1983 Henna Red 323i

[Iain]

"Small bumpers"? "Series 1 E30"?

[kdevitt]

If a slightly stretched headliner is the only quibble with that car, I reckon you've done ok.

That is one seriously, painfully brilliant piece of chrome-bumpered awesomeness.

Haha - I know, but I'm quite fussy. It'll annoy me every time I look at it until its sorted!

[kdevitt]

The postman was kind today - so it meant I could stick the centre console back in.

Picked up this centre armrest on eBay - it was unused, and hence in excellent condition.









Thankfully - I also picked up an unused centre console on eBay a long time ago





I didn't take any photos of the install - its a case of bolt, screw, drill, bolt , curse, drill again etc.

Its actually quite handy - it slides on its mount, so can clear the handbrake.





Also got the door cards back on - had gotten vinyl doorcards, but they had different fittings in them, and I wasn't in the mood of stripping the door and all doorcards down. So I put the original ones back in - will probably have the retrimmed in the motorsport style (leather inserts) at some stage.



Have a few trim covers that need to go back in under the bonnet. Opened it up and my rad was just sitting loose -



Not sure there is clearance for the bonnet to shut if I just use a bolt and nut, so left it as is until I find out what exactly to use.

Anyway - took a photo before I packed up for the night. It was late and dark - and it was probably the first time I've ever taken my camera off fully auto

[BigSam]

This car is absolutely gorgeous.

[Hick]

its an automatic?!?!?!?!?

[kdevitt]

its an automatic?!?!?!?!?

It is - for about another 4 weeks.

[Hick]

thats what i wanted to hear.

i love this car BTW. Henna is one of my favortie E30 colors

[kdevitt]

thats what i wanted to hear.

i love this car BTW. Henna is one of my favortie E30 colors

Cheers :)

Not sure how anyone would want to drive an automatic to be honest! I knew it'd be a pain when I bought it, but theres not too many similar cars with 49k on the clock, so didn't mind the extra expense of converting to manual.

[kdevitt]

Opened the boot today and it was full of water (and ice!). I was imagining having to spend quite a while tracking down the source of the leak - but thankfully it was straightforward enough.

For some reason, the rear lights hadn't been bolted back in:



That was the worst nut - but they were all loose. Managed to get all the water out of the boot and dry out the lights, so hopefully it'll be the last of the leaks.

Also managed to clean and condition the interior. Really looks great now - but you'll have to take my word for it, have no photos, will wash the car and grab some tomorrow.

[kdevitt]

Got the car washed today - not that it was overly dirty. A piece of the sunroof hadn't been put back in though, so the water just pissed right through into the cabin. Will need to get that sorted.

Anyhoo - am happy with how its looking:

[dude8383]

Gorgeous! Can't wait to see it sitting lower and with a proper exhaust!

[kdevitt]

Few updates - bought new wheels. They were in good condition, but there were a few marks, so made sense to have them refurbed while I still had the use of the original wheels. The tyres didn't have too much life left in them, so managed to get some ones sourced locally and he was able to remove the old tyres before I dropped them into the lads for a refurb.



Fairly certain the wheels were sprayed before - there were some points which had bubbled, and I sanded them down myself - you can see primer there as well though!





Ordered new centre caps from C3BMW.co.uk to go on them - the old caps had seen better days!



There were one or two roundels stuck onto each one - they'd been replaced before. Used a blade to try and get them off, but they didn't budge. Stuck them in boiling water and the glue softened up very quickly.



Cleaned up all the gunk and stuck on the fresh badges -



Popped them onto the new wheels - they just clip in -



Also finally straightened up the reg surrounds that were on it - they were crooked for ages. And threw on the German plates of course! Quite like them - might change my mind at some stage.





Managed to get the car washed too - not that it was too dirty, but wanted to try out the Dodo Juice Orange crush.

[Be30mer]

Completely different plugs to the other four - not sure if it was causing any problems, but the cold start issue is still there unfortunately!

you mean other 5? or does your car have 5 cylinders? a vovlo swap? ah shit!
jk. GREAT work on the e30.
EDIT: I noticed you have an e46 m3. I am considering buying one of those soon, how do you like it?

[stevofthahill]

Absolutely stunning car! When is the drop, exhaust, and 5spd coming?

[kdevitt]

you mean other 5? or does your car have 5 cylinders? a vovlo swap? ah shit!
jk. GREAT work on the e30.

Ah - but if you read that post again you'll notice I had two of these dodgy plugs - so 2 dodgy VW plugs plus m 4 BMW ones means I have one for each cylinder :D

EDIT: I noticed you have an e46 m3. I am considering buying one of those soon, how do you like it?

Yeah - love it. Fantastic car. Buy one, buy two!!