So I was a power junkie for a while. I had the Porsche in the sig and thought it was the greatest thing ever... in fact, I kinda forgot about my '87 325is and the E30 scene in general. A few months ago, I started saving up money to buy another 928, but then found out that the seller wouldn't work with me (and I was having trouble getting an auto loan). My next choice was to get a new Impreza STI and start getting into turbos (it would also be much eaiser to finance a new car). After a while I decided against it because it wasn't what I ultimately wanted (it wasn't a porsche 928) and it was going to be much more expensive.
Then it happened...
My '87 325is had some transmission issues and I could no longer drive it until repaired. I emailed Dave (wcst1/kartoyz) about a replacement tranny and he said he had a daily driver for me. I called him, but he didn't get back to me in time and I needed a car NOW (for work). On an impulse buy, I got Matt's '89 325i 5spd parts car. I had thoughts of transferring everything good about my 325is (i had a really nice interior) into the 325i and turning it into my ultimate e30. After I had already bought the car and did some thinking, I decided that at 275K miles and in the current condition - it wasn't worth putting too much money into.
Dave called me back the next day and told me he had a black/black '90 325is with 127K miles and automatic transmission. Holy Shit! That's probably one of my top choices in E30s with low miles to boot! I go by to check it out and was amazed. It had a dented passenger fender and dented driver's door. It drove VERY well (tight and nimble) and was cheap - the PERFECT car for me! A few days later, I went to pickup the car.
I've been driving the car around for a couple weeks now and i'm TOTALLY loving it. Everything I loved about the E30 is coming back to me and I think i'm going to start my first major E30 project.
Here's what I plan to do:
Before I start any projects, i'll need a reliable daily driver. My plan is to take the automatic tranny out of the '90 325is, put it in the '87 325is. Once the '87 is good and driveable again, ill start a 5spd conversion on the '90 using the '89 parts car as a doner. Once the 5spd conversion is done, i'm going to work on turning the '90 325is into a weekend/track car and part the '89 out.
As far as cool stuff on the '90, i'm going to put an '88 ETA block under the I heads and use a megasquirt to do an alpha/N intake setup. If this proves to be too hard or I change my mind, the car will get an SMT6 with MAF conversion. I probably won't have too many go-fast mods on the '90 325is, as most of my money will go into the suspension.
The awesome part is, anything I want to do on an E30 is financially attainable (after owning a porsche 928 for a couple years, you'll understand). My project car will have no expense spared... i'm getting the best stuff that I think will work on the car and have lots of room for ideas and innovations.
Let the fun begin! (If you got this far, thanks for reading)
Then it happened...
My '87 325is had some transmission issues and I could no longer drive it until repaired. I emailed Dave (wcst1/kartoyz) about a replacement tranny and he said he had a daily driver for me. I called him, but he didn't get back to me in time and I needed a car NOW (for work). On an impulse buy, I got Matt's '89 325i 5spd parts car. I had thoughts of transferring everything good about my 325is (i had a really nice interior) into the 325i and turning it into my ultimate e30. After I had already bought the car and did some thinking, I decided that at 275K miles and in the current condition - it wasn't worth putting too much money into.
Dave called me back the next day and told me he had a black/black '90 325is with 127K miles and automatic transmission. Holy Shit! That's probably one of my top choices in E30s with low miles to boot! I go by to check it out and was amazed. It had a dented passenger fender and dented driver's door. It drove VERY well (tight and nimble) and was cheap - the PERFECT car for me! A few days later, I went to pickup the car.
I've been driving the car around for a couple weeks now and i'm TOTALLY loving it. Everything I loved about the E30 is coming back to me and I think i'm going to start my first major E30 project.
Here's what I plan to do:
Before I start any projects, i'll need a reliable daily driver. My plan is to take the automatic tranny out of the '90 325is, put it in the '87 325is. Once the '87 is good and driveable again, ill start a 5spd conversion on the '90 using the '89 parts car as a doner. Once the 5spd conversion is done, i'm going to work on turning the '90 325is into a weekend/track car and part the '89 out.
As far as cool stuff on the '90, i'm going to put an '88 ETA block under the I heads and use a megasquirt to do an alpha/N intake setup. If this proves to be too hard or I change my mind, the car will get an SMT6 with MAF conversion. I probably won't have too many go-fast mods on the '90 325is, as most of my money will go into the suspension.
The awesome part is, anything I want to do on an E30 is financially attainable (after owning a porsche 928 for a couple years, you'll understand). My project car will have no expense spared... i'm getting the best stuff that I think will work on the car and have lots of room for ideas and innovations.
Let the fun begin! (If you got this far, thanks for reading)
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