BenFenner's 2011 White M3 (donor)

[BenFenner]

Table of Contents:

Sister threads:
BenFenner's 2011 White M3 (donor) (SR20-Forum)



Facebook Groups updated with select progress:
BMW E9X M3 V8 Owners club
BMW M3 V8 US Owners Club
E9X M3 Track and Road Course discussion
High Performance Driving & Racing Enthusiasts
Manual Elitist Jerks
Obsessed Garage
Ultimate Klasse Gruppe




1) Introduction

2) Up-to-date price record
3) Up-to-date fuel economy record
4) Up-to-date maintenance/modification record

5) Original sale listing (and Copart history)
6) Trip to purchase
7) "Arrival"
8) Used stock mufflers
9) Document muffler delete

[BenFenner]

Introduction:

2011 BMW M3 (E90 chassis code)


Original listing: 20011 BMW M3 Sedan 4D (Facebook Marketplace)
VIN: WBSPM9C58BE203022

Behold our V8 Camry.

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?
This is not a normal car purchase for me. This is not a normal car I'd be looking for, and I did not go about obtaining this car in any way I would normally.

Let me explain.

This will add a 4th manual BMW to our fleet, and as I hope you'd know by now that fleet centers around my beloved clownshoe. And we of course also own a splendid "unicorn" 6MT/RWD E91. And I've had the idea for a long while now to do a 6-speed swap for the clownshoe, and a body swap for the E91, all using a single donor. Then COVID-19 started making car prices go insane, and before the idea got away from me (possibly forever) I finally began casually looking for a 6MT E9x M3. At the time I did not really know I needed an E90 (sedan) to make this all work, but I lucked out there. I also was hoping for Alpine White to make things easier (since our wagon is white).

So if you're paying attention, by now you should be realizing that I plan to swap most/all of the pertinent body work from the E90 M3 to our E91. The main idea is to get the hood swapped over for the hood-bulge, since it visually balances out the wagon so well. I have since learned the 2-door M3s (E92 and E93) have hoods that are narrower by about an inch than the 4-door cars (E90 and E91) with the fenders making up the difference. So I am VERY glad I ended up with an E90 car to keep things simple. Now to carry over the hood, the headlights and front bumper cover also need to be swapped, and that also means the fenders need to be swapped. So the entire front clip bodywork from the E90 M3 needs to move over to our E91 just to get the hood bulge. (Grafting the hood bulge to the E91 hood isn't really an option either since the E91 hood is steel and the M3 hoods are aluminum).
Moving down the side of the car, the M3 mirrors and side skirts are different, but I prefer the svelte non-M stuff there so the wagon will keep those stock.
Moving to the rear, the M3 sedan had wider rear wheel arches than the 2-door M cars (don't ask me why!) and I think they are wider than what our E91 has. Then of course the M3 has a distinct rear bumper cover, with quad tailpipes. I'd like to get this stuff swapped over as well, but it's complicated body work to graft the rear arches and such, so this is low on the priority list. I know there are also replica bumper covers supplied by ECS Tuning and possibly other that look nearly identical to the M3 rear bumper cover but fit the narrower non-M cars. That is also a possibility. I will think about it more if/when that time comes.

So that is the idea behind using this car as a bodywork donor for our E91. Which leaves us with the other donor idea...

The more important donor recipient in all of this is the M Coupe. I'm told 6-speed swaps on these things are all the rage now, so I want to do that. As luck would have it, the 6MT in the E90 M3 is bolted to BMW's S65 V8 engine which does not share a bellhousing bolt pattern with the I6 engines that came in the shoes. This means the V8 needs to come for the ride, too.
So look forward to the 6-speed swap saga chronicled in excruciating detail (as usual) in the build thread for that car.

By now it should be obvious I'm not really looking for a car in amazing condition. As long as the engine/transmission/front-clip-bodywork are in good order I'm not picky.
So after passively looking for a bit, I finally put up a WTB thread here: WTB your clapped-out E9x M3 with 6MT.
I consider it my best WTB thread to date, so I encourage you to read it.
That thread did not bear fruit though, and my passive search produced results eventually on Facebook Marketplace.

Expect this vehicle ownership and "build thread" to be quite different from my others. This is not a car I care about or plan to own for a long time. I don't plan to fix every little thing on it as I would with my others. I'll likely only be making posts here about things I do to and for the engine/transmission as I get things ready to swap over. I tend to work VERY slowly though, so be warned.




