E30 Zone

Hi guys. Im new to this site and to BMW's in general (Im a Ford nut). I got myself a little project which at the moment has turned into my runaround. I had wanted an E30 but never thought I could get a good one with my budget, luckily a nice 3 door came up for sale at a salvage yard with little damage.


It was Cat C needing minimal repair work to get it back on the road. £170 later (I found £17 in it!! Result!), and it was on my driveway looking sorry for itself. The car was deadlocked but I had the key. I have taken on bigger projects but this BMW was new territory for me.
Im lucky to have a good mate who is a BMW Technition so we got to work and got it looking like this after a week or so.

Dealer plates were fitted, M-Tech 1 steering wheel, Radio CD player with Bluetooth interface were also added. At this point it was ready to go back onto the road. I booked it in for MOT which it passed with 3 advisorys and then it was awaiting its VIC inspection.
The day before the VIC inspection I landed on my feet with a set of 5 BBS 15" alloys for £100, they had new tyres fitted and were ready to fit.


I took the car for its VIC inspection which it passed, I was made up that it passed and I was also happy that it looked half decent wearing a set of alloys.
valet later and it was looking like this:



I started to collect some parts to make it look smarter. A week or so later the following made their way onto the car:

Electric Arieal
M-Tech 1 spoiler painted Matt Black by me
Volvo Splitter
6000k HID kit
Brand new BMW badges
Areo wipers

I bought a set of lowering springs and rear shockers for it, the front springs were fine but the rears actually raised the back by 40mm . I needed to lower the rear so my mate came along to save the day with some OEM Vauxhall Astra GSI springs. They fitted perfect and do the job very well, though I will keep a lookout for a set of BMW rear's

It is now looking like this




All of the work done to the car has been done on a low budget, and I would like to keep it that way. At the moment its perfect to drive, the 115 BHP on tap is plenty for a little enthusiastic drive, but more power will be in order soon.

Next on the To-Do list:

Z3/short shift linkage
E36 Rack
Clear indicators front and side (possibly smoked?? Opinons?)

Eventually Full 325 Engine/Box/Brakes setup (Saving up, not wanting to spend much )

Hope you have enjoyed my little write-up. Cheers Mike.

Awesome work mate Looks lovely

Transformed nicely with the mod's

looking fab

was that a copart auction

Astra springs?!

bss325i wrote:Astra springs?!

was thinking that my self.....

looking very nice
keep the good work up

very nice.....smoked indicators i say!

Welcome and a tidy looking 318, well done

Lux spec bumpers, and smoked indicators and your onto a winner!


Looking great already though, and welcome to the zone!

Cheers Guys.

Yeh it was from Copart, Been working with Salvage Vehicles for 6 years now .

The Astra GSI springs were just to see me over untill I source some springs for the rear that will actually lower the rear . Being fair, they are fine on mine, and being the GSI ones they are stiffer than regular Astra springs. They slotted in just the the originals would too.

Some LUX bumpers would be ncie but they would have to be cheap, I didnt notice a fellow Zoner selling some but ive forgotton who it is. Smoked indicators it might have to be!
Thanks again.

i have bmw e30 rears if you want some. think they are 40mm.

scottidog wrote:i have bmw e30 rears if you want some. think they are 40mm.

I have PM'd you matey!

Very nice.

looking good man. welcome

Nice to see it revived and given a second airing! Good job!

Really nice looking car

Very impressed, mate. Think it's looking great!

as above good job there

NICE JOB XRMIKE!

done the right mods there in my opinion! looks sweet!

Many thanks all. Looks like I will have to order some smoked indicators ,
I cant take all the credit for the work. My mate Simon has worked his magic on it quite a lot too!

Looking good fella.

Look's like the work was well worth it.
Keep the updates comming.

What do you reckon the whole thing's cost you so far, mate?

greentouring wrote:What do you reckon the whole thing's cost you so far, mate?

Well, im lucky that I work in the car trade, but heres a quick run down, give or take some.

Car £170
MOT £30
VIC £38
Alloys £100
Spoiler £30
Steering wheel £25
Suspension£40(Need to pay another £25 for some rear springs)
Electric ariel £25
HID KIT £40
N/S Window £40
Splitter Free
Badges Free
Cleaning products and paint £40 approx (Still have loads left)

So Im looking in the region of £550-£600.

Get some colour-coded bumpers on that and it'll look great. Fair play to you mate, a nice car for the money you have spent.

i like black bumpers with black lips.

Thanks alot guys!
I did notice a fellow Zoner was adverstising some Dolphin Grey Lux bumpers in his/her sig but I cant find the member. If anyone knows who it is let me know!

