School me on e30 vert

[CorvallisBMW]

Buy M3Ryans M-tech2, it's for sale right now and one of the cleanest in the whole country!

[vlad]

Buy M3Ryans M-tech2, it's for sale right now and one of the cleanest in the whole country!

very nice vert indeed, even if the miles are a little too high...

I have 1 owner, 57k mile, 92 vert with power top, 5 speed, new Bilstein suspension, 17" SSR rims for sale, uber clean, let me know if you are interested ;)

here are some of the verts I built last year

My e30 plastic bumper conversion vert (sold)



before



after







my e30 metal bumpered vert (sold)





before



after



my 92 calypso vert (sold)







before



after

[dinanm3atl]

Vlad I know your cars ;)

Most of them are out of my price range. This will be a 3rd car and I already have a race car. Don't need a 10,000 dollar e30 vert right now haha

[dinanm3atl]

10/90 have plastic bumpers and rear valence? What build date has plastic bumpers?

I have now seen a 1990(I am guessing early build date) and a 91(maybe it is a 9/90) that had metal bumpers.

The 91 model year can easily swap plastic bumpers correct?

[Danny]

Vlad you you just hate contrast or what?

[Eecen]

www.e30ic.com

Thank me when you get back.

Thanks for posting that, much obliged good sir.

Vlad you you just hate contrast or what?

Well, turns out he was just hiding very shitty paint jobs. Quite masterfully if I say so myself.

[smooth]

10/90 have plastic bumpers and rear valence? What build date has plastic bumpers?

I have now seen a 1990(I am guessing early build date) and a 91(maybe it is a 9/90) that had metal bumpers.

The 91 model year can easily swap plastic bumpers correct?

Personally, I wouldn't be too hung up on plastic bumpers. 89 was the crossover year. That's when cabrios like mine received a partial facelift. We have the lower rear arches but metal bumpers. They aren't as long as the earlier metal bumpers everyone refers to as diving boards. Ours actually comes with plastic, color matched surrounds. Some people drill the shocks and push them in for a lower profile look. You could paint the metal portion of the bumpers to color match, too. Personally, I wouldn't drill the bumpers because they are rated to 15 mph and they work. When I had my US bumpers I've been backed into and no damage and I also backed into a tree one night and pushed my bumper in but there was no damage to my frame.

If you decide you want to put a kit on your cabrio, the MTech2 is specific to specific and extremely difficult to find ($$$$$). Once you find it you still have to install it and respray the car ($$$$$). In fact, all of the body parts like the suspension, the doors, and the fenders are cabrio specific. So I would suggest looking for a clean body and healthy suspension is more important than whether it's pre or post facelift.

Another plus to the 89 is that it comes with US ellipsoids. You can buy smilies (I did) but you don't have to. You can run HIDs but I don't support that. If you don't install them correctly, and last I checked it wasn't possible but that was years ago, they'll bounce around and blind other drivers. They're not even necessary anyway, in my opinion, a lot of people get Osram Silvania Silverstars imported over. I think mine were around $15.

Make sure you examine the top. If it leaks you'll be looking at hundreds of dollars in seals. If the back window isn't clear and scratch free you're looking at around 250 dollars. If the top is not sorted for some reason you could be looking anywhere from 600-800 dollars. So you want the top to fit well, not leak, open/close smoothly, and be visible.

The trunk has a back light on it. The seal around the light tends to leak so check the condition of the light, the seal, and the inside of the trunk (and the tool kit) for signs of water and/or damage.

Personally, I think the MT2 tends to get played out. I don't see a lot of people sporting euro bumpers and/or MT1 kits and I think they look fantastic. The nice thing about going this route is that you can upgrade to the euro bumpers and leave it until you sort an MT1 kit. But the euro bumper package is a very respectable end point in its own right so you don't even have to find a kit and still have a rare and desirable look.

compared to

that can become

The year you choose now basically determines the kit you'll end up with if you plan on keeping the cabrio forever without some complicated fabrication. I chose to go the route of the second picture. I have that same royal blue metallic paint with a tan interior (and the euro bumpers and bbs wheels), which brings me to my final point. Think about the colors in terms of things beyond just preference.

Black interior in a hot and sunny environment attracts heat, burns your legs when wearing shorts, burns ladies' thighs if they wear skirts/shorts (and a well sorted cabrio attracts), and the leather will be more prone to sun damage, drying, and cracking than a lighter color.

My metallic paint was so incredible when I bought it. It's like purple from one direction and dark blue from another. The problem is that metallic colors have to be sprayed in the same direction at the same time because the flecks make a pattern that is detectable so the painter can't blend panels. They have a clear coat so they can't be buffed like the non-metallic colors can. That means if one panel fades or the clear coat becomes damaged you have to do a full respray for it to look proper. If you need to replace a door or fender or hood/trunk you won't be able to use one that matches your color and have it look right. You don't have those problems with non-metallics and some people can even polish faded non-metallic paint jobs back to sparkly again.

[e30rapidic]

^^^ best post in here.

correctly referred to as cabrios....and not verts.

[M3TROY]

e30rapidic i absolutely love the way your car is setup :up:

cheers to you M8

[325ix]

I always though cabrio was the VW term for a convertible, while vert was BMW.

[Eecen]

..

Damn man, thank you for taking the time to write that out :up: