E30 Zone

After weeks of idly keeping an eye out for another touring, suddenly it became urgent. Our 540 touring was a twisted write off and the cash was available (amazing!). So, here we are folks. £650 of ebay's finest brought to you courtesy of Virgin trains and returned from Paignton in darkest Devon to its new home in Yorkshire without missing a beat.

I'm chuffed!

Its a white 325i Touring - my second 325 and third white touring in a row


From the Front


Wow, not bad!


There really is no excuse for that gearstick - luckily the original was in the door pocket and is going back on!


Is that rust on the tailgate?!!!!


Underneath the arches....


Really not too shabby...needs some tidying of course.



and this really isn't great - home stained rooflining. At least it isn't sagging.


Frankly, I'm chuffed to bits that I've got a shell that looks like its worth investing in. I've yet to get it up on a ramp, but that should happen this week. Then I'll have an idea of what needs replacement.

looks a cracking shell, nice steering wheel

looks like a good solid FUCR

any plans for it

Plans at the moment are to get it through the MOT!
Then I'll be looking at working my way through it. I like BBS, but those tyres are very new and seem to behave well so I'll probably wait until they're worn. In the meantime, the rear shock mounts and probably dampers need changing. There's some interesting squeaks from the front and all the pedals are quite heavy. I'm sure it needs disks and pads as well so I'll be attacking the basics.
Eventually I want a six branch and Megasquirt with a WB02 sensor to keep it smooth and frugal, with a bit more poke. Right now its running very well with a good idle (hot and cold) and pulls hard. The exhaust is a bit vocal, but I'm liking it

Nice bit of kit; very clean bodywork - seems like a good price. Mind me asking the mileage out of curiosity?

Painton what a sh1t hole

Just round the corner from me (Torquay), well about 5 miles...

Where in Painton was it then Morat?

OBs

Looks spot on by the way, good find

Ah yeah, mileage - 124k with all the MOTs back to the first one. No other history. I would be lying if I said I could prove it hasn't ever been clocked, but if it has been clocked it can't have been more than a year's worth after 1993. It certainly goes better than my E reg that was showing 88k

It was sold by a guy who rents half a yard behind a garage behind a pub. And he lost the keys. I don't think I'm going to name him He'd never heard of the zone and I don't think he knew that there are people who look out for these cars or he'd have asked for more!

Morat wrote:It was sold by a guy who rents half a yard behind a garage behind a pub. And he lost the keys. I don't think I'm going to name him He'd never heard of the zone and I don't think he knew that there are people who look out for these cars or he'd have asked for more!

Opposite the sea front by any chance?

Looks good dude

The verdict is in from my friendly ex race mechanic. It needs:
Rear subframe bushes
New front disks/pads
One rear shock
One front ARB link
Front left caliper squeaks - best to strip em both properly
Rear shock mounts "While you're at it"

Bearing in mind he's a total perfectionist, thats really not bad

It has recently had new:
Fuel tank
AFM
Radiator
Brake lines
Fuel lines
Exhaust
Tyres (4xVredestein)
Rear Springs (black, unnamed - probably GSF)
Battery (definitely GSF)
Front Shocks


I reckon the BMW dealer who took this as trade-in can't have known that they still sell. It might be worth sniffing around the dealers if you're looking...

Morat wrote:He'd never heard of the zone and I don't think he knew that there are people who look out for these cars or he'd have asked for more!

That's the exact feeling I got when I went up to get my iS. Looks like a tidy shell, just round the corner (and down the road a few miles) from me!

Looks great morat - a really good find. Has it got sports trim inside or the standard comfort stuff ?

I would put some 15" BBS on it and then just driiiiiiiiiiiive...........

That looks a good and tidy car there, not much of a to-do list for an ebay special

Well done Morat, think white really suits a touring. Shall be watching your posts on this as i sort of named it for you.Looks well tidy.

what`s a wb02 sensor ?

Wide Band O2 (oxygen)

Its a lambda sensor but it can see a much wider range of rich and lean than the factroy one's so its better for management systems like Megasquirt that need setting up from nothing, the mixture could easyly go out of the range that a factory O2 sensor can measure.

