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Re: Euro 635CSI Questions

Henry,

I purchased the '81 that I queried the net about.  It's a great car, and
I'm really excited every time I hop into it.  It's a buyer's market with
cars right now, as most people are worried about paying for gifts first,
major purchases last.  I'll just say that I paid significantly less than the
asking price.

Things I checked:  Rust.  Body parts for all 6ers is very expensive.  Don't
compromise on this issue.  Particularly look in the fender wells, as the
coupes (3.0's too) seem to have crevices that just love to harbor dirt, mud,
and other bad things. If that stuff is encrusted with salt, watch out!  Other
usual places are at the lower door edges, rocker panels, shock towers.  Checked
all interior accessories to ensure that they work, although I haven't played
around with the diagnostic panel on the far left side yet.  General driveability
of course; the only annoying thing that is "normal" is that the close ratio
5-speed, if so equipped, is very notchy and hard to shift smoothly.

The "non-USA" portion of this car is mostly with the bumpers (and the German
words on the dashboard).  Almost everything else is shared with the US 6er. The
early 3.5 is the same as the US 3.3 except for a bigger bore.  Not sure about
the stroke.  The head is virtually the same.

Mechanical parts are readily obtainable.  The vast majority of components are
shared with the 5ers of the same vintage.  However, that does not mean the parts
are cheap.  It's all definitely a step up in cost from a 2002 or 3 series, esp.
on things beyond tuneup stuff, like suspension components.  However, the usual
hopup stuff like springs, shocks, sway bars, chips don't seem to cost more.
Used wheels and tires with the 5-bolt pattern seem to sell for less than
the 4-bolt equivalents, coincidentally.

Then I had a reputable garage inspect the car.  Up on a lift, they can search
for subtle signs of frame/body damage and spot less obvious rust areas.  They
only came up with a short list of minor leaks, like the transmission rear seal
and power steering pump.  The front will need brake pads and rotors in the near
future, but that is almost expected of a used car.


As mentioned by Ben Thongsa, don't expect neck-snapping acclleration, as the
final drive is tall (3.07).  This will cruise very well at high speeds at the
cost of street-speed accelleration.  I can live with that, as 90% of my driving
is on the highway.  If I ever get impatient, 3.25/3.45/3.64/3.91/4.11 regular
or limited slip differentials seem to be readily available in the classified
section of the Roundel.


        Cheers,


        John Gong


>Hi John,
>
>
>I've also been looking to buy a 635CSI for the last month or so.
>If you wouldn't mine forwarding any information on buying tips that would
>be great.
>Henry

   John Gong       |        |
Systems Engineer, Cisco  Systems  Inc.
jgong@domain.elided  |||||    |||||
(510)855-4833  ||||||||||||||||||