06x19 & 06x20 - BMW M3 E36 Convertible (Part 1 & 2)

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler Dealers,
the show that takes iconic cars

that have seen better days, and
we make them great once more.

Now, I find the motors, and I give them
the TLC they so desperately need, and

then we make a Fuqua profit when we
sell them on, or at least that's the plan.

Well, we certainly don't
want to go skid. Now

this time, I'm on the hunt
for a performance car.

A BMW that stands out
from the crowd, and one that

sports a legendary badge
on his boot. Yes, it's the M3.

This is a truly iconic performance
motor. A Q-car hero with space for four,

but one that can go like a Porsche
when your right foot hits the deck.

At the heart of a BMW M3 is its superb


propels the car to 60 in just 5.2 seconds
in a high-quality, reliable luxury package.

The E36 was 40 grand
new, but today you can grab

one for under 10 grand.
Less if the car needs work.

Now, there are plenty of M3 BMWs out there,
and they seem to fall into two camps.

You've either got the very cheap cars
that are a bit ropey, they've got base bins

in the boot, aftermarket rims, they look
nasty and they've been thrashed around.

Or you've got the low-miler,
high-priced cars that are well-sorted.

What I'm after is something
that falls between the two.

I'm putting a maximum of 5
grand into nationwide car search

engines, and I'm getting
loads of bargain bucket M3s.

Now it's just a case of sifting through,
because somewhere amongst the

smokers, there's an honest M3
that can be turned around for a profit.

Whoa! I feel like I've been at this
for hours, because there's so many

out there to choose from, but I have
narrowed my search down to a couple.

I'm putting them on my shortlist.
The first one is a bit odd, because it's

at a car dealer's, and I don't really
want to buy a car from a car dealer.

And the picture's a
bit odd, because I can't

work out whether it's
blue or whether it's grey.

At 4.5 grand, this car is almost too cheap.
It's definitely worth a butcher's.

But the private one, that's
black, and that's got a grey

leather interior, and perfectly,
they say it needs attention.

But get this, it's got a detachable
hardtop. So both of these cars

are within my budget. Let's see
if I can pop down and see both.

I've got my niggly doubts about this
one. Number one is that the fact that this

bloke's a car dealer, therefore he
might be a bit harder to negotiate with.

Number two, it's a bit up
in the miles, this car. Not

that I'm buying that, as
long as it's worn and well.

Wow, look at this place.
Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus,

but this is what I've come
to see. The BMW M3.

Well the interior looks
alright, it's all there. It's got that

Recaro leather interior, you'd
expect to find it on an M3.

Does that have a sitting side note?
What's it sound like?

Look at that.

But the colour of this car is wrong. In
the pictures it looked tempting, but in

the flesh the purple is too extreme,
and that's the reason for the low price.

I'm not going to drive
it, I'm out. I reckon

there's a better car out
there in a better colour.

So let's move on to the next
motor, which is the private

seller. It's got that black M3,
fingers crossed on this one.

A gravelly driveway, always a good
sign, and look at that house. Caroline?

Yes, nice to meet you Mike.

Lovely to meet you. Wow, BMW M3,
it looks fabulous doesn't it? You've had

one of those moments haven't you?
You've had an argument with a kerbstone.

Why are you getting rid of it?

I'd like something different, a
little bit more practical for the kids.

Any chance I can have a look inside?

Yeah, absolutely.

Right then, let's start the old girl up.
Wow.

Now, it's been many years since
I've opened the roof on a BMW M3.

The roof's gone up and
down quite a lot recently.

Now that gives me a good excuse
to have a proper look at this interior.

What's been going on here?
Have you had somebody

dancing with studded
shoes on in the back?

Yes, it does need a bit of attention.
When we bought it, we had every

intention to do something with it, but
we've had the kiddie seats on them.

It's all about the engine for me.
Right, let's pop it open and have a look.

Yeah, no, go for it.

Now that is what I call a motor.

The guy we bought it off had it checked
out by his mate who worked for BMW.

So he sent it there and they did a whole
load of work on it and it needs to be done.

So the engine is actually
very sound. The only

thing that's wrong
with it is the gearbox.

There's a problem
between three and four. It

kind of clunks a bit,
but other than that...

Okay, well I can try
that on the test drive.

There's nothing else.

Have you had the Pixies under here?
Look, the alarm. What's happened to that?

There's a connection problem.
So the lights work, but no sound.

Okay. Quite a bit to do, isn't there?

