If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
I wish now that I had more pictures of my car from when I bought it. Bent rear bumper, missing side marker lights, ratty top, fugly diving boards, broken fogs, cracked sealed beams, cracked windshield, and I could go on and on . . .
I'll post what I have tonight when I am at home so you can see some changes that have occurred.
Well my story doesn't start with e30's but I'll tell it anyway.
I moved to Houston in the summer of '99 and figured since there is really no winter down here I needed a convertible. I always thought BMW's looked nice so I decided to try one out. Bought this '94 325iC with around 50k on the odo. Added a stereo and later the M3 contour wheels.
After a while I caught the mod bug it didn't make sense to do much with an automatic convertible so I decided I wanted an M3. Started looking and stumbled back into the guy I got the convertible from. He had a '95 Avus M3 and wanted mine back so we struck up a trade and I ended up with this.
I started the mod process and ended up with H&R springs, Koni shocks, euro HFM, schrick cams, JC chip, 24# injectors, AA G3 exhaust, CAI, and me being me it's 3rd set of wheels.
Then my wife got pregnant and the M3 along with this truck weren't practical
So I sold them both and bought this nice civilized truck
and again, me being me couldn't leave it stock so 6 whole days later it looked like this. Practical huh?
After about a year I started missing BMW's and wanted to get rid of my payment so I found this nice little '87 325e sedan. This is also when I found this site.
Had so much fun with that one that I decided to get one I decided to get another one. Picked up this '89 325is off of ebay looking like this
It progressed through more than it's share of wheels and other mods to this
and now looks like this
Then I sold the 325e and bought my wife a '93 525iT that looked like this
and now looks like this
I decided it was time to dedicate the e30 more to the track so that required a new daily driver for me so I picked up this '92 525iM
It has now progressed into this
........to be continued
"Modern cars may be able to outgun it, but few can match its character, its motorsport spirit, and the way it plasters a huge grin on your face at any speed." - Patrick George
1988 M3 - Track Rat
1989 325iC M50 Vert
1989 325i Coupe
1991 318is
1995 318ti Club Sport
2006 330i e90
2008 Tundra Crewmax
Alright,
I started off with a 1991 bmw 318i 4 door. (no pics of this) It was red but of course oxidized and people called it pink and not red. I had this car a little before i was 16.
Clutch fan went out so I took it somewhere to get it fixed and they test drove it and got in an accident. Might be bad but than i wouldn't have found the car i am driving now. ;)
Most stockish pic right here (has mhw lights and hella euro ellips smoked)
Well after a few years of Hondas and whatnot, and working slowly on my 240z, i had an epihpone. I was about to drop an h22a into my 92 hatch, had almost all parts for the swap, then realized i wanted something quick AND comfortable.
daN had just bought an 85 325e, rusted out, and started getting to work on it. I found a CLEAN body black on black 87 325e in Harrisburg PA that I picked up for $1500. had an oil pan gasket leak, interior looked brand new.
That winter, dash cracked. fuck.
Pulled the motor to put a stroker together. don't have any pics of the car, damn. just deleted them when I sold it a week ago. had a bunch of shit for it, euro rear bumper, 4.10, stroker ish, etc.
Was going to pick up an e30 m3 for track, and it was sold right from under me. like 4 hours before I was gonna leave to go get it.
So get home. no class, had called off work to scoop the m3. nothing to do. got into it with my friend Jack Daniels. Was searching maxbimmer, when OHMYGOD! holy shit! a fucking touring! for sale! in toronto! only wanted like 7500 or something! so I scroll down, thinking toward the end I will see "SOLD" written somewhere in the thread. no. just more price lowering.
So I called him up. Damn, too late. someone was coming that night to show him a 318, which he was gonna trade +cash for the touring.
Go to a bar.
Get a call at the bar. "his 318 was a piece of shit. didn't want it. car is still for sale."
Clutterbucker drove me up to Mississauga the next day. Didn't even need to, but I test drove it. Yes, as nice as I expected.
Didn't even think about the fact that I was paying $6k for a non-m e30. It was a touring, what I had always wanted, and it would be mine.
He drove it down to me and dropped it off in Buffalo the next day. No hassles. Nice.
Had to put half the thing on my credit card, as I didn't have enough money. But the citibank APR was worth it.
who said all the great deals go too fast on the internet? well, they've got to go to someone, and finally I was that someone!
