Bmw e30 323i rust bucket purchase

[Slow]

Stolen this off my pistonheads so excuse the references to things in this

Just had a thread about a e30 for a track car. 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.

[Slow]

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?

[sweep]

Stock boot spoiler in calypso red

[Slow]

We have an update of sorts - again stolen from pistonheads if it doesnt make sence.



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



Some of the bits needed to fix it

New sills



Rear 1/4 piece thingys



Rear arches



Rear valance



New compressor - going to spray it myself

[Mr-Lachs]

Such a rare care, nice to see its been saved, will be stunning when done

[Nobby_N]

Brave

[aimlessrock]

Brave

+1 - take my hat off to you mate..hope you like welding!

[Slow]

I cant even weld. Got 2 friends willing to do it in their free time for beer money

[jimbom30cab]

Much respect for taking this one.

Wish you all the very best and look forward to seeing the pics

Enjoy !

[Mr-Lachs]

So worth it though as a Henna 323i will rock!!! As for that belt I wouldn't even consider using it or the tensioner.

[Pinchy_Larou]

Good luck with the build, will look good when you have finished it

[Daz666]

Looking forwards to seeing this progress. Your strange box is from the tow bar wiring, it beeps when you indicate when the trailer wiring plug is connected.

[Cypriotgeeza]

wow!

It's been a while since I saw a car in that state being restored so I have massive respect for you man!!

I look forward to seeing this progress and look even more forward to the end result!

I just hope you don't lose faith before the finish line as sometimes its hard to stay motivated when it feels never ending!

[ross_jsy]

Brave man, but you are planning on using it as a track car?

It's worth restoring as it's a rare turd in a cool hue, seems a bit wasted for track use though.

[gruf]

That looks the best sunroof I've seen lol
I like the steering wheel I've not seen that shape before.
I got a pub if your mates want to do some welding for beer money. There's a keg on chill.
Good to see plenty of pictures as well.
Nice to see it finished.

[Mr-Lachs]

The wheels gorgeous, a very rare early sports one, don't think they were available for all that long as you hardly see them but the early brochures show them.

Have to say thoughts echoed on tracking it, it would be far better put back to standard original given its rarity.

[Slow]

Plan was to track it, but since everyone told me it was so rare im tempted to just keep it as my daily for uni (starting in september). So far im in it for just under £1000 excluding the compressor which I needed for spraying 3 other cars anyway. A 83 cherry turbo, 81 corvette and a 95 730i if anyone is interested :p

Hope to have it on the road for under £2000 depending on the condition of brakes/suspension etc when I get round to them. Could be fucked or still usable.

[chow92]

Where did You order Your panels from ?

[Slow]

[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/cZcZ5zV1.jp ... m/cZcZ5zV1[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/r6bowaO7.jp ... m/r6bowaO7

How it looked when I left for work was the pictures above. Just home now so grabbed some pics. Only spot welded in place for now. Also yes I know it's not 100% perfect but it's my mate doing it for beer money.

[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/y56DRFM8.jp ... m/y56DRFM8

[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/C1PXi0Z8.jp ... m/C1PXi0Z8

[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/jpVBbw0K.jp ... m/jpVBbw0K

[img]http://thumbsnap.com/s/DgapgAGZ.jp ... m/DgapgAGZ

[Rav335uk]

Wow

[Slow]

Slowly getting there

I took the front seats out, the carpet up to the centre console which I need to remove to get the last edge of the carpet out. The sponge shit below it is absolutely dripping, assumed to have come in through the holes at the bases of the A pillars.

[AndyE30]

Love it, good stuff. Me too please, where did you get panels from?

[Slow]

Love it, good stuff. Me too please, where did you get panels from?

http://www.carz2.co.uk/

Were recommended via this forum. Took about 3 weeks from ordering to get from Germany to Inverness.

[Pinchy_Larou]

Good effort so far, hope it doesn't eat all your money putting it right!!

[ah]

Keep at it,your doing a great job well done.Just one thing are you going down the original as it rolled of the line route?because that what it deserves.

[magpie]

i think this is the worst resto i've seen as in beginning condition


best of luck , i hope you save it .