First E30 - What to do first?

[JRHemmen]

Hey guys, I just bought my first E30 and joined the forum to ask some questions. I was able to score an '89 325i Cabriolet for a whopping $500 off craigslist. I drove the car to my warehouse, parked it, and drove two hours back to school.

I'm wondering what I'll need to do to the car to get it where I want it to be, and was hoping I could get some guidance from everyone on here.

Some general info:
The car has been rattle canned, twice. The interior is pretty toast, both door panels missing, dash filled with cracks, and the seats very torn. The engine runs, but it sounded like it was coming close to dying every few seconds on idle. The suspension felt fine to me, but the drive from the seller to my warehouse was 6 miles down a straight road. All the lights work, and the clutch felt pretty good, although the shifter was a little more sloppy than I'd like. The top will absolutely need to be replaced. 172k miles on the (stuck) odometer.

I want the car primarily on the road, but I'd really like to be able to do a bit of drifting. My plan is as follows. Feel free to give any suggestions.

Replace air, fuel, and oil filters, change oil, replace distributor cap, rotor, and plugs.

Replace timing belt, fan clutch, water pump, and thermostat for peace of mind. I don't know how necessary this is, but I'd hate to have the engine randomly die on me right after I got the car. I'm thinking I might take the car out and run it kind of hard and monitor temps.

Interior: clean and dye carpet, fix cracked dash, replace SI batteries and tach gears, find new door cards, and reupholster seats (or put covers on for now).

Suspension: I really don't know how much needs done. I need to take the car out on something other than a straight road and see if it needs work. Most likely replace all bushings, as well as shocks and springs (1.6" lower). Debating on buying Garagistic cross brace and strut bar.

Body: Do all bodywork and painting myself. There's a hole punched in the rear quarter panel, and I have no idea how it got there. The shape roughly resembles that from a forklift, but it's too small to have been that. Possible fender flares? I'd really like to put 17s on the car but the budget says that's at least a year out.

Am I missing anything, or is my plan totally out of whack? I'm just wondering where I should start on this massive undertaking. TIA.

[tomstin]

Some general info:
although the shifter was a little more sloppy than I'd like. The top will absolutely need to be replaced. 172k miles on the (stuck) odometer.

Replace air, fuel, and oil filters, change oil, replace distributor cap, rotor, and plugs.

Replace timing belt, fan clutch, water pump, and thermostat for peace of mind. I don't know how necessary this is,

Interior: clean and dye carpet, fix cracked dash, replace SI batteries and tach gears, find new door cards, and reupholster seats (or put covers on for now).

Suspension: I really don't know how much needs done. I need to take the car out on something other than a straight road and see if it needs work. Most likely replace all bushings, as well as shocks and springs (1.6" lower). Debating on buying Garagistic cross brace and strut bar.

Before you spend a lot of money, check for rust. Convertibles are notorious for leaking and rust under the carpet. Get this car up in the air and CAREFULLY inspect for rust. While under there, take note of all the rubber parts. Start and inventory of what you find. But don't spend a lot of money if the structure of the car is compromised.

Timing belt on these cars is CRITICAL, that goes to the top of the list. Then, as you mentioned, all the fluids, hoses, belts tune up.

Then I go to the brakes. Make sure the hoses are good, pads, calipers and rotors. Replace as required, flush the brake fluid.

Suspension is next. For these 30 year old cars, you can be every rubber bushing is toast. Inspect and replace as necessary.

Drive shaft flex bushing and Center Support Bearing (CSB), take a close look at those along with the boots on the half shafts.

Shifters are notorious for being sloppy. As long as you can find the gears, low on the list.

Get the basic infrastructure of the car safe and sound before spending money on cosmetics.

I've been working on my project E30 for three years, rebuilding on sub system at a time. I hope you can do the work yourself as paying someone to do all the things that need to be done on a 30 year old car quickly gets un-affordable. I have more in parts into my car than its worth but its been a project that keeps me occupied. I enjoy figuring out how this car works and putting it back and making it right.

[JRHemmen]

Before you spend a lot of money, check for rust. Convertibles are notorious for leaking and rust under the carpet. Get this car up in the air and CAREFULLY inspect for rust. While under there, take note of all the rubber parts. Start and inventory of what you find. But don't spend a lot of money if the structure of the car is compromised.

I was planning on pulling the carpet next time I went home to check the floor pans for rust before moving on to the timing belt. Looking over the outside, I didn't see rust in any of the usual spots except a small patch by a tail light. I have access to a lift, but getting the car there would be some work. I'm hoping I'll be able to see enough from under the carpet and from looking underneath on ramps.

Drive shaft flex bushing and Center Support Bearing (CSB), take a close look at those along with the boots on the half shafts.

Thanks for the info. I recall hearing about checking this when I was looking at a car a few years ago, this is on the giubo, right?

