project garage sale find: 1989 325i cabrio

[monzon]

So a couple of weeks ago, we found a sad, faded, but otherwise pretty straight looking cabrio under some pillows at a garage sale and bought it for $500.


Has been sitting for a while. Supposedly the battery died and the owner just gave up on it. It has 106K miles, lachssilber, black top, black interior 325i.

Had it towed home last Sunday 4-25-10.


In good company:


Haven't tried to start it yet, will probably do the timing belt first just to be sure. I don't know when it was changed, if ever. We'll clean it up first, since we'll be more motivated to work on it if it looks presentable.

First, empty out the aquarium in the taillight.


Then to ditch that nasty chrome fender trim.


to be continued... ;)

[3ics]

Gotta love the garage sale finds :)

[iwantspeed]

looks pretty straight
nice purchase.

[JamesE30]

lol literally at a garage sale. Did it have a FS sign on it at the time, or you just saw it and said "heyy I'll give ya $500 for that e30?..."

Nice find anyway I'm beginning to like verts more and more these days.. Hope the motor is in reasonable condition.

[monzon]

It wasn't for sale, but the owner was moving and really didn't want to deal with it. She said she called someone who fixes up old BMWs to check it out and he said it was only worth $300 in parts. I was like WTF? So I asked what she would sell it for, and we agreed on $500 since we intended to get it back on the road instead of scrap it.

Started buffing out the trunk lid:


And got started on the timing belt. Haven't tried to start the car at all yet, and luckily the timing belt still looked OK. But we're gonna replace it so we don't have to worry about it snapping anytime soon:

[Stevie30]

Great find. Keep us up to date on the progress.

[monzon]

Thanks everyone! Will try to keep this thread up to date.

I've never had an M20 before, but that oil filter location is sadistic!

WTF!? I thought the S14 filter was hard to get to!


Also, the outside of the top is in pretty good shape, but the lining on the inside is flaking off pretty bad. Is there any way to reline it? Or should I just brush off as much of it as I can, get an air freshener, and leave it at that? I don't really want to spend more on a brand new top than the whole car.

[monzon]

I also looked over the suspiciously shiny driver's side door, and couldn't find any overspray, botched masking tape lines, or obvious signs of repairs. And the VIN# still matches, so it seems like they did a good job fixing and repainting it, or for whatever reason it didn't fade like the rest of the car. I guess I'll take a closer look inside it if I ever take the door panels off.

[Wh33lhop]

Yeah, the M20 oil filter is fun to do. Try doing that on a hot motor. :p

Nice pickup. Is it stick or auto?

[CorvallisBMW]

Not bad for $500! keep us updated.

[monzon]

Yeah, I saw that filter under the manifold and the first thing I thought is "What asshole designed that?!"

It's an auto, I was getting kind of tired of driving stick shifts anyway...;)

[N2MYE30]

Another cabrio rescue...nice!!! Any interior shots? Looks like your gonna need a new top anyways unless you have someone sew in another. Thats what the PO of my white cabrio did. Keep us updated.

[monzon]

I'll take a few interior shots today. Gonna go pick up the timing belt and water pump this afternoon from the parts place on PCH.

Might be able to try starting the engine by this weekend.

[Kershaw]

nice find, good luck!

[monzon]

Here's some of the interior, since I was outside anyway.

It looks like its in pretty good shape, one long crack in the dash, no rips in the seats.
Oh, and a busted windshield.