Bmw e30 323i rust bucket purchase

[Slow]

Just bought this so signed up for this forum.

Just had a thread about a e30 for a track car on pistonheads. 2 hours prior to this purchase. Car looks fucked. But £560 and a 323i with manual means I just need to either hunt for a shell or see how bad this really is.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 26apos%3Bs

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1984-BMW-323i ... 3662.l6403

[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/Q0c4aR0b.jp ... m/Q0c4aR0b
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/LpkX1tPK.jp ... m/LpkX1tPK
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/KISHSE9H.jp ... m/KISHSE9H
[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/Fq5H0DXV.jp ... m/Fq5H0DXV

Guess its time to buy a non rusty shell unless this one is saveable for a decent price. Will find out when I collect in the coming few days, its in norfolk im in the highlands.

[paps78]

that car was sold as the owner thought it was too rusty. he had a solid enough 316 coupe selling at the same time which sold but this got relisted. I think at that money your wasting your time

[robbo86]

Good to see another one being saved though.

[scottybeemer]

a brave purchase,and good luck with it bud

[darkchild]

That is not far from me.

Shame it's so far gone. A Henna 323i is a very rare commodity now. It's still got the original Sport wheel though the seats are from a later model.

I'm guessing this has the earlier 139bhp donk instead of the later 150bhp one?

Good luck with your project. Looking forward to seeing it develop.

[87mtech27]

All the best with it. 323i's are rare unfortunately in this day and age which is a shame really considering they were the flagship model before 325i's and M3's hit the scene.

[jimbom30cab]

Nice project, people have restored worse. Strip it right down, get all the crud off (maybe get it dipped), weld it up and away you go

Should be done by xmas ??

All the best

[robbo86]

Good to see another one being saved though.

^ This!

Plenty of rust buckets have been saved on this forum, this one springs to mind as one heroic effort... http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ht=touring

I don't doubt that. I'm just commending the author on taking it to restore rather than fragging

[polsta]

Not much point buying a other shell, finding another henna shell won't be easy and need work anyway, and another shell youl still need work and paint also

You just aswell restore this and save it properly and be proud when it's done

Should be done by Christmas

[Mitchen]

This has the potential to be awesome.

I'd love to be the one who finally gets to pressure wash that.. OCD

[robbo86]

This has the potential to be awesome.

I'd love to be the one who finally gets to pressure wash that.. OCD

Glad I'm not the only one to think that

[TPS]

Has it got the Side repeators?

Give it a good jet wash, & see what you've got, hopefully it'll be a good project

[KW355]

It would be good to save another one, good luck

[darkchild]

Any updates yet squire?

[samrenton]

welcome to the henna club, nice project!

[darkchild]

Just read the update on Pistonheads:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... hase&mid=0

Epic. Fairplay if you get it back on the road.

Pete will be loving those photos!

[Mitchen]

That looks amazing! Low mileage.. paperwork.. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Let's hope it doesn't end up with a scorpion and borbets

[hennabm]

^^^ +1

[Speedtouch]

The 323i is fairly rare, but they made them I gather from the beginning of E30 production (c.late 1983) up to the 325i came out in 1986.

Yes, the early (Y-plate) ones were 139bhp, while later ones had 150bhp, with some tweaks to the exhaust system and ignition timing, etc.

[Slow]

Realised I started a new thread instead of posting here! Stupid mistake.

So here

So finally in 30 minutes ago, quickly grabbed these pictures. From the ad looked like the inner edge of doors was holey, just cobwebs

Will clean up tomorrow and get better ones, or worse depending what I uncover, lots of overspray on plastic trims near the arches from a quick glance which suggests lots of lovely filler.

The guy gave me a spare bumper, both are slightly damaged so not sure if they can come apart to fix together to make one whole.
No radio, but other than abit of cobwebs and mould interior seems to be like new. Going to head into a few tyre garages tomorrow to see if they have any bald tyres I can have for free just to roll the car around for now.

Rear spoiler thing is a completely different colour, no idea if it was meant to have one.

Going to nick my battery out my old bmw and see if she will start, previous owner said it was last running in 2010 when it drove to his house. Anything I should do before just trying to crank it?

[Slow]

She runs! Took a while and some easy start though, sounded smooth enough.



