E30 Zone

Hi guy's been a while since ive used E30 zone, but like many other's your last E30 never really is?

going to see what looks like an excellent 320i Convertible this weekend, it's a 1990 with FSH just a quick question: do they corrode in the same areas as a tin-top?

places i know of to check
inner rear arches
outer rear arches
cill's
bottoms of wing's
rear panel along the top/above the rear light's/towing eye area
jacking point's & that general area

can anyone add anything?
thank's

Cabbie's have a fair amount of structural strengthening built in,beam along each cill and so on,so the cills take a lot of stick as the shell twists under cornering and pothole action.Any bubbles spotted by the seam in the rear of the door opening will be holes when the trim strip comes off....
The footwells are unlikely to suffer like saloons,as there is a huge re-enforcing plate sealing the area from the 'chassis' leg to the front of the cill.

Hood should be carefully examined,needs to be unmarked and have a clear rear window.Replacement hoods at proper quality are £500/£750...
If power hood,it needs to work properly,manual hood should be light in operation.

Hardtop is a valuable extra,worth about £500/£750 s/h in good condition.

2ltr lacks torque at low engine speeds,but revs freely to give decent enough performance,but cabbies are more about cruising than tail out cornering!

If you've not been here for a while, then get used to checking the Wiki

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Rust

Check the joint between the front inner wing to bulkhead, mine looked fine but there were a couple of areas of blown underseal - as soon as i removed it welding was needed.

They can also go quite badly where the horseshoe seal is, the seal is easily peeled off and can be put back on.

But essentially they go in pretty much the same places as the tin tops.

cheers guy's, things will probably come back to me once i'm stood next to the car i'm going to see,
what i do know is brand new manual hood 2 yrs ago and it's never been out in the rain, it's been stored away "always with the roof up", 114K (FSH) miles,
my last E30 cabby was a 320i and i was happy enough with the power, best thing is at least it has the right sound to it's 6cyl engine

Rtaylor2208 wrote:
But essentially they go in pretty much the same places as the tin tops.

so i should get right in about the rear inner arches, rear area of the filler neck, lower areas of the front inner arches, fuel tank & bulkhead