My 1989 e30 touring project

[1990e30cal]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and have just recently bought myself this 1989 e30 touring . Ive just gone 19 and I'm a HGV mechanic by trade. Ive always wanted an e30 but thought with the rising prices of these cars i would end up never being able to get one.. not till I was much older anyways but here I am! She's quite clean and tidy for the age and with only a few age related dents/scuffs/marks around the bodywork etc. The front and rear valance (correct me if wrong) are the only major bad parts as of yet, the front valance has been dented in the middle and the rear has been hit with something and put a massive dent into the corner of it What would be best to do? Can you get new front and rear valances? any links would be appreciated and any advice please do comment or any questions please ask cheers, Cal

[Brianmoooore]

Welcome to the zone! Very similar looking E30 to the one I ran for over a dozen years, until it met its end about twenty miles from where it was born, at the hands of a flying porker, although mine was a 325i, and I can see yours is a four pot.
The rear valance is available as part of the complete rear panel, but your dent is on part of the rear right side panel, and I think that looks repairable as it is, with the aid of a carefully wielded hydraulic body jack. This area of the car has a textured paint finish, so the work doesn't have to be absolutely perfect.
The front panel is very thin in that area, and again, that should be repairable. You should be able to just about sort that by hand.
Before getting stuck in though, do a serious rust hunt. There will be some, although one common area, around the rear tow hook, looks good in your pic.

[1990e30cal]

Thanks for the reply and advice! Hopefully I'll be able to get all that sorted. My next plan is to get it up on the ramp and have a real good root and poke around checking for rust, I may even pull all carpet and seats out to check the floor pans for rust too. I've removed the rear boot reg plastic panel and there isn't any rot on the bottom of the boot lid just a tiny bit of surface rust which I'm happy about. The sunroof is fully working and having a quick look can't see any rust either but I think I need to get the lid off. The engine is a bit ropey and doesn't sound so well, suspect the bottom end is knocking. What are these engines prone for? 1.8I engine. Cheers

[Brianmoooore]

Carpets out is a very good idea - slide the door cappings forwards and then backwards, lifting them clear of the clips as they become exposed, then pull the clips out afterwards. Try to pull them straight off, and things will break. Carpet is very tight under the heater box, so some cut the carpet around it, but beware of wires underneath.
Bottom end of the 318i (M40B18) engine is close to indestructible. The knocking you hear is probably from the hydraulic tappets, which were BMWs first attempt at such things, and not too successful. Good news is that the problem is just noise, and doesn't cause damage or significantly affect performance.
I knocked the lower sump clean off of of one of my 318i saloons once, and it was another half a mile before the oil pressure light even came on., and another half mile before I could pull over. No lasting damage at all.

[1990e30cal]

Cheers for the info I'll tackle that next then and that's good news then I hope haha. And that's unbelievable! Just wanna get cracked on now and so some work to her!!

[1990e30cal]

Hello guys, quick update been pulling out the interior out of the touring to look at the floor pans to check for rust. So far just the passenger seat is out and starting pulling up the carpet. Still need to get the rest of the seats out though. I'm really happy with it as I've found no rust yet! But still to look at the drivers side. Just wondering though if anybody has dyed there carpet and sprayed trim panels in the interior like the centre console and dash etc. Mine are a sort of grey at the moment but I want everything black inside, the door cards are black already. I'm thinking either auto smart midnight black dye, auto brite black dye or autoglym. With the carpet being grey I'm wanting to completely change the colour to black and not be patchy. Has anybody done this already and have some tips and reviews for me? Cheers! this is really annoying, someone self tapped a pouch onto the glovebox!! two small cracks in my dash really happy with the lack of rust tho!