My 1988 320i Convertible
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:47 pm
Evening,
I was looking to buy a winter run-about, and about a month ago I saw a 1988 chrome 320i convertible for sale in zinobar red, and decided to take a look. It had a few faults to say the least (mainly electrical), but needless to say a deal was struck, and I ended up buying this. A convertible was an odd choice for a winter car I must admit.
Once safely home, the first thing I did was sort out why fuse 10 kept blowing, which half of the cars electrics seem to run from! It was the classic E30 fault; the reverse wire shorting onto the chassis where it wears through. Once this was sorted, I drove the car for a bit and it mainly sat on my drive.
Then work started on Friday. My mate and I decided to strip out the inside and give it a good clean. This, of course, meant putting the dirty carpet and lots of cleaner in the bath, which the young ladies we live with really appreciated. We then proceeded to trash our house/carpet and fill it with E30 related parts. Chris having fun with the carpet (only took him a couple of hours...)
Anybody who has dried an E30 carpet will appreciate how long this took to totally dry. Hanging it up and leaving it for a week with a heater on turned out to be the best approach, and gave this result:
The more we stripped, the better we realised the car was, and it turns out to be totally rust free, with the exception of the driver’s door and driver’s front wing. Result. In fact, the car is a little bit nice to just thrash about in for the winter, as it is one of the most solid and original E30 shells I have ever come across. For this reason, I am going to be selling it very shortly if anybody is interested. It even still had all the original documents, first aid kit, tool kit etc.
The empty cab looked like this:
Annoyingly it has been reversed into a curb or something, and popped the lower valance inwards.
A little lacquer peel
Complete with arch lips!
Flash
Then I started to re-fit the clean and dry interior, which is now finished, although I haven’t taken pictures just yet.
I will add more pictures tomorrow, as the car is basically all back together now, and looking pretty good really. The M20B20 is very smooth, and although it lacks the poke of an M20B25, I actually quite like it.
Paul
I was looking to buy a winter run-about, and about a month ago I saw a 1988 chrome 320i convertible for sale in zinobar red, and decided to take a look. It had a few faults to say the least (mainly electrical), but needless to say a deal was struck, and I ended up buying this. A convertible was an odd choice for a winter car I must admit.
Once safely home, the first thing I did was sort out why fuse 10 kept blowing, which half of the cars electrics seem to run from! It was the classic E30 fault; the reverse wire shorting onto the chassis where it wears through. Once this was sorted, I drove the car for a bit and it mainly sat on my drive.
Then work started on Friday. My mate and I decided to strip out the inside and give it a good clean. This, of course, meant putting the dirty carpet and lots of cleaner in the bath, which the young ladies we live with really appreciated. We then proceeded to trash our house/carpet and fill it with E30 related parts. Chris having fun with the carpet (only took him a couple of hours...)
Anybody who has dried an E30 carpet will appreciate how long this took to totally dry. Hanging it up and leaving it for a week with a heater on turned out to be the best approach, and gave this result:
The more we stripped, the better we realised the car was, and it turns out to be totally rust free, with the exception of the driver’s door and driver’s front wing. Result. In fact, the car is a little bit nice to just thrash about in for the winter, as it is one of the most solid and original E30 shells I have ever come across. For this reason, I am going to be selling it very shortly if anybody is interested. It even still had all the original documents, first aid kit, tool kit etc.
The empty cab looked like this:
Annoyingly it has been reversed into a curb or something, and popped the lower valance inwards.
A little lacquer peel
Complete with arch lips!
Flash
Then I started to re-fit the clean and dry interior, which is now finished, although I haven’t taken pictures just yet.
I will add more pictures tomorrow, as the car is basically all back together now, and looking pretty good really. The M20B20 is very smooth, and although it lacks the poke of an M20B25, I actually quite like it.
Paul
VERY tidy.
