Warning: Long read. I just started typing, and it went from there :)
Warning 2: Still typing. Super long read
Hey everyone. Still deciding whether or not I should do a build thread. In the meantime I figured I'd make a post here just to show what I have.
I started out with an 86 325e which I bought February 2016 for $2000. One Friday night my roommate "taught" me how to drive stick in his Infiniti G20 (I stalled about 10 times for every time I actually started from a stop). One week later I took an Uber one way to Sun Valley about an hour away to check the Eta out and buy it. It sat for 10 years before I bought it (though the previous owner rebuilt the engine, put in a new clutch, new radiator, new timing belt, new water pump) and I could barely drive it home. It took me over an hour and I hit a lot of traffic driving across LA, but I'm a big believer in the sink or swim mentality so I made it home. I bought the car for 3 reasons:
1. Learn how to drive stick
2. Learn how cars work and how to work on cars
3. Learn how to race (legally
)
It worked out really well. I spent many hours underneath the car, learned a lot about how cars work (thanks in huge part to the Bentley manual), and did some autocrossing/rallycrossing, and I never had any mechanical failures. This is my 2nd car, my first is a 98 Corolla which has been the only car I've owned since I started driving. I don't really take pics of that car, but here's one where I'm transferring gas to it.
That was back in the good old days, before my Eta got rear ended.
It wasn't really bad, mainly the right rear bumper trim got destroyed, but I had never been in that situation before and didn't know what my options were. Long story short, my car was declared a total loss, and I had smog coming up and I had trouble passing.
I did a lot of soul searching at this time, really trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with this new car hobby. I'm not one of those guys that's going to have 4 different cars for track, offroading, vintage show car, truck etc. At one point I even flew up to Oakland to buy a 1975 Toyota Celica for $6000 and drive it back to SoCal:
That was a really stupid decision. I had no business buying that car. I don't have time to work on more than one fun car, don't have the garage space (I live with roommates and I get one spot in the 3-car garage) and I was in over my head trying to get that carbureted engine to run smoothly. I ended up selling it shortly after.
So I thought long and hard about this. I just want to have 2 cars. An automatic to get around, do errands, sit in traffic with (my Corolla) and a 2nd car (manual transmission) which I primarily want to rallycross with because it's my favorite motorsport. I also want to try road racing and drifting, just for fun, and while you can use any car for road racing, you almost have to have a rear wheel drive car for drifting. And if the 2nd car also happens to look nice, it would be great to drive it when I go out somewhere, maybe I'll look cool for once when I'm around people my age lol.
Another thing that was really important in my decision making was I wanted a car that was very capable in stock form. To keep my costs down I compete in the stock class for rallycrossing, and that means the car is staying stock for now. Here's the cars that I researched for my purposes:
Mk1 Toyota MR2
Mitsubishi Starion
Merkur X4RTI
Datsun 240Z
Foxbody Mustang
Mercedes 190e 16v
1984-1985 Toyota Celica GT-S
Porsche 944
Volvo 240
Mk3 Toyota Supra
Nissan 240SX
BMW 325is (E30)
I don't have a truck/trailer and don't plan on getting one until after I buy my own property (and even then that's a big IF), so I must take all my cargo with me in the car and drive to my event. I really wanted an MR2 but it was just too impractical to carry my stuff in, plus I had major concerns about the wheelbase and MR layout, and since I'm not a great driver, it'll just make the learning curve too steep. The Starion is a lot heavier than the other cars on the list and there were far too few on Craigslist. The Merkur was a good candidate but I don't like that it's a Ford.. lol. The 240Z was just too expensive for my budget to find one in decent shape. The Mustang, well, see my comments about the Merkur, lol. I really wanted the Mercedes but when I saw that a new headgasket is +$900 I snapped back to reality. I would honestly have a Toyota Celica GT-S today if I could find one, I literally couldn't find a single one that wasn't a convertible, and I searched for months. I almost bought a 944 (put down a $900 nonrefundable deposit, expensive lesson learned) but I kept hearing in the back of my mind "There's no such thing as a cheap Porsche" plus, changing the clutch is unbelievably difficult on that car, and that was what needed to be done for this one. I was close to buying a Volvo 240, but the biggest issue was I wanted a car that I would be happy with stock, and everything I like about the Volvo (i.e. 5 cylinder swap) couldn't be done for the time being. The Mk3 Supra is fairly heavy and I couldn't find an example that I was happy with. And I grew up riding in the back (and later, front) of an 89 Nissan 240SX (my dad is the original owner) so I don't think they're all that and I'm bored of seeing them.. lol.
