Guten on Demand - 10,000 mile Cross Country Road Trip

[BrewCity11]

So, for those of you that don't follow Guten Parts, I left for Europe 3 years ago. Spent the first 3 months in Istanbul working in a hostel, 2 years in the Netherlands working for a vehicle wrapping film manufacturer, and the last 3 months again in Turkey, including a 3 week hitchhiking adventure through SE Europe, all the while looking for cool E30 parts to pack up and send back to GPS.

Eventually, I knew i'd have to come back to the US and Guten to wrench and see family and friends. This happened in December and have been itching for a new project.

Bought an E34 daily in January which needed work, got that up and running, took a 2,000 mile road trip to Milwaukee and back and its since been a month of searching for the right E30 to prepare for the next adventure.

Well, stars aligned last week. Meet Beyonce, the car which will take me on the road across America this summer.

[BrewCity11]

Now, on to the more interesting part, getting this 1987 325is into roadworthy condition.

Some of you may know Howard in NH, who turned this car into an MT1 and sold it off two years ago. That owner rang him up saying he was ready to sell and we caught wind of it here so I sold the E34 and this past Friday, took a bus from NJ up to Boston to pick it up.



Brought my Irish buddy visiting with me along for the trip. We arrived shortly before midnight so we figured plenty of time for a few drinks. Great town and had amazing weather on Saturday. Walked around, had lunch and drove her home.

Rooftop parking lot in Harvard square


He drank a bit much the night before, couldn't resist the photo op


Back home in the driveway at 9pm

[BrewCity11]

After Easter dinner, couldn't sit still, had to bring her down to the shop for an inspection. While she doesn't have any one major issue, she does have plenty of problems i'm going to need to address before embarking on 10,000 miles.

I'll use this thread to document all the repairs. Lets get started!

Original owner had the chrome fender trim installed and now since being removed, has started to rust from where the holes were drilled.


Minor rust developing around corner of windshield and hood


Passenger side corner of hood gap a bit off


Passenger Mirror corrosion


Roof panel rust


Passenger side of rear bumper fitment off


License plate lights rusted


Illuminated shift know doesn't light up


Visor panel delamination


Need to dye rear speaker deck


Ugh, just dirrrrrty


Drivers frame rail rust hole


Clutch line corrosion and cracking


Pretty much all the brake sensors are cracked/broken, along with the sway links.


P/S leak and front/rear main seals are shot


Oil cooler damage


Rusty booster


Gas tank caved in


Cat back is rusted


Output seals


Upper spring perch rusted


Others:
bucking at 4k at WOT
ABS light
Occasional coolant and oil level lights
Radio code after every start
Only pass front speakers work
Passenger door window and mirror inop
brakes shot
suspension
tires
respray

Overall, i'm happy with the purchase but i've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Stay tuned!

[selturk]

Wow it's been 3 years already, time goes fast. Welcome back brother..
Sounds like a great idea.

[smitche]

This sounds awesome... To bad I'm in the southern portion of the state you plan to end up in. Haha. Best of luck!

[Farbin Kaiber]

Wonderful. I'll be hoping you'll be passing through ID so F_SPEC gets to be graced with your presence!!!

[BrewCity11]

Wow it's been 3 years already, time goes fast. Welcome back brother..
Sounds like a great idea.

Thanks bro, hope to see you sometime, Gfest perhaps?

This sounds awesome... To bad I'm in the southern portion of the state you plan to end up in. Haha. Best of luck!

Don't worry, Socal is a definite stop!

Wonderful. I'll be hoping you'll be passing through ID so F_SPEC gets to be graced with your presence!!!

For sure man! And people, this is a road trip afterall, so there will be many places visited and would love to meet anyone on the way. Don't have to hire me to invite me!

[M-technik-3]

Wow that's Howard's old car? It went to shit after he had it. I sold the tech I kit to him for it.

Thinking he bought the RZ's as well from me can't remember that one. It was on craigslist Boston and when I noticed it I thought it was Unhcll's old converted Tech I. He said no as he parted his out.

Did you talk him down?

[Luis325]

Looks like a nice project!!!

[giantkeeper]

I don't need car work, but beers in Phoenix are a must!

[slaterd]

i don't need car work, but beers in phoenix are a must!

+1

[noE30]

Very cool idea! will be following along

[SilberSurfer]

This is going to be good,
Have a safe trip Turk, looking forward to
Hearing some stories when you get back !!!

[PaladinReed]

3 years! Insane. I bought that cheap alpine early model off of you in Chicago literally right before you left for Europe.

That was right after some legal trouble I was having. I now have a family with a one year old boy, did a stint in Asia, and have owned 4 e30s since that.

Well, what a trooper that car was, I put over 20k on that car in about a year and only changed the oil. Ran even better than when I got it (which was pretty decent) and made some great memories. You Erhamza dudes are pretty kickass and I'm quite positive we will find a way to have one of ya'll in SW Mo again, lots of 24v and 2002 work going on around here.

Subscribed.

[ColdAccord]

I love the idea. I was glad to host you in Buffalo many years ago, and many r3vers have hosted me in new cities over the years and led to great friendships. What originally to me was just an internet forum to look at other cars of the same chassis as mine, has surprisingly become the real life experiences that I happily look back on, with more to come I'm sure.

You've got your work cut out for you on that e30, I'm anxious to get back in the e30 game myself.

P.S. I offered to buy our old touring back from the current owner, he is happy with it and didn't want to sell. Which is good, I'm glad that such unique vehicles can fall in appreciative hands. Enjoy the ride, if you need a couch in western New York give a shout