TLDR: this thread documents my 13+ year journey turning a $250 shitbox into a slightly cooler and more expensive shitbox. A lot of my time has been focused on collecting rare/interesting parts while improving and modifying nearly everything along the way. Nothing is sacred about this car - it's meant to be driven and look cool.
I've tried to be candid about some of the mistakes I've made along the way because I'm not an expert and have used this car as a way to learn about working on cars.
Hey people, I’ve owned this car for the better part of a decade now and I feel it’s time I finally made a real thread. This car is my project and daily driver, and is quite possibly the only thing keeping me sane with my 50+ hour a week job. Behold my noble steed!
Here's how she looked when I found her:
It’s a 1986 325es coupe, manual, in Alpine/Pacific Blue. It’s my second e30 – I hard-parked the first one into a curb and was too inexperienced to know what to do with it, so I let it go. Biggest regret to this day. My dad and I bought this one in 2010 for $250 in semi-running condition it but needed a transmission, so we dropped in a mystery-Getrag from Craigslist and she’s been (basically) running ever since.
Right after bringing her home:
Sometime in high school I thought it would be a good idea to spray up the front quarter… But I'm pretty much sick of it and I think I’ll be getting rid of it pretty soon :?
It stayed pretty stock for about 5 years while I went away to college, but now that I have a job I’ve been able to throw a lil bit of cash at it finally.
First thing I did after getting back from college was to take care of some long-overdo maintenance like timing belt/water pump, new coolant hoses, clutch master/slave replacement, etc.
Had the shift linkage rebuilt and added a 1.9 lever and ZHP knob which improved the driving experience 1000%. Also cup holders because functional racecar.
She looked like this for a while.
Then I found out what the inside of my oil pan looked like:
That was a huuuge bummer, but not wanting to lose 2 e30’s to curb-related incidents, I had it towed to my guy in Oxnard and a few days later had a new oil pan, sub-frame, control arms, and bushings. Good as new!
The fart-cannon muffler was cool for a while but the piping totally rusted out, so I replaced it with a much more sensible stock system. Although I miss setting off car alarms in parking garages :(
Then I installed JOMs:
They ride alright for DD purposes, although my car's low enough that I scrape the cat when I drive into steep ass underground parking structure.
Didn’t want to bust another oil pan (had bad enough luck at stock height) and my radiator support is too bent up for a red46 skid plate, I threw down for the HIK severe duty plate (the one welded to the frame). It's suuuper low so I smack it around a lot, but I feel pretty invincible and I'd rather bash up a skid plate than my oil pan.
Recently acquired these cool OZ Routes:
They’re 15x7 ET12. Had the fenders rolled since they were rubbing the rear arches. 3mm spacers in the fronts to clear the struts, might space out the rears a bit (10mm or maybe 15mm).
Now I guess I’m pretty much in the beautification stage. I have an ES air dam with OG brackets/fogs and a new valance ready to install. Scored a clean dash too, but I'm on the fence about installing it any time soon, or even at all.
She’s a constant work in progress but I’m really happy with how everything is shaping up. I have a huge ultimate to-do list, but short-term goals are to install the air dam, re-spray the rockers black again, and hopefully improve the sound system (only running front speakers now).
Eventually I'd like to get the body totally straight, reupholster the seats/improve the interior in general, then fix up the driveline (diff whines/leaks, engine ticks a little, shifting is still a littttle sloppy despite the linkage rebuild).
Here's my other bae ;)
Looking forward to keeping this updated with my progress turning this into a respectable automobile! She's not the prettiest car around but I’ve put a lot of effort into keeping her on the road and it’s always nice to get my hands dirty and learn something new working on her.
:early:
I've tried to be candid about some of the mistakes I've made along the way because I'm not an expert and have used this car as a way to learn about working on cars.
Hey people, I’ve owned this car for the better part of a decade now and I feel it’s time I finally made a real thread. This car is my project and daily driver, and is quite possibly the only thing keeping me sane with my 50+ hour a week job. Behold my noble steed!
Here's how she looked when I found her:
It’s a 1986 325es coupe, manual, in Alpine/Pacific Blue. It’s my second e30 – I hard-parked the first one into a curb and was too inexperienced to know what to do with it, so I let it go. Biggest regret to this day. My dad and I bought this one in 2010 for $250 in semi-running condition it but needed a transmission, so we dropped in a mystery-Getrag from Craigslist and she’s been (basically) running ever since.
Right after bringing her home:
Sometime in high school I thought it would be a good idea to spray up the front quarter… But I'm pretty much sick of it and I think I’ll be getting rid of it pretty soon :?
It stayed pretty stock for about 5 years while I went away to college, but now that I have a job I’ve been able to throw a lil bit of cash at it finally.
First thing I did after getting back from college was to take care of some long-overdo maintenance like timing belt/water pump, new coolant hoses, clutch master/slave replacement, etc.
Had the shift linkage rebuilt and added a 1.9 lever and ZHP knob which improved the driving experience 1000%. Also cup holders because functional racecar.
She looked like this for a while.
Then I found out what the inside of my oil pan looked like:
That was a huuuge bummer, but not wanting to lose 2 e30’s to curb-related incidents, I had it towed to my guy in Oxnard and a few days later had a new oil pan, sub-frame, control arms, and bushings. Good as new!
The fart-cannon muffler was cool for a while but the piping totally rusted out, so I replaced it with a much more sensible stock system. Although I miss setting off car alarms in parking garages :(
Then I installed JOMs:
They ride alright for DD purposes, although my car's low enough that I scrape the cat when I drive into steep ass underground parking structure.
Didn’t want to bust another oil pan (had bad enough luck at stock height) and my radiator support is too bent up for a red46 skid plate, I threw down for the HIK severe duty plate (the one welded to the frame). It's suuuper low so I smack it around a lot, but I feel pretty invincible and I'd rather bash up a skid plate than my oil pan.
Recently acquired these cool OZ Routes:
They’re 15x7 ET12. Had the fenders rolled since they were rubbing the rear arches. 3mm spacers in the fronts to clear the struts, might space out the rears a bit (10mm or maybe 15mm).
Now I guess I’m pretty much in the beautification stage. I have an ES air dam with OG brackets/fogs and a new valance ready to install. Scored a clean dash too, but I'm on the fence about installing it any time soon, or even at all.
She’s a constant work in progress but I’m really happy with how everything is shaping up. I have a huge ultimate to-do list, but short-term goals are to install the air dam, re-spray the rockers black again, and hopefully improve the sound system (only running front speakers now).
Eventually I'd like to get the body totally straight, reupholster the seats/improve the interior in general, then fix up the driveline (diff whines/leaks, engine ticks a little, shifting is still a littttle sloppy despite the linkage rebuild).
Here's my other bae ;)
Looking forward to keeping this updated with my progress turning this into a respectable automobile! She's not the prettiest car around but I’ve put a lot of effort into keeping her on the road and it’s always nice to get my hands dirty and learn something new working on her.
:early:
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