My new2me 1990 325i dr

[madformx5]

A few days ago I bought a one owner 1990 325i 4dr for a thousand dollars. The color is gletscherblau and the interior is gray. I posted the links for a couple of pictures below. One of these days I am going to get smart enough to figure out how to post them in the tread but probably not anytime soon. lol The car has about 190,000 miles and it is an automatic. The engine and transmission both run strong. I wasn't crazy about the slushbox at first but it's kind of growing on me. The car is not as doggy with the auto as I imagined it would be. Right off the line it is a little sluggish but after that it pulls hard.

I got a ton of maintenance records with the car. The timing belt was just changed last August. I plan on changing all of the fluids. I noticed the power steering fluid needs to be changed when I checked the levels the other day. The drivers side door handle and trim were both broken when I bought the car but the previous owner had purchased both but had not put them on so I did it the next day. I also noticed the trim around the drivers side rear door is broken but my parts car has a good one that I can change out.

All of electrical switches for the windows work. The power antenna works. The sunroof works. The fog lights work. I was pleasantly suprised when I discovered they weren't broken and they worked. the fog lights work. A brake warning light is on but I think it is a bad sensor because the car has good brakes. The drivers seat has a couple of tears but they are not in the usual place on the side bolster. The tears are on the inner side of the bottom cushing.

The paint is wearing through on the roof, the trunk, and a few little spots on the car but for twenty year old paint it is not bad. The car has spent its entire life in California and Texas so there is not any rust on the car anywhere. There is a dent on the hood about the size of a baseball and someone back into something and scraped/dented the drivers side rear quarter panel.

Overall I think it is going to make a great driver until I get my iS back on the road.

[JamesE30]

Nice pick up. Cool colour

[madformx5]

I have been working on my my new car. I have started calling it Carolina Blue because I am a fan of North Carolina basketball. In the eight days that I have owned my car I have installed smoked turn singles and euro grills. The day after I bought it I installed a new driverside door handle and trim. The guy who owned it before me bought them but never put the in. It only took me about thirty minutes if that.

I have taken some parts from my parts car and put them on Carolina. The emergency flasher button was sticking so the parts car made a donation. It also donated the door handle trim from passenger side door. I flipped it and installed it on the driverside rear door of my new car.

I have a set of 16x7 Konig Villian wheels that I want to put on the wheels. I went to Discount Tire today and bought the hubcentric rings so they would fit but I still need to find some twenty milimeter spacers. The offset is forty milimeters so I need to push them out. I originally bought these for my Miata but I have never put them on so I thought why not put them on my 325. I only paid a buck fifty for them so they are not perfect but they are straight and not cracked. As I get money I will probably get them repaired one or two at a time. They have have 205/45/16 tires on them but two of them are bald and the other two will just pass inspection so I have to put tires on them too.

Today I changed the oil for the time and I also dropped the tranny pan and change the fluid and filter in the transmission. The bottom of the pan was pretty clean for a car with a hundred and ninety plus thousand miles on the clock but I did a little cleaning in the pan. I was just relieved that it was not full of sludge. I used Mobil 1 synthetic oil and Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. Going by the MPG gauge in the cluster it is doing better on gas. I drove the car over fifty miles this evening and it felt much smoother. I have some Redline I think will work in the rear so I will probably change that soon to.

The next thing I am going to change is the power steering fluid. I bought a double sided nipple and three feet of hose so I can pour fresh fluid through the system until it comes out clean. I am going to connect the nipple and the hose to the power steering hose coming in to the resevior and run the dirty fluid into a bucket. I checked the level of the fluids the other day and the power steering fluid was not only low but nasty. I was wondering if anyone has used synthetic ATF in power steering system. I also wonder if it would make the steering feeling smother? I am not saying that the car feels bad I just think there is always room for improvement.

More later.

[Bimmerista]

Its not much of a 'Members Rides' thread without good pics! Lets see some pics with the new mods! :D

[madformx5]

Yeah the two pics I posted with my cell phone so they aren't very good. I will get my camera out tonight and take some better pictures. I'm still trying to figure out how to post the pictures directly into a reply. I was able to copy and paste a picture into a new thread I started last night but for some reason it will not let me put them into posts that way.

[Turf1600]

Do the fog lights work?

You got a good deal. I'm jealous.

PS - the power steering fluid cannister serves as a filter as well. Swap it with the fresh fluid.

[madformx5]

Yes the fogs do work Turf. This is the first of the three e30's I have bought that the fogs actually work. Thanks for the info on the PS canister. I will have to do that. I did the fluid change tonight without a new canister but I can do another change soon. I needed to get the old fluid out because it was an ugly shade of black.

Here are some pictures I took of the car this evening. I took thirty nine pictures of the car tonight. I won't post all of then though.



In this picture you can see the Euro grills and the smoked turns singles that installed. I ordered the grills from Mel Abrahams. They fit like a glove.



A front and side view.



A view from the back and the passenger side.



In this picture you can the area which is going to require the most body work. This quarter panel was scrapped and pushed in. The cracks in the corner of the tail light is barely showing up in this picture. I changed it out earlier tonight with a good one from my parts car. God I love parts cars. That was the best money I have ever spent.



The tail light that I replace from my parts car. The beginning of the scrap can be seen in this picture.



A picture of the engine compartment. I had only changed the oil when I took this picture.



A new door handle and trim that I installed the day after I bought the car. The previous owner bought them but never. My parts car donated the door handle trim the replace the broken on the drivers side rear door. The handle was fine though.



Anyone have a good gray drivers seat or a set of seats for that matter?


Another shot of the interior.



When I flushed the power steering fluid tonight I hooked a three foot section of heater hose to the power steering fluid return line and let the dirty fluid run into a bucket. I ran three quarts of fresh fluid through the system and refilled it with a forth.

Well that is all for tonight. More later.

[madformx5]

I downsized the pictures but next time I will go a little smaller.

[madformx5]

Anyone know why my pictures would delete. I reposted some of them. I will do the rest and some more later.

[madformx5]

Someone, somewhere on r3v told me to drop the bitch and I cannot remember where it was but last night I bought som springs and Billies so that is going to happen pretty fast. I want to order new spring perches before I install them.

[StereoInstaller1]

Someone, somewhere on r3v told me to drop the bitch and I cannot remember where it was but last night I bought som springs and Billies so that is going to happen pretty fast. I want to order new spring perches before I install them.

My first though: slammit, dammit.

[N2MYE30]

My vert is the same color and its kinda rare. Lots of potential there.

[madformx5]

Cool I am glad I am a new member of the club. Nice cars. I also have a black 1990iS but it is on the back burner right now. I need to save money because I am wanting to swap an OBD1 S52.

My vert is the same color and its kinda rare. Lots of potential there.

[madformx5]

BTW I am converting my 4dr to a black interior too. I installed a set of black sports seats the otherday that I bought on Easter weekend.

[madformx5]

BTW I am converting my 4dr to a black interior too. I installed a set of black sports seats the otherday that I bought on Easter weekend.

My vert is the same color and its kinda rare. Lots of potential there.