The Latest & Greatest: 1994 (E30) 316i Daytona Violet Design Edition Touring

[Roadrunner]

Absolutely stunning!

Thank you! I checked out your thread and love your new touring! :up:

I've been looking for small things I can do to improve the interior as I wait for nicer weather. I used 303 Aerospace to treat and protect the dashboard, door cards, and plastics in the interior:



The front seat belts were in bad shape before - the red plastic was faded, and the driver's side seat belt was stuck down.



I tested out a few techniques to restore the red plastic on the seat belts, including:

1) Painting them red. My official car advisor thought that was a bad idea, since it's hard to mask them properly and I'd probably get over spray in the mechanism. Plus, they'd have to be removed first, and it's not like I have infinite time and energy here. ;)
2) Using a Magic Eraser. This didn't work for me, and if anything, made them look more faded than before.
3) Using a heat gun to renew the red plastic. This did actually change the colour of the plastic from faded pink to a deep red, but when I tested them the next day, it turned out that I cooked them a little too much. :oops:
4) Colouring them in with a red sharpie. I wish I'd tried this first, but didn't hear about that idea until after I'd already screwed up the seat belts with 2) and 3). :sad: Which left me with one option:
5) Replace them with new seat belts.

I ordered some other new parts for the touring as well, including trim pieces that were missing or damaged, all-weather floor mats, and replacement foam for the grilles.

I also got a chance to take the touring out for a drive on one of the nice days we've had lately - I figured it needed some exercise after sitting for so long. I'm sure I've said it before, but I love, love, love this car. :mrgreen:

[1SIKWGN]

Absolutely stunning!

[Roadrunner]

Cool story, good read. And the car looks great! Seems to be in solid condition. The seller sounds like a cool guy, most germans generally won't reply to a google translated message. I source tourings often from germany and luckily I speak german, that makes it so much easier. Anyway good job taking care of it from overseas.

Thanks for the kind words. :) The seller is definitely a cool guy - I'm so lucky that he even responded and that it worked out so well. Sounds like an awesome business you have, by the way!


It's still a long way off, but I'm excited about bringing the touring to Tedfest (a classic BMW show in the Toronto area) which is coming up on Saturday, August 12th. For anyone who missed it last year and asked me about it, that should be plenty of time to get your car ready and book the day off of work so you can go. No excuses. :p

Anyone else going to the Auto Show in Toronto this weekend?

[Garage30]

Cool story, good read. And the car looks great! Seems to be in solid condition. The seller sounds like a cool guy, most germans generally won't reply to a google translated message. I source tourings often from germany and luckily I speak german, that makes it so much easier. Anyway good job taking care of it from overseas.

[Roadrunner]

Just found this thread and read it all. Could not be more jealous (in a good way).

Trust me, I still can't believe it's mine. :) How's your touring coming along?


Not a whole lot has been going on with the touring for the last couple of months. I was getting sick of winter and not being able to drive or do any real work on the car, so I thought I'd find a few small things I could work on in the meantime.

The shift knob was in rough shape:



My SO found me a Febi-Blistein weighted shift knob from a car at our local scrap yard. I went to install it, and saw that he'd already removed the old shift knob for me, lest I punch myself in the face trying to remove it myself. Aww. :) I can't wait to test it out!



I needed to get into the engine bay to charge the battery, but the hood was frozen shut. My partner came to the rescue again, and got the hood open by gingerly pounding on the hood until the ice came free. As he opened the hood, the foam strips on top of the grill, which had been glued to the hood with ice, ripped off. :( I'll have to see if I can glue them back or replace them when it's warmer.

While the hood was open, I put some cotton swabs with peppermint essential oil on them in the engine bay. The peppermint oil is supposed to repel mice, which I don't want taking up residence in there while it's parked.



On to another easy item to fix: the back cover on the driver's seat was falling off for some reason.



The metal clips wouldn't be able to slide back into place until the whole back cover was removed. There are two small screws hidden at the very bottom - you can see the holes at the bottom of the removed panel. It was a pain to get a screwdriver in there (working in the dark with a flashlight as I usually end up doing probably didn't help either ).



With the back panel off, the clips easily slid into the little metal bars. After the screws were back in place, I realized that I could have just tilted the seat forward which would have made it much, much easier to get at the screws.

Oh well... the point remains that I mended something successfully! ;)

[cory58]

Just found this thread and read it all. Could not be more jealous (in a good way).

