E30 Zone

Hello all,

New fella here.

Picked this up a couple of months back. Had a 318i about 17 years ago and always fancied a 325i. I am loving the straight six already.

It's a 1988 E-reg. Isn't a sport but has a lot extras, leather interior etc. The front and rear bumpers look to be standard but fully colour coded, no black strips at all? Fairly certain the side skirts aren't standard! I picked up a set of MTech-1 skirts which may go on as I have managed to gouge a chunk out of the existing ones already, plus the gap by the door hinge annoys me.

Looking to change the wheels as are the 14" bbs and look tiny. Probably to something period, hartge, alpina etc. Will see what comes up, interested in any suggestions. Not sure whether to go for 15" or 16" (My 318i had 17" and was lowered to the deck, but it was the later 90s!!)

Plan to get the immobiliser key removed, filled and sprayed at some point, it is all stripped out.

One thing I have noticed is it stinks of raw fuel occasionally so will be checking the seals and pipes to the tank when I have a chance to get the back seats up.

Is also seriously thirsty! Be interested to know what kind of mpg most of you get?

Looks good...as for mpg...not much I am afraid...urban driving 15-18 main roads up to 30 if you stick at 70mph

Let's face it, no one has a 325i for the economy.

Welcome!

I remember seeing this for sale a while back.

The side skirts are not M technic 1, they are skirts made by Pfeiba for BMW and made up part of the very early BMW aero kit.

Sytner Nottingham who built the RHD E30 Alpina's often used them on Alpina C2 cars.

looks a nice e30

welcome to the zone

any more pics?

bss325i wrote:Welcome!

I remember seeing this for sale a while back.

The side skirts are not M technic 1, they are skirts made by Pfeiba for BMW and made up part of the very early BMW aero kit.

Sytner Nottingham who built the RHD E30 Alpina's often used them on Alpina C2 cars.

Autotrader in Essex?

Thanks for the info on the side skirts!

Some more photos . . .

Cloggy Saint wrote:Let's face it, no one has a 325i for the economy.

Maybe not, but 15 -18 MPG is too low. All country lanes where I live, so generally point and squirt driving, which gave me around 22 - 24 MPG with my red touring, rising considerably when I did get onto better roads.

My 325i Touring M20 with fast road cam and Ant custom chip, I can watch the fuel gauge go down as I drive!

Finally got round to doing some work on the car.

Worked out the fuel smell was coming from two split pipes so they got replaced, that probably didn't help the poor MPG figures. Also fitted a mild ECU chip. Nicely surprised by the difference that makes!

Got rid of the 14 inch BBS and stuck on a set of Ronal LS with Falken ze914 rubber. Love the wider look.

Replaced the stock suspension which had probably had its day with Bilstein B4 shocks and H&R 35mm springs aftger doing some research on here. Turned out to be a bit more challenging job that I thought. I hate ball joints!!!!

Very pleased with the overall look, a nice drop and got rid of the wheel arch gap without being too low.

The difference to the handling however was immense!!! Really really pleased.

Ready for the summer now.

Nice looking car. Are you south London based, i'm sure I recognise those roads?

Had the injectors rebuilt?

daboy3000 wrote:Nice looking car. Are you south London based, i'm sure I recognise those roads?

Cheers!

I'm North London mate, do you want a fight??!

Brianmoooore wrote:Had the injectors rebuilt?

I haven't yet no. Probably do need doing.

It coughs a bit when cold.

jonathanyeah wrote:

daboy3000 wrote:Nice looking car. Are you south London based, i'm sure I recognise those roads?

Cheers!

I'm North London mate, do you want a fight??!

LOL

Car looks great! Glad to hear the Mild chip works well for you.

Gavla wrote:Looks good...as for mpg...not much I am afraid...urban driving 15-18 main roads up to 30 if you stick at 70mph

I've owned a good few m20's and have never got 30mpg out of them, closer to 25 imo motorway driving.

Yes, they generally return around 25-26mpg average, however, if you drive gently or on a long cruise, 30 mpg is easily achievable if the engine is in a good state of tune.

Fitting a Mild chip or MAF can make quite a significant improvement.

Looks nice mate.
Looking to do the same suspension wise with mine, can you tell me where you got the springs from? (Completely new to the scene! )

Ade

bigade wrote:Looks nice mate.
Looking to do the same suspension wise with mine, can you tell me where you got the springs from? (Completely new to the scene! )

Ade

Thanks mate.

I actually got them off ebay. Was the cheapest place i found them.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-3-Series- ... SwY45UNtaK

Cheers mate, all ordered, see if I can sort it all this weekend

All fitted on mine as per yours.
Rides really nice and lovely through the twisty stuff as well.
I shared your ball joint pain!

Finally got round to fitting the iS lip I got from fellow member Moza15.

Don't think i am going to bother painting it right now, think it looks quite good in black. Might when I get round to replacing the side skirts.

Very tidy, looks really clean from the pics. Personally i prefer the is lips colour matched, especially when seeing how much of your car has been colour coded, but maybe thats just me. Why are you replacing the side skirts?

I may end up painting it at some point.

I just dont really like the side skirts. The joint in them by the door hinge annoys me. It looks like it has come appart and needs pushing back together. Nearly everyone who looks round the car points it out!

I have a set of M-tech 1 skirts that I might stick on if i get round to painting them.

Ideally i would like a set of SE skirts best i think.

I think i may have saw this on the A127 southend bound the other morning??

mattmk1 wrote:I think i may have saw this on the A127 southend bound the other morning??

Not me I'm afraid, must have been an imposter!

Cars looking good man!

You sure that was only a 35mm drop?

I've got H&R 60/40mm and its sitting nowhere near as low as yours lol I think my stretched tyres don't help though lol

Keep up the good work!

Cypriotgeeza wrote:Cars looking good man!

You sure that was only a 35mm drop?

I've got H&R 60/40mm and its sitting nowhere near as low as yours lol I think my stretched tyres don't help though lol

Keep up the good work!

Cheers mate!

Yeah they are only 35mm drop. It is actually sitting a little lower than in those photos now as springs have seemed to settle a bit.

Wouldn't want it any lower!

nice example, i little upgrades you doing. Injectors would be the next thing on my list to do.

keep the updates coming

Walked past my car last night in the street and noticed a very badly parked white Nissan far too close to the rear of my car for comfort. I made a note of the reg plate.

Walked past again this morning and the Nissan has gone but there are a load of scratches to the corner of my nice colour coded rear bumper and a load of white paint on it!!!! Unfortunately its a bit more than will t-cut out, scrapes down to the plastic etc.

Why didn't I move it out of harms way last night????!!!!!

Anyway, reported it to the rozzers, filled in a form etc. Will see if anything happens.