E30 Zone

Hi, from Ireland and I'm an active member on our Irish forum, e30owners. I made the trip over to ye a few weeks ago and picked up a chromie off the lads at BMpartscentre....just said I'd let ye know the progress with it and try keep ye updated...comments welcome and I'm always looking for bits and pieces, and have already dealt with some of ye so here it is (copied from build thread on our forum so hope it works)

I was debating on weather to but this here or in members e30's but I figured I have plans for it, some parts to fit and a general clean up so said I'd put it here

So I made the trip the England last Saturday and drove it home...it's a fairly original 1983 320i non sunroof 2 door...everything seems to be working so far (even the electric aerial ). It was a really well looked after car, got everything it needed over the years with a big folder of mots and receipts from new with all service history up till 3 years ago and it's been sore off the road since then... Just over 95500 miles on it when I got it and all I did was put petrol in and a drop of oil and it made the trip from Birmingham to cork with no problems and been driving it since then

It has a few small bits of rust but for an e30 it's pretty mint I have to say...and it's also 31 years old...crack free dash, pop out side windows, all the chrome seems mint even the bumpers and still has the original "run in" sticker on the window

Have vrt Thursday and have a good few things to tidy up and add to it over the next few months but hope to have it fairly mint for the summer

Washed it earlier and went to take pictures but my battery went dead so only have these 3 for now...will get a few more during the week or weekend







And that reg would be sweet with a m30 in it...pity I can't keep it [/list]

So here are some pictures of the interior that came in it...Havana brown I thinks it's called...it's mint other then a hole on the drivers seat base which could be repaired (id say it would be easy to repair as its on a joining so wouldnt be noticeable) or swap with another good base

It is out of the car now and will be for sale (have better pictures if anyone wants them)









Have new interior in, irish plates on and a few small bits changed for better ones I had and cleaned up...I must give it a Hoover in the morning and a clean as I have a local vintage run tomorrow so ill take pictures of its update...I'm happy enough with it now...must put it through the test and then the serious work begins :p

So it made its first vintage run today...they do one every paddys day here and all the money goes to charity

what has be done to it in the past few days, seats and door cards changed to my houndstooth ones , changed the gear gaitor as it was torn, fitted a tec 1 steering wheel I had, gave it a good clean inside and out, vrt'd it and fitted new plates







And interior pictures...can anyone guess what it's out of??? ;)








Not a mark on the seats, very well keeped

And the rear bench



I'm happy the way it's turned out...still lots of work to do but it's getting there

So that's where it is now...I'm happy with it for now but I'm getting sick of the 2ltr already so that will have to go...il keep ye updated

Welcome to the zone. The 'yoke' looks mighty ! What are the engine plans ?
Am I right in saying because of its age you do not have to pay the normally prohibitive road tax ? Are the import duty / taxes cheaper on a 'classic' ?

Nice seats a‘a

pacerpete wrote:Welcome to the zone. The 'yoke' looks mighty ! What are the engine plans ?
Am I right in saying because of its age you do not have to pay the normally prohibitive road tax ? Are the import duty / taxes cheaper on a 'classic' ?

Classic over here is cars over 20 years old and there is no really difference with them but vintage is over 30 years old and have cheap vrt and tax...the vrt is a flat rate of 200 euro and tax is 56 euro for the year....can't go wrong with that


Ya I love the interior, was saving it for my 84 but it suits this better

I suppose if you HAVE to remove early check that fresh interior is acceptable!

Nice car

lovely houdstooth, is that an m3 rear bench ? or cabby ?

houndstooth is definatly king , looking forward to seeing this progress, all the fittings for tech 1 kits are available from bmw dont cost much, this will look like a cool car

That's a m3 rear bench. Don't fit a tech 1 kit. Looks better without.

Look forward to the updates, cool car

How much for the original interior by the way?

Ya I'm delighted with the interior and how it suits the car...ya it's m3 rear bench and the front and back seats are perfect

Ya I ordered the fitting for the skirts already from main dealer and new chrome trim for the front and rear window rubbers

Ya I'm fitting the kit because I want to myself...everyone has there own opinions

I put it up for sale on our own fourm for 150ono but open to offers...it's mint bar the drivers seat base has a small hole


Thanks lads for the comments...il try keep updated with progress

Was great having you down Derry

This is going to be a nice car once finished, base is 95% solid!

Nice interior Really suits the car

Looks good!



I'd go with tech one front bumper & e28 spoiler.


A guy local to me has done it.

bmw-mad wrote:Was great having you down Derry

This is going to be a nice car once finished, base is 95% solid!

Nice interior Really suits the car

Thanks lads, ya happy I made the trip and might be over again sometime



Ya I was going to go that way with my 84 ,tec 1 front bumper and tec 1 spoiler or else a jimmy hill front splitter i have and a tec 1 spoiler but I don't know yet...just going to concentrate on this one first

So haven't been on here in a while and didn't to much to the chromie lately with work and getting my drift car ready but I was off work this week so got a few things done one of the days

I have the tec 1 kit but I know if I go doing that it will turn into another project and I want to enough it for the summer so this will do for now

At the end of the summer il take it off the road and restore it properly

So this is what I did so far....a dash of bc's, a pinch of mims and a sprinkle of a front lip and tec 1 spoiler!! I'm happy the way it looks...for now :p I must adjust the shocks in the next few days...lower the back a tiny bit...not too much as I like the nose down look

So here are a couple of pictures as she sits now...will try and get a few nice shots during these summer evenings











What do ye think?

Getting my sport engine and LSD next week so should hopefully have that cleaned up and in within the next month for the summer spins

Liking the MIMs. It must be a very early car, as there are no side repeaters in the front wings.

Any idea on the build date?

I don't know actually, must look that up!

Nice wheel choice, this should look good all tech1'd...

Looks good , colour of the mims is breaks it up nicely
Tech 1 kit ftw

What's the last seven digits of the vin and I will look it up

Speedtouch wrote:Liking the MIMs. It must be a very early car, as there are no side repeaters in the front wings.

Any idea on the build date?

1.7.1983

Quite early, then.

Awesome car!