Club Sport Dilemma - Rebuild or Scrap??
 

So I am in a dilemma about my current Club Sport @215k. It has been my daily driver for the past 18 years. Its black with the red interior.
This winter I was in a fender bender and crunched the drivers headlamp area, hood, radiator support and fender. I was able to drive home but can drive it anymore until it is fixed.
Here lies the problem. The other issues that I was dealing with before this.

I noticed a year or two ago that the windows would fog up alot a times. Door panels are off as I was rebuilding the cards. I eventually discovered that water is leaking in the rear trunk area on the passenger sider. Haven't been able to figure out where exactly but it is somewhere in the rear B pillar area. The original owner had a fender bender on the passenger side a year after he bought it and the dealer fixed it. Not sure what happened but the pass rear wheel arch was fixed repainted. To sum this up the leaking that I discovered along with the dealer repair has led to some rust forming on the wheel arch from the inside out. Ugh!

In addtion I was rear ended back in 2005. Dealer replaced and repainted the Mtech bumber. All good. Now flash forward 13 years and I noticed some weird noises from the rear. When I was investigating the leaking now I discovered that the trunk floor has a huge crack arount the tool kit/spare tire. The pan in bouncing up and down with the spare tire and has propagated what may have been a very small crack from the 2005 accident to a 10" long one.

So I am trying to decide do I fix the clubsport or scrap the chassis and transfer the good stuff to a new car.

The car is fairly stock besides, Koni shocks, urethane bushings in the rear, upgraded engine and transmission mounts, z3 steering rack & 17" M3 wheels.

I have a complete RD sport (bilstein) suspension that I bought new with all new mounts that I was going to put into it. I also have B&M short shifter, new front & rear calipers and a complete low mileage DASC. Plus a low mileage (72k) spare M42 engine and Transmission out of another clubsport.

Am I crazy to think about fixing all the issues to keep it a real clubsport. Or should I pick up a clean chassis and build up a nice driver.
Let me know your thoughts. My wife and I love this car and have had so many memories in it.

I have water leaking on my rear driver side, I'd love to figure out what's going on there.

At some point keeping up with an older car that is driven regularly doesn't make sense. Even with all new parts the chassis will fatigue from stress/corrosion/cyclic loading/etc. Your clubsport wasn't a garage queen, which is not a bad thing, cool cars should be driven, but the miles add up. I wouldn't let anyone make you feel bad about whatever direction you decide to go. It's your time and money.

The crack in the trunk really makes it tough, is it near the diff mount flange? Randy Forbes could most likely hook you up with a trunk repair but it requires a lot of disassembly and labor. It would most likely stiffen the rear up considerably but it would no longer be a "stock" clubsport.

It looks like you have a nice stable of cars, if you enjoy the driving dynamics maybe it would make sense to find a clean chassis to build.

It’s been said a lot that the only people that understand or care about the club sport aspects are those typically in the Ti community. To everyone else it’s just another bmw with the back half chopped off. Sounds like a bit of work but Dave said it nicely, it’s your money. Good luck!