1997 BMW M3 6 Speed Overdrive, 290HP, Orig. Owner, Vaders

BMW M3 6 Speed Overdrive, 290HP, Orig. Owner, Vaders (1997)
for sale

Price: US $7,250.00

Description:

1997 BMW M3 Excellent condition, 6 speed overdrive, 290HP, passed California smog.Original owner, California car, always garaged, all receipts and records since new.
A Shockingly Fast extremist enthusiast's car.
Just passed California full Star Station level smog inspection again, June 27, 2015. This powertrain is the real deal.
A more economical and high performance street legal E36 M3 than you might imagine anyone would take the time and money to develop.
Easily over $25k invested in setting up and tuning and tweaking this car.Business needs and family-ish life don't let me keep this anymore, so I'm setting the Buy It Now price at only $13, 995.Lesser E36 M3's have sold on EBay recently in the $15 to $20K range, and this car's performance is superior to them.
See picture 11 for the dyno chart.
I'm open to interesting partial trades.
This car is like an M car of E36M cars, using mostly factory BMW parts that BMW could have used if they were willing to add the extra cost and performance that their bean counters decided the US market didn't need.
Six Speed overdrive conversion from an E46 //M3 gives rock solid shifting with better economy and calmer cruising.
This M3 is ready built with all the makings of an unbeatable totally zooming autocrosser or seriously sweet track car if that's what you want to do with it.
Factory options include On Board Computer, heated seats, cruise control. Cosmos black metallic Coupe with black leather Vader interior. Upgraded stereo with E46 factory in-dash CD deck.Electric driver seat. Installed JT underpanel to get rid of the chronic self destructing factory plastic underpanels.
Custom hand painted tri-color M pinstriping.
Real OEM German ZKW ellipsoid headlights, Silverstar H1 bulbs, far better quality and light output than Asian made aftermarket lights.
The air conditioning blows chilly cold.
Shockingly fast acceleration through quick shifting gears with the 3.91 limited slip rear and lightweight flywheel with M5 clutch. The effective overall 3.13 final drive ratio helps give calmer cruising with increased the fuel economy.
Anytime anything wore out, I replaced, rebuilt, upgraded, and improved that component.This car exceeds the sum of the tasteful improvements in performance, efficiency, and reliability that I've built into it over its lifetime.
Fuel economy in normal driving is the same or better than when new.
You will be especially pleased with this car if you've already been looking at other M3's and are frustrated by other M3's that are a list of high priced performance parts that just don't feel and sound and run right or run clean to pass emissions, or have rock hard jouncy competition suspensions and were beat to crap and have thousand$ in needed maintenance and repairs.
Clutch and driveline:A nice light touch on the clutch pedal, due to an //M5 pressure plate and clutch, with a UUC lightweight flywheel, both fully spun balanced before installation. New rear seals and other clutch hardware installed at the same time.
Driveshaft made to match, starting with an E36 automatic driveshaft, with new center bearing, correctly lengthened 3.0 inches so splines engage fully.Shifter upgraded to Racing Dynamics European M3 6 speed quick shifter, which is perfectly match with the transmission. The shifter is correctly topped off with the beautiful leather wrapped BMW factory //M3 6 speed leather shift knob.
This all makes the drivetrain super smooth whether cruising the highway or putting full power to the rear wheels.
Engine tuning:Overall, this motor makes more power than you would imagine a stock cam, normally aspirated, catalytic convertered E36 M3 could produce.
Data capture and recording:Innovate OT2 with WiFi, and LC1 wideband oxygen sensor system, all hardwired in, have led me to be able to tweak the fuel system and intake to pass California smog, nearly as clean as when the car was brand new.
Dyno:
The dyno chart shows 251 rear wheel, equal to 290 horsepower at the flywheel, still with the stock cams and an internally stock engine.
I make this much power by modifying the conventional approaches to get almost as much extra air into the engine as stage 1 street cams do.
If you're not concerned about passing smog, then this is a perfect development platform to tune and tweak this into an all out autocross or race track engine even further.
Intake and Fuel Injection:
First version factory M50 manifold (not the common US spec 325i manifold) installed by Eric himself of M50manifold.com, Denso blue 24# injectors (rocket nozzle outlets for better directed spray than the wide spray of the Bosch 24# injectors), my own homemade 3.5 inner diameter MAF tube with textured walls (whereas what Bosch sells as a 3.5 MAF is only 3 3/16 inner diameter with smooth walls), a Pipercross Viper internal cup style airbox (subdued tasteful intake sound only when you step on the gas), the Bosch/Porsche turbo MAF sensor with my own home made air concentrating funnel in front of the filament, 3.5 Turbohoses intake boot, and a custom 68.5 bore throttle body. Fresh air inlet from the foglight hole. The OBDII data shows 37 lb/minute MAF flow versus 26 lb/min from stock.
