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Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

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  • #61
    Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

    I understand... I was asking you to post info if you pass on it.
    Jon D. Simmons
    1988 E30 M3 - STX #88
    AST-USA | Bimmerworld | Butler's C&D | D-Force | Russ' Garage | Import Specialists

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    • #62
      Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

      One nice looking car. Real shame it isnt moonroofless...

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      • #63
        Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

        Originally posted by cledbetter View Post
        One nice looking car. Real shame it isnt moonroofless...
        It may be in the near future though!
        Matt @ Vorshlag Motorsports

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        • #64
          Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

          Well we were going to head down to pick up this car last weekend but when we were finalizing the deal I noticed a problem with the title (he never transferred it when he bought it, but had written his name on the back) so he's got to get it re-issued. This way I won't have any problems with the title transfer. Not a big deal, just delays the sale for about 2 weeks.

          More soon when we pick it up, then I'll kick off the DSP build in its own thread.
          Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
          2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
          EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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          • #65
            Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

            eh, no trouble finding non-sunroof 4-doors...

            Oh yeah, I'll be very interested to hear about the roof swap if you do it, the longer I keep my car the less likely I feel it is that someone else will actually buy it if I want to sell, and the more likely it is to become a dedicated autocross/track car, and then the more likely it is I'll want to swap the roof. =]

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            • #66
              Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

              Yea, the more I look into the roof swap, the less worried I am. Of course this false sense of ease may vanish once I start burning metal.

              The deal on the blue 330Ci I found might finally happen this weekend, if the seller has his title problems fixed. More soon. In the mean time I bought an E30, for another project build, which I'll post about soon.
              Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
              2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
              EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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              • #67
                Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                Were there any decent E36 328is candidates without a roof? Possibly looking around for one...

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                • #68
                  Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                  Originally posted by rp1 View Post
                  Were there any decent E36 328is candidates without a roof? Possibly looking around for one...
                  I looked for about 3 weeks for an E36 328is in Texas but came up empty handed, then switched to the E46 330Ci idea (Teucci is a bad influence). I did see a one 1997 328is for sale w/o a sunroof at a local car dealer, and it was a cream puff with ~85K miles and flawless interior and immaculate silver paint, but it had sold the day before I called for ~$4900. That would have been a great car...

                  The roof swap is not going to be one that most people would want to tackle, especially on an E36 (which looks a LOT harder than the E46. The E46 was made for a carbon roof from the factory, for the M3 CSL, so it attaches very differently), so I'd recommend expanding your search and finding the sunroof-less car you need.
                  Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                  2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                  EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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                  • #69
                    Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                    OK, we have purchased the E46 candidate. Two actually....


                    The two E46s Amy and I bought last weekend. '01 330Ci has sunroof, '99 323i has none

                    It was a crazy weekend for Amy and I - the Alpha car's buyer picked it up Saturday morning, then we delivered the E36 "Red Bullet" and bought these two cars in various parts of Houston, and drove the two E46s back to Dallas, all within a 12 hour period. The 330Ci I ended up buying has manual seats, but seat heaters, the optional sunroof and Harmon Kardon sound system, and all sorts of other optional crap. After nearly 2 months I gave up looking for a no sunroof 330Ci - just didn't have any luck finding cars within 1200 miles of Texas during that period. Plenty of no sunroof E46 M3s out there, of course.


                    The 330Ci had been swapped to the later Xenon headlights, Euro corner lights, and '04-up LED rear tail lights. Maybe a Canadian market thing?

                    I'm going to reskin the roof at some point with the correct BMW roof parts. Not looking forward to it, but I've got to do it for a proper DSP setup. I can't stand the lack of headroom or having that much extra weight "up high". I'll post up when we do the roof reskin. Not for the faint of heart.


                    The 330 is "Topaz Blue" and the 323 is "Hellrot Red" - two of my favorite BMW colors of all time!

