage right before this vid. I must have forgot to re-arrange the lighting.

[Siper2]

fiveightandten - I don't own a Bimmer, but I'm extremely impressed with your videos, here. Nice job, thanks for bringing this to everyone!

[fiveightandten]

@Siper2 - Thanks. And thanks for watching.

[ajk150]

what if theres no vin at all on a fender does that mean its been replaced?

[fiveightandten]

@ajk150 - If there is no VIN it's been either replaced, removed, or painted over. The fenders have VIN tags put on them from the factory.

[xXTrueSShotX]

@fiveightandten God damnit, I wish you did all of this, but with an e46 m3 XD

[poketehnoob]

@ajk150 Or it could be stolen :/

[runescapenerdforlife]

I found a 98 with 15k miles :)

[jadasic]

thanks for uploading 'five...good ish

[Piratejake86]

Found one with 300K miles, all original records in excellent condition.  Trying to decide what a fair offer is... Difficult job.

[MikelVBravo]

4sho, thank you, I have owned and maintained a(n) e30 for 2 years. It was the only car I ever learned about. I did so many things to it too. Now l'm debating over these cars in this order ; e36 manual(convertible if possible to find decent) e38(740) or another e30.

[BFLY3]

thanks alot for this video im looking to buy an e36 right now this helps

[99statsever]

@fiveightandten Maybe a pre-purchase for that WRX? i like ur vids

[mrplatinum919]

awsome video. are the vins on the fenders on a e46 m3 just like this one ??

[TheAlpinab10]

omg this is not M

[fiveightandten]

@TheAlpinab10 - The car is an M3. Please do some research before spreading misinformation.

[TheAlpinab10]

@fiveightandten so must be this M USA version

[Gconry]

@TheAlpinab10 It is a US M3. The engine cover and intake manifold is different to that of the EU and RSA versions.

[imapersonhere]

Your voice sorta reminds me of the bald guy from "Pawn Stars".

[fd3slover]

Lol Courtesy Of The Red White And Blue nice.

[TheReasonableLogic]

Can this apply to all e36s or just the m3, I'm looking for a 328is?

[ladangelo202]

mostly 8k with over a 100k miles on it... i have a black 99 us its pretty cool but low on power

[arao2]

you are the man! i have an e46 m3 right now and Im really considering selling it for an e36 due to my vanos issues and subframe issues...as well as other things

[mortalwinggk7]

hey man i think your vid is VERY usefull and informatice, i'm 16 and looking for a E46 :D do you know the range price for them, and how the engine should sound? BTW what is a SMG transmission, thankyou

[magiata93]

@mortalwinggk7 you gonna wrap it around a tree just like i did. but u might not get as lucky as i did and walk out of the car.

[freddy692000]

dude there in US the european cars are not so popular here in greece all 60-70% of the cars are german u get a BMW for 2900euro and M3 for 5000euro everyone has BMW and mercedes here i got 2 a 520i and a 318i both were very cheap to buy i dont know about the USA though

[ipodmanischen]

how is the insurance on those m3's??? high low

[dcbPleven]

the engine is S52 but what is B30 or B32 (Greetings from Bulgaria)

[soundseeker63]

@dcbPleven Cylinder size. B30 = 3.0 Litre B52 = 3.2

[Stig140]

too bad the us version are slow as fuck!

[klolomggmo]

what's the general price range for the e36 sedans?

[fiveightandten]

@klolomggmo - Currently $5,000 - $11,000US. Prices are all over the board depending on the mileage, condition, and maintenance the car has seen.

[klolomggmo]

@fiveightandten thanks for the quick reply, i admire your motivation to help noobs out..i love the "should i buy an e36 m3" thread.

[fiveightandten]

@klolomggmo - No problem man. Good luck in your search.

[Mr330d]

@fiveightandten without sounding really dumb them 6 things right beside the engine there them's the cylinders right?? my e46 330d has a cover you cn't see anything and i'v never botherd removing it lol take a look at my youtube channel it's my main pic it's a uk version love the e36 m3's my mate has 1 its like a dark purple tho but looks amazing

[fiveightandten]

@Mr330d - If you're referring to the 6 cylinder looking things you see to the right of the engine cover, that's the intake manifold. It feeds air into the cylinders, which are inside the engine, and thus not visible without disassembling it.

[fiveightandten]

@klolomggmo - current market price ranges from $6,000-$11,000, on average. Prices are all over the board because it's an enthusiast car. Some people are content with an absolute dogged E36 that has had no maintenance and is in pretty poor shape. Other want a clean example that's been well kept and had all the maintenance taken care or.

[Szewczmi]

Great vid... u pretty much covered all the important things about the M3.

Im sure it has and will help alot of ppl.

I myself am into BMW's and am picking up a E36 4D M next week. :D

[CyV]

Those things come fully loaded with vin's. Nice M3 by the way.

[herpnut]

Does a lot of this apply to e30's too? I've been looking for an e36 or e30 project and just found an 87 325is.

