BMW E36 M345 Engine Swap, Manual Swap, and Refurbishment.
This car began its life in our care as a high mileage, knocking, automatic, and got a massive overhaul. This included a low mileage S52 with all new seals, and a fully integrated manual swap just like it would have came from the factory.
When this project began, the car was in rough shape. While some of it was in good shape, most of it was in desperate need of a refresh. Locks? Broken. Door cards? Ripped. Engine? Blown. Trim? Missing or Broken. HVAC? Dead, missing parts everywhere. The engine had four spun bearings, the chassis had 248k miles, and the transmission was an automatic. So we fixed it.
We began with the fundamentals. We sourced a low mileage S52, and a ZF manual and proceeded to do a full refresh of the motor by doing all the seals, oil pump, paint, etc. We pulled the old motor out, and began to refresh all the broken parts that were now accessible with the motor out.
Then the new motor went in, and all the wiring was done so that cruise control, the reverse lights, and all the other functions were perfectly integrated like a factory manual.
Once the car was running well, we took the time to do some upgrades that got the car dialed in to our vision for the car which included vaders from a coupe, glass headlights, a sport m-tech steering wheel, Ireland Engineering short shift kit, SPAL electric fan conversion, Turner Motorsport lip, and Kosei K1 wheels with brand new super summer tires and DSII BMW logo caps.
Once the car was working well mechanically, the car went to Classic Daily, and got a full respray as well as new locks, door handles and door handle gaskets. It was repainted in the original color of Dakar Yellow II.
When the car was returned to us, we finished up the remaining details to finish the project and to prepare it for auction on Bring a Trailer. This included shooting some great high resolution images with a professional car photographer to help us present the car honestly and well.
Below is a link to the BAT auction where it sold for 15k!
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-bmw-m3-sedan-92/
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