Me too!
I'm in a similar situation and am deciding what to do.
Our daughter drove her '96 318ti with zero coolent at 70+MPH. When she eventually pulled off the interstate the engine died. Won't start. Cranks slowly and sounds like it is binding. It also sounds like one cyl. has no compression. I'm sure the engine is toast. I assumed pulling the head was a waste of time.
Car is mine now
So now I have a '96 with 135,000 miles on it. Car is in good but not pristine condtion. And it's an automatic
I have no idea if the transmission is still good.
I'm planning on selling my 1990 535i and using the proceeds to make the ti my weekend car.
My budget will be $2000 to $3000
I had been considering an engine and manual transmission swap, maybe from a '96 328.
Should I consider getting a clean used M44 and installing a DASC? (I'm in Atlanta!)
Or getting that unused M44 for $2000? M44 + automatic is not enough power.