I'm looking to buy this E36 328i Sport from a friend. He spent a long time looking for the right car so it should be good. Just wondered if you had any thoughts or questions.....

1996 N reg
72k with full BMW history - same dealer since new
Has had BMW extended warranty since new

11 months Mot & 5 months Tax

Totally standard with factory M3 body kit and 17" BBS split rims

Half-leather recaro style interior, electric windows, heated electric mirrors, anti-glare rear view mirror etc

Options included: Electric sunroof, dual climate control and parking distance control

Pics here: http://public.fotki.com/Dave106gti/my_328i_sport/ - http://public.fotki.com/Dave106gti/my_328i_sport/

£7695 ono

Cheers gents. I have a price in mind. Won't say as Dave is probably registered on here and might see ;)

Does it have a nikasil block? or has it been replaced under warranty.

It sounds like a straight car! esp. with the extended BM warranty - don't find many examples of this age with a BMW warranty.

Also listen for suspension knocks (BMs like to wear bushes fast - can be expensive to fix at dealers but peanuts if you do it yourself.

e.g rear trailling arm - BMW £360 / DIY £16 and about 3hrs labour.

PS Do you know my brother Chris? has a red 205 Mi 16 and does a fair few trackdays.

The nikasil issue is the only thing on my mind really. Waiting for the owner to come back from hols to have a chat with him about it.

Dave: i have a feeling your brother may well go by the user name of CW on Pug forums by the sounds of it. In which case i don't know him, but i know who he is. Quick on track!

Yes thats him!!

He is actually looking for a second car and then possibly turning the 205 into a full track car. Strip it out etc so it goes even faster!!

Did you go to the French car show at I think it was Elvington?

A nice decent 328 sport coupe with good extras will hold its value a fair bit more than standard models. i paid £9500 last year for mine - 97 48K with full leather OBD etc.

When I was looking, Most of the decent low mileage ones where around £10,000 or above. I think the price is about right, but could try to get a tad off the price.

dave 328 wrote: Yes thats him!! He is actually looking for a second car and then possibly turning the 205 into a full track car. Strip it out etc so it goes even faster!! Did you go to the French car show at I think it was Elvington?

It was at Bruntingthorpe and yes i did go. Didnt go on track though as i wasn't happy with going out for an hour. Think it would have destroyed my poor 205!

It was open pit, so you could have come in at any time. I did 2 sessions with a 10 min break. Chris had a blow out and went for a cross country trek across the grass!! Had a perfectly round hole in his tyre. Apparently for some reason some lost their rear brake pads!?!?! And there is a roll pin in the Bendix brakes on the rear of the 1.9. The pin would have fit in the hole. Chris nearly lost his pads as you could see where the pad had partially come out and worn half the pad - strange!!

So are you keeping the 205 if you get the BM?

I want to and could prob just about afford to... but there is no room on the drive :(

I Think i may have a bad pic or video of a BMW out on track so i guess that could well have been you!

Aye thats me!

Thats the main straight. Got upto just over 110mph and didn't brake for the corner as it was so wide.

Do you know Matt Cony then? Had a turbo 205, then went for a roll in a field - good job he had a roll cage!!! he has a Blue Golf R32 now and was there - but over cooked the brakes a tad.

So if you get a 328 sport, are you going to de-restrict it?

Matt's another one that i know who he is, but have never met him. Saw his R32 out on track. Looked pretty quick.

When you say de-restrict do you mean the speed limiter? Didnt know the car would reach that speed! Though i read 143mph & 0-60 in 7.3 somewhere?! I guess it would be rude not to de-restrict it, although i cant see me ever doing that speed... in this country!

I mean a restriction in power! 220bhp can be had, rather than the std 193bhp.

The de-restriction must work as Matt's R32 didn't catch me!!

I also got a recorded 0-60 of 6.7 in std form!

Basically the 328 was restricted by means of a thinner bore branches etc on the inlet manifold. This is why in the specs it has the same power as the 325, but with more torque. This was apparently done to keep it in a lower tax band in Germany.

To release the extra 15-20bhp you swap the inlet manifold from a M50 engined 325 which has notibly larger inlet branches. There is a lad on here called Barf who has a proven 229bhp from this and a few other bits.

BUT! It isn't a straight swap as when BMW made the M52 engine (2.8), they changed the breathing arrangement oil/idle etc and fuel rail and other brackets differ. It is possible as a DIY job but quite involved.

But all is not lost as a Bloke called Ian (alpina527) does a modified inlet manifold kit which does bolt straight on! Plus he does big bore throttle bodies (which i haven't got yet!) to give some more poke.

You can get the mod'd manifold and BB bodies for the same price as a Superchip, but alot more power!

I wasn't going to mess with mine, but this mod is worth it for the price!

PS this mod is becoming popular and the manifolds are becoming scarce or over priced if you want one from a breakers. Ian has good contacts for sourcing them.

oooh sounds very tempting. Will have to see how funds are after i buy a car.

What sort of things should i be checking for ont he car? I know it's mint condition etc etc, but the Nikasil issue worries me. What can i check for this? Any other hints & tips?

