E30 Zone

Hello fellow zoners,

I'm a new user and have just purchased a 1989 e30 325i sport. Needs some work to tidy it up but I'm soo looking forward to it. Having had an e30 318is some 25yrs ago, an e30 325 has always been desired - have owned e36 & e46 M3's more recently. The engine seems to be ok having driven it back from Dublin to London, will get a full services done and flush all the oils etc as it had been sitting around for a few years. I'm hoping you guy's could help me out:

* Seems to be sitting a bit low on the rear, must be lowered, personally I would like it to sit right and was thinking of getting hold of some original rear springs, any suggestions.
* The internal on-board computer (next to stereo) display is not lighting up
* Are there any mechanics recommended in the Heathrow/ Slough area to conduct a full service and replace brakes etc
* Car shakes above 60mph, suspecting this to be due to the after market alloys and the possible need for wheel alignment

It will be going into the bodyshop to get the rust spots sorted this week and then I'll put it through a MOT. Look forward to having discussions on the forum and all your help javascript:emoticon(':)')



[img]http://i.imgur.com/NINqnS9.jpg[/img

Welcome a‘aaaa

Wow, looks really nice!

Enjoy.

John

Jigga143 wrote:Hello fellow zoners,

I'm a new user and have just purchased a 1989 e30 325i sport. Needs some work to tidy it up but I'm soo looking forward to it. Having had an e30 318is some 25yrs ago, an e30 325 has always been desired - have owned e36 & e46 M3's more recently. The engine seems to be ok having driven it back from Dublin to London, will get a full services done and flush all the oils etc as it had been sitting around for a few years. I'm hoping you guy's could help me out:

* Seems to be sitting a bit low on the rear, must be lowered, personally I would like it to sit right and was thinking of getting hold of some original rear springs, any suggestions.
* The internal on-board computer (next to stereo) display is not lighting up
* Are there any mechanics recommended in the Heathrow/ Slough area to conduct a full service and replace brakes etc
* Car shakes above 60mph, suspecting this to be due to the after market alloys and the possible need for wheel alignment

It will be going into the bodyshop to get the rust spots sorted this week and then I'll put it through a MOT. Look forward to having discussions on the forum and all your help javascript:emoticon(':)')



[img]http://i.imgur.com/NINqnS9.jpg[/img

In terms of your rust work, get it done properly, no MOT patching. This can be expensive but is worth it if you plan to keep the car. MOT patching is a costly, short term solution and all the brown metal underneath the patches keep spreading and you can't see it.

looking forward to the rust / gape pics !

Was waiting for that comment pete^ car looks nice though, but ditch the wheels best decision i made

Thanks guys for the comments, I defo plan to have the rust taken out properly, there's not a lot to be fair - rear near side wheel arch, rear quarter under the window and a small bubble around the sunroof (pics below), sills are fine. Must of had a full respray in the past in my opinion.

Does anyone know where I can get the on-board computer light strip from?

The rust near the sunroof should be your biggest concern

PM bss325i for all your servicing needs and to give the car a thorough going over. He can probably sort you out some standard springs as well.

The bulbs have probably failed on the OBC, a simple fix if you've got a soldering iron - http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... aulty_Bulb

As for the wheel wobble, afraid to say you've got possibly the poorest made wheels known to man (and very very heavy), notorious for cracks, especially around the stud holes. A wheel balance may help, but I'd guess that there's no spigot rings fitted which can mean the wheel isn't sitting correctly on the hub..

Very few nice Sports come from Ireland , which is not really suprising as we didn't send them many nice ones ..........

pacerpete wrote:Very few nice Sports come from Ireland , which is not really suprising as we didn't send them many nice ones ..........

bab-91 wrote:

pacerpete wrote:Very few nice Sports come from Ireland , which is not really suprising as we didn't send them many nice ones ..........

Kedge wrote:PM bss325i for all your servicing needs and to give the car a thorough going over. He can probably sort you out some standard springs as well.

The bulbs have probably failed on the OBC, a simple fix if you've got a soldering iron - http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... aulty_Bulb

As for the wheel wobble, afraid to say you've got possibly the poorest made wheels known to man (and very very heavy), notorious for cracks, especially around the stud holes. A wheel balance may help, but I'd guess that there's no spigot rings fitted which can mean the wheel isn't sitting correctly on the hub..

Thanks soo much Kedge for the advise, I'll PM bss325i now. I do like the looks of the Alpina's however after a 300+ mile journey back, I have to agree they are very poor replicas and will have to defo consider replacing them, sitting on 40 profile all round doesn't help with the ride

Lovely !!

pacerpete wrote:Very few nice Sports come from Ireland , which is not really suprising as we didn't send them many nice ones ..........

Might surprise you what's over this side of the pond, and a few that are not active on forums.

I know there are some nice cars there , BUT most 325 Sports in Ireland are ex UK cars. Many of them being clocked / rotten/ crashed or a nice combination of the three before they left That and the careful use most were subjected to once in Ireland , means the chance of a nice one getting out alive are VERY slim

Nice looking car, but not meaning to be the barer of bad news, make sure you get it properly checked over for rust.

My experience would suggest that if the rear arch lips have gone like that, there may be more or worse under the bodykit and in the nooks and crannies.

Just have a good poke around as the sealer on these cars hides all sorts of horrors.

Good luck with it!

pacerpete wrote:I know there are some nice cars there , BUT most 325 Sports in Ireland are ex UK cars. Many of them being clocked / rotten/ crashed or a nice combination of the three before they left That and the careful use most were subjected to once in Ireland , means the chance of a nice one getting out alive are VERY slim

From a guy living in Ireland....I CONCUR !!!!!!!

Got a fresh MOT over the weekend with no probs (apart from a wear on one tyre)

Got the OBC display working thanks to the advice from Kedge, not the cleanest of soldering but it works nevertheless





Smoked indicator lenses and Black kidney grill added

Hey, I'm from Ireland!, ....well up North.
I bought a 325i sport about 4 years ago at a nice price compared to prices now. Didn't do HPI check at the time, but a few days after I checked out of curiosity and sure enough a Hit! Grrrr

So diffed the sh** out out for 2 weeks then pulled apart before I got into trouble. To my surprise the shell was solid apart from a previous shabby job on a drivers side impact (It was wax-oiled well). I was annoyed about the hit on the tax book even though the shell was solid so I went looking for a clean shell and boy that didn't go well. It seems when you ask an Irish man "Is it in good nic?" the automatic response is "yeah, deadly" event though you can put your foot through the floor!

So I realised that my shell was excellent accept for the drivers sill so decided to just mend as professionally as possible.

The car lay in my Garage for 4 years in shell as I didn't have the time. I was content I had snapped up a 325i Sport up at a decant price.

I plucked up the courage a few months back to get this project moving. I have the outer sill welded in and soon to weld the inner. Will post some pics soon.

I know my shell inst perfect but from some of the "shells" I have seem in this island, i think mine is not bad. Am I one of the lucky ones?