As for pouring money into it, I'm all too familiar with that. My first real project was restoring a 1980 Suzuki bike that cost me ten times more in parts than I paid for the bike. I don't plan selling the car anytime soon, so I'm not too concerned about the cost evaluation. I noticed the head bolts have already been replaced with the new style from Victor Reinz, so it looks like somebody has done at least a little bit of work on the car.

[roguetoaster]

Flex disc AKA "guibo" is the coupling from the transmission output to the driveshaft. Center bearing is more or less in the center, where the driveshaft can be split.

Also remember, 'verts are pretty much a no go for any sort of sanctioned motorsport.

Seriously consider if you will want an example with better cosmetics in a couple of years. If so, consider passing on this car as a project or maybe even parting it if rust is an issue.

[325isman]

Change the timing belt.

[cscracker]

Timing belt and the other stuff that goes with it is absolutely 100% critical. If the timing belt fails, valves meet pistons and that means head work, if not bottom end work too. They're good for 50k to 60k miles, so if you don't know when it was done last, or you're not confident in the previous owner's workmanship (and the rest of the description doesn't inspire confidence), do it first. It's not that hard to do. People talk it up and make it sound difficult, but it's just nuts and bolts, and everything is well documented. The worst part of the job is the mess of draining the cooling system, and if you're even moderately handy, you'll have it done in a day.

If the water pump fails, or any of the cooling system for that matter, it'll overheat. Aluminum heads don't like overheating. New heads done properly aren't cheap. Make absolutely sure your temp gauge works and if it gets hot, pull over and shut it down. Don't overheat it! The plastic end caps on the radiators tend to crack on these, too. I went through four radiators on my first e30 (on warranty thankfully!). When my second e30's radiator failed I went with a CXRacing aluminum one instead.

Valve adjustment. They should be checked every 15k miles, some do it every 10k. Having them badly out of adjustment can result in broken rocker arms.

Everything else is less serious. Stay on top of your fluids, address things as they go bad, and you'll be fine. Use the correct oil - these engines like thick oil with lots of zinc. 20w50 VR1 or Rotella T5 15w40 are good choices, plenty of others to choose from too.

[JRHemmen]

The plastic end caps on the radiators tend to crack on these, too. I went through four radiators on my first e30 (on warranty thankfully!). When my second e30's radiator failed I went with a CXRacing aluminum one instead.

Valve adjustment. They should be checked every 15k miles, some do it every 10k. Having them badly out of adjustment can result in broken rocker arms.

Thanks for all the good info. I plan on doing the timing belt, water pump, etc. after changing all the filters & distributor. I'll be sure to order end caps as well. My plan right now is to do the initial filters, then pull the carpet and make sure the floor isn't totally rusted out before I decide to dive into real engine work.

What's the general consensus on replacing sound deadening after gutting the interior? I've seen all kinds of responses and I can't tell what will really work best for a DD. It's a vert, so I'm expecting a decent amount of noise to begin with.

[dnguyen1963]

I'm surprise no one has told you this yet, but get yourself a Bentley Manual and read it. Do a smoke test to eliminate all of the vacuum leaks BEFORE you do anything else.

[101]

I always start with the stuff that will either kill me (brakes, brake lines, suspension ball joints) or the stuff that will strand me and/or kill the car (engine timing and drive belts, rubber fuel lines, major fluid leaks). Proceed with everything else only after that stuff is checked off.

[sampayne]

Congrats on the e30 and welcome to the forum. Seems like everyone above has given good advice and should get you going in the right direction. Where in Philly are you located?

[JRHemmen]

Congrats on the e30 and welcome to the forum. Seems like everyone above has given good advice and should get you going in the right direction. Where in Philly are you located?

Sorry for the delay in getting back. There was an issue with my account that took the help of two Admins to fix, lol. I'm in University City.

I gutted the interior and found two spots on the floor pans that were rusted through. Also found out someone took the SI board out of my gauge cluster. I have parts on the way to do the timing belt as well as the rear suspension and driveshaft refresh. In the meantime, I'm trying to find a welder for the floor.

[JRHemmen]

No pictures to post, but a lot has happened since my last post. Drove the car around for a bit and discovered that the suspension was extremely worn out. I did the first tune-up (oil, filters, etc.) and then proceeded to gut the interior. There is some minor floor pan rust but nothing that can't be welded in.

Next, I dropped the rear subframe and have been working on that since. I pulled out the subframe and trailing arm bushings, painted the subframe, and got new trailing arm bushings in today.

Drained the diff, pulled the rotors, etc. New brakes, E brake Cables, Diff fluid, etc.

Got a new magnaflow muffler and cat since my muffler was rusted through.

My plan after getting the subframe back onto the car (which I think may be impossible) is to hook the ECU back up and bolt a seat down to test and make sure the car still works properly, then take on the timing belt. From there it'll be front suspension and brakes, interior, and paint.

[JRHemmen]

Was about to post an update and realized this is in the wrong forum. Can I get a mod to move this to the build threads please? TIA.