E30s in 3 easy steps. One guys story

[E30_pilot]

And just like that you caught the e30 bug. lol

Next thing you know the whole family will be rolling in e30's lol
and welcome to R3v.

[siggy]

Yep! Lots to like about e30s. Fits the bill perfectly for a school car, a spare car, and friendly enough to work on. They look 'just right'. Being a German car, one doesn't feel like you're wasting time messing with things on them. Someone commented to me that " those are pre-yuppie BMWs" for whatever that's worth. And for me, all three cars at $1K total. So there is room to do stuff and still have smokin' bang- for- the- buck ratio.

[dvs909]

pics of daughter?

Justtt kiddinnggggg.

nice score, looks like you have more than enough parts!

[JTapper]

We inherited a 87 convertible. My brother in law bought it new in 87, (so all receipts since purchase are in-hand!), Delphin on Black. Drove it non-stop for 20 years, with tons of service done, topped off by a NEW BMW longblock @ 195,000. It was consuming more oil than he liked so popped in a motor ($7500 installed!). 50K later, when he replaced it with a new 3-series convertible in 2007, he gave it to a co-worker who was in a bad way with a blown up car and a new baby. This guy was a I.T. guy from India or Dubai? This Sept. he decides to go back to where-ever, leave the country, and offers the car back. We got it on the rebound. The I.T. guy got the treatment from the smog shop when he transferred the title in 07, paid a bunch of tune-up money and was sure it wouldn't pass when I had to smog it, but it flew through nice & clean.

More pics of this Vert!

I've got an 87 Delphin with tan interior. Plan on re-doing the seats in black.


Oh...and adding a turbo for good measure.

[siggy]

I'll post some later, away from home right now and no pics with me. I've been afraid to drive the convertible until the timing belt gets changed, its been 59K since the longblock was installed. The cloth top was replaced with a OEM BMW top, pricey. So I have a zipper style rear window thats crap. About $600 for a replacement, ouch, tried ordering one off eBay from "prothe" but it was junk, returned it to him. Thats what started the Hardtop pursuit, as I can see dealing with a window replacement every couple years is going to get old real fast.

The Delphin paint has the typical clear-coat peel going on in the trunk lid and hood areas. I've talked to a lot of folks around here about paintwork. Big bucks to do it right and don't want to ruin the car with a Miracle Auto level re-spray. No luck in finding a replacement hood & lid with good Delphin paint, and no one wants to ship the big items anyway. Plus, kinda like to keep all the original panels intact with the original vin stickers on them. So I found a highly recommended guy who does lots of high end panel blending on Italian and Euro cars, he recommended re-spraying all the way around the car from the bodyline that runs right under the door handles and up from there. Thats set up to be done in a few weeks, should be the ticket. That approach makes sense to me, the new paint will cover the windshield frame, the rear boot lid, the trunk and show no color variation all the way around, breaking the paint at the body line.

On the hardtop - I just re-dyed the fabric top black, turned out really nice using a product from the UK. It has a tan headliner, so I ordered a new grey one to match the rest of the inside. I plan on swapping over the tires from the bottlecaps to the 'weaves I scored at p-n-p, and will put on a "is" front valence.

[freeride53]

wow, awesome.
where in the bay area are you about?

[Wh33lhop]

Awesome. You've raised your daughter well.

[JTapper]

I'll post some later, away from home right now and no pics with me. I've been afraid to drive the convertible until the timing belt gets changed, its been 59K since the longblock was installed. The cloth top was replaced with a OEM BMW top, pricey. So I have a zipper style rear window thats crap. About $600 for a replacement, ouch, tried ordering one off eBay from "prothe" but it was junk, returned it to him. Thats what started the Hardtop pursuit, as I can see dealing with a window replacement every couple years is going to get old real fast.

The Delphin paint has the typical clear-coat peel going on in the trunk lid and hood areas. I've talked to a lot of folks around here about paintwork. Big bucks to do it right and don't want to ruin the car with a Miracle Auto level re-spray. No luck in finding a replacement hood & lid with good Delphin paint, and no one wants to ship the big items anyway. Plus, kinda like to keep all the original panels intact with the original vin stickers on them. So I found a highly recommended guy who does lots of high end panel blending on Italian and Euro cars, he recommended re-spraying all the way around the car from the bodyline that runs right under the door handles and up from there. Thats set up to be done in a few weeks, should be the ticket. That approach makes sense to me, the new paint will cover the windshield frame, the rear boot lid, the trunk and show no color variation all the way around, breaking the paint at the body line.

On the hardtop - I just re-dyed the fabric top black, turned out really nice using a product from the UK. It has a tan headliner, so I ordered a new grey one to match the rest of the inside. I plan on swapping over the tires from the bottlecaps to the 'weaves I scored at p-n-p, and will put on a "is" front valence.

Sounds like we've got similar projects. I really don't have a peeling problem though, just one small spot about the size of the quarter on the hood and that's it. Otherwise no rust or body damage. Tan top getting replaced with black as well, an OEM BMW top.

[VA85eta]

Thanks for posting - the bug hit you big time...

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Got a ton of options with the e30's and parts you have massed.

R.