How much can I expect to pay a restoration shop to make this E30 a reliable daily?

[ZeKahr]

I brought a 1986 325e w/automatic transmission about 1.5 months ago. Immediately upon buying it I had a shop (I do not have a garage so cannot and my neighborhood does not let me do any major mechanical work on cars) replace the following parts to make it driveable:
- Gas tank (rusted out)
- Driveshaft (rusted out, was causing a vibration in gear)
- Timing belt and water pump
- Fan clutch (fan was switching speeds)

The car drives much better than when I brought it, but still has a few issues that would prevent it from being a reliable daily/long distance car:
- Grinding noise coming from rear around 40+ MPH
- Transmission has harsh shift from 1-2 when giving lots of throttle, shifts a bit smoother at light throttle. Downshifts are pretty smooth.
- Metal banging noises when going over deep bumps
- Seems to have a minor exhaust leak in the pipe connecting to the exhaust manifold. The exhaust manifold is highly corroded.

Condition of critical areas of the car:
- Cooling system:
- seems to be in good shape overall
- the metal fins of the radiator seems a little beat up
- Plastic parts of radiator and coolant hoses are not brittle/cracked. Coolant hoses are reasonably soft when lightly squeezed even thought they look a little dated.
- Expansion tank is discolored
- Brakes:
- work fine
- Suspension and steering:
- Suspension probably needs new bushings all around. Other rubber-based components also probably need to be replaced I also plan on replacing the engine and transmission mounts after reading an account of a transmission falling out of a car on the E30 subreddit
- Body
- Has surface rust developing in various areas which I am in the process of temporarily addressing with rust converter. I plan on giving the car a new paint job a year or two from now after I have the mechanicals sorted out
- No rust holes (yet)

Being an Eta I do not plan on driving the car hard, I just want to use it as a classic daily cruiser. The interior will need some work, but I do not plan on addressing that right now.

How much money would I be dumping into parts/labor to make this car a reliable daily driver, addressing only the mechanical issues for now? And how long would it be stuck in a restoration shop for? Will be uploading pics of the car to give you guys a better idea of the mechanical condition of the car

[cheffy30]

thousands and thousands and thousands sent from hell using tapatalk

[ZeKahr]

thousands and thousands and thousands sent from hell using tapatalk

I figured as much, but can you provide a more specific ballpark? (e.g. ~$8000, ~$10000-11000)

[cheffy30]

based on what i know, which is a fraction of the dudes here on r3v... and according to what you've posted... taking it to a mechanic will cost you all his labor. if you could possibly find a place to work on it yourself you'll save lots. these cars are easy to work on as everything you need to know is online and well documented. you could also source and purchase your parts and hopefully the shop will install them for you. more savings. plan on a few thousand more at least from what you've described. sent from hell using tapatalk

[Jordan]

This post is a bit confusing. I can see a solid $50k in the differences between "restoration" and "reliable daily driver"

Regardless the cost to get it where you can drive it daily is going to vary on the prevailing labor rates in your area and how much the shop you find willing to take it on likes you, these cars. I would budget $5-8k to get started towards that goal, and be prepared to either spend more or learn to work on it yourself.

[ZeKahr]

based on what i know, which is a fraction of the dudes here on r3v... and according to what you've posted... taking it to a mechanic will cost you all his labor. if you could possibly find a place to work on it yourself you'll save lots. these cars are easy to work on as everything you need to know is online and well documented. you could also source and purchase your parts and hopefully the shop will install them for you. more savings. plan on a few thousand more at least from what you've described. sent from hell using tapatalk

I am planning on buying my own parts and having the shop install them. That is what I did for the fuel-tank, driveshaft, timing belt, and water pump. The shop only brought the fan clutch. This shop does not specialize in BMWs but they have worked on E30s in the past and I have never had issues with any work they did on my E46.

This post is a bit confusing. I can see a solid $50k in the differences between "restoration" and "reliable daily driver"

Regardless the cost to get it where you can drive it daily is going to vary on the prevailing labor rates in your area and how much the shop you find willing to take it on likes you, these cars. I would budget $5-8k to get started towards that goal, and be prepared to either spend more or learn to work on it yourself.

Much closer to the answer(s) I was looking for. I'm not looking to totally restore it, just make it a reliable daily driver. From what I read on this one shop's website's, the meaning of the word "restoration" in this sense can range from making the car reliable enough to be a daily driver (in the $5-8k ball park you gave) all the way to a concours-level restoration ($50k+), so I was using the word "restoration" here to refer to the low-end of the price spectrum. I am NOT trying to make this car a show car, and never will; it will cost too much time and money and I will barely be driving the car.

[Jordan]

Check out this short build thread I did for the 91 318iS @ 193k I picked up for my step son who is about to get his learners permit.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...8i-for-the-boy

I think it will give you some context. A client brought the car in wanting essentially the same thing, he wanted a thorough inspection and wanted to know what would be needed to make it a reliable daily driver and pass state inspection. The work it needed that we knew about at the time was about $6500, after he sold it to me rather than move forward I did find a few more items which would have realistically bumped that retail invoice to ~$8k-9k or so all told. This is parts & labor, as it will be at most legitimate shops.

