E30 Zone

I thought it was about time I started a build thread for prosperity.

I picked the car up in Iver on St Paddies Day 2012.



Looked like a good buy.

Restored 5000 miles ago
Replacement engine, have receipt.
Chassis work a/r
Bushes, Joints, suspension etc
New Sills
Full body work inc full respray in Delphin Grey 154
New brakes all around (around 300 miles ago)
Serviced car inc expensive distributor cap, rotor arm, Fuel filter etc
Replaced rubber fuel hoses
New exhaust hangers
New Bridgestone Potenza tyres
BMW BBS 15" X-spoke alloy wheels with centre caps
Bits and bobs to tidy up i.e Number plates
Since I have ownded the car I have:
Timing belt and kit including new tensioners, tensioner housing has been changed.
New Heavy Duty battery

Thats stunning mate, is it Diamond Black?

Like any E30 there where a few problems.

Central locking only worked from the boot.
Passenger side electric window was on its last legs.
Passenger side electic wing mirror was equally on its last legs.
Not to mention the bitching carbon effect badges and clear indicators.

None the less. I bought it and me and a friend started the long drive home.

Pulled into a service station where the car blew coolant all over itself

Turned out to be a viscous fan coupling. Topped up the coolant and it made it home.

Tackled the central locking when I got home (many weeks after I got home)




Turned out to be an aftermarket kit and none of the normal fixes took. Had a friend who is an auto spark have a look and he recommended just stripping it as he couldn't fix it. So that is pending.

Stripped the car for the ritual rust hunt & I found quite a few little surprises







and the grand finale





Why you would replace the outer arches and leave that mess is beyond me! So that will be a challenge in the future.

TPS wrote:Thats stunning mate, is it Diamond Black?

It does look very dark but its Delphin Grey 154.

Holy crap, is that the original paint?! gleaming!

It had a respray about 5-6 thousand miles ago.

I'll update my morsel collection when I have received my presents from Kedge

Also starting to gear myself up for the battle of the rust. (except the rear arches, they can wait for a year or so!)

Any council on the up coming battle would be greatly appreciated!!

That's a shame about those rear arches, odd how it looks so gleaming then underneath its not good news, hope you can restore it back to tip top condition again, what are your plans

delphin tech 1s ftw! good luck with it mate

Shit the bed!

Popping off the rear quarter cards off and removal of boot carpets is a total must viewing an E30

On the whole though that is a nice car/project

jimbom30cab wrote:That's a shame about those rear arches, odd how it looks so gleaming then underneath its not good news, hope you can restore it back to tip top condition again, what are your plans

The outer skin of the wheel arch has been replaced. So underneath appeared to be solid. It's a shame but its just one more thing to do.


The plan so far is just to restore and spec up!

"operation anorak"

I'm fitting or have fitted

cruise control
Map light
13 button obc
heated wing mirrors
heated washer jets
heated seats
ls recaro houndstooth seats
Blaupunkt woodstock headunit (I have quite a few of these )
Blaupunkt bsa 160 amp
Premium hi-fi parcel speakers
e46 power steering rack
370mm tech 1 steering wheel

I also bought e38 wheels with the intention of fitting them as a spare set of shoes but I'm having second thoughts....

Duke137 wrote:Shit the bed!

Popping off the rear quarter cards off and removal of boot carpets is a total must viewing an E30

On the whole though that is a nice car/project

Cheers Duke. Hindsight is a beautiful thing but I had bought it blind so it was a doomed venture from the outset!

LOL You know the E38 wheels are 5 lug don't you?

Or have you converted it?

I counted with my fingers but yes I'm aware they are 5 lug


Adapters or if I'm feeling like a pikey 'fill & re-drill'

Gutting when you find rust like that, polished turd like the rest of them Hope you get the underside looking as good as the exterior!!

Don't suppose you've got any spare looms for the Blaupunkts?

Kedge wrote:Gutting when you find rust like that, polished turd like the rest of them Hope you get the underside looking as good as the exterior!!

Don't suppose you've got any spare looms for the Blaupunkts?

Indeed, I tried to buy the car 11 months previously but was beat to the line by Zora. So he might have clocked the rear arches and moved it on to me... (bast*rd! lol)

I got all the wiring but then found a Blaupunkt quickout cage. It has all the required plugs attached. Never used

So might not need the wiring. I'll let you know when I try and fit it and if not your welcome to the loom.

Indeed all that glitters is not Gold, as a few of us have been caught out, its a good idea to spend on the body before you shell out on trinklets

Definitely worth getting the body work sorted, nice looking car otherwise

I was going to sort the body work out first but Barry and others said to get the rare bits as they came up. As the body work can be sorted out at any point.

