E30 Zone

Hi everyone,

Bit of a hard one, I bought myself an E30 2 door 320i back in 2010, it was pretty mint aside from and little bit of bubbling on the the rear arches, and a blown backbox.

I was 19 at the time so insurance were basically going to bend me over so I had it parked up in my workshop for a couple of years in the the dry which pretty much halted any further rusting of the body and kept the paint etc looking pretty, however I lost my storage space and it has sat on my dad's driveway for about 6 years unmoved.

I moved away for a while, and, well you know the saying "out of sight out of mind"...anyway I recently returned to find that the elements have taken there toll on the poor thing... I had a poke about last night and looks like a fair bit of rust has set in in all the usual places... Sills, rear arches, rear valance, front wings etc

I'm 27 now and in a position where I could insure it as a classic for pennies, however the condition has left me in a bit of a predicament as I know if I chucked a few £££ at the thing it could be a wicked little car, but will all the work/money needed to sort it out outweigh what the thing would be worth once complete (I'm thinking sort all the rust/rot then respray the thing (looking around the £2-3k price range as I can do some of the work myself and have friends that can paint) I priced up all the required repair panels for around £300-400 and I also know a body shop that could help me out with the work but I'm sure plenty of you lot on here have had experience first hand with what is worth saving or throwing away/breaking up.

I have taken a few photos that show some of the rust/rot, if anyone could advise what they reckon on whether it's savable or not.



Any ideas would be appreciated, oh and please bear in mind I'm not currently in a position financially to sort the car out so it would be looking like a job for next year but will it get alot worse by then is the next question.

Cheers steve

Thats alot of work to do.........and they say that you can at least triple the amount of rust that you can see at least when you start digging.
You can save just about anything but where do you draw the line ?
Will you have access to keep the car inside when you do this ?

Mart.

Its a 320 you don't have the money so brad it and scrap it.

The rust that forms on a laid up car always looks worse than a similar amount of rust on a car in use, but by any definition, that is one rusty car.
To some degree, it doesn't matter if something like a wheel arch is slightly rusty or rusted right away. If it has to be replaced, then it has to be replaced.
It's a low mileage, unmolested, pre facelift, 2 door, six pot with a still mint (?) interior, so has some potential value, but there's a lot of work to bring it back from the edge, which will have to be DIY and a labour of love, to make any kind of economic sense.

martauto wrote:Thats alot of work to do.........and they say that you can at least triple the amount of rust that you can see at least when you start digging.
You can save just about anything but where do you draw the line ?
Will you have access to keep the car inside when you do this ?

Mart.

Hi Mart...

Yeah I imagine there will be more rust in there somewhere, I have a workshop again with a friend so I have somewhere to do it, just not got the money until probably early next year so it's literally a ticking time bomb for the rust... I've had it so long though that I'd feel like an idiot for not trying, hmmmm it's a tricky one.

Any ideas what it would be worth as is to someone?

martauto wrote:Thats alot of work to do.........and they say that you can at least triple the amount of rust that you can see at least when you start digging.
You can save just about anything but where do you draw the line ?
Will you have access to keep the car inside when you do this ?

Mart.

Hi Mart...

Yeah I imagine there will be more rust in there somewhere, I have a workshop again with a friend so I have somewhere to do it, just not got the money until probably early next year so it's literally a ticking time bomb for the rust... I've had it so long though that I'd feel like an idiot for not trying, hmmmm it's a tricky one.

Any ideas what it would be worth as is to someone?

Brianmoooore wrote:The rust that forms on a laid up car always looks worse than a similar amount of rust on a car in use, but by any definition, that is one rusty car.
To some degree, it doesn't matter if something like a wheel arch is slightly rusty or rusted right away. If it has to be replaced, then it has to be replaced.
It's a low mileage, unmolested, pre facelift, 2 door, six pot with a still mint (?) interior, so has some potential value, but there's a lot of work to bring it back from the edge, which will have to be DIY and a labour of love, to make any kind of economic sense.

Yeah I know what you mean, and it does look pretty sorry for it self, it's a shame I let it get to this stage really but time just gets away from you sometimes. The interior is very tidy to be honest, I think even the dash is uncracked, and like you said it's low mileage, so there are some plus sides I guess. Shame it wasn't a 2.5 as they seem to be worth a decent amount nowaday, if so I would 100% be sorting it but as the guy above mentioned it's only a 320i so value wise it isn't really going to be up there with the 2.5's...

I'm certainly finding it hard to make up my mind on this one.

It's salvageable but will cost a lot of money. That is some pretty serious rust - parking a car up outside in the elements does it no favours unfortunately. New sills, arches, wings, rear valance and who knows what else? That is just the visible stuff. Difficult to tell the condition of the scuttle and rear panel around the lights. Regardless of the rust it will also need numerous other suspension parts replacing, new tyres, new cambelt and no doubt plenty else - fuel tank etc.

