E30 Zone

Here's a thread about my Tech 1 Sport rebuild. It's amazing how wrong I got my assessment of the condition. Still, one day as they say...

Post1 - November 08



Hi all,

Here's a decision I need help making - scroll to bottem of page for a poll. Please be honest..it looks a bit 50/50 to me.

This is my first post - as you might expect from the title?? I've had this thing in my possession for a few months now; take for MOT, see what needs doing, assess situation/time involved etc...


Lil bit of history first..

I helped someone out in a big way over a period of months this year. On my last visit his parents were comparing life to the bmw that was fully mot'd, had all new bits put on and then left in the barn. In short, it's mine now.

Genuine 325 Sport Tech 1 with completely original parts down to the stereo and rear tool set/extinguisher etc.
3 previous owners
116k on the clock but has been laid up in a barn for the last 6 years.
Has FSH, the slightly better compression engine, lec windows, lec mirrors and OBC.
Comes with mint black headlining and good condition recaro hounds tooth seats.

Heres how it looked then:


and another one...



Cleaned it up and it looked like this:



and this



and this inside:



Check Control only lists brake fault - probably the ABS sensor or something..


OBC



Sent it straight in for an MOT.
In short, all it needed was one new headlight.....oh and both sills not bad I thought.

Can't weld myself so took it to a fella who's big in to his E30's. Not cheap but would give me an honest opinion. I didn't need to tell him that this was a pretty rare one. Not alpina territory but with the OSD, LSD, Electrics and no wet floor it wasn't too shabby.

All I asked him to do was put a plate over the sill damage so that it could get through an MOT. What was actually done though was a check underneath to see what the inner arches were doing - remember the MOT center don't care about anything near the back unless it's near a jacking point or seat belts - or so I hear .

Damage:
What you see here is some dodgy work done in the past. You can see daylight through there. E30 man says easier to get new inner wheelarches.



Which is almost certainly caused by an earlier arch problem
This is my temporary fix to get it through MOT:



*Yes I know your going to say "well that was really a new arch-type job".

Well yes, that's what it needs. 2 new arches - new sill plates
get it all welded on.
plane and fill a couple of annoying rust spots.
wheels look a bit "£$" to be honest. Chrome is deteriorating - anything dooable here?

So, my predicament is....

E30 man says it is to be scrapped or ebayed
Or get an old rolling shell and swap bits over inc engine transplant
Most of me believes him...but theres a bit that says "thats nothing".

but,
I like the car and it's history
I got it for free
I have a car already so it's not like it needs to be done before next spring.
It might be worth something on a good day - any ideas how much?
I have a garage and plenty of time on my hands
I'm not likely to get hold of a Tech 1 325is (or even a Tech 2) with as much gear and without any work doing to it for less than £2,000.
Little or no chance of getting an M3 for next to nothing to do up instead.

Thoughts?

So, what do I do?

too me i would give you £300 tops for that car but you no how it is to someone else it maybe worth more thats just my opinion on what its worth to me as scrap

break it up, find a nice clean shell and reshell it all.. the engine and box will go nice in a clean shell obc and lsd will be just fine for you and a very clean interior.. shell is scrap but finding another car shouldnt be too hard

I'd try and get it repaired if I were you. A tech1 sport is a lovely car and if you do a good repair then it will only appreciate in value in the coming years.

Have a good search for more rust though, because it can hide away un-noticed. Remove the glovebox and look behind it and above it on the bulkhead, this is a common place for them to go. Also move the fusebox to one side and look to see if its rotten behind there.

Ideally, just strip the whole interior, and boot trim and see what the situation is, will be a nice project if you do choose to restore it or you could break it and make an easy £1000-£1500.

town325i wrote:too me i would give you £300 tops for that car but you no how it is to someone else it maybe worth more thats just my opinion on what its worth to me as scrap

The diff is worth £300 on a good day on its own, this is a silly valuation. The car will break to around £1000 easily.

Me? if it's like you say fix it. Theres been alot worse welded up and mot'd.

Like you say nice little story and a tech 1 sport in the rarest of the 3 factory colours they came in. My own favourite

There really aren't many of these left now, someone will thankyou for saving it!

I agree - save it. Provided it is acheivable and you've checked all the other places they rust. It looks saveable from the limited pictures you posted. But at least you know what it is. You could spend £3000 on a "good" one and still have a lot of welding to do.

Simon13 wrote:
The diff is worth £300 on a good day on its own, this is a silly valuation. The car will break to around £1000 easily.

Ill second that

my deciding factor would be rust in the roofskin sun roof tray area. It's probably the most expensive and difficult fix to have done. The rest can be sorted far easier.

Tilt the sunroof up and look into the tray. Then i'd check behind the headlining. If all is well which there is a good chance there is rust protect it the best you can and soldier on! There was nothing rust protection done from the factory in this area

town325i wrote:too me i would give you £300 tops for that car but you no how it is to someone else it maybe worth more thats just my opinion on what its worth to me as scrap

Thanks, that is your own opinion which is good...I very much appreciate that

I will check everywhere else for rust tomorrow. If we can get a couple of posts outlining some more trouble spots e.g. battery compartment, inside sunroof, door skin, boot, fuse box etc that would be very beneficial. In return i'll get some more pics.

And a quick question do these have ECU's? I guess they would

The car has motronic 1.1? it's electronic fuel injection! no carbs

Get the rear bumper off and look behind here. Remove the plastic splash guard which hides the petrol filler neck/breather sytem. Drivers inner arch.

Pull all the boot carpets out, plus the sides. Carpet up front corners and any inner sill corrosion.

Below the screen washer bottle, front inner wing drivers side is a fav.

Front arch splash guards. These fill up with dirt between the floorpan corner and the wing

If the roof is good save it!!

It looks good, and great colour

Save it.

It dosn't sound to bad compared to some tech 1 s but as above a comprehensive search for rust is required

Thats a Nice car! Save it!

That number plate would be awesome if you had a 3.5 lump under the bonnet!

get saving it!!
theres too many of these being broken up cus people are lazy and sh1t at welding!!


this was my e21.
and its only worth £20 more now its all done and sorted than what it was when it was full of holes.

murran wrote:get saving it!!
theres too many of these being broken up cus people are lazy and sh1t at welding!!

+1.

For essentially the price of two new rear arches (providing there's no further rust) that will be an extremely nice car - SAVE IT!

murran wrote:and its only worth £20 more now its all done and sorted than what it was when it was full of holes.

bss325i wrote:

murran wrote:get saving it!!
theres too many of these being broken up cus people are lazy and sh1t at welding!!

+1.

Agreed!

If you're planning on keeping it for a while then i'd say save it but if your only gonna do it to try and make it worth more money then don't waste your time and break it! and if you do break it pm me about the lsd. if it's fairly low milage then i'll give you £300 for it!

I don't understand why Tech2 sports make more money than a Tech1, but they do, so you need to bear that in mind when you are making your decision. If I were in your position, I would do the repairs if they were affordable and thoroughly enjoy driving the result. If the repairs will mean putting the family on beans on toast for a few months.. frag it for cash or flog it on to someone who will fix it for themselves.

Morat

edit: That brake warning light is just a bulb warning. It should go out when you press the brake pedal for the first time.. or if it stays on and the rear brake lights are working fine then do a forum search. Apparently cheap bulbs can trigger the warning sometimes, or there may be something more sinister going on.
Don't worry about the ABS though, the warning light for that is on the dash.

Also, what's that switch above the radio between the rear screen demist and the hazards? Is it for heated mirrors?

Morat wrote:Also, what's that switch above the radio between the rear screen demist and the hazards? Is it for heated mirrors?

window cut off switch

that not the first phase 1 sport ive seen with it there either

lmao... my arch isnt too bad after all!! save the car!! you cant take your money with you and its no good being the richest man in the graveyard!

if it were me and i could not weld then i would find a nice sound pre facelift car and transfer all the sport goodies into that as none of the sport bits are rusted - i.e the interior, the sport box, the LSD, the dechrome trim, the body kit it could all be done my a home mechanic in a day or two. Welding will cost you then there is the body work and paint etc etc making it not economically viable i.e you would spend 000's and have a car worth a grand tops.

if i could weld then i would definately save it.

alternatively why not swap the bits to a cleaner car to drive about in, and buy a welding machine and get in there and have a go yourself on the old body, if you screw it up its not a problem, if you get it worthy swap the bits back

mrlee

I say save it. It might not be the totally economical thing to do at the moment, but what restoration ever turns out to be a money spinner? You got it for nothing so that's a good start at least. Do it as a labour of love or pass it on to someone else who is willing. An unmodded Tech 1 sport with low owners/miles and fsh is properly rare - sadly the market has yet to acknowledge this in higher relative values.

Seems to have been stood a while though, so you may have to be prepared to do some remedial work on the mechanicals to get it tip top - be sure to factor this in when you're budgeting.

djk wrote:I say save it. Do it as a labour of love or pass it on to someone else who is willing.

Yes!
My thoughts exactly.

I think alot of you are missing the fact the car was free! If the roof, scuttle and other areas turn out to be sound then even if he spent £2000 in welding an paint he would still break even as its a 3 owner, 116000 miles sport with FSH. Even with tech 1 prices being lower than tech 2's its still gotta be worth £2-2500 when tidied up.

I think two many E30's are getting broken up because of rot and not enough being saved, especialy the desirable models.

Some deviants spend years welding up old mini's and morris minors and nearly all of them aint worth a fortune!
At least a 325i sport is a fun, quick'ish car which is more than can be said for some BL scrap!

Would be nice to see it being saved. As some of the other lads have said, the amount of cars being fragged at the moment can only mean that Sports etc will be more desirable as time goes on.

If you look at the state of some of the Mk1 Escorts on ebay going for very good money, this is where E30s will be in the not too distant future.

Save it!! Another like mine You're having the dilemma I had about a year ago once i found out i could see more daylight through the shell than out the windows my rear arches are close to that but not as bad, but they're just replaceable panels. Check your sunroof drain tray too, Don't break it there's not too may left....

Oh and the brake light on the check panel is just a bulb, or give the rear lights a thump till the brake light comes on, works every time

I agree, save it, parts are available, as companies like ecp and gsf have parts for e30's.Main dealer prices are also affordable on some items.

I will buy this straight off you and weld it all up to its former glory, bring it back totally, full respray, and set it up nice.

I would hate to see this car die, I will buy, any price you mention, I will buy off you.

Please don't break it. My cousin's a professioanl welder and he will be able to do top work on it and respray it too.

£8000. I'll take £7000 commision.

save it I've seen a worse tech1s getting fixed ( in my garage ) its a good looker bar that arch get 2 new arches and sills on there and and get all the other bits sorted. at the end of the day its only costing you for what you do to it i wish some one would give a me a tech1 in that condition

Save it!! as many people have said its getting rarer every day, theres nothing a bit of metal and a wealder cant fix dude!! so long as everything is straight then its fixable!!



dont break or sell it, coz your be kicking your self once its all over and you know about e30's more

Save it, my touring has more rust than that and its all relatively simple to repair.