My Euro Swapped 325es (13+ year project)

[WestCoastEta]

I had a realization that 90% of my car troubles would be eliminated if I drove a sensible, stock height car that would fit into my underground parking structure without bottoming out. But I'm all about that degenerate low lifestyle, so here I am :D

My window is pretty much nonoperational now after the hit and run. I went to roll it down the other day and it dropped a few inches like it had fallen off the track, so I took the panel off to see what was going on.

What I learned:

• The dent is in the fuckiest position possible, sitting directly behind the regulator motor where I can't possibly fit the hammer I wanted to use




• The rear window mount (where it slides onto the regulator) is totally broken. Is this piece replaceable? Do I need a new window now, too?



• Street parking sucks ass

I was able to roll the window up all the way and I unplugged the motor to avoid accidentally breaking it any further. I truly hate opening my door every time I scan into my work parking lot.

After the last downpour I'm still finding standing water on the floor, so I'm basically changing my car's diapers now every time it wets itself. Current theory is that the sunroof drains are still slightly clogged.

Went to the Dockweiler meet and enjoyed meeting several of ya. That is all for now!

[WestCoastEta]

Hahah thanks dudes. I'll probably end up getting another door eventually as long as it's OG Alpine white. This time of year it's not crucial to roll my window down all the way, but my office parking lot requires me to scan in and out and it's a pain in the ass to have to open the door for that.

Fuh Raze.

First time encountering this phrase here hah. I suppose I meet the criteria, but I swear my car will eventually be a badass, fully-functional, legitimate build!

You're a mad man. I have a feeling that this car is driven real fuckin' hard. haha! keep up the good work!

I'll say that I drive the car reasonably hard for an eta, but only as much as I can get away with since it's my DD. I enjoy occasionally ripping a donut or two when it's rainy out and conditions permit.

[jeenyus]

You're a mad man. I have a feeling that this car is driven real fuckin' hard. haha! keep up the good work!

[MR E30 325is]

Good stuff!

I had a guy hit and run my E30 once, the damage was almost identical to yours.

I went ahead and got a new door. Fuh Raze.

[WestCoastEta]

When it rains, it pours: my driver window is now off the track due to the door damage, my new fan and shroud started colliding, and water has still been finding its way into the cabin.

I try to do as much work on my car as possible, but time/space/resources limit me from the major stuff, especially when my beater is my daily driver. I dropped the car off at JMP to get the Garagistic rear subframe installed, and also gave Jerick a list of things to check out.

The major surprise was that my front subframe engine mount was broken on the passenger side (he said this is fairly common). The engine was sagging, which explained why the fan was hitting the shroud, so he welded that up for me.

Next on the list was the water leakage. He suggested the leak was coming from the floor pan and resealed the plates that sit behind the seats. I really hope this does the trick.

He also discovered the Allen bolts on the shifter plate had backed out, causing a bit of slop. The shifter's now feeling nice and toight.

And lastly, the subframe and new bushings! I know it seems backwards to install such an expensive ass subframe with dirt cheap coilovers still on the car, but I'm thinking about the long term here. Plus, it feels great to have four-wheel adjustable alignment. I might go back in for a few tweaks, but it's driving pretty great so far.

I still have to confirm that water isn't coming in. It monsooned today and my carpet is wet, but it might still be wet from a few days ago. I'm going to deal with the window soon, too. On my next free day I'll pull the door panel, get rid of the broken parts of the door stopper, and hopefully pound out enough of the dent to get my window to function.

Otherwise I'm all geared up for the Dockweiler meet this Saturday! It's my first real e30 meet. Can't wait!

[WestCoastEta]

Someone hit & ran my car the other day :x:x:x



LA drivers suck shit sometimes. My window only goes about 1/3 down now, so I guess a new door is in order if I can't get it pulled. My door-stopper is broken anyway, so maybe I might as well just find another one.



The recent rain has been keeping my carpet nice and moist. Water accumulates behind the pass seat so I keep a wad of newspapers underneath the carpet that I swap out every few days.

I was afraid moisture was coming in through a gnarly hole somewhere, but I did a little research and it turns out it's probably just from clogged sunroof drains! This thread was super useful.

Today was my first Sunday off in a long time (Merry Christmas!) so I spent some time testing the drains and shoving wire into the unknown. The thread I mentioned says water should flow out about as fast as I pour it in, and that definitely wasn't happening with the front drains. The rears were aight.



Also pried the drain holes open with a flathead screwdriver in case they were pinched.

Messed around for an hour or so and water definitely flows better now than before. The elephant trunk was also completely clogged with mud and crap so I flushed that out as well



I'll report back after the next rain.

Otherwise, had a good e30 Christmas :-D

Got a Garagistic strut bar & odometer gears from my mom. I kinda wish I asked for a powder-coated strut bar because there's some minor surface rust on the welds, but I might spray some primer on it before installing.



Also my girlfriend got me a badass e30 shirt, and I bought myself an adjustable rear subframe that I'm going to get installed in the next month. No more shitty alignment! More on that later :up:

[WestCoastEta]

Well I decided it's time for something different :D







Viola! The overspray you see is from the previous owner. I'll take the bumper trim off to detexture and respray it eventually.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the secret ingredient...





And with that I present the world's first white-chalkboard car, taking inspiration from Neil1138's beautiful chalkboard e30.

I wanted to do something creative to the fender that looked a bit more normal, and ultimately decided chalkboard was the way to go. This clear chalkboard spray is pretty cool stuff, but I need to spray a few more coats on in some places -- note how some of my tests didn't fully erase.

Not sure how weather-durable this stuff is, but we're not getting much rain in CA anyway. Time will tell!

[WestCoastEta]

Thought I'd drop an update, though I haven't done anything super major lately. I was initially worried about scraping the air dam everywhere I went, but I haven't really had to alter my driving style at all. There's just enough clearance to bop around town comfortably :D

Sometimes I look at my car and think the front sits slightly too high, but from other angles I think it looks perfect. I think it's mostly due to the rear wheel wells being lower than the fronts, but either way, I can't justify lowering it any more. I'm also thinking about painting my old sideskirts and reinstalling them, assuming I don't just paint the rockers black again... we will see.

In minor news, I swapped my universal 3mm front spacers with 5mm hubcentrics from Motorsport Hardware and also pulled the fender liners because the tires rubbed when turned.



I like that I can use the HIK skid plate as a jacking point, but it would be nice if I could actually fit the floor jack under the car.



And speaking of fenders, I have something new planned for the drivers side, which I'll be posting more details on later :devil:

I will say that it's time to say farewell to Mr. Jackson, so take a good look while he's still here.



I vacuumed my car for the first time in foreeever today. It was long overdue. I even pulled the rear seats and check out all the fun stuff I found:



A pacifier, loads of hair, a nerf dart, a hospital band, and god knows what else... but at least I made a couple bucks, right?

While cleaning my car I learned that I'm taking in water on the passenger side floor behind the seat :( I guess that's why my car smells funky after it rains. The passenger side floor is all brown and disgusting compared to the drivers side. So I gotta look into that... any ideas where to start?

Passengers side:


Drivers side:


In other shitty news, I "love-tapped" a 2006 Scion a few weeks ago. 12 hour work day + last intersection before my place = careless e30 driver. I'm pretty disappointed. Luckily it was an extremely minor ordeal and my car didn't get too banged up. I did have to retuck the bumper back in place with a forceful kick, but that's about it (note how the drivers side popped out). It didn't damage the air damn thank jeezus. Livin n learnin, but it's times like these I'm glad I don't daily drive a show car.



On the bright side, I got a new air freshener.



And at least it looks good from certain angles!

[unitt01]

Looking real clean ! :up::up::up:

[WestCoastEta]

Alright well I gotta drive this thing to work tomorrow so I hit it with a few zip ties for temporary support. I'm stoked on how it looks :D

[WestCoastEta]

Interesting build.

Props to doing work out on the street, I vividly remember those days. Lots of stares. Haha

Also, good on you for not giving up on an E30 that has seen much better days.

Thank you, I know I could pick up a much cleaner e30 for less than what I'm putting into this one, but I'm too attached to it for better or worse. It would kill me to see it get scrapped

I can't wait to move back into a place with a garage and a yard, but gotta make due for now.

[WestCoastEta]

Its going to have a rough life and chances are the OEM plastic bits that are supposed to hold it together are going to get destroyed

Haha yeah I got a beat up one for a reason! I carry zip ties with me at all times. Wish me luck.

i remember those wheels, i sold it to Jay last year IIRC.. lol

These wheels have for sure been around. They went from bauhause30 to zer0paint before me, and I think Gklock15 on here had em at one point and is the one who painted them black.

PO installed it. Funny story but I accidentally parked to close to a front curb at a restaurant and knocked it off. He had drilled holes into the metal bumper and used zip ties. The sides of the valance were actually tucked into the bumper. I'm thinking of just using screws, washers and bolts instead of zip ties as I don't want to drive home with the valance In my car again lmao

I should have just drilled into the diving board from the start, but I was able to source most of the brackets, so I'll run em as long as I can. I think I'll drill into the valance for extra protection at some point.

[MR E30 325is]

Interesting build.

Props to doing work out on the street, I vividly remember those days. Lots of stares. Haha

Also, good on you for not giving up on an E30 that has seen much better days.

[e30lyf]

i remember those wheels, i sold it to Jay last year IIRC.. lol

[unitt01]

PO installed it. Funny story but I accidentally parked to close to a front curb at a restaurant and knocked it off. He had drilled holes into the metal bumper and used zip ties. The sides of the valance were actually tucked into the bumper. I'm thinking of just using screws, washers and bolts instead of zip ties as I don't want to drive home with the valance In my car again lmao