Lachs Silver 1988 325 Sedan

[e30austin]

Glad the bumper went to a good home, Toby.

[parkerbink]

Nice. The only other one in this color I have ever seen was a rental I had in the early '90s in Romania. I totaled it :(

[spiDmang]

Hell ya, man! That interior is tits!!

[MR E30 325is]

Nice find!!

Pretty epic that you went to another country for an E30, based off an ad that only has 2 pictures!

[TFJR]

'88 325 Lachs Sedan - The PNW Chinook Salmon

Good lord ! Another steal. Seriously...C$1200 is like US $4

Very nice.

I agree, Canadian cars are a huge bargain for US buyers!

Thanks fellas. It was a good buy, but it certainly is needy.

The first step was to do a complete paint correction. I implemented my Griots Garage 6" RA with the following process:

1. Washed with Meguiars Gold Class using the two bucket method
2. 
3. Claybarred the entire car using Griots Garage paint cleaning clay
4. Rewashed the car
5. One pass in most areas withe Griots BOSS Correcting Cream - two or three passes on the trunk, roof & hood
6. Finished with Griots Best Of Show Wax.

It turned out really nicely for 29 year old car paint. Following the clean paint I went on the hunt for parts.

• Got a really nice set of 14" weaves off of Craigslist up in Lynnwood
  
  
  
  
  
• Got new caps for said weaves off of eBay
  
  
• Sourced a new set of seatbelts from an individual in Federal Way. He let me drive his swapped M50 '90 E30 sedan. That was interesting
• Purchased a new used fog light for cheap from same guy
  
• Had a friend who is a decent bodyman pull the front valence out. It's not 100% but it looks so much better than it did.
  
  
  
  
• New Drivers Side lachs brake duct from @spiDmang
  
  
• H&R OE Sport Springs + E90 Drop Hats from @spiDmang - Nicest guy ever!
  
  
• Sourced a lachs silver rear bumper from @Austin!
  
  
• F&R Plastic Bumper shocks & mounts from @zcenterb in Vermont (Thanks again)
  
  
• Plastic front bumper from Roman at S3 Designs Garage - thanks man!
  
  
  
• Rear Euro plate filler from @Chrisbike
  

I went on ECS Tuning & ordered their full stage 2 front suspension refresh kit + new OEM front sway bar bushings. Their kit is comprised of E36 M3 FLCAB, new front lower control arms, lollipops, tie-rods, sway bar endlinks and front strut mounts.


Next I leaned in on Blunttech who I've always had amazing customer experiences with. These guys are really top notch and if you haven't used them before I'd highly recommend. Great prices and prompt service. I ordered the moon - right down the rabbit hole for me.

• Complete Timing Belt & Water Pump refresh kit & components
• New drive belts
• Complete tune up kit including the distributor cap & rotor, plugs, wires, fuel & air filter
• Valve cover gasket
• Cam seals, cam rocker plugs
• Fan clutch, fan, thermostat & thermostat gasket
• OE BMW Coolant
  
  
  
  
• OE Ansa Exhaust to replace the blown out muffler - this is the second one that was sent from Worldpac who did a terrible job of doing no sort of packaging to ensure a safe delivery of the exhaust.
  
  
  
  
  
• F&R Bilstein HD's!
  
• E46 M3 Rear strut mounts
• Stainless steel braided front brake lines
• ATE 200 amber fluid
• Rear plastic bumper side guide brackets
  

- Likely there are more items that just aren't coming to mind at the moment.

Next up I'd love to get my entire cluster rebuilt from Bavarian Restorations + red needless & satin silver gauge rings. I'm debating on finding another US spec SuperETA instrument cluster for the MPH or rebuilding this one in KMH. Opinions?

• iS Front Lip Spoiler
• iS Rear Trunk Spoiler
• Mtech 1 385mm Steering Wheel
• 3.73 Rear LSD
• Z3 or '96+ E36 M3 steering rack

Following all of that this fall
"i" M20B25 885 cylinder head, intake manifold, throttle body, 19lbs injectors, 173 DME, SSQuid chip and all other associated parts needed for a 2.7i supereta build. This seems like the best way to make decent reliable power on a reasonable budget.

I'm hoping I'll at least have the Z3 rack & 3.73 in by the fall. Thanks for reading!





- My sweet Sophia loves cars, especially old cars when she's able to find the horn buttons

[Stanley Rockafella]

I agree, Canadian cars are a huge bargain for US buyers!

[jeffnhiscars]

Good lord ! Another steal. Seriously...C$1200 is like US $4

Very nice.

[TFJR]

10.30.17

3.17.18


Hi All,

In late May of 2017 I picked up my second E30 & third BMW. This one is a 1988 SuperETA 325 Sedan in lachs (salmon) silver. I found it on CraigsList up in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

This one ticked a ton of the right boxes for what I was looking for in an E30. Downside is its an automatic.

• Cheap
• Crack free dash
• Lachs silver - my last '88 was also lachs and I personally love it
• Late model valences & square tail lights
• Stock
• Heated cloth anthracite seats that present nicely
• Advertised as rust free (it nearly is)
• Fairly low mileage - 155k Miles (250k KM)
• Great paint and a straight body
• Crank sunroof, manual windows, premium sound, power door locks

When I went to pick up the car, I left my office a few hours early from Seattle, and rode an Amtrak bus up to Vancouver. Sure enough, the P/O was there waiting for me with "Puurl" at the train/bus station. I did a quick visual walk around and it seemed all there and pretty nice for what they were asking for the car. There was a bit of dog hair from "Bobby" The P/O's pet who apparently loved to chew on the seat belts and thankfully little else in the interior. The antenna wasn't budging and the front valence was a little more crunched than I had thought from the two terrible pictures she had posted on her ad. The muffler also had a massive chunk missing so it sounded awful & much too loud.

It was horrible rush hour traffic when I arrived, and since insurance is a bit different through the ICBC in Canada, we agreed maybe best to take a short drive to a more open area away from traffic before I took the wheel. Well, Puurl made it a whole 7 blocks in 15 minutes before the alternator took a massive dump on us. Note in the ad the first words written are: "super reliable vehicle". Not an ideal situation.

A bit jaded, I sprint back to the bus/train station and literally walk onto the very last Bolt bus leaving south for Seattle for the night. That was lucky! Here is where I left Purrl with the P/O before the tow truck arrived:







I emailed back with the seller and told her I'm still interested. Yes, I am nuts. This time it's Saturday, I ride the train up, take a quick city bus ride and meet the P/O outside of the ICBC. We decided on splitting the cost of the alternator which she got ripped off on. I'm at the ICBC with her for way too long - the associates working there were completely imcompatent and overall a terrible experience. I tape up my ICBC temp registration and WA state 3 day trip permit and fire up Puurl for the first time on my own. I fill it with gas, as the gas gauge is doing a dance/essentially inop. The service indicator board is also out as is the odometer which she did not disclose to me. The front struts are dead. SO DEAD.

I get over the border easily and the car seems to be running pretty well. I had a drama free experience which was a blessing and I am so happy to be back behind the wheel of an E30! I love these cars.

The next day I decided to snap some pictures before doing anything at all to the car - not even washing it, just so that I'd always be able to remember how it looked when I got it. Here are some snaps from that set: