1985 325e White M3 Rep

[OttoB]

I will give it away for free as long as someone pays for shipping. Let me reach out to the shop so they can keep the box from the replacement one and place the existing one there! These are pics of the dash if anyone wants it - PM me. It has some damage on the lower driver side corner... maybe the BAT listing has better pics.

[OttoB]

So... the latest. The dashboard has been picked up by a fellow, local board member and long time enthusiast, so it will live on for many more years on his car! The factory trained tech has had the car now for a couple of weeks happens to be a reserved, quiet individual and therefore, progress updates as well as photographs barely have trickled in. However, I will be able to share some progress within the next couple of posts below. And, there really is no pressure for the car to be completed by a certain timeframe, so I prefer leaving things as they are so as to not be a nuisance, ya know?

First up was to do a comprehensive mockup of the entirely new a/c system going into the car. We will call the tech "John" - as, I have not gotten his permission to share his info out on the interweb. John does not do any advertising nor do I believe his shop has an actual name. But - he knows his stuff, that is 1,000% certain! Anyhow, within the stashes of boxes, he realized that we were missing the compressor and some brackets - where, I was certain same had been transported to the shop since: a) I had a picture of the condenser at my office and b), could not imagine there being a box left behind for this particular car at my office. After a nervous evening, I found the dang box hidden below a desk drawer and ended up having to courier it over to Bob. Here is the compressor now installed where it's meant to be:









All of these cars, regardless of how well kept and maintained they are - still go back some 40+ years. And, things wear out over time, so John ordered new foam gaskets for the a/c box along with some grommets and rubber radiator mounts right away from ECS Tuning.








When John opened up the many boxes of goodies I had purchased (I had not bothered because I would not have been able to do anything with them anyhow), he grabbed the heater box and saw that it was gutted in that no blower motor or heater core were in it, so that instead - we would use the ones in my car's heater box... But, the ones on the 325e are different from the replacement heater box, which meant we had to go to ECS again and order one of each:





We were missing a pulley for the engine to drive the compressor, but John "knows people" and was able to source one immediately and spruce it up to end up looking fresh on my car. Along the new blower motor and HVAC heater core ($170 combined), the second order to ECS also included a couple of exhaust hangers, condensation water outlet hoses, and more grommets. Everything arrived yesterday, despite having been ordered 2 weeks ago as one of the items was on back order.

These next couple of pictures show the original dash having been removed and placed alongside the beautiful new one, which was worth the months' long hassle through no fault of the seller!!!






And, just like in TV shows where the plate being cooked is done in 10 seconds, or - a car show where weeks of work is miraculously done overnight - this is now the new dash where all of the original one's parts/accessories had been transferred over.




No attention to detail ( I think or hope anyway) has been missed, including me having sourced an interior decal sheet for the wiper, turn signal, a/c, interior dash buttons and switches - out of eBay - which I hope revives the appearance of mine since most of the decals are either missing, or very faded! I hope it all comes together nicely as sh*t's not been easy to get piece together everything, ya know?

[OttoB]

The foam gaskets for the a/c box arrived and were promptly installed yesterday:








The rubber radiator mounts also were installed, which allowed for the condenser fan to go in:









Next up is a picture showing the dashboard having been removed, as there is a whole bunch of wiring that needs to take place, aside from reinstalling the HVAC box back in:





John installed the Turner Conforti chip and, confessed having done a previous install on a personal 318i of his many years ago, where he was very satisfied with the outcome. No pics of that, or the installation of the 5 1/4 speakers going into the front lower kick panels along with the other pair in the rear deck to replace (presumably) the ones the car had... The amp is 4 channel and will also be tucked in behind the dash, with the compact 8inch Kicker sub going somewhere in the trunk.

No pictures of the entire locking 'system' being installed either - from the ignition barrel, to the trunk as well as both doors but, glad what I sourced ended up being plug + play... I got 2 new key blanks from eBay in Asia for very little, so those will be cut once I get the car back. However, this is a huge relief as not being ever able to truly lock a car is no bueno, and it has finally been done on this one (1 key for everything too)!!!

Up next, aside from the continued a/c work is the wiring of the new, correct Euro 325e gage cluster, which will be adorned with a set of chrome rings around the dials. This too will be a relief since it is unnerving to drive a car with non-stop, flashing lights on the dash with no working speedo, odo, or gages... I sourced yesterday a new shift boot and ebrake cover since the existing shifter will be replaced with a lighted one, which I do prefer instead.

The front spoiler is indeed a replica, so John also has to build a structure within it in which to mount the new foglights along with the sourced switch for same. The Euro side marker lights will also be installed soon.

Overall, I am incredibly happy and enthusiastic about the car - especially having watched a whole bunch of M3's racing in Spa via YouTube today! Will share progress when same is available and hope this finds everyone doing good on this long holiday weekend :)

[g.ruff561]

GM Otto, I saw your car this week. It is very nice. Your car looks better than some original E30 M3. Keep up the good work.

[AWDBOB]

Killer progress! I mentioned needing a new blower motor/heater core on the phone as they become "consumables" when you're in that deep (originals in that box were tossed), but I don't think it ever made it to text. Glad you got it sorted, and very glad you found the right guy to tackle this! E30 heater boxes are like clusters- it takes 4 to make one good one.