Bmw e30 323i rust bucket purchase

Bmw e30 323i rust bucket purchase

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Discussion

Slow

Original Poster:

6,973 posts

136 months

Sunday 22nd November 2015
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Just had a thread about a e30 for a track car. 2 hours prior to this purchase. Car looks fked. But £560 and a 323i with manual means I just need to either hunt for a shell or see how bad this really is.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1984-BMW-323i-Manual-E30...






Guess its time to buy a non rusty shell unless this one is saveable for a decent price.

helix402

7,832 posts

181 months

Sunday 22nd November 2015
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Superb project. I look forward to the reports.

Buff Mchugelarge

3,316 posts

149 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Seen worse with an MOT wink

LanceRS

2,171 posts

136 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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A very rare car you have there.

Slow

Original Poster:

6,973 posts

136 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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How is it very rare? Looks like a fked e30 to me?

Sf_Manta

2,188 posts

190 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Doesn't look all that bad structurally. Some checks suggest there's only 200 or so left.

Rear arches may need work, front jacking points, but the back panel looks intact as does the scuttle.
Damned good clean first though and start checking the usual rust spots.

Also a early 323 E30 if restored will fetch good money. there's one on Cars and Classic for £8k eek

Leins

9,422 posts

147 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Best of luck with it, and hopefully if the sunroof drains haven't blocked then the shell hasn't started to rot from the inside out. Amazingly from what I can see in that pic it doesn't even look like your dash has cracked for a car that presumably has been sitting outside for a lengthy period

Obviously a lot of work ahead of you, and it'll never be worth what you put into it, but you'll have a pretty cool track-car at the end of it

BTW, SuperSprints sound superb on these!

LanceRS

2,171 posts

136 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Slow said:
How is it very rare? Looks like a fked e30 to me?
The 323 was only made at the very beginning of the e30 production run. It was replaced by the 325 after about a year or so. Not many left now.

rob0r

420 posts

169 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Apart from the rear valance and rear arches I can't see too much wrong on first glance. They all go in the front floor and "jacking points". The inner wings look good anyway. To me it looks like a very good opportunity, but then again rubbish E30s are my forte :P

Slow

Original Poster:

6,973 posts

136 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
quotequote all
rob0r said:
Apart from the rear valance and rear arches I can't see too much wrong on first glance. They all go in the front floor and "jacking points". The inner wings look good anyway. To me it looks like a very good opportunity, but then again rubbish E30s are my forte :P
Your forte is rusty e30's and you say this doesn't look that bad. That has to be a positive right?

Got a trailer booked for tonight so will be heading down through the night.

dbdb

4,311 posts

172 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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LanceRS said:
Slow said:
How is it very rare? Looks like a fked e30 to me?
The 323 was only made at the very beginning of the e30 production run. It was replaced by the 325 after about a year or so. Not many left now.
A 323i must be incredibly rare now - they were a fairly rare car even in the eighties. They didn't sell as well as the 325i and were only offered for a short time. The 325i is a MUCH more common car. I imagine it would be quite sought after in this spec. Henna red too; the icing on the cake for me. It deserves to be closely looked at and considered for a restoration if at all possible - rather than a track car.

SirSquidalot

4,039 posts

164 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Brave man, looks more holy than the lords prayer. Good Luck!

Slow

Original Poster:

6,973 posts

136 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Off to collect in a hour, will arrive at like 6am I think.

Perfect as I wont see all the holes till im home the next night!

C70R

17,596 posts

103 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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dbdb said:
It deserves to be closely looked at and considered for a restoration if at all possible - rather than a track car.
I'm all for a bit of sentimentality, but if the structure is even half as bad as the outside looks, full restoration would be a great way to lose a lot of money should you ever come to sell it.

Gallen

2,162 posts

254 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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rob0r said:
Apart from the rear valance and rear arches I can't see too much...
...which will look any better once you start looking closer (is what you meant to say) as I reckon most things on that shell are going to need replacing smile

But in the spirit of things, keep us posted on how you get on. I had loads of these E30's prior to the E36 coming out which shows my age and do have a soft spot for them.

All said and done, good luck with the project smile

Quick MOT history check shows it's very low mileage (and only appears to have done 9 miles from 2009 - 2010)

G.





Edited by Gallen on Monday 23 November 18:34

Max M4X WW

4,790 posts

181 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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I saw this on ebay and my first thought was WTF!

Watching with interest..

E30M3SE

8,465 posts

195 months

Monday 23rd November 2015
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Good luck with this one.

thumbup

Slow

Original Poster:

6,973 posts

136 months

Tuesday 24th November 2015
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Currently in Lockerbie services waiting for my McDonald's.

Haven't even looked at it, winched it on at 8am and left again. Will be home by 9pm I hope and will grab some pictures.

sun.and.rain

1,649 posts

138 months

Tuesday 24th November 2015
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Cool buy there.
I had a henna red 528i manual with the same period BMW side stripes and the metric 390TRX alloys with expensive and short-lived 220 Avon Turbospeeds, car was specced by 1st owner with a lsd after it's first winter in the snow.
A660 ESS. No bodykit, just the classic e28 bodylines.

Edited by sun.and.rain on Tuesday 24th November 22:11

Slow

Original Poster:

6,973 posts

136 months

Tuesday 24th November 2015
quotequote all
So finally in 30 minutes ago, quickly grabbed these pictures. From the ad looked like the inner edge of doors was holey, just cobwebs biggrin

Will clean up tomorrow and get better ones, or worse depending what I uncover, lots of overspray on plastic trims near the arches from a quick glance which suggests lots of lovely filler.

The guy gave me a spare bumper, both are slightly damaged so not sure if they can come apart to fix together to make one whole.
No radio, but other than abit of cobwebs and mould interior seems to be like new. Going to head into a few tyre garages tomorrow to see if they have any bald tyres I can have for free just to roll the car around for now.

Rear spoiler thing is a completely different colour, no idea if it was meant to have one.

Going to nick my battery out my old bmw and see if she will start, previous owner said it was last running in 2010 when it drove to his house. Anything I should do before just trying to crank it?