new guy 84 318i

[SpoolnDaapex]

It sad to see such a beautiful car completely destroyed within a few years. For the price of an e30 shell i'd agree with the others saying its not worth it. You'll definitely spend more money fixing that up and then all the labor on top of that. Time = money

[///digitalme]

bring that car back to life...rear panel is definitely fixable!!! i had an e30 worst than that and i got it fixed and painted...

before






after

[RainierHooker]

The quarter panel is fixable, but will take some time and money. Like someone said earlier, everything is repairable for a price.
What is more disturbing is the front of the unibody. The radiator support is trashed and will need to be replaced and the cowl is just plain scary, ie good luck ever getting the windshield seal to fit right and you will always be fighting rust throughout the area. There also apears to be buckling and what is up with the 'crossmember bracing'? Take a good long look at the straitness of the frame.
It would DEFINATELY be more worthwhile to transfer the kit (which I woud KILL for, where exacly do you live?) and any other rare/usefull bits to a better shell.

PS, time for a good ol' fashioned pitch-fork and torch mob on the previous owner's lawn...

[methylprop]

How much is the body kit worth. I cant find many pics of it. It has to be somewhat rare. It does have the fender flares. I am thinking about parting it out. I'm not much of a BMW guy and i'm already missing my Nissan's. This is kick ass car though even if it's a pos right now.

Here is a pic of the same kit on a wagon. I would love to have this wagon.

[619E30]

That's just sad

[kway]

Why give up on a car that can be fixed. I don't want this to be the end of this cars life. I don't know why. I know it's stupid, but I'm not junking it.

I hear ya OP. I love M10 318s, I've got one right now I bought as a parts car for $400 with 82.5k miles. Got it home and found out it's actually a really solid car underneath but needs rad support, hood, fenders, various dents/dings gone over, probably a full repaint. Can't bring myself to part it out, I feel like it needs to be saved.

Kinda the same story as yours; had a Zender kit on it, Mtech 1 wheel, M3 seats, header, sport exhaust. Like it was somebody's toy that they took care of and modded out a bit, then someone else took it over and just ran it into the ground.

Yeah "it's just a car" but I feel bad for the little guy. I plan to make it the basis for my own M10 turbo project eventually (I started collecting turbo parts long before I got this car), even though it wouldn't make sense to most people.

Good luck with the project if you decide to go through with it; it'll be a long road, but it would be nice to see it come back.

[getouth]

part that thing out!! it will be a black hole if you start putting money into it.

[methylprop]

I started on the bmw front end today. I wanted to pull the dash today but not sure if i will get to it. Here is the progress so far. BTW, I did find a little rust 2 spots. This just keeps getting better and better.

[methylprop]

I'm still not to sure about the engine i'm going to go with. I'm thinking a carb'ed 5.3 LM7 with a t56 or turbo the m10.

[Frog]

As much as I hate when these go to the junker, this thing needs way too much work.. I, too, would recommend to take the desired parts and scrap it.

If you restore it: more power to you!

This is the metal support behind the seats. He locked his keys in the car and "Didn't want to bust the glass". so this is what he did instead.

LOL you cannot be serious!

[freeride53]

Holy shit!
That's a lot of work, but if a car had cool history like that, I'd fix it up.
I'd have more respect for you if you could fix this, than if you grabbed a new shell.
Look for a decent shell(s) to cut off of, and fix this one up.