POLL: What level do you plan on restoring your E30 to?

[ZeKahr]

I'm just planning on restoring mine enough to be an enjoyable daily driver. Looking to get to the point of having working heat, AC, and a quiet engine. Going to also throw a new paint job and remove any and all rust. Sound system I'll probably leave alone. I expect to throw $10-20k total into parts and labor over the next 2 years before I'm satisfied.

What about you? How far are you planning on taking your restoration? How much money do you plan on dumping into your E30? How much time do you plan on spending on your restoration before you're satisfied? Please vote and comment below!

Restoration levels described here: https://factorycollision.com/2018/11...r-restoration/

[Zambuzan]

Bought this car bone stock and this is what I've done within two short year and within the budget you mention. Full body work + paint job (B-grade) + eBay Mtech2 kit, suspension, maintenance, exhaust (loud hehe), manual swap, etc. "Street show" :)

[coldweatherblue]

I daily drove high mileage E30s from 2003-2008 then from 2011-2018.

The last one got a lot more love than the first one. Countless hours TLC and a fair amount of shop time. Very rough estimate $12k at the shop over 7 years and about $3k in parts for stuff I did myself. Car has >400K and everything is fairly tidy all considered so I'd say "street show" if you'd let a few body dings slide.

If nothing else, E30s are excellent survivors compared to a lot of modern cars. My car sits in the garage looking good and I have no plans to do a frame-off resto. Would just buy a 911 or something..

[varg]

Given the limitations of the options I'd say "street show" is the level I'm aiming for. Initially I had one rust hole in the floor and paint on the agenda, but there was hidden rust under the headliner where the roof is rusting from the inside out around the sunroof cartridge, and once that broke through the upper surface I knew I was in trouble. Thank god I was smart and did the performance work before the cosmetics, if I had done a respray first and had that rust pinhole show up after spending all of that money I would have been pissed. Given the level of work required (glass has to come out to pull the headliner and repair the roof) the whole interior should come out. I will probably strip the car down to a rolling chassis before I send it off for paint and bodywork and have a rebuilt turbo M20 ready to go in when it returns. All in time, I'd say it will be a couple of years before I start that. As for the interior, it's in very good condition. The only work I'll need put in there is a upholstery job on the driver's seat and an upgrade to the existing speakers, which sound pretty good but with the car apart why not spend a few hundred more on some better sound. Who knows how much it will cost, probably a lot more than I'd like if I actually kept track, which I probably won't. That's the nature of loving cars and modifying them.

I've been going back and forth on the color I'll paint it for years but it will probably wind up Alpine White. I am no fan of how easily black shows flaws such fine scratches after dailying a mint black motorcycle for a while and seeing how fast it stopped looking mint.

[Northern]

I did a dumb and voted before I read the description. Daily Driver Restoration is essentially a shitbox by the link's "Restored to Driving Condition" condition.
I think my 4dr will be in that category just because of how rough it is. Throw a fake MT2 kit at it so it has bumpers, and wrap it with the cheapest vinyl so it is a single colour.
Buy/reuse the cheapest crap to run a M52/G260 and work toward a full interior but be happy with the dash that has a bunch of holes drilled in it and ripped seats.

My coupe, I'm definitely going for more of the "street show" where I want to fix the trunk pocket rot, fenders, sunroof to look like it was never damaged.
Not really focusing on originality, but keeping it in mind.
Try to maximize rubber without adding flares, retain stock interior besides some oem+ stuff like ebrake handle/boot, integrate wideband into the cluster, etc.

[thejimlab]

Right now I'm trying to go from absolute fucking disaster to shit box.

[Cabriolet]

I already went nuts 7 years ago a did a ground up restoration on my 1989 325i sedan. I'm in about $40k on this car but almost everything on the car is perfect.
But I'm going to do it again on a red mtech2 coupe. This car will probably costs more.

[Das Delfin]

idk it's a DIY nut and bolt. The only limitations are affordability and head space. At the end of it I'll end up with something I find really cool, but definitely not something I'd bring to a show because I'm not at all interested in people nit picking my car if they haven't gone through a DIY experience themselves.

[lukeADE335i]

Ticked "Street Show" but in reality something between "Daily Driver" and "Street Show" - not really building the car to show, just something that's a neat DIY driver and won't get picked on by Police :) Far from Concourse though.

[Andrew325is]

It depends what condition the car is already in. Some of them don't need a restoration. I think it's also best to avoid repainting them, unless the paint is very bad such as totally failed clear coat. But even then sometimes it's best to leave it. In the Land Rover world we call this patina. People often restore an old Series truck completely, except they leave the paintwork untouched. It's very classy.

With mine, I want it in presentable driving condition. I want everything to work. I've already sorted the mechanicals almost completely. The only major things I still need to tackle are basically the rear subframe and trailing arm bushings, and install the new A/C components. I could probably also have the U joints replaced in the driveshaft. I intend to keep an OEM unmodified look.

[NORBY]

There needs to be an option for "It started as a basic restoration, now I'm getting parts in the mail every day and I'm scared that I'll never end up finishing"

The more I pull apart the more I realise that needs to be done!

[e30davie]

Mechanically perfect.
Cosmetically good enough from 5 meters away.

Reason being i can do mechanics myself, but paint and panel is damned near impossible to get perfect as an amateur with limited time. Ive painted a couple of cars and i wouldn't do again. Lots of effort for a ~90% job. That last 10% is why you pay the professionals the big bucks. And i dont have big bucks for cars these days.

[AWDBOB]

I like to keep things just under street "show". The cars still look great and are mechanically sound, but nothing about the level of work takes away from the desire to drive it.

[e30austin]

I took my white m-tech cabrio apart for paint in March of 2017. After getting burned by the first "body man", I had to pay a competent body man almost 3x what the first guy charged, to fix his fuck ups. It burned me out so fucking bad, that I still have yet to reassemble it, three years later.

I have been slowly buying every piece of hardware, trim, clip, seal, gasket, etc, new from the dealer, as time and funds allow. I have ~$30k in the car and it literally still looks like a rolling parts car. Depressing, to say the least. Maybe I'll have interest in working on the car again some day.

On the other side of the coin, my red car has worn, tired paint and a rough body - at this point, I just don't care anymore. I still somewhat daily drive the car during the fair weather months and attempt to keep it presentable, but at a certain point, it just doesn't matter anymore.

Moral of this story, pony up and buy a car that already has an acceptable body and paint. I wish I never took this car apart, maybe I'd still be out driving my white car from time to time.

[mike.bmw]

"Street show" for sure. I commute in the car a few times a week when the weather is nice (even in winter when there isn't salt on the roads). I attend ~2 HPDE events a year. I attend car shows with it (placed first in a BMW CCA NCC concours event last year in the 80s BMW class). I take the family on day trips in the car. I try to use it as much as possible.

When I bought this car 4 years ago, the body was in good condition. No accidents and all original paint. Some minor dings which I still need to have a PDR person address, but nothing major. A good detailing inside and out provided great results. Mechanically my car has needed a bit of everything to include suspension (springs, shocks, bushings, ball joint, control arms), steering (new rack, steering joint, tie rods), engine (timing case reseal, upper/lower oil pan gaskets, mess under intake refresh, fuel+coolant+vacuum lines, injectors, plugs, wires, exhaust, timing chain tensioner), brake refresh, dash swap ... this list goes on. I've address these things as needed over the past 4 years as seen here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...ite-1991-318is

I'll continue to update, refresh, and replace things as I see fit. It's a fun car to drive, it's a fun car to work on, and I really enjoy being a part of the E30 and vintage BMW community.