E30 Restoration

kdevitt

Think this fits neatly into the classics section - albeit modern classics! Bought it last December from a lad on E30zone.



Its a January 83 323i in Henna red, with 49k on the clock. Was in storage for 12 years shortly before I got it.

I won't bore you with everything I've attempted with it - I did try a good deal of the bodywork myself but decided I wanted a car I wouldn't be embarassed to drive everywhere in, so its currently undergoing a full glass out respray - which I'll start my updates here with!! If you do want to bore yourself - theres 15 pages of the good stuff here - http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7103 :P

Its currently being worked on by a BMW specialist called AC Cars in Dublin (www.accarsales.com) - they've recently added a full bodyshop and have been a pleasure to deal with so far. Some of the bodyshop's who wanted to do the job wanted to do a quick respray, but AC actually said they wouldn't do it unless they could do a glass out job on it, which has been a lifesaver as the last pics will show. It was relatively rust free for the age - but any areas which needed attention have had new metal welded in, so the work should last long into the future.















And heres the reason I'm glad they insisted on taking the screens out...







The car is having the Mtec 1 kit fitted, and a dechrome. Have quite a few bits of trim pieces to source - some of it being no longer available makes life awkward. Once done, I'll be doing some suspension work, brakes etc, and then will follow that up with of bit of engine work.

Will try and keep you posted!

kasper

good luck with it better than a brand new car when finished,ok if i get a loan of it the odd weekend when its finished?

kdevitt

kasper wrote: »

good luck with it better than a brand new car when finished,ok if i get a loan of it the odd weekend when its finished?

Yeah no worries - you might have to wait a while though

Volvoboy

Nice work!

carlosfandango

well done!


CFD

kdevitt

Got a few updates today from the bodyshop - the car is ready for paint

Gary ITR

Looks like it's going to be tasty.

If you wouldn't mind PMing a ballpark figure on paintjob

alpina

Excellent...& great to see the enthusiasm;) Will be well worth it!

MercMad

Well done its nice to see this type of "NeoClassic" getting the love and attention it deserves.

Alan Carroll is a great lad for the BM's, good to see he is still doing well !

KTRIC

kdevitt, you are my new hero

I'm a big E30 fan and can't wait to see the finished result.

gfwd

Looks like it's going to be tasty.

If you wouldn't mind PMing a ballpark figure on paintjob

That goes for me too if you get a chance. Looking good. I've always had a soft spot for these cars and I've owned an E21 in the recent past.

kdevitt

A few more updates - primer is down and ready for paint!

Gary ITR

That is going to be one peachy job when it's finished.

A nice engine bay detail should be your next job

rabbit Stew

My very first car was an '86 E30 318.
Cost me €200 to buy and an arm and a leg after that.
But oh how I miss it:(
Congrats and well done it will be a smasher.

Ps It'll go like a stabbed rat.

kdevitt

rabbit Stew wrote: »

Ps It'll go like a stabbed rat.

Its actually fairly lethargic to be honest - the autobox doesn't help. Once the engine work is finished, that won't be the case though!

KTRIC

What colour is it going to be ?

kdevitt

KTRIC wrote: »

What colour is it going to be ?

Its staying the same colour - Henna Red

kdevitt

Heres some earlier work on the interior

The car had a clean cloth interior, but I managed to pick up a very tidy sports leather from a lad on e30zone a few weeks back for small money. There were no rips or tears, but the leather was cracking and in need of some work.

I bought a leather restoration kit from Dynamix Dyes (www.dynamixdyes.com) - they have a full selection of colours available, thankfully black is as straightforward as it gets. The kit arrived quickly - and contains a leather cleaner, a conditioner, the dye, an applicator sponge and a leather scented air freshener.

Heres a few pics of the seats before any work was done -





The interior needs to be cleaned thoroughly using the supplied cleaner, after which I gave it a wipe down with methylated spirits to remove any remnants of waxes or grease. I then gave the seats a sanding with 600 grit paper to remove major cracking. Probably could have done with sanding down a bit further, but I didn't fancy doing any significant damage.

I cut the supplied sponge into three sections and used it to apply very thin coats of the dye. Within about two coats the seats looked significantly better, the amount of dye supplied allowed me to do 6 coats on the full interior. I still need to apply the conditioner to the leather - the seats have to be left for two days before its done.

Heres the finished pictures -







Am delighted with the results - the interior looked worse to begin with than the pictures show, and it came up amazing. Its obviously not like a brand new interior - the cracking can still be seen, but its well worth spending the money on the kit if your interior is a bit tired looking.

