I probably just made a big mistake...

I bought an E30! $400.00, with a bad slave cylinder and running kind crappy (high idle) and other wierd quirks. Its burgundy in color and doesnt have TOO much rust... a spot on the front fender that someone hit in a parking lot is missing some paint i.e surface rust. Though surely Ill find some underneath too... I'm hoping it isnt too bad...

I figured for $400.00 it isnt too bad and I could always turn it into a challenge car if all else fails and I cant get it running right... Picked it up sunday morning with a friend who owns a car trailer. Havent actually looked at it much lately since school is keeping me EXTRA busy this semester.

Oh btw its an 86 325e 5spd. Pics of my bad decision will come soon!

Sweet -- I love E30s. I don't think you can go wrong for $400.

You could not have made a BIG mistake on a $400 E30 that runs. If you wash it its worth $500 to someone else.

ZOO wrote: Sweet -- I love E30s. I don't think you can go wrong for $400.

lol Thats what I'm hoping... The "plan" is to get it running good and use it as a commuter. (the AC still works! YAY!!!) But... Being a GRM'er... We all know none of us can leave well enough alone... Ive already conjured up ideas of the 2.8L M50 swap...

And I believe it may have eibach sportline springs on it. The car came with a stack of receipts and one of them was for that, it sits kinda low so I assume they are on the car.

Good score - I turned my $500 325is into $750 quite easily and could have gotten more when it turned out to be my mistake.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: You could not have made a BIG mistake on a $400 E30 that runs. If you wash it its worth $500 to someone else.

Well.. It "runs"... it idles at 2500 rpm and the owner said hes only owned it a year and the owner prior to him said it may have a dead cylinder... There are about 6 E30's in the pull and pay locally so worst case scenario i throw another engine in it... Though I hope I dont have to...

Hoping to do a compression test by end of this week to see whats up.

EDIT: Holy crap Im half dork now!

If it idles weird and runs really rough, check the intake hose between the air sensor and manifold for cracks. If you've got a tear, it's an easy fix to replace (or wrap in duck tape).

In reply to nderwater:

NOTED... A lot of the vacuum lines seem kinda brittle. They all look like they need a good going through.

$400? You're already up $100 on Bill Caswell.

Ok, here are some hotlinks.

Well, I'll give you $401 right now and pick it up Sunday if ya got cold feet. You are somewhere in Ohio right?

That looks in great condition for $400!...Maybe it was just driven to church on Sundays...

And you'll definitely be glad you ended up with a 5-speed, I think.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Well, I'll give you $401 right now and pick it up Sunday if ya got cold feet. You are somewhere in Ohio right?

Southwest Ohio, about 20 minutes or less from Cincinnati lol. I'll be under it this weekend to try and tackle the clutch problem first.

I'll seriously take this into consideration as school seems quiiiiite hectic this semester, but till I know when its too much, Im gonna try and hang onto it/get it running good.

cxhb wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Well, I'll give you $401 right now and pick it up Sunday if ya got cold feet. You are somewhere in Ohio right?

Southwest Ohio, about 20 minutes or less from Cincinnati lol. I'll be under it this weekend to try and tackle the clutch problem first. I'll seriously take this into consideration as school seems quiiiiite hectic this semester, but till I know when its too much, Im gonna try and hang onto it/get it running good.

If its not rusted to E36 M3 I'll bail you out if the waters get too deep. I'm looking for a clean roller to make the 2011 Challenge with but engine particulars are not that important as I have plans to put a more serious lump in there anyway. Failing that... I have to run a Lemons race before they have completely jumped the shark.

I'll make you money on that too if you decide to sell. I'm right next door too.

BTW... just so I don't come off as too opportunistic... some advice:

IIRC you need a 13mm deep well, 4" extension and maybe a long extension and swivel to bring the ratchet down where you can torque on it if its very tight from the last buffoon who wanted to make sure it wasn't going to fall off. WHAT EVER YOU DO - DO NOT DROP THE ROD INTO THE BELLHOUSING when inserting the slave into the hole or pulling the old one out. Its not attached to the slave - its only held in place by grease and the rubber boot. If it falls in you are dropping the trans to retrieve it.

The slave is easy to swap and difficult to bleed. Its a tight spot. I bench bleed it and then install it... then have someone make long, slow pumps both up and down while you open/close. Fast pumping will take longer.

Check the hose carefully. It is exposed to the elements under the car and can crack exposing the inner liner. More than one slave cylinder has been replaced due to a bubble in a weak hose.

If you have a pressure bleeder - be careful - the o-rings under the reservoir can dry rot and when you apply pressure - it can force brake fluid thru. Bring the pressure up slowly. You don't need more than 15lbs or so.

See... I mean no harm. $402?

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Hahaha... Yeah, a good friend of mine once told me If I enjoy driving cars, buy