New E30 Addict - My 89 Lachssilber 325is (Pictures Fixed)

[Zeemz]

I picked her up back in January, so I figured it was time I posted some pictures, introduced myself and stopped lurking in the Forsale Forums.

Background - 133k on the clock with 2 previous owners both in VA, 1st owner had her for 17 years. Came with extensive service records and a bunch of recent maintenance work recently completed as a bonus. Awesome interior and no rust. The original owner put OEM sheepskin covers on it the day they bought it. They even bought a second pair later on, so the interior is stellar. Paint is in decent shape. From 10 feet it looks good, but up close it needs some love. Hoping a good polishing will work wonders or perhaps a respray down the road.

I sold my S2000 (don't flame me too hard, l loved that car) about 4 years ago to buy a house, and then came my daughter and I haven't really had the funds to get another toy. My long time friend Dan (danielmp) got me hooked on the E30 and it seemed like a good & affordable way to get me back into something fun to drive. He didn't have to try to hard, I was hooked pretty quickly.

Night I brought her home:


Sheering off those sheep skin covers


From the picture before you can tell the car needed a good vacuuming and full interior detail


Leatherique'd the interior


New OEM Silver floor mats... Recently Silver went NLA, but found a guy that had 1 last set in stock ;)



Installed DDM 55W 5000K HIDs into the ellipsoids and adjusted the aim as needed


Husco Armrest from the wife for my birthday!


Some new goodies from Blunttech


Swapped in a used but working drivers side window motor...No more grinding!


Walking to the bus stop this morning



New Recaro for the munchkin - Sofia's first E30 ride on Wednesday.


Other things so far:
Replaced intake boot and vacuum hoses
Picked up some IS skirts but haven't installed yet
Replaced spark plugs
Replaced Fuel Filter
Replaced 02 Sensor
Replaced air filter
Replaced SI board
Replaced interior lights with LEDs
E28 leather ebrake handle
Installed keyless entry
Swapped 173 ECU for 173 ECU with BMP Chip

More to come....

[Cliche Guevara]

Pics... meow!

[animal]

can't wait for pics - love this color!

[Zeemz]

Whoops had it set to private, sorry the pictures weren't showing up before.

[Cliche Guevara]

Your first E30? Definitely starting with a good example and you're doing all the right things. If the timing belt and water pump haven't been replaced recently then that should definitely be your next job, but if they have then definitely moar low.

I've seen a couple of those Recaro baby seats, they're awesome and supposedly really hard to find.

[Killacortes]

i love e30's and all but i would LOVE to have an s2000!

[dothadance]

needs less monotone. silver paint, and grey interior looks kinda weird. but other than that looks good.

[evandael]

the silver on grey is classic German drab!

OP.. consider doing suspension bushings (CABs RTABs and subframe bushings) and driveline mounts next. a full overhaul of those major areas with OEM rubber should be less than $300 and supposedly works wonders! and may I recommend a z3 2.8 shifter and new shifter bushings? again, another low-buck mod that really improves the driving experience.

I love that recaro seat too.. lucky kid!

[Zeemz]

As part of the deal the following maintenance was done just before I picked her up:
Replaced diff seals
Changed Diff and Trans fluid
Replaced Oil pressure relief valve
Replaced front lower control arm bushings

Within 100 miles before I bought the car:
Replaced timing belt & tensioner (water pump was replaced last time, I would have done both but this was before I was trying to buy the car)
Replaced rear transmission mounts
Used Exhaust was also swapped, old one had a few holes in it

[ZM Blue Devil]

You lucky man, so clean and you are doing it right! Enjoy her.

[Zeemz]

Your first E30? Definitely starting with a good example and you're doing all the right things. If the timing belt and water pump haven't been replaced recently then that should definitely be your next job, but if they have then definitely moar low.

I've seen a couple of those Recaro baby seats, they're awesome and supposedly really hard to find.

This is my first E30. Suspension is on the list, just want to get through the general maintenance/clean up first and foremost.

In the DC area a couple of store carry the Recaro seats, but I actually bought this one (Recaro ProSport) and the one for my wife's car (Recaro ProRide) on Amazon. Amazon was $70 cheaper than the retail stores, plus free shipping; Amazon Prime FTW. We were Tboned when a lady ran a red light in our X3 when our daughter was 3 months old. Luckily everyone was ok. Who better to make your kids car seat than one of the most trusted racing seat manufactures in the world.

[Zeemz]

the silver on grey is classic German drab!

OP.. consider doing suspension bushings (CABs RTABs and subframe bushings) and driveline mounts next. a full overhaul of those major areas with OEM rubber should be less than $300 and supposedly works wonders! and may I recommend a z3 2.8 shifter and new shifter bushings? again, another low-buck mod that really improves the driving experience.

I love that recaro seat too.. lucky kid!

I also really like the silver on the grey interior. Silver on Cardinal would be sweeter, but I like the silver on grey over silver on black.

RTAB = Rear Trailing Arm Bushings???

The Z3 1.9 shifter and bushings is also on the short list.

[Zeemz]

You lucky man, so clean and you are doing it right! Enjoy her.

Thanks Levent! I was hoping to bring her up to G-Fest, but wasn't able to make it. Hopefully next year.

[Isostar13]

I used to live in Arlington. You close by?

[danielmp]

Zeemz is a lucky man, the interior on this car is so ridiculously clean it looks brand new. Car drives great too, turbine smooth m20 and tight suspension I went to look at it with him when he picked it up and there is not a speck of rust and the underside was pretty pristine. Very jealous and I've called dibs on this in case he gets crazy and goes back to a s2000.

Can't wait to see where you take her over the next couple years. Like that you are stressing maintenance before upgrades. Keep up the good work.