Donor Car

In the quest for performance I narrowed my choice to M3 BMW 3-series cars based on either the E30 or E36 models.  The purple Marlin demonstrator influenced my choice!  The Marlin web site implies that only E30s are suitable but a call to Martin Matthews at Marlin confirmed that thebuidl could be done from an E36 car.

Marlin recommended FABdirect, a specialistBMW breaker based in Cinderford, as a source of a donor.    A call quickly showed they had quite a selection of potential donors.   Fab Web site

My choice, in mid June 2003, was between a 3.0ltr E36 M3, 5 speed gearbox, with 68K miles for about £4K+ VAT, or a 1999 Z3 M3 coupe with the 3.2ltr EVO engine with 19K miles on the clock, 6 speed gearbox for £5000 + VAT.

Mechanically the Z3 is based on the E36 but the rear suspension setup  is based on the semi-trailing arm setup from the E30 model.  Despite the slight concern thatI was that was a mix of E30 and E36  I went for the more powerful, more modern car.

This is what it looked like in a yard in Lancashire. When the car was stripped it transpired that it had only done 12K miles.


 

This is really why I bought this car:


 
The deal includes stripping the donor of everything.  Everything except for the body panels, and in my case, the seats and wheels.

With hinsdisght it would have been much better to have stripped the car myself - it would have save time trying to work out what was what.

Delivery of the Donor Parts

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