Now, I just need to take it for a
test drive. So can I take it for a spin?

Yeah, no, go for it.

Well, I'm sliding into an old suit
getting in this car. Here we go.

Oh, I miss. I miss this frill.

With a BMW M3, you really have
to keep one eye on the speedometer

because it's lusty and very
pokey and revvy. 3.2 litre engine.

All it wants you to do is to
thrash it within an inch of its life.

And when you do that, the horizon
fills the screen rather too quickly

and you've got a load
of points on your license.

Right, here we go.
My first time for putting

the M3 into that noisy
fourth gear apparently.

Oh, let me do that again. So it's
like the gearbox is going to fall out.

So clearly there's a
problem with this M3's

gearbox, but you have
to take that into account.

Now, if it was a Ford or a
Vauxhall, that would worry me.

A car with a broken gearbox
usually means one that's been abused.

This beamer may have been
thrashed, but trust me, it can take it.

Most people would walk
away from this one, but not me.

This car is still the
ultimate driving machine.

But I'm almost excited
about getting to the bends

because when you do
push a BMW M3 into a bend,

because of the wide
stance and the huge tyres,

this car's got bags and bags and
bags of grip. It just holds in there.

And I think that this motor
will live to fight another day,

but to do that, it's
got to have a six foot

seven inch mechanic go
and play under the bonnet.

She's got this car up at 4,995
with the detachable hard top.

And in the real world,
truthfully, there's that noise.

That's not too bad.
That's actually all right.

So I'm going to go back
to her with me size 10's on.

I'll reason with her and
try and convince her why I

think this car's only worth
about four and a half grand.

But hopefully I might
even get it a bit cheaper.

Do you know what, Caroline?

It's put a smile back on my face, this car.
It really has.

I really, really enjoyed the test drive.

Listen, I'm going to cut to the chase.
I really like this car.

I've made no bones about it.
I'm gushing over it.

When you think about it, it needs
a gearbox, I think, a replacement.


end up being quite expensive, this car.

So I was going to kick off,

and I know it sounds like I'm
really kicking you off, but I'm not.

It's a genuine price for £4,000.

I was really looking at 4,995.
I really wanted the asking price.

So perhaps I'll do 4,750.

I'll give you 4,250 for it. It'll be cash.

I'll take it away and, you
know, I'll do the work on it.

But 4,250 and I think that's a fair price.

No, I'm really looking at 4,750.

I'll tell you what,
I'll give you, and I

think we both know
we're going to end up here,

and I'll make it four and a half grand.

That's it. I will walk away
having that four and a half grand.

Okay, done. Done. Well done.

Well, I've got to tell
you, I'm happy with that.

Four and a half thousand pounds.

Four and a half grand for a BMW
M3 convertible with a hard stop.

It don't get much better.

No matter how hard I tried
to not make this gearbox,

make that horrible metal
on cob grinding noise,

what's Ed going to say when I get it back?
I hope.

Oh, I hope it makes it.

I bought a BMW M3 with a lack of gearbox.

Right now, here comes the tricky
bit, the profit that we're likely to see.

We're going to have to put gearbox in it.

We're going to have to do the interior.

We're going to have
to do all of those things,

and it's going to
come to a fair few quid.

Owning a hypercar like this
BMW M3 does come at a price,

and Edward, I think we're
in for some expensive parts.

Oh, look at this. A BMW M3 with...
Is that actually a detachable hardtop?

It is a proper detachable hardtop.

I'm going to get Pat on the
back for that one, son. Well done.

Don't be fooled by the mouse
number plate on the front.

It isn't a 94M. No, no, no, Edward.

This is a proper 97 car with a
six-speed gearbox, 3.2-litre engine.

And the bodywork is pretty much mint.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't
muck about, do I? I buy a proper car.

Yeah, and I'm very happy about that.

Of course, that means that the rest
of the car underneath is pants, isn't it?

No, it's not.
It's got a few little problems.

Okay, being?

The sticky thing that makes it drive along.
The gearbox.

Yeah, there's a little
problem with the gearbox.

And how small are we talking?

It's just a little weeny noise
between third and fourth gear.

And how little a noise
are we talking about?

Well, the good news is if
you've got the roof down, right,

the wind whistling past your
ears, there's a stereo on full blast.

I can't hear it at all.

No, you can still hear it.

These cars are expensive.
The parts for them are really expensive.

And of course, even if it's
just like a little bit of a synchro

or a cog or something, I'm going
to have to take the gearbox out.

