E30 325i Now with pic's of my 323i

[vinni]

Well seeing as it was such a nice day today, i cleaned my E30 and had a good look at the rust spots on it to see how far gone it is. TBH i think it is quite bad on the rear arch's. Im taking it off the road at the end of the month to strip all the kit and the interior out of it, to rebuild the shell not only that i want to rebuild the engine. But im in 2 minds what to do, a few mates have said rebuild it, but a few have said reshell it. 1 or 2 have said use the parts from it and build a Tech1 Touring lol (NELLY & ZAUST) I know alot of people on here will say, its a 4 door frag it, but i think (and this is my oppion) that its one of the best looking 4 door E30's round these parts ive seen. Not only that, the way people are stripping 4 door E30's, how many will be left in a few years time lol, plus everyone does a 2 door.

So help me out Zoner's, what shall i do? Im going mad trying to make a choice.

Here are some of the picture's i took today, i even took some of the rust spots aswell.













And now for a close up of the bad bits.

[Simon13]

thats just what you can see mate, there will be horrors lurking on that you don't know about!

up to you but sorting that shell from just what you can see properly is ££££££££. There aren't many left but do you want to bury yourself in it as what you want to do is a MASSIVE amount of work

[daimlerman]

Simon and bozzo's shed know all about the pain of a rebuild there are better cars out there,did you see the 4 door Alpina C1 the other day?

[vinni]

I understand where you are comming from Simon, after reading the hole of your thread, (and what a thread too) i know im going to find more than what the eye can already see. I got a quote for 2 rear quaters from BMW, and they want £246.01 each, TBH i didnt think that price was too bad. On the other hand, its how much it will cost to fit them. ££££££.

Daimlerman i cant say i did see it mate, there is a D reg 4 door Alpina round here in red, with a Tech1 kit on it. The old girl that drives it was bought it by her hubby from new. Lucky mare lol. There are better 4 doors out there, i will agree there. E30 Alpina's (4 or 2 door) are in a class of there own though lol.

[daimlerman]

Daimlerman i cant say i did see it mate, there is a D reg 4 door Alpina round here in red, with a Tech1 kit on it. The old girl that drives it was bought it by her hubby from new. Lucky mare lol. There are better 4 doors out there, i will agree there. E30 Alpina's (4 or 2 door) are in a class of there own though lol.

Hehttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/bmw-e30-alpina-c1-2-3-sport-lsd-m-tec-325-323-170bhp_W0QQitemZ200245743820QQihZ010QQcategoryZ9837QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemre you go

[daimlerman]

I understand where you are comming from Simon, after reading the hole of your thread, (and what a thread too) i know im going to find more than what the eye can already see. I got a quote for 2 rear quaters from BMW, and they want £246.01 each, TBH i didnt think that price was too bad. On the other hand, its how much it will cost to fit them. ££££££.

Daimlerman i cant say i did see it mate, there is a D reg 4 door Alpina round here in red, with a Tech1 kit on it. The old girl that drives it was bought it by her hubby from new. Lucky mare lol. There are better 4 doors out there, i will agree there. E30 Alpina's (4 or 2 door) are in a class of there own though lol.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/bmw-e30-alpina-c1 ... dZViewItem

[daimlerman]

bugger...

[E30BeemerLad]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/bmw-e30-alpina-c1 ... dZViewItem

[Gortour]

or even click here

[vinni]

That is nice.

[pacerpete]

Get it weighed while there is some steel left !

[Gortour]

Ever there with words of encouragement, our Pete...

[MartC]

If you can see that much rust, once you start actively chasing it and rectifying it, you'll probably be horrified how bad it actually is.

Your call mate, but cost and time put most people off

[vinni]

Get it weighed while there is some steel left !

LOL well i have to say, i was waiting for a comment like that, im shocked it took as long as it did for someone to say it.

[E30BeemerLad]

get the morsels on a touring mofo

[Simon13]

i honestly think with a little time you would find a way more solid starting base which would save alot of heartache in the long run and you can have way more fun lowering, fitting engines and washing it than putting a car back together and rebuilding an engine.

