Looking for opinions (Yes, I know they're worth what you pay for them)
 

Hello all. I belonged to this group eleven years ago when I first bought my ti Sport. After ten years of faithful service, with 163,000 miles, I think it’s time to move on. The car has developed some issues that I’m not willing to deal with:

Mechanical:
Starter doesn’t always engage the flywheel on the first try. $400
Blower motor showing signs of brush wear. $700
Muffler leaking at pipe entrance and exit $600
ABS Valve inop $?
Wet rear shocks $?
Cosmetic:
Headliner is dropping $300
Left front fender dent $?

KBB value = $1400.

It still runs as strong as it ever did. I don’t think there are any problems with the engine, tranny (five spd), or diff. Faithfully changed oil at 3K intervals. Syntec blend at 50K, full synthetic at 100K. All service records. No major door dings, a fresh wax will usually quell my notion of selling it. Chinese red interior, leather bolster sport seats.

My question is: sell it or try to part it out? I saw seats similar to mine being offered for $800. That’s half of what I’d probably get trying to sell it here (Kansas). I really don’t have space to store it or tools to pull engine/tranny to part out.

Thoughts?

:useless:

You had to know that was coming. LOL Seriously though... I've never heard of "Chinese Red" and would definitely like to see a photo of it.

Yeah, yeah, I know. But the car is dirty and I didn't have any recent pics. I added a couple of shots in my gallery. I'll try to get some decent ones to post.

Maybe that is cheesy red seats?

The first time I saw the car my thought was "They'll never sell that thing! Look at the interior!" Of course I was looking to replace a Toyota truck with 235,000 on it. Then I drove it. It was the closest thing to my old MG Midget I'd driven, and I was hooked. Probably the only reason I haven't looked to replace it sooner was that I hadn't heard of anything that would handle like it that I could afford.

Oh, so that's the actual BMW name for that color scheme. I've seen that Red/Red sport interior a few times recently. Looks like yours are in pretty good condition and just need a good steam-cleaning.

Hmmm... surely you can find a cat-back for less than $600. Have you looked around this site for one?

I feel your pain on the headliner, mine is sagging too, and the cheapest estimate I found was $295. That's just more than I want to spend on something like that, so I'll probably do it myself using info from this site. You might consider that option too.

Honestly I don't know the official name for the interior. That's just my name for red that has a little orange in it. I had Ducati Passo that was almost identical.

I'm sure the work could be accomplished reasonably if one chose to do the work themselves. I just don't have the time or the inclination. The older I get, the less interested in sweating in the Kansas summer in/under a car. It really needs an 18 year old willing to work for the gem burried within.

pics?

Parting a car out is a pretty big hassle and you are not going to get rich doing it.

This car sounds like it would be easy to auction on ebay.

If you do decide to keep it (and I suggest you do, or you'll regret it!), I have a very good used starter available that will save you a lot of coin...

PM me if interested!:smile:

I had to replace the blower motor in mine as well.. I did it myself and saved a lot of $$

Oh I know I'll throw myself around after I sell it, but the wife is nagging (wait, was that my outside voice?) to have me get a "road car". For her, and her bad back, my car is sort of like the description someone wrote about getting into my MG Midget. " Aim your butt at the seat and do a one and a half gainer". She just can't ride in those seats for very long. I'm finding my bi-annual three hour trip to KC is starting to cause problems with my back also. So I need something with a little more ground clearance and padding.

Again, there are three pics in my gallery. As soon as I can knock the mud off of it, I'll post more.

You probably already know this, but... the sport seats can be adjusted vertically. That won't make them any softer, but it'll at least position the cushion higher so you don't have to "plop" down into it. :biggrin:

OK, the most expensive part is finally on it's last legs. I have an appointment to have the blower motor replaced Tuesday. That means I'll be keeping her for a little while. So I need to know if anyone has any ideas for cheap/easy power boost. I'm NOT putting a blower under the hood.

So are there any intake/chip/exhaust(since it's bad too) mods that anyone has experience with? Something that produces a noticable boost in power?

Amancuso, how long did the blower swap take you? I have thoughts about trying to pull it Sunday morning. If I can accomplish it and it's straight forward, I can call Bavauto Monday and overnight a blower.