NewApproach

Looks fantastic, great work!

Mac 3

Kdevitt,

Really enjoying your write up and photos of the restoration, you've given me the kick up the backside I needed to get the leather in my E30 sorted out.

Lookin forward to your next write up.

unkel

Great result on the leather - well done!

Dades

Amazing what you can do yourself to a tired interior - makes a huge difference.

Great job!

andr3w103

i thought the e30 went into production in 85/86.....

kdevitt

andr3w103 wrote: »

i thought the e30 went into production in 85/86.....

No, December 1982

andr3w103

kdevitt wrote: »

No, December 1982

i see.......some machine though my favorite bmw

The_student

good work

positivenote

just wondering what price that respray set you back? also im interested in picking up a pre-1990 318i/320i are they difficult to maintain for a novice?

HMTurbo

great work, keep at it

kdevitt

positivenote wrote: »

just wondering what price that respray set you back?

The job I'm having done is approx €3.5k. Its definitely possible to get it done cheaper, but I didn't want to have to keep geting it touched up when bits of rust started poking through again. They've also welded in metal instead of just filling it, so it all drives the price up.

positivenote wrote: »

also im interested in picking up a pre-1990 318i/320i are they difficult to maintain for a novice?

They're ideal for a novice to maintain - very little electronic trickery going on.

kdevitt

Its coming on nicely...

alpina

Exciting times...:):)

tc20

great stuff Kdevitt, smashing colour too. Nice to see the job done properly.

kdevitt

Few more updates...

kdevitt

Quick update - am waiting for better quality photos

sogood

I take my hat off to you. It's so encouraging to see a job undertaken seriously and done so well. Your project should be a great source of encouragement and inspiration to others. Keep up the great work and many happy miles to you with it when its finished.

kdevitt

A few more photos off the camera phone - still waiting for better photos!!

biggus

Is the black plate behind the rear reg plate not from the later face lift model... so not correct for a 323i.
I painted this body work black(behind rear reg plate) on a 323i of the same colour and vintage back in the days when the later model was current to make it look newer.

kdevitt

biggus wrote: »

Is the black plate behind the rear reg plate not from the later face lift model... so not correct for a 323i.
I painted this body work black(behind rear reg plate) on a 323i of the same colour and vintage back in the days when the later model was current to make it look newer.

Nope - its a period piece, the newer version wouldn't fit a pre-facelift. It was an option on the cars.

Heres a pic of a 333i with the same piece in place...

http://media.photobucket.com/image/e30%20333i/skazzy/E30/IMG_0003.jpg

biggus

Learn something new every day ... i'll see can i find a pic of my Irish version of it

Anan1

biggus wrote: »

Learn something new every day ... i'll see can i find a pic of my Irish version of it

+1, i'd never heard of that 333i!

74merc

Are you putting the original brown tinted glass back in?

kdevitt

74merc wrote: »

Are you putting the original brown tinted glass back in?

The original glass is going back in alright - except for the rear windows. Pop-outs are going in there instead of the fixed items.

74merc

I prefer the green tinted glass of the facelift E30 but I'd probably stick with the original glass too especially if the chrome trim around the windows was being retained. I had a 86 318i in the same colour.

kdevitt

74merc wrote: »

I prefer the green tinted glass of the facelift E30 but I'd probably stick with the original glass too especially if the chrome trim around the windows was being retained. I had a 86 318i in the same colour.

The chrome isn't being retained!

kdevitt

Some good quality photos - the glass is going back in now.

kdevitt

A few more updates - all the parts for the car are painted now, so its just a case of reassembly!

Dades

Keep the anticipation going here!

Is that colour red or some orangey equivalent?

kdevitt

Dades wrote: »

Is that colour red or some orangey equivalent?

Its called Henna Red - its a very orangey red I guess.

rebel.ranter

Lovign the e30 resto. Any ideas what wheels you are going to go with? 16' Alpinas or the 14' Bottle caps or BBS cross spokes 14'/15'? Or try to dig out some Hartge ones maybe?

kdevitt

Don't actually like the Hartges to be honest.

Wheel choice is down to 15inch BBS or 16 inch Alpinas if I stick with the 4 stud setup, or 16inch BBS wheels (off e30 m3 or off E38 7 series) if I go with 5 stud!

alpina

Personally would recommend the BBS style, more in keeping with era of car...
Look at my handle, I love alpina's when done well but that style alloy is verging on common place, would need to be the open lug, earlier & smaller diameter style.