Finding a shop willing to install client provided parts, much less en masse greatly narrows your scope and all but guarantees you are going to be limited to low quality shops and mediocre talent. Strictly speaking providing labor only isn't profitable as a legitimate repair facility and the road on the race to the bottom is paved with customer provided parts. Your mileage may vary there but FWIW.

I'm into that car linked above about $2500-2800 including the $700ish the vehicle cost, labor excluded of course having done everything myself. I still have a few items left to address, but it'll pass state and deal with daily use.

[mbonder]

Sounds like you need every suspension bushing front and rear (I'd also assume struts/shocks), which is going to run you around a grand right there just in parts. Since you did the gas tank, you should have done the entire rear when that job was getting done as you'll have to pull many of the same parts to do the rear suspension, in particular the rear subframe bushings. The banging you hear over large bumps is most likely the struts bottoming out because they're dead, that or your strut mounts and bump stops are dead.

Based on your description it sounds like you also need a new rear differential, which should be done with the rear suspension.

Transmission shifting issue is the trans slowly dying. If you prefer a manual, you should start thinking manual swap as that trans will eventually fail completely.

Not sure what the rest of the car looks like, but the 325e is one of the least desirable e30, are you sure you want to throw thousands at it just to get it drivable? There are plenty of vehicles (some for sale here on this forum) that are for sale from $6-10k that are much better platforms and given your situation lacking a garage or anywhere to do the work, I'd sell what you have and buy into something that doesn't need to be "restored". Jordan knows what he's talking about and I think he is probably even low depending upon where you are located and what types of shops you have access to. In the end the car isn't going to command the value for the money that you are spending.

[ZeKahr]

Check out this short build thread I did for the 91 318iS @ 193k I picked up for my step son who is about to get his learners permit.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...8i-for-the-boy

I think it will give you some context. A client brought the car in wanting essentially the same thing, he wanted a thorough inspection and wanted to know what would be needed to make it a reliable daily driver and pass state inspection. The work it needed that we knew about at the time was about $6500, after he sold it to me rather than move forward I did find a few more items which would have realistically bumped that retail invoice to ~$8k-9k or so all told. This is parts & labor, as it will be at most legitimate shops.

Finding a shop willing to install client provided parts, much less en masse greatly narrows your scope and all but guarantees you are going to be limited to low quality shops and mediocre talent. Strictly speaking providing labor only isn't profitable as a legitimate repair facility and the road on the race to the bottom is paved with customer provided parts. Your mileage may vary there but FWIW.

I'm into that car linked above about $2500-2800 including the $700ish the vehicle cost, labor excluded of course having done everything myself. I still have a few items left to address, but it'll pass state and deal with daily use.

I am fine with spending around $6-8k in parts and labor if that's what it will take to make my E30 mechanically sorted. I can even go a bit over that, just not all at once. That said, I'll take it to some shops in my area and see what they come back with and talk to them to find was to take this process in steps. I live in NJ which don't inspect anything pre-1995, so "failing inspection" won't be a problem for me

Sounds like you need every suspension bushing front and rear (I'd also assume struts/shocks), which is going to run you around a grand right there just in parts. Since you did the gas tank, you should have done the entire rear when that job was getting done as you'll have to pull many of the same parts to do the rear suspension, in particular the rear subframe bushings. The banging you hear over large bumps is most likely the struts bottoming out because they're dead, that or your strut mounts and bump stops are dead.

Based on your description it sounds like you also need a new rear differential, which should be done with the rear suspension.

Transmission shifting issue is the trans slowly dying. If you prefer a manual, you should start thinking manual swap as that trans will eventually fail completely.

Not sure what the rest of the car looks like, but the 325e is one of the least desirable e30, are you sure you want to throw thousands at it just to get it drivable? There are plenty of vehicles (some for sale here on this forum) that are for sale from $6-10k that are much better platforms and given your situation lacking a garage or anywhere to do the work, I'd sell what you have and buy into something that doesn't need to be "restored". Jordan knows what he's talking about and I think he is probably even low depending upon where you are located and what types of shops you have access to. In the end the car isn't going to command the value for the money that you are spending.

I am planning on taking this mechanical restoration in steps, so money is not (much) of an object. I did the gas tank and driveshaft first because that was what was needed to get the car driveable. Right now I only use the car as a weekend and short distance cruiser while my E46 handles daily duty. The next phase of my plan is to put enough money into the car to make it a reasonably reliable daily.

While most see the 325e as undesirable, I actually prefer it over any other E30 model because:

1. the torque and lazy engine is amazing and is a fantastic pairing with an auto transmission for cruising. I don't plan on ever driving this car hard. I have my E46 for that
2. they tend to be less beat upon (esp the autos) if they're stock. This one actually drives shockingly well despite the issues I mentioned.
3. I actually like the laid-back, farm-tractor driving characteristics of my Eta. It's a whole different feel from my E46, which begs to be driven hard

Yes there are better E30s out there, but I figure I might as well go forward with this one since I already brought it.

Btw, here are more pics of my car and a video of the engine running. I got this one for $1800. It's a black and unmolested Eta, and exactly the kind of E30 I was looking for. I plan on keeping the car stock and enjoying it that way for as long as I can.