Any buying tips on these?
Particularly the later 325i models? Always loved these and a friend had one for a while, i know the inner rear arches are supposedly bad for rust, but i don'tknow what else goes wrong with them, any pointers appreciated.
See this on PH, love it

 

Had a few of them, www.e30zone.co.uk is your place. Lovely motors though!

 

Champion, ta!

 

I beleive its now PassionBMW by the way mate!

had experiance with 325i`s, check for rust in usual places and overheating as heads like to crack.

normally bulletproof and trims wear well

good cars, especially with rear diff swops out of 320/318 125mph flat out but getting there is cool!

 

You could do no worse than sign up to the e30zone.net.

Buying wise i'd go for a normal 325i and avoid the sports. The sports come with body kits which can hide all manor of rust, more chance of being ragged rottent and crash repaired. Also there are a lot of fakes about. Sports should have a black headlining!!! .Rear archs like you've said go (peel the boot carpet back to check) also front wheel archs can go. On the front arch there is a pad (either side) these often go and you get a nice hole by the accelerater pedels.

Check scuttle too. Check floor mats for dampness. Check oil light goes out quickly once started.

There is no difference in engine between normal 325i's and sports. It's better to get an unabused 325i without the sport commision on top then spend the money you've saved on the sport extras, lsd, dampers.

Buy on shell condition, mechanicals are very easy to work on/replace. Parts are cheap to buy.

I recently purchased this E30 325i, it's an early one so benfits from the early high compression engine. Ł1500 i paid, taxed for 6 months, MOT till March 2010 and it really isn't that far of timewarp. Goes much better than my 89 one despite being an auto!!!

There still are one owner cars out there so get looking. Very cool cars that sound great, slide nice and look retro with a dash of funkyness.

 

I had a purple one of these with the E36 M3 engine, fucking mental as it had the standard ratio diff, used to light the 235 rears up in 5th in the wet in a straight line with no effort, had more than my fair share of brown pants moments in that car!!!

 

I remember a couple of my e30's had a bit of rust inside the tailgate above wear the headlights bolt in in the corners. Worth checking there for rust as well!!

Chuck a Scorpion exhaust and k&n and you'll have a wicked noise!!

 

rust is an issue with these cars at theyre age, depends how hard a life they had.
the rear archs are the first to go followed by the rear pockets. then the scuttle panel at each bottom corner of the windscreen and the front of the arches on the inner wings. theyre are several other places to look at as well but if the previous places are ok the lesser places wont have started rusting.
on lowered cars with bigger wheels make sure the strut towers and inner wings are not collapsing inwards due to theyre weak design.a good strut brace will also prevent this. single bar alloy strut braces are pieces of shit.
ive seen a passanger side inner strut collapse 5and a half inches inwards!
mechanically make sure the limo is good a tight(a cheeky donut will tell you) and the back axel feels tight.good condition standard bushes should feel tight,not like spongy standard ford bushes.
check for the usual ball joints /play on the front end.
the engine should start and run sweet although 3 or 4 cranks to start and a slightly rough idle for a few seconds doesnt nessarily mean a tired engine.
check for mayonasse(sp) in the header tank and oil and that the vicous fan is good.
drivers seats go to fuck after a while, eg wont flip forward, sitting to one side so maybe a sign of milage. they actually have a really loose geartchange with loads of play in gear which feels crap at first. the g/box themselves are very strong
other than that if its 325isports your looking at (which are the best)
make sure its a genuine one, it should have the battery in the boot, black headlining, pop out rear quarters, screw in tow eyes and 2 on board computers and a few other smaller differences.

 

I had one for 18 months and all I can add is - Don't get one without power steering!! Loved the car, but wish I'd have chosen more wisely and got one of the later non-chrome ones. It also turned out to be a proper money pit too.



I sold it to a guy who brought a whippet named Billy along on the test drive. After the drive he got out and said "I like it, Billy likes it, we'll take it!"

 

My brother in law has had one of these in his lock up in the middle of nowhere for years. This thread reminded me, think I will go check it over weekend

 

Turned out to be a money pit? did it have a ford cosworth engine transplant then ?

