my $875 1985 318i

[vivalegreg]

picked this up from a guy off of craigslist. he knew nothing about the car, i totally got a steal on this baby.

came with 4 wheels in nice shape with full size spare all with 5 brand new tires...barely any dents on this car...130k miles when odo stopped, probably has 150ish now but started right up and really doesnt need much work except a new master cylinder, alternator, shift knob, pass right window red, winshield, and like a dime size hold in the exhaust to patch for inspection...this car has like zero rust...its an 85..also as i took some stuff apart no bolts gave me any trouble to come off and i also noted all the factory parts i found on the car...somebody whoever had this car before me took care of it...

the guy i bought it from...got it from a car auction down the street from his house..


anywhooo now for pics!

[z50_Jumper]

Woot! any plans?

[JasonC]

You could put antique tags on it and have no inspection at all.

[vivalegreg]

i was told you could only put historic/antique tags on cars that were 25 years old plus? it used to be 20 in md i thought but someone told me they changed it to 25.

plans for it include being my daily driving beater!!! i drive a 93 vr4 otherwise and that surely isnt a daily driver...so ive been searching for another e30 and could simply not pass this up. im very pleased...cant wait to see my cheaper insurance / gas bill at end of month.

now ive been just tuning it up and all, im about to adjust the valves..but i need to find out what size the nut is on the crank pulley so i can hook up a breaker bar to it and turn the crank to allow me to adjust all the valves...also, what is the spec for the valve lash ? isnt it like .008 on the feeler gauge for the valves to be set at?

[AlarmedBread]

Looks promising! Pick up a bently manual, check out the faq/diy section here, theres a howto on valve adjustments, or at bimmerdiy.com

Hook up your drivers rear sidemarker ;)

[TopOfTheLine89]

should be good after a few hundred dollars are spent to make it streetable.

[fwappy]

Nice find. That rear roundel looks a bit aged, eh?

[e30devo]

im pretty sure the valve lash is .010 on intake and exhaust.

[vivalegreg]

Nice find. That rear roundel looks a bit aged, eh?

aged like a fine wine id say ;)

[vivalegreg]

im pretty sure the valve lash is .010 on intake and exhaust.

i have a chilton and it says nothing about it, i did look at bimmerdiy.com and found this

"The Bentley Manual lists the correct valve clearance at 0.30mm (0.012in) with the engine hot, or 0.25mm (0.010in) with the engine cold. In this case, the engine is cold, so I adjust using a 0.25mm feeler gauge. "


thanks for the tip

[rodrigo]

thats a great looking little car, man.
congrats!

[fwappy]

Don't expect the valves to get quieter, just more efficient.

[vivalegreg]

i figured that since all e30s sound like sewing machines haha but good tip, i also have to play with my timing a little bit because it sounds a bit off

[EtaSport]

awesome

[JasonC]

Their is an e30 up here with historic tags on it. It's an 86-87 es. Although if you are going to DD it the cops may not like the historic tags.