E30 Zone

I've had quite a couple of BMW's over the past 10 years, including two e30's. I diddnt really knew what I was doing (Frankly, I still dont lol), but I did manage to take apart an ETA motor completely and rebuild it with 206hp and 288nm, so I must have done something right But that rebuild really got me hooked on the light E30's and loads of torque (Coming from a very rev-happy 145hp Peugeot 106 GTi). I actually spun out when test driving the first E30 I had, because I had never driven a rwd car before, and I diddnt expect anything to happen at 3000rpm with my foot down! Anyway I learned a lot from doing that build, but short after the engine was done, I was forced to sell it. Owned a Golf GTD for a while and then godt back to another E30 with an ETA motor. But this one was also pretty rusted. And after owning this one, I got a bit scared of their age and rust problems, because i cant repair rust at all myself.

Anyway I've been missing my first 206hp E30 from the day i sold it, and always wanted to get something like that again. But then life takes turns you never though would have happened, so it's taken me 10 years to finally get the car I've missed soo much.

This time i went all in, and wanted the looks to pair up with the power under the bonnet. And I have always been a fan of the M-Tech II's, so I wasnt in doubt that if I got another E30, it should be an M-Tech.
I then found this car en Germany, and a good friend of mine is picking up German cars on a regular basis and importing them to Denmark. So he helped me get in contact with the seller, and we got an appointment with him. Too bad for us, we picked the last Sunday in the Germans summer vacation, so the traffic was horrible, and we diddnt get there till late in the evening. (We drove for 12 hours to get down there!)
So it was dark and rainy when we arrived, really not the best weather to buy a car in. Overall I though the car was looking nice, and we also got the price down so I decided to take home.
The drive home was even worse than the trip down there

We got the car home to me, and I started poking around a bit. And yesterday was my first and most likely the only day I get to ride the car this year. More flaws and error popped up, but it was still a blast to drive The engine paired with that diff and the light weight of the E30, really makes some killer accelerations. Especially in third gear, it just rips through the revs like a mad man.

The engine is a M52b28 with M50 intake, and some custom exhaust. Should be good for about 205-210hp. This is drives the ZF gearbox and 3.15 diff.

Anyway, I better get on to what you all are here for, the pictures




















In my driveway:



I totally forgot to take some engine bay shorts, I will add the later together with a list of things that needs fixing. And that list is getting way longer that I had hoped for already!

Also another local E30 owner dropped by yesterday, because he had seen my E30 in the driveway. Never meet the lad before, but I think it's nice that people just drop by like that, to share their passion for these old cars. He also wanted to buy my wheels, which is something I've considered to get rid of anyway.

But let me know what you guys think of the car

Ohh and i should say that these are my "before" pictures. I have done very little to the car, other than putting on the wheels it came with. I have quite the list of things that I want to change...

Lovely looking car you have there. What wheels are you running?

Thank you

Those are Lenzo BSX Gold.

4 door are great It would look better with the original wing mirrors in my opinion! Lovely car!!

Thanks JF008, I like 4 doors as well.
Standard mirrors are on my to-do list! I will post the the full list of things that needs to be fixed/changed and engine bay photos later on.

Shots of the heart of the car:






And here is my to-do list. I hope I've translated it all correctly, or that i at least made it understandable for you guys

Interior:
- A new cabin. I really dont like the colors of the one I have now, and it's condition inst the best either.
- A small hole in the dash.
- Fuel and temperature gauges only works about half way up???
- The shelfe behind the back seats and the rear window (What do you call the in English???), needs to be replaced with an oem shelf.
- New gear knob.
- The shield over the pedals needs to be re-fitted.
- Remove the last of the stereo and cables the previous owner installed.
- Find an oem looking head unit.
- Get all the check lights tuned off.
- There is a small dent on the sunroof on the inside.


Exterior:
- New antenna
- Rust on the doors.
- Check for rust everywhere...
- Fix rear fog light.
- Change the side mirrors to oem.
- Cap needed at the wiper.
- Exhaust is not centered.
- Hood need to be re-fitted.
- One of the front end fog lights have a broken glass.
- A new set of wheels.
- Front spoiler dont attach properly.


Engine:
- Chain sounds like it might be a bit lose.
- Find out where a strange rattle noise at 2000-2300 RPM is coming from.
- The went out on me a couple of times when pressing the clutch.
- New radiator with reservoir.
- Electric fan.
- There is a small oil leak somewhere.
- Upgrade the brakes.
- Cleaning up the engine bay.


A long list already at this point!
In the future I might want to build a new engine for it, thinking about stroking it with the M54b30 crank, but we will see in time.

But first of all I need to take the car to customs so the can value it, and decide how much tax i have to pay before I can get plates for the car. I hope it's not too much, and that I can afford to pay the tax at spring. We will see


All comments are welcome, and tips to fix things on the to-do list very much as well

Ansen Sprint would look good on a black e30, they look good on anything really! Food for thought when you shop for new wheels?

Hmm not sure those are what I'm looking for. I've been thinking about 17" Alpina replica's, as i wont be able to afford genuine ones. I THINK i want to go in that direction instead of the 9x16 style...

The car passed the Danish version of MOT today I did not expect it to pass, so it was a pleasant surprise from the old lady.
Now I just have to wait and see how much I have to pay in tax for importing the car. My guess is about 1600 Euro, but you never know when it's about taxes in this country
Sad thing is that I probably wont drive the car again, until next spring So today was my last ride in it for about 6 months...
Caught this rainbow on the way home...

Nice looking car that, great country too!

V.nice looker

Thanks Guys, appreciate it.
Denmark is a nice little country, if only we had a couple of mountains and lower taxes/less strict rules on cars, it would all be perfect here

You have some quality bridges though! Last year i went accross some stunners!

lol, yeah. Two of the things the rest of the world knows us by is bridges and bacon