E30 Zone

Hi All,

Yes, I am super new here..
Always fancied owning an E30 325i especially Convertible as they just look apart.. won one in auction on well known internet website and had it delivered from Ireland today.
Description of the car was ALL GREAT but need head gasket doing. However its all lies. Engine is in bits, lot of it is missing, coolant tank is completely melted, clock shows 40k more and not a single piece of documents... anyway
so I gues its an engine swap..and a gearbox?
can anyone suggest what am I supposed do??
I had a budget of around 1000 to get the head gasket and all the belts done..
can I get a good engine / box fitted for max of 1.5k?
Whats the best option??
I AM IN PAIN..

I hope you paid by the proper procedure`s, as in pay pal or cridit card ?
Dont give up mate, there are some good guy`s on here who could help in some form.

Mart.

No.. We ended the auction early.. so no refunds
I paid £3500 for it..

Guys I am after any suggestions how I coukd the e30 on the road???
Possibly know someone in midlands who could look at it??

No.. We ended the auction early.. so no refunds
I paid £3500 for it..

Guys I am after any suggestions how I coukd the e30 on the road???
Possibly know someone in midlands who could look at it??

Welcome to the zone mate, and we all need to know all of the details so this guy canot do this again !!

Mart.

£1500 wold be plenty to get a replacement b25 and box fitted although these engines are getting a bit thin on the ground these days.

Where are you based and £3500 was a lot of money for a car in that state.

Based in Lichfield. Yes it was lot of money, not sure how to post pictures here but you be disgusted by them... compare to what description was..
its worth about £600 really.. I wanted one dor years

Sorry you got robbed, bud - and welcome to e30 ownership - there are a lot of pit falls owning old iconic cars.

To load photos on here go to a hosting site - like flickr - https://www.flickr.com/

Sign up - then just upload photos from your phone or camera to that hosting site.

When you go to your album or wherever your photos are kept you can click on a share type button. You should be given options something like "share - email - embed - BBCode" click on BBCode and copy the text. It should look something like this;

[ url=https://flic.kr/p/27nakyU][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1780/422 ... 8b9e_c.jpg [/ img ] [ /ur l][url=https://flic.kr/p/27nakyU]2018-08-15_07-40-20[/ url]

Sorry you got robbed, bud - and welcome to e30 ownership - there are a lot of pit falls owning old iconic cars.

To load photos on here go to a hosting site - like flickr - https://www.flickr.com/

Sign up - then just upload photos from your phone or camera to that hosting site.

When you go to your album or wherever your photos are kept you can click on a share type button. You should be given options something like "share - email - embed - BBCode" click on BBCode and copy the text. It should look something like this;

[ url=https://flic.kr/p/27nakyU][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1780/422 ... 8b9e_c.jpg [/ img ] [ /ur l][url=https://flic.kr/p/27nakyU]2018-08-15_07-40-20[/ url]

Now you have the car - see if you can post photos of all the areas you are concerned about - lack of coolant tanks etc. There will be loads of parts in that old engine which will be of use to you or another zoner.

Assume the box is ok - unless you know more.

Get looking through the wiki at the top of the page
http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... l:Allpages


And once you get the photos up - and members can see the damage - we will be able to help

Is that ok to see the pictures?

Description:

https://flic.kr/p/2adixG7

I reckon you'll need to spend that again to get it looking right and running, stopping, turning and handling. If that's the top of the car, the bits underneath will be just as bad.

Use it for a few years and you'll get your money back, unless the classic car market crashes and then you have to keep it another ten years to get your money back.

First things first, get a big feckin screwdriver and poke every bit of rust and chassis with it until you can poke no more. Then double the amount of work for what you can’t see, then you'll see if it’s worth fixing.

If you are doing it from your phone its not as easy as if you are with a computer. If you go to Flickr on a computer you can get the option of BBCode. I'll add your links.

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I'd be tempted to take whatever action is possible against the seller. The advertisement isn't just misleading, it's a load of bollox.

Looks to me like you have a number of things to look at.

Obviously there are parts of the engine which are not looking too clever. BUT you have the head which is easy to have tested. if its damaged - depends on the level of damage but it is possible to fix. Can you get the rest of the engine checked? does it turn?? Do the cylinders look damaged? Its not the hardest thing to rebuild if you have the interest / ability there is lots of information on the internet - and both the wiki here and other peoples projects often have loads of photos and how to.

