From bronzit mess to a quick and fun daily

[iteachgolf]

Figured I'd make a thread and introduce myself. Lurked for a while and figured I'd contribute a little. I've owned a supercharged E60 for a few years which you can see below.




And after I felt comfortable taking on another project I decided I wanted an E30. One came up for sale down the street so I decided to buy it. These photos are from the day I bought it, monster truck bronzit.




Car was rust free but that was about the only thing good about it. Had horrible exhaust and ripped up interior. To double check I pulled out the entire interior to check for rust. Thankfully everything was good but I'm glad I pulled it up because the carpet foam was absolutely soaked and moldy with some other issues that couldn't be fixed so it had to go.




Drove it with no interior for a while until motor went about 2,000 miles after buying it. Bought another engine and replaced the gaskets, belts, and all other normal stuff. Also replaced every bushing and did an entire suspension refresh with Billy Sports and H&R sports. This got it to be reliable enough to drive to work everyday.

[iteachgolf]

To make the interior decent for the time being I added some cheap auto carpet and some vinyl seat covers. Actually came out much better than I thought it would.





Then I got tired of the bronzit and decided to paint it satin black. Body was in good shape except for a bent corner on the driver's side door and a couple door dings.







Then the paint went on. Wasn't going for a concourse finish. Just wanted it to look pretty good but since it was going to eventually be a daily I knew it'd get dinged up anyways.






Putting it back together

[AAA325iS]

Very nice !!! and Welcome

[einstein57]

The original paint looked ok from the pics

[Pantless Spency]

The original paint looked ok from the pics

this!

shoulda kept it bronzit. lookd far better than it does now.


carry on.

[KIRIEIW]

I agree with the last 2 comments, If I even thought about repainting it would have to be the same color the car came out of the factory but that just me. You know the cars sound detaining was removed right or did you do it?

[MPLFoster]

nice.

[iteachgolf]

The original paint looked ok from the pics

this!

shoulda kept it bronzit. lookd far better than it does now.


carry on.

The original paint was a paint in a day respray job from MAACO or similar. None of the trim was removed and you could see the paint line where they masked about 1/4" above all the trim and moulding. Paint was all chipping around all the doors due to poor prep work. Was single stage metallic as well which I wasn't going to keep. The entire car was repainted including the trunk, inside, as well as engine bay.

I agree with the last 2 comments, If I even thought about repainting it would have to be the same color the car came out of the factory but that just me. You know the cars sound detaining was removed right or did you do it?

I'm aware the sound deadening was removed as I removed. I understand everyone has different taste. The beauty is we are all allowed to have our own opinions. I'm sure many will hate the things I've done and some will love it. At the end of the day I built the car because it was what I wanted and didn't build it to please others or worry about resale value. Like I said everyone is entitled to their opinion and I will simply agree to disagree, not going to argue about it or try to change anyone's mind and its not going to bother me either way.

[iteachgolf]

Needed new tires and with future plans calling for a lot more power I decided to get something wider so I could get some traction. I know many will not only hater he rims but also the color, but looks good to me for now while being relatively light and were inexpensive. I plan on replacing the rims once I can find and rebuild a set of BBS RS. Also added a IS lip.




Then I decided I wanted to get nicer and more comfortable seats. So I picked these up and ordered Massive adapters to bolt them to the stock sliders. I also picked up new BMW carpet so when I get some time I'll be removing the cheap carpet I did and thrown in the new carpet along with new steering wheel and various other parts.

[E30 Wagen]

Did it come with foot rest vinyl area already on it? I got brand new carpet from BMW as well but it's missing those foot rest coverings.

[iteachgolf]

Mine was old carpet (in good shape and uncut) pulled from a donor car that I cleaned and dyed so it did come with the vinyl on the dead pedal.