Re: Big $$ problems (archive)

For what its worth, Fahey told me "most people wanting us to rebuild these things get into it for about 20-25k.. because if you spend x to do this "right", then you'll want to know the rest of it is done right, and it just adds up and you lost track of where you started"

Hearing this had my 75% convinced to sell my m5 at a huge loss without a running motor. Luckily james told me about a hack-up fix he tried on his 535i, and its been working for me thus far (almost 6 months) Thanks James!!! :)

Some prices to keep in mind:

Steve Haygood offered me a used S38 complete for about $4k.

A refurb crate S38 motor from Munich is 13k.

An E36 M3 full-on race car can cost > 100k

The S38 is an expensive motor. I've found out the hardway that these are very expensive cars to own if anything ever goes wrong. I'm only 1 year out of college, and I just bought the car a few months after graduating. It's spent a lot of time not running, because I eventually figured out i was going to go broke if I fixed it
immediately every time it broke. My "solution" has been to sort of wait a few months inbetween repairs.. while i post helplessly on this board and ask different shops for advice (shops I frequent just enough that they aren't absolutely furious about talking to me).

After a while of not spending money on the car, and talking over various options, i usually end up coming up with something that works and doesn't break the bank. Mostly its just not spending money on the car for a few months lets me feel ok about dumping 3 or 4 digits into it.

Big items currently on the list:

fix oil leak (from headgasket/timing cover intersection)
fix rear SLS (maybe just one of the shocks needs replacing!)
replace exhaust, again (im hoping Mario at VS&R gets his E28M5 system done soon)

If i ever get those done, maybe i'll get around to doing a compression test and if thats happy, i'll see about putting a cam gear and conforti software in the car.

It's always something :)

Meaning I don't have any to throw at my problem..

I've posted a few times about my head removal. Sent it to F. Fahey and had it worked on and am ready to put it back on. While it was off it made sense to put new rings in and replace the bearings. (Bearing were worn into the babbet)Well to make a long story short I got concerned about my ability to do it myself. So I've towed it to a local BMW specialist who now tells me my pistons are worn beyond spec and need to be replaced. This means boring out the block. Basically a complete build up but using stock crank. 9 grand and I already paid for head work.

Doesn't this sound like WAY too much for this work? $2600 is the charge just for the 10 over pistons. Also includes new fuel line, hoses, crank & cam gears, etc, etc...

Any alternative suggestions you folks could pass along to get me on the road is greatly appreciated.

TIA,

Michael

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