CHANTARS - 1989 BMW E30 325i

[CHANTARS]

The day has finally come, I bought a thing!

Sup guys! Glad to be apart of the community after waiting such a long time. Picked up this clean 1989 E30 325i from a friend that couldn't keep it anymore.

The exterior of the E30 is in mint condition, there's a few dings here and there but the paint was in good condition as well as the interior.
There's a few leaks that I need to diagnose but hey "If it ain't leaking, it's broken." (Jk, need to diagnose asap)

(First wash! Don't worry I didn't use that disgusting brush, just pressure washed it to get all the grime off since it was sitting outside for the longest time)



(Didn't grab any pics but my friend and I went ahead and did a hand wash using the two bucket method, and pulled it into the garage to start polishing and getting rid of the gross 90's tint)



Still lots of work to do, but I always wanted to keep a journal/log to see the progression of the car. Will update more pics and stuff when I get the chance!

[vtechnik]

MOOOOAR PICS!!

Looks super minty, welcome to r3v.

[2mAn]

Looks like a good start

[325isman]

Looks good....more pictures

[frshmaestro]

Sub'd, such a beautiful starting point.

[CHANTARS]

I've been busy with school and work, but here's an update of everything I've done to the car since I bought it which was about 3-4 weeks ago.

The clutch travel was insane and super long compared to my friend's E30, so I went ahead and bought a clutch stop from Garagistic. It made such a big difference for daily driving and it's cool how it's adjustable!



The paint was in pretty rough condition when I got it, the previous owner parked it outside, so it had a lot of grime and water spots that wouldn't come off. My friend and I decided that it deserved a spa treatment, so we washed it with the two bucket method, then went ahead and polished the entire car.



While my friend worked on the polishing, I got started on removing the god awful 90's tint that was left on the car. Honestly didn't want to the job, beforehand I called a few tint shops to see how much they would charge for removal..most shops wanted $100-$150. After hearing that, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot and it wasn't too bad. Using a scraper and a heat gun, was able to just scrape the tint off.





Wanted to go ahead and take care of all the interior bits since I'm spending most of my time behind the wheel.

Got a ZHP shift knob, and man it's money. Excuse the shift boot though, I'll change that soon!



Here are some interior shots too! Interior is decent, a few cracks in the dash and seats. Really wished I had the sport seats, these comfort seats don't hold me in at all haha.









When I bought the car, it came with a really junk head unit that didn't fit at all and had no bluetooth capabilities or an auxiliary port, so pretty much I had to listen to static or the same three songs they always play on the radio.

One day I was on Instagram, and I noticed that Clarion USA just released their new head unit the M508. Clicked on the link, and from one glance knew that, that was the one for the E30. So I bought it, and when it came it was everything I wanted out of a head unit. Clean look, easy interface, and the sound it's able to put out is pretty good.



Uhh not sure if I should just keep updating with one big post, or have a break page in between..

But ya! There you guys go, the interior update!

Here are pics of the outside of the car:





2 E30's and a 190E. (Whenever we roll out together, looks like old school DTM, haha)



Next: Just bought a LSD and some new axles!

[CHANTARS]

Sub'd, such a beautiful starting point.

Thanks man! Slowly but surely, definitely needs to be lower and needs some new wheels.

[CHANTARS]

Looks good....more pictures

Updated with some more pics!

[CHANTARS]

MOOOOAR PICS!!

Looks super minty, welcome to r3v.

Ty ty! Stoked to finally have an E30, more pics and updates inbound.

[spiDmang]

looks awesome! The deck looks nice. It only lights up white though, correct? If it lights up Amber, i might have to pull the trigger on that thing

[fivefootant]

Paint looks great. Interior too!
Peeling that tint off must have been satisfying in the end.

[CHANTARS]

looks awesome! The deck looks nice. It only lights up white though, correct? If it lights up Amber, i might have to pull the trigger on that thing

Sadly it only lights up white :(

[Echo30V]

Very nice. Drill small holes at each end of the crack in the dash to stop its spread. Just drive the heck out of it.

[ak-]

Hello neighbor. I'm fairly certain I've seen that 190e on Colima a handful of times.

Solid e30!

[CHANTARS]

Hello neighbor. I'm fairly certain I've seen that 190e on Colima a handful of times.

Solid e30!

What's up man! I've definitely seen you around Diamond Bar! Saw your E30 awhile back way before I got mine parked in front of the new Pho Ha haha!