                    We bought another E46 4-door the same day that has no sunroof, but its just a '99 323i 5-spd 4 door car. Mostly for Amy to drive to work and such, but who knows? Both cars were super clean, but the red car was ridiculously clean - it was owned by a real BMW fanatic, and came with spare parts (new door seals, window regulator, hoses), copies of Roundel, and even a Bently E46 shop manual. A helluva find for the amount we paid! From the post-it notes inside the Bentley and copious receipts it looks like he fixed the radiator, water pump, door seals, window regulator, and lots of other little stuff recently. For now this car is going to be Amy's commuter, so she doesn't keep racking up miles on her E36 M3 going back and forth to work.

                    The 330Ci needs a few things - the steering rack is making some noises (but its getting a ZHP rack swap), and it has a check engine light ("cam sensor"). Easy stuff. Both cars drive SO NICE! I have never owned an E46 and am enamored with the cars now... the cup holders WORK. The interior is a lot nicer, radios sound better, seats are more comfortable, both have full steering wheel radio controls, etc. Well the DSP car won't be any of those things for long, but oh well. They are both leagues better than any E36 I've ever driven, and the bottom has fallen out of the pricing on these cars. Perfect commuter cars and its the right time to buy. We got great mileage in the Red Bullet going to Houston (27 mpg @ 85-90 mph!) and equally good mileage in both E46s on the way back to Dallas (similar numbers @ the same speeds).

                    When I looked for an E46 the past 8 weeks we found more of these lower end E46s without sunroofs than the 330s, which tended to have tons of options. Its hardly the perfect comparison, but later this week when both cars burn off more fuel and are hovering near "E", I'll still weigh them both without their spare tires, floor mats, etc. Just curious to see the weight diff - they both have manual seats, the 5-spd manual trans, and an aluminum inline 6, so its still worth comparing the weights, at least superficially.

                    Pictures:


                    330's leaf-filled, dirty engine was detailed to Fair Standards. Note the projector style headlights


                    330's interior looks pretty darn good, but its going to look better as a "race car". Funky KPH speedometer = Canadian car?!


                    The paint and interior on the '99 323i is absolutely flawless. Engine got detailed to the Fair Standard, too

                    More soon. New DSP Build thread will be started on this forum. Thanks to everyone who helped us look for cars, esp. Adam who graciously sent me the CL ad for the red 4 door... he almost bought that one himself, but took the Red Bullet instead.
                    Last edited by Fair!; 11-10-2009, 11:23 AM.
                    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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                    • #70
                      Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                      Since you have two, is it possible to fit a 4 door roof to a 2 door car? I would think no, but otherwise, I picture a slightly patriotic BMW family.
                      '06 Mustang GT
                      VTPP!!!

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                      • #71
                        Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                        Originally posted by Thinkkker View Post
                        Since you have two, is it possible to fit a 4 door roof to a 2 door car? I would think no, but otherwise, I picture a slightly patriotic BMW family.
                        ha! I wouldn't want to do twice the work, even if they did fit (I doubt that - the 2 and 4 door E46s share almost no body panels).
                        Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                        2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                        EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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                        • #72
                          Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                          Originally posted by Fair! View Post
                          Adam who graciously sent me the CL ad for the red 4 door... he almost bought that one himself, but took the Red Bullet instead.
                          I do call dibs on the Canadian Red Bullet should you decide to part with it
                          Adam
                          It's not so much the heat as it is the humidity

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                          • #73
                            Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                            The head lights and tails are an easy swap, but the spedo is a dead give away for a Canada car... or maybe a Euro one but Canada is a lot more likley. Both look really good I look forward to following this build
                            Hunter

                            Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain speaking. Please put your collars in the upright and POPed position.

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                            • #74
                              Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                              OK so this thread is done... I've started the DSP build project here: http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showt...4316#post54316
                              Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                              2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                              EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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                              • #75
                                Re: Finding the candidate for the Ultimate DSP BMW E36 or E46...

                                wow, glad I didn't see this for sale...

                                FS: 2004 330Ci ZHP Black/Tan/Nav/No Sunroof/Tip 3yr/100k warranty

                                http://www.importatlanta.com/forums/...d.php?t=235984

                                I didn't even think a 2004-up E46 330 could be ordered without sunroof, but there it is. Automatic though, yuck.
                                Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                                2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                                EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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