1985 320i Project

[MickoE30]

Well lads, new to the site and BMs after owning quite a few Dubs.

I have had an notion for an E30 for a while and after the relucant sale of my MK1 Golf (2 year rebuild) , I needed someting else to get my teeth into.

Search criteria was simple - cheap, not needing loads of welding & 6 cylinder....after keeping eye out for a while, i found this 1985 320i coupe - Love the chrome and retro-styling.

Overall car is in good order with minor rust in a few places - passenger side rear arch & behind accelerator pedal.

Car hasn't been on road since 2006. Have a load of old MOT's which show its done <10,000 miles since 2000.

Starter motor is shot, but it runs and drives with a bump start.

Bought from JKC in Coleraine (N.Ireland) on 16th May 1985 and had 2 owners since.

Optional stereo has massive hand-book and 2 amplifers in boot.

Picked up a set of 7x15 ET 13 alloys (MIM?) that may end up on her.

Plans for now are to find out what it needs, sort rust, general tidy up and refurb of the runnning gear.

I'd appreciate your opinions and will be calling on your help soon, no doubt

I'll let pics do talking.....

Cheers, Michael

[Blitz]

Looks lovely. Rust should be straight forward sought out.

[Alex]

i want that head unit

[aj_mckay]

Looks reasonably solid from the pic's. Rare colour though - Cosmosblau? One of the early ones! Your car is exactly 1 day younger than I am

Good luck with the work on it and keep your progress updated on here - will be interested to see where you take it. MIMs are awesome wheels on the E30 - suit it down to the ground in my book.

[walshc]

Looks good, mims are nice

Dubbers evolve to e30s its natural hahaha, same with me, except i still have dubs
Any pics of the mk1?

[MickoE30]

Cheers, lads. The stereo is apparently a optional extra, that came complete with remote control (although I don’t have it). Originally thought the wheels were MIMs, but have been told that they are hartge (they are not stamped MIM or Hartge).

I have heard of a few people coming over to BMs from Dubs ”“ I reckon the E30 and MK2 are similar in design / build quality and obviously are from the same German engineering era. My MK1 was a 2 year rebuild, I did everything myself, except respray including 1.3 to GTI K-jet engine / running gear swap.

Before



During




After ”“ (RS’s borrowed from mate)

[djk]

Yup, I've yet to own a mkI/II golf, but it's on the list of things I must do! Child of the 80s I spose.

320i doesn't look too bad, that blue coach stripe is pretty minging though, as are the euro lamps. Fred Flintstone spec footwell too - I think this may have been a factory option, you see a lot of them on here! Should make for a nice little resto - do keep posting what you do, I love a resto thread.

Don't think those rims are Hartge, have to assume they're a MiMs replica or something. They look good though, and suit a chromey.

[walshc]

Golf is top
The e30 shall be too if the same skill is used. Going to be a good thread this, me thinks

[Ionkontrol]

i want that head unit

Pioneer FX-K9 Centrate head unit with a GMA120 amp under the rear shelf, if I am not mistaken.

[MickoE30]

Yep, thats what the manual says - 2 amps too (1 at each side)

[capri_rob]

Nice car mate - the MIM's are a very nice touch. Shame about the rust but it goes with the territory on old chromies. Bet that stereo setup cost a fortune when it was new !!

[E30Gheko]

Nice project! A good starting point is that it's a relatively clean shell for a chromie! Shouldn't be too much to rectify the rusty bits.

Cosmosblau is the colour my car was originally and I'd never seen what colour it was until reading this thread. Mine also started life with chrome bumpers but it's 'evolved' or 'devolved' a bit since then! Interesting that it probably looked a lot like that one when it left the factory!

It now looks like this!