The e30 gods have punished me.

[e30davie]

Gawwwd in the time this thread has been going id have this bloody car fixed and sold.

Id buy it for 6k if i was close, then id sell it fix. And use the profits to buy deschutes beer:)

If you can pull the parts out of that donar car yourself you will learn how to do it, then when it comes to fitting them to your car you will know what to do. Ive spent many hours in wrecking yards pulling cars appart to get parts. Then go home to my own car and its easy as nothing is a surprise.

[TobyB]

Why is this still a thing?

?

t

[DrJosh]

If he isn't willing to work on it himself (which it sounds like he isnt), then it needs to go. I don't personally believe that learning to work on a F30 is a bad choice. While it is newer and doesn't have the same knowledge base, for basic maintence he will be fine. You can get the rheingold bmw software suite for all things diagnostics, and the rest is just a basic tool set for anyone working on european cars.

Provided the car is sufficiently repairable (who knows, since we have not seen any pictures) and he is willing to put in the work, he'd be better off keeping it at this point. A 16k loan really isnt much, and since he doesn't have any other living expenses he should be able to pay it off quickly if necessary.


OP, if the used oil pan isn't cracked I don't see why not. It could crack on disassembly or reassembly but if you can get it for cheap enough you have little to lose. Don't you need a subframe too?

[rturbo 930]

That was the original plan, have it payed off before I go to college. I'm just unsure if I want to live with that debt right now.

You're gonna be living with some debt one way or another. I fully agree with stonea, get this thing out of your life, and pay off whatever remaining debt there is. Walk away with a good lesson in decision making and finances.

Your family seems to help you out a lot with money, and I think this is a great example of how that can do more harm than good.

Additionally, you need to learn to work on your own cars. I realize an F30 is a bad place to start, but the E30 isn't.

There is a way here to not lose money - play the long game. Keep the car for 10+ years. Put 150-200k miles on it. Graduate college with this car. Drive off on your honeymoon in this car. Bring your first born child home from the hospital in this car. In 10 years while all the other F30-driving chumps have dumped their cars for newer ones, continually having a car payment into eternity, he could be one of the few that keeps their car well maintained and it lasts.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust a 10+ year old F30 not to rob him dry. Keep in mind if he has this car 10 years from now, it'll be 14 years old.

Better to just take the hit and learn the lesson IMO. No 16 year old should have a car like that anyway. He's young, and he has nothing except this car holding him down. He needs to get rid of it, and pay off the remaining debt as quickly as possible.

[IronJoe]

That was the original plan, have it payed off before I go to college. I'm just unsure if I want to live with that debt right now.

Understood man, having a car payment isn't fun. I haven't had one since 2014 and have payed cash for every car since.

There is no way he's walking out of this with out loosing money.

There is a way here to not lose money - play the long game. Keep the car for 10+ years. Put 150-200k miles on it. Graduate college with this car. Drive off on your honeymoon in this car. Bring your first born child home from the hospital in this car. In 10 years while all the other F30-driving chumps have dumped their cars for newer ones, continually having a car payment into eternity, he could be one of the few that keeps their car well maintained and it lasts.

I daily drive a 20 year old car (e36 m3) and now a 15 year old car (e46 m3). I own both outright and just pay for gas and maintenance. Most would say I drive well below my means based on my education/career/etc but I shake my head in disbelief as people with a third of my income buy brand new Kias.

[stonea]

He's already in for at least $2k fixing the car. If he sells it for say ~$10k on CL as a mechanic's special, then he's out $6000 with nothing to show for it. Talk about a dollar lost.

There is no way he's walking out of this with out loosing money. The best he can hope for is getting out of debt as soon as possible and throwing money at a car that he couldn't pay for to begin with is digging in the wrong direction. Sell it, give his grandparents the money, and pay them back the rest over time. Then graduate high school debt free and learn a valuable life lesson.

[J Mid]

He's already in for at least $2k fixing the car. If he sells it for say ~$10k on CL as a mechanic's special, then he's out $6000 with nothing to show for it. Talk about a dollar lost.

