Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 (edited) Hi guys and girls, I'm new to the forums and just thought I’d share my E30 project. As of a few weeks ago I picked up my first euro. An E30 325I (facelift I believe?) I picked it up from whangarei for an immense $900 - Complete with WOF, REG, and super custom speed dents. The exterior was in pretty rough shape, and by rough I mean paddock bashed duke hazard style. Every panel had some sort of dent, there was mud all through the engine bay and interior, bumper supports were broken/bent, wingmirrors were smashed, 3 of 4 wheel bearings had almost given up, gearbox crunching into 4th, evil play in the steering... In fact, I’m surprised we made it back to Auckland without stopping! Anyway, it wasn’t long (read: hours) before it was in pieces in my garage. Where I’m at currently: - All dented panels have been swapped for good ones / professionally panel beaten with my cricket bat and primered ready for paint. - Front and rear suspension is out and I’m waiting on new parts to arrive. - 16x8 +12 wheels are on their way, offset is a bit weak so will probably add some 10mm slip on spacers. - New tierod ends are on. - Having a bit of trouble persuading the rear right wheel bearing to come out, but are yet to actually give it a proper crack. - Lower lip has been attached and modded to fit for some super street cred. - Stickers have been made with stupid sayings in 2008 colours. - Aircon is half removed. I'm procrastinating about getting the correct sized spanner. - Most of the broken/damaged/missing electrics and interior trim has been fixed. - Head unit and rear speakers have been installed - Dub style. - Boot has been stripped and crappy leaking aerial removed. - Shitty coloured trim has been sprayed Super Lucky Chinese Racing black... To do: - Fix stalling. Clean TB maybe?? - Paint car - Suggestions of colour welcome, I’m leaning towards white. - Sort out differential. I feel like my soul has been lost driving an FR car with no LSD - More castor / replace other worn bushes (JiB suggested offset castor bushes)? - F/R strut braces. My last car was daily driven and had a jungle gym roll cage, this time I need somewhere to put the shopping! - Change cambelt, tappets - Probably end up paying someone to do this (Anyone want a cash job?) - Planning on some 195/45/16's on the 8's. Maybe SP Sportmax on the front? - Pads and fluids I’m not quite sure the car will be everyone’s style; in fact it may even be BMW sacrilege to some of you! My taste in cars has always been heavily influenced by Japanese drift styling. So expect to see low offset, stretched tires, fluorescent colours and a stupidly long gear knob! Edited September 7, 2008 by Mattzy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_BRS_ 209 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 wow seems like a good score for that price, il be following this project closely! sounds like your drift tastes will have this e30 looking sharp! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Simon* Report post Posted September 7, 2008 Hey Matt and welcome Nice effort on the E30 - looking forward to seeing your progress Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CamB 48 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 I LOL'd at wanting more offset than 12p - make sure you've got the guard roller handy Looks like a good project to me. The offset caster bushings are available from BNT - they are Noltec and I believe the Noltec ones are potentially better than some other urethane options since they are solid (and they're the cheapest too). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 Thanks for the nice welcome's and comments guys. I'm definately looking foward to some guard modifications Cheers for letting me know that BNT stock them - i'll have to hit some of the boys up for some pricing. Suggestions at cost effective mods are more than welcome! Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OLLIE 26 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 Welcome aboard Matt. Good on ya for taking an abandoned E30 under your wing. Will be good to see it progress. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zenetti 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 Hey Matt welcome aboard - just curious did you buy our 16" Alpina style wheels? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 Hey Matt welcome aboard - just curious did you buy our 16" Alpina style wheels? Indeed - that was me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimmer boy 21 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 As Ollie said its always heart warming to see people saving the old E30's and making them mint again! Looks like youve done a fair bit of progress already. I'll be looking forward to seeing the progress. P.s Is that a prefacelift front lip on the facelift valance? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 Cheers RJS - in response to your question: I havent the feintest of ideas! Whatever it is, it didnt fit very well untill the heatgun came out! It only really mocked up and still not sitting completely flush in a few places, but i'll sort them out when we go to paint it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimmer boy 21 Report post Posted September 7, 2008 I vote rip it off Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JiB 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 Lol, that was the lip Matt bought off me. Told him it wouldn't fit yup off a PFL. Told you about the offset castor bushes too! Looks a lot tidier than you described it. I'll come around and say hi sometime. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mash 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 Nice, and i say stay with a deep black. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
savvi 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 hi mattzy, good effort on getting the e30 back on the road , heres my 2 cents for parts i use the following bm warehouse hamilton 0800 bm warehouse reasonably priced moosen bmw wreckers hamilton youll find some quality advice on here , good luck with the project Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tire 10 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 Shiny garage you have there... looks like you aleady spilt some fluid on the floor haha. Good stuff keep us updated Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 Shiny garage you have there... looks like you aleady spilt some fluid on the floor haha. Good stuff keep us updated Haha yes i have. I cleverly decided to try and unscrew the wiper fluid sensor. Unfornately I pulled a little hard and emptied half of the pacific onto my garage! And in regards to colours - i've been tossing up between white and black but it does make more sence to stay with the black (as the interior and engine bay are already black) In which case I may paint the centers of the new wheels black. Maybe black with a slight glitter... Thanks to melowpuf for offering to help with my cambelt and waterpump! Champion! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimmer boy 21 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 Maybe black with a slight glitter... What?! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3series 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 Gloss black exterior. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2008 What?! Looks like the people have spoken and gloss black is the winner. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_BRS_ 209 Report post Posted September 9, 2008 how about fluro wheels? would contrast well with the black, maybe a fluro green or orange! have a mate here in np that has just had some custom rims made for his R31 Skyline and he had them painted fluro yellow adds to the japanese drift styling Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mattzy 0 Report post Posted September 9, 2008 how about fluro wheels? would contrast well with the black, maybe a fluro green or orange! have a mate here in np that has just had some custom rims made for his R31 Skyline and he had them painted fluro yellow adds to the japanese drift styling Fluro green definately crossed my mind, but unfornately I decided they may be slightly detrimental to the cars resale value I'm looking to head over to Europe on my OE in the next few years, so do have to think moderately sensibly. Otherwise all that leather interior would have been gone and the car would have been headed straight to frabrication! A good friend of mine is a car painter and he's going to paint them for very cheap, i just need to decide what colour. Black on black is pretty classic, maybe even gold centers? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
e30plz 1 Report post Posted September 9, 2008 (edited) Painting the car black and the wheels centers gold + chrome lip would look nice Edited September 9, 2008 by //James Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zenetti 0 Report post Posted September 9, 2008 Painting the car black and the wheels centers gold + chrome lip would look nice something like this? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-175113971.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jammasterjames 0 Report post Posted September 9, 2008 Lookin forward to see tha final product. Do tha whole car in Super Lucky Chinese Racing black... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CamB 48 Report post Posted September 9, 2008 something like this? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-175113971.htm Do those actually fit on an E30 (conflicting info about whether they clear the brakes) - or do they need a spacer? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
