E30 Zone

Aussie 1991 325i update

I originally posted on here when I purchased my first e30. Since then I have been doing a lot of reading but not a lot of posting so here is everything that has happened since I purchased the car.

I bought the car unseen as I was still overseas with work at the time and the car looked to good to pass up (a risk I know but it was definitely worth it!!) however it was inspected for me and I also spoke to the motorsport garage where it has been regularly serviced and the guy who owns it also runs a car in the e30 racing series we have down here and owns three other e30’s of his own. He said it was the best condition e30 he’d seen and had considered buying it himself.

So after waiting two weeks to get home I and staring at the same 6 photos of the car that came with add over and over again I finally picked up the car. Lets just say it looked better in real life than the photos and it drives like a dream. So Ive spent the first week or so just driving around and getting to know the car. I also have all receipts and history for the car going back to 2000 (and service history back to 1991 so I’ve been reviewing everything that has been done to the car as well.

So this is how car currently sits,

219,000 on the clock
M-Tech 2 steering well
Original front sports seats
15”a BMW Basket weaves
M-tech 1 spoiler
Map light rearview mirror
Electric windows
Electric mirrors

Aftermarket extractors
Gold Powerchip
Bilstein shocks on the rear
Strut brace

Here is the archive info from the VIN



Here are some photos I took the other when I went for an early morning drive







The paint is in immaculate condition and all the electrics are working well.

So over the past few weeks this is what I have done and this is what I plan to do,

I didn’t like the look of the white strut brace as nothing else on the car is white so I grabbed a spray can of matt black engine paint and gave the bar a few coats. It came up really well and I think it looks much better now.

Before


Painting


After


The kick panel under the dash was hanging loose up near the clutch pedal and a PO had attached it with a zip tie. The broken piece was the bit that slides into the bracket, so that was easily fixed with some super glue and then some clear drying wood glue sealed the crack shut and that was coloured in grey with a texta so that came up pretty well and is holding fine.





The fog lights front and rear weren’t working after checking the fuses with a multimeter and and checking the relay, I was about to check bulbs and wiring, when my Dad asked if I’d checked the connections in the switch. Turns out they were a bit dirty an were giving a rubbish connection so a quick clean with WD-40 and a scourer and both sets of foggy’s are working fine.



Now the things that I need to fix/add

A PO had somehow backed into something and cracked the rear impact strip, luckily there was no damage to the bumper itself. Managed to get a brand new replacement shipped out from pelican parts and that arrived the other day so that will go on as soon as I get a spare hour or so.

I picked up one of those GPS car trackers at Jaycar, which I will be installing ASAP, seems to be especially pertinent given the number of thefts that have gone up on the forums lately. $150 for the ability to track my car anywhere anytime makes sense to me.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=LA9011

The cigar lighter currently doesn’t work, which is a little annoying as I want to be able to use it to charge my phone in the car. Now this one is puzzling me and any help would be greatly appreciated. After studying the wiring diagrams and reading all the forums submissions I can, I know that the cigar lighter fuse also runs the heater blower and the antenna motor (both of which are working fine). I have full voltage across both sides of the fuse and the ground (G200 I believe) is working fine. So after taking the ashtray out and checking the voltage across the cigar lighter wiring I have no voltage at all. So unless someone can give me any other ideas it looks like I’ll have to rewire the cigar lighter which while not hard is a little bit of PITA.

During this investigation I also found a small lamp tucked under the ashtray which had blown but still had voltage across it. I can only assume this lamp is for illuminating the ashtray?? but I can’t seem to work out where it would sit to achieve this as there seems to be no place for it to go?? again help would be appreciated.



Other than that the car is running like a dream and the PO did a major service including brakes and belts 3 months ago and drove it 200ks before the sale to me. I am loving the car and can’t spend enough time reading and working on it. (why didn’t I listen to the warnings about e30 addiction!! )

More updates and photos to follow.

Lovely looking car.

I take it the heater blower still works ? if not it Might sound daft but just try changing the fuse rather than testing both sides of it. If nothing on that circuit works sometimes a new fuse is really all it needs.

Otherwise for the cigar lighter you might need to trace the wiring back under the dash to check there are no breaks - there is a big wiring block next to the bulkhead under the dash on the passenger side - you might find a previous owner has tapped into the wiring somewhere to wire in something else.

The bulb holder in your photo is indeed for illuminating the ashtray.

IIRC if you look in the ashtray holder which you have removed in the above pic you will see a hole at one end that bulb holder fits into.

Rob,

Thanks for the help. Will check the wiring next. Forgot to say, I did replace the fuse with a brand newy and still no dice.

Also thanks for the help with ashtray will have another look

Excellent find, she looks corking. Is it none sunroof too? Not that I would think that maters in Australia as much.

capri_rob wrote:Lovely looking car.


The bulb holder in your photo is indeed for illuminating the ashtray.

IIRC if you look in the ashtray holder which you have removed in the above pic you will see a hole at one end that bulb holder fits into.

I think that hole for the ashtray light is a long cylinder which house the whole light unit if I remember rightly.

This next bit is complete guess work.. If you know the circuit layout for the cigertte lighter, you could get a long lead for your multi meter and check continuity for both wires there. This will tell you quickly if there are any breaks in the wire. That would eliminate that from the equation faster. I would know what sort of readings you should be getting you'd have to look it up. As i said its just guess work...

Thanks for the help guys. I'm back with the car this week (been away on holidays) and will have another crack at some of this stuff I'll keep you posted.

Yeah no sunroof which from what I've seen is rareish and I like it.. We don't have as many rust issues down here as you guys it seems.

Nice to hear from you Sharpy, looks a really nice car.

So I spent all day yesterday working on the car.

Fitted my brand new rear impact strip that arrived from Pelican and it looks mint.

Also finally solved my cigar lighter issue, after taking out the the trim surrounding the glove box trim and the centre console I was able to trace the Cigar lighter wiring back into the loom and was able to ascertain at least the PO hadn't cut the power to install the aftermarket stereo or alarm but still couldn't ascertain why I had no power through the Cigar lighter wiring before or after the large white loom connector for the accessories and the steering column.

So after bringing up the wiki and analysing the accessory socket I found through a continuity test that my cigarette lighter had continuity with a wire plugged into plug U on the socket. Now this plug according to BMW is for the Heated seats and leads to fuse 16. I'm pretty sure no e30 in Australia was sold with heated seats for obvious reasons. So long story short the PO had for some reason rewired the cigar lighter onto its own fuse (fuse 16) and that was blown. Moral of the story if you are having any electrical issues CHECK ALL YOUR FUSES not just the one you think might have issues.

After putting her all back together she got another coat of wax

A small note of interest, my accessory socket is upside-down from the one on the wiki page (aside form the obvious ”˜other side of the world jokes’ ) and I can’t think why that would be. Not worried about it just thought it was an interesting point. Anyone else found this?

Thanks for all the help guys