Whatever we end up doing,
I'll take the gearbox out.

So thanks for that, mate.

Are you moaning? Stop moaning.

Why did God give you
these genius hands, Ed?

It's so you can work on my oily bits.

That's a fair point. Okay, cool.

Look at the interior, Edward. Look at that.

The interior, well, at least the
seats are pretty properly nasty.

What has happened to these at the back?
It's terrible.

There's a lot of windows on the back
seat because they are pretty rough.

But you can retrim this, can't you?

I reckon we could retrim them.

Or perhaps we could just
get a replacement interior.

But I reckon that might be
quite rare for a vehicle like this.

I think the opposite. I think it'd be easy.

It's a BMW. It's rear-wheel drive.

It's an M3 engine, so
it's nice and powerful.

I reckon they've spun round a bit.

Oh, so they crash a lot. They crash a lot.

And I reckon in a scrappy somewhere,
there'd be a nice new interior.

Look at it round the back
here, sharp as a button.

It's got some presence,
hasn't it, this car? It really has.

And the wheels.
It's got the proper wheels on it.

The wheels are a fan. They're all right.

We can probably pick them up, I guess.

It's they're a little graced, OK?

Up on the net, it's all ready to go.

No, this is a very, very nice car.
But how much did this cost?

£4,500. Sorry?

£4,500.

£4,500.

It's a BMW M3, Ed.

Yeah, but we've now got to sort
out the gearbox and the interior,

the wheels.
Like, how are we going to make any money?

Well, there creates your dilemma.

It's all about driving the
cost down on this car.

It's worth it, Ed, just for a drink
alone and to keep the car on the road.

It's going to be really cool.
It's going to be great to work on.

Get in the workshop?
Yeah, no worries. Get the door up.

Yeah.

Ed can grumble all he wants,
but if he can make this M3 right

and keep the costs as low as they
have to be, we'll be in the money.

Come back after the
break to see if this M3 is

motoring heaven or a
journey to the dark side.

It's our Wheeler-dealer
mission to buy, restore and

sell on classic cars with
a budget of five grand.

This stonking BMW M3
costs just four and a half grand.

Okay, done. Done. Well done.

But comes with the
slight problem of a gearbox

that makes a clunk
between third and fourth.

That definitely, definitely
sounds kaput to me.

The interior of this car
is absolutely shattered.

Even the alarm doesn't work.

Have I bitten off more than Ed can chew?

When Mike bought our M3, he noticed a
bit of a crunch coming from the gearbox.

And having driven it
myself, I'm pretty sure it's the

fourth-gear synchro that
seems to be completely shot.

Now, on a car like this, a gearbox
is a pretty complicated thing

and needs a whole load of
specialist tools to work on them.

So I'm not even going
to bother trying to fix it

myself, but we are
going to have to replace it,

and that means it's
going to have to come out.

So I'm stuck with this big and
nasty job of removing the gearbox.

The box is hidden deep inside the gearbox.

It's deep within the transmission tunnel,

and everything connected
to it has to come off.

Wow, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Now, I've got to get this gearbox off.

Everything's obscured by the exhaust.

I'm going to have to undo the mounts
that hold the gearbox to the chassis there.

And, of course, I have
to undo all the bolts

around all the bell
housing of the engine.

And, of course, some of those
are right up there at the top.

So the exhaust is going
to have to come off.

But it's also things like this
little clutch sl*ve cylinder here.

I might as well undo that rather than
trying to bleed the system afterwards.

It's a pig of a job,
and, naturally, the

architect of this mess,
Mike, isn't here to help.

This is going to take a long time.

To remove the exhaust yourself,
you'll only need a few tools,

and a ramp, like the one I have
in the workshop here, really helps.

Although there is a middle
section I could actually remove,

I think it's going to be easier just to
unbolt the whole exhaust in one hit.

So I'm just going to have to
disconnect all of those rubber mounts.

And, just because it's kind of heavy, I'm
actually going to use a transmission Jack

to support the weight while I take
it off, because it is kind of weighty.

Now, when you're undoing
things like these exhaust mounts,

this is a really handy tool.
It's very simple.

It's just a handle with
a little hook on the end.

It does save you breaking
screwdrivers and knuckles.

Let's pull that straight off. Job done.

A transmission Jack is
designed for just this kind of job,

and it lowers the exhaust
perfectly out of the way.

Wow. Now this is heavy.
You can really feel the German quality.

