Bmw e30 323i rust bucket purchase
Discussion
Brings back sad memories seeing that.
Back in the mid-eighties when I was in my first years of motoring, a neighbour bought a lovely 323i in the same colour, complete with Alpina spoilers, wheels and stripes. It wasn't a genuine Alpina but it looked and sounded the absolute business.
He used it as his daily for a few years and then around the early nineties he parked it up on the grass in his garden and just stopped using it.
It was still in pretty tidy condition at this point, just a minor bubble starting here and there, nothing that couldn't be easily sorted and I enquired from time to time if it was for sale. It wasn't.
The mid-nineties came and went, the car turned green but never moved. The rust bubbles grew and spread, the tyres went flat and the interior turned mouldy. I gave up enquiring if it was for sale.
Around the turn of the millennium the neighbour called in to see if I was still interested in the car as he might consider selling it.
Despite him asking a wholly unrealistic sum for it, I went to have a poke around it for old times sake, and it was rotten to the core. Arches, sills, floor, roof, valances, scuttle were all shot and most visible seams were bulging with rust. The interior stank and mechanically, well, who knows, but probably not good. Even if he had been offering it for free I wouldn't have bothered.
It sat there a couple more years before IIRC the local technical college took it away for students to pull apart. I hope they had tetanus shots and wore gloves! Such a shame.
Here's hoping your one is actually quite good under all that grot, best of luck with it, will be watching progress with interest.
Back in the mid-eighties when I was in my first years of motoring, a neighbour bought a lovely 323i in the same colour, complete with Alpina spoilers, wheels and stripes. It wasn't a genuine Alpina but it looked and sounded the absolute business.
He used it as his daily for a few years and then around the early nineties he parked it up on the grass in his garden and just stopped using it.
It was still in pretty tidy condition at this point, just a minor bubble starting here and there, nothing that couldn't be easily sorted and I enquired from time to time if it was for sale. It wasn't.
The mid-nineties came and went, the car turned green but never moved. The rust bubbles grew and spread, the tyres went flat and the interior turned mouldy. I gave up enquiring if it was for sale.
Around the turn of the millennium the neighbour called in to see if I was still interested in the car as he might consider selling it.
Despite him asking a wholly unrealistic sum for it, I went to have a poke around it for old times sake, and it was rotten to the core. Arches, sills, floor, roof, valances, scuttle were all shot and most visible seams were bulging with rust. The interior stank and mechanically, well, who knows, but probably not good. Even if he had been offering it for free I wouldn't have bothered.
It sat there a couple more years before IIRC the local technical college took it away for students to pull apart. I hope they had tetanus shots and wore gloves! Such a shame.
Here's hoping your one is actually quite good under all that grot, best of luck with it, will be watching progress with interest.
Edited by 99t on Wednesday 25th November 10:44
motorhole said:
I think there's still a rolling shell from an abandoned V8 project for sale on E30Zone at the moment 
This shell doesn't appear too bad, can get repair panels for the arches + sills. May be worse when I dig into it however.2 front wings ordered from eurocarparts £45 each
They will be black I imagine. Along with new arches + sills + rear valence sorted all in primer. Would be looking at a full respray really.
In steps plastidip... Love it or hate it, it certainly changes the colour of the car and will hide what's below for £100 for a basic colour.
She runs! Took a while and some easy start though, sounded smooth enough.
https://youtu.be/zmsiO43yBYU
Spewed all its water and leaks petrol though. Didnt try drive it yet as it was running off jump leads from the Range Rover and needs the engine bay cleaned out, job for tomorrow, too dark now.
All inner arches near the sills need welded, outer sills need welded, not sure about inner sills though. Rear arches for sure, along with my new wings im due to collect tomorrow Strangely there is a big patch of filler on the top of the boot lid, going to peel off and explore soon. Roof is rust free though!
Scuttle area seems to have been saved by the 4" of mud filling it, except in the middle where there is a slightly rusty edge appearing... where the least of amount of mud was.
Popped the boot finally, was fairly stuck. Found new kidney grill, headlight surrounds and various other things.
Not sure if this means anything to anyone but if they could tell me if my car should have it?
https://youtu.be/zmsiO43yBYU
Spewed all its water and leaks petrol though. Didnt try drive it yet as it was running off jump leads from the Range Rover and needs the engine bay cleaned out, job for tomorrow, too dark now.
All inner arches near the sills need welded, outer sills need welded, not sure about inner sills though. Rear arches for sure, along with my new wings im due to collect tomorrow
Strangely there is a big patch of filler on the top of the boot lid, going to peel off and explore soon. Roof is rust free though! Scuttle area seems to have been saved by the 4" of mud filling it, except in the middle where there is a slightly rusty edge appearing... where the least of amount of mud was.
Popped the boot finally, was fairly stuck. Found new kidney grill, headlight surrounds and various other things.