Spewed all its water and leaks petrol though. Didnt try drive it yet as it was running off jump leads from the Range Rover and needs the engine bay cleaned out, job for tomorrow, too dark now.

All inner arches near the sills need welded, outer sills need welded, not sure about inner sills though. Rear arches for sure, along with my new wings im due to collect tomorrow Strangely there is a big patch of filler on the top of the boot lid, going to peel off and explore soon. Roof is rust free though!

Scuttle area seems to have been saved by the 4" of mud filling it, except in the middle where there is a slightly rusty edge appearing... where the least of amount of mud was.

Popped the boot finally, was fairly stuck. Found new kidney grill, headlight surrounds and various other things.

































Not sure if this means anything to anyone but if they could tell me if my car should have it?

[Slow]

Thats us up to date. Nasty weather outside and cant put the car in the garage due to a disco being in there ready to paint this weekend.

Got a spare set of headlights and rear lights with it.
How do I remove the little plastic tab to get the actual headlight out the metal frame? Got the twist one out but the one with the hex head, how does this free the headlight?

Also where is the best/cheapest repair rear arches/maybe inner too + sills + rear valance?

This is being done on the cheap due to being a student so cheaper the part the better.

[Speedtouch]

Congratulations on getting it running - sounds sweet!

[Slow]

First drive today



Brakes work but not great, they are going to be replaced anyway.
Engine temp got 3/8 and then started to "jump" up and down a little bit.

I have this gearknob, should it press down to go left into reverse like my e46 did or does it just sort of jump over?



This is pretty retro cool!



Found some old discs



This little thing leaks with the wires in it

[Sambe30]

Push straight over to the left all the way then straight up to go into reverse, will probably be very stiff if it has sat for ages

[Slow]

It went in no bother, hence why asking in case something was broken haha

[hennabm]

Boot spoiler was std on the 323i. It normally came in black or body colour. Don't know why yours is maroon

The sticker was std on the spoiler.

1984 model should have been with side repeaters. It was only the very early ones ie 83 that didn't have them.

[Slow]

Mine has the side repeaters, had to buy wings with the holes for them. Not sure if I have the actual lens in the car somewhere but the wire with a bulb is there.

Does anyone know what the orange triangle in the center of the dash is? Flashes for abit when starting the car but goes off after a while.

[hennabm]

The orange triangle is the warning lamp for the check panel. It will flash on start up until the brake pedal is pressed. This is just part of the check procedure.
Later cars have the word "check" instead of the triangle.

It starts flashing when driving only if one of the circuits of the check panel are activated, for example if a headlamp bulb went out or the water level in the header tank drops too far.

[Slow]

Ah, I imagine it doesnt have working bulbs/water etc and all the other faults. Glad its not a serious thing like a engine check light.

[Brianmoooore]

If the orange light is flashing, one of the red LEDs on the check panel itself should be lit. Pressing the black button will acknowledge that you've seen the orange light, which should then stop flashing and go out.

[Slow]

Finally into her home for the next while. Found a guy local just out of training who will sand/repair dents and spray for £800-900.
Wont be perfect but it will beat a bunch of welded on black panels + wings.



Found this belt + tensioner. Worth using or just buy new ones? Assumed to be bought 5 years ago when the previous owner bought the car and started to service it.



What is this thing? Found in the boot.





Arch liner and some square plastic piece, not sure where its from yet



Slightly worried when I saw this at first buried in rubbish



What appears to be chopped rear light wiring with a odd box





Connecters arent rusty on the rear lights which is odd as the lens's were full of water





Spare wheel well isnt rusty really, few scabs. Towbar is bolted through it though.



Going to try clean up but I have a spare pair so will set aside the best ones for it



Light surrounding areas is ok except for a small hole + bubbling where the seal goes on boot close







Rear arches are a little holey :p







Inner inner arch doesnt seem as bad




Dont like spiders but behind the linings there was alot



Thats this evenings work before it got dark and cold and I dont want to go under the car to get the tow ball off.

[senna]

Pete will be loving those photos!

Please replace "pics" with Pete

[Speedtouch]

The cambelt and tensioner probably would be OK, but for the hassle and time involved in changing it, and for peace of mind, you're probably best off replacing with a new one and a reputable brand, such as Gates.

The rear light contacts are galvanised, hence lack of rust.

The odd black box is possibly a reversing lights buzzer or similar.