I also relocated the intake air sensor from the intake manifold into the intake boot to eliminate heat soak on the sensor that leads to lean metering, which occurs after idling with the throttle closed for a minute, like at a traffic light.
Software:
Shark Injector for this manifold/sensor/injector combination from Jim Conforti meters the whole thing. Very tractable and idles smooth as a purring kitten in normal driving.
An adjustable fuel pressure regulator with gauge makes it extremely easy to tweak the air/fuel mixture, but unless you make drastic changes like installing aftermarket cams or removing the cats from the exhaust, no changes will be needed.
Exhaust:
Euro version stainless steel Supersprint exhaust, with larger diameter pipes than the US spec, for a nice increase in exhaust flow to match the engine's greatly enhanced intake flow, while also a calm and sedate sound, and only mildly loud at WOT.
MagnaFlow 2.5 California CARB certified catalytic converters, and replaced the resonators with larger diameter straight pipe. This increases the MAF flow further.
Zero to sixty:
repeatable real world 5 seconds or faster.
Better engine cooling:
E46 MZ3 radiator, 75C thermostat, and cooler temperature (gray color) electric fan switch. System reliability improved with silicon radiator hoses, metal thermostat housing, and metal impeller water pump.
Wheels and tires:
17x8.5 Kosei with Michelin PSS 245/40x17, all around. Light, strong, easy to clean. Max performance with outstanding tread wear.For a selling price at the Buy It Now price or higher, I also include an extremely attractive and hard to find set ofBMW Style 18 wheels with BFG GForce Comp II 255 R, 235F, for street tires and wheels, and you can use the Kosei's and Michelin's for track or autocross.
Rear Suspension:
Threaded adjustable rear camber arms for strength and easy aligning. Silicon-Urethane mix RTABS for squeek-free sure footed cornering without all the harshness of other aftermarket replacements.
Powerflex urethane subframe mounts. Delrin differential mounts.Koni gas adjustable shocks, with Meyle heavy duty shock mounts.
Springs are from a E46 M3 that I've heated and shortened, to give a height and spring stiffness that's just right for keeping the rear planted on cornering and give sufficient weight transfer forward in transitions so that the front end bites instead of pushing and understeering.
Front Suspension:BMW factory X-Brace, UUC Stress bar, UUC adjustable strut mounts that I modified by machining the cross slots to allow for more caster and access to the Koni adjusting tab. Koni gas adjustable struts.Control Arm Bushings are offset Eyeball arms from Treehouse Racing. New recent M3 lower control arms. Front springs were stock, that I then heated and shortened for about a 1 lowering, and proportional stiffness increase.26mm oversize factory front sway bar with new heavy duty end links.
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Steering:Steering rack is from an M Roadster, installed with all new tie rods, steering hoses, and fluid ball.
Brakes:UUC partial slotted, stressed relieved rotors, Hawk pads.
How fast does it go?Tops out easily in 5 gears. Reached 152 in sixth gear on I15 in Nevada on sixth gear, and was still pulling. By gearing, the car could reach 160, and has the power to do it. The engine bottom end is the only thing that hasn't been replaced. New head, cam ledges, valves, and lifters installed at 165k.
A more economical and high performance street legal E36 M3 than you might imagine anyone would take the time and money to develop.
This car is a //Mobil 1 and Redline oil poster child.
Mobil 1 oil changed every 5k miles. Trans and rear oil changed with Reline every 25k miles.
Cost to reproduce this car would be at least $15k on top of finding an excellent and solid one-owner California car to build it on. I'm placing a Buy it Now price of only $13, 995.Cash talks. Please contact privately to arrange local test drives.
If the auction is still posted then the car is still available.

update: 2015-06-29

Features:

Condition: Seller Notes:
Used
“Just passed smog again, 6/27/2015, the full California Star Station test, no problem, nice and clean.”
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number): wbsbg9329vey77210 Year: 1997
Number of Cylinders: 6 Make: BMW
Transmission: 6 speed Overdrive from E46 M3 Model: M3
Body Type: Coupe, 6 speed Overdrive, Vaders Trim: 6 Speed Overdrive, OnBoard Computer, Vader Seats
Warranty: Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty Engine: 3.2L 3152CC l6 GAS DOHC Naturally Aspirated
Vehicle Title: Clear Drive Type: RWD
Options: Sunroof, Cassette Player, Leather Seats, CD Player Mileage: 198,000
Safety Features: Anti-Lock Brakes, Driver Airbag, Passenger Airbag Sub Model: 6 Speed Overdrive, 290HP, Orig. Owner, Vaders
Power Options: Air Conditioning, Cruise Control, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats Exterior Color: Cosmos II black metallic
For Sale By: Original Owner, Private Seller Interior Color: black M3 Vader leather interior

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