I'm really debating buying this 330 sedan with a S54 swap. The only thing holding me back is the mileage. The motor has 148k and the chassis has 180k. I also have no idea who installed it and if they did a good job or not. I already have my sedan so I was thinking it would be perfect to swap all my mods over.
What would you do? He wants $9500. What would you pay?
that's a very fair price IMO. you're basically paying a grande or two over list for the car if it was stock. but you're getting a $6k-$7k engine/trans/rear plus mucho labor.
Even with the stock 2.93 or 3.38 rear end, I would imagine the car would still be great to drive. Still worth the money if they reused the stock transmission and rear end.
With 148k on the motor I would request the valve cover be removed to check the vanos oil pump drive. This is at the very minimum. You're also looking at rod bearings being worn every 125k miles +/- and needing replacement (oil lab analysis is an easy way to check for wear without changing parts unnecessarily). This has nothing to do with rod bearing "recall" motors, all S54 wear heavily on the bearings with an 8k rpm redline. There's also valve adjustment, compression, leak down, TPS sensor(s) condition, etc etc.
Cool swap, and very possible it is done well enough to last. I would dive into the E46 M3 section for engine issues and take note of all the inherent 3-series issues too before purchasing.
There are forty ways this install can go wrong unless done by an obsessed mechanic. I'd pass.
Unless you could pick it up for stupid money and the money didn't mean that much to you.
I'd do the same. Unless you really had cash to burn I'd pass as well, unless you could find a way to verify if it was installed properly. I'm not sure of the problems associated with the s54, but that definitely needs to be taken into account because everything will cost more to fix and it is high mileage.
No.
Reasons:
Its still an old car and you already have the same platform.
A retrofit is never factory perfect. People would argue over this but doesn't matter whatever talent one has, cannot be matched with BMW factory perfection.
Mileage.
And that air filter?
Just a suggestion: if you are looking for a powerful sedan, sell yours and add the 9500 you were looking to spend on the posted car and look for a 335i.
No.
Reasons:
Its still an old car and you already have the same platform.
A retrofit is never factory perfect. People would argue over this but doesn't matter whatever talent one has, cannot be matched with BMW factory perfection.
Mileage.
And that air filter?
Just a suggestion: if you are looking for a powerful sedan, sell yours and add the 9500 you were looking to spend on the posted car and look for a 335i.
Thank you guys for all of your answers. I had a feeling it would be very 50/50 which it is. I wish I could afford a 335i if anyone wants to find me one for 9.5k that would be great. haha I would have to sell my car asap if I got this one. The car does have the LSD but it has the 5 speed 330 trans. I still don't know what to do... I don't want to get stuck with a ton of maintenance.
The 320z 5-speed is a cheap unit. It's a great option to beat on and if it does break, it's only $300 to replace it. Aside from the detent issues (stick to OE bmw fluids, NO Royal Purple). You could also use a 310z from 95-97 M3s which have no detent issues.
Personally I think it's a great idea... so much so that my brother and I plan to do it on his 2000 wagon. It's very much a mechanics special though. If you can do work, buy it (provided it's done somewhat correctly).
I would say do it because it is exactly what I want but on the other side I feel with the lsd and s54 motor I would definitely want the strength and driveabilty of a m3 6 speed in it. It would be more fun to drive then our 325cis though. Go check it out and take it to a bmw mechanic and see what he has to say about the swap.
At that price Its worth having it inspected. If the car checks out with a bmw mech. Buy it.
You should be able to make this decision pretty easily imo.
Depends what your intent for the car is. Lots of miles and questionable history means I'd be getting my sleeves rolled up to do some serious refreshing. Would make for a fun toy/project if you have the time and money.
Also, why not buy an actual M3? I saw a guy on here the other day who picked up a clean 'vert with 71K miles for $15K. If you need/want a sedan that's one thing. But if you think this is a cheaper way to get into an S54, then I'd say that probably won't be the case.
I would buy it! Guys the brakes are fine. While I'm almost sure it has m3 brakes, it's not like it automatically can't stop just because it's faster now. My 330 has the same horsepower(ish) as an m3 and I can stop just fine.
Just in case anyone is still interested in this car, I'd highly advise against it. I found some videos on YouTube of a car that looked just like this, so I started looking around online to see what I could find about it. This guy sells used BMW parts from wrecked cars for a living and he has an old account on bimmerforums. He got suspended from that site on two different accounts. In the videos he was doing burnouts and drifting in his neighborhood as well as revving the crap out of it on the first start. I tried to get a hold of him and he would never return calls but simply text me back with a one word answer to any question. Seems kinda sketchy
Nothing sketchy about that. It is just the E46 has devalued so much in past 5 years it is scary. Mint always garaged E46s are going for $3k. Very sad.
Thrashed E30 with S54 would go for $15k in a week. I ended up pulling the S54 out of my E46 and sold the S54 engine the next day and I could not get $7000 for the whole car with S54 in it. There is no value in E46 cars at all.
It is sad to see e46s where e36s were when I bought my first 330, but I have yet to see a clean, well kept e46 for under 5k. A nice garage kept well-maintained facelift 330 with records still seems to go for about 8-9k with decent mileage. Seems pretty consistent with other cars it's age.
Seems too high based on mileage. I'd try to get this down in the 8k range.
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