baby's first E30

[FiveSpeedSquirrel]

Hey guys I posted on here once already about an auction car I was looking at. Well, today was the auction, and I came away the lucky winner. Its a 1989 325i sedan, 5-speed manual. Only 104k miles!

The car needs very little, especially for an auction car. It had some little issues with the front grille, I fixed them. Also some oddities with the under-dash pieces and glove box, I got those looking good also. I washed it and cleaned it up, it looks really good.

There is a lot of paperwork in the glove box showing some prior owner history. Even has like 10 years worth of state inspection slips. I even found an old document you might find interesting... it's hard to read, but I think you will see that this car only came with one extra option, and it's a good one :)



The car runs great, shifts smoothly. It does have noisy valves and a slight vacuum leak. Also, the coolant temp only goes up to about 30%, just at one hashmark before the middle one. I wonder if there is a lower-than-stock thermostat in there...









It has been driven so little that the tires are dry rotted on their sidewalls. I ordered new tires tonight, and I will be changing the oil soon, hopefully a thicker weight will quiet those valves a little.

[BBY1104]

Not a bad little car, got any plans for it?

I have wanted a 4-door for sometime, but when i went looknig I didnt see any in descent shape.

Nice job!

[One21Two]

Clean catch. Any plans?

[JJe30]

Nice pick up

[TopOfTheLine89]

Looks good, how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking. LSD is always good too.

[bwanac]

Clean... looks like a nice polish or claybar and the paint will shine too.

[FiveSpeedSquirrel]

Unfortunately, the paint is scratched all over. It still has shine, but it looks like someone washed the car with a scoth-brite pad or something. I am going to leave the paint alone for now. If it was black, I'd be screwed. But it's not as obvious on the champagne color.

As far as mods go, I am considering shocks. I understand Bilstein has some good options. I actually want to keep it mostly stock. No agressive lowering or anything, no crazy wheels (unless I can get my hands on some 15" basket weaves). I like that it has low miles, and it's a 5-speed sedan with the optional LSD, and I have paperwork to prove it. That inspires me to keep it clean and simple. If it was a 325is, I'd go agressive with the suspension, etc. But the taller gearing and such make this less of an autocrosser and more of a daily fun semi-classic.

Oh yeah, I only paid $1100 for it. And it looks like all I am going to buy for it in the near future is the tires and a battery (already got that today).

You can see my girlfriend's Forester XT (turbo) in the background. She wants to use this 325 for her to learn autocrossing :)

[fretburnr]

is that bronzit or dirty sterlingsilber?

hard to tell from the pics, usually bronzit looks darker.

Nice catch!

[Jean]

Looks like a nice and clean car!! Good start!

Do the service indicator lights work ok ? It could be thermostat, easy and cheap enough to swap. Might as well do that, who knows when the last time coolant was flushed.

[mtechnik]

Nice nice.

[sirsteezo]

paint the bottlecaps!

[sticksdaman]

change the timing belt and water pump on that bad boy

also get used to the valve noise .............it isnt going any where

oh yea welcome to the forums = )

[garrett]

That looks just like my old E30. Good to have another member in Richmond.

[red]

wow thats like my twin car

good find!

im jealous of the black interior. mine came with camel or w/e

[Alecs MacDonald]

LSD on a "i" car is a rare find. Congrats on the purchese.