I gave it a good clean today and got some pictures of it. Im really pleased with it at the moment , it has a few issues that need addressing but all will be well soon.

XRMike wrote:

greentouring wrote:What do you reckon the whole thing's cost you so far, mate?

Well, im lucky that I work in the car trade, but heres a quick run down, give or take some.

Car £170
MOT £30
VIC £38
Alloys £100
Spoiler £30
Steering wheel £25
Suspension£40(Need to pay another £25 for some rear springs)
Electric ariel £25
HID KIT £40
N/S Window £40
Splitter Free
Badges Free
Cleaning products and paint £40 approx (Still have loads left)

So Im looking in the region of £550-£600.

You've got a car that looks that good for £600 !!! Bloody hell !!



Whats the interior like ? any plans ?

capri_rob wrote:

XRMike wrote:

greentouring wrote:What do you reckon the whole thing's cost you so far, mate?

Well, im lucky that I work in the car trade, but heres a quick run down, give or take some.

Car £170
MOT £30
VIC £38
Alloys £100
Spoiler £30
Steering wheel £25
Suspension£40(Need to pay another £25 for some rear springs)
Electric ariel £25
HID KIT £40
N/S Window £40
Splitter Free
Badges Free
Cleaning products and paint £40 approx (Still have loads left)

So Im looking in the region of £550-£600.

You've got a car that looks that good for £600 !!! Bloody hell !!



Whats the interior like ? any plans ?

Cheers matey.
At the moment its got the Grey cloth trim, I have a set of Ford Recaro's to go in the front, and i'll do somthing with the rears.
The dash is cracked which lets the interior down imo.

Ford Recaros will look - Not that common a mod but someone on here had a beautiful Red touring with RS Turbo Recaros which looked great.

Cracked dash is quite common unfortunately - best bet is to just look out for a replacement as they aren't easy to repair - they come up for sale fairly often and I don't think they are model specific - its just a bit of a daunting task to change.

capri_rob wrote:Ford Recaros will look - Not that common a mod but someone on here had a beautiful Red touring with RS Turbo Recaros which looked great.

Cracked dash is quite common unfortunately - best bet is to just look out for a replacement as they aren't easy to repair - they come up for sale fairly often and I don't think they are model specific - its just a bit of a daunting task to change.

Cheers mate. My Fiesta RS Turbo has the Recaro's and they are the best seat for the money around. Ive got 2 spare pairs but im getting another set given to me to go into the BMW as i'll need to runners welding.

Im going to leave the dash for now, it'll be one of the last things I do probably.

Cheers Mike.

copart? is there a website for this?

Bit of an update.

Ive been a busy chappy, whilst working on my Fiestas Ive also bought two more BMW's .

First up is an E28, Its a 525E LUX, I paid £350 for this. I bought it for its engine as I wanted a 6 cylinder for the 318, But I kinda fell in love with it, so after some new alloys and tyres, a few cans of matt black and some bits and bobs its currently looking like this.



Im now going to use this for a Road trip with my mate to Germany next year. Plans are a sublte back box, lower it and a few nice touches

Next was a 325i SE that I bought, I got it for £200 from my Girlfriends uncle. It was her Grandads car but he passed away in 2004, so its been sat in the garage since then. Its got full OBC, ABS, Working Headlamp wash wipe etc. I fitted some M6 tailpipes and cleaned it up. Im going to Lower it and fit some tasty alloys along with a front splitter and thats it




And lastly my 318i. Ive fitted clear front indicators and a 325 oil cooler grille to it.



Im collecting parts to do a 24v swap. The parts I have so far are.

E36 engine mount arms
E28 rubbers
E36 320i rad
E30 320i exhaust system (Ive got a unique tip to weld on)
E30 325i prop
E36 power steering bracket

Im using my gearbox and diff. I need a Clio servo, M52 manifold, 6 cylinder coding plug for the clocks and then an engine from an E34.
I have 6 cars so my progress is quite slow due to time and money but I try to plod along

Cheers Mike.

bargin broher nice looking car

good job you'v giv it another chance nice 1

Thanks matey. Its been fun working on it too as its my first BMW so I have been able to learn more about then. Its so strange not working on a Fiesta as i've had 11 of them!

Bit of an update. Had a rattling comming from the O/S/F, it ended up being the exhaust heat sheild, but upon inspection of the O/S/F suspension/Brakes, I found that the ARB bush was slightly worn



So im going to fit a lot of new bushes when I take the car off the road!

Also, Ive just picked up this:
M50M25

To replace this:
M40b18

Nearly got all of the required parts now. The 24v head is comming off to be preassure checked and to have some fettling. Im trying to get the 525e ready for use for the winter, then I can start work on the engine swap.

Mike