I plan to get it on the road and drive it as my daily for a year or so.

Then it will get all the TLC it needs.

bab-91 wrote:... I plan to get it on the road and drive it as my daily for a year or so.

Then it will get all the TLC it needs.

How much more rust will it get in that time in totally tropical Ireland? Set to work.

She's a looker though.

Wow there are some rare bits there, I would love a few of them on my turd. How do you find heated mirrors and washer jets ?

Great great project mate, make sure you post LOTS of pics please

Jim

bab-91 wrote:I was going to sort the body work out first but Barry and others said to get the rare bits as they came up. As the body work can be sorted out at any point.

If you have the money and a rare morsel comes up then buy it, no point waiting until the car is ready as you never know when they might come up again!

Yeah if you see something you want best to buy straight away IMO unless you have no money obviously

How did I get duped into this...

BTW... Im the poor chap that has volunteered my services to help and fit all these rare trinkets (AKA headaches) and maybe weld up some of the holes... but it would take a better man than me to sort those rear arches!

And the entire car will have a gallon of waxoyl put around it before it hits the road to help hold off the rust until Captain OEM gets them sorted.

What are you talking about Pablo.. All my trinkets are PLUG AND PLAY....

Apparently...

Ill stick my name on the waiting list for this one very nice

Kedge wrote:Gutting when you find rust like that, polished turd like the rest of them Hope you get the underside looking as good as the exterior!!

Don't suppose you've got any spare looms for the Blaupunkts?

kedge, i took my blaupunk with no wires at all,+ an e30 stereo loom with connector blocks) to a local car audio place (google sextons portsmouth) the old chap in there was awsome, left it with him

he made me up all the blaupunkt wiring with blocks on the end to then connect to the e30s blocks like an oem fit , for like £20 or something

bab-91 wrote:I was going to sort the body work out first but Barry and others said to get the rare bits as they came up. As the body work can be sorted out at any point.

thats whats ive been doing, plus them parts can always be sold/moved,taken off and re fitted etc

you shoukd get that floor sorted asap, that can all be done as 1 seperate job to the rest

but them rear inners you dont want to be driving it around like that mate, it will only get worse and spread and eat more of the car away, as its nice paint outide, it might be easier to match, you should buy new rear inner/outers asap and get them done, f**k driving it around as a daily like that, mine were much much nicer, but still had them done,sooner you bite the bullet and man up to get it done, the sooner it will be a nice car and less further damage will be caused and ultimatley the less work/cost it is to sort it

Recaros are on the way Rob

polsta wrote:

Kedge wrote:Gutting when you find rust like that, polished turd like the rest of them Hope you get the underside looking as good as the exterior!!

Don't suppose you've got any spare looms for the Blaupunkts?

kedge, i took my blaupunk with no wires at all,+ an e30 stereo loom with connector blocks) to a local car audio place (google sextons portsmouth) the old chap in there was awsome, left it with him

he made me up all the blaupunkt wiring with blocks on the end to then connect to the e30s blocks like an oem fit , for like £20 or something

Not that simple for me, my car has never had a stereo fitted so I've not got a stereo loom. I've got an ISO block loom for the Memphis from when I was using is in the touring. If I can just get hold of the plug for the accessory socket I can make my own loom up if needs be, it's only an earth, switched and permanent power.

mine didnt have a loom either, the stereo in the car was piggy backed in so took the lot out

do you not have the "plug" on the left by the glove box side, that the stereo loom plugs in to ?

i got that loom from a breaker,and will put it in like that, but the whole wiring side of things needs a good look at and new speaker wire and everything put in,tbh im not sure the exact state of it all as the car went away after being stripped

polsta wrote: do you not have the "plug" on the left by the glove box side, that the stereo loom plugs in to ?

The accessory socket is there so the pins are available for a loom to be plugged into but I haven't got the plug/loom.

same as mine then

surely someone will have one ?, i was lucky that i had that is breaker at same time, and its looom was perfect with plug and everything, along with the diff sensor and loom to plug, had a few nice handy things from that car

Keep up the good work Bab!

It will be some car when finished

Cheers Darren! for all its faults I still love it ...


I know what you mean Polsta, I'll get round to the arches as quickly as possible but I hadn't budgeted for this level of work.

I definitely wouldn't of spent close to 4 bags on it had I knew

Lovely looking sport,good luck with the bits&bobs to do.

bab-91 wrote:and the grand finale

Apart from that 50p sized scab on the inner arch, it's actually in pretty decent order. Might be worth spending the year learning the ropes MIG welding and do the arches properly once and for all yourself? Think of the subframe paedoing opportunities when you have it stripped down..