1999 BMW M Coupe - S52 M3 Engine - 240HP
Exterior: Arctic Silver Metallic
Interior: Black Nappa
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This car runs/drives/looks, seriously, like a car with 1/4 the miles. Features include Harmon Kardon HiFi speakers with CD Changer, limited-slip differential (25%), heated seats, side airbags etc. Has a clean, no accident carfax history.
Everything works as it should. A/C blows extremely cold, windows/sunroof work as they should.
Things a concours judge may point out: couple marks on the driver’s side door, small ding on passenger door and on the roof. I’ve tried to show these in the pictures but the light/perfect needs to be just right in order to see them. Marks where the passenger side of the rear bumper meet with the rear quarter panel (see pics).
I bought this as a project car the very end of December. Being it was out of town and on ebay, I purchased the car sight unseen and relied on the seller’s description. Unfortunately, he had grossly misrepresented the car, and the project was a lot bigger than I had initially envisioned. Blown shocks, broken rear mounts, totally shot steering rack, tears in seats, etc were some of the surprises I found when the car was delivered.
The end result however, is fantastic. Absolutely nothing on her now feels ‘tired’ and it shouldn’t need anything anytime soon. The car gets complements everywhere it goes and now, truly, drives like a dream.
I have a binder with every receipt (over $5,400) for everything that I’ve done to restore this car. Some of the things were needed, some were ‘might as well’s’ (Fuel filter, drive belt, sparks plugs etc weren’t bad, but easy to replace while doing other work). The key take aways are below:
All work done in the last 100 miles or so:
Bilstein HD shocks
OEM Front shock mounts
Ireland Engineering rear shock mounts
(These were installed the correct way but removing the entire interior of the rear of the car and not cutting a whole in the carpet like most do.) These are designed with replaceable urethane bushings that can be serviced from outside the car thus never having to remove the rear interior again.
Powerflex polyurethane control arm bushings
Powerflex polyurethane rear subframe bushing
(Rear subframe is in excellent condition with zero signs of stress)
New trailing arm bushings
New steering rack
New tie rod ends
Four wheel alignment
Power steering fluid flush/change
Selector shaft seal and output shaft seal were both replaced
ECS’s Shifter Bushing Kit:
Teflon shifter bushings
New Bearing Pin
Pelican Parts Shift Bushing Super Kit:
Shift coupler with internal bushing
Pin retaining clip
Ball cup sponge
Lower shift boot
Shifter arm pin
Two Shift selector rod circlips
Four Yellow plastic washers/bushings for shift selector rod
Shift handle ball cup bushing
Oil/filter change
New Bosch spark plugs
New Air Filter
Transmission fluid change (Syncromax)
Differential fluid change (Redline)
Brake fluid flush/change (OEM)
New Drive Belt
New Tensioner roller/Pully
New Fuel Filter (OEM)
Replaced a bad oxygen sensor
New Valve cover gasket (OEM)
New Rear Tires - Kumho Ecsta (255/40/17)
Front end resprayed to factory specifications by BMW (Front of the hood/bumper had been ravaged by rock chips, see pics from previous listing)
New bumper center grill (original was brittle, graying, missing a few pieces)
New leather seat covers - look/feel excellent. The leather is designed to shrink onto the seat and create and perfect fit after some time in the sun. Unfortunately we haven’t had many sunny days outside of the low 70’s yet. But in the few we have had, the seats have made drastic improvements and as soon as temps reach the 90’s, I’m sure they will be factory-tight around the edges. The leather is a bit more ‘grippy’ than the OEM, allowing the seat to hold you as well as this cars holds the road!
New Headliner on the roof and A/B/C Pillars.
New OEM ///M Floormats
Replaced missing tools from the toolbox
Replaced any missing screws/caps/tabs I found
Replaced any dead bulbs (including center console)
Refurbished/installed the factory headlights
Installed the factory radio
I invite all interested to come see/drive the car. If thats not possible, I’m more than willing to drop it off for a PPI.
Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions you may have, or request pictures of something up close, or want hi-res versions of what you see here!
Best,
AJ Summers