88' Zinno M3 (Progress Thread)

[fresh_TD]

Wow thats a pretty nice car you got for sight unseen, how much did you pay? sub'd

he said he paid more than $15k but less than $20k.

[ebox86]

Wow thats a pretty nice car you got for sight unseen, how much did you pay? sub'd

[bradnic]

SUB'D yay
Will be following this closely.

[jhaurimn]

Last week, it got up to a blistering 18 degrees here in Minnesota, and I attempted to go get the car washed. Well, it wouldn’t start. Turns out the POs kids left an interior light on and drained the battery before it shipped. So, I went and got a new duralast gold battery, and hooked it up to my battery tender. I am glad the car started when I picked it up, because I couldn’t even jump the old battery.


This weekend I had some free time so I decided to tear out the interior. I wish I had some better before and after pictures of some stuff but it was cold so part of me wanted to get it done. I will be more patient when it’s above freezing :)

Some things I notice are missing or broken…a clothing hook (idk how you’d hang anything from here but that’s what they are called)


Theres a little plastic cover that should cover these screws on the rear pop out window…


One of the interior lights was out. I figured hey, I got a bulb handy, I’ll just replace it…but the light was broken.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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Who would smoke in a e30 m3…honestly.


Old, dried out, and torn ebrake boot. Center console was in surprisingly good condition. I had a new one I was going to put in, but this one is in good shape and matches better.


Cheap shift knob, cheap shift boot. And a lost speaker fader switch…that was plugged into nothing.


And a worn out cig lighter. I replaced it with a new blank cover for now, until I find a clean cig lighter. Not that Ill ever use it.


Oh and someone glued the check panel to the headliner cover. Who knows what goes through previous owners minds…but the excess glue rubbed off so it looks better now.


And it was missing the knee panel under the steering column. Thankfully that was included, and just needed the 3 screws that hold it on.


OK!!! So now that we know what the issues are…lets start cleaning things up a bit. Everything came out easy as all e30 interiors do except for one part…


This damn shift knob gave me a run for my money. I gave up trying to pull it off…and sawed it off.


So with that finally off, I was able to take out the rest of the center console, and assess the carpet.




Not too bad except for the stain running down the transmission tunnel on the driver side. I didn’t get any after pictures, but I was able to get rid of it with some carpet stain remover. It was more for spot treatment. I will clean the entire carpet in the spring.

So after pulling the center console…I noticed that the window lock switch wires were plugged into a 25 amp fuse. Not sure why anyone would do this?


I vacuumed everywhere, including under the back seat, where I found little bits of glass. Interrrrresting. Carpet looks a little better. I brought all the seats inside and cleaned them up as well. Cleaned all the door panels, pillars, seat belts, the dash. I got pretty ocd.


Some parts I yanked out of my 325i for this car. Never used front and rear ash trays, a plastic cover for the pop out window, and clothing hook.


Then it was a matter of putting everything back in. I had pretty much new oem black floor mats that I was saving for something. I think this car is worthy.


I replaced the ebrake boot and shifter boot with alcantara boots from josh. It will match with my alcantara mtech 2 wheel when I put it in ;) New shift knob, pattern emblem, window lock switch. I tried putting on a leather ebrake handle put it kept pushing the ebrake button down so it wouldn’t engage, so plastic handle for now.


And from the driver side. Sorry for the quality of pictures due to being in a cold, dark garage.


After getting everything in, I was about to call it a night, but I decided to change the engine oil too. The car was last registered in 2008, and the person I bought it from didn’t remember when the oil was changed last. Scary. But I changed it and plan to change all other fluids in the spring. Just can’t stand working in a cold garage. So, for the record-- first oil change: December 15th 2013 @ 111,401 miles.

[jhaurimn]

On December 2nd, after talking to the seller for about two weeks on the car in Texas, I took a chance and bought my 88’ M3 sight unseen (other than detailed pictures and videos of course). It was a long week, but 7 days later on December 9th, the car finally arrived. It went through the winter storm that covered a major portion of the US, so it came dirty.

The beginning of its journey


Loading it off the trailer…




Stopping at the gas station for gas, and trying to scrape the frost off the inside of the windows. It was cold.


The car drove fine on the way home, but I don’t think I hit 40 mph. I really was taking it easy as it was below zero and pretty icy.


And here's some pictures showing the condition of the car before I messed with it. For comparison. (Sorry for low res)




Here’s some more info on the car. It’s a 12/1987 build, Zinnoberrot on Natur. The s14 has just over 111,000 miles. It was just given a leak down test, and all cylinders were within 5% of each other. The valves were adjusted as well. There are plenty of little things that need to be fixed, and I’ll address everything as I fix it.