It makes absolutely no financial sense but car restorations often don't! Its the joy of bringing something back from the dead. It would be a lengthy and costly labour of love.

You'd get some money from breaking it - bumpers, interior, dash if not split, sunroof panel if not rotten, lights etc. but its a bit bland and hardly laden with morsels.

10 years ago I would've said put it out of its misery and whilst the E30 market is a vey different place today, I'd still stick to that. It's your money and your choice though so good luck if you decide to give it a go.

If it was me i would fix it. It will probably cost you about the repair prices you have quoted to replace it (if you wanted to)with another which will no don't still need work.Atleast if you have the work done to this you will know the rust has been taking care of and it will have a nice new paint job.The fact that its not a 2.5 wouldn't bother me at all. Having a place to do the work/store the car inside would be the deciding factor for me.

A Bristol registration if I'm not mistaken

As said it sure is a project and a half, but ask yourself why you would be restoring it, that will easily see £5k+ once all is said and done. If your doing it to keep for ever and you have some attachment to it the go for it, but to get anywhere near your money back you'll be waiting a long long time. The fact that its a 320i wouldn't really matter if you were keeping it long term, if you want more power you could always rebuild the 2 litre into a 2.7 or even fit an M50 etc at a later date. Good luck what ever you decide dude.

darkchild wrote: It makes absolutely no financial sense but car restorations often don't! Its the joy of bringing something back from the dead. It would be a lengthy and costly labour of love.

Also think that when it`s all done you will have a car thats a classic and also something that will last quite a few years at much less cost that the "european generic traing shoe" type on the roads today.

Mart.

Thanks for all the responses guys! it's good to get a few opinions together before you get too deep into something...

well as its pretty fooked already I don't think a few more months are going to make a great deal of difference so will probably go down the restoration route early next year. I have a workshop (we generally build old MK1/mk2 golfs, mainly engine conversions and race car builds etc) so have plenty of kit and space to be getting on with it, just need the £££ now lol

Thanks again for the wise words

Andy325i wrote:A Bristol registration if I'm not mistaken

As said it sure is a project and a half, but ask yourself why you would be restoring it, that will easily see £5k+ once all is said and done. If your doing it to keep for ever and you have some attachment to it the go for it, but to get anywhere near your money back you'll be waiting a long long time. The fact that its a 320i wouldn't really matter if you were keeping it long term, if you want more power you could always rebuild the 2 litre into a 2.7 or even fit an M50 etc at a later date. Good luck what ever you decide dude.

Yes your right Bristol/Bath reg. I live in Bath and the car has been local all its life (radstock before I bought it) Good spot.

Yeah tbh I thought it was alright power wise when I drove it years ago, but saying that I was young and driving a 1.6 mk2 golf at the time so it would of been a big improvement over that... Now that I been driving 1.8t converted Mk2's I will probably end up doing some sort of conversion in the future.

Loads of people knock me for running a 316 Baur auto which in the scheme of things e30 is about the most less disirable one around. But, I just love driving her as it is a different type of driving that my daily (330 ci sport) and it was never bought to be a concour example.
I dont give a monkeys how much it is worth but it will not be leaving my house for quite a while.

Mart.

martauto wrote:Loads of people knock me for running a 316 Baur auto which in the scheme of things e30 is about the most less disirable one around. But, I just love driving her as it is a different type of driving that my daily (330 ci sport) and it was never bought to be a concour example.
I dont give a monkeys how much it is worth but it will not be leaving my house for quite a while.

Mart.

These are old cars now and unless you've got bottomless pockets they should all be purchased on condition rather than engine size/spec unless you fancy a restoration project. The "buy a 325i comments" are pointless now - most were knackered old sh!te 10 years ago and fit for the scrapheap then. A 325i was a quick car in 1989 but not now. As you state, E30s are a different drive compared to modern cars and due to their lightness even a humble 316i is a pleasant thing to smoke about in.

that's a £600 parts car at most being nice .

darkchild wrote: even a humble 316i is a pleasant thing to smoke about in.

I should know, I've been using one a my daily driver for the last 12 years.
To some extent you should be led by your heart, not just your wallet


edit for spelling correction

greg124 wrote:

darkchild wrote: even a humble 316i is a pleasant thing to smoke about in.

I should know, I've been using one a my daily driver for the last 12 years.
To some extent you should be led by your heart, not just your wallet


edit for spelling correction

I ran my earlier 316 every day for over seven years with three kids going all over the place and loved it all.

Mart.

Mine is similar to this but I'm restoring it, primarily because I wanted to learn how to weld, so why not learn on a £250 car that most would scrap.