FS: 91 325ic 7/90 5 speed Calypsorot/Natur Leather

[bradnic]

OFF THE MARKET - PURCHASE OF OTHER CAR FELL THROUGH

Asking $4600

Eastern Tennessee/Virginia car - per the PO it was locally driven it's whole life.
Clean title and carfax
7/90 build (last month with diving boards)
Very good condition overall

Calypsorot / black manual top
no tears but cracked natur/tan leather (will be reconditioning before sale with Leatherique - see below)

There's no rust damage on the car to speak of except for a 3/16" (4mm) or so spot below the driver's taillight. I am rustproofing that spot with POR until an eventual respray. Car is garaged when not driven, and definitely not driven winters. It is a garage queen for sure - leisure drives only.

3.73 LSD original, works great, no loud noise that I can detect that would indicate a problem
14" LAs (optional OEM basketweaves with bmw center caps)
Everything works well incl cruise control, central locking, power windows, mirrors, power antenna and A/C
slick shifting 5 speed
complete toolkit
original pirelli spare with basketweave in absolutely brand new condition - NEVER used!

just rebuilt the A/C and converted to r134 (compressor, expansion valve, several hoses, orings). nice and cold.

i've put an aftermarket radio b/c the original premium radio had amp problems (will provide with the car though if you want it - I have the code for it)

192k miles. engine/drivetrain runs very smooth. timing belt service, valve adjustment and fresh change of all fluids (differential+LSD additive, tranny, power steering, coolant and of course oil) will be completed before car is handed over to new owner. consumes some oil (about 1 quart per 1000 miles), but no exhaust smoke. assume you'll need to refresh the motor at some point though (valve job, new rings and seals, maybe valve guides), but based on the way it's running I did not believe it was necessary to do in the near term.

car's in the chicago burbs right now

[bradnic]

Would love any/all feedback

Hi guys

Please post any comments, suggestions. My wife and I really love this car but I've got my eye on another one and there's a strict limit to fleet size ;-) I'll be putting the M42 turbo up for sale at a reasonable price soon as well so we can stay at 2 E30s.

Looking for someone who's going to take good care of it - hopefully someone we'll stay in touch with.

I spent a great deal of time on mechanicals and interior. The doors and windows have all been adjusted to close and seal properly (front and rear windows were overlapping which is pretty common. Car does need some new rubber on the passenger side window (the weatherstrip between the rear and front glass) - still trying to hunt that down and will gladly pass on to the new owner.

I was getting ready to Leatherique the front seats. Respray and eventually a new top were down the road items. Any other suggestions? Do you think the price is fair?

[bradnic]

more pics, info

regarding mechanicals, about to do the timing belt as a preventive measure. engine's going through a quart every 1k miles or so. planning to replace transmission and differential fluid + coolant before delivery to new owner.

good shot of the driver's side dash. cruise, remote key fob, new head unit with ipod, bluetooth phone, dvd and rear camera support

driver's side view of door, top, windows


same view passenger side.


passenger side window gap - no interference with top or between windows


there are some very small dings on rear quarter (about 4 of them - hard to see except in sun)


drivers window trim needs to be replaced


scratch on hood. usual paint chip situation on front of hood


rear window. sewn in, can probably be polished out but best just to eventually replace the top


headliner view, inside view from back window. the top has separated from the horizontal bars but still works fine, no leaks. I was going to contact cement them in place but have not gotten around to it.



PO replaced top of rear seat leather. color mismatch not as bad as this pic, but clearly either dye or rear seat re-do will be needed eventually.


clean trunk, full toolkit, jack, tow hook etc. originally had a car phone antenna mount. base still on trunk. I siliconed it to keep water out. Should eventually be patched/leaded in.



full key set including rare illuminated key head. note NEW keys from dealer, not recut from old key. drivers door cylinder rebuilt using bmw kit. central locking is perfect, especially with the remote key fob setup

[Vivek]

Nice, same month as my dad's 'vert. Looks pretty clean, GLWS.


PS...holy hell you're paranoid ;)

[bradnic]

Nice, same month as my dad's 'vert. Looks pretty clean, GLWS.

Very cool. thanks man just want a good home for it (and room in the garage..)

PS...holy hell you're paranoid ;)

:rofl: too many mission impossible movies
but cmon dude hires pics, geocoded by default if you sent in from a phone... not that much of a stretch.

yeah paranoid.

[bradnic]

some more pics of the exterior

[bradnic]

lotsa views, a couple of nibbles.

If you are in the market for a convertible and are not considering my car, please share why! I am genuinely interested in your feedback. Is it the diving boards? miles? something else?

if anyone has suggestions or comments, would love to see them.

I'm planning to leatherique the seats in the next week or so, including the sand/crack fill/dye step. should look fantastic when done.

thank you!

[mp4-4]

If you are in the market for a convertible and are not considering my car, please share why!

Yes, driving miles is one thing. Other is that I'm not sure (new to E30s) how easy it is to get E30 parts -- considering you mentioned that the engine will need to tuned/serviced at some point.

