My 325i Vert rolling restoration

[DirtDog15]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and this is my first post. This is my 1988 325i Cabrio. I bought the car in May of 2014 in decent rust free condition. I am slowly restoring it as I drive the car. It has come a long way since I got it. It is mechanically perfect and the exterior is almost perfect as well. I still have to do the interior, starting with new leather. Here ya go.

[e30lyf]

you have nice car to start with. welcome on r3v :)

[DirtDog15]

you have nice car to start with. welcome on r3v :)

Thank you. :) I love this car. The only thing I thought at first I wouldn't like is its an automatic. But, after driving it a while it's not that bad. My civic is a 5 speed so when I get the urge to shift my own gears I just drive it. I thought about doing a manual swap, but this car was born an automatic so I'm gonna leave it that way.

[N2MYE30]

That red top is bad a$$! Welcome aboard. :up:

[agent]

Nice!

[UlrichFennec]

Lookin' good! Welcome to R3v!

[DirtDog15]

Nice!

Thank you. :)

That red top is bad a$$! Welcome aboard. :up:

Thanks. I didn't really like the top when I got the car, but it has grown on me and I get compliments on it all the time. Hell I can't even stop for gas without people coming over to check out the car. :) Once it does need a new top, I'm going to get a tan one.

Lookin' good! Welcome to R3v!

Thank you. :)

[DirtDog15]

Here are more pictures. I will start with how the car looked the day I brought her home:


Back view:


As you can see, it was FAR from perfect, but still a good rust free car to start with. Here is the hood after I started buffing:



Here she is all buffed, waxed, painted mirrors, and some other stuff done:





The body of the car was in good condition, except for the huge dent in the drivers side fender, broken drivers side headlights, and a busted and black duct tape covered front spoiler:





It was time to fix the damage. I found a donor fender at a junkyard and my buddy painted it for me.





Installed the new fender, headlight lenses, and front spoiler:





Now that the body was almost perfect, it was time to hit the mechanical stuff. I spent over $1,000.00 on parts, all new belts, hoses, water pump, timing belt, tensioner, coolant flange, thermostat, entire ignition system, coolant flush, oil change, trans fluid & filter, brakes, well... long story short I literally replaced every maintainence part on the entire car. I even installed a new AC compressor, dryer, aux fan, and gassed the system back up with R12. Here is a picture of it on the lift in my shop. It took me about two weeks to do all that.



And I know this is the same picture above, but here is how she sits now:



I still have some dents in the body I need to pull, and then all I have left to do is the interior. I've already started on the interior by installing a brand new center console, drivers knee panel, dash, and a few little things I'm forgetting at the moment. I just need new leather now and a nice sound system. :) I'm also going to get some nice wheels at some point. I'm really happy with how it's coming along. Everything on this car works, yes, I even have a fully functioning central locking system. I hope to have the car done by the end of the year.

[DirtDog15]

Here are two pictures from a car show and photo shoot we held at my shop last year. The E30 hadn't had much done to it yet.





And here is a picture of the car at the first car show I took her to in Gainesboro, Tennessee last year.



And last but not least, heres one of it sitting in front of my shop, getting wet and looking pretty. :)



Well, thats all for now. I will keep this thread updated as the car progresses. It will be a while before there are any major updates though because I'm saving up my money to get the leather redone. Stay tuned. :)

[DirtDog15]

UPDATE!!!

I haven't updated this thread in awhile, mainly because over the winter I was too busy with work, family stuff, and mostly too broke to do anything with the car. :( I got this year off to a killer start though, and am making a bunch of progress on the mild restoration of my baby. :) I pulled her out of winter storage in March to find the battery was shot. After replacing it with a new one, she fired right up. I then was loudly reminded that the stock exhaust had started leaking last year not long before I parked her for the winter. So, I ordered a new Scorpion exhaust from Bavarian Autosport and installed it myself. Here are some pics:

First, the old rusty loud exhaust:




And now, the new shiny exhaust installed:





Yes, the car is catless too. I chopped the cat not long after I got the car because it was rusted out and about to fall off. Here are a couple pics of the Scorpion exhaust system after I got it and unpacked it:







And finally, Here are two pics of it installed on the car on the ground. I tried to do a video of how it sounds but the mic on my phone sucks and it sounded all distorted. It sounds really good. It has a very deep throaty tone and isn't super loud, but definitely louder than the stock muffler was. And yes, I can feel a power difference in the car, it's small, but noticeable. Anyways, here's the pics:





So that's it for the exhaust pictures. Let me know what ya think.

[DirtDog15]

ANOTHER UPDATE!!!!

Well after getting the body of the car all fixed and it running and driving perfect, it's now time to tackle the interior. Here are my official "before" pictures of my seats. I pulled them out and they are now at the upholstery shop getting redone in new leather. :) :) :) They were REALLY rough. The car came with those ugly red and black seat covers on it when I got it. The previous owner told me the front seats were really bad so I just left them on there. Here are the pictures. I am gonna steam clean the carpet in a day or two and I will add pictures of that when done. Anyways, Here are the "before" pictures of my torn up seats:







And here is one more picture of the front seats still in the car with the ugly seat covers still on:



I will update this thread and post pictures when I get the seats back and in the car. :)

[DirtDog15]

Update- May 11th, 2016...

So I spent most of my free time this past weekend and this week scrubbing 28 years of god knows what out of my carpet. Here are the "before" pictures:





As you can see, it was disgusting... I had to rent a rug doctor to extract all the filth. There were a few tough spots that would not come out and the carpet is faded in spots. I may eventually replace the carpet but for now I'm very happy with how it cleaned up. Here's the "after cleaning" pictures:






I also scrubbed the floor under the back seat and all the trim panels. Here's a pic:



And finally after all that was done I gave her a thorough bath on the outside and a fresh coat of wax. I also got a new front plate. Here's some pics:







I should be picking up my seats from the upholstery shop Friday. I can't wait to see how they turned out. I will update and post pics when I get them back. Let me know what ya think.

[N2MYE30]

Nice progress. Hope to see you at The Vintage next weekend. :up:

[TimeMachinE30]

Good work. The interior has suffered. Plans?

[DirtDog15]

Good work. The interior has suffered. Plans?

Thanks. As far as the carpet, I'm gonna replace it eventually but for now I'm gonna leave it as is. It cleaned up really good. And the seats are being redone as we speak with new leather. I should be picking them up tomorrow. The rest of the interior is in really good shape except the door cards, and as soon as I find a good pair I will be replacing them.

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