Oh, wow.

I think what I'm going to do now is
undo this gearbox mount at the back

that's bolted to the chassis,
but to take its weight before,

obviously, let it drop, I'm just
going to grab this transmission Jack.

Slide that in like so.

I can then lower it down
in a nice controlled fashion,

and that should give you more access to
all the other bits I've got to disconnect,

including those bolts that go
around the top of the engine.

With this gearbox mount off, next
port of call is removing the prop shaft.

Now, I do need to disconnect
that gear shifter mechanism,

but, of course, I can't actually get
to it until I've removed the prop shaft.

The prop shaft transfers power
from the gearbox to the back wheels.

You have to unbolt it, then
slide it back to get it off the car.

Now, annoyingly, there seems
to be a little gold-colored bar

inside the prop shaft, though,
which is actually stopping me

and letting me just drop the prop shaft
out of position where it is right now.

So what I need to do is undo
this extra bearing plate here

and then maybe even that
kind of brace there for the tunnel,

just so I can get the prop shaft out of
the way and off the back of the gearbox.

It's going on and on and on.

Okay, the prop shaft is out.
We're making progress.

Now I've got to unbolt
the gearbox from the car.

The next set of bolts are at the top of
the bell housing at the back of the engine.

How can you undo bolts you can't see?

Enter my clever new toy.

Thanks to this endoscope camera,

I can see the bolts that I need
to remove to release the gearbox.

So I've got this pretty
cunning little thing.

It's called an endoscope, and basically you
can see it's got a little camera on the end

with a little light on, and
it's a little tiny, thin neck

that I can get into all
kinds of crazy little places.

So if I look into the bell
housing, for example,

I can see there I've
got the clutch plate,

and then if I go a bit further around, I
can see the edge of the ring gear there.

You see the little cogs, the little teeth.

So now while I can see what's going on,

I'm just going to get
the socket into position.

Oh my word.

Right, here we go.

Wowzers, that was tough.

There we go.

Well, that is the last
of the difficult ones,

so now just have all the other
ones down the bottom of the gearbox.

So with all the bolts
undone, we're nearly there.

We're about to get to the
cause of the trouble, the gearbox.

Fantastic.

Cool, so now the gearbox
is all disconnected, I think.

So theoretically, the
gearbox would pop out,

but because I've done all the easy stuff,

I'm now going to get
Paul in to give us a hand,

because I really don't
want to drop this on my foot.

So Paul, give us a hand for a sec.

So we're just trying to prise the
gearbox very gently off the engine.

At long last, after hours
of work, we have a result.

The gearbox has left the car.

Okay, look at that.

Pretty fantastic. We now have
the gearbox out of our BMW at last.

That was quite a lot of work.

And now it's up to Mike
to find us a replacement.

With the gearbox out of the way,
it's on to those damaged alloy wheels.

Alloys make a big difference
to the appearance of the car,

especially with these bad
boys, but they need to be mint.

Now, these wheels are in a bit of a state.

You can see they've been
rimmed, they've been damaged,

they've got quite a bit of
corrosion on there as well.

Now, handily, Mike has come to the rescue.

He's sent somebody down
who can refurbish them.

while we wait outside of the workshop.

So I've got to get him off the car.

Here you go, Paul. Here's the first one.

So are we going to take the tyre off
before you start working on the wheel?

Now, what we're going to
do, we're going to break the

bead on the tyre, mask it up
and then reshape the edge.

Oh, I see. So just leave the tyre in
place, but just kind of away from the rim.

Very cool. Okay.

The turnaround on our
wheels is a couple of hours.

If the damage was more severe, repairs
back at their workshop could take days,

so we're lucky.

All right, Paul. Oh, wow, look,
so you've masked up the wheels.

So how many more stages before
we get to actually see paint go on?

What we're going to do,
we're going to grind all this

damage out, get it nice
and flat, take all the rot out,

and then we're going to
prime it, paint it and lacquer it.

Cool.

That is really impressive.

What would one of these vans cost if I
wanted to pop out and buy one myself?

Around about £60,000.

£60,000? That's right, yeah.

Wow. Right, that's all nice and
smoked, so ready for some primer.

Cool. I guess safety gear is in order.

That's it, mask on.

Once Paul has applied the primer,

he leaves it to dry under the
infrared heater for 10 minutes,

before finally adding some layers of
metallic paint and, of course, lacquer.

True, I could do this myself, but I'm not
sure I'd match the finish of these guys,

but at £60 a corner, it's decent value.

That is looking fantastic.

Well done, that man. Look at that.

That is going to look so good on my car.

Thank you very much, sir.
Excellent. Thank you very much.

Cheers.

So now, I'd better get him on.

Now, that is looking very tidy indeed.

Ed, how are you?

I'm all right, sir.

As our beloved BMW M3, I've
been dreading coming to see you.

Well, I don't like to say I
told you so, but I told you so.

Why on earth would you buy
an M3 with a broken gearbox?

Because it's an M3, I wanted one,

and I didn't know the gearbox
was going to be that bad,

and if anyone can fix it, you
and your magic hands can.

No chance. It's such an intricate thing.

You need all kinds of specialist tools,

so if I can't fix it, where
does that leave us?

Well, it nearly left us
£1,000 out of pocket.

That's what it cost for a replacement box.

But don't worry, I've
done me phoning around,

and I've managed to find a replacement
that'll be here tomorrow for £500.

A monkey, not bad, eh?

That isn't bad, but is it any good?

Of course it's good.
Have I ever let you down before?

The M3 is a true high-performance motor,

but when I changed from
third to fourth on the test drive,

it was clear this beamer
had been in the walls.

Sounds like the gearbox
is going to fall out.

A synchromesh was kaput, which
meant the whole gearbox was a goner.

It had to pull out the old gearbox,

and I had to find a replacement,

which cost me £500.

That wasn't all.

The M3 has trademark alloy wheels.

Ours have been badly kerbed.

To get the best possible finish,

I paid an expert to do
the job for £60 a goner.

Great result, but I've already
blown my £5,000 budget.

The pressure's on because
there's still plenty more to do.

And I reckon top price I'll get when
we sell this M3 on is around £6,000.

I was hoping to get a decent dinner
out this motor, but to be honest with you,

I reckon this can be a
challenge just to get the scraps.

And there's still plenty of work to do,

including finding a replacement interior.

That could prove pricey.

Then there's the faulty alarm,

but first we've got the big problem.

Ed's got to fit that refurbished gearbox.

Good luck.

And this is it.

£500 worth of complex
German gear shifting technology.

It came out of a scrap car
and Mike swears it's kosher,

so let's hope it's all okay.

So we're nearly there now.

Just pumping it up into position.

So I'm just going to make
sure that the first motion shaft

is in line with the hole in the
pressure plate for the clutch.

And just get that into position.

And then once we're there, we can then
start trying to offer it into position.

It's just too high this
side, a bit low this side,

so we just need to kind of push it up that
way and straighten it at the same time.

I'm using a transmission Jack
to take the weight of the gearbox,

and Paul is helping me with
the task of inching it into position.

It's sort of, no, it's still
way off over this side.

Just come in a bit more.

It's a tense process.

If you can.

But eventually it's in place.

There we go.

A little bit more.

That's beautiful.

I think we're on.

That's a bit of a relief.

The gearbox is now onto
the engine, which is great.

So the first motion shaft is engaged

with that little center plate,
so it was well worth the lining.

All we have to do now is
connect everything back up again.

And by everything, I mean
bolting on the gearbox mounts,

the engine bell housing,
reconnecting the clutch sl*ve cylinder,

refitting the exhaust,

sealing the transmission
fluid, you get the idea.

Such a tight space.

They've actually packed an awful
lot of stuff into the insides of this car.

Well, there we go.
That's all the fiddly bits.

Now for all the big stuff.

This gearbox cross member takes
the bulk of the weight of the gearbox.

Four bolts make sure
everything stays firmly in place.

Refitting the prop shaft is a two-man job.

It delivers the power from the
engine to the rear differential,

which drives the rear wheels.

Next, a large heat shield goes in,

designed to stop heat
transferring from the exhaust

into the cabin of the car by
reflecting it back towards the road.

The exhaust is the last big bit of kit.

I'm being meticulous here,

because the M3's stonking
performance relies on a 100% fit exhaust.

So I'm careful as I maneuver
the big steel system into place,

and I'm making sure
every union is nipped up

tight and all the exhaust
mounts are reconnected.

Last job is to pour
transmission fluid into the oil

level filler plug until
it begins to trickle

out, which shows it's
reached its proper level.

So, finally, everything is in position.

We've got enough transmission fluid.

I reckon it's time for a
cheeky little test drive.

Okay, I'd better just test this gearbox.

So, first gear.

Second gear all seems good.

Okay, for third.

