Quote:
Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow
I would definitely do rod bearings on the used engine before putting it in.
Let me explain what I'm saying overall differently: if you don't do your own work, buying an 85k mile M3 is a HORRIBLE idea. I don't know what performance car can be bought used at 85k miles and taken to 150k miles for much less money, but certainly not an M3! (and in my opinion, no performance car on the planet)
With those costs you quote of the LSs, I have no idea what anyone is doing in an M3. Five years back, I paid $5k to have an engine pulled out of the car and then put back in. So if you can buy an LS engine and have the old one removed and the new one put in for 2-4k, definitely stay in that platform, because it sounds like someone is paying you between 1 and 3k to take their LS engine.
FRMs are common issues.
Valve cover gaskets are maintenance, and they fail in every single car sooner or later. 115k miles sounds pretty damn good to me!
You had one weird issue which is the axle hop topic.
There are some very long threads about predetonation on certain tunes, and that's all I'll say about that.
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I intended to do the work myself but there are personal complications preventing that at the moment and the cost of the car have been affecting it to a degree. Also of course, I understand gaskets are maintenance, that's why I didn't list that as a "major" issue. But it was still a pricey job even though I had a friend do it way cheaper than at a real shop.
I knew it was gonna be an expensive thing early on, but I didn't expect it to be quite as extensive as it has been. When I bought it, I was under the impression that "Rod bearings, and throttle actuators" were the only real big ticket maintenance items I'd likely run into along side some small odds and ends like valve cover gaskets and PCV and in the convertible's case, potential for the cables to fray (not an issue Ive seen) and the headrest restraint wiring (my car does have this).
LS engines are significantly cheaper to own and maintain from what I have seen, like for 8 coils for an LS3 your looking at around 500 bucks, 480 bucks would get you 2 coils for an S65. It's that stuff that has me contemplating whether I should back out or not. Again I am taking your points into consideration, not trying to fight about which platform is better, I love both.
Mainly I'd just like some reassurance that S65s don't normally leave people stranded on the side of the road every 10k miles.