[DamnSweetThing1100]

Hi Chris,

its an us m3

The us m3 have 2990ccm

Greetings from Germany too ;-)

[oneshotcon]

Hey fiveightandten, Im about to go check out a 1998 S52US in a few hours. It is 99% stock with 40k miles on the chassis and drivetrain. I dont want the Vanos unit to deal with because Im planning on doing a forced induction build later on. It seems like the S52 with its thicker valve stems and hotter cams would be a more solid foundation for TT or SC (after getting a thicker head gasket and lower compression pistons of course). At 40k, would performing a compression test on the S52 be necessary?

[stormthorgerson]

i found one '96 w/ 161k miles, what are some popular problems the e36 has, if any, car looks ok but ive only seen pictures, any tips?

[turbotdi2002]

Thank you so much for making this now I know a lot about a e36 M3 because I am in search of one but knew nothing.

[wedrive525it]

Hello I wanted to know why the 1997 m3 sedan didn't get the 3 spoke steering wheel >=( You seem very knowledged in the world of bimmer.Just to let you know This video will be my best friend when I go e36 m3 shopping :)

[wedrive525it]

I was wondering why the 1997 sedan didn't get the 3 spoke steering wheel >=( seems like your very knowledged in the world of bimmer. please and thanks and by the way I will deff use this when I go m3 shopping :)

[er1k325]

wish i saw this before i bought mine

[josj15]

@er1k325 why? do you not like it? i'm thinking of buying one

[aga080]

Excellent videos, thank you

[sirjoker292]

great set of videos, thanks for the advice, even though i have an e46 i learned alot

[incubated]

excellent review. very helpful

[bizlur]

Good video and nice car... Hellrot is so nice. I have an Estoril 99, I'm a blue fan... but my second choice would definitely be Hellrot... would be ok with one of each however. :)

[qwerty123456789jhdtg]

Dude, you seem still the only one on Youtube with such information ! Great Job !

[justtryharder]

Very good videos. Ive been looking at buying an e36 m3 and they helped allot.

[qwerty123456789jhdtg]

Great info, thanks man

[Dvsconceptz]

You ppl can say what you want but this guy if not obvious know a few things about cars and this particular model.....>Stop dissing him, hes just trying to inform those who wouldnt know otherwise,,,,,Thanx man,,,,

[piancu]

The plug for OBD2 diagnosis (check engine light) is under the dash on driver's side, not under the hood

[bizlur]

mmm.... do you own a BMW? there is a plug in both places. The one under the hood is a hell of a lot easier to use when you are tuning the engine and changing ECU settings. Under the hood is proprietary BMW plug, under dash is under the stardard plug.

[Shift4g]

This video is much more suited to enthusiasts. I don't know of many people who would still want an M3, let alone a Bimmer after watching this lol.

[fiveightandten]

Shift4g- Drive one if you haven't. It's well worth the extra attention to preventative maintenance it requires over many other cars. ;)

Fix things before they break. Be proactive with maintaining it, and it will be bulletproof. It's just not a 'change the oil and drive it' kind of car like a Honda.

[racer46]

@fiveightandten yup,same with vw

[mehdieminem]

there are so many e36 m3 with accident history its just crazy

[apmirkin]

i'm lucky - i'm in the UK!

mines got 321hp, no previous accidents and only 58000miles with full bmw history!

[Streetracingpunk72]

Haha. "Don't know much about these if you're watching the video?" I know plenty about the E36 M3's. Just because I would like to hear information from an owner before purchasing does not mean, in any way, I don't know much about the car. Just something to keep in mind.

[filetitan]

Very good job with the video!

[hornz5]

Just a quick little correction, the cooling fan right in front of the engine is not belt driven. It's driven directly by the motor through a fan clutch. :P hehe. P.S. You might want to look into a "fan delete mod" kit to get rid of it. These have a tendency to get brittle or hit the rad due to loose motor mounts under hard shifting. Next thing you know your whole cooling system is toast!

[hampnich]

The two things you pointed at on the intake. The one by the box was the MAF. The other one you pointed at was the traction control TB. The actual cruise/throttle TB is right behind it.

[M3Moosi]

Hi,

i´m Chris from Bavaria (Germany)

Is this realy a BMW M3??

The Motor doesn´t look like the one from a M3.

I can´t see Vanos or the single restrictor system... I hope thats the right word.

How much horsepower and cylinder capacity do you have?

Greetings from Germany

Chris

[fiveightandten]

Chris,

Yes, it's really an M3. In the US we got completely different motors than the Euro cars (also 5 speed transmission, different differential, and some other downgrades as well).

The US motor in this car (S52US, 1996+) is a different version of the 328 motor. It's 3.2L, but we get 240HP, 236 ft-lbs. Paltry compared to the Euro cars. The US motors are quite different.

In the states, we drool at the thought of an E36 with the 3.2 Euro motor. They are hard to come by around here.

[tasteslikes0be]

the motors used in america are slightly different from those used in other countries like Germany

[luis9691]

Yes Chris!! I had exactly the same car and same color purchased in 1998 (brand new)! It is a full and real M3 !! Nothing like an M3! Today, I have a phoenix yellow one.

[marshin3]

nice info!!

[gregory49]

Great Channel man, And nice car.