E30 325is Restoration Diary In Pictures

[thealbert]

So here she is! A sweet hand me down from my father, she's a 1987 E30 325is, automatic transmission with about 86,000 km on the odometer. Much of the car has stayed true to its original form except for a full exterior body respray done a decade ago from beige to the color it is now.



























Gotta love that Honda radio head-unit! That's gotta go for sure!


The car needs a bit of work here and there so I'll be fixing it up and posting more on its progress soon! Hope you enjoy it!

Some of you guys may already know of my restoration project but since my original thread covering the restoration on another forum got deleted, I figured I'll re-post and continue the diary here instead. Stay tuned! 8)

[Restoman]

That's an Eclipse head unit. Don't know how honda got on there?

[Joerdan23TN]

Wow, super clean.. those bumpers look great too.

[thealbert]

First up, a new set of 15in basketweave rims to give the car a better look. I toyed around with the idea of getting aftermarket rims but ultimately decided to keep the car as BMW as possible.



A couple of shots of the new rims on the car. Haven't put on the center caps just yet though. Got a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position tires to go with the rims and WOW, they are great tires! Grip is amazing and the ride is great as well.







Perhaps a set of lowering springs to give the car a much better look? :)

[uofom3]

That's an Eclipse head unit. Don't know how honda got on there?

Have the same unit in my m3 - ha!

[5ickride]

Looks clean. Suspension, tranny swap, you should be good.

[duroni]

Kamusta ka! Malinis ang e30 mo! Do you speak Tagalog? Never thought about e30s in the P.I. now I want to check out the regional section and see how they do it on the island

[thealbert]

Just arrived!







Lowering spring install coming up!

[getouth]

I'm not sure what you're really into but these are quite possibly some of the most terrible springs to put on an E30! Soft and gives reverse rake. other than that you look like you're well on your way!

[thealbert]

Lowering springs installation.















Found some other issues underneath the car. Look like we're going to need to replace a bunch of suspension bushings and joints.





A nice comparison of stock and lowered springs for the front.



New springs on!





Working on the rear. That aftermarket exhaust has got to go!







Stock vs. lowered rear springs.



New springs on!



BEFORE



AFTER



While working underneath the car, we found a bit of rust spots as well as areas that could use some body work. The car will hit the body shop soon for some more work. Stay tuned for that. This is where things get fun! :)

[thealbert]

I'm not sure what you're really into but these are quite possibly some of the most terrible springs to put on an E30! Soft and gives reverse rake. other than that you look like you're well on your way!

I've had good experiences with Eibach's on my E46 so my original thought was to try the Eibach's again. Plus my friend's the distributor of Eibach in my country so I couldn't pass up on a good discount. Performance wise though, you're right, the Eibach's are soft but the roads here are terrible and soft actually makes sense.

[thealbert]

Kamusta ka! Malinis ang e30 mo! Do you speak Tagalog? Never thought about e30s in the P.I. now I want to check out the regional section and see how they do it on the island

Yup! I speak Tagalog my fellow Kababayan! Yeah, there are a ton of E30s in the Philippines. There's quite a following and there's even with an E30 Car Club of the Philippines. I myself have two E30s and at one point I even had three! lol.

As a sample, here's a pic of a bunch of E30s getting serviced in a shop in the Philippines.



And that's just the tip of the iceberg of the kind of E30s that are in the country! ;)

[thealbert]

Here comes the sexy part. Stripping for the paint shop. The car will get a full body respray as well as fix some rust spots underneath the car.









The seats out, the upholstery needs to be redone. We'll be working on that soon.











Dashboard finally off! Looks like the wiring has been messed around with many times in the past. That's going to have to be put back together properly when we put the car back together.





Carpet all removed. The original beige color of the car is now visible. Looks like the respray done a while back didn't include the interior. We'll be doing it right this time around. :)





Next up, removal of the engine, transmission and other exterior bits!

[thatphysicsguy]

Good progress, Are you going to keep the previous color? or are you going for a new color?

[thealbert]

Good progress, Are you going to keep the previous color? or are you going for a new color?

I've always been a huge fan of Diamantschwarz Metallic, so I'll be going for that. :-D