Hi all!
Well, as the title states, I'm new here. I have a 1987 E30 325is. So I'll say a little about it to get myself out there I suppose.
The car is within a week of being back on the road. Approximately 2 years back, I wrecked the car. It suffered a front end collision, as I rear ended a pickup truck at a backed up intersection, that tore up the drivers side fender and the nose from the kidneys towards the driver's side. Due to the lowering kit, the car took the impact directly with zero bumper contact (oh the irony in having the diving boards...), so it took some damage to the unibody as well. I was completely unharmed; the car took all of the impact and I didn't even get sore. It protected me like a soldier, and as cheesy as it sounds, I was very attached to the car, and made a vow to it that I would fix it (you may now laugh at these words). There was then the fiasco of convincing my father, who controlled the car's fate at the time, to allow the car to stay instead of going to the scrap yard (which frankly it was just too good to allow that to happen). After begging, pleading, persuading, and trying everything short of chaining myself to the car, he agreed. I promised that I would see the car fixed. It was brought home, and for a while, the car sat in front of my back garage under a cover.
Eventually, the car was sent off to a local frame shop, who completely and properly repaired the unibody (it was pulled a whopping 2 in... needless to say, the frame guy told me there's no way I did that on my own without getting out of the car with at least some small injury; there is some suspect that this could be due to some previous owner not fixing the car properly). After this, the car again went back to its place in front of the garage, where it would sit until the summer of 2013. I had plans for a guy I know who works on BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, ect. to finish the car as far as part re-install goes. However, due to a nasty speeding ticket, I was forced out of that option. I had already obtained the needed body parts (which btw if you're curious why I say my car is an "is" yet doesn't have the correct from valence, the original had been pretty much destroyed by the previous owner, and tracking down the correct valence was proving to be a hassle, so I went with a early model valence with the lip, and just plan to attach an "is" rubber lip, which gives me a look I prefer anyhow), but I had to replace the radiator, headlights, fan, fan clutch, and auxillary fan/radiator, and then figure out how it all went together, as when it went to the frame guy, he took it apart and just gave me back the remaining parts and a bucket of bolts and such with the car.
I was slightly at a loss. I had no clue where to start; honestly, as into car as I am, at that point I'd never done anything more than change plugs or fenagle a car to start... I only knew a bunch of theoretical knowledge, solid guesswork, and the basics that I had figured out when working on my family's classic mopars. I knew pretty much how it should all work, but theories and untested knowledge are just that.
Then, on a day of Hollywood intrigue I suppose, I walked by the car while coming inside. I looked at it, took off the cover, and sat there for a second. I walked back inside, looked at my dad on the couch and said "I don't care what I have to do, I am sick of seeing my car sit there in a state that it's better than. If it takes me forever, I am personally going to fix that car." And so, I did. On intuition, good ol internet, and quite a bit of foul language said to it and bonding with it, I have brought the car essentially back to road legal and road safe status. I did most of the work over the summer, and finished up when I was home from UNC Charlotte on the weekends. It looks a bit like a jigsaw gone wrong, being 4 or so different colors, but it runs and drives, and all the electronics (outside of that cursed horn >.< ) work. Some of the pictures aren't up to date, but the ones that are mostly in the dark with the polished lip wheels are the most recent (the Neon seen is my second car that filled the E30's gap for a daily driver, which is btw, a pretty fun little car to boot, though of course nothing much compared to the E30).
So that's the story up to now. As far as mods go, the car is on aluminum Koni Racing 15x7s all around on some seemingly very grippy Falken's that I can't remember the name or anything for off the top of my head right now. It is lowered, though it's probably going to eventually get new springs and shocks that will either maintain the current height or drop it a little more. It has an aftermarket exhaust system that runs either 2.5 or 3 in (i haven't cared so much that i precisely measured) all the way to the back through a single tip muffler, which I couldn't tell you the brand of because it was installed by the previous owner and I cant make out the brand that is listed on the top of the muffler, which sounds good to me, though that too will be likely eventually replaced when ever I get the header for the car. That's really all that's done for now on the actual performance, though there are a couple cosmetic things, I think you can for the most part see them.
As far as future for the car... obviously its going to get repainted to its original red, with a couple details thrown in for certain parts. There's some minor body work here and there to be addressed. I plan on changing the rear spoiler to a different one, not sure what yet, though if someone has one of those Pfeba spoilers that are really rare laying around that they don't want... well hey there best friend :D!!!! As far as performance, the biggest thing i want to work to as far as power goes, outside of cams and the header and such, I want to install a supercharger system. My horsepower goal is around 250 to 300 out of the original M20 2.5L already in it, and plan on keeping the automatic tranny for now, again, for now. The suspension, Ill be going to all new bushings, likely rubber, not poly, at least not yet, but also new bilstein sport shocks, and some higher performing springs, which I've looked at possibly the Ireland Engineering race springs, though honestly I've been warned about the roughness of the ride if I go that route, which, since it will be a daily driver, concerns me, as I can already feel every scratch on the asphalt as it is. The goal is a very track day oriented daily driver, as I'm just the type that doesn't believe in making the car look like it can do something and then not giving every resource to allow it to do such when the time comes.
So that's it. I know I posted quite a wall here lol and I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but hey, I'm sure the time will come for it anyhow. So without further dragging out hope you don't cringe too hard at the pics... though these won't be he last you see of it lol
Well, as the title states, I'm new here. I have a 1987 E30 325is. So I'll say a little about it to get myself out there I suppose.
