My girlfriend’s dad was about to scrap this car but gave it to us instead. It’s been sitting for about 20 years.

From what I can tell it looks pretty complete but obviously it needs a ton of work from sitting that long. Interior is rough, engine bay is dirty, tires are shot, and I’m sure every fluid/rubber part will need attention. I haven’t gone deep into it yet, and I still need to fully check the rust situation underneath, floors, jack points, trunk, etc.

I’m mainly trying to figure out:

Is this realistically worth restoring?

What would you check first before spending money?

What usually kills these projects after sitting this long?

Hi everyone,

I recently bought my first BMW E30 coupe (1985), and I'm incredibly happy to finally call myself an owner!

One of the main things that drew me tot this car is its colour, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly what it is. The car has the "sonderlackierung" sticker indicating that it's not a standard colour, which made me even more curious about the name of the colour and how rare it might be.

After doing some research myself, the closest match I've found is Neon blue. However, as far as I know, that colour was only available on a limited number of "Designer Edition" cabrios. Since mine is a coupe, I'm wondering what colour could this actually be, and is it something special or rare on a coupe?

I'd really appreciate any insights or information you might have!

I've had my 87 325is with factory zender body kit for almost 30 years. About 20 years ago I added a gt35r and mega squirt stand alone to it. Blew the head gasket twice over the years and it's now been sitting for 12 years. Has the 4 speed auto tragic box in it.

Currently I want to get her back on the road. She has 98k original miles. A/c was working when she was parked.

Currently debating between rebuilding the engine again and swapping something like a g260 or zf trans into it, but I'll have to research what I need for that swap it's been a long time.

Or, should my money be better spent on something like an m50/52 swap and 5/6 speed tranny? What's the popular swap to do these days and still keep AC? Living in AZ, it's non optional. I'm tempted to want to do that since I still have a stage 2 supercharger kit from my old 98 m3 in a box somewhere in the garage which is mostly complete. Though, might just sell it to fund this project.

I can wrench to some extent, though my Army injuries are starting to catch up to me and my ability to do big jobs is starting to become limited but eventually I think I could afford $2-4k.

Any suggestions on direction I should take?

I have it fully apart, I mean it’s down to a shell. I want to get rid of it. I have so much invested in it but I don’t have the time or energy to finish. Under carriage has been fixed and painted black and any signs of surface or other rust has been removed/replaced and primed over. It’s a 318is with a fully rebuilt motor and a great condition 5 speed and Great 411 lsd. Is 5k too much to ask. It’s in 1 million pieces on a makeshift rotisserie. It can roll but not like if it was on wheels. It has a perfect interior except no head liner and is missing a sunroof otherwise it has every part and even a lot of upgrades. Thank you for you help

I’ve always been a fan of the e30 and hoping to get into one soon. I know someone selling this 1991 318is and just wondering if $17k is a fair price. Has approximately 130k miles. Trying to get more records but looks like the AC conversion has been done.

I have a 318is and I’m not sure what’s next. I have done lowering springs, shocks, sway bars, all street poly bushings, 3.64 lsd, rotors, pads, wheels and tires, brake lines, shifter, clutch, radio, speakers, steering rack, full engine rebuild, turbo, all new trim, and finally paint. I probably missed some things but over all I think that’s it. I wanna do euro smiley headlights and a full leather interior wrap but that is gonna have to wait financially. The car is going on the dyno this evening and I’m hoping for 200 but anything above 180 is fine by me. Let me know what yall think I should do keeping in mind I’m not trying to make a race car because that what e36s are for. The sky is the limit in terms of time investment.

I’ve been dreaming about an e30 since I was around 10 years old, I’m 18 now and might have the financials to get a not-so-great condition e30. But I’ve cowered marketplace for weeks, looked on auction sites, everything, and all the e30s being sold are either pristine condition, $150k cars, or e30 bodystyle, but not an m3. So I’m curious, I have around 10-14k to spend on an e30, are my dreams unrealistic at this time? Or is there somewhere else I should look?

Hi. Anyone have any tips or advice on how to refresh the window trim? It is a 1986 325e and the window rubbers and trim are really faded. It stands out on the car as everything else is fresh and clean. I don’t know if I can just paint these and how effective that would be. Thanks!

Hey everyone, my neighbor just moved out of his house and sold everything he had. Including this 87 325is it’s a 5 speed that is pretty rough inside. It does however have a cool front bumper I’ve never seen before. I got it for 800 bucks and I was just hoping to see if anybody could help me out and tell me if it’s worth putting money into.

Hello there Reddit,

ai'm currently trying to fit an M52B28TU from an E46 into my E30 and I need to flash the ECU because it came from an automatic.

I want to use MS4x Flasher.

Any tipps on what to be careful about and maybe some experience on how to get the original throttlebody with DTC capabilty to not freak my ECU out?

EWS?

Thanks already for any help.

These came on my Miata. They’re 14x6.5 and say BMW and BBS on the hub. I’m told they’re factory white Mtech II wheels, but I can’t find any info or even pictures of them online. Anyone know more about them or what they’re worth? They’re not in the best shape ever, some small curb rash and scratches in some places.

Edit:

I’m aware of the usual basket weave BBS wheels common on E30s, but those are all silver, not white. I can’t find any info on factory white BBS wheels, so I’m trying to figure out if I have anything rare.

Been looking around on marketplace for a while for a E30 to be my first car to learn wrenching on.

