suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 I've always felt like an outcast with my E46 and E82 because WIBimmers seems to have a chub over late 80's and early 90's BMWs. This has been causing me to lose sleep lately because I just feel like I don't fit in. I was cruising Craigslist yesterday morning (with no intentions of buying a car) and stumbled across an ad for a "BMW E30". Started texting the guy and shared the ad with two of my friends (SteelBlue and GunMetalGrey). I jokingly asking if they'd want to chip in and have a random project car to share. Ben (GunMetalGrey) has too many E30s already and wanted nothing to do with it. But Eric (SteelBlue) said he'd go halfsies on it with me. We both have wanted E30s for a while now, but haven't ever had the opportunity to buy one. Treat by Jacob Spence, on Flickr What you want to know: 1987 325is with 190k and some sort of red interior. Kentucky car so it isn't completely rusted away. Has a cool looking steering wheel and the dash is only cracked in two spots. It's a complete car but doesn't currently drive. What you don't care about: The transmission and driveshaft have been pulled because the trans broke. Currently in search of a transmission for an M20. Or a T56 for an LS swap. Oh, and there is a massive dent in the passenger side that we'll try to pop out. There's a good chance we'll fuck that up and make the dent look worse. Immediate plans: Learn about E30s. Get a transmission. Put it in. Hope the car works. If so, do a burnout. Sleep that night dreaming about it loping at idle with a cammed LS under the hood. TDLR; I finally picked up an E30 in hopes that I'll be accepted among this community. It's half mine and half Eric's. ...that's a lie and the real reason we bought this is because we've both always wanted an E30. I now own 3 BMWs, this might be a problem. i_love_cars and Jdesign 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Like Jake had stated, I had no idea that I would be purchasing an E30 later that night. Glad we did however, as this is a pretty good car for the price we paid for it. Obviously with it not running is less than ideal, but our intentions and expectations were not to buy a perfectly fine running and driving car. This will definitely be a project, but something both Jake and I will look forward to working on. It's the first time for me, and for him to some extent, that we can work on a car with no worries of having to be able to drive it the next day or not. Massive dent might be an understatement, dude backed a truck into this thing. We should be able to fix it to some extent, we aren't expecting anything perfect. A little TLC is going to take this car a long way. Has a cardinal interior that is in pretty good condition, the worst offender being the driver seat that might be salvageable.The paint is in pretty good condition given the age of the car. I plan to do a paint correction on it that should really clean up the overall appearance. This dude definitely lived out in the middle of fuckin no where. He was a nice guy, also had his dad help us push it up on the trailer so that was a big help. Dude also had a techno violet E36 M3, definitely didn't expect to see that there. Once again, good thing Ben was with us as neither Jake or I knew how to tie down a car to a trailer properly. Also big shout out to Jakes neighbor for lending us his tow rig. Pulling that thing with a dolly would have been horrendous. Super nice trailer. suspenceful and m42b32 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m42b32 Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Congrats on the purchase! looks like a great car for the price. 45 minutes ago, suspenceful said: I've always felt like an outcast with my E46 and E82 because WIBimmers seems to have a chub over late 80's and early 90's BMWs. This has been causing me to lose sleep lately because I just feel like I don't fit in. ... TDLR; I finally picked up an E30 suspenceful and Rowleym 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 On 6/7/2016 at 10:56 AM, m42b32 said: Congrats on the purchase! looks like a great car for the price. Thanks! I'll post some more pictures this afternoon. Like Eric said, the passenger side is pretty bad right now. KaiserRolls 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaiserRolls Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Yes! About time suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasnt m3 Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 So, how do you like t56 prices? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 4 minutes ago, wasnt m3 said: So, how do you like t56 prices? I'm not a fan. It's domestic... it's supposed to be cheap! LS swap is a pipe dream at this point, but you never know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasnt m3 Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 I wouldn't even consider putting one in a car without going through it right away unless it had a recent rebuild with proof. They're really not that tough of a transmission and have many wear items that should be upgraded. If you were thinking about the swap, plan on an honest $10k if you're not cutting tons of corners. No exageration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 5 minutes ago, wasnt m3 said: I wouldn't even consider putting one in a car without going through it right away unless it had a recent rebuild with proof. They're really not that tough of a transmission and have many wear items that should be upgraded. If you were thinking about the swap, plan on an honest $10k if you're not cutting tons of corners. No exageration. This car will remain cheap. If we swap anything, it'll be on a budget with some ingenuity. I think Eric and I are both happy to have something at our disposal that we can feel out and have fun with. I want to auto-x this thing and get 100 smiles per gallon when driving it. Neither of us will have to worry about fucking up a nice BMW with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 26 minutes ago, wasnt m3 said: I