The car is within a week of being back on the road. Approximately 2 years back, I wrecked the car. It suffered a front end collision, as I rear ended a pickup truck at a backed up intersection, that tore up the drivers side fender and the nose from the kidneys towards the driver's side. Due to the lowering kit, the car took the impact directly with zero bumper contact (oh the irony in having the diving boards...), so it took some damage to the unibody as well. I was completely unharmed; the car took all of the impact and I didn't even get sore. It protected me like a soldier, and as cheesy as it sounds, I was very attached to the car, and made a vow to it that I would fix it (you may now laugh at these words). There was then the fiasco of convincing my father, who controlled the car's fate at the time, to allow the car to stay instead of going to the scrap yard (which frankly it was just too good to allow that to happen). After begging, pleading, persuading, and trying everything short of chaining myself to the car, he agreed. I promised that I would see the car fixed. It was brought home, and for a while, the car sat in front of my back garage under a cover.
Eventually, the car was sent off to a local frame shop, who completely and properly repaired the unibody (it was pulled a whopping 2 in... needless to say, the frame guy told me there's no way I did that on my own without getting out of the car with at least some small injury; there is some suspect that this could be due to some previous owner not fixing the car properly). After this, the car again went back to its place in front of the garage, where it would sit until the summer of 2013. I had plans for a guy I know who works on BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, ect. to finish the car as far as part re-install goes. However, due to a nasty speeding ticket, I was forced out of that option. I had already obtained the needed body parts (which btw if you're curious why I say my car is an "is" yet doesn't have the correct from valence, the original had been pretty much destroyed by the previous owner, and tracking down the correct valence was proving to be a hassle, so I went with a early model valence with the lip, and just plan to attach an "is" rubber lip, which gives me a look I prefer anyhow), but I had to replace the radiator, headlights, fan, fan clutch, and auxillary fan/radiator, and then figure out how it all went together, as when it went to the frame guy, he took it apart and just gave me back the remaining parts and a bucket of bolts and such with the car.
I was slightly at a loss. I had no clue where to start; honestly, as into car as I am, at that point I'd never done anything more than change plugs or fenagle a car to start... I only knew a bunch of theoretical knowledge, solid guesswork, and the basics that I had figured out when working on my family's classic mopars. I knew pretty much how it should all work, but theories and untested knowledge are just that.
Then, on a day of Hollywood intrigue I suppose, I walked by the car while coming inside. I looked at it, took off the cover, and sat there for a second. I walked back inside, looked at my dad on the couch and said "I don't care what I have to do, I am sick of seeing my car sit there in a state that it's better than. If it takes me forever, I am personally going to fix that car." And so, I did. On intuition, good ol internet, and quite a bit of foul language said to it and bonding with it, I have brought the car essentially back to road legal and road safe status. I did most of the work over the summer, and finished up when I was home from UNC Charlotte on the weekends. It looks a bit like a jigsaw gone wrong, being 4 or so different colors, but it runs and drives, and all the electronics (outside of that cursed horn >.< ) work. Some of the pictures aren't up to date, but the ones that are mostly in the dark with the polished lip wheels are the most recent (the Neon seen is my second car that filled the E30's gap for a daily driver, which is btw, a pretty fun little car to boot, though of course nothing much compared to the E30).
So that's the story up to now. As far as mods go, the car is on aluminum Koni Racing 15x7s all around on some seemingly very grippy Falken's that I can't remember the name or anything for off the top of my head right now. It is lowered, though it's probably going to eventually get new springs and shocks that will either maintain the current height or drop it a little more. It has an aftermarket exhaust system that runs either 2.5 or 3 in (i haven't cared so much that i precisely measured) all the way to the back through a single tip muffler, which I couldn't tell you the brand of because it was installed by the previous owner and I cant make out the brand that is listed on the top of the muffler, which sounds good to me, though that too will be likely eventually replaced when ever I get the header for the car. That's really all that's done for now on the actual performance, though there are a couple cosmetic things, I think you can for the most part see them.
As far as future for the car... obviously its going to get repainted to its original red, with a couple details thrown in for certain parts. There's some minor body work here and there to be addressed. I plan on changing the rear spoiler to a different one, not sure what yet, though if someone has one of those Pfeba spoilers that are really rare laying around that they don't want... well hey there best friend :D!!!! As far as performance, the biggest thing i want to work to as far as power goes, outside of cams and the header and such, I want to install a supercharger system. My horsepower goal is around 250 to 300 out of the original M20 2.5L already in it, and plan on keeping the automatic tranny for now, again, for now. The suspension, Ill be going to all new bushings, likely rubber, not poly, at least not yet, but also new bilstein sport shocks, and some higher performing springs, which I've looked at possibly the Ireland Engineering race springs, though honestly I've been warned about the roughness of the ride if I go that route, which, since it will be a daily driver, concerns me, as I can already feel every scratch on the asphalt as it is. The goal is a very track day oriented daily driver, as I'm just the type that doesn't believe in making the car look like it can do something and then not giving every resource to allow it to do such when the time comes.
So that's it. I know I posted quite a wall here lol and I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but hey, I'm sure the time will come for it anyhow. So without further dragging out hope you don't cringe too hard at the pics... though these won't be he last you see of it lol
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i have no idea what i am doing with my life
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