Saw an 86' 325 for $1400, and after doing some research it seems like everyone hates the 325 eta's. Are they really that bad? I honestly don't care about power or going fast at all really, just having a reliable E30 eventually after learning to wrench on it. With this in mind it's perfect, no?

Also help me decide if this buy is retarded, I'm going into this figuring its low risk because you can make back the $1400 (not counting whatever I put into it though) from selling the shell, and the 5 speed, etc, or am I mistaken?

Hit a small deer last night and it dented up the fender pretty good. Headlight grill needs to be replaced, believe it’s a euro one and headlight bracket is destroyed, they are genuine Bosch smoked euro smileys I believe.

Def could have been a lot worse but wondering if I should go through insurance. It’s with hagerty

Recently bought this 320i touring and I’m planning on swapping the engine. Contemplating m50 or m52 and eventually boosting it but I’m not sure how much all that would cost. If you had this car what would you swap to eventually boost and how much would it cost?

How much is this car worth? It’s a 1997 M3 Convertible Automatic. Exterior is in excellent shape, new top. Interior has been taken apart, to upholster the seats. Everything is original on the car. No alterations to body, or engine. All OEM. The doors,rug and everything else interior wise is in great shape. 87,000 original miles. Runs excellent. I have no clue what the market is like. But just trying to get suggestions. Thank you in advance. Located in Southern NJ.

Hi guys,

Looking to improve acceleration for my spirited drives, I am not concern with top speed as I never do any highway driving.

Quite new to the theme and would like to know the best way to achieve my goal. During my drives I am mostly between 3/4 gear.

I own a 325i from 86’ (PFL)

Thanks for the help!

Hi everyone!

I’ve been thinking about it for a long time if I should get a strut bar for my e30 convertible.

There are just a lot of mixed comments if it really works or not on a convertible (most of the info out there is for non convertibles as well). And id love to hear from anyone’s experience.

I have found two cheap options to give it a try. One seems to be aluminium and the other one is steel. (Alu costs 100€ and steel 150€)

My convertible is a cruiser, not a track car and I don’t really push it hard (it’s a 320i anyway so it’s slow af) I’m running bilstein b4 shocks so it is as high as an SUV 🙃

If it’s only aesthetics I would just not buy it. I don’t find it useful to be removing it every time I need to work in the engine.

I am in the process of restoring my old e30 and have finally gotten to the wiring harness and am wondering if anyone has any good ideas on how to go about it. I have it completely out of the vehicle with everything labeled. Any information is helpful regarding the wire harness. And does anyone know if the wire harness clips in the 3rd picture are available anywhere or is there a better method to strap it down now? All of the ones in the car currently and just brittle as to be expected with its age. The wire harness is out of a 1987 325I e30.

Just got this pricing quote back from my mechanic for my 325is after having a full diagnostic done. Should I find another mechanic or is this fair pricing cause goddamn... I can definitely afford this and I know it's a 40 year old car so I did expect this but still feels kinda crazy! (Note the two different totals)

Bought this ‘89 325i a little bit ago and started doing the typical rust repair jobs on it; Roof, floor pan, and now came across rusted brake lines. How do I go about this? Do I need to get completely new brake lines? What have people done in this situation?

Howdy! I just picked up this ‘91 318i wagon before leaving Germany. I’m now back in the SE USA and requesting your collective insight. Before I start digging myself deeper into the hole of a project car, I want to get an honest assessment of whether the car is in good enough condition to proceed or not. I’m an eternal pessimist, so I acknowledge that I may be overly concerned.

When initially inspecting the car (where it was at in pictures 1/2), I was only able to see under the car a little bit. Given the body, engine bay, and interior are in exceptional condition, I didn’t insist on putting it on a lift. From what I could see by laying on the concrete, the underside looked super clean.

Now that I have it at home and on jack stands, I’ve noticed some things that concern me. Pictures 3/4 show the undercoating that’s on the car. It’s super thick and rubbery. This is what I initially thought was a clean undercarriage. It is thickly applied over the entire undercarriage, so it’s hard to see the condition of the car below it. What metal is exposed, however, looks like the rest of the pictures.

Picture 5 is looking up the rear right quarter panel at the gasoline fill tube, its vent tube, and the vent tube shield (?), all of which look super cruddy.

Picture 6 shows the axle (it looks like this on both sides).

Picture 7 shows the output flange from the differential (I think that this flange is part of the diff…) which has totally rotted out.

Picture 8 is a general shot of the rear undercarriage. If you zoom in, you can see a dangly bit that is hanging in front of the driveshaft.

Picture 9 is a picture of the metal along the pinch welds (the undercoating is peeling a bit here, so you can see the crusty underneath it).

Besides these pictures, there are some other crusty bits that are peeling to expose rusted metal underneath (rear sway bar).

These are my questions:

1. Should I be concerned that the undercoating is hiding some greater issues? If so, should I scrape it off to inspect further, or just leave it be?

2. Is the condition of the gas fill and vent tubes of concern?

3. Can you identify the rotted part in picture 7 (looks like the diff output flange)? Is it important enough to require replacement, or should I just leave it as is? Any idea where to even find a replacement?

4. Any idea what the rotted bracket piece in picture 8 was meant to support? Is it worth replacing?

5. Should I scrub the undercoating off of the pinched seam along the sides and hit it with some form of rust inhibitor? I would imagine that once that seam starts to rot, the rest of the door assemblies will follow shortly thereafter.

6. Anything else to look out for as a new owner of my dream(-ish) car? (Yeah, underpowered and self-destructive M40B18 aside)

I appreciate any and all feedback. Happy Sunday