Advice on potential 1985 318i wanted... should I buy this car?

[blunttech]

nobody will give him 1300 for that thing. tell him 700 and have him call in a few months when its turning into a flower pot.or tell him youll give him 1300 if he fixes the vibration. the m10 is a good motor but there is nothing desirable about a big bumpered m10 powered early car.

[86espowa]

I think you should buy it and keep a rust free seemingly perfect bodied E30 on the road.

I hate it when almost flawless E30's get parted and trashed just becasue they are early models.

Keep the E30 on the road!

[medik212]

Hey all. I'm looking at picking up an old E30 for a project car and wanted some input. It's a 318i coupe, dolphin grey, cloth interior, 5spd. Details are as follows:

The good:
M10 engine sounds solid. Pulls smoothly in all gears until the vibration starts (I'll explain that below). Tach, speedo, and guages work properly (except for the odometer).

New rubber all around. Full size spare has good tread left too. Brand new battery. Electrical system seems to be in order, all lights work. Power locks, windows.

Body is in pretty good shape for its age. No dents/dings/scratches or signs of an accident. Shock towers are clean, frame rails under the car are straight and rust free.The bay is free of rust and the floorboards, footwells, and spare tire compartment are flawless. No rust on the fenders.

The ride is pretty solid. No pulling or shimmying in the front end. Alignment is spot on and the brakes respond very well without pull or vibration. I jacked the car up and checked out the underbelly. Bushings are in good shape. There is some fluid leakage from the engine compartment/trans that was visible while under the car, but nothing to be concerned about.

The dash, steering wheel, etc. are in decent shape. He's got a pioneer head unit in the car that works.

The bad: Aside from telling me about none of the following issues before the test drive, it was a decent experience. He's a high school dude who's moving on to a better more reliable car and just wants to get rid of it but he's asking too much, in my humble opinion, especially when one can have a 325 with fewer miles off ebay for a grand and some change. Major issues are as follows:

Pretty severe vibration coming from somewhere in the drivetrain in all gears when the engine gets to about 3.5k rpm and gets much worse above that. I didnt' push it above 4.5k because I didnt want to snap his driveshaft on the test drive. I'd guess that it was the guibo but wouldnt that occur above a certain speed as opposed to an engine speed? He said something about it being the bearing that supports the driveshaft... I couldnt really get any details. My very e30-ignorant guess would be a harmonic balancer of some sort? Do old 318's even have a HB? I'd love some input on this.

Paint is pretty beat up on the roof, trunk, and hood from sun damage.
Seats are trashed - fronts are ripped up and the springs are tired. He has seat covers for it, but the support is very much lacking and they'd have to be replaced to be a comforatble ride.

Shifter is extremely sloppy. Needs the bushings replaced. Not a big deal, but an issue nonetheless.

The exhaust is on its way out. It's pretty rusty and sounds much louder than a little 1.8 four-banger should if properly muffled.

The car is not inspected (expired June 2007). The odometer reads 190,500 miles but doesnt work.

There's a few small rust spots (dime sized), and a 4x5 section of sheet metal has been screwed onto the front fender at the base where the fender meets the bottom of the car. It's been painted and there was no real structural weakness I could detect (No telling what's under it without removing the stuff... which I'll do if I buy the car). This car is, for all intents and purposes, rust free.

His asking price is $1500. I flat out said I couldn't pay 1500 for the car and said I was thinking more in the 11-1200 ballpark, but that was before I realized the inspection was expired and the odometer was broken. He said he could do $1300... I know this is a crazy high asking price for the car in its current condition and if I were to buy it and not lose sleep over it at night I couldn't pay more than a grand max because it obviously needs several hundred dollars worth of work to get back on the road and perhaps many more... it could turn out to be a major money pit and that is what I do NOT want to end up happening. Before ya suggest going for a later model 318 with an m42, I do want an M10 for possible F.I. in the near future and the body, as I said, is really in great shape.

What do you guys think?