1985 325e White M3 Rep

[OttoB]

Lastly, these floor mats are a very nice, understated improvement over the ones my car has had it seems since it was built in 2020. I like the quality, look, finish, and touch but - likely the last thing I will install on the car so they don't get beat up by any shop while the car is being worked soon, in order to get some of this stuff installed, plus more on the way (and the routine, basic post-purchase fluids/maintenance stuff).

[OttoB]

Okay - after 2 calls today to Run Buggy - first was told car can be delivered on Thanksgiving or, supposedly next Monday, December 1st. So, next Monday hopefully it will be and had coincidentally already lined up an appointment with the DMV Tuesday to get plates in order to be able to drive it... In the meantime, I got the Depo Smiley headlights in today from Classic Hero and they appear great...












Although the listing of the car when the Seller bought it in 2022 off Cars & Bids had a regular kidney grill, I asked him if he had done anything to it as its presently black to match the tinted dark headlights and turn signals. When he said no - which is strange since the kidney grill on the car is black - I went ahead and bought a new one since this is a New-to-Me car and I want it looking as good as possible from Day1:










The amber turn signals sourced from eBay (as has everything else other than the headlights which is where I found them, actually) also arrived and looking spiffy:











Long story but in essence, all my cars have to either get a Momo steering wheel and/or Alpine head unit - no exceptions (other than the VQ). So, here is a new, old-stock Alpine CD player since they don't make or sell them new anymore and, I use the the USB ports on them to charge my cell phone. Next to the box is a cigarette lighter cap since it's missing on my car and I don't smoke (much less in any car).

[OttoB]

Wheels arrived 2 weeks ago, but got tires the other day and I needed to check both out at the tire/alignment place. I ended up buying the set of 4 Yoko 235/40/17’s from eBay vs. Tire Rack after buying the same exact size for the rears (along with new, smaller fronts for the GTV-6) 3 months ago from Tire Rack, but each tire had gone up like $45 for no reason since then. On eBay, it’s luck of the draw but saved more than $175 for same new tires and date codes are from 2023 onward.

e30 arrives this week. I called Run Buggy first thing Monday morning for an ETA and was told to wait until later in the day. Car was picked up last Wednesday and I was told it would arrive 6-7 days later (tomorrow). Called Run Buggy 7 hours later (this evening) and still no info available. Not expecting to arrive tomorrow but such bs where there is zero justification for the driver not getting back to dispatch. Had something similar happen expecting delivery over this past 4th of July - it sours the experience because these aholes think it’s funny to keep things to themselves and then surprise you last minute.

[Northern]

A few things from the last page.

No idea who Redux is, but they carry a lot of parts from others and claim they're their own. The ITBs and their flywheels are made by RHD (Racehead Engineering) in Australia. No idea how/why they're doing this.
The ITBs are great, but only worth it with a lot of supporting mods.

Nothing wrong with Depos (other than the odd leak which mine are fairly consistent with). Hella and Bosch lights are all old/expensive, so the Depos make more sense now than ever. They're a straight replica of the Hella parts, and interchangeable 100% as far as I know. May need some adjustment out of the box to have them sit right in the grilles and aim right.

[OttoB]

You should know that M3 foglights mount to the bumper support/carrier via a special bracket and the foglights need the "ears" to mount them to the said bracket. All these parts are either NLA or very expensive/hard to find. Which is why many people just run brake ducts. Your car probably won't have an M3 bumper support anyway so you'd have to find another way to mount the fogs.

Methinks that the theme/direction of the original build for this car when it was being transformed into a M3 in Poland back around 2020 was to make it like an Evo II… The car has both Evo front and rear spoilers and I’ve been looking through the interweb and Evo II’s apparently didn’t come with fog lights?!?

My goal is to make my e30 emulate the real deal from a cosmetic point of view. So, the smoked lenses, whether they’re bright as day or not - are just not my cup of tea for this car (but again, have done that in a previous BMW of mine). So, Depo clear Smileys are coming in.

M3 door sills are super expensive… They cool? Yeap - can I live without them? Yeap.

Foglights - looking more and more like $1.2K+ easy. My ‘81 S123 AMG, ‘85 Quattroporte, and ‘86 GTV-6 don’t have foglights but wish I did. There’s nothing having me make a decision or purchase anytime soon, as much as it being cool to have (if I get them).

Same thing with e30 M3 rear seats. Someone was selling one last week for $2K and are they cool? Yeap! Is it obvious my car is a rep because of the rear normal
bench seats? Yeap! Do I care? Nope! This car is eventually meant for my son and prefer he have the option of having 3 girls back there vs. only 2 ;)

All good, baby! Thank you for your continued feedback, support, help, and insight fellas!

[McGyver]

The "smoked" headlights are likely not tinted. I don't believe BMW offered them as a factory option, but I know Hella made them as a period-correct modification.

The low beams have the front reflector plate painted black. On projector headlights, the reflector plate doesn't reflect much light, so there isn't a real difference in light output. The high beams have black metal crosshairs installed. These make the reflector look black in the daylight, but have little to no impact on light output.

Depo is the cheap/only aftermarket projector headlight company. I bought a set of smoked Depo headlights when I had a small crash, they've been great and I don't have any complaints about light output. I do have occasional condensation on the inside, which is/was a common concern for Depos.


It's a moot point now, but I would have waited to see if you like the smoked lights. I think they look really cool

[reelizmpro]

You should know that M3 foglights mount to the bumper support/carrier via a special bracket and the foglights need the "ears" to mount them to the said bracket. All these parts are either NLA or very expensive/hard to find. Which is why many people just run brake ducts. Your car probably won't have an M3 bumper support anyway so you'd have to find another way to mount the fogs.

