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E30 Resurrection Intro

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    E30 Resurrection Intro

    Hey everybody. I feel like I've started an epic quest. I guess I'm posting this because on one hand, I think having an audience will keep me motivated to see it through to the end, and another reason is that I know there is a lot of experience and knowledge represented in this forum. So, here goes my first post.



    Started back in 2011, when me and three of my buddies decided to compete in the "Chump Car". You all may have heard of the 24 hours of lemons, and this is basically just another venue to race old junk cars.



    I've always been interested and 80s three series cars, and I had stumbled upon an '86 325 coupe with a manual transmission for the asking price of $350. We bought it together, spent some months working on it, replaced a few mechanical things,basically gutted the interior, and finally got it moving under its own power.



    Then kids happened, Real jobs happened, and mainly just more important stuff got in the way.



    Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, two of the three friends were helping me move and we started chatting about the car. It had been sitting in my friends driveway for the last three years, basically in the same state that we found it back in 2011. When we found it that day, it was under a tree almost literally buried up to its wheel lug nuts, and just looking sad. Anyway, here we were, debating its fate 4 years later.

    My friend wanted to donate it to someone because we obviously were not going to compete in that race. I just couldn't stand to see it given away, and since I've always had a soft spot for these cars, I decided that I would take it as my own. And, since I needed the extra cash (we're trying to build a house), I decided that I would "downgrade" from my 2005 Acura RSX type S, and ultimately make this BMW my daily driver.



    So fast forward to last week, and there we were, loading this car up onto a car trailer again, this time with the goal of taking it to my driveway where it would stay, until it was alive again.



    More to come with Pictures!!
    Last edited by Jshbrwr; 01-03-2016, 03:14 PM.

    #2
    Awesome!
    sigpic
    Gigitty Gigitty!!!!

    88 cabrio becoming alpina b6 3.5s transplanted s62
    92 Mtech 2 cabrio alpinweiss 770 code
    88 325ix coupe manual lachsilber/cardinal
    88 325ix coupe manual diamondschwartz/natur
    87 e30 m3 for parts lachsilber/cardinal(serial number 7)
    12 135i M sport cabrio grey/black

    Comment


      #3
      Here's a pic of the car as it sat in my buddy's driveway. Soon after, we had it up on the car trailer.

      So sad looking.

      More to come!

      Comment


        #4
        Want to catch you up on the latest in the saga. This from last Wednesday:

        Miraculously got it loaded on the trailer (it's lighter than most cars, but still) after putting air in the tires and also pulling out strange plants from the trunk space that was where the right taillight used to be.

        Here's a shot:

        Got it on the trailer and made the trip home, with it finally resting in my driveway at about 1030 that night. All of the interior pieces except for the driver seat and the rear seat back were loose in the trunk and the cabin. The door cards and the center console and the bench seat bottom were all loose. Everything had a pretty grimy layer from sitting for a couple of years in my buddy's driveway.

        Pretty bad:

        I had been scouring the craigslist ads looking for random parts. Found an ES just been posted with really nice black leather sport seats, I offered some cash for the seats and a couple other things and he had already sold the passenger for 250. So, no dice there.

        Hoping to score a passenger seat and rear taillight this weekend. I'm heading over to Atlanta metro area Sunday to do just that.

        Ewwww:

        More to come!

        Comment


          #5
          Thank you for NOT scrapping what appears to be an otherwise rust free car!

          Post up your parts needs in the "parts wanted" section. Someone on r3v has whatever you're looking for. Well ALMOST anything!
          101

          The E30 collection:
          1987 325es M52 - Schwarz / Taurus Red Sport (son #2's)
          1987 325is - Delphin / Black Sport (son #3's)
          1987 325i Convertible - Triple Black
          1989 325iX Coupe - Diamondschwarz / Black Comfort
          1990 325iX Coupe - Sterling Silver / Grey Sport

          1981 Fiat 124 Spider 2000 - Green / Tan
          1998 Volvo V70 GLT - White / Tan
          1998 Volvo S70 T5 manual - White / Taupe
          2001 Ford Windstar - Silver / Grey (parts hauler)
          2006 Lexus GX470 - White / Tan (tow rig)

          Comment


            #6
            Looks like it's going to be one of those where the end result is mind blowing compared to where it started!
            BMW tech
            Umass Amherst
            05 wrx sti

            Comment


              #7
              Suscribed

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by 101 View Post
                Thank you for NOT scrapping what appears to be an otherwise rust free car!



                Post up your parts needs in the "parts wanted" section. Someone on r3v has whatever you're looking for. Well ALMOST anything!

                Yeah, I've already seen soooo many parts I am needing. We'll see if I can do it under budget. I'm shooting for less than 2k to get it how I like it and reliable mechanical-wise.

                Thanks for the tip!

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by e30onBBSs View Post
                  Looks like it's going to be one of those where the end result is mind blowing compared to where it started!

                  Gawd I hope so!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Nice score! Definitely post up what you want, most of us are more than happy to help save a nice E30. Good luck!
                    91 318is M50 swapped
                    05 Honda Pilot

                    24V swap thread
                    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=302524

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Slowly catching up to the present....almost there!

                      Thursday I took out the battery and decided to try to charge it. There was literally a ball of ants underneath the battery in the tray pouring out soon as I started to fiddle with it. It was as though you were looking at an ant hill without the hill.


                      I got it charging and then tried to assemble the interior parts as close to where they are supposed to be. Put the passenger door card on the door and realized that I'll need to order some door clips to get it installed securely. Also will probably need a passenger door handle.

                      I also planned to give it a good cleaning over the long weekend.

                      After charging the battery overnight, I put it in before I left for work Friday morning and I did get a little "jump" on the gauges and saw the tiny amount of fuel on the gas gauge, (that was good since my plan was to be siphoning it out over the weekend) but no starting. Of course I was using a screwdriver to turn the ignition switch because the key had been broken off probably a year or two ago. So, I took the battery to AutoZone and left it with them. It only charged to 10V, so I went ahead and bought a new one for $130.

                      Thinking about tires. It definitely needs some, but I saw a set of basketweaves that has pretty good tires already on them so I planned to check em out while in the big city -ATL. I knew new tires would be more than $200 and I figured it would be nice to get a new-to-me set of different wheels for the same amount.

                      More carnage:


                      SO.... all day Saturday I spent cleaning and cleaning and cleaning the car. Found what I thought was some kind of grime or dirt layer that I was able to scrub off, but now I'm thinking that it was the clearcoat from the roof and trunk. Not really sure but, I will say that it looks better.

                      Clear coat? Maybe:

                      After working on the exterior for a good while, it got to the point that it looked like a car that needed a car wash, not a car that had been sitting outside neglected for three years. That was an improvement.

                      Exterior post-clean:

                      I next turned my attention to the interior cleaning, and mostly reassembling the interior parts. I was very happy to use my shop vac, and I was able to suck a lot of water out of the battery tray and also just suck a lot of leaves, and Rusty bits from the floorboards etc.

                      One of my favorite parts of cleaning was when I was able to clean the gauge cluster cover. I really really love mid-80s German instruments. It reminds me of the VDO gauges that I had in my old 944 turbo. Interestingly, it was also an 86, gray, manual transmission German car.

                      So after cleaning and repositioning all the pieces of the interior which included the bench seat I was able to turn my attention to getting it started. I decided to use a trick I got off of YouTube to suck out the bad gas, or should I say the Old gas. I had purchased some flexible vinyl tube from Home Depot,



                      but when I tried to insert it into the gas tank I found that there were too many kinks and turns keeping me from getting all the way to the actual tank. So instead, because I'm impatient, I decided to just add to the old gas with some 93 octane fuel. I put about 2 gallons in, and also included some fuel system cleaner. Also took the time to buy some oil treatment. Not sure if it would help, but it was only three dollars. The oil level is good, and it doesn't appear to be too black, but I'm sure I should change the oil very soon.

                      That night, I was finally ready to try to start it. I installed the battery and got in the car and for the first time the interior lights came on. That was a good feeling, to know that it was not just a shell, but an actual vehicle that was potentially going to be living again. I turned the key to on and I got some caution lights, which was also a good sign. But, as soon as I moved it to start, all I heard was a "click" and the battery was dead. Or it appeared that the battery was dead. Quite frustrating. After fooling with it a little bit, I just discovered that the battery terminals were not secure on the posts, and after making sure that they were, I actually got what I wanted, which was hearing the engine turnover. So I was able to crank it, but the engine didn't fire. I'm OK with that, because it means that the engine is not locked up or otherwise useless.

                      So, at the end of my Saturday I felt somewhat accomplished. Sunday I had more plans, and they turned out to be pretty successful actually.

                      More on that tomorrow!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Love a good story!!!

                        Keep it up brother!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Im near ATL and have a tail light for you if you want it. May even have a gasket. Shoot me a PM. Its not perfect, but it will work. I am going to try to do a meet this weekend. Let me know If you are interested. Where in ATL are you? or do you live in Alabama?

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by rcsoundn1 View Post
                            Im near ATL and have a tail light for you if you want it. May even have a gasket. Shoot me a PM. Its not perfect, but it will work. I am going to try to do a meet this weekend. Let me know If you are interested. Where in ATL are you? or do you live in Alabama?

                            Hey there, I'm totally in Alabama...

                            I ended up finding a tail light over the long weekend...my next post will cover that. I'm kind of working from the past up to current day, I know it's a little confusing, but I'm almost caught up with my story.

                            Thanks for the offer though - I'll most definitely be needing more parts, so it's good to know there's people that are willing to help!

                            Comment


                              #15
                              E30 Resurrection Intro

                              Ok guys, last Sunday was a good day -

                              I was up and out on the road by 7am, heading to my first of three stops: north Atlanta pull-a-part. I'd heard about the place but never been to one and was wondering what I would find...I also had made contact with a guy who was selling some 14" basketweaves (with "decent" tires).

                              My first stop:


                              I was pretty impressed with the whole operation, very streamlined...also got in free with my military ID - SCORE

                              Quickly found the 3 donor cars and saw no black interior...bummer. Also found not much interior stuff in general. BUT - I did find a mostly good tail light from an '84 318 that I nabbed,



                              and also got the passenger door moulding and a glove box. Total, a whopping $38 😎👍🏻



                              Next stop, Marietta for these:


                              Wheels are in great shape but looks like one tire is trash, so I bought one site to store from Walmart that I'll get installed next week. Look for pix with my new wheels then!

                              Here's a complete rear end and the side moulding installed




                              Also, I ordered a bunch of parts from Pelican Parts, the most significant being a set of sparkplugs. Got some other door hardware as well.

                              I also won a three spoke steering wheel off eBay that should be arriving soon. Pumped about that. It's not the Motorsport one, but this one:


                              One thing else I've been trying to find is a good carpet set...got a potential lead on that over in the parts section. Hopefully that turns out soon.

                              Anyway, I'll most likely be scanning the tech forums soon so I can start this beast again!

                              More posts soon, also send me any tips you guys have for me!

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