E30 Zone

Ok, bear with me but id like your opinions please

Amongst many other cars I like E30's, mk1 & mk2 Escorts.

I've got a 2 door E30 325is as my daily driver and I absolutely love it I've probably got about £4k in it so far.

It's got H&R suspension, rebushed throughout, refurbished standard alloys and some horrible cream leather interior.

If I decide to keep the E30 then I'm going to have to do something about the noisy tappets (infuriatingly annoying sewing machine type noise at motorway speed ), get the gearbox recon'd, upgrade the brakes in time and ditch the, IMO, ugly interior. In other words, I'm going to need some spend some dosh on it.

Sooooo, this then led me to think about engine transplants. E36 328, 4.0 or 4.4 V8 or E36 M3 perhaps ?

Question is, do I sink £x into the car to do the above and either refresh the current 2.5 engine or change it to something else or do I sell the E30 as it is and put £x towards and get myself a mk1 or mk2 escort instead ?

I'm not saying id get the Escort id want for the same money as what the E30 could cost me but it'd probably get me something quite good that would need tinkering with ?

Options then as I see it are: -

1, E30 + engine & box refresh and interior change
2, E30 + engine transplant to ????? and interior change
3, Sell E30 and get an Escort

What do you think ?

You lost me at engine transplants. Put up a pic of your cream seats. If they are sports one, I might be interested in taking them!

keep the BMW e30 bud,

iv had about 6 mk2s over the years, mk2 mexico, mk2 rs2000, mk2 sport, mk1 sport etc.

they are fun cars and simple/easy to work on. but finding a shell that isnt patched to death and a realistic price is beyond what id call reasonable now adays.

just my opinion

An E30 is a pleasant usable car , unlike an Escort.

I agree with what's been said, I've been brought up around old fords and had plenty myself, including a mk2 (albeit a van!) so I get the appeal. As Rich said though, I can't condone the money these things are 'worth' these days. By the time you've found or made a solid shell, thrown billies, 4/5 link, lairy pinto etc at it, you could have built a scary red topped viva for less than half the price and end up with pretty much the same car in all but badge.

OR

Stick with the e30. It's sounds as though you are at a similar stage to me with my 325. I've decided mine is a keeper. I use mine daily also and although it DOES get disheartening sometimes with little niggles etc, overall it's an old, simple-to-fix, characterful machine which will do everything a mk1/2 will do.

Engine swaps/power increases etc are appealing, I'm a good way through the parts collecting stage of a turbo conversion on mine! But sometimes we forget or take for granted what we drive, these days I find myself more and more just enjoying mine for what it is. An e30 325i, it's timeless styling still looks good today, it's well built, well thought out, has enough silky mid range torque to make for a good crack on a B road, they go sideways at will and the sound it makes is a goose-bumper for any real petrol head!

Just my opinion......

Gert_8 wrote:You lost me at engine transplants. Put up a pic of your cream seats. If they are sports one, I might be interested in taking them!

Engine transplants thought process was that I could end up spending a load of money to refresh the lump ive got so is it worth spending more and swapping for summat else ?

Seats are sport ones yes. Trying to get a picture uploaded but cant get onto Photobucket at the moment.
If you took them though, what would I sit on

Darren325is wrote:

Gert_8 wrote:You lost me at engine transplants. Put up a pic of your cream seats. If they are sports one, I might be interested in taking them!

Engine transplants thought process was that I could end up spending a load of money to refresh the lump ive got so is it worth spending more and swapping for summat else ?

Seats are sport ones yes. Trying to get a picture uploaded but cant get onto Photobucket at the moment.
If you took them though, what would I sit on

let's have a look at them - if you're looking to spend money on your turd, I bet they are ropey old shite in which case you won't need to worry about your seating arrangements.

M5x transplants give good returns. Budget around £2k to do it properly. For an s50 conversion you will be looking at £6k + and I can't comment on m60 conversions but they won't be cheap.

Tried adjusting the tappets and installing a new oil spray bar?

Thanks for the comments. Think I might / should stick with keeping it a 325 as it should be and just get the bits and pieces sorted as well as an engine refurb.

Cheers

Gert_8 wrote:

Darren325is wrote:

Gert_8 wrote:You lost me at engine transplants. Put up a pic of your cream seats. If they are sports one, I might be interested in taking them!

Engine transplants thought process was that I could end up spending a load of money to refresh the lump ive got so is it worth spending more and swapping for summat else ?

Seats are sport ones yes. Trying to get a picture uploaded but cant get onto Photobucket at the moment.
If you took them though, what would I sit on

let's have a look at them - if you're looking to spend money on your turd, I bet they are ropey old shite in which case you won't need to worry about your seating arrangements.

Sent you an email with a pic of the seats to the email addresses on your PM and got one back saying "Sorry M8 I have never used or know what E30 forum is"

I'll check both of those email addresses. Thanks.

Fingers crossed photobucket works.....

Hi mate, I saw the pics. Thanks.

I am after cream sports seats, for the saloon, not cabby ones. Have those been re trimmed?

Retrim 100 %

pacerpete wrote:Retrim 100 %

Just the man - if you ever come across a clean crisp sports pair of cream fronts, I'll be very interested, provided you can also advise me on how to swap the heated seat pad.

Gert_8 wrote:Hi mate, I saw the pics. Thanks.

I am after cream sports seats, for the saloon, not cabby ones. Have those been re trimmed?

Yep, they definitely aren't how they left the factory !