So I thought I post up a few pics with a bit of a spiel.
After going through several cheap E30's ( mainly tourings)just to cart the kids around, The time came for me to buy more of a "keeper".
I started looking before Christmas and I was after either a really early touring or a nice Chromie.
I was so close to buying the Black touring that Rob ended up with (number 001), however just couldn't agree on a price and time to get it as it was just before Christmas.
So I kept on looking, I had seen this on both Pistonheads and that auction site and it wasn't far form me, so I went to have a look.
It had a lot of good bits. Non rusty arches being its most enduring point, as well as black 2 door, non sunroof, Dogleg gearbox.
Bad bits included all the "Track Car bits", so I passed and kept on looking as it wasn't worth what the owner was after.
However the price dropped and I couldn't find anything else so I made a low offer, it was accepted and away I went to fetch it.
My intentions are just to use it as a regular reliable driver with a few updates when time and money allow.
This is what it looked like when it first arrived.
Firstly I removed all the Track items seats, fuel tank, and the bloody rollcage. I tried to be as non destructive as possible, however ended up hacking a little bit more than I had hoped. So out came the welder for the first time to clean up the damage.
Then I started on putting it back to the way it should be / the way I wanted it.
A replacement fuel tank was the first pressing issue.
This went really smoothly, this is when I fell into the trap of thinking I have this on the road next week.
HOW WRONG WAS I
Next came to put the fuel pump back into its original mountings, as this is a really early model it has the external pump. Unfortunately the previous owner when changing the pump mounting to the boot had just "snapped off" the original mounting points on the near side sill.
I tried BMW for a new mounting bracket ( which is welded to the sill) however its NLA, so unfortunately I had to resort to a bit of "boggery" and bent up a couple of bits of metal and tacked them onto the sill.( After removing the fuel tank again).
I will revisit this in the next couple of months as I intend to totally strip the rear end down, weld up all the "drilled holes",chase up any surface rust and install a new rear beam with the camber / castor tabs ( which has been sitting in my back shed for months now) and of course all new bushings.
NOT A LOT REALLY!
Then the car was sitting to low for my liking so I purchased a set of "Sport Springs" from the zone (Eternity thanks) and installed them.
Next the exterior. I'm not a big fan of the body kits so off came the rear Tech 1 bumper and of course the wheels.
Another purchase of 15"BBS from the zone sorted the wheels.
As for the Beautiful Exhaust, there’s not much to say on that, other than it had to be removed.
Again to the zone where a Scorpion rear section was procured. (Unfortunately its a DTM however it doesn't look to bad for the moment) along with a standard middle section. Then of course another problem arose when I tried to mate this up to the front section which I found to be a smaller diameter. So once again scouring the zone a manifold and front down pipes were found (Simon13) and fitted up. What I have now is so much nicer car to drive.
Interior
Adit supplied most of the major items, then along with selling most of the track bits along with some swaps I have most of the bits I need now.
This together with my £100 Ebay seats (sorry kept these quiet as they were advertised really badly) with the help of a much appreciated donation of some runners from Ryan0143 its starting to look, sound and drive like it should.
So on the weekend I managed to give it a bit of a scrub and now it looks like this.
Things still to do.
Bits that I still need urgently are back seat and door cards.
Then crawling around underneath and replacing all the interior inevitably showed up some rust spots, though nothing I found I would call bad, especially in the dreaded areas. So I intend to get the welded out again and sort it out in the summer.
Then I have the great big wish list.
I much prefer the springs that I have on the car now compared to what was on the car originally, however I would like it a little bit lower especially with the high rear arches. So in all likely hood I will buy a set of 35mm Eibach Springs to go with the B6 inserts just purchased (Demlot)
Proper Airbox
Engine???? Maybe 24v( Can you mate the dogleg up to M5x Engine)
Wheels 16", I don't really like wheels with centre caps, I don't know why I just don't.
I had Hartges on several previous E30 and they are a really nice wheel, however I don't think I will get another set.
TH Mono's I do like, though I don't think they will suit the "Chromie"
If they did MIM's in 16", that would be perfect.
LM REPS?
Still undecided so I will keep looking.
Still not sold on the Alpina Front Splitter as well. It looks OK, except nothing else on the car is Alpina. so maybe a Jimmy Hill would suit it more?
Mtech 1 rear spoiler
E36 Rack ( Also sitting in the shed along with the steering shaft from Dan and power steering pump, just need the E34 UJ's to complete) Its currently Manual Rack.
Tech 1 Wheel (hanging in the garage)
Decent Strut brace
M3 Clocks ( purchased form BeardyMatt ages ago, still sitting on a shelf)
Aircon ( Sitting in a box in the loft)
Stereo ( Something else thats in a box in garage) which I have a bit of a dilemma over. There is no hole in the rear arch for an aerial?
so do I drill the rear arch and put in a standard aerial or do I get a bit "brave" and go for the M3 / touring style aerial in the roof. I prefer the roof
aerial however the whole idea of drilling a perfectly good original roof is putting me off.
That’s it for now I will post further Pics etc when work progresses.