[OttoB]

Got the Smiley's from Classic Hero earlier today - originally found via eBay but Simon had suggested I contact them directly and saved a few bucks! As to the front spoiler brake vents/scoops - where I live and drive, I much prefer fog lights as the street light situation in WPB isn't great, actually. At some point, I will place the stuff I am removing off the car for sale, although the wheels were snatched up almost immediately by an acquaintance located nearby for his Miata. The smoked headlights, turn signals, and kidney grill are coming off at some point and will be available eventually.

[patrick88m3]

What I saw was the smoked ones... I know OttoB is looking for some fogs, maybe you can trade your fogs for his scoops and then work the headlights & turn signals into the trade... You would probably need to add cash Im sure but no idea where the values on everything is

Guess who also needs fogs haha
There's plenty depo smileys for 350 on ebay still. And one seller with them for 250. I'll try and grab some soon-ish in case they vanish. Can't wait to see Hella smoked smileys go up even more in price.

[2mAn]

You gotta be kidding me. Hope I can sell some more part out parts and grab a set before they all go out of stock.

What I saw was the smoked ones... I know OttoB is looking for some fogs, maybe you can trade your fogs for his scoops and then work the headlights & turn signals into the trade... You would probably need to add cash Im sure but no idea where the values on everything is

[patrick88m3]

They are most likely DEPO Smileys, which it looks like are NLA.

You gotta be kidding me. Hope I can sell some more part out parts and grab a set before they all go out of stock.

[OttoB]

The car was finally picked up last night, so it should arrive next week and I can take a closer look at everything. As it is, however, I’m never truly happy leaving any car I get ‘as-is’ from the previous owner. So, whereas the builder back in 2021 installed these smoked lenses, they’re just not for me (nor more importantly - the wheels)… Mind you, elsewhere in this thread I posted pics of me having tinted the lenses front and back of my 850 - but, not into same on this e30.

I appreciate everyone’s feedback and support, since you all know infinitely these cars in + out!

[reelizmpro]

Nice M3 clone. You should wait until you have the car looked over before buying parts. The car has Evo brake ducts in place of the foglights, smoked Autoart turn signal lenses and custom smoked smilies. I can't tell what brand they are but they don't appear to be the usual Bosch or Hella.

[OttoB]

Many thanks for the detailed response. As a matter of fact, I reached out directly via PM to the entity that is selling a refurbished set, asking a couple of questions and requesting they contact me back. That was last week - so, they must be really, really busy. Hence, this post so that I can seek out alternative sources for headlights, turn signals, and foglights since exploring options is always a great thing (we are talking about BMW's right)?!?!


I took a look at the many pictures on Cars+Bids from 2022 for this car - here is the link to that auction (never saw this until after bought the car):

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3qz...12&ref=pr_1_10

For your pros out there, if you had not seen this link/photos/info before - I absolutely welcome any additional information or insight that you are able to see based on same? I see a whole bunch of suspension and brake parts, but have no idea of what I am looking at other than it seems a lot of effort and time was spent to transform this M3 Rep.

The kidney grill back then was normal, and hoping that a shop in town (there are surprisingly a few) would have either an engine ready to go, a kidney grill, seatbelt receptacles, dashboard, etc. that this car appears to may end up with, ya know? For sure, the tinted headlights will be coming off the car but, not until I get every other part I want to replace so that everything can be swapped during a single visit to a shop - in case anyone is interested.

[2mAn]

1) the headlights appear to be Smileys - are there different models or types of them, and these happen to be tinted ones - if anyone knows? I prefer having normal headlights/maybe with bright LED bulbs as the mean streets here in WPB are not always very well lit. If they are already permanently tinted, then I want to replace them and looking for comparables that look like the ones on a real M3 (what, other Smileys - what part number or description are they referenced by)?

2) same with the turn signals - are they standard spec across the years and models, or would they have to be M3 specific to appear like the genuine article? I am not looking to convince anyone that this fiberglass-bodied M3 is not a replica, so I don't have to get Hella Germany pricey ones when identical appearing ones could be had for much less. I prefer new/not OEM than OEM, but worn out - ya know?

3) same with the missing fog lamps - I buy most of everything on eBay so if you could please tell me what to place on the search bar to source a new pair of foglights, that would be greatly appreciated. I had not noticed until moments ago that they were missing entirely, in all sincerity.

RealOEM is a place you should bookmark.

(1) OEM Smileys are later model factory Euro lights. They were never available smoked as far as I know. They are most likely DEPO Smileys, which it looks like are NLA. Should be able to get some bucks for them if you sell them here
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...headlight-set/

I PM'd you the OEM setup I would replace these with. You can upgrade the projector beam light if they arent already bright enough for you. Euro lights are pretty good IMO.

(2) I went over to Real OEM to pull the part# for the turn signal lenses and it looks like my suspicion was correct that they are the same as Early Model ones. A WTB here in the classifieds should help you get a set of Amber ones. As usual, when you put a WTB out there be careful of scammers.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=63_0157

Part # 63131386611

(3) This will be something that may take a little more work to find out since the bumpers are aftermarket fiberglass... there likely isnt the OEM mounting tabs. I would start with #1 & #2 and then you can address the #2

Get an OEM Chrome Kidney too... Those 3 items together (lights, signals and grille) will transform the front of the car.