wouldn't even consider putting one in a car without going through it right away unless it had a recent rebuild with proof. They're really not that tough of a transmission and have many wear items that should be upgraded. If you were thinking about the swap, plan on an honest $10k if you're not cutting tons of corners. No exageration. I think a 24 valve swap is a lot more likely. If the M20 is a no go. suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B C Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Awesome! johnprusinski has a getrag 260 for sale. You may try contacting him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 15 minutes ago, Snap said: Awesome! johnprusinski has a getrag 260 for sale. You may try contacting him. Thanks! Just PM'd him about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungCR Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Did you guys order ARC8's yet? Glad this went to a good home! Figured this would make for a good track car. At that price you can easily get your money back too if it goes south. suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassboy3313 Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 I'm in same boat as you guys. Except mine needs an engine, lol Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 16 minutes ago, YoungCR said: Did you guys order ARC8's yet? Glad this went to a good home! Figured this would make for a good track car. At that price you can easily get your money back too if it goes south. If this guy didn't want the price of gold for his, I'd buy them. http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/wto/5589874349.html We're hoping for the best, but bought it because I don't really think it could go to waste at that price... 14 minutes ago, Bassboy3313 said: I'm in same boat as you guys. Except mine needs an engine, lol Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk Nice! If shit hits the fan, we can combine cars and make one proper E30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassboy3313 Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Nice! If shit hits the fan, we can combine cars and make one proper E30. Sounds good to me!! Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Here are some "before" pictures. Just aired up the tires and unloaded it from the trailer. Not even washed. This is what we're working with folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 I think a good cleaning is really going to change the overall impression of the car. A good paint correction will really help the outside appearance. suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 cool! i have two of the same color front sport seats (in nearly the same condition) if your going to try and fix those they would be good for parts, and you should get two whole decent seats out of the 4. you can have them for free. suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassboy3313 Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 I also have a bunch of sport seat parts left over from when I rebuilt the ones in my e21. If you needed anything that straight6pwr's seats couldn't give ya. Free as well. suspenceful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunMetalGrey Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 16 hours ago, suspenceful said: If this guy didn't want the price of gold for his, I'd buy them. http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/wto/5589874349.html Five lug swap time! Those wouldn't fit under the stock body. ARC8's look quite good though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 14 hours ago, straight6pwr said: cool! i have two of the same color front sport seats (in nearly the same condition) if your going to try and fix those they would be good for parts, and you should get two whole decent seats out of the 4. you can have them for free. Would you be available this weekend for pick up? Edit: Actually would you be able to PM or post some pictures of the two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted June 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Decided to take the seats and center console out so we could start cleaning the inside of this thing. Something was definitely living in here... Now, to keep the red interior and carpet... or strip everything out, bedliner the floor and put some eBay race seats in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipMF Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Nice! It'll be intersting to see what happens with this. If I donate an M50 swap can I drive it at the track? If you try to take the dent out, you'll want to start at the edge of it and work towards the center. Trying to push in the center to "pop" it back out will almost definitley make it worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 10 minutes ago, HipMF said: Nice! It'll be intersting to see what happens with this. If I donate an M50 swap can I drive it at the track? If you try to take the dent out, you'll want to start at the edge of it and work towards the center. Trying to push in the center to "pop" it back out will almost definitley make it worse. Thanks for the advice on the door dent. This is definitely something we are going to be discussing with people that have more body work knowledge before we make an attempt to fix it. We didn't get any pictures of the interior after, but the carpet cleaned up really well (Jake will post some later). We pulled the center console and back seat out to make sure we got everything with the vacuum. I washed all of the center console parts. I was able to clean up the trunk pretty well but this dude must have spilled a whole box worth of nails in it because they were everywhere. We are in the process of pricing out all the gaskets, seals, fluids, and parts for the engine rebuild. The goal is to pick up a transmission next week and then pull the engine and start the rebuild process. Hopefully start it that weekend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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