Project #30 - Make This E30 Great Again: Brilliantrot1990 325iS

[2mAn]

I've been trying to find a way to get an E30 without driving my wife mad and I figured an automatic vert was going to be the best option. A convertible in SoCal is a good thing... and I could put it on Turo while it sits, so win-win. Thus began my search, very passively. A stumbled upon this one and I couldn't say no.

Pics from the seller








I was hoping to do a fly & drive from Seattle back down to Los Angeles. Connected with the PNW Alpha Team and was hoping to get the timing belt & water pump done up there, but when they were able to get a closer look, it was going to need a lot more to make the drive home, so I just had it shipped...

Waiting to leave the PNW...


...and arriving in SoCal


and now at home, the fun begins...

[uturn]

I may have to create a Turo account so I can rent this car from you when I visit LA!

Welcome back to e30 ownership.

[2mAn]

I may have to create a Turo account so I can rent this car from you when I visit LA!

Welcome back to e30 ownership.

Give me a little time, it barely made it the 0.5 mile home under its own power.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Look forward to seeing your project.

[AWDBOB]

I super would hate it if your wife got mad and you had to sell this to me ugh that would suck

[moatilliatta]

Take dibs on how soon until it will be a 5 speed?

[2mAn]

How are ya Simon? You haven't given up on Alfas have you?

Where can we find nice seat kits like Ninestitch used to do?

I still have my Twin Spark motor, hoping I get around to start building it next year. Im just not used to the cylinders being separate so that scares me a little. I have a few different projects Im working on so Im a bit spread out ... and our second is coming in February, so who knows what 2025 actually will look like.

I think others will have to chime in on where to get seat kits from. I think Julien or kronus would be the best source for that unless someone else can chime in...

[LateFan]

Thanks! And congratulations! We're leaving for the east coast for two weeks to babysit grandtots! Woot!

[2mAn]

Take dibs on how soon until it will be a 5 speed?

kronus already sent me where a few kits are hiding, but there’s like 5 big things that have to get done before I even consider doing that swap.

Step1 today was to get a closer look at the car. First thing that made me very happy was matching VINs everywhere, however the Carfax has one minor accident which must be related to this. Looks like the valence and possibly the fender got pushed in a little.



Does this fitting lead y’all to believe it’s been converted from R12 to R134? I have no idea.



The next thing was to do a quick little cleanup. Took all the stickers off and did a light cleaning. Found this ticket stub from Night at the Museum… oh the secrets that the Smithsonian has…



The last thing was to see if there was any obvious reason why the car arrived with a dead battery. Battery has a 5/23 sticker on it, but there’s like also seems to have been some sort of accessory that needed juice from the battery, and was mounted up by the driver.


Any of you know if this was for a Garmin or some navigation? Or was it some other contraption. I’ll remove this and also get the battery charged up to see if that helps.


oh and it is possible the timing belt is 13 years old, because this sticker looks like it says 11 as the year, but very faint.

[DEV0 E30]

Welcome back dude! Although you never left and are the reason why this forum is still even clunking along.

[DEV0 E30]

I super would hate it if your wife got mad and you had to sell this to me ugh that would suck

ahahaha

[2mAn]

Wanted to start by removing the random wires to see if they might be a source of a power draw. Was able to pull all the wires out of the trunk, into the car. While pulling the rear seat cushion out I snapped a pic of this under the seat. Nice to see the details from 35 years ago...



The black connector has been fully removed and wasnt connected to anything from front to rear. Also removed the car phone antenna wiring, but theres a red wire and an orange wire that ran up behind the dash and are still connected. We'll see where these go. I also made the first bluntech order, a timing belt and water pump kit they sell, along with 3 continental v-belts needed to sort out the belts and make the car a confident runner. How it will run is still yet to see. I got a good fuel smell in the 1/2 mile drive home. Tires also arrive tomorrow so those will get mounted on the euroweaves...

Lets see how long the t-belt swap takes as I have to get some things done to the 911 in the next week, so hopefully driving this car before the end of the year!

[prisonerofdoom83]

Someone on Facebook is parting out a very similar red one like this inLA area . I would have to see exactly where in case you needed some random parts

[325isman]

great find and I know u will have it looking good.

[2mAn]

Had a small window today and wanted to finish pulling the last two wires out.


Ended up being a clean install and luckily I didn’t tear the entire center console/stereo apart because these two ended up going all the way to the fuse box.




The final mess of wires removed