[Roadrunner]

It's the second one I've owned and I love it, such a smooth ride and still feels quite modern to drive. Very easy to work on and basically the same as an e30. Check the rear subframe bushings for wear, replacing them is a huge pain but it improves the ride a lot. If used for a winter daily I'd give the lower body and floor anti-corrosion treatment.

That's great to hear that they're easy to work on and are so similar to E30s! :) Don't worry, we're going all-out with our rust prevention efforts on that car, including removing body panels to get better access for applying POR-15.

Does it have a tread on r3v yet?

You can find the thread for that car here:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=4720420#post4720420

I love North American e28's, they are very well optioned compared to the bare bones 520's that we most have here and the us spec bumpers are kinda cool :nice:

Really? I would trade the North American bumpers for Euro bumpers any day! :p

I got a chance to drive my new touring for a long stretch for the first time today, and still can't get over how nice it is! :mrgreen: I'm hoping the snow will hold off for a while longer so I'll have time on the weekend to drive it more and get it cleaned up (after we finish working on the E28, of course).

[bostonvert]

Suuuure, no problems here. You could stop at any time, right?

I keep hearing, "Don't worry, I finally have all of my dream cars. I'm not going to just keep collecting more. Well, unless our financial position improves exponentially, in which case I might consider getting [insert list of insanely expensive cars here], oh, and a plane after I take lessons... but that would be about it! Well, we would also need enough land for an airstrip." :shock:



Thanks! I think the model year is one of the unique things about it. It's hard to believe that my new E30 touring is the same model year as my SO's '94 E36 M3, and is 'younger' than his '93 M5:





Oooh, more engine possibilities! A certain someone keeps reminding me that my budget for engine upgrades is currently $0, but it doesn't hurt to start thinking about it, right? ;)



Same issues in Canada. Cars are treated as disposable (why go through the effort of maintaining something if you're just going to dump it and replace it with a new one in a couple of years?) and rust is a huge problem on older cars. People are hopeless when it comes to washing cars (if they wash their cars at all... I know I was taught that leaving your car out in the rain counts ). Now I cringe when I see ads for nice cars with pictures of the owner scratching the shit out of the paint by going through an automatic car wash or using one of those car wash brushes used to clean the grit off of trucks.



Thanks for the offer! We'll have to take you up on that. :)

How do you like your 1985 E28, by the way? We just got an '85 E28 as well as a winter car, which is our current project. I'm hoping it will be similar to the E30 to work on.

It's the second one I've owned and I love it, such a smooth ride and still feels quite modern to drive. Very easy to work on and basically the same as an e30. Check the rear subframe bushings for wear, replacing them is a huge pain but it improves the ride a lot. If used for a winter daily I'd give the lower body and floor anti-corrosion treatment.

Does it have a tread on r3v yet? I love North American e28's, they are very well optioned compared to the bare bones 520's that we most have here and the us spec bumpers are kinda cool :nice:

[Roadrunner]

FYI - my M42 will be coming out next winter so it might be looking for a new home! ;D

I would definitely consider that! :mrgreen:

[Powling]

Oooh, more engine possibilities! A certain someone keeps reminding me that my budget for engine upgrades is currently $0, but it doesn't hurt to start thinking about it, right? ;)

FYI - my M42 will be coming out next winter so it might be looking for a new home! ;D

[Roadrunner]

I don't have a problem with it if you don't. :p

Suuuure, no problems here. You could stop at any time, right?

I keep hearing, "Don't worry, I finally have all of my dream cars. I'm not going to just keep collecting more. Well, unless our financial position improves exponentially, in which case I might consider getting [insert list of insanely expensive cars here], oh, and a plane after I take lessons... but that would be about it! Well, we would also need enough land for an airstrip." :shock:

What an amazing touring. Apart from it's unique paint and interior, I love how it's a 1994. I forgot how deep into the 90s e30s were produced.

Thanks! I think the model year is one of the unique things about it. It's hard to believe that my new E30 touring is the same model year as my SO's '94 E36 M3, and is 'younger' than his '93 M5:

Everybody wants to swap in a 6 cylinder, but personally I'd feel compelled to swap in a stroked M42.

Oooh, more engine possibilities! A certain someone keeps reminding me that my budget for engine upgrades is currently $0, but it doesn't hurt to start thinking about it, right? ;)

Rust is always the issue in Europe, most people give cars a wash once in a while but who bothers with taking fenders of and scraping mud out?

