I told myself it would never happen to me.
I told myself it could never happen to me.

Then, after picking up my 5th e53...it's happening to me. Parting out an e53. I don't want to do it. I'll have to bring myself to do it! I finally acquired a 6-sp e53, but it's from Ohio, and its NOT going to work. It needs a clutch, but the exhaust is welded on and I have NEVER seen so much rust under a vehicle! The whole underside is solid brown, ever bolt ready to snap at the slightest crank. It drives incredibly well, and besides the clutch slippage, has a great overall drivetrain. Unfortunately, with the clutch job not really viable - I've made the difficult decision to part it out. Obviously, everything south of the rockers is toast. Adding to my decision are that the rear doors are very rusted at the seams AND that I picked up my unicorn optioned 3.0i as a donor body for this 6-sp swap...albeit with a cost of twice book value. It is flawless underneath with all major services completed recently...OFHG, VCG, oil pan, etc. So, the reason for this post is...WHAT should I work to harvest from this body to sell at a worthwhile price to make removal worth my time? I'm not sure the diffs are of great value with the rust, even driveshaft is powder-brown. It has standard sunroof with a perfect tan headliner. I do have an extra $400 LUK flywheel that I picked up to install when I was going to do the clutch if anyone wants. Besides the seats being nice and pulling the newer apple car-play headunit for one of my other x5's...I don't really know what else to remove for selling. Any feedback is appreciated!