Now, of course, this is the tricky
one that was wrong with our gearbox.

Third to fourth.

Not a blimmer. That's fantastic.

And then, fifth gear.

And finally, sixth gear.

This car has six-speed
box, and that's just fantastic.

Now, it's a little scary
just taking Mike's

word for the fact that
he's got a good gearbox.

He did get it secondhand.
Anything could have happened to it.

The car was in the
breaker's yard in the

first place because the
gears weren't working.

So, actually, he was just listening for any
strange noises, any kind of funny sounds.

But you know what? I think he's done okay
because everything seems to be in order.

Our Beemer needs a replacement interior,

which is why I've come to one of
the UK's biggest BMW dismantlers.

Apparently, they've got a grey-lever
M3 interior and I'm here to strike a deal.

It is amazing. How big is this place, then?

We bake 650 cars a year.


And where do you send them to?

All over the world.
Canada, Australia, Christmas Island.

Christmas Island?
Well, I hope it's my

Christmas when I see
this interior. Where is it?

Right here. Oh, I can see it already.

Ah, John, that looks fantastic.
What a great colour.

Yes. Perfect.
It's a complete interior, is it?

A complete interior, yeah.

But the most important part for me is this,

which is the rear swab on the back.

It looks like somebody's had
a dance on the back of ours

with stilettos on and
punctured holes in it.

Isn't it?
That's going to finish the car off.

So how much is it? It's £400.

Yeah, I said it was a bit ropey.
I thought 250.

Come on, John. Oh, man, 250.


you've come on this way.



And you deliver it. Oh!

Come on, the hand's shaking.


I'll send you on a courier. Lovely.

Come on, I'll pay you some money.

I am absolutely over the
moon with that interior.



And they're going to
send it overnight to Ed.

He'll have it first thing in the morning.

Well, it's arrived.

This is the interior that
Mike managed to source,

but something he didn't bother to tell me

is that the front seats on the ones
he's found are mechanically adjusted,

and the front seats on
our car are actually electric.

So I'm going to have
to do a bit of fiddling

to get all the mechanisms back
to the spec that came with the car.

And, of course, to get all
this interior into our Beamer,

I'm going to need to
remove all the old stuff.

So this must undo the
electrics I was talking about.

Three connectors down here.

Oh, no, there's actually four connectors.

Of course, all that one's four.

Smashing, OK, so now the seat can come out.

The interior Mike has found
is grey and black, like our one.

Well, not quite the same.

It's a slightly different
shade of grey and black,

which means I will have to swap
the whole interior to make it match up.

So that's door cards and
seats, both front and rear.

Well, that's the seats ready to come out,

and now I can get on
with the rest of the trim.

The BMW is well-designed and put together,

so working on it is
actually quite a pleasure.

But sometimes even the classiest of cars

have something unexpected
hidden deep inside.

Oh, no, you see, this is
definitely one of my pet hates.

Mice, just the worst thing, nasty vermin.

You can see all these
little bits here of the foam,

and there's a hole back here.

Oh, my word, and there we go.

So there is what looks like,
presumably, a mouse nest.

Oh, yuck.

Well, that's a first.

I bet Ed's never seen that before.

But now he can crack on
with the interior strip-out.

I'm hoping the second-hand
interior eyeball will really lift this car

because we're well over
our five grand budget,

and there's still
plenty of work to do.

But if we can get the M3-looking mint,

we might still earn a
few Bob out of the deal.

When I bought this M3 for £4,500,

I knew we'd have our work
cut out to earn a decent profit.

But I didn't realise things would
be quite so tight money-wise.

Ed's already replaced the costly gearbox,

and we've refurbished the wheels.

He's still got to sort out the alarm,

but first he's working
flat out to fit the

second-hand interior I
picked up for 300 quid.

Essentially, I need
to take off all this nice

new leather and put it
onto our electric seat.

I need to undo a couple of screws.

I've then got to undo these
really delicate plastic clips.

Then I've got to undo some bolts
that hold all this kind of mechanism on.

Then I have to do the same
thing again for the seat back.

This is turning out to be a lot
more work than I was bargaining on.

Luckily, the size of the frames
are the same for both pairs of seats,

so the switchover of the good seat squabs,

the leather and foam sections,

for the old ones should
be relatively straightforward.

So now I've got to undo these very delicate
clips at the base of our seat base,

and they are quite delicate because
they're only designed to go in once.

I'm going to just tease them shut and see
if I can just push them through the hole.

