1985 325e | M60b40 | Fifty Shades of Bronzit

[ArtFoodBMW]

Did I mention that i "fixed" the twisted seat problem? I took the seat apart and jumped a little bit on the backrest and it magically turned straight! But in the process of putting it back together I broke the two screw mounting plates that connect the back rest to the base of the seat, and now it can't support itself.. And the metal frame in the base is broken in two spots so now I have to pull the seat back forward to move the seat around. It's really irritating.

Does anyone know if I can take the seat frame from a non sport seat and switch over the leather and sportyness of my seat to it? Thanks

[ArtFoodBMW]

Pictures from when we brought her home. The logical first step was to start cleaning and repairing.

Also picked up some non-dented panels, for temporary coverage.

The previous owner ran the passenger front corner into a trailer, smooshing the fender, hood, and core support. These items will be better addressed later on.

All of the fluids have been flushed except the brakes, which should be happening today. It runs as well. We had the car up on jack stands and ran through all the gears. It sounds great!

Actually got the car on the roads today, and it drives pretty well. There is a rumble in lower rpm's of the lower three gears, we suspect it's from a bad guibo and engine/tranny mounts.

Detailing continues. Paint correction is proving well for the areas that have paint.

[ArtFoodBMW]

--Bare with me as I update the mess that Photobucket left me with. Switching to Flickr slowly but surely. 4 years of pictures and words are a lot to update--


Yesterday (Feb 2014), around 11 am I went to pick up the first e30 in our family.. a 1985 325e. 5 speed. Bronzitbeige Metallic. Pearl Beige sport interior.

$550.

Doesn't run but I'm stoked.

One freezing 35 minutes later and we had tow-strapped the e30 to it's rescuing home. The windows were stuck down and it was snowing during the travel home. I got the lucky job of steering and braking the e30.

The car had been owned by one family for it's whole life, and the previous owner pulled it into his garage to change the water pump... 6 years later it still had the old water pump on it and 6 years of dust. Thankfully there was a decent amount of air in the tires so no flat spots, but it needs a bit of work.

What's else is wrong with it?

Its dirty, filled with trash, maybe even a few critters. It hasn't been ran in years, it needs a fluid flush everywhere, the water pump still needs to be replaced, as does the timing belt. Fuel line to the fuel filter leaks a little bit. And there is an inconvenient dent in the hood and fender. And the driver seat is twisted. That's all we know of so far, it's a decent start. So after pulling it in to the garage, I started cleaning.

- - - Updated - - -

Pictures from the original Craigslist ad:

I think the pictures above tell you everything. The car was not cared for and I am going to change that above piece of junk into something much better:

But we'll get to that later.