Not sure if this means anything to anyone but if they could tell me if my car should have it?
deltashad said:
I'd change the oil and replace the fuel at a minimum...... the early e30s to my eyes are the prettiest, looks like it's going to need a fair amount of welding done. Good luck, looks about as healthy as one of my projects.
Checked the oil, looked almost new. Upon opening boot found a reletivly new looking empty oil bottle. Along with all new belts, assuming he was going to change them too but never got round too it. Edited by deltashad on Wednesday 25th November 17:31
Had no petrol, assumed to have evaporated with time.
Bookmarked so I like a good track car project - great base - BMW parts interchangabilty means later models can be robbed for bigger engines/more bhp
Hope the floorpans are good - hopefully they will as it looks like the front inner arches have perforated during storage and maybe water hasn't got in - the lack of damp inside looks promising so the sunroof and window seals have held up well
I reckon it's got load of potential
Hope the floorpans are good - hopefully they will as it looks like the front inner arches have perforated during storage and maybe water hasn't got in - the lack of damp inside looks promising so the sunroof and window seals have held up well
I reckon it's got load of potential
Slow said:
deltashad said:
I'd change the oil and replace the fuel at a minimum...... the early e30s to my eyes are the prettiest, looks like it's going to need a fair amount of welding done. Good luck, looks about as healthy as one of my projects.
Checked the oil, looked almost new. Upon opening boot found a reletivly new looking empty oil bottle. Along with all new belts, assuming he was going to change them too but never got round too it. Edited by deltashad on Wednesday 25th November 17:31
Had no petrol, assumed to have evaporated with time.
Nice find Slow!
As others have said, the 325i is rare in pre-facelift 2-door guise (the manual 2-door Schwartz black one I used to own is the only one I've seen in about 5 years) but the 323i must be even rarer as it was produced for 2 years at the most. I saw a Henna red one at the Heritage motor museum BMW day in'13 and that's the first one I had seen in 10+ years.
The earliest E30 323i's had less power than the E31 323i (139 bhp vs 143 bhp) but were upgraded to 150bhp by the end of '83 I think because of unfavourable performance comparisons with the E21 range topper.
Never seen that steering wheel before, wonder if it was std. fit? Looks as bus sized as the more usual 4 spoke version, a handful when the non-PAS 323i / 325i was over 4 turns lock to lock
As others have said, the 325i is rare in pre-facelift 2-door guise (the manual 2-door Schwartz black one I used to own is the only one I've seen in about 5 years) but the 323i must be even rarer as it was produced for 2 years at the most. I saw a Henna red one at the Heritage motor museum BMW day in'13 and that's the first one I had seen in 10+ years.
The earliest E30 323i's had less power than the E31 323i (139 bhp vs 143 bhp) but were upgraded to 150bhp by the end of '83 I think because of unfavourable performance comparisons with the E21 range topper.
Never seen that steering wheel before, wonder if it was std. fit? Looks as bus sized as the more usual 4 spoke version, a handful when the non-PAS 323i / 325i was over 4 turns lock to lock
Picked up the front wings and while in Eurocarparts I bought new oil/plugs/filters just to be safe even though the oil looked golden still.
It came with some "new" belts in the boot, still packaged up in cardboard but people say replace cam belt every 60k/6years or so depending on the car. These have been in the boot for 5/6 years minimum so are they junk now?
Stole the battery out my old bmw, charging it now and hoping for the best, not even sure it fits yet. Going to change everything this weekend and try solve the fuel and water leaks then test the brakes. If they remotely stop the car it's time to start the welding etc.
Going to sand it down myself while it's being welded so that I can do a full respray, either at home or pay someone. All the seals are watertight still so interior seems to have survived except where it's come up from below where grass grew into it.
Engine had quite a lot of white smoke, sounded smooth though so assuming that's just because it's sat so long?
It came with some "new" belts in the boot, still packaged up in cardboard but people say replace cam belt every 60k/6years or so depending on the car. These have been in the boot for 5/6 years minimum so are they junk now?
Stole the battery out my old bmw, charging it now and hoping for the best, not even sure it fits yet. Going to change everything this weekend and try solve the fuel and water leaks then test the brakes. If they remotely stop the car it's time to start the welding etc.
Going to sand it down myself while it's being welded so that I can do a full respray, either at home or pay someone. All the seals are watertight still so interior seems to have survived except where it's come up from below where grass grew into it.
Engine had quite a lot of white smoke, sounded smooth though so assuming that's just because it's sat so long?
LanceRS said:
The spoiler looks like the correct type but should be black rubber, not painted. If you are interested, the seats are from a later car, the originals would have been a Houndstooth type of fabric..
Not completely certain, but I believe that style spoiler was off the later de chromed e30 models and were painted either body colour or black. The colour is certainly a later e30 colour.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff