Seeking Sage Wisdom for 325e
So, I have haters who will invariably find me and tell me I'm stupid... but I'm ok with that.
I seek the wisdom of the collective community on what to undertake with my e30.
A little background for those who care (history major in school, can't get away from it!)
1984 325e with a shade over 113500 miles. It's my DD.
Polaris Metallic over Cherry (?) Red Interior. Interior is 8/10, honestly. The drivers' left side sport seat bolster is showing wear, but I've seen 5 year old cars with worse. Options include a BBS front air dam (that I'm not sure if I love), the little rubber spoiler on the back (Mother's Back-to-Black has helped me keep that from cracking.). It's got auto sunroof, windows, yadda yadda and a manual 'box, thank god.
I picked it up for $6k north of Atlanta, and it came with a Bentley and ALL the service records.
First owner had it for right around a year, sold it in late 84, second owner had it from 84 to 2005, during which time it was driven off and on by both husband and wife.
Third owner traded TWO 2002s for two e30s, a late 80s 325is (zinno or brilliant, can't remember), and this car, the Eta. He performed maintenance religiously. Ha, I can tell what he has and hasn't worked on by the smudges in the Bentley Manual.
So I looked for an unmolested, (relatively) low mileage e30 for awhile. While living in Germany I'd had a e34 euro spec 525 (RIP, that's another story), and an e39 528i M sport with Manual. Loved that car. I decided on e30 because I knew I wanted a 3 series coupe, knew I didn't want to incur another car payment, and hell, it's an e30, it's goddam legend. After a few shady dealings on CL (never again, I swear) I found this guy in GA on CCA website, went up, test drove, he went over the good, the bad (there's really no ugly) with me. He was so incredibly honest about every issue he'd had with the car, I knew I'd found a good one. Anywho, a 3 hour trip back home and I was beyond smitten.
To start maintenance, I went for full fluidwechseln, brakes, tranny, diff, oil, coolant, all red-line or OEM stuff, several bottles of fuel injector cleaner from BMW Group (aka Chevron), and plugs.
Just got it out of the shop from getting timing belt, tensioner, radiator fan, hoses, water pump, thermostat (standard 180 degree, PO had low-temp, and if anyone's still reading, do you think the standard is ok in a car this old? or should I switch back to low-temp?)
My number 1 fear in life is losing this car to an unforeseen malfunction, which is why I'm willing to shell out cash for maintenance done right, if I'm not capable of it.
So anyway, I feel that i'm now at a point where I can "start" doing things to the car.
Issues- check panel lights are all bogus. The washer fluid light's been on for days, the level's fine. The "brake lights' warning is on. they work just fine. Oil, coolant do the same, everything seems to be just fine. I kinda want to rip that thing out (?), but in a non-destructive way. Maybe just bypass the sensors on the stuff I can manually look at and verify there's no issue. Any thoughts?
The tranny is a little sloppy, but not emergency bad.
The steering is a little vague at times, and the brake pedal is not the most confidence-inspiring pedal I've met, but it works (hit lockup with my wife in the car one day, asshole cut me off).
Otherwise, the car's a dream.
PO put Alpine headunit in.
I put in a UUC Big Boy clutch stop
I bought rubber all-weather floor mats. (need to get a stock set for when I'm wearin my dancin' shoes, and not my shitkickers)
Beyond that, this car is bone stock.
As for upgrades:
i'm familiar with the "e" to "i" conversion. no interest in doing it, I like the Eta.
I'm thinking about a chip?
I'm thinking springs, just springs, for now.
I'm thinking UUC Evo 3 SSK (or one of the Z3 shifters)
I'm thinking new brake pads and SSL, on top of a caliper rebuild.
I'm thinking a bumper tuck, and maybe M-tech II all the way around, with a respray.
My question is- where do I start? I guess, I want to start small-ish. 3-500 bucks. And I would like to do some of it myself, but I'm at about a level 2 proficiency. I'm honest about my capabilities, (or lack thereof) I want to learn it (I spend hours on the project forum, jealous of all the talent in this community), but there's noone in this town to look over my shoulder, so the unfortunate thing is I end up having to shell out cash for things I know I could do under the right supervision.
So let's say you have a bone stock e30 325e, 113k miles, everything runs, works, and it's a damn decent ride... it's just not... R3Vlimited standard yet.
What's your first move?
So I got motivated right around sunrise this morning and took my car on a photo tour (cellphone camera, no apologies).
And this was the last thing I did before I came back. Haters gon hate on my ghetto launch control, but it gives you an idea what the eta sounds like no cat. Ansa cat-back exhaust, straight pipe mid.
I seek the wisdom of the collective community on what to undertake with my e30.
A little background for those who care (history major in school, can't get away from it!)
1984 325e with a shade over 113500 miles. It's my DD.
Polaris Metallic over Cherry (?) Red Interior. Interior is 8/10, honestly. The drivers' left side sport seat bolster is showing wear, but I've seen 5 year old cars with worse. Options include a BBS front air dam (that I'm not sure if I love), the little rubber spoiler on the back (Mother's Back-to-Black has helped me keep that from cracking.). It's got auto sunroof, windows, yadda yadda and a manual 'box, thank god.
I picked it up for $6k north of Atlanta, and it came with a Bentley and ALL the service records.
First owner had it for right around a year, sold it in late 84, second owner had it from 84 to 2005, during which time it was driven off and on by both husband and wife.
Third owner traded TWO 2002s for two e30s, a late 80s 325is (zinno or brilliant, can't remember), and this car, the Eta. He performed maintenance religiously. Ha, I can tell what he has and hasn't worked on by the smudges in the Bentley Manual.
So I looked for an unmolested, (relatively) low mileage e30 for awhile. While living in Germany I'd had a e34 euro spec 525 (RIP, that's another story), and an e39 528i M sport with Manual. Loved that car. I decided on e30 because I knew I wanted a 3 series coupe, knew I didn't want to incur another car payment, and hell, it's an e30, it's goddam legend. After a few shady dealings on CL (never again, I swear) I found this guy in GA on CCA website, went up, test drove, he went over the good, the bad (there's really no ugly) with me. He was so incredibly honest about every issue he'd had with the car, I knew I'd found a good one. Anywho, a 3 hour trip back home and I was beyond smitten.
To start maintenance, I went for full fluidwechseln, brakes, tranny, diff, oil, coolant, all red-line or OEM stuff, several bottles of fuel injector cleaner from BMW Group (aka Chevron), and plugs.
Just got it out of the shop from getting timing belt, tensioner, radiator fan, hoses, water pump, thermostat (standard 180 degree, PO had low-temp, and if anyone's still reading, do you think the standard is ok in a car this old? or should I switch back to low-temp?)
My number 1 fear in life is losing this car to an unforeseen malfunction, which is why I'm willing to shell out cash for maintenance done right, if I'm not capable of it.
So anyway, I feel that i'm now at a point where I can "start" doing things to the car.
Issues- check panel lights are all bogus. The washer fluid light's been on for days, the level's fine. The "brake lights' warning is on. they work just fine. Oil, coolant do the same, everything seems to be just fine. I kinda want to rip that thing out (?), but in a non-destructive way. Maybe just bypass the sensors on the stuff I can manually look at and verify there's no issue. Any thoughts?
The tranny is a little sloppy, but not emergency bad.
The steering is a little vague at times, and the brake pedal is not the most confidence-inspiring pedal I've met, but it works (hit lockup with my wife in the car one day, asshole cut me off).
Otherwise, the car's a dream.
PO put Alpine headunit in.
I put in a UUC Big Boy clutch stop
I bought rubber all-weather floor mats. (need to get a stock set for when I'm wearin my dancin' shoes, and not my shitkickers)
Beyond that, this car is bone stock.
As for upgrades:
i'm familiar with the "e" to "i" conversion. no interest in doing it, I like the Eta.
I'm thinking about a chip?
I'm thinking springs, just springs, for now.
I'm thinking UUC Evo 3 SSK (or one of the Z3 shifters)
I'm thinking new brake pads and SSL, on top of a caliper rebuild.
I'm thinking a bumper tuck, and maybe M-tech II all the way around, with a respray.
My question is- where do I start? I guess, I want to start small-ish. 3-500 bucks. And I would like to do some of it myself, but I'm at about a level 2 proficiency. I'm honest about my capabilities, (or lack thereof) I want to learn it (I spend hours on the project forum, jealous of all the talent in this community), but there's noone in this town to look over my shoulder, so the unfortunate thing is I end up having to shell out cash for things I know I could do under the right supervision.
So let's say you have a bone stock e30 325e, 113k miles, everything runs, works, and it's a damn decent ride... it's just not... R3Vlimited standard yet.
What's your first move?
So I got motivated right around sunrise this morning and took my car on a photo tour (cellphone camera, no apologies).
And this was the last thing I did before I came back. Haters gon hate on my ghetto launch control, but it gives you an idea what the eta sounds like no cat. Ansa cat-back exhaust, straight pipe mid.
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