First E30

[Polaris15]

Yup. My old 325i coupe had and lsd as well optioned by the original owner. IS models were 2-door, had a 13 button obc, sport seats, trunk spoiler, basket weaves and maybe stiffer springs. Debate rages on in regards to the springs.

[brokecollegekid]

how old is your sister. i would never let a sibling drive my car in fear theyd crash clean car though

Well sadly you were right. She did crash it.

It's been a while since I've updated this so here goes and this is gonna be a long post. Bought the car last summer. Everything was going great until one rainy day my sister took a corner too fast and crashed. Some pics of the damage.





There was no frame damage, but the front valance was shot, oil cooler was bent and leaking, lower radiator support was bent which caused the radiator to be pushed back into the fan.

After this I posted the car for sale. I was going back to school and had no money to fix it then and just wanted to dump it. Had a couple people look at it, but everyone gave me low offers or it was too broken for them. So the car sat in the garage the whole winter.

After spending countless hours on the forums and looking at build threads I decided I would fix the car. I took it to A&L Auto Body in Palatine. Anthony is a great guy and does great work there if anyone needs a body shop. I've gone there for multiple different cars. He gave me a good price and helped me out any way he could. I found a set of plastic bumpers and valance in zinno on craigslist from a local guy who also knew Anthony and he dropped them off.

This was the radiator.


The radiator was pushed back into the fan and a fan blade was broken and needed a new fan clutch as well. I got a new nissens radiator, fan, and fan clutch. Lower radiator support was cut out and replaced and the car was good to go. I was back at school at this point, but my gf picked up the car and dropped it off at my house.



Fast forward a couple months and I was done with another year of school and was back for the summer. Before getting started on the car, took a trip to Europe for a couple weeks and one of the stops was the BMW museum in Munich. Just some of the pictures I took there.



























































I saw an Audi RS6 Avant at the Berlin Airport on my way home and had to take a pic. How I wish Audi would bring these to the US.



After getting back from that trip, I had an internship lined up so I started work right away. First task was to get the car running since it was sitting all winter. The fuel filter was leaking pretty bad so I got a new fuel filter and hoses and replaced that first. The battery was 11 years old and couldn't hold a charge anymore so I got a new battery as well.

Old bumpers.







New Bumpers.



I had a set of e38 style 5s that I bought last summer, but they were painted blue so I went to strip the paint and respray them OEM silver.



Halfway through stripping them. Turns out they had the top coat of blue, a green under that, and a primer under that so it's been a pain in the ass to get everything off.



That's all I've got for now, but on my to do list is

Change the plugs for the front turn signals since it was built in 88 and that was a transition year so it had the old style bumpers and old style plugs. Finish stripping and cleaning the wheels and get them ready to be painted. I'm ordering tires by the end of this week. Still have to buy another set of adapters since USPS lost mine last summer and screwed me over. I sold my lollapolooza tickets so now I've got money to get suspension too. Getting Billys and H&R sport springs. I will definitely keep updating this as I go.

[sam_]

sorry to hear about the accident. new rear bumper looks nice - did you swap the front as well?

[Cptcarisma]

Exceptionally nice pictures from your trip..

Wow!
CAPP... :-)

[brokecollegekid]

The car looked like it was in a bit of an accident on the front drivers side when I bought it and the headlights were screwed up and glued back together with some sort of epoxy and held on with zip ties. I found a new set of headlights, turn signals, and some trim pieces on craigslist for cheap so got those. Old Vs new headlights.









The front end looks halfway decent now. The fog lights are just sitting in the trunk and I have to put them on the car along with a volvo lip I picked up at a junkyard last summer.

[frshmaestro]

Dude it's a good thing you kept it cause it's looking really good now. Plastic bumpers really gave the car face lift.

[sam_]

looks great!

[stonea]

Yep! crack free dash. Hardest part now is letting my sister drive it while I save up to swap a manual into it.

Were you afraid someone would make fun of you for driving an auto? I don't know why you would buy an e30 and not drive it. Anyways the cars at least looking better now, but can you down size your pics a bit?

[BAVARIAN IRON]

Fix you're sentence structure its a pain having to constantly scroll left and right.

Nice car, insider tip...Leave the car as oem as possible.

[brokecollegekid]

Were you afraid someone would make fun of you for driving an auto? I don't know why you would buy an e30 and not drive it. Anyways the cars at least looking better now, but can you down size your pics a bit?

The original plan was my sister needed a car and this was something we both agreed on so I got it. She was gonna drive it while I was back at school and I would work on it when I got back for summer break and had some money. Unfortunately she crashed it mid November and it sat in the garage till I got back. I've been driving it now that it's fixed and I love it.

Fix you're sentence structure its a pain having to constantly scroll left and right.

Nice car, insider tip...Leave the car as oem as possible.

I fixed the pics and it should be good now. I want to go for an OEM+ look. I'm going with billy shocks and H&R sports and the e38 style 5s.

[brokecollegekid]

Got some parts in today.
-Bilstein Shocks
-H&R Sport Springs
-Front shock mounts
-Turner Motorsport rear shock mounts
-Red46 skid plate
-5mm rear spring pads

Still waiting on IE strut bar, e90 drop hats, and adapters which should be coming in tomorrow.



Found a set of tires on tire rack for about $52 each on closeout and they had pretty good reviews so I snagged them.



Putting the new suspension on this weekend, oil change, skid plate, and hoping to finish prepping the wheels for primer and paint.

[tylerhammack]

awesome early model! love that color too, good luck with the build!

[brokecollegekid]

Finished my suspension refresh and it feels like a new car. It still had the OE shocks and springs and the shocks were blown to say the least. Tried putting the red46 skid plate on the car, but the lower radiator support is bent pretty bad from the accident so couldn't get anything to line up. Driving back from work today my brake fluid light went on and braking into a corner the pedal went to the floor. Managed to stop, but I'm leaking break fluid from the front drivers side pretty badly. Haven't had a chance to get under and look, but really hoping it's not a hard line.

[doorman]

Finished my suspension refresh and it feels like a new car. It still had the OE shocks and springs and the shocks were blown to say the least. Tried putting the red46 skid plate on the car, but the lower radiator support is bent pretty bad from the accident so couldn't get anything to line up. Driving back from work today my brake fluid light went on and braking into a corner the pedal went to the floor. Managed to stop, but I'm leaking break fluid from the front drivers side pretty badly. Haven't had a chance to get under and look, but really hoping it's not a hard line.

The drivers side hard line isn't too bad. ABS pump to the strut/soft line connection is only a couple feet.

[jeenyus]

great progress. cool pictures from EU.