So the 325is checked off all my boxes. Very capable stock (LSD, i engine, short gears), had cargo space to bring my stuff in, great aftermarket, lots of motorsport experience (side note: I would get an e36 if I knew all that I know now). I wasn't too keen on the 4 cylinder models, and I already drove an Eta so I had enough of that 4k redline bullshit.. lol. I searched for months to find the right one for me. There were some all original examples in California with documented maintenance for around 4-5k. There were also pieces of crap for 1k. I wanted a car that was in good shape so that I'm not spending all my time chasing down problems instead of racing. However I didn't want one that was lovingly taken care of because if I bought one of the 4-5k examples I would feel bad tearing it up, when someone else could have bought it and just let it sit in their garage and drive to the park with. I wanted metal bumpers because they grew on me while driving the Eta, and I needed early taillights because I'll never own an M3. (all that means I can only get an 87) I also needed one that was Bronzit so no one cares if it gets thrashed
After searching for months I found one that was ideal for me. Here's the original Craigslist ad:
Some things not mentioned in the ad:
- Car was repainted
- Small rust spot in the back
- No record of timing belt replacement
- Missing title (still sorting this out)
- Interior ravaged by the sun (ok this was mentioned in the ad, but the interior is REALLY worn, carpet torn etc. But this is what I wanted, a worn, non garage queen car that I wouldn't feel bad about roughing up).
- Questionable powertrain sounds (might be related to the 3rd gear problem)
- Driver's window stops rolling down halfway (only does it sometimes)
- Passenger window is not aligned correctly, and so it's scratched to hell from all the times it was lowered, raised.
- Coolant gauge didn't work (he said the upper radiator hose blew when he was driving. How he replaced it, refilled coolant, and bled without screwing up and overheating I have no idea).
- Fuel gauge was inaccurate
- Hood latch barely works (maybe the cable is too stretched)
- Missing lug bolts on the front wheels
- Driver's seat doesn't recline/fold down
- Steering column switch worn out (results in always having the high beams on, really great for driving at night............)
- Spare tire, and tire changing tools are missing
- Tires are about 7 years old
I talked the owner down to $2400, booked a one way flight to Sacramento, bought the car and drove it back to SoCal. Took about 7 hours to get home and I didn't have any issues. I took a big chance on the timing belt, I knew that was a ticking time bomb. Fortunately it worked out. Once I got home I never started it again until I changed the timing belt, which I did (and did other things while I was in there). The car is mostly sitting right now (outside..) because I'm trying to focus on parting out my 86 Eta and getting rid of what's left so I can reclaim my garage space.
The paint job is not all that bad, but there is some stupid underspray on the rocker panels. I washed the car earlier today and applied sealant to hopefully protect the paint while it sits outside.
Looks nice, right? Well there's a reason there are no interior pics. It's because I just spent a half hour sealing the car, I was lazy, and just wanted to eat. And I actually didn't bother putting sealant on the front valance since it's so trashy looking. Oh and someone bashed the foglights in, great. And I'm not a big fan of the black kidney grille, but my priorities are refreshing the mechanical bits first.
I really didn't want this post to be this long, but I just wanted to give some backstory as to how I ended up with this car. And it was nice to put this somewhere instead of keeping it all in my head. :) More to come, one day!
Oh yea... the car's name is Eevee (christened by the previous owner). He said the car's name has to start with an E since it's an E30.