 

ive had a coupl and they have both been pretty good cars that took abuse well.but check check and check again for rust as already said.
id say they rust more than a sapph and thats saying something
good fun controlable cars but just lacking power imo.if i ever get another it would have to have more grunt than the normall 2.5

 

In standard form the 2.5 isn't very fast, not to many cars from the 80's are by todays standards. However there are turbo/supercharger kits available from a number of manufactors or you can turbo/supercharge them yourself. A displacement of 2.7 can be achived quite easily...plus some other bits and your the right side of 200hp.

m50/m52's (2.5 or 2.8 24v engines) from e36's or late e34's are also a common engine swap as is the 3.5 stright 6 m30 engine. Not forgetting the motorsport engines from the e36 m3 and also the e28/e35 m5 engine...depends how much you wanna spend, if they get boring you can then turbo/supercharge them!

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1081579.htm

On the M5board there is a user putting a v10 m5 engine in the E30

 

No. It was all BMW, and a money pit. Was glad to get shot of it in the end.

 

A friend had the first edition 325 Sport - cylinder head cracked on it but apart from that it was OK. Standard steering was a real party pooper though - he got fed up of it and got one of the Griffin Motorsport quick racks ( E36s and Z3s hadn't been invented then! ).

Got a couple of road tests at home and they were pretty much about 20seconds to 100

 

i just broke my 4dr 327i which had a hole in the passenger footwell so big i could get my size 12 thru it : cry:

on another note I had loads of parts left and also a 2dr E30 318i which is very very clean for sale also

 

check the jacking points from underneath as they tend go and rust like fook in the front footwells see above

 

Nice, a tech 1 sport is a rare beast these days.

Yes the standard steering is a bit of a draw back on them. Fortunately an E36 rack is a common swap and Z3 1.9 model rack reduces turning lock to lock further, circa 2.9ish i think. I've got one, yet to fit it though.

R4N S S drop me a PM with what bits you got left please

 

having a kit doesnt make it a sport. the tech2 kit, as per my touring , was an option that could be fitted on others . sports had an lsd as standard,close ratio gearbox but the same engine as all other 325i's. an on board computer, different interior and black headlining. i believe the only part you couldnt spec as an option when new on other models was the black headlining . my touring came well speced from factory with tech2 bodykit, leather interior,electric windows,lsd etc. just because it has sport on the log book doesnt mean it is a sport, get the dealer to check the vin to confirm but a decent sport will cost Ł4000+ whereas a 325i in similar condition with all the options can be had for Ł1200. its a badge thing.

 

wouold you believe an E30 lsd diff is worth more than a std cossie lsd

 

theyre making 500 euros here!

 

Ł250 and rising for an e30 lsd depending on ratio.

 

Just thought id add pics of what used to be my pride and joy until i was offered an m3 and couldnt resist ! lol ! i regret it now cos the m3 just didnt have the retro look that this did ! Gutted ! Like what you said earlier the inner rear arches do go and although you can get the outers still the inners arent available ! Also make sure that the boot doesnt smell damp as they have a tendancy to leek through the tailgate an rust the boot floor ! i dont know which model / year your going for but try to avoid pre87 cars that have had the rear panel changed for the later style 1 Most have been done dodgily and when fitted block the drain holes in the boot again causing major rust issues !

 

an old bmw will be far more solid than an old ford. not as quick though.

 

Hi guys
I`ve seen many retro fords in this forum, such as cortinas Mk1 and 2, Escorts Mk1, 2, 3 and Mk4 all converted with cosworth engines and some also have had a sierra chassis welded in place of their original chassis. Now also Focus' are being treated with the sierra floorpan/cosworth running gear.
Fuzzy has fitted a cosworth engine too into his E30 cool !
My question is :
Does anyone know if it`s possible to cut out the floor/chassis from a BMW E30 and weld in a Sierra chassis converting the E30 with full cosworth 4WD running gear ?
Does anyone know of someone who has done it ?
Sorry to post a rply here but i don`t know how to start a new tread
Thanks

 

just some pics
My mates 1000+ bhp E30