Aussie E30

[coopman]

Hi from Sydney - here's my newly purchased 320i convertible.

Smells worse than it looks!

[ocde30]

Wow, stunning. Welcome to the zone. Before Mart jumps in - more picture please.

[coopman]

Thanks, here's another pic.

All the important stuff seems to be in good shape. Minor issues discovered so far:
- Odometer broken
- Massive gaping chasm in dash, covered by a mat (no surprise)
- A bit of corrosion on exhaust
- Aircon needs a regas (and possibly more)
- Something "not right" with the radio (brief inspection found a large dead spider in the wiring)
- Smells like an old pub.

[ocde30]

Apart from the dash all these are minor. Main thing is that the car looks very straight and in great condition.

[Tzantushka]

Welcome!
This was the one on sale from Carsales.com.au?

Can’t recall the old pub smell in the ad!

[coopman]

Welcome!
This was the one on sale from Carsales.com.au?

Can’t recall the old pub smell in the ad!

Yeah, it was on Carsales. No complaints, it's almost exactly what I wanted - good condition but with bits and pieces of work to keep me entertained.

I see we have very similar vehicles btw. Interesting to see how good you got the leather looking.

[ah]

Are they 14” BBS

[coopman]

Yeah, 14".

[martauto]

Wow, stunning. Welcome to the zone. Before Mart jumps in - more picture please.

Too true mate, really cool car

Welcome to the zone and we really do need a vast amount of pics for this one mate !!!!

Mart.

[coopman]

In the context of COVID-19 and the renewed interest in washing hands, this is what is lurking beneath your armrest...

[Tzantushka]

I think it's called '...patina...'

How many alleged km has your travelled?

[coopman]

Just over 200k km. But the odometer is currently broken, so who knows.

[agisthos]

When putting my E30 323i back on the road I found the ODO not working. I followed a youtube video to remove the instrument cluster, then the ODO, and replace the gears. I purchased 2 gear sets for the VDO cluster odometer (with a spare just in case) and successfully did it. If you are thinking of doing it let me know.

[coopman]

Yep, it's a job that's near the top of my to-do list.

If you have the link to the video and can recommend somewhere to buy the gears, that'd be great.

[agisthos]

Here is how the cluster comes out


And how to replace the odometer gears


Mine were as bad as above. I purchased the gears from Garagistic, they do a kmph version of both VDO and Moto. If you use the older style VDO cluster, PM me and I can send you my spare for postage cost. But yours is probably Moto.

When you have the cluster out is then a good opportunity to take the temp and fuel gauges out and sand down the 2 contact pins. Also replace the rear washer and nut on each gauge, as this is the ground point for those gauges to work.

Also replace the batteries on the SI board with new Nicad 1.2v from Panasonic. I had to get a hifi repairer to do this last part for me.

It sounds like a lot, but when you have the cluster out its just easier to do all these things, as they are the common failure points on the cluster.

[coopman]

Thanks, as an added bonus I now know where the spare thumb screws in the glove box have come from! And yes, I think mine is Motometer.

[Brianmoooore]

Also replace the batteries on the SI board with new Nicad 1.2v from Panasonic.

Only if the existing ones are 1.2 volt AA sized NiCd. I recently went through a batch of about 25 SI boards, and only two of them had NiCd batteries. The rest had the later 3 volt Manganese dioxide 1/2AA batteries. It's important to fit the same type as before, although you can substitute NiMH for NiCd with no ill effects.

[agisthos]

Also replace the batteries on the SI board with new Nicad 1.2v from Panasonic.

Only if the existing ones are 1.2 volt AA sized NiCd. I recently went through a batch of about 25 SI boards, and only two of them had NiCd batteries. The rest had the later 3 volt Manganese dioxide 1/2AA batteries. It's important to fit the same type as before, although you can substitute NiMH for NiCd with no ill effects.

Of course, sorry, replace them with the type they originally had.