The good:

• 6-speed manual transmission in good working order
• Engine currently working
• 4-door body style
• Front-clip in passable shape
• White exterior
• A/C blows cold for the drive home

The neutral:

• Purchase price of $15,500
• Salvage title

The bad:

• All of the known problems with BMW's S65, 6MT, and E9x offerings.
• Double-hump (navigation/iDrive nonsense)
• Tacky polished wheels
• Tacky dark tint
• Tacky front splitter
• Tacky black painted roof
• Comfort Access System (CAS) module failure
• The wrong hood intake was blocked off
• Previous owner drenched the entire interior in Axe body spray (or similar)
• Seat belt chime defeat device left in center console by previous owner (IYKYK)
• Appears to have been repainted (from factory Space Grey) Alpine White by a blind wombat with Parkinson's
• Weather stripping poorly re-installed (after repaint?)
• Disintegrating upper windshield trim
• I mean this list is endless so I'll stop here...

The ugly:

• Aluminum oil pan damaged in apparent collision (repaired via welding)
• Texas flood victim
• Copart/Poctra victim

Driving impressions:
This really is a 9.5/10 engine (ignoring all of the reliability issues) and 7.5/10 transmission (ignoring the pressure plate reliability issues) wrapped in a 5/10 car (E93 is 4/10 and E92 is 0/10).

Don't get me wrong, the E9x chassis (and especially in M3 guise) is an incredibly capable sports sedan. It is probably one of the best performance sedan chassis out there and with the way things are going it may never be eclipsed. However, it is not a sports car. No matter how many doors it has, it is still a sports sedan. And with an engine like it has, I really just want it to be a sports car or smaller GT car and when I'm comparing it to those, it falls woefully short. Then you have to consider that with an N52 and in wagon form, this chassis makes so much more sense. When compared to that driving experience, this car falls short again. I can see why people like this thing (especially if it is their only car, or only "fun" car), but it is not for me. Like, at all. I'd either want it to be more of a highway missile (BMW M5) or much lighter and more responsive (think Honda S2000 or even just an E30 if we're still talking sedans).

Speaking of the S2000, that F20C is what this engine reminds me of. Just gutless for its power output, but lovely to rev and joyous to experience. I wouldn't really change a thing about the way the engine behaves (I am not a fan of early horsepower). I can only imagine the E93 folks must feel like they are driving an S2000 turned up to 11 in all the good ways.

The seating position is great, the primary controls are generally good except the active steering/dynamic steering effort is awful. The visibility is great, the seats are decent, the manual transmission operation is decent except the shift lever has way more rubbery play than it should. The factory induction sound is too muted, and the cross-plane crank makes for an unforgivable exhaust cadence with no affordable solution.

The last thing I will say is that I really enjoy my E36/8 and the way it handles, including all of its many flaws. It is not the most planted vehicle, and has "personality" for days when it comes to vehicle dynamics. The E90 M3 is WAY TOO planted and civil in comparison, and that is maybe my biggest complaint. It is too "good", dynamically. And there is my cop-out if you wanted one.




Future plans:
Steal the good bits for better cars and toss the rest off a cliff.

[BenFenner]

Up-to-date price record:

Begin 2021 below.

$15,500.00 - Used 20011 BMW E90 M3 (Link)
$339.00 - Sales tax (capped in SC at $300) plus misc fees (estimate, can't find records)
$465.96 - Property tax
---------------

Total: $16,304.96

[BenFenner]

Up-to-date fuel economy record:

x.xx mpg - Worst track economy
xx.xx mpg - Average track economy (Raw - xx.xx/x)
xx.xx mpg - Best track economy

x.xx mpg - Worst city economy
xx.xx mpg - Average city economy (Raw - xx.xx/x)
xx.xx mpg - Best city economy

x.xx mpg - Worst mixed economy
xx.xx mpg - Average mixed economy (Raw - xx.xx/x)
xx.xx mpg - Best mixed economy

x.xx mpg - Worst highway economy
xx.xx mpg - Average highway economy (Raw - xx.xx/x)
xx.xx mpg - Best highway economy

[BenFenner]

Up-to-date maintenance/modification record:

Previous owner's maintenance history records:
2020-xx-xx ....... 13x,xxx ...... Rod bearings replaced with ACL units of unknown clearance (source: trust me bro)


My maintenance history records:
2021-04-13 ...... 145,609 ...... Purchase car from Soyabe/Ricardo in Orlnado, FL

[BenFenner]

Original sale listing (and Copart history) | Album 1, 2

As mentioned in the introduction, I was casually looking for a cursed/haunted 6MT E90 M3 with stories to tell.

I came across this WTB Facebook posting and reply by Soyabe Jamal:
Carlos Adrian Bordogna Vivas's Post | BMW E9X M3 V8 Owners club | Facebook

It was a salvage title car and I was hoping for a clean title (for ease of insurance) but confirmed it would not be an issue with my insurance.

I then found the official listing on Facebook Marketplace:

























I spoke with the seller and negotiated them down from $17,000 USD to $16,000, then got the VIN and looked it up to find it had a quite a storied history the seller was not telling.

