My '96 E36 M3 Evo Saloon
Discussion
I am new to Pistonhead but have been a long time E36 M3 Sedan owner from Taiwan. I have been following your thread all the while and appreciate what you have shared. Great story, photos and of course awesome car!!
I guess the challenge you have is that the RHD E36 M3 built for UK market is far more difficult to sell compared with the LHD ones which has a much larger market demand. One of the fact is, for exmaple, many of the good ones from Japanese market E36 M3 (coupe and sedan which are all Euro models) are nowadays sold at decent price above US$30+ and the price just kept going up overtime. The Euro E36 M3 are basically becoming collector cars for the Americans simply because this (Euro 3.0 & 3.2) is something they didn't have.
As regulated by the NHTSA, 25 year old or older cars are legal for import into the US and will be road legal. A few years from now, some Euro E36 M3 (3.2 S50B32 in particular) will available in the US market as collector cars (some low milages ones have already been imported and sold at over US$ 60K). But note these are all LHD models.
I think it is not that hard to convert E36 RHD to LHD. I would try to be creative and import your car with a RHD to LHD project. . I did this 7 years ago importing the 3.2 engine and the entire drivetrain that came from a UK RHD E36 M3 Cabrio to Taiwan. As a lesson learned, the most challenging part of the conversion is that I have to source LHD engine wiring harness, steering column and water pipes. Other than that, the swap/conversion was quite straight forward.
That said, I doubt I would do that again given the hassle of conversion and that was the reason why a few years back, I chose to buy two other LHD E36 M3 Sedan that came from Japan which makes things so much easier!!
Anyways, good luck to your sale!!
I guess the challenge you have is that the RHD E36 M3 built for UK market is far more difficult to sell compared with the LHD ones which has a much larger market demand. One of the fact is, for exmaple, many of the good ones from Japanese market E36 M3 (coupe and sedan which are all Euro models) are nowadays sold at decent price above US$30+ and the price just kept going up overtime. The Euro E36 M3 are basically becoming collector cars for the Americans simply because this (Euro 3.0 & 3.2) is something they didn't have.
As regulated by the NHTSA, 25 year old or older cars are legal for import into the US and will be road legal. A few years from now, some Euro E36 M3 (3.2 S50B32 in particular) will available in the US market as collector cars (some low milages ones have already been imported and sold at over US$ 60K). But note these are all LHD models.
I think it is not that hard to convert E36 RHD to LHD. I would try to be creative and import your car with a RHD to LHD project. . I did this 7 years ago importing the 3.2 engine and the entire drivetrain that came from a UK RHD E36 M3 Cabrio to Taiwan. As a lesson learned, the most challenging part of the conversion is that I have to source LHD engine wiring harness, steering column and water pipes. Other than that, the swap/conversion was quite straight forward.
That said, I doubt I would do that again given the hassle of conversion and that was the reason why a few years back, I chose to buy two other LHD E36 M3 Sedan that came from Japan which makes things so much easier!!
Anyways, good luck to your sale!!
Edited by found2secure on Wednesday 9th October 16:42
found2secure said:
I am new to Pistonhead but have been a long time E36 M3 Sedan owner from Taiwan. I have been following your thread all the while and appreciate what you have shared. Great story, photos and of course awesome car!!
I guess the challenge you have is that the RHD E36 M3 built for UK market is far more difficult to sell compared with the LHD ones which has a much larger market demand. One of the fact is, for exmaple, many of the good ones from Japanese market E36 M3 (coupe and sedan which are all Euro models) are nowadays sold at decent price above US$30+ and the price just kept going up overtime. The Euro E36 M3 are basically becoming collector cars for the Americans simply because this (Euro 3.0 & 3.2) is something they didn't have.
As regulated by the NHTSA, 25 year old or older cars are legal for import into the US and will be road legal. A few years from now, some Euro E36 M3 (3.2 S50B32 in particular) will available in the US market as collector cars (some low milages ones have already been imported and sold at over US$ 60K). But note these are all LHD models.
I think it is not that hard to convert E36 RHD to LHD. I would try to be creative and import your car with a RHD to LHD project. . I did this 7 years ago importing the 3.2 engine and the entire drivetrain that came from a US RHD E36 M3 Cabrio to Taiwan. As a lesson learned, the most challenging part of the conversion is that I have to source LHD engine wiring harness, steering column and water pipes. Other than that, the swap/conversion was quite straight forward.
That said, I doubt I would do that again given the hassle of conversion and that was the reason why a few years back, I chose to buy two other LHD E36 M3 Sedan that came from Japan which makes things so much easier!!
Anyways, good luck to your sale!!
Good post! I never knew about the 25 year import rule that the USA had! Cheers for that!I guess the challenge you have is that the RHD E36 M3 built for UK market is far more difficult to sell compared with the LHD ones which has a much larger market demand. One of the fact is, for exmaple, many of the good ones from Japanese market E36 M3 (coupe and sedan which are all Euro models) are nowadays sold at decent price above US$30+ and the price just kept going up overtime. The Euro E36 M3 are basically becoming collector cars for the Americans simply because this (Euro 3.0 & 3.2) is something they didn't have.
As regulated by the NHTSA, 25 year old or older cars are legal for import into the US and will be road legal. A few years from now, some Euro E36 M3 (3.2 S50B32 in particular) will available in the US market as collector cars (some low milages ones have already been imported and sold at over US$ 60K). But note these are all LHD models.
I think it is not that hard to convert E36 RHD to LHD. I would try to be creative and import your car with a RHD to LHD project. . I did this 7 years ago importing the 3.2 engine and the entire drivetrain that came from a US RHD E36 M3 Cabrio to Taiwan. As a lesson learned, the most challenging part of the conversion is that I have to source LHD engine wiring harness, steering column and water pipes. Other than that, the swap/conversion was quite straight forward.
That said, I doubt I would do that again given the hassle of conversion and that was the reason why a few years back, I chose to buy two other LHD E36 M3 Sedan that came from Japan which makes things so much easier!!
Anyways, good luck to your sale!!
Welcome to the forum!
found2secure said:
I am new to Pistonhead but have been a long time E36 M3 Sedan owner from Taiwan. I have been following your thread all the while and appreciate what you have shared. Great story, photos and of course awesome car!!
I guess the challenge you have is that the RHD E36 M3 built for UK market is far more difficult to sell compared with the LHD ones which has a much larger market demand. One of the fact is, for exmaple, many of the good ones from Japanese market E36 M3 (coupe and sedan which are all Euro models) are nowadays sold at decent price above US$30+ and the price just kept going up overtime. The Euro E36 M3 are basically becoming collector cars for the Americans simply because this (Euro 3.0 & 3.2) is something they didn't have.
As regulated by the NHTSA, 25 year old or older cars are legal for import into the US and will be road legal. A few years from now, some Euro E36 M3 (3.2 S50B32 in particular) will available in the US market as collector cars (some low milages ones have already been imported and sold at over US$ 60K). But note these are all LHD models.
I think it is not that hard to convert E36 RHD to LHD. I would try to be creative and import your car with a RHD to LHD project. . I did this 7 years ago importing the 3.2 engine and the entire drivetrain that came from a US RHD E36 M3 Cabrio to Taiwan. As a lesson learned, the most challenging part of the conversion is that I have to source LHD engine wiring harness, steering column and water pipes. Other than that, the swap/conversion was quite straight forward.
That said, I doubt I would do that again given the hassle of conversion and that was the reason why a few years back, I chose to buy two other LHD E36 M3 Sedan that came from Japan which makes things so much easier!!
Anyways, good luck to your sale!!
Thank you for the comments, very much appreciated I guess the challenge you have is that the RHD E36 M3 built for UK market is far more difficult to sell compared with the LHD ones which has a much larger market demand. One of the fact is, for exmaple, many of the good ones from Japanese market E36 M3 (coupe and sedan which are all Euro models) are nowadays sold at decent price above US$30+ and the price just kept going up overtime. The Euro E36 M3 are basically becoming collector cars for the Americans simply because this (Euro 3.0 & 3.2) is something they didn't have.
As regulated by the NHTSA, 25 year old or older cars are legal for import into the US and will be road legal. A few years from now, some Euro E36 M3 (3.2 S50B32 in particular) will available in the US market as collector cars (some low milages ones have already been imported and sold at over US$ 60K). But note these are all LHD models.
I think it is not that hard to convert E36 RHD to LHD. I would try to be creative and import your car with a RHD to LHD project. . I did this 7 years ago importing the 3.2 engine and the entire drivetrain that came from a US RHD E36 M3 Cabrio to Taiwan. As a lesson learned, the most challenging part of the conversion is that I have to source LHD engine wiring harness, steering column and water pipes. Other than that, the swap/conversion was quite straight forward.
That said, I doubt I would do that again given the hassle of conversion and that was the reason why a few years back, I chose to buy two other LHD E36 M3 Sedan that came from Japan which makes things so much easier!!
Anyways, good luck to your sale!!
.You are quite right on the E36s in the states, they didn't quite get the engines we were lucky to get.
I don't quite think I will convert it to LHD, originality for the win
.
Haha, I think you guys all missed the point. I am not proposing to the OP to convert his car to LHD. All I am saying is that if it is a LHD, it would be way much easier to sell with much higher value.
Buyers from LHD countries could still buy this car and convert it if they want but of course that’s such a hassle.
Buyers from LHD countries could still buy this car and convert it if they want but of course that’s such a hassle.
Just the usual cleaning and OCD related updates...
Some philistine had opened a wiring conduit under the bonnet with a screwdriver. So it was replaced, freshly taped up and attached to the bonnet under the insulation as per OE.
Before.
Conduit removed.
Work in progress.
Done.
I've also recorded a walk around video of the M3. It was intended to be a quick video. LOL it ended up being a short film at 27 minutes long! BAFTA nominations are welcome.
https://youtu.be/x8IkONPT2hw
Some philistine had opened a wiring conduit under the bonnet with a screwdriver. So it was replaced, freshly taped up and attached to the bonnet under the insulation as per OE.
Before.
Conduit removed.
Work in progress.
Done.
I've also recorded a walk around video of the M3. It was intended to be a quick video. LOL it ended up being a short film at 27 minutes long! BAFTA nominations are welcome.
https://youtu.be/x8IkONPT2hw
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