What to do? (Warning: long e36 content)

[Morzada]

I have reached the point where I am asking myself whether to keep and fix or sell and upgrade.

 

Back story:

 

Nearly six years ago I purchased a '96 328 convertible (MT, sport package) as a project car.  Price was comensurate with condition, but nevertheless, I bought a little more project than I expected; car was very neglected - SRS light on, Brake waring light on.  Had 18" aftermarket wheels, bald tires (no spare, but a can of slime.  Sheesh), shot RTABS - and wheel locks with no key.  I drove it back to Madison from southern Illinois in a rainstorm and was white-knuckling the whole way.  Through the whole Rockford exchange - in heavy downpour - in traffic - the ASC light was flashing and the buzzer going off, car was very squirrely.  Rained throughout the night and completely flooded the foot wells; front and back - stowage compartment drains were plugged AND the tonneau trim at the back edge was missing so there were about 10 3/8 holes draining right into the compartment all night.  Oil leaks (I know!), coolant leaks, power steering leaks (again, who'd'a thunk), and vaccuum leaks. 

 

Worse still there was an intermittent hesitation that stumped me for three years until I caved and brought to the dealer, who, while they were unable to solve it, inadvertantly pointed me in the right direction; as a 'courtesy' they did the routine inspections (brakes, fluids, etc.) and told me my battery was running low on charge.  Later, at home, I thought to look up the battery specs, so I stopped short of the garage (so as to get better light) but left the car running.  For whatever reason when I went to look at the battery I gave it a shove (battery was missing tie-down) and heard some nasty crackling and the car stalled.  I pulled back the trunk carpet and found the main power lead was missing about two feet of insulation on the side laying agaist the body.  I can only guess this was the fault of a short caused by a ghetto stereo install.

 

Fast Forward:

 

Replaced check engine light bulb! (Light ON!)

Replaced secondary air pump (Light OFF - most of the time...every hesitation turned it back on...)

Replaced power steering hoses (Leak Gone)

Replaced transmission fluid & teflon-taped the bung (screwed up my torque figures, but Leak Gone)

Replaced differential fluid
Replaced wheels with OEM style 55s,

Replaced RTABs,

Replaced front/rear rotors/pads/sensor (added major scar to back of my right hand, but Light OFF!)

Replaced front control arms & FCABs

Replaced both tie rods

Replaced shocks/struts (Billstein HD's)

Spark Plugs & Boots,

Crank angle sensor, camshaft sensor, TPS (trying to find that damn hesitation)

Smoke tested intake, replaced intake elbow

Cleaned ICV

Replaced fuel filter

Replaced cabin air filter (Holy God!)

Replaced driver seat belt receiver

Replaced fuel pump (didn't fix the hesitation!)

Replaced oil filter housing (Leak Gone)

Replaced CCV

Replaced water pump and thermostat

Replaced radiator drain plug (Leak Gone)

Replaced valve cover gasked (shattered into a million pieces (shop-vac'd valve train) - Leak Gone)

Replaved all four 02 sensors

Cleaned and flow balanced injectors

Flushed power steering system

Replaced Battery (& put new insulation on positive wire - Hesitation Gone!!!!)

Replaced driver sear recline gear (boy reclined the seat all the way down and into the back seat, and shredded the gear - while on a trip to my parents farm 250 miles away from home!).

'Defeated' passenger occupancy sensor with resistor-diode trick (SRS light OFF! - no dash lights!)

 

So the dilema.  I obviously have put a lot of love into the car, and for its part, it really hasn't let me down.  It was what it was when I bought it, and it has rewarded me for the work I've put into it.  I don't mind the time and the only part of the money I regret are the few times I buckled and paid to have work done on it that I later felt I could have taken on myself (although, in truth, I would have 'paid' more in anxiety trying to actually do the work at the time).  Probably 90+% of the work I did myself and it has been a great learning experience.  However, now I'm left with body work.

 

The paint is still shiny, but there are tons of swirl marks and a number of pretty deep scratches. There are about 10 various dings, three of which a pretty noticable from the right angle. The valance below the trunk is pretty rusty and there are two spots of rust on the rear quarters (although these are pretty stable and not too noticeable).  The driver door had been brutalized by a P.O. (I suspect during the ghetto stereo install, there was some odd debris inside) and has a 'paint-canned' ding.  The passenger door, I just noticed, is starting to rust along the bottom.  The best quote I've received is $2,000 for repair work and paint.  The body gets a 7 out of 10.  Interior is really not too bad.  I've replaces the steering wheel, a bunch of the vents, driver seat (now no tears), floor mats, and a while back I stumbled across a red-hot deal and replaced the door panels with some very good condition coupe panels. About the only legitimate flaws (for a 'driver' car of its age) is some bubbling on the rear armrest/speaker panels (which I'm fairly confident I can reglue) and some age-shrinking on the outer shoulder areas of the front seats - it's probaby an 8.5 or even a 9 out of ten 10 (oh yeah, I also scrapped the ghetto stereo and have a nice color-matched display in-dash CD/MP3 player with Ipod controls, replaced all 8 speakers, added a custom sub in the ski pass powered by two well balanced amps in the trunk - nothing crazy, but very nice sounding, especially for a convertible). 

 

So - advice?  Sell and upgrade, or bite the bullet and fix the body?

 

Having written this, I'm growing nostalgic.  Also, being that its a '96, I'm pretty sure next year I could slap a hobbyist or collector plate (or whatever they're called) on it, which has a certain appeal.

 

Or I could sell.  A replacement is a given - and 99% certaintyy of another BMW, 90% certainty of another convertible - I would probably go M3, if I could find a manual.

 

What to do?

 

As a related side topic - there is a guy up in Beaver Dam, not too far away, who has an alpine white driver door for sale for $100.  Says its mint.  I could pick that up and, supposing I strip it down myself, I could probably get it repainted for another $100.  If I could work out the same deal for a passenger door - I could call it $400 for the doors and cut my body work costs down to $1200 (I got a quote for just the dings, paint swirls, and rust repair).

 

I'm sure you all have opinions.

[patsbimmer1]

Rust repair is going to add up fast. I've been down this road, sell it and buy another car.

[Rowleym]

Its so dirt cheap to go buy an e36 from down south and drive it home ha. Or even ship it. Working on a rust free car is by far the best thing ive ever done. This is how I will buy the rest of my chassis ha.