E30 Zone

Good afternoon all !

I introduce you my French 325i E30 '87

Why a French BMW ? Because I'm french ! I have been in England for 3 months and I return in France in 3 weeks. I'm here to improve my English (sorry, I have a very bad level in English...).

I bought this car 6 months ago, in a bad condition prima facie...

After a tour around the car, it was not very worn. I bought this car for about 900£. It is 167000 kilometers (not a lot), and it slept in a warm garage in Paris... Nice ! It was on the park on the following picture just 2 weeks ago when I bought the car.


Pictures before the purchase :







Start of the recovery : good and bad news !

The good news : 4 brand new Pirelli P6000 tires, 0 rust on the bodywork and interior of the car dirty but in a very nice condition.

The bad news : the car has not started for 10 years, fuel tank completely rusted, fuel pump died and dog hairs on the sits ! Some wire cut by a mouse but the car was maintened in a BMW garage, nice point.



Next step, check the engine works. New timing belt, new fuel pump, new coolant, new battery, wire repairs and big cleaning of the engine with karcher/cillit bang !

Before :


Thermostat broken, glycerine in the pipes


Wire repairs


Timing belt is changed to don't take a cylinder head in the nose at the first start-up


First parts arrived


And big cleaning of the engine compartment
After :


Next step : engine start-up !

Fuel pump and all pipes replacements, and start-up before to change the fuel tank. Just to validate the engine work.



The engine works perfectly !
But my cooling radiator did't like the karcher...
A new one :



I haven't de pictures but, after, I replaced the fuel tank on a bridge by a new.

I had a problem with my check maintenance on my dashboard.
News batteries for this part


Big washing for the car inside/outside !

Currently :







Most important original options on the car :

-M-Technik chassis
-Electrical mirrors
-Electrical windows
-Power steering

Have a good day everybody !

Nice project and nice looking car!

Thank you ! I have some projects on this car, I will do some modification but I want to keep the car in the original style.

I just want to restorate the brakes and the bushes. I received 8 EBC Yellowstuff brake pads and an uréthane complete bushes kit (including engine bushes). I will order 4 news Brembo brake discs and 4 lowering springs (just -30mm, Eibach springs).

After, I will look for 4 original BMW Sport 15" BBS wheels, and maybe an original M-Tech1 aerodynamic body kit (if I find...).

I use this car juste to drive the weekend, otherwise I have a diesel because drive a fuel car in France is very expansive. For me, my E30 is a collection car !

Looks very nice. Love the colour.

very nice! Out of interest, what constitutes an m-tech chassis?

Metrabomb check your messages (top right of this screen)

And read this:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=107482

You should keep the looks of your car rather than "M-Tech 1"

schnaarf wrote:very nice! Out of interest, what constitutes an m-tech chassis?

An M-Tech chassis is constituted by 4 Boge or Bilstein dampers (caution : yellow color for the twice), "sport" springs (and lowering, just if you have the "m-tech aerodynamic body kit), and 2 more big anti roll bar (front 20mm and rear 14.5mm). That's all !!!

Great transformation - particularly impressed with the results on cleaning up the engine bay.

Unusual colour too

Oldschool style forever !!!

the car looks great, i love chromies in unusual colours

i wouldnt worry too much about your english, your posts make more sense than a lot of others' who were born here!

was the e30 ever very popular in france? i took mine over for a holiday a couple of years ago and had lots of nice comments from people, even a couple of people with video cameras on the autoroutes!

I really like that.. Looks so nice now you have worked on it.

What colour is it?

Why was the window smashed?

Very nice. A touch lower will be good, but I'd be tempted to leave it at that. Possibly the BBS at some point, but I'd leave the tech-1 kit off. Wonder if you'll ever find some sport seats in the right colour...

harry_p wrote:the car looks great, i love chromies in unusual colours

i wouldnt worry too much about your english, your posts make more sense than a lot of others' who were born here!

was the e30 ever very popular in france? i took mine over for a holiday a couple of years ago and had lots of nice comments from people, even a couple of people with video cameras on the autoroutes!

There are more E30 on the road in France than an England, I think. But it's not very different, manytimes the E30 are tuned (huge spoilers....) and sometimes E30 are very tired !! (rust etc..)

Otherwise, you can cross some restorated E30. There is a big forum which is "e30passion" in France. And people from this forum often like the restorated cars in original style.

Thank you for your post !

Jhonno wrote:I really like that.. Looks so nice now you have worked on it.

What colour is it?

Why was the window smashed?

I don't remember the colour and I can't read on the motor bay because I am in England currently. I can give you the colour when I will be back in France !

The car was in a garage park 2 weeks ago before I bought it, and somebody tried to rob the car I think... Without other part broken, fortunately.

I think it is Emerald green (smaragdgruen)
A lovely lovely colour with green tint glass. They did do pinengrun houndstooth sports seats which would complement this beautifully...

You've made a nice job of that,
It looks very good, like the unusual colour,

thats really nice some proper good work!

sweet, mint engine bay now

Love it. I wish my engine bay looked like that.

Welcome fellow chromie owner...


Top car mate and top work getting back to good condition. Really excellent job and another e30 saved.

It looks really good and i congratulate you on your English...much better than my French. ..Just one bit of advice ..while you are changing the springs ( eibach are an excellent choice) remember to look at the " spring assister's" (bump stops) as after 20+ years they will probably be shot

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=31&fg=10

I have just replaced mine and the difference is amazing

Thank for your comments !

Yes, I will look for the bumber stops. I hope I speak about de same part than you, but it's not normal that your bumb stops work very often ! Usually, it's just when you have a big shock, with a speed reducer for example !

What is the part number on the drawing on your link ?

Thank you for your advice

Part number 5

Ok we speak about the same part !

swindler wrote:I think it is Emerald green (smaragdgruen)
A lovely lovely colour with green tint glass. They did do pinengrun houndstooth sports seats which would complement this beautifully...

I think its zobel brown?

Nice job though. Better than driving something french

I don't like your motto : remember the 205 Turbo16 time in world rally championship !!! Remember Ari Vatanen, and the peaks peak race with his 405 Turbo 16 !!!! More recently, remember the 206 WRC and Marcus Gronholm !! Otherwise, 505 GTI, 205 GTI how many sales in the world ??? Or yet, Megane RS3 ? I LOVE FRENCH CARS !!!!!

I agree, curently the quality is not the same, but it's not true for all the models. We have many problems with our suppliers... That's true.

I want to buy a 205 GTI to restorate it ! Have you ever driven a real French car ?

But I agree, I prefer the german quality for all tourer cars !

And what about the English cars ?

The motto is staying. i can count on one hand the number of decent french cars. British cars? Jaguar, aston, morgan, tvr, rolls, bentley, the mini, lotus, marcos, fords (remember the 1600e, cosworths, granada, escorts etc.). Sorry but I never gelled with anything 4 wheeled and french.

Love italian cars too. Fiat 130 coupe, abarth 131 etc.

did someone mention French

Well done for getting it back to showroom condition again

Be careful : jaguar uses french psa engines now in their cars !!!



I like italian cars too, and I think all european cars have a charm !

jags are German now and e30 tourings are french, nowt makes sense

magpie wrote:jags are German now and e30 tourings are french, nowt makes sense

I think we should get up earlier in the mornings so that we can eat our cornflakes because we are missing something here?!

To get back in the main subject, some pictures :

That car looks "Just Right"! J'aime les phares jaunes!!