E30 Zone

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and BMW ownership. I've always wanted a nice little E30 and one literally fell into my lap.

Down here in outback Australia BMW's are less common overall. Having said that, while looking for a COVID isolation project for a friend I found pair of E30's that was begging to be restored. One was a 325e sedan with sunroof, not bad. The other was this:





For the princely sum of a few hundred dollars the pair I'd be mad not to have it. They were trailered over to a friend's house lickety split ready for a bit of automotive investigation.

- boingk

The exterior could do with a clean and a bit of work, sure, and the wheels (IMO) are horrendous... but the real work is going to be inside. This thing is filthy from being off the road sicne 2008 and no doubt has spent the majority of it outdoors and in the hands of people with little to no idea.





While there is actually an interior to work with, saying its in a sorry state would be putting it mildly. The back seat is buggered, ripped to shreds by someone's dog is my guess. The front seats are foul smelling and caked deeply with red bulldust from being stored out in the open, windows down no doubt. The steering wheel is long gone and the dash is cracked, but I can deal with all that in time.

The engine is complete and looks as though someone cared about it at some point, probably before the poser-esque wheel package got put on. The brakes and electrics work so thats another bonus. The carpet doesn't look too bad and most important of all... there doesn't seem to be any rust in her. Yes, I've checked the title and she's not stolen / written off / owed money on either. Woohoo!

The plan for this is to get her cleaned up, then running and reliable. If I can register her as is then I'll do so, otherwise I'll figure out what I need to do as I go along. Luckily I have a very sympathetic local garage, so there's always that.

Cheers for taking the time to read - boingk

As a fellow Aussie-based E30 owner I can't wait to see this outback E30... but the pictures aren't working.

coopman wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 7:01 am

As a fellow Aussie-based E30 owner I can't wait to see this outback E30... but the pictures aren't working.

Cheers mate! Hows that for the photos now? Google Pics is giving me some grief.

Certainly looks like quite a project, but worthwhile, since the 323i is quite rare nowadays. Any pics of the 325e?

Just needs a wipe-down and it'll be fine

Beautiful sunny day where you are...

The 325e wasn't nearly as bad on the outside, a good hotwash with detergent and sponge got most of the worst grime off her.

I did a bit more investigation on the 325i, apart from the paint and bonnet being fairly cactus she isn't as bad as I thought.

Mainly because of the turbo manifold and exhaust system. Ha!







It looks like someone planned to go turbo but never got more than the manifold installed, figured out what else was involved and finally though 'f*** it' and connected the turbo flange to the dump and just ran it NA... or maybe never even got that far.

Either way, I'm happy about it. Best excuse for a turbo build ever! Now, TD04 or GT28? Hmmm...

- boingk

A quick interior clean shows just how bad the rear seat is. The front ones and even the carpet scrubbed up okay.

Those seats work pretty well, any idea what they're from?

edit: It's a saloon, not a coupe

Cloggy Saint wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 3:39 pm

Those seats work pretty well, any idea what they're from?

They look a bit Honda-esque remind me of seats I had in a Honda Prelude although not quite the same

Welcome,
The seats doo look like prelude seats

I'm not too sure on the origin of the seats as they came with the car, but everything works okay and they look the part. I can find a part number if anyone is interested?

In other news I've tracked down some stock steel wheels, glovebox and a windscreen so can get those soon. I'll be doing a part trade for the chin spoiler as the roads out here won't be kind to it and it's already damaged. I'd much rather it go to someone who will give it a good home an a rare or desirable model.

More as I can get to doing it.

- boingk

Righteo, parts incoming! I did a 600km round trip with a mate to load up on parts, we ended up with a front passenger quarter panel, windscreen, chrome bumper and two more wheels for his (so he has a matching set) and then a windscreen, glovebox, chrome bumper and 4x steel 14" rims for mine.

I'm also weighing up whether or not to go turbo from the outset. I know whats involved, I'm just thinking the process through. I'm looking at going to a megasquirt type application with ebay-sourced GT2860 turbo and a small frontmount intercooler. I have the bonus of mechanical, electrical and bodywork experience as well as basic interior resto, and own a budget Anet A8 3S printer so can sort out a few ends there if needed too. At this stage I'd be looking to run ARP headstuds with an MLS gasket and go conservative at 7psi to begin with, refining the tune from there with input from a wideband O2 sensor.

If anyone has experience with the above it'd be most appreciated!

- boingk

Windscreen in and steering wheel on. Now we're getting somewhere.

Sketchy sports bumper off, clean chrome unit on.

Nice foot bloke!
The front bumper looks to be an M-Tech 1, might be worth fixing up?