with all the parts I have sitting in my room for it (just need time, I've got 2 cars ahead of this one in the project-line) it will look like this (minus the sideskirts, I want to sell the bmp skirts and get acs)
now even though I'm not going all out on the touring until I get some more time, I'm still not stupid enough to put it through winter. So I hooked my good friend daN up with my good friend don (clutterbucker) and dan bought his '90 325i with h&rs, bilsteins, and susp techniques sway bars for $2k. So daN (this guy);
sold me his 85 325e for $650. headgasket, timing belt, water pump, bunch of maintenance shit, bavauto springs, black 14" basketweaves, etc etc. but the body is rusted out
Originally posted by blunt
can you get me a deal on cases of their (fiji) bottled water? i wash my 02 in that shit
I sat in the back of Pre-Cal class during Sophmore year in Spring 2002 thinking of what car I wanted to buy. I had a nice purdy 93 Acura Integra B18A......automatic. Great car, but automatic, no power locks, no ABS, FWD, and those annoying automatic seatbelts. I wrote down what I wanted from a car - power everything useful, leather, comfortable, yet somewhat good performing - good suspension and good brakes, and it had to have ABS, then researched all the cars. Things like Legends, 90 Quattros, and E36s were potentials, but I finally determined to get a cheap easy-to-repair, RWD and nicely powered e30 325i (and lighter than E36). I needed to learn to drive stick and was tired of the Acura, and was near broke working only 10 hours a week or so, therefore I bought a 92 Infiniti G20 5spd from one of my mom's friends for $1500. My sister got my Acura and I drove my cool new 5spd and cruised it. (think was a high mileage Nissan, so POS....spent way too fucking much in a year to maintain it, and only mods was swapping the Alpine/Infinity stereo over) I had only wanted to drive it for a few months before getting a BMW, but it grew into longer than that, with repairs piling up.
I starting searching and watching and waiting and looking, and checking TMS used classifieds and CCA sites for an E30. I first came on E30sport probably winter 2002 and learned all the differences in models and read up on Fred Kim's site and read Kris (bimmerphile's) posts there. I almost got a POS 87 325i in CT, but he told me to save my time and effort, it wasn't worth it. And I almost got an oxidized silver e30 with H&R's. Then after a week of serious searching in August 2003 I came upon an ad on Windy City BMW's classifieds and replied the day it was posted. I drove to Chicago being excited it had GC's with Konis, 16" Borbets and Yoko ES100s, and decent miles....and the pic that showed the front half only looked beautiful. I saw it in person and was like huh, weird. But I drove and loved it and bought it on the spot. I was still in debt from repairs from the G20, but sold it and added the differential to what I owed my parents. I worked my ass off throughout Senior year and the summer after and was all in the black when I went off to college, even with buying some items, and breaking a rocker arm a few months into owning it.
Most of you have seen the progress and changes and all that other bullshit I've endlessly posted about. Euro Ellips and Euro grills, and euro plate, and Borbet Type Cs, and gunmetal weaves, and spray painted shit black, and used a taller spring in back, and all that jazz.
Winter 2004 was an exciting mission to replace the rear subframe bushings, and I added to the list things I thought I "needed" on the track :roll: ..... but oh well, they added to the fun and I'm glad I did them: 4.10 LSD, SS lines, etc, and then also rebuild shift linkage with delrin shift carrier bushing, replaced guibo and CSB, and shot motor mounts with IE urethane.
The eta with the first BMW I ever drove, my BMW-passionate uncles suspensed, chipped 325e.
Summer of 2005 Auto-Xed twice and did two weekends at Putnam. Bought a 85 eta automatic sedan....royal POS and replaced some things to make it livable. Bought a Recaro SRD right before I left for school. And worked Fulltime in a cubicle to pay for the shit, and rent, etc for the school year. I got the 3.7 I needed last semester, so Purdue gave me another $9K this year so I can continue to play and have fun. I'm gonna track a couple times and Auto-X a bunch next year with my Koseis. I just bought a bunch of snow tires and caps/steelies and will be ready for this winter in my eta. Because of repairs last two winters, the 325is didn't see any snow and I don't plan on it doing so this year either.
I'm done modding pretty much for now. There's no point. I'm just enjoying the car and gonna have fun and enjoy events with friends and others. The eta is a nice thing to have as a backup car and a winter beater, but I couldn't drive it everyday and don't need to worry about upgrading my car. I should be studying, or partying, not spending time debating on the next thing to do to it. I need to put in these damn GC RSMs and I want to hook up the M3 front swaybar endlinks.
Plus, free tution or not, I'm a college student and have rent, and a lot of booze to buy. So cheers to E30 as budget BMWs and being fun, cheap little cars.
And yeah. Over two years....even with modification and shit, the E30 has still been nearly the same cost as keeping the G20 up would have been I think.... 8) definately more fun than that overweight, underpowered FWD thing, even if it was decently cool.....i'd still prefer RWD.
i hear you on the eta thing. I'm gonna take my touring off the road after this weekend at the Glen and put my eta on the road. it's whp is equal to the stock crank hp numbers, and still gets 28mph highway. help me deal with gas prices a bit
Originally posted by blunt
can you get me a deal on cases of their (fiji) bottled water? i wash my 02 in that shit
I picked out my E30 when I was 12 yrs old. My mom needed a car and my parents let me pick it out cause it was going to be my hand-me-down. It was a alpine '89 325i w/ 113,000 miles. I started saving up for wheels, stereo and suspension so by the time I was 16 I'd have it pretty much how I wanted it.
Comment