i know the guy you bought the car from! he drives an e36 m3 now and i beleive he still has the tranny/rear end of the car-i too am from baltimore-i looked at that car too but held off...good thing i did that cuz' i came across a 90 m3 that was repo'd by the bank cuz' the guy didn't make the monthly payments-i just paid off the pay-off amt w/c came up to $2200 bucks! only problem w/ the car is that it needs new brakes..i'll be doing that myself this weekend....rob