Warning 2: Still typing. Super long read
Hey everyone. Still deciding whether or not I should do a build thread. In the meantime I figured I'd make a post here just to show what I have.
I started out with an 86 325e which I bought February 2016 for $2000. One Friday night my roommate "taught" me how to drive stick in his Infiniti G20 (I stalled about 10 times for every time I actually started from a stop). One week later I took an Uber one way to Sun Valley about an hour away to check the Eta out and buy it. It sat for 10 years before I bought it (though the previous owner rebuilt the engine, put in a new clutch, new radiator, new timing belt, new water pump) and I could barely drive it home. It took me over an hour and I hit a lot of traffic driving across LA, but I'm a big believer in the sink or swim mentality so I made it home. I bought the car for 3 reasons:
1. Learn how to drive stick
2. Learn how cars work and how to work on cars
3. Learn how to race (legally
)It worked out really well. I spent many hours underneath the car, learned a lot about how cars work (thanks in huge part to the Bentley manual), and did some autocrossing/rallycrossing, and I never had any mechanical failures. This is my 2nd car, my first is a 98 Corolla which has been the only car I've owned since I started driving. I don't really take pics of that car, but here's one where I'm transferring gas to it.
That was back in the good old days, before my Eta got rear ended.
It wasn't really bad, mainly the right rear bumper trim got destroyed, but I had never been in that situation before and didn't know what my options were. Long story short, my car was declared a total loss, and I had smog coming up and I had trouble passing.
I did a lot of soul searching at this time, really trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with this new car hobby. I'm not one of those guys that's going to have 4 different cars for track, offroading, vintage show car, truck etc. At one point I even flew up to Oakland to buy a 1975 Toyota Celica for $6000 and drive it back to SoCal:
That was a really stupid decision. I had no business buying that car. I don't have time to work on more than one fun car, don't have the garage space (I live with roommates and I get one spot in the 3-car garage) and I was in over my head trying to get that carbureted engine to run smoothly. I ended up selling it shortly after.
So I thought long and hard about this. I just want to have 2 cars. An automatic to get around, do errands, sit in traffic with (my Corolla) and a 2nd car (manual transmission) which I primarily want to rallycross with because it's my favorite motorsport. I also want to try road racing and drifting, just for fun, and while you can use any car for road racing, you almost have to have a rear wheel drive car for drifting. And if the 2nd car also happens to look nice, it would be great to drive it when I go out somewhere, maybe I'll look cool for once when I'm around people my age
lol.Another thing that was really important in my decision making was I wanted a car that was very capable in stock form. To keep my costs down I compete in the stock class for rallycrossing, and that means the car is staying stock for now. Here's the cars that I researched for my purposes:
Mk1 Toyota MR2
Mitsubishi Starion
Merkur X4RTI
Datsun 240Z
Foxbody Mustang
Mercedes 190e 16v
1984-1985 Toyota Celica GT-S
Porsche 944
Volvo 240
Mk3 Toyota Supra
Nissan 240SX
BMW 325is (E30)
I don't have a truck/trailer and don't plan on getting one until after I buy my own property (and even then that's a big IF), so I must take all my cargo with me in the car and drive to my event. I really wanted an MR2 but it was just too impractical to carry my stuff in, plus I had major concerns about the wheelbase and MR layout, and since I'm not a great driver, it'll just make the learning curve too steep. The Starion is a lot heavier than the other cars on the list and there were far too few on Craigslist. The Merkur was a good candidate but I don't like that it's a Ford.. lol. The 240Z was just too expensive for my budget to find one in decent shape. The Mustang, well, see my comments about the Merkur, lol. I really wanted the Mercedes but when I saw that a new headgasket is +$900 I snapped back to reality. I would honestly have a Toyota Celica GT-S today if I could find one, I literally couldn't find a single one that wasn't a convertible, and I searched for months. I almost bought a 944 (put down a $900 nonrefundable deposit, expensive lesson learned) but I kept hearing in the back of my mind "There's no such thing as a cheap Porsche" plus, changing the clutch is unbelievably difficult on that car, and that was what needed to be done for this one. I was close to buying a Volvo 240, but the biggest issue was I wanted a car that I would be happy with stock, and everything I like about the Volvo (i.e. 5 cylinder swap) couldn't be done for the time being. The Mk3 Supra is fairly heavy and I couldn't find an example that I was happy with. And I grew up riding in the back (and later, front) of an 89 Nissan 240SX (my dad is the original owner) so I don't think they're all that and I'm bored of seeing them.. lol.
So the 325is checked off all my boxes. Very capable stock (LSD, i engine, short gears), had cargo space to bring my stuff in, great aftermarket, lots of motorsport experience (side note: I would get an e36 if I knew all that I know now). I wasn't too keen on the 4 cylinder models, and I already drove an Eta so I had enough of that 4k redline bullshit.. lol. I searched for months to find the right one for me. There were some all original examples in California with documented maintenance for around 4-5k. There were also pieces of crap for 1k. I wanted a car that was in good shape so that I'm not spending all my time chasing down problems instead of racing. However I didn't want one that was lovingly taken care of because if I bought one of the 4-5k examples I would feel bad tearing it up, when someone else could have bought it and just let it sit in their garage and drive to the park with. I wanted metal bumpers because they grew on me while driving the Eta, and I needed early taillights because I'll never own an M3. (all that means I can only get an 87) I also needed one that was Bronzit so no one cares if it gets thrashed
After searching for months I found one that was ideal for me. Here's the original Craigslist ad:
Some things not mentioned in the ad:
- Car was repainted
- Small rust spot in the back
- No record of timing belt replacement
- Missing title (still sorting this out)
- Interior ravaged by the sun (ok this was mentioned in the ad, but the interior is REALLY worn, carpet torn etc. But this is what I wanted, a worn, non garage queen car that I wouldn't feel bad about roughing up).
- Questionable powertrain sounds (might be related to the 3rd gear problem)
- Driver's window stops rolling down halfway (only does it sometimes)
- Passenger window is not aligned correctly, and so it's scratched to hell from all the times it was lowered, raised.
- Coolant gauge didn't work (he said the upper radiator hose blew when he was driving. How he replaced it, refilled coolant, and bled without screwing up and overheating I have no idea).
- Fuel gauge was inaccurate
- Hood latch barely works (maybe the cable is too stretched)
- Missing lug bolts on the front wheels
- Driver's seat doesn't recline/fold down
- Steering column switch worn out (results in always having the high beams on, really great for driving at night............)
- Spare tire, and tire changing tools are missing
- Tires are about 7 years old
I talked the owner down to $2400, booked a one way flight to Sacramento, bought the car and drove it back to SoCal. Took about 7 hours to get home and I didn't have any issues. I took a big chance on the timing belt, I knew that was a ticking time bomb. Fortunately it worked out. Once I got home I never started it again until I changed the timing belt, which I did (and did other things while I was in there). The car is mostly sitting right now (outside..) because I'm trying to focus on parting out my 86 Eta and getting rid of what's left so I can reclaim my garage space.
The paint job is not all that bad, but there is some stupid underspray on the rocker panels. I washed the car earlier today and applied sealant to hopefully protect the paint while it sits outside.
Looks nice, right? Well there's a reason there are no interior pics. It's because I just spent a half hour sealing the car, I was lazy, and just wanted to eat. And I actually didn't bother putting sealant on the front valance since it's so trashy looking. Oh and someone bashed the foglights in, great. And I'm not a big fan of the black kidney grille, but my priorities are refreshing the mechanical bits first.
I really didn't want this post to be this long, but I just wanted to give some backstory as to how I ended up with this car. And it was nice to put this somewhere instead of keeping it all in my head. :) More to come, one day!
Oh yea... the car's name is Eevee (christened by the previous owner). He said the car's name has to start with an E since it's an E30.
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