Same issues in Canada. Cars are treated as disposable (why go through the effort of maintaining something if you're just going to dump it and replace it with a new one in a couple of years?) and rust is a huge problem on older cars. People are hopeless when it comes to washing cars (if they wash their cars at all... I know I was taught that leaving your car out in the rain counts ). Now I cringe when I see ads for nice cars with pictures of the owner scratching the shit out of the paint by going through an automatic car wash or using one of those car wash brushes used to clean the grit off of trucks.

If you want I can keep an eye out for touring parts on the Belgian craigslist, good stuff pops up once in a while. Will PM you if I find anything worthwhile.

Thanks for the offer! We'll have to take you up on that. :)

How do you like your 1985 E28, by the way? We just got an '85 E28 as well as a winter car, which is our current project. I'm hoping it will be similar to the E30 to work on.

[bostonvert]

That's what's so interesting about these cars: they aren't considered special yet in Germany, likely because of their motors (which they can't easily swap due to typical ridiculous government intervention), and a good one can be had for relatively little. The total cost of purchasing our touring and importing it here doubled the cost of the purchase of the car itself in Germany, and that means the car we selected really had to be worth it.

I'm confident that design edition tourings are pretty rare, but there have been a handful of them for sale for as long as I've been looking.

Most of them are (unbelievably) under €2,000 and in poor condition:

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235496020

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=233732610

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235852496

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=231675659

All of these cars tend to have lowish mileage by North American standards, but they're visibly rusty, have considerable damage to the interior fabric, and are likely in tired mechanical condition. These cars might make good daily drivers in Europe, but they're not good restoration candidates and not worth importing.

Once you start looking at cars over €2,000, you start to find decent project car restoration candidates:

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=234290267

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235136219

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235134438

Essentially anything under €4,500 tends to be a project in need of a lot of work, and the very few cars with very low mileage in great condition like ours I've seen were priced at €7,500 and up.

As always, condition and mileage are hugely important. ;)

Rust is always the issue in Europe, most people give cars a wash once in a while but who bothers with taking fenders of and scraping mud out?

They where everyday grocery getters and still are over here. The dealerships sold them with big discounts when new to get rid of the remaining e30's and to keep people buying e30's.

Some of those cars posted looked pretty good, was thinking about getting a touring as a cheap daily driver but ended up with a volvo v70 :giggle:

If you want I can keep an eye out for touring parts on the Belgian craigslist, good stuff pops up once in a while. Will PM you if I find anything worthwhile.

[Shock(/\)ave]

http://www.2dehands.be/autos/bmw/3-s...319606062.html

Found another techno design touring for sale, dirt cheap and much less clean. Not really that desirable in Europe as far as I now

That's what's so interesting about these cars: they aren't considered special yet in Germany, likely because of their motors (which they can't easily swap due to typical ridiculous government intervention), and a good one can be had for relatively little. The total cost of purchasing our touring and importing it here doubled the cost of the purchase of the car itself in Germany, and that means the car we selected really had to be worth it.

I'm confident that design edition tourings are pretty rare, but there have been a handful of them for sale for as long as I've been looking.

Most of them are (unbelievably) under €2,000 and in poor condition:

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235496020

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=233732610

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235852496

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=231675659

All of these cars tend to have lowish mileage by North American standards, but they're visibly rusty, have considerable damage to the interior fabric, and are likely in tired mechanical condition. These cars might make good daily drivers in Europe, but they're not good restoration candidates and not worth importing.

Once you start looking at cars over €2,000, you start to find decent project car restoration candidates:

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=234290267

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235136219

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/details.html?id=235134438

Essentially anything under €4,500 tends to be a project in need of a lot of work, and the very few cars with very low mileage in great condition like ours I've seen were priced at €7,500 and up.

As always, condition and mileage are hugely important. ;)

[bostonvert]

http://www.2dehands.be/autos/bmw/3-serie/bmw-e30-316i-touring-design-319606062.html

Found another techno design touring for sale, dirt cheap and much less clean. Not really that desirable in Europe as far as I now

[E30 Wagen]

What an amazing touring. Apart from it's unique paint and interior, I love how it's a 1994. I forgot how deep into the 90s e30s were produced.

Everybody wants to swap in a 6 cylinder, but personally I'd feel compelled to swap in a stroked M42.