Strip it and track it.


Nice find btw.

Looks like a nice, solid Touring. Vredesteins are superb tyres for the price (especially Sportrac 3's).

Painton what a sh1t hole

Could of been worse... could of been somewhere like Barton!! looking good though mate, really do need to get rid of the bottletops!

mine hasn't got a lambda sensor or a cat

Looks like a good find

I just visited the car down at the garage... it looked a bit confused sitting in the air with its wheels off and suspension hanging down! Still the reason for the visit was delivering the Eibach ARB kit to go with the Eibach spring kit, Rogue Engineering top mounts and Bilstein dampers that are being fitted. Hoorah for the Zone Shop (sorry, evolve) and hopefully it will all be back together with all the bits on the earlier list sorted out and a fresh new MOT by the weekend!

Can't wait

Oh, I've got an appointment on Saturday to see a nice chap about some BBS. So I hope I'll be going by E30!



edit: Caprirob - I have swapped over the comfort seats it came with for a set of front Sports that I bought from Jimerilo last year. Luckily they are the same cloth so it looks factory

Another thing, I got the V5 yesterday and it shows 8 owners, but the one before me had it for 6 years. I guess that explains why its had most things sorted when they were due....

Back from the Marathon at the garage!
As well as the shiny suspension it now has:
New front calipers, New rear rose joints (they have rose joints?), front disks, pads and fluid, cambelt, waterpump and a full service including coolant and diff oil changes.
It doesn't really look any lower than it was before, I guess its still has to settle - but it does feel much more solid and planted than it did.

Parts waiting to go on:
HID kit (£45 from ebay delivered!)
LED illumination bar for the OBC
Stereo wiring
The beautiful set of 15" BBS I bought from hubble, once I get tyres and the bottletops have shown me if I need any tracking/eccentric bushes.
The standard gearknob - can't get the horrible aftermarket item off!

Exciting times

Now with the suspension fitted, and the BBS. Those tyres are Dunlop SP9000 which cost me £71 a corner all in for Z rated tyres. Chuffed
I don't think it is much lower at the rear, but its as low as I want so that's not a problem. It really is taught now, without being crashy. (right click/view image for firefox users)

Now it needs a really good polishing session!



edit: 2013!!! That hosting died years ago.....

Very nice indeed that car has got bags of potential! good work morat

she looks the part mate! a massive improvment now she has been slammed!

Cheers Guys, really appreciate the positive comments.
Quick shot of results from the first proper polishing session. I used Meguiars 3 step and clay which I'm still using until I can finish it off and justify some Zaino I just did the paint, I'll sort out the plastics another time - it was showery so after I'd clayed the car I was polishing and waxing a panel at a time between light rain. When the sun was bright it was really popping out at me, but I took that shot quite late on and there's already some rain sitting on the roof.

end of an era this one,sadly it's time to recycle it as the tin worm has taken hold .

i used it this morning to get the family supplies . it drives very well and handles even better





pleasure to meet you and your family Miles .

I purchased a 318i from Foxhole in Paignton a couple of years ago! Lovely housing estate.
Yours is looking good

magpie wrote: i used it this morning to get the family supplies

A sports seat? Strange eating habits you NE lot have

DanThe wrote:

magpie wrote: i used it this morning to get the family supplies

A sports seat? Strange eating habits you NE lot have

first car i've ever bought that came with x3 sports seats

Ahh - glad you enjoyed the trip back. A pleasure to meet you too - and a real shame I met you for the first time as I'm leaving E30s!

Anyway, lets hope the parts live on and I look forward to the autopsy
Oh, you left the new keeper's slip, I'll post it on.
Cheers

Morat wrote:Ahh - glad you enjoyed the trip back. A pleasure to meet you too - and a real shame I met you for the first time as I'm leaving E30s!

Anyway, lets hope the parts live on and I look forward to the autopsy
Oh, you left the new keeper's slip, I'll post it on.
Cheers

Ah bugger! you bow out, just as I bow back in!

Mick, make sure he gets a couple of tickets;)