If you could convince me otherwise, I'd be very interested in your car.

[squidmaster]

free bump for the dog

[bradnic]

free bump for the dog

thx! Max is a keeper. Loves the ride. Have to wipe the passenger quarter down after every trip :-)

[bradnic]

Yes, driving miles is one thing. Other is that I'm not sure (new to E30s) how easy it is to get E30 parts -- considering you mentioned that the engine will need to tuned/serviced at some point.

If you could convince me otherwise, I'd be very interested in your car.

Thanks for your post! I really appreciate your comments!!

depends on which parts I suppose. If it's shippable mail order's your friend.
Guys like Levent at GutenParts are amazing. Have heard great things abiout Blunttech too. Pelican's great, BavAuto has supply problems some times but are pretty good too.

On the heavier/locally sourced stuff it can get harder. A donor car is sometimes a really good idea. There are local salvage yards too but the E30 supply is certainly getting light. Several local forums as well where you can post and find stuff. E30 community around here is pretty active.

Engine service.. not really concerned about sourcing for that at all to be honest. Also please note comments about timing belt service, valve adjust, change tranny diff and coolant etc. Car's solid mechanically. I've taken it on 10 hour trips. My plan all along was to refresh the motor - valve job, new rings seals etc. I even have a 318is turbo to get my hotrod urges dealt with so I don't mod this one :-) Plan was definitely OEM+ - maybe a miller MAF and chip, some euro bits incl 15" basketweaves and headlamp washers, but that's about it. definitely no body work, turbo etc.

One big note/caveat: Reason I was selling: I had my eye on a car that really had me going. Unfortunately it got sold out from under me - 2nd time that's happened. So I'm not in a big hurry right now. Not gonna be a jerk about it though. If you've just gotta have it we can talk.

[bradnic]

Plan was definitely OEM+ - maybe a miller MAF and chip, some euro bits incl 15" basketweaves...

and here they are, NEW - thanks Levent!

EDIT: just to be clear, they are not part of the sale. I was just trying to explain my plans for the car (they look great by the way - the stock 14 weaves are nice, but the 15s fill out the wheel wells better)



One other comment about future spending. ANY convertible top is going to need maintenance at some point. the top seals great - ymmv, but no leaks that I've seen at all, and I've driven in heavy rain. as I mentioned in the initial posts though it will eventually need maintenance.

If you're hands on there are plenty of resources out there and with patience you can do it yourself. Just make sure you get good quality parts. Here are a couple I really like (there are others including threads on this forum e30tech and bimmerforums)

awesome 1986 BMW service video for the convertible, showing how to adjust and replace the top

step by step top replacement

there's also a paid video/CD which I picked up that is very detailed.

Doing it yourself will cost about $500 all in, but alot of patient labor is needed. Getting it done professionally is at least double and more likely triple that amount assuming you want the good as OEM german top.

So here is some more detail around the convertible top, with crappy cellphone pics (sorry about the quality). 3 areas to take a look at, none of them serious but I point them out anyway for full disclosure:

a) You can see in the pics that the rear window is cloudy. it's stitched in - only the late 92 and 93 verts have zippered windows.

b) The top cloth has separated from the lateral/horizontal frame bars (it's supposed to be cemented in). Here's a picture with me pushing the top up.



The top is nice and tight over the frame, so it rests right on the bar. But since it's not glued there's some flapping at speed, and you need to be careful how the top's folded when you stow it. This is very easy to fix and I'd be willing to do it before I hand the car over. Just haven't gotten around to it.

c) The other thing to note is behind the rear windows when the top is up. Most of the time on both sides of the car I have to align the weatherstripping by hand right now to make sure the rear window slides into the groove in the weatherstripping. Said differently, I push on the weatherstrip behind the rear window as it goes up.




It's a minor nuisance. You can try adjusting the rear windows in a bit (or bending a small piece of metal on the interior side of the gasket so that it pushes the weatherstrip out a little). Tried that already once but I didn't want to mess with the fit between the front and rear window. You can see in this pic that the PO had left the door and rear windows interfering with each other. I adjusted all this out already as you can see by the window gap.



None of this is a big deal and should be expected on a 21 year old car that has not had a recent top replacement. Just being very careful about expectations.

[bradnic]

I was getting ready to Leatherique the front seats. ...

Just ordered everything including custom dye matching. If you've heard about this stuff you know that the seats are really going to look great. I've ordered enough for the rear seat too so the slightly discolored rear top panel repair will match the rest of the seat perfectly when done.

[brickwhite]

Yes, driving miles is one thing. Other is that I'm not sure (new to E30s) how easy it is to get E30 parts -- considering you mentioned that the engine will need to tuned/serviced at some point.

If you could convince me otherwise, I'd be very interested in your car.

Parts are VERY easy to get!!! Ask anyone here.

[bradnic]

another engine bay pic


new (reman) A/C compressor installed less than a month ago