Once it's fixed it should be a great car for many years to come, assuming no corners are cut. Sure, there will be maintenance, but that is acceptable risk. You didn't buy a "lemon" (do people actually know what that means or are they just throwing the term around?) Ignore the part about how you got tricked/swindled/whatever and didn't know about the damage: you bought a car that needs repair, for cheaper than the average purchase price. Once you have the repairs made, my guess is that you'll end up with a total cost of an "average" F30. It's "worth" is meaningless until you try to sell it - so don't. Enjoy your cool looking new car.

Make regular payments to your family, draw up a contract with them and pay them accordingly every month. With minimal expenses (you live at home right?) and zero interest, you should be able to knock down the total pretty aggressively. If you manage your finances properly you could end up owning the car outright by the time you graduate.

That was the original plan, have it payed off before I go to college. I'm just unsure if I want to live with that debt right now.




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[IronJoe]

People are going to have different opinions on what you should and shouldn't do, but its easy to say to keep the car when you're not the one paying for it. You couldn't afford to fix your e30, you couldn't afford this car, and you can't afford these fixes. Get the car away from you as soon as possible and start to repay your grandparents and try to put this mistake behind you and learn from it. Every dollar you put into this thing is going to be a dollar lost and a dollar you don't have.

He's already in for at least $2k fixing the car. If he sells it for say ~$10k on CL as a mechanic's special, then he's out $6000 with nothing to show for it. Talk about a dollar lost.

Once it's fixed it should be a great car for many years to come, assuming no corners are cut. Sure, there will be maintenance, but that is acceptable risk. You didn't buy a "lemon" (do people actually know what that means or are they just throwing the term around?) Ignore the part about how you got tricked/swindled/whatever and didn't know about the damage: you bought a car that needs repair, for cheaper than the average purchase price. Once you have the repairs made, my guess is that you'll end up with a total cost of an "average" F30. It's "worth" is meaningless until you try to sell it - so don't. Enjoy your cool looking new car.

Make regular payments to your family, draw up a contract with them and pay them accordingly every month. With minimal expenses (you live at home right?) and zero interest, you should be able to knock down the total pretty aggressively. If you manage your finances properly you could end up owning the car outright by the time you graduate.

[Powling]

Do you guys think a used plastic oilpan is a bad idea?


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If it has no cracks or damage then there shouldn't be any issues.

[J Mid]

The e30 gods have punished me.





Found a donor car for a steering rack!

Do you guys think a used plastic oilpan is a bad idea?


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[Stanley Rockafella]

Opinions are like a-holes, everyone's got one.

OP, make a decision for yourself and follow through. This is Decision Making 101 which you will find useful to other aspects of your life. This is not something a grade-school education will teach you.

true story

[stonea]

People are going to have different opinions on what you should and shouldn't do, but its easy to say to keep the car when you're not the one paying for it. You couldn't afford to fix your e30, you couldn't afford this car, and you can't afford these fixes. Get the car away from you as soon as possible and start to repay your grandparents and try to put this mistake behind you and learn from it. Every dollar you put into this thing is going to be a dollar lost and a dollar you don't have.

[J Mid]

Bingo. Time to get this monkey off your back, dude.

I said I wanted to do that about 7 pages ago and like 5 people said I would be an idiot to do that [emoji23]


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[Aleman]

OP have you thought about unloaded the car as and listing it as a mechanics special? Your lack of knowledge is kind of concerning. I know we all have to start somewhere, but starting on a project like this probably isn't the smartest thing. Sell it, pay your grandparents back the best you can, and then buy a Bentley manual and start tinkering with your e30 and start from there.

Bingo. Time to get this monkey off your back, dude.

[lukeADE335i]

If the plastic sump only has a weeping crack in it, could it be fixed with the right epoxy?

Plastic fuel tanks have been around for a long time now, and people patch those:

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/DynaGrip-Plastic-Tank-Repair-Kit/1955

Plastic sumps are listed on the packet there & technical data on their website says it's good for up to 500F (so oil isn't going to get any where near that hot!)

My old M20 had epoxy applied to a crack in the aluminium sump, and so far it has lasted 9 years and never leaked.