New E30 owner, saved from a crack house. $50!!!

[DMan II-40]

I love that you hand mounted the tires...

With a tiny screwdriver..

Gotta save some $$ and work with what ya got, lol. I think I’ll post a video of me breaking the bead using a scissor jack and a long crow bar under my vans trailer hitch....

[DMan II-40]

Looks like a fun story and project, look forward to seeing more.

What I really wanna know is, how the hell the transaction went down, and how anyone at the house actually managed to produce the title. You've got some major cahones for even going up to a house like that to inquire about the car, strong work!

So the full story is the owner of the car and house died 12 years ago. One of her daughters moved in, got involved with drugs, alcohol and bad people, she left the house but all the other people stayed. The other sister finally got them evicted from the house years later. They posted an ad on Craigslist of a bunch of free stuff (essentially all the garbage to try and clear it out to sell) and I discovered and asked about the car. They just wanted it gone at that point and she had the title to the car, a key and was paying non-op registration the whole time.

I got lucky big time.

[laidback93]

So the full story is the owner of the car and house died 12 years ago. One of her daughters moved in, got involved with drugs, alcohol and bad people, she left the house but all the other people stayed. The other sister finally got them evicted from the house years later. They posted an ad on Craigslist of a bunch of free stuff (essentially all the garbage to try and clear it out to sell) and I discovered and asked about the car. They just wanted it gone at that point and she had the title to the car, a key and was paying non-op registration the whole time.

I got lucky big time.

Subscribed! I love stories like this. You were in the right place at the right time. Glad you are restoring her.

[DMan II-40]

Well I finally got it running today!

Ended up having to pull and clean the injectors and a new relay!!! Got some cool videos up on my Instagram page if you wanna watch.

https://www.instagram.com/e30tweak/

[Staszek]

Nice work!! It looks like it took off fairly well after you started it.

[DMan II-40]

Nice work!! It looks like it took off fairly well after you started it.

Video was sped up but yea it drove ok. Brakes and power steering were good. Just went down the block to a gas station and back home.

Was a pretty good oil leak, thinking it’s rear main which I will address when I do manual swap (still gathering parts). Battery also died overnight so there is some draw in the system. Gonna finish flushing coolant system, new t-stat, new valve cover gasket and adjust valves.

Still a bunch to do...

[DMan II-40]

Well I haven’t updated this in awhile as I haven’t done much work to the car, since I moved. I couldn’t get the car registered yet because it had a massive oil leak. Figured I would address it when I eventually did my manual swap. So…’ I FINALLY got started on the manual swap. I have been doing a little bit at a time at night. I just finished resealing the pan and a new rear main seal.

All the automatic crap has been removed and now I’m about to get the manual transmission I have been storing for 3 years. Slow moving project that I wish I had more time for but it’s slowing getting there. Having the manual swap out of the way will be the biggest thing. Hopefully get it registered then address smaller projects I have plans for.

[DMan II-40]

Some pictures of the pan full of sludge, cleaned the HELL out of it and a ton of gunk off the engine block. Ended up dropping the sub frame a little bit and lifted the engine 3-4 inches. Made removing the oil pan super easy.

[Panici]

That pan looks brand new!
How did you get it so clean? Parts washer?

[DMan II-40]

That pan looks brand new!
How did you get it so clean? Parts washer?

I just scrubbed it with dollar store degreaser, these dollar store scrubs (work great on thick engine grime), and 0000 steel wool.