Matt, many cars had their nikasil cylinder blocks replaced with ones fitted with steel liners. If you ring BMW Uk and ask for the customer service department then quote the chassis number they will be able to tell you if the car has had the work done. If it has then nothing to worry about. If it hasn't then you need to weigh up whether it is worth it or not. If the engine is still ok then it is unlikley to develop a problem know, but you never know. An engine that is starting to develop a problem will use oil and run a bit rough. If you do a search on the 3 series technical forum for Nikasil you will find plenty of info as this has been discussed at length.

sleeper wrote: you must be getting worn out typing about nikasil pete...

I never get tired of helping fellow BMW owners!  

....although I do seem to type the word Nikasil a lot.

Ok.. the engine doesnt use any oil or idle anything but dead smooth. I did speak to BMW about it this morning and they didnt have a clue what i was on about. Eventually someone said bore wash which i figured is what the Nikasil problem is.

With the car being on 72k and last serviced at 68k i'm thinking that it's shortly due a very expensive service too :(

MattB106 wrote: Ok.. the engine doesnt use any oil or idle anything but dead smooth. I did speak to BMW about it this morning and they didnt have a clue what i was on about. Eventually someone said bore wash which i figured is what the Nikasil problem is.

When you say you spoke to BMW, do you mean you spoke to a dealer or BMW UK. They should definately know what the Nikasil problem is, although dealers are more likely to play dumb. Diod you find out whether the car had had any work done with respect to nikasil?

MattB106 wrote: With the car being on 72k and last serviced at 68k i'm thinking that it's shortly due a very expensive service too :(

Not necessarily, it depends on what the last service was. If it was an inspection 1 or 2 then it will just be due an oil service next which shouldn't be too expensive. It goes oil service , inspection 1, oil service, inspection 2, oil service, inspection 1 etc. The inspections are quite expensive especially the inspection 2.

328 sport. THE best thing ive ever bought! cheaper to run than a m3 and dare i say nearly as quick! Dave is right, the old boston bus is pushing out 229 bhp at the moment and when funds allow would like to see over 240 bhp with a supersprint de-cat pipe and exhaust manifold along with some more ecu mods. the thing already hunts down 3.0 ltr m3's and can annoy e46 m3's, this puts the biggest smile on my face at bdd's

good luck with your new potential purchase!

Barf 

Peter Fenwick wrote: When you say you spoke to BMW, do you mean you spoke to a dealer or BMW UK. They should definately know what the Nikasil problem is, although dealers are more likely to play dumb. Diod you find out whether the car had had any work done with respect to nikasil Not necessarily, it depends on what the last service was. If it was an inspection 1 or 2 then it will just be due an oil service next which shouldn't be too expensive. It goes oil service , inspection 1, oil service, inspection 2, oil service, inspection 1 etc. The inspections are quite expensive especially the inspection 2.

Will find out which service it has had over the weekend. The car has had no work regarding Nikasil, yet is perfect. I presume this means more than likely the danger has passed now petrol has imporved etc etc?

ok a little more about the car...

Apparently the air con has an intermitent on/off problem. I'm told it's a common fault?

The car is also nearly due for the Inspection 2 service whihc according to Dick Lovett BMW is well over £600!

£600 sounds a bit expensive. Try ringing round a few dealers. Some of them do charge a lot more than others. I was quoted £350+ by my local dealer for an inspection 2.

Don't know about the aircon, Youm could try posting the question on the 3 seriers tech forum. Aslo have you done a search I t may have been talked about before.

I've found some info on it now. BMW replace the control unit @ a cost of £200, but it can be fixed using a capcitor from Maplins apprently. hmm

Also the owner has reported some black smoke coming from thr car. All he does in it is crawl 3 miles through traffic though so i suspect it's jsut not being blow out the exhaust often enough until he boots it on the odd occassion. Could be a deeper problem though

MattB106 wrote: The car doesnt do it now as the owners isnt doing that sort of driving.

That's reassuring. Sounds like it was just down to the driving. 

i have a 328i sport..... i got an ins 2 done for 420. that was the total cost after a few extra things that needed doing.

Might be doing a trackday instead this year. Trax seems to be going off now - bit to samey.

Corsas and Saxos with mutant bodykits and Novas with 2 turbo engines - not as good now and can be too busy.

The nova did 2.9 secs to 60!

I had the choice of going to Trax or the Classic & sports car day at Castle Combe the weekend after (have to do a course one of those weekends). starting to think i made the wrong choice :-(

The trax 0-60 is about as accurate as me doing it on my stop watch too lol

Hey, don't dis the Trax 0-60 run, i got a very respectable 6.6

Others will say its a bit out as well - probably the RS turbo Escort owners that only squeeze 9.5 secs out of their turbo'd van engines.

The RS turbos remind me of a young lad (probably with a burberry cap and a gold earing) with a nice big breasted lady - Starts off, revs build up - no excitment - come on!, then the turbo kicks in  - and then its all over as soon as its started! They have no low down grunt!

Anyway, enjoy your new beast - and get that M50 manifold on it.

You don't realise the difference untill you compare it to another 2.8. Gf has just got a 2.8 Z3, figs say its quicker and as its slightly lighter it should be (but mine got 6.6 to 60 without the M50 manifold  ). I had a good drive of the Z at weekend - Had a short heavy down pour, but as I was on the motorway and I didn't get wet even with the roof down. Got back in mine and it feels like a bigger engine!

LOL @ Trax 0-60. How many feet behind the proper start line did they start you? ;-)

My mates 160bhp Renault 5 recorded a 5.5 to 60 last time lol :D