As a young teenager my best friends dad used to own a 2002tii which he raced in the BMW Car Club Championships, every other week throughout the summer the 3 of us would cram the gear into the 02 and drive it to the circuits, he would race the nuts of this car and then we would pack it up and drive all the way home. His daily drive was a 635csi and ever since those days I have always known I wanted a BMW.
Back when I was 18 (1991) I was lucky enough to own a 2dr tech 1 sport, all my friends were driving around in escorts, minis and fiestas and I really felt a little bit special when cruising the streets in the BM, pumping out Jazzy Jeff and fresh prince and Vanilla ICE as loud as my Alpine and Bazooka tubes could go.
Growing up and in my mid 20’s circumstances unfortunately led me to part company with the sport, a house purchase and new wife decided that new carpets throughout would be a better investment, I hear a cry coming from most of you but there is a silver lining to that story................she is now my ex wife!!!!!!!
Since then I have always promised myself another E30 but really wanted a cab. A divorce settlement and new house has meant that this never amounted to anything but a dream, but in 2009 I was told about the E30zone website. Reading hundreds of postings and gaining knowledge of what to look for on a 20 year old car I finally started to trawl the for sale sections, free ads and the ebay. I looked at a few locally but never found anything I was happy to take on as a project or it was just too much money to start with.
Finally in January this year I stumbled across this brilliant red 325i chromie cab which had a very good informative advert, the owner was very helpful and sounded genuine and the price was right.
A week later I drove 250 miles to pick her up, arriving on the Saturday morning it was chucking it down and the guy didn’t have a garage so it was difficult to view in great detail. Out I went on a test drive, the owner said it’s quite low and take it steady on the pot holed farm track leading to the main road, well he wasn’t wrong the Scorpion exhaust kissed the ground within 20 seconds, not to worry I knew from the advert and pictures that it had been lowered to within an inch of its life.
The lowered springs, Scorpion exhaust and aftermarket steering wheel didn’t put me off, I knew they would all come off and be replaced with original parts, the previous owner had owned the car for 10 years which I thought was a good sign, in this time the mileage had risen in line with it being a daily drive. The folder full of receipts spanning nearly 20 years and adding up to thousands of pounds made me to feel it had been well looked after albeit let down with a few non standard items, each to their own taste.
The deal was done and off to the garage I headed to fill her up to start the 250 mile trip back to Bristol, 100 miles in and I stopped at the services where I parked over a small puddle, getting out I noticed an oily slick on top the water and could smell petrol, could it be from my new cab, surely not. Watching the petrol gauge on the way back and all seemed fine, I did the 250 miles in less than ¾’s of a tank which I thought wasn’t too bad for an old 2.5 straight 6.
Several days later I put together a plan of attack which would see me get everything completed by the end of May ready for the BBQ summer we were all promised.
My list of jobs were plenty, some were deemed a necessity and others a nice too have:
Replace the fuel tank, change the Scorpion exhaust for original, change the cotton filter for an airbox, new water pump, new cambelt, replace low ass springs, locate ABS fault, dye the carpet, clean and feed the leather, replace the driver’s door wiring loom, rip out the Clifford alarm and replace, refurbish the BBS alloys and add new 205/55/15’s, replace the rear chrome bumper, replace hacked engine loom etc etc.
The problem I had was starting one job and it leading to another, for example I only intended swapping the lowering springs with -15mm mtec versions, whilst replacing these I thought that perhaps the ARB bushes could do with changing and possibly the droplinks, well this quickly led to a complete front and rear overhaul, new bilstiens, new rubber bushes, new droplinks, new disks, this all looked very nice underneath but was let down by grubby inner arches, so out with the jet wash and scrubbed all the old sealer to be replaced with fresh new.
I think I must have OCD as I’ve spent what feels like weeks removing and painting parts, under sealing arches and wire brushing nuts and bolts, most of which will never be seen, however if you’re unfortunate enough to be run over by me at least you’ll have a nice view of all the fresh paint and parts!
Whilst replacing the scorpion exhaust I noticed that one of the front manifold to head studs had snapped, it didn’t appear to be blowing but it was head off time to be drilled out, new gasket set, water pump, cambelt and tensioner were then fitted with the rebuild.
The car did have a Clifford alarm fitted but it appears to have shorted part of the engine loom and the thick rubber sleeve had been cut to repair some of the wiring, so this as ripped out and replaced with a known good example.
I’ve added a few things which in my opinion make the car better, a 6 button OBC, a toad alarm and new Alpine head unit and speakers.
The list of things goes on but I feel most were down to me wanting a perfect working example and not bodging something in record time getting it back on the road.
I must say that the last 4 months have flown by and every spare weekend and minute after work I have been out doing something on the car, I saw more of my neighbours comings and goings than anything else, working on the car with my dad has been a pleasure and bought us closer together, he still shouts at me and calls me woodenhead as if I am still 12 years old, but now he says that, looks again and quietly agrees that I was correct and changes his mind, he never apologises though but I’m happy we’ve done this together.
Finally last week out came the clay bar, Silverline polisher and Menzerna, 3 days of claying, washing, cutting, polishing and waxing have transformed the paintwork so much that people are saying it looks brand new, well it would if the odd parking dent were to be removed, this is something for the dent magic people to look at in the future, it is 20 years old and the odd blemish is to be expected.
I’d like to thank each and every one of the zoners who have helped me out with technical expertise and those who have provided parts, especially Trev (B7) for the tank and ABS sensors etc and Adi for what feels like an entire car sent through the post.
You don’t see many chrome cabs on the roads and I’m proud that I turned this one back to original, if you’ve managed to continue reading to this point I’ll let the pics do the talking....................
OH BLOODY HELL WHERE DID THAT SUN GO???????????????????????
This is what it looked like back in January.
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One of the horrors....................................
[/img]What a difference a little dye can bring.................
[/img]And finally what I've got now...................................
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Leave it as is and dont touch a thing....
