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jeffbebe

1986 E30 320i daily

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Had a great mini adventure last Thursday with my little lad. Flew down to Palmy and picked up a little manual 320i to use as a daily sight unseen. It didn't miss a beat on the way home and was great fun to drive despite more than 350K kms on the clock, though it did have head gaskets done in the past five years. Paint and bodywork are in okay condition for a near-30 year-old car and the interior is mint apart from a repairable small crack (surprise surprise) on the dash and a rip in the fabric on the driver's side seat bolster.

No plans to do much with it other than keep it running for the foreseeable future while the 8er uses up any discretionary spend. I have purchased a new gear knob to replace a horrible fake CF one that is clinging loosely to life. Wouldn't mind lowering it an inch or so but not in any hurry.

Photos from our trip home.

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Wolfs first car in 10 years!

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Nice car Jooles and pics are awesome as usual.

Desert Rd is a nice drive too.

There's nothing like buying a car you haven't seen before and then driving it home. I picked up my 740i in Auckland after buying it of TM without seeing it in person. The drive home was awesome. Did the same with a Yamaha FZR Super Sport 1000. Flew down to Invercargille and spent a awesome week riding it up the South Island.

Bet it gets lowered real soon and then those little things will need to be fixed before long like the rips in the upholstery. lol. You know they'll bug you till its done.. :P

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Unreal- its the prefacelift twin to my E30! Manual 2.0 with sunroof in Glacierblue with 360km on the clock... Picked it up in Wellington and it drove up to Tauranga sweet as.

It really is such a joy to drive a basic car like this every now and then. And you'll enjoy the cheap maintenance and running costs :)

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Nice car Jooles and pics are awesome as usual.

Bet it gets lowered real soon and then those little things will need to be fixed before long like the rips in the upholstery. lol. You know they'll bug you till its done.. :P

Thanks Dave. Funnily enough I just got offered a set of King lows for cheap so I'll grab them but may not actually lower it for a while... Yeah right!

Unreal- its the prefacelift twin to my E30! Manual 2.0 with sunroof in Glacierblue with 360km on the clock... Picked it up in Wellington and it drove up to Tauranga sweet as.

It really is such a joy to drive a basic car like this every now and then. And you'll enjoy the cheap maintenance and running costs :)

Yep, enjoying the simplicity and burning some energy winding those windows up and down (still think it's weird the mirrors are electric though... Why go halfway??). Mine is actually Cosmos Blue. Probably pretty similar.

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literally used microsoft paint to do this not even photoshop lol but u get the idea.

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Very convincing. The springs I got are lows not superlows so I'm hoping it's not quite that!! I like the wheels to fill the arch not vanish inside them.

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Finally, a car you can do a skid in and afford to drive it home ;)

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My mate with e36 evo m3 has just bought a similar time warp 320i manual - it is a one lady owner job. Just helped him put eibach springs in - lower but not school boy low. Will get him to bring to coffee meet so they can reunite as long lost twins.

Edited by NUSTAD
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Mine's not exactly a time warp example and has probably had 10+ careful lady owners but is a great fun daily. Picked up the springs yesterday so will try find the time to fit in the next couple of weeks.

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Mine's not exactly a time warp example and has probably had 10+ careful lady owners but is a great fun daily. Picked up the springs yesterday so will try find the time to fit in the next couple of weeks.

rear is a piece of cake, hand brake of wheel off disconnect sway bar if it has one in the back, unbolt shock off arm and the springs fall out, 10 minutes tops per side.

front are a little more complicated you need either spring compressors, or remove the gaurd.

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Gave the E30 a bit of a clean over the long weekend. There's a lot wrong but there's also a lot right and she's scrubbed up pretty well for an old girl, plus it was a beautiful afternoon for a wee drive and some photos.... And I do love my photos!!

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I've got some shorter springs and a LHS tail light (current is cracked and half full of water) plus a proper gear knob on its way which I'll fit as soon as possible but beyond that I'll just be taking care of any maintenance issues for the time being. Priority is still to get the 8er's rusty sun roof and sagging headlining sorted.

Edited by jeffbebe
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Find an mtech 1 steering wheel while you're at it. You won't regret it! I still have mine waiting patiently for when I get another e30

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Prefer non-airbag tech II as per my 8 series. Presuming they're compatible.

Looks sharper on BBS.

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