The car as she sits today...scroll down to the last post to see updates:
2-10-2019
--Original post--
Hey everyone, I've posted a small amount here and there but figured I'd take a second to show you all my first E30 that I bought late last year.
I found it on eBay in Anaheim. The company I bought it from auctions off cars that are donated to charity. Snagged it for $2125, figured it looked straight and was worth the relatively small gamble. Carfax showed a single-owner, California car, and had the original (clean) title in hand to prove it.
Here's how she sat on the lot:
Album link for other images from the lot I bought it from, and from when I first brought it home:
https://imgur.com/a/kq3jv
Biggest negatives are comfort interior (though it's in pretty good shape) and of course the slushbox. Obviously it had been lowered, and I was pleased to find it had relatively new Bilsteins all around. It needed a valve adjustment, timing and some other belts, but since that's been taken care of it has been running great considering the 220,000+ miles. Have put about 2500 on myself. It's been a pleasure to drive - even with the automatic and a somewhat whiny open diff...
Since then I've been mainly doing minor cosmetic upgrades. Put in a Continental TR7412UB-OR radio with bluetooth, a Z3 short antenna, a (slightly beat up) M tech I wheel, and spent some time removing that godawful faded tint:
https://imgur.com/a/YN4eP
The last of those three images represents how I spent my last weekend. After the heavy rains (unfortunately, I don't have a garage), I noticed my passenger carpet was completely soaked. Turns out the "elephant trunk" was completely full of crap, and water had soaked the entire floor. I spent the weekend with a shop vac and the carpet ripped up, drying it and hoping to get ahead of any smell. So far, so good - put it all back together Sunday night. Next item on the agenda is checking all the other drains before it rains again.
Next big project is probably A/C work - car has the R134 adapters but it's not blowing cold, so need to get that sorted (hopefully before summer).
Thanks for reading, this forum has been a huge help and source of information for me as I begin this journey.
-Troy
2-10-2019
--Original post--
Hey everyone, I've posted a small amount here and there but figured I'd take a second to show you all my first E30 that I bought late last year.
I found it on eBay in Anaheim. The company I bought it from auctions off cars that are donated to charity. Snagged it for $2125, figured it looked straight and was worth the relatively small gamble. Carfax showed a single-owner, California car, and had the original (clean) title in hand to prove it.
Here's how she sat on the lot:
Album link for other images from the lot I bought it from, and from when I first brought it home:
https://imgur.com/a/kq3jv
Biggest negatives are comfort interior (though it's in pretty good shape) and of course the slushbox. Obviously it had been lowered, and I was pleased to find it had relatively new Bilsteins all around. It needed a valve adjustment, timing and some other belts, but since that's been taken care of it has been running great considering the 220,000+ miles. Have put about 2500 on myself. It's been a pleasure to drive - even with the automatic and a somewhat whiny open diff...
Since then I've been mainly doing minor cosmetic upgrades. Put in a Continental TR7412UB-OR radio with bluetooth, a Z3 short antenna, a (slightly beat up) M tech I wheel, and spent some time removing that godawful faded tint:
https://imgur.com/a/YN4eP
The last of those three images represents how I spent my last weekend. After the heavy rains (unfortunately, I don't have a garage), I noticed my passenger carpet was completely soaked. Turns out the "elephant trunk" was completely full of crap, and water had soaked the entire floor. I spent the weekend with a shop vac and the carpet ripped up, drying it and hoping to get ahead of any smell. So far, so good - put it all back together Sunday night. Next item on the agenda is checking all the other drains before it rains again.
Next big project is probably A/C work - car has the R134 adapters but it's not blowing cold, so need to get that sorted (hopefully before summer).
Thanks for reading, this forum has been a huge help and source of information for me as I begin this journey.
-Troy
Nice to not have to worry about parking tickets, sprinklers, idiots stealing my grill (that happened...), and the like. 
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