Sammo

Little update after a average few weeks with Covid / getting annoyed with the car. Did a temp fix on the rust - after hitting it with a wire wheel, it went through the metal in a few more places, revealing 3-4 pea sized holes, through to the firewall near the fusebox. Will definitely get properly fixed in the future, but for now, I wire-wheeled it back to bare metal then patched / treated using filler and POR-15. Bit of an amateur-hour repair, but it should delay the rot a bit and ensure my carpets don't get damp - will check underneath again in spring. Found the source of my front suspension clunk too - went away when I removed the swaybar (suspicions were correct) - likely hitting front subframe or transmission guard due to a little bushing play / bar angle being off since it is reasonably low on standard end links. Going to get new poly bushings and billet reinforced brackets and when I reinstall will make sure suspension is loaded and clearances are fine. Interior reupholstering still in progress, hopefully will get it back next week - door cards are getting fresh vinyl as well with the insert stitched in. Ideally would have kept stock vinyl on door cards, but will be the same as the outer bolsters and seat backs, so should tie in nicely.

Yeah, its looks great, but given my own recent experiences with hidden rust I doubt there are any rust free ones (that have not been disassembled and dealt with) kicking around. Off to treat / bandaid rust on my seemingly lovely E30 😂

Just saw that, looks fantastic! I wonder what the reserve is. Not an M325i but same same really.

Just saw that, I bet its had a hard life but still good value I think.

*Edit* Found the leak - little area in extreme top corner beside fuse box has some rust as pictured - does not seem to be a hole as such, but obviously enough to let water in - pointing a hose here will have water trickle immediately into the cabin over the large area of interior surface rust. Scuttle drains are working very well. Will scrape back, treat, seal for now and keep car pretty dry and level (it usually is). Will get property sorted before next winter. *Edit* Got the interior out getting reupholstered at the moment so thought I would have a look under my passenger carpet (I know I have a small rust hole there from poking around near the Jack points and I suspected a minor leak too). Anyway, carpet is dry on top but wet (backing foam is saturated) underneath. What’s more, got a few rust spots that I poked through plus the apparent source of the leak up high - big patch of scale rust pictured… Seems to be getting in somewhere around the fuse box, hosing all around there however only saw a tiny bit of moisture getting in and the sill drains are working well. Sunroof drains are clear and functioning well too. Struggling to see how so much water could get in, although the car has been parked outside the past 3 or so weeks while we renovate our backyard and there has been a LOT of rain. Guess I’ll keep saving for rust and paint at some point…

I do really like the first gen IS-F - a shame the dashboards are made from plasticine and they have that horrific infotainment / climate combo...

Haha, I'm going to run out of BMW money soon and off to Europe for 5 weeks in September, so things will have to slow down a little!

INH Upholstery - a guy I met through an E30 group - tried a more established place who didn’t seem too interested to be honest. Got a good vibe from Nicholas who is younger but experienced and he knows E30s and seems really keen to put in the time to ensure this is a great job.

Retrim is in progress, all OEM fabric arrived and looks amazing (interestingly same pattern but a different hue to the Relicate fabric which looks a little blue by comparison) Very glad I went with the OEM plus matching bolster fabric (with fresh vinyl for outer bolsters etc - OEM style). As it’s going to take a few weeks, I still wanted to be able to use the car a little so here she is in all her stripped out glory, along with a very tired vinyl comfort seat - no corners for me for a while. Its going to be a great contrast switching out to welded, resprung, refoamed and upholstered sport seats with brand new seat shocks! Will shampoo the carpet, repaint some interior plastics and add a little extra sound deadening while the interior is out too.

Baur Powah

True, although I can't believe Sky Neon is still only HD and stereo sound - my new OLED and 5.1 deserves more 🤣

@Glacial Pace you may have already seen but an N55 manual… not cheap though https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3641974910.htm

Guy had the fuel pump replaced and one bushing 😂 #winning

Which one is it? Unless you're dropping serious money on an E30 I would go with the general approach of the purchase price being 1/2 to 2/3rds the price to get it properly sorted - rust (yes it will have rust), suspension, electrical, engine, interior... Worth it though.

My new Mtech 2 wheel is all refurbished and looking amazing but unfortunately the horn kept sticking/ staying on (an annoying feature indeed!). Pulling it apart I found this hot mess of semi detached solder, shagged spring plates and added copper wire, possibly to offset the lack of spring in the plates? Anyway, managed to rebend plates so they click back. Will also resolder everything to make it all solid for another 20 years or so.

Interior refurb is about to kick off with Fabric being ordered today. Flip flopped to using the original OEM Lemans BMW Anthracite Uberkaro as ended up being cheaper (and faster) than an Internationally sourced reproduction fabric, plus they have the matching bolster fabric too. Will be doing door cards and front and rear headrests in Uberkaro as well so will be a lot of plaid! Should kick off next week. I have some of these Mtechnic seat badges en route as well but wondering if it will be a bit overkill with the pattern?

Could be soup spoons facing the wrong way up haha

I think they are pretty good buying for the condition they are in, with everyone wanting $600 plus for wrecked fishnets- of course you would want to replace the headrests haha

Cheers , good idea - next step is to disconnect sway bar and see if it goes away - BMW certainly makes torquing endlinks a challenge!

Frustrating day in BMW-land. Changed out my steering coupler for an Ireland engineering poly one as mechanic thought it was the source of my clunking over speedbumps. Its wasn't, although guess I know how a nice new coupler. Will need to keep hunting for this clunk - feel its related to my endlinks (new but possibly installed incorrectly. Then I decided to give my new Mtech 2 wheel refurb with Colourlock leather fresh and it came up amazing but broke my very shoddily connected horn wire and of course no-one open on a Sunday has the correct size spade terminal in stock. So I have a beautiful new steering wheel sitting on the workbench - will pop into Jaycar tomorrow maybe.

What could possibly go wrong?

Finally arrived - 370mm Mtech 2, definitely feels like it belongs to the car. Great original condition which I was after as I’m not a fan of the smooth / perforated / modern leather refurbed that are often done on these. Just gave it a good deep brush clean and added a new roundel. Update: couldn’t resist going a little further and giving it a light refurb with Colourlock Leatherfresh to restore the rich matte black finish without obscuring the grain. Came up really well. Old Mtech 1 wheel sold in 10 mins without even listing it 😂

Or a tasteful(?) 325i making the pile of cash smaller by the day 😂

RHD M3? https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3630377392.htm Wouldn’t a lightly modified RHD converted e30 M3 be worth less than an original though? I do LOVE how this thing looks though.

@Kees annoying, I would expect if I was to proactively attempt to prise a car from someone, I should be the one making the offer, rather than expecting the non-seller placing a value on it.