Hello I just joined ZHP Mafia, I recently just bought an automatic Jet Black 330ci ZHP with cinnamon interior and 167k miles on it. I got it for $3500 because the paint was seriously damaged, I live in AZ so the clear coat was pretty much non existent. I work at a body shop so im going to be painting it the same oem color very soon; in fact I started prepping the body for primer a week ago. I have a lot of plans for this car, the biggest hope is to sell it for some profit if I don't fall in love with it in the process.

Some quick background of myself if your interested, my name is Matt, I just turned 18 and i've been working on cars (mainly BMW's) since I got my license 2 years ago. My first car was a 1987 325i convertible which is now in storage. My love and passion for BMW's comes from the e30, currently I am building an m54b30 swapped e30 (not the convertible, this is a 1991 318is) which will be a dedicated race car and its very very close to running. I got the m54 for the swap out of a 2002 530i (ironically that's my birthday) and took the whole engine apart, changed every gasket, rebuilt vanos, etc., except I didn't touch the internals. I am very familiar with m54s which sparked my interest in ZHPs and the fact that I pretty much know the m54 like the back of my hand which led me to buy a car with that engine so I wouldn't have to pay someone to service it. So I bought a ZHP.

The guy I had bought it from was probably in his late 50s early 60s and he didn't know shit about cars, which was sort of a good thing because he got everything done at a shop. He gave me a folder full of service records that dated back to when the car had around 120k. The whole coolant system was replaced, and the most recent thing was the radiator and front rotors and pads. The guy had a ZHP before this one so at least he knew what he had. The owner before him removed the factory alarm system and put in this shit aftermarket system in which really sucks. Other than that, the guy took really really good care of it and the inside was really clean for what it was. After I bought it I threw it up on the lift to see what needed to be done and so far this is what I found, oil pan gasket, power steering hoses, oil filter housing gasket, vanos feed line, valve cover gasket, rear rotors and pads, diff mount, rear trailing arm bushings, new shocks, and I think that's it. I ordered all the parts for the engine a few days after I bought the car and then did the oil pan gasket the same week.

So my goal is to clean up the car, possibly rebuild the engine, paint it of course and sell it to make some decent profit , to help with a down payment on a house for myself, I would like to sell it for 10-15k which I think is achievable. Now the biggest thing I need to know is; Do I need to keep the car as stock as possible to achieve a number like that? Just an fyi the body shop that I work at charges upwards of 8k for paint jobs and im lucky enough to get that same quality paint job (they said it would look like a show car) for more than half the cost because i'd be doing most of the prep, this paint job alone is going to add a lot of value. So anyway the things I need opinions on are as listed.

1. I would like to manual swap it, but only if it adds value, Should I manual swap or just get the auto trans rebuilt? Or neither?
2. I'd like to black the car out with smoked side markers, smoked fog lights (not the tail lights or headlights), and paint the stock wheels a gunmetal color, has anyone done this? What do you recommend/think of the idea?
3. I want to get the angle eye lights, is it worth the effort do cook my headlights and put the rings in myself or should I just buy headlights with the angle eyes?
4. Would I lose value if I changed the stock radio to the navigation one with apple car play and the hvac relocation? Could it possibly add value?

Again the goal is to make this car as valuable as possible so what do you recommend? I come from e30s so I don't know much about e46s. I'd love to hear your input on what you think I should do!

Thanks, Matt