1989 Alpine four door

[E30 Wagen]

I found this rust free e30 on CL and immediately snatched it up. 1989 325i, 211,xxx miles, 5 speed, Alpine white with tan interior. This is technically the sixth e30 I've had the privilege to work on but this is my first 325i. Incidently this is the fourth BMW I've owned that was originally from Texas. How it looked the day I bought it for $2100 late summer 2011:












How it looks today (only have cellphone pics right now):













Cylinder head looks clean, but was very tappity. I can't wait to rebuild it so it looks nice and brand new, with a couple upgrades.

A shot of my eta with crappy, unfinished plastic bumper swap...

[E30 Wagen]

Well, I haven't worked on this in some time since other purchases got in the way of body shop time, and it's freezing cold.

But I've been thinking that, since it seems like there are already quite a few alpine four door e30s on here, and that I've already owned two other alpine white BMW's, and that I'm going to have the body almost completely stripped, that a complete color change might be in order.

[Andy348]

Go with Delphin! but I'm slightly biased.

Looks like a great deal for $2100. I'll be following this closely because I'm planning on doing similar work this summer. What are your plans for the interior?

[E30 Wagen]

Go with Delphin! but I'm slightly biased.

Looks like a great deal for $2100. I'll be following this closely because I'm planning on doing similar work this summer. What are your plans for the interior?

Interior will be new anthrazit carpet, cabrio/m3 sport seats recovered in black leather for the sidebolsters, alcantara centers. I ordered a new dash and will be ordering as many new interior trim pieces as I can to try and have as "new" an e30 as possible.

Color is still undecided, but leaning toward a bright silver

[E30 Wagen]

I've been cutting up the remains of my eta this week, kinda makes me sad. I wanted to save it but the rust was just too severe. There was rust virtually everywhere on the car, but these were the worst areas:










The good news is that I'll be using some parts off of it for the car this project thread is supposed to be about.

It's currently almost completely gutted, just have to figure out what to do about some body issues that I discovered.

[BamaE30]

That rust looks ugly ...... move south no issues...good looking 4 door.

[E30 Wagen]

Oh, how I wish I had just rebuilt the head and got it running again so I could be driving it! I regret it so much! Now it just sits, completely gutted, parts everywhere, waiting for body work. I feeling like I never have the energy or time for it.

Anyway, I'm having a hard time figuring out if I should continue with the 2.8l m20 stroker plan, or buy a cheap and local nvm50 to rebuild. The final price in parts/machining will probably be pretty close and power pretty even, too. Car will primarily be a daily driver..

m20 stroker pros: have major parts and all accessories ready, get garage space back from reinstalling everything, keeps the engine original to the car, satisfies my curiosity on what a 2.8L m20 feels like, decent gas mileage with 2.93.
m20 stroker cons: valvetrain/timing belt maintenance, still need to buy pistons and all new valve train, expensive machining, figure out how to tune it.

nvm50 pros: low maintenance, satisfactory power, m50 is just better and it's cheap, I like the modern look in e30 engine bays, satisfies curiosity on what a m50 swap feels like, low maintenance
nvm50 cons: have to buy a transmission b/c I don't like crooked trans, driveshaft, would need to buy all necessary accessories, brake booster, etc, etc, other crap that causes me anxiety, etc

help

[E30 Wagen]

Don't give up.