Less rust and hopefully some reliability- the Midwest Daily iS

[KIRIEIW]

Oh damn score on the 325iS! Great color too, love red e30's.

Hey sometimes it all works out the way it needs to! You're probably smarter than I am, though, in that you've been building/investing into one E30, whereas I am spread so thin, subsequently abandoning projects, changing paths, and....never getting anything done.

Lol this has been my mindset recently. Not sure if it's a good thing or not but when it comes down to it I'd rather own 2 or 3 e30's, or just 90's BMW's in general, then non at all.

[mjweimer]

Big update! This car has some really good bones and I can't wait to see the progress as you knock out the little stuff. Glad I could be a part of this!


MJ

[mike.bmw]

That's a good find. I am constantly looking to pickup an additional e30, but people in the Washington D.C. area are insane. Currently there's a '91 318i for sale with major front end damage (frame damage) for sale or $1500 (firm). There's another '91 318i for sale for $3K and the owner refuses to answer any questions about it (i.e. Are you aware of any rust?), and it looks to be in poor shape. It's a lot of "I know what I have" and "I can't be bothered answering simple questions".

[jeenyus]

fantastic, although i'll admit i'm sad to see you go from AWDBOB to RWDBOB.

[AWDBOB]

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[Aleman]

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



I LOVE this pic! It's perfect! No other cars on the road, just the trusty AWD E30 to escort its driver home safely over the fresh snow.

[zwill23]

Excellent find!! How do you plan to handle the clear coat fail? My Gold E30 has some wicked clear coat fail going on, but I'd love to address it in someway that doesn't involve a full respray.

[AWDBOB]

I LOVE this pic! It's perfect! No other cars on the road, just the trusty AWD E30 to escort its driver home safely over the fresh snow.

Bahaha yes, and it also explains why if that car would've gotten into an accident it would've folded like a blanket. #saltlife

Excellent find!! How do you plan to handle the clear coat fail? My Gold E30 has some wicked clear coat fail going on, but I'd love to address it in someway that doesn't involve a full respray.

Thanks! The clear coat fail is easy to do a mediocre job on (all this car gets). I take a razor blade and carefully cut back the loose clear coat up to the edge where it is still good. I then lightly wetsand the edge with 2K to diminish the height difference. I then cut/polish the whole panel and hope that the bare base coat isn't crazy faded. Normally turns her into a solid 15 footer, as opposed to whatever it is now haha, maybe a 200 footer.

[zwill23]

That’s exactly what I’m looking for, at least for now. I think it’s time for me to pick up a polisher. Thanks

[AWDBOB]

That’s exactly what I’m looking for, at least for now. I think it’s time for me to pick up a polisher. Thanks

Check out the new Bauer Harbor Freight polisher. There are two, it’s the more expensive one. It’s a very close copy of a Rupes polisher and it’s an incredible deal at $100.

edit: this one https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-7...her-56367.html

[zwill23]

Awesome, I’ll check it out

[Cablanedo]

*Pages 1-3 Cliff notes* Project Daily started out as an iX and I found out it was swiss cheese underneath before I invested too much into it. Fast forward to page four.

I've been itching to daily an iX forever, but all of the ones I've had were too nice to put through winter months. I need a van for various reasons, so I will no longer need my Forester.

This means.........I can daily whatever I want.....which of course is an E30.

I was originally searching for an '88 iX since they're fully loaded, manual coupes, but I'm too cheap and they're hard to find so naturally, I settled.

The universe delivered me the perfect car: a rusty low mile '89 cream puff winter machine. I was scrolling through the Vintage page on FB, and saw a post asking if anyone had interest in "a project 325iX in the midwest". That was exactly what I was looking for. Turns out, the owner of a BMW shop in Ohio (and avid enthusiast) had been using this 325iX as his winter car up until he unfortunately passed away in the Spring. I sought out more information, and struck a deal.

When I picked up the car, we were checking out the registration expiration and it ended up being on his birthday. The wife, who was so pleasant, despite the situation, said that meant that I was supposed to have the car. It was a nice experience.

Anyway, she's got 130k on the clock, and runs great. It was repainted poorly, has rust in all of the normal places, but everything structural was taken care of. Crack free dash, no lights, everything works, etc. It has brand new blizzaks on it, too (and iX weaves with caps).

They replaced the starter, battery, fuel tank, pump, lines, repaired brake lines, rebuilt the rear suspension with eccentric TA bushings, etc.

They also had a body shop weld in new rear spring perches, which is nice.

Plans:

I have no plans to make this a super nice car. I just want to drive, maintain and enjoy it. I'm going to grind down and seal off the existing rust to prevent it from spreading further. It needs a timing belt and a tuneup. The head gasket leaks a bit of oil, etc.

I know the forums are dead, but I thoroughly enjoy posting my progress up on here with my E30 endeavors.

Anyway, here are some photos. The paint was so contaminated I had to clay it twice (first time I've ever had to do that). Should've used ironX but I didn't have any.

So far I just washed and clayed the car, and polished the hood- I'll finish the rest of the car soon. I bought myself a Rupes machine for my birthday and it makes polishing a treat. I'm using a meguiars microfiber cutting pad with Rupes medium polish. Sealed with the new TurtleWax Hybrid Ceramic OTS stuff.



Pre-wash (look how dark the paint is)

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hZdDHk]


Post-wash and clay:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


Working:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


The hood all sealed up:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

Just read through some of this, only on the second page and I’m hooked into it. Keep it up

[AWDBOB]

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[mjweimer]

Ugh - that sunroof. I'm sure you'll get it sorted but you might learn some new words! The panel looks great after the clean-up and polish, that bodes well for the rest of the car.

Always interesting to undo the work of previous owners....


MJ

[AWDBOB]

Ugh - that sunroof. I'm sure you'll get it sorted but you might learn some new words! The panel looks great after the clean-up and polish, that bodes well for the rest of the car.

Always interesting to undo the work of previous owners....


MJ

It took the steam out of my sails, that's for sure. And yeah, none of it was the direct PO's doing, but whomever he got the car from was a modder. Nothing bad, per se, but everything has been "touched".

I'm going to try and tackle the f/r suspension rebuild this weekend, wish me luck!