These little levers on the side
should just pop out, hopefully.

If you're wondering why I'm
bothering to do all this fiddly work,

then consider this.

A new BMW replacement interior
would cost a whopping £6,000,

which makes it well worthwhile.

in the hours on these
£300 second-hand seats.

Eventually, I'm left
with just the old seat

frame with all the
electric motors in its base.

Now I need those
replacement leather squabs.

So I've got to take the
same stuff off our new seat

so I can then transfer it and mix it
around with all the stuff off the old seat.

It's just going to go on forever.

It's same again for stripping
down Mike's replacement seats.

I'm changing my gloves on a regular basis

to make sure I keep that
light grey leather clean,

because it would be
really easy to transfer oil

from the underside of
the frame onto the covers.

I'm finally in a position where
I can put my replacement

foam and leather back onto
our original electric seat bases.

Thing is, there's a bit of a hitch.

The interior that Mike got
hasn't got heated seats.

Unfortunately, our car did.

And it's strongly recommended
that you don't try to

cannibalise those psychedelic
electrics on the old seats.

So we're going to have to
live with that compromise.

Although we've got some lovely new leather,

we don't have the heated
seats, but of course the

good thing is we still get
to keep our electric bases.

It's kind of like a bit of a Jigsaw, this.

Just remembering where everything goes.

But luckily these seats are pretty simple.

Lots of cars have leather seats now and
they'll all have a protective clear top coat

which minimises the chance of staining

if you spill a coffee on your lap.

There's lots of leather
cleaning products on the market,

but be careful to always wipe, not rub away,
at leather as you can break the surface

and damage the colour
beneath if you're too aggressive.

A last finishing touch.

These little clips will
go on the back here.

There we go. These can go back in the car.

Right, the seats are done so now I can start
putting the interior back into the car.

Bit of a Jigsaw puzzle

but hopefully I should be able to
remember where everything goes.

This is quite a modern car but it always
amazes me how little car design changes.

Interiors are still held
on in the same old way.

Fiddly catches, tiny
screws and fragile clips.

Your basic mechanic's nightmare.

Now of course this is what
we've all been waiting for.

That rear seat we had was so horrible.

This is fantastic. Look at that.

No rips, no tears.

It's looking very, very good.

Oh yes.

Properly comfortable now.

Okay, here we go.

So nearly got the front seats in now.

Our interior is looking very tidy indeed.

Very exciting. A little bit more fiddling
and then I think we're going to be there.

The electrics are reconnected.

The seats are bolted
back onto the floor runners.

and now it's time to test them.

Before I can do the rear bolts,

I might as well just see if the seats work.

Look at that. Electric, everything.

Should be able to go up as well.

Look at that. It all tilts forward.

Hey, back in business.

Right, okay.

So the wires on this side as well.

Just pop them into position.

This has taken me a whole day to do.

A BMW specialist might
have been able to do it faster

but I reckon they'd have charged
over 600 quid for the privilege.

Well, I think Mike's done us proud because
this replacement interior looks so good.

There are no rips, just
acres of lovely leather

and although it was a bit of a hassle,
it was definitely well worth the effort.

There's one more job still to do and on a
desirable motor like this, it's essential.

I need to sort that faulty alarm.

Can you hear that?

Nope, neither can I.

That is the sound of a broken
car alarm that Mike mentioned.

Now the unit in the car
itself is quite beaten up

which is probably why the
hazards work but the siren doesn't.

So I've got an exact replacement unit

and rather than wiring the whole
thing into the car from scratch,

I'm actually going to
splice this into the existing

wiring and hopefully that
should make it all work.

Now because I'm playing with electrics,

the first thing I've
done is disconnect the

battery but now this
is our offending article.

You can see it's sticking
in a pretty bad way.

In fact, it looks like I can
actually almost pull it apart.

If I had pulled it apart,
there's the electronic-y bit

and that's the bit that makes
all the noise, that's the siren.

So what I need to do is I'm
just going to chase this wire,

follow it through the wiring and
just see where it kind of goes.

Once I've found the wire running
to the alarm, the work starts.

I'm carefully cutting the exterior insulation
and teasing out one wire at a time.

Then I'm simply soldering my new wires in

and hopefully the alarm
should be back in business.

I'm just going to tuck the wire
into the existing wiring loom,

make it look nice and neat
and a couple of cable ties.

and then just trim off the
ends and it's time to test it.

Well, I've armed it.