Apparently the he car began life as a Space Grey car but eventually got caught up in the Texas flood of 2017 (Hurricane Harvey) since it ended up at the Houston, TX Copart with "TX - SALVAGE TITLE-FLOOD DAMAGE" listed as the Doc Type and Primary Damage listed as "WATER/FLOOD" near the end of that year. (I found it listed at Poctra as well which is just an anagram for Copart.) So this is where the salvage title comes from.

























So I believe the car ended up being "fixed" in whatever capacity that means after leaving Copart, and then driven for a while, and then completely repainted Alpine White (as mentioned in the FB listing) with black roof for some undisclosed (and likely unrelated to the flood), but no less interesting reason. It is now just a FWD-conversion away from being the complete V8 Camry.

Success! I found the absolute basket case I was looking for.

I booked a one-way flight from Columbia, South Carolina to Orlando, Florida to pick it up and drive it home.

I then arranged with another seller on Facebook Marketplace who is 1.75 hours West of Orlando near Tampa to purchase the OE Westfalia tow kit they had for sale that I'd been eyeing. Ever since picking up our E53 a year ago in early 2020 I'd been looking for a deal on one. The plan was to pick up the car, drive it to Tampa, pick up the tow kit there to save a ton of money on shipping, and then drive the ~7 hours home to Columbia, SC with working A/C.

When I got there to Orlando and saw the thing in person I noticed the paint work was WAY worse than the images let on. I mean it was okay on the body panels, but there was over-spray everywhere. And as you can imagine all manner of mounting tabs and hardware were missing, etc. I scanned the DME for codes and was hit with a laundry list. I panicked a little because I didn't think the car was worth it and I now needed to find a way home, and/or to Tampa...

So out of desperation I lowered my offer to $15,000 (it is not like me to negotiate at all, let alone this hard) and we met in the middle at $15,500. I still felt I was overpaying for the car a bit, but such is life and I wanted to move forward instead of backward.

The car was straight-piped but came with the factory rear section that I insisted on including with the sale. Expecting this, I brought tools with me on the airplane to remove the rear seat-back to allow the exhaust to fit in the car (why E92s mostly came with 60/40 splits and E90s didn't is insane). This was also part of the plan to fit the E53 tow kit, and worked out well.

So now I have this story to tell and heap in my driveway.

[BenFenner]

Trip to purchase | Album

It's 2021 and time to update my road atlas.
(This replaces my battle-worn 2006 copy.)

The flight out to Orlando was uneventful and the seller picked me up at the airport. As mentioned, I looked over the car, test drove it, scanned it for codes, agreed on a $15,500 purchase price, and went to a local branch of my bank to make the deal. I removed the rear seat-back and loaded the stock rear exhaust/mufflers into the trunk through into the cabin.

I hit the road to Tampa and met up with Vlad who was selling me an excellent-condition OEM tow kit for our X5, for a completely reasonable $500. I got to check out the diesel-swapped manual X5 (the first in the US?) that he recently finished for himself, and I think a Z4 he was seriously modifying as well. The tow kit fit mostly inside the trunk as well, but it was good that I had the seat removed for more room.

Not much else to say about this, except on the long ride home I got plenty of time to enjoy the working A/C, tolerate the loud exhaust and poor fuel economy, and loath the absolutely horrid iDrive system.

Pics:

[BenFenner]

"Arrival" | Album

Here she is at our house.
Note the VIN, the loaded trunk and rear passenger compartment, the 3 pedals/wiggle stick, the misplaced hood vent block-off, and the peeling coating on the valve covers.

I expect to daily drive the car a bit (it can do the day-care run) while I get acquainted with its major issues, and get some repairs done on some of our other German money pits.

Pics (as usual, visit the album link above for more):

[BenFenner]

Used stock mufflers | Album

Here are the stock mufflers I made sure to pick up with the car. They absolutely needed the rear seats removed to fit inside the car, but here they are.

I plan to install them at some point, with new gaskets, ground straps, and whatever else might be missing when I get to it.

With this update finished, I doubt you'll see much about this car for a while. So don't hold your breath.

Pics:

[BenFenner]

Album

One of these days I'll get all four cars together for a picture. Today is not that day.

[smokinjoe64]

Gen E's forever, FTR!!!

[BenFenner]

Document muffler delete | Album

A local race shop was developing enhanced engine mounts for many 3-series cars, and wanted to make sure they would clear the special setup on the M3 so I offered up my car for them to study. While it was up on the lift I took a few pics of what a previous owner had done to delete the mufflers. No surprise, it was a mostly underwhelming attempt. I hope to get the factory mufflers installed some time soon.
The upstream resonators were also deleted, but didn't get any pics of that since I wasn't even aware at the time.


Pics: