E30 Zone

Picked up an old 88 e30 convertible a while back and eventually sent it into local garage to check it over. Three things stand out and I am just wondering is it financially viable to fix it!

1) Drive shaft is knackered - hence the knocking noise going from 2nd to 3rd (autobox)!

2) Brake lines all need replacing

3) Both sills need attention (I had planned on a full respray anyway)

Does anyone have from experience any indication of how much each of these items would cost to do?

Apart from that he said its in great shape with no issues with engine / gearbox etc

It's a classic in ireland in four years so it will cost 50 euros to tax - factoring that in it might prove to be worth while due to the saving year on year for tax!


Any advice appreciated,

Rav

Just outside Dublin, Ireland!

its never really financially viable to repair, most parts will be ko, ive spent loot on mine and the exhaust still fell off spending another fortune on it to get it looking, and performing the biz.... bottom line is there money pits, if your looking for a cheap runner an e30 defo aint it,

and if it looks shit you wont be happy and you will spend time and money tinkering with it,

I would be minted if i didnt have an e30 but not having one would be worse! summer time, the noise, the drive, when you pull up at a set of lights in between a euroshitbox and a dumb rudebwoi in a one series, it just all comes together...

bmw9818 wrote:its never really financially viable to repair, most parts will be ko, ive spent loot on mine and the exhaust still fell off spending another fortune on it to get it looking, and performing the biz.... bottom line is there money pits, if your looking for a cheap runner an e30 defo aint it,

and if it looks shit you wont be happy and you will spend time and money tinkering with it,

I would be minted if i didnt have an e30 but not having one would be worse! summer time, the noise, the drive, when you pull up at a set of lights in between a euroshitbox and a dumb rudebwoi in a one series, it just all comes together...

^^ This ^^

I couldnt have said it better myself..oh and the "You selling that mate?" at every red light!

Cypriotgeeza wrote:

bmw9818 wrote:its never really financially viable to repair, most parts will be ko, ive spent loot on mine and the exhaust still fell off spending another fortune on it to get it looking, and performing the biz.... bottom line is there money pits, if your looking for a cheap runner an e30 defo aint it,

and if it looks shit you wont be happy and you will spend time and money tinkering with it,

I would be minted if i didnt have an e30 but not having one would be worse! summer time, the noise, the drive, when you pull up at a set of lights in between a euroshitbox and a dumb rudebwoi in a one series, it just all comes together...

^^ This ^^

I couldnt have said it better myself..oh and the "You selling that mate?" at every red light!

Haha so F0oking true

Back to the post, if you want to keep the car then it maybe worth doing but if your expecting to make extra money on the car after having fixed it then it's a NO NO.

As you planned on getting the car fully respray ex I do not see the issues you have listed as being too bad.

Put up some pictures as that may help with the discussion

Will do tomorrow (on ankle biter duty today). I took both front wings off today and it's not as bad as he was making out. There was a load of sand at the bottom of each of the (blocked) drain! So annoying as it so easy to keep clean! The inner structure is fine with superficial surface rust! There is a small bit of rust around one of the jacking points but it surface and thankfully not structural. Does anyone know whether you can just buy the skirting (lower black bit) rather than replace the whole wing (both sides)?

Ravenelli69 wrote: Does anyone know whether you can just buy the skirting (lower black bit) rather than replace the whole wing (both sides)?

That part is spot-welded to the bottom of the wing on cabbies and is the bit that makes cabbie wings different to saloon wings.
A decent bodyman will be able to fold up a bit of sheet steel to repair the wing.

Right so they can do that when I eventually get round to the respray. It's in my garage now with dehumidifier in it - just making sure there no moisture in it! I wasn't aware the cabrio is different to the saloon - you learn something new every day! Next question i'll post in proper section (tech)!! Thanks for all your help.

Cabbie's have deeper cill sections to provide extra stiffening.BMW just adapted the stock front wing to suit,then covered the join with the trim strip that runs under the door.Saloons do not have that bit!

There's other detail differences as well,footwells are a little narrower because of the stiffener that runs along the inside of the cill,so saloon/cabbie carpets/overmats are not interchangable.
And of course the rear seat area is narrower due to the hood box.

There's lots more,but I am sure you get the general idea.

With that in mind will I have to get a second hand driveshaft from a cabrio? or will a saloon one work?

Ravenelli69 wrote:With that in mind will I have to get a second hand driveshaft from a cabrio? or will a saloon one work?

Saloon one will be fine,oily bits are pretty much the same,it's the sheet metal frame where the differences are.However,when sourcing trim bits,cabbies switched to plastic bumpers years later than saloons!

Great stuff - i'll post pics tomorrow, thanks again!

just an idea...

are you sure its the entire driveshaft? The guibo and/or centre support bearing could be toast. The u-joints at the diff can fail but that's usually from clutch drops at 4000 rpms.

Also the driveshaft needs to come from an automatic as the front section is a bit shorter than a manual driveshaft.

The mechanic told me it was the whole thing but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the centre support - as that's where the knocking noise is coming from. Garage is closing up so it was a bit of a rush job on his behalf! This is an automatic as well so i'll start hunting once I have done a proper examination!