Hitting the Reset button on a car headed to the grave

[MR 325]

Wow Ryan, awesome work! I love a clean 87iS!

[Mlarsen]

*slow clap*

I wish I'd see more people put this much effort into their e30's. We need more restoring of e30's.

[Wild Ride]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Good job bringing it back to life. Any write up about the seats? Im trying to redo mine.

This is the writeup that guided me:

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=86663&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=redye+leather&start=25

I did Kevin The Artisans redye kit and rejuvenated the seats with leatherique.

It is a very very labor intensive process but ultimately rewarding. Think on how much money you could make if you worked and paid to have your seats recovered vs. a month of redoing a set of seats yourself.

Crack filler sucks, its the part of the job I was least happy with and wish I didn't use it or mixed it to be much darker. Its very hard/impossible to sand to be happy with it once it dries and shows through multiple layers of dye.

Everyone that has hard dry leather needs to do leatherique. The leather is now incredibly supple and soft.

[Wild Ride]

Wow..incredible.

Love that fuel filter pic, looks like the one in my car right now...LOL.

Fantastic work, now get to MODIFYING!!!!

(LOL, I know you sold it, I know you like stock)

Luke

The problem with modifying is its a slippery slope that never ends and a car is never done. When I completed a fully stock restoration the car was 97% as perfect (within reason) as it was when it rolled off the lot when it was brand new. To the casual passerby it would be considered perfect. It was truly finished and there was nothing left to do. That is a great feeling.

Every time I drive a car the gears start turning on how I can mod it to suit me better. All my cars I intend to keep a long time are modded to my liking. As the car is 10k in mods away from my 89 pictured with the 87 in some pictured why even start as the process would be unending and it would never be on the same level as the other car I already have? The reason I undertook this process is I had reached a stalemate with my other cars as the only things they need are money for big mods to make any real difference in how I felt about them or how they looked or drove. Being able to take a car from 1-10 in the same money that some on here pay for just a set of wheels was a big draw as many of the biggest changes to the car didn't take much money, just time and expertise.

To me every car has a unique path and personality that begs to be pushed in a certain direction you can't just paint the same mods or style on every e30. This one is just so classy with the chrome accents and bone stock perfection and the 87 325is was such a unique year as a blend between early and late model that plastic bumpers and late model valence would completely ruin this car. The only "mods this car received was from the original owner in the 80's with the Kamei Sideskits and rear valence which to me were the way it should have come as early models look so unfinished without a rear valence. Original owner also replaced the entire exhaust with a new OEM one and added chrome tips at that time that I actually really like. I Frenched the fogs and highs with lamin-x with is instantly reversible and capped it off with an OEM euro plate filler.

[Wild Ride]

Great work fixing the damage dome by that prick. That interior makes me very jealous. I'm dealing with the same thing on a much longer timeline.

The timeline becomes alot shorter when you have other cars to drive while you restore, restoring while you drive is a difficult undertaking as you get stuck on something and wonder how you will get to work the next day. Also a garage means I didn't have to clean up my mess after every work session as I did when I helped my buddy do an engine swap in his driveway.

[Larzzz]

Very nice work!!

[robrez]

Nice save Mr. Wild.

[e30saam]

Clean car man! 87is' are one of my favorites

[delatlanta1281]

This is awesome. Another 87 saved. Don't change a thing.

[Wild Ride]

Just bought back my previous 318is today. It needs some TLC and a new owner stay tuned.

[aquito]

So much inspiration. Amazing job!

[bmwstephen]

any details on your compound and polish procedure?

[TimKninja]

So much inspiration. Amazing job!

5 posts in 6 years. Wat

Incredible job man, did you atleast break even ?

[Cletonius]

Wow, that came out great!

Makes me want to cut and polish my car.

[nando]

I dig it. glad you left it an original '87!

there's something to be said for stock or mostly stock cars - I think people mod their cars to the point where it's barely streetable and then claim all E30s are toy cars that should never be driven every day. I've come close!

my seats are way beyond saving, been wanting to recover them for 10 years now.. lol. I'll get to it.. eventually!