Black Friday Junkyard Miracle - E46M3 content

I hate black friday, crowds, and mindless consumerism in general, so I decided to skip the lines and spend a serene, peaceful morning at my local Pull-A-Part Atlanta South yard. I just had a few things on my list, including a center console for wife's minivan out of a later gen for more cupholders. Unfortunately it was a lower trim model, so no luck with those dice. As I was perusing the import section looking for random G35 parts, a forklift rolls by and plops this down next to me. 

This was taken roughly 30 minutes after it was set up, already enough time for the headlights and front end to get snatched up. I don't own a BMW, I don't even like BMWs that much, so I did was any sane logical GRM'er would do in such a situation - rob it's ITBs for no particular reason. I didn't even know these had ITB's until I looked under the hood.

Within the hour, a BMW specialist and his crew rolled in packing several wheelbarrows worth of tools to take the entire drivetrain and probably half the car by looks of them. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The BMW guy said he's only ever seen 3 of these show up at junkyards in his life.

$43.14 out the door. I am suddenly reminded of the 2JZ-powered hot rod I have hiding in the garage under a pile of parts. One day...

GREAT SCORE

better than fighting at Walmart !

Very neat!!

I probably would have offered the ITB setup to the specialist and pocketed a nice profit :)

I'm not much of a BMW guy either, but that S54 is a honey of an engine. Co-drove a Z3 M Roadster with that engine at an autocross, and, wow, I'd squirrel one of those away to stick in something someday.

I didn't score quite as well as you did today, but I did grab the instrument cluster (140 mph speedo, 7k tach) from a second-gen SHO. Wish I could have grabbed the whole engine and trans, even though I have nothing to put it in.

Reminds me of 1st gen 4Runners. I've had mine for 6 years,and I've seen 2 in the yard. 

Awesome find. Hope to see them mounted somewhere soon!

NickD said:

I'd squirrel one of those away to stick in something someday.

Will said:

Wish I could have grabbed the whole engine and trans, even though I have nothing to put it in.

That's what I would have done.  There are a few guys who have transplanted them into e28 5 series cars like mine, it's a pretty sweet engine.

Someone must have been hard up for $$$, blew it really good, smoking something, or all of the above to send a E46M3 to Pull-A-Part. The parts on there is are worth it some serious coin . . . Especially to E46 owners.

is the EBI  set up as one unit of 6 throttle bodies , or pairs or triples ?

if triples might be interesting for a Corvair project

+1 on grabbing the whole drivetrain. When I had my E39 525i, I occasionally entertained fantasies of swapping in an S54 to make a sort of inline-6 E39 M5.

In reply to maschinenbau :

Holy Smokes! 

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Except for the fuel rail and vacuum rail, it was completely modular. 6 individual throttles. The linkage shaft used set screws, so these could be taken apart for any application.

definitely should've grabbed the entire drivetrain, then scouted out Z3 coupes to swap it into, then when everyone, unknowing of the swap lurking within, inquires about why you didn't get the M, you can comment that the Z is more rare. You'd also piss off Z owners because no more numbers matching.

Wow. 

That’s nuts! Makes my c230 supercharger score look lame

I don't think I'll ever get that lucky in a junkyard.

I'm constantly on Row52, just trying to find a local yard w/ certain BMW years and I strike out every day.

In reply to FuzzWuzzy :

Ahhh...a fellow Row 52 stalker.

FuzzWuzzy said:

I don't think I'll ever get that lucky in a junkyard.

I'm constantly on Row52, just trying to find a local yard w/ certain BMW years and I strike out every day.

Save a search and it’ll email you. I rarely go to the web site except when it tells me there’s a car I want parts from that just came in. 

dculberson said:

FuzzWuzzy said:

I don't think I'll ever get that lucky in a junkyard.

I'm constantly on Row52, just trying to find a local yard w/ certain BMW years and I strike out every day.

Save a search and it’ll email you. I rarely go to the web site except when it tells me there’s a car I want parts from that just came in. 

That's actually the smarter thing to do. I honestly don't know why I haven't done that sooner.

Appleseed said:

In reply to FuzzWuzzy :

Ahhh...a fellow Row 52 stalker.

Heh, yeah. If I want/need a part that is significantly cheaper at a PnP as opposed to eBay, it's nice to know if the yard actually has the needed car. Other times, it's to find a car w/ things to flip. I've learned certain shift knobs provide a nice profit margin, but only if they're in a decent condition which they rarely ever are.

Appleseed said:

Reminds me of 1st gen 4Runners. I've had mine for 6 years,and I've seen 2 in the yard. A

At the pick and pulls around here, Toyota trucks (4Runners, Sequioas, Tundras, and Tacos) are in the "special" fenced off section where you can't pull parts from them - you can only have someone from the yard do it and pay a much heftier price for them. There are a few other apparently "desirable" parts cars that also live in that area, but always Toyota trucks. You can find e36/e46 BMWs (non-M) all day in the non-fenced area, oddly.  

dculberson said:

FuzzWuzzy said:

I don't think I'll ever get that lucky in a junkyard.

I'm constantly on Row52, just trying to find a local yard w/ certain BMW years and I strike out every day.

Save a search and it’ll email you. I rarely go to the web site except when it tells me there’s a car I want parts from that just came in. 

I have the app on my phone. Get an email, check app, hit the yard.