[vinni]

Ark at you E30BeemerLad
lol. I should have kept Daz's one for myself . Have you seen it yet, or is he sitting in his room and not going out in it lol.

[E30BeemerLad]

not seen it yet, may have to pay him a visit, it's a while since i've seen a red touring on 4 wheels

[E30BeemerLad]

I can see the appeal of chrome though, found myself bizarrely seduced by an 85K miler D reg 318i Auto 2dr tonight. Bronzitbeige, shiny chrome, unmarked interior, 2 owners, keep fit windows. Totally honest clean old car.

i'm sleeping on that one

[vinni]

i honestly think with a little time you would find a way more solid starting base which would save alot of heartache in the long run and you can have way more fun lowering, fitting engines and washing it than putting a car back together and rebuilding an engine.

The only thing about that Simon, is if i get another one, ide want to fix them both up lol. But on a plus side for other E30 owners, if i do go down the touring route, there will be plenty of parts to sell, like full sports leather and the Tech1 spoiler i think a touring would look naff with a Tech1 spoiler bolted to the roof lol.

[vinni]

I can see the appeal of chrome though, found myself bizarrely seduced by an 85K miler D reg 318i Auto 2dr tonight. Bronzitbeige, shiny chrome, unmarked interior, 2 owners, keep fit windows. Totally honest clean old car.

i'm sleeping on that one

Hmmmmm where did you say that was. lol

[zaust]

Well you know my feeling's on this subject, + there is someting I need off that "rusty as hell Shell" before you scrap it....

[vinni]

What is it you need off it Marc?????

[murran]

what ever you do with it, weigh in those wheels and back box!

[dazleeds]

having owned this car a year or two ago, i know where your coming from wanting to save it

however, as you well know the cost of rebuild is gonna get well out of hand pretty fast

reshell is the best option by far.

go for another shell and replace the stripes

how much were you quoted for them ?

touring =

Daz, wonders what marks after

[vinni]

what ever you do with it, weigh in those wheels and back box!

Back box yes, wheels no lol Daz what do you mean, quoted for what mate? If your on about the stripes, i have not asked how much they are yet.

[Andyboy]

Strip it and weigh it, it's finished.....although to bodge it up for an MOT wouldn't cost a lot - the price of a big tin of P40. Another shell is the way forward - there was a really clean white K plate 316i Touring MOT failure for buttons on here last week.

[fuzzy]

scrap it.

[vinni]

Lol Fuzzy

Andyboy its got 9 moths mot left on it lol. I like the pre face more than the plastic bumper ones. Just think the pre face looks better, each to there own though.

[fuzzy]

use that 9 months mot to runaround in whilst trannsferring all the good bits to a decent touring shell in time for the mot running out and scrapping the shell.

[ianarthur]

new sills,archs,an abit of work to the iner archs
and some paint about a grand i wreckon done properly,id do it,its a nice car

[jibowski]

yeah but make sure you pull out all the carpets and boot trim to see what horrors maybe lurking in the boot, floors and bulkhead before you do part with your hard earned cash, give it a really thorough inspection!

[vinni]

I know underneath is solid, but at the end of the month ill stip it to a shell and see how bad it really is, like Simon said 1st of all i think im going to find alot more than what i can see at the moment, but we will see.

[jibowski]

i did it the wrong way for an old IS that i had, bought wheelarch reapir panels to get it looking like new, then proceeded to strip it and found terminal rot high up in the bulkhead where it meets the inner wings

[NatDJ]

Vinni,

Like your teeth and ball bag, the motors seen better days. Scrap it, by and Talbot and finally admit to yourself you and your motors are showing signs of aging!

It's always hard mate. You know how bad my white 2dr was. It looked spanking externally until you looked up into where the rear inner wheel arch used to be and behind the Tech 2 kit.
It was only when the car went up through the sill and the wing pod came off that I realised how bad the rot was.
Get your self another one and transfer the bits of gradually over the next 9 months and then weigh it!