The roof looks ok - but it is hard to be sure from those photos - obviously the rear window is not looking too good but there are replacement rear screen options available. I am no expert but this is relatively straight forward to DIY or find someone who can do it for you.

The door card is off the drivers door. The interior looks good and worth a tidy penny. here is a how to guide I just found when I googled it -
There is loads of information out there - these cars are pretty easy to DIY most things. PS I would use a flat head screwdriver - not a knife to take the mirror switch out of the door handle.

The body looks like its been filled in for some reason. Unfortunately this is probably the most costly to fix. looks like you will have some work on all the wheel arches plus some bumpers.

I think - yes see what you can get back - if possible from the seller.

If that doesnt work - just tackle each problem as you go.

Address the engine - dont throw anything out. Keep all the parts. Try and
a rebuild it
b source a new engine

Get the car weather proof - find a way to fix the rear screen.

The bodywork looks good (rust wise) - apart from the filler - there are loads of cars much worse rust on the road.

Good luck

and welcome to the zone

Thanks for the positive comments,
to avoid any further disappointments in terms of the engine.. I’d just swap it straightaway as if you look at the coolant bottle - that engine had a temperature of a sun at some point. And there must have been a lot of damage caused..
E36 2.8 engine supposed to be the simplest fit?

But again BIG THANKS for all the encouraging comments

Easiest swap is the same engine..... 2.5 m20

Regards the melted plastic . . . . windscreen washer bottle, . . . these will cost you a few quids.

mmmm, if you ended the sale early and paid outside the platform you'll not be able to recover any money - however, as stated, if you used Paypal or a credit card you are good for a full refund - bank transfer?? no chance, likewise cash.

I would also post full details of the deal to help others avoid this seller.

The only issue really is when a buyer and seller collude to avoid paying fee's, then it's considered fraud.

Paul

Lucasso86 wrote:Thanks for the positive comments,
to avoid any further disappointments in terms of the engine.. I’d just swap it straightaway as if you look at the coolant bottle - that engine had a temperature of a sun at some point. And there must have been a lot of damage caused..
E36 2.8 engine supposed to be the simplest fit?

That is the windscreen washer bottle - the coolant header tank is located on the other side of the engine bay (assuming later Motronic cars)!

How that would become so melted is odd.

I would assume, since the cambelt appears to be intact, that the cylinder head was removed due to head gasket issues, possibly caused by overheating, though not necessarily, since the gasket appears to be in a reasonabe state.

It's certainly repairable, by the look of it...

Ok, yes I think it’s worth repairing.
I connected the battery today and cranked the engine for split of a second and its turning over nicely. Cambelt is in one piece.
In order to get it weatherproof whats the process of repairing the roof?
Taking it all off and have it stitched somewhere?
I can’t see any major rips on it so it’s salvageable I believe.

GUYS ANYONE OUT THERE WHO COULD PUT THIS ENGINE TOGETHER FOR ME?
I will - get it out , cylinder head skimmed and pressure tesred, supply all the new parts needed. ALL DELIVERED TO YOUR PLACE.
Or Anyone who can take the whole car to get it fix and give me a quote?

SELLER:

https://flic.kr/p/27xPtJA

John appears to be in Limerick and selling a couple of other really nice vehicles.

He also has very good feedback from previous sales -


Paul

Thats the exact reason why I bought them off him, good feedback - nice cars..

Post up a link to the seller as I can't find him, how'd di you pay for the car and what deal was done to end the auction early.

To be honest £3500 for that is way way over priced, I could have sold you a 320 it a working state for that a month ago for less.

He's here:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/jsclassics67 ... 7675.l2559


Paul

It was around 3200 including transport I paid.
Type this item number 173480217612 into an eBay search bar and this will come up with his 6 ser he is selling. I bought one off him too along with the e30. Adverised as 66k arrived and 166k on the clock misfiring and other issues.... paid 5k for it.. I am trying to take a legal action against him to get my money back for that one, not quite sure how to proceed as never had those kind of problems before.. but I’ll do bit of a digging on the internet.

So you have bought two cars from him totalling just over £8k is that right?

Do you have the item number for the E30 or copies of the photos from the ad?

How did you pay for the cars?

Thats right, £7500 for cars and £700 for transport which meant to be £600 initially..
I’ll post some pics soon.. I paid for them via bank transfer, took a loan to be honest as I was after those two for a while..

Have you contacted the seller yet to suggest he's ripped you off??

We need to see how the cars where described and you have all the correspondence between you and the seller?