Found cheap e30, need help

[Oofie_SD]

Alright, so I've been searching for an e30 for a couple of weeks now and found one about 5 blocks from me. It's a 1991 325i 2dr sedan. The guy is asking $850 for it so I took a look at it. Interior looks almost mint condition aside from the few cracks on the dash.

Body is still nice, paint is nice but I noticed that there is a vin tag on the front right fender and the number doesn't match the car's vin number. The car has WBAAAxxxMEC but the fender has WBAAAxxxLEC. Does this mean the car was in an accident? Carfax is clean and didn't report any accidents on it.

Another thing is the car didn't pass it's 2004 smog test, so the car doesn't have current registration and it's been seating for 4 years now in his garage. He said he's selling it "as is" and it only needs a new cylinder head gasket and valve cover gasket. He said we'll just transfer the car on my name and I need to have it smogged so I can register it. He also said he's been adjusting the valves so it quite noisy, so I'm going back today after he adjusts them correctly. BTW, he also has an aftermarket exhaust so I don't know if thats the problem for the smog. I'm in california also.

Should I just walk away from this car or will this be worth it? I don't have much money right now so I'm thinking I'll just restore it to working condition and run it for a while. I don't want to spend more than 1k on the car after buying it, so is it still worth it?

Any help is appreciated! Thanks guys.

[rede30]

sounds like a good deal if you have the time and knowhow to work on this car yourself. I am sure you get get it running good enough for 1000 more. A new fender is not that big of a deal, if it was in a bad enough accident to really mess the car up, more than the fender would have a unmatching vin. The muffler itself would not be the cause for a smog test to fail but if he redid the whole system with no cats or hallow cats then that is your problem. That is probably not the case and normal maint items will allow the car to pass. i say buy it, slowly catch up on maintenance, and have fun with it.

[Oofie_SD]

sounds like a good deal if you have the time and knowhow to work on this car yourself. I am sure you get get it running good enough for 1000 more. A new fender is not that big of a deal, if it was in a bad enough accident to really mess the car up, more than the fender would have a unmatching vin. The muffler itself would not be the cause for a smog test to fail but if he redid the whole system with no cats or hallow cats then that is your problem. That is probably not the case and normal maint items will allow the car to pass. i say buy it, slowly catch up on maintenance, and have fun with it.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking, slowly fix the car when I have the money. Worst case scenario would be change the whole engine which might run me around 800-900. I'm going to check if he changed the whole exhaust system and see where the problem lies with the smog.

[rede30]

If you are interested,I have a good full stock exhaust system sitting in my barn in SoCal. A few days ago some asshole had me go through lots of trouble just for him to email me that he doesn't want to buy it after all so i would love to sell it.

[blunttech]

isnt the owner in california required to have the car pass smog before transfer? i thought i heard that before.
if so he will never sell that fucker. offer him 20 bucks and go from there

[kellie]

isnt the owner in california required to have the car pass smog before transfer? i thought i heard that before.
if so he will never sell that fucker. offer him 20 bucks and go from there

Yes, but someone will still buy it "as-is" or "for parts." E30s sell pretty quickly down here.

If the car had a blown head gasket when it was tested, that's probably why it didn't pass emissions. The head gasket can/will cause misfires (high HC), foul the plugs (high HC), foul the cats (high HC/NO), etc.

You WILL spend more than $1000 on this car if you buy it. Guaranteed.

[WillisE30]

Yes, but someone will still buy it "as-is" or "for parts." E30s sell pretty quickly down here.

If the car had a blown head gasket when it was tested, that's probably why it didn't pass emissions. The head gasket can/will cause misfires (high HC), foul the plugs (high HC), foul the cats (high HC/NO), etc.

You WILL spend more than $1000 on this car if you buy it. Guaranteed.

You're over the heads of 96% of the readers on this forum right there Kellie.

The PNW seems to take the cake for overvalued BMWs, E30s being a perfect example. A $1500 car anywhere else pulls $2500 or more here.

[Oofie_SD]

I'm willing to do the head gasket myself, but is it something that can be done without too much experience with a bentley manual?

[Oofie_SD]

By the way, anyone in san diego wanna come with me and look/diagnose the car? I'll pick you up:)

[kellie]

I'll look at it for you, but I'd have to charge you.

[Van Westervelt]

Shoot man, for 500 you could have yourself a whole m20 and throw that in there. Or, it sounds like a great candidate for a 24v. Plastic bumpered car clean, for under 1k. Cant really go wrong.

Of course, I am in the PNW, where e30's reign supreme! :)

[JasonC]

These are pretty simple cars to work on, if you are mechanically inclined then you can change the head gasket with out a manual. Just got to find out what the torque specs are. And that can be found on the internet.

[rede30]

yeah you will spend a lot more than than 1000 to fix everything, Kellie is right. With that said, you can take your time with maintenance, after you get some of the priority items taken care of, you have a nice driving car. My car has taken thousands and thousands of dollars to "fix" but i have also had it for close to 5 years.

[VacMan]

I recently brought registration up to current on a car I was selling ('88 325is.) It sat for 4 years, and it cost me $420 to get it current including 7.75% sales tax on $600. If that car needs the work you say it does, it's not even close to being worth what he thinks it is.

Blunt, you're correct. By law the seller can't do it without a smog cert. but it does happen all the time. I bought a car from Ben C. without a smog cert. since it couldn't be smogged when he sold it to me (bad water pump.)

OP: There's a 318i on CL in El Cajon for $1999 that I drove on Sunday. It has faded Diamondschwarz paint, has cracks in the dash, the passenger rear corner has damage and it needs tires. It's not perfect but it is mechanically sound. I got him to $1400 with little effort, so you should be able to pick it up for $1200-$1400 and have a car you can start driving immediately.

Tim

[Oofie_SD]

Well, it looks like i'm gonna pass up on this car for now. Main problem for me is registration. Since he let it sit for around 3 years now, the fees just to get registration current might be through the roof.