All I need now is somebody to try and get
into the car and I've got to set it off.

Yep, that's the sound of a working alarm.

Well, it's finished and you have
to admit it really looks to business.

A powerful beast of a car wrapped up in
one of BMW's most iconic body shapes.

A driver's car with a luxury
feel and fabulous drop-top looks.

My favourite BMW?
Well, it sure comes close.

It looks so right now but when Ed
first took a look, this car was all wrong.

A grudge between third and fourth
gear meant the gearbox was a write-off.

After a lot of blood, sweat and
tears, Ed fitted a replacement

and this high-performance
car was back to its best.

Next, I got a specialist to
take a look at the alloys.

Now this M3's got its bling factor back.

The interior was a right old mess.

Holes in the rear seat, seats
and cracked leather all round.

My recycled replacements were
tough to fit but looked the part.

Ed finally tackled that broken alarm.

The new unit meant the beamer
was on full alert once more.

So how much did the M3 cost us?

I bought this beauty
for four and a half grand.

The gearbox was 500 quid.

The alloys cost 240 to refurb.

The second hand interior was a bargain


Overall, our mint M3 owes us £5,580.

Wow, look at that, Ed.

Oh, that's a motor I would be
proud to have on my driveway.

Well done, as ever.

Flattery will get you nowhere.

I can't forget that you got me an M3
and then made me change the gearbox.

That was a lot of hassle and money.

All right, I'll put my hands up
to that but look what we got, Ed.

We got a BMW M3 and
if I can't spin a profit round

in this car, then if I
wore a hat, I'd eat it.

Well, I can but hope.

Well, you can but hope but look at it, Ed.

Look, it's screaming out to us, isn't it?

Roof down. I don't recommend you.
Give me the keys.

Let's take it for a spin.

Let's do it.

The heart of this car, Edward, is up front.

It's that engine. Listen to it.

It's a BMW M3.

Well, it does look like a
standard BMW convertible

but actually, it's a wicked sports car.
There's no doubt about it.

And the fact we can
now actually change gear

without none of that
crunching noise that's

going on has made a
big difference in this motor.

I think a few men in stripy
shirts and power braces

have been giving this car a
really good thrashing in its past.

Well, thanks to you,
Ed, there's no sign of it.

I mean, the interior's
great, the wheels, they

look amazing, the body
works nice and straight.

Ed, this car, it's a Caulker.

This is an A1 car. It's at the top of the
tree and they usually go for about £6,000.

I'm going to pitch this just under £6,000

and get this, Ed, I'm not
going to budge a penny

because this car is so
salted, it's worth every penny.

So if someone is looking for a drop-top M3,

then this is the car that's
going to impress them.

I advertised our BMW on a
couple of enthusiast websites.

and it was expected the
phone fell off the Orca,

and who can blame them?

The lady behind me, her
name's Mel, she's come

down, seen it, driven
it, absolutely loves it.

I love this car and I
think you love it too.

I do love it, yes.

And it's the right price, £5,950.

That's what's wrong with it, the price.

I'm not prepared to go above
£5,500 and you want more?

I'm not prepared to go at £5,500

and I'm pretty confident
with the amount of calls

and the amount of interest I've had in
this, I am going to get my £5,950 for it.

Well, I'm not prepared
to go up above £5,500.

You know when you're flog motors,

you've got to be able
to read body language.

Nigel's body language is
making all the right signs to me.

I reckon this man's hot
to trot on our lovely BMW,

but will he talk business?

Right then, Nigel, I'll see you gazing
admirably at the lovely M3 engine.

Very nice.

What do you think, then?

Yeah, straight lines, immaculate
paintwork, leather seats.

I think the car's worth every
penny of what I'm asking.

In fact, I've had people turn up and
bid me and I've told them to go away.

I've even had bids over the
phone and I think it's worth £5,950.

Go on, I'll take it.

No bids? £5,950?

£5,950, I'll take it.

You bought yourself a cr*cker.

You sold a car.

In the end, we did
manage a profit on this one.

We sneaked £370 and we
had a lot of fun along the way.

I'll be sad to say goodbye
to the M3 Beemer.

We got away with that one.

We nearly bit off more than we could chew.

This car did Chuck up a few surprises in
the workshop, but thanks to Ed's hard work,

I reckon we've turned this car around
and it will go on to give great service.

for many years to come to a true M3 fan.

If you want to see more cars
getting a Wheeler-dealer treatment,

then make sure you join us again soon.

We'll be right back.