day of reckoning

That seems very high, but I'm not sure the market for the PNW.

If you want you can send me the estimate and I'd be happy to look it over and give you any notes. [email protected]

$13k seems ludicrous. That said, I haven't paid for repairs for at least 20 years other than alignments and tires.
I replaced the clutch on my father's e28 about 8 years ago and parts were about $1k.
I would follow the suggestions of doing it yourself w your sons assistance if you're able.
I'm debating a similar situation w mine bc of rust. No giant patches, but about 20 little spots all over. That's beyond my expertise, but not sure what repairs will cost and how effective they will be long term.

Jon325iT said:

My 02 touring needs fairly substantial work (transmission, suspension, various leaks). I truly love this thing - had it over 20 years! Only 105K miles or so. My kid is driving it (proud of him for learning to drive a manual) and it needs the work to be safe and reliable of course. I need to make the call to move on and get him something newer (and probably safer) or just bite the bullet and pay more than it's worth to fix it. Of course we've all faced this at some point. This is the first time I've seriously considered moving on. Not easy.

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Fix it and get declared value insurance.

Jon325iT said:

Estimate came back at 13K (with tax) to rebuild the clutch, new tires, new brakes, new front control arms, valve cover gasket, vanos line, rear differential seal, alignment.

After reading a bit here, I found advice to replace the guibo, center driveshaft bearing, detent pins, pilot bearing clutch release fork pin/spring, transmission mounts and the starter while I was in there (estimate doesn't include those things).

I'll try to get another estimate. Maybe that's the going rate around here. I can swing it but it's hard to imagine spending that much.

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Is the tech planning on going on vacation and staying on the clock??

Clutch, differential seal, and alignment I could see paying someone (NOT them). The rest aren't that hard.

Is this quote from an indie or a dealer? If dealer, go to an indie for sure. These cars are so old you DON'T want a dealer touching them. Half the techs at the dealers were still peeing their draws when these were new. An indie however, should be on-point. If it's an indie quote, go to another one. That quote is rather excessive. That's a fair bit more than my swap cost and that included refurbishing and replacing a LOT of items. That should put that quote into perspective.

S54 swap it Get your son something slower...

it doesn’t sound like $7k worth of work. $1500 for the tranny including labor. Rear seal they can do then as trans is already off. Valve gaskets? You can do that. Brakes. <$400 all around DIY. Pics please if you want to sell it. Looking for a project to do with my 14 year old daughter. She’ll be driving in a couple years.

Update: Finally got it into a shop to get the work done - should get it back next week (fingers crossed).

Picked up some style 68 wheels to complete the refresh. I think I'll let my son drive the E61 for awhile.

Jon325iT said:

Estimate came back at 13K (with tax) to rebuild the clutch, new tires, new brakes, new front control arms, valve cover gasket, vanos line, rear differential seal, alignment.

After reading a bit here, I found advice to replace the guibo, center driveshaft bearing, detent pins, pilot bearing clutch release fork pin/spring, transmission mounts and the starter while I was in there (estimate doesn't include those things).

I'll try to get another estimate. Maybe that's the going rate around here. I can swing it but it's hard to imagine spending that much.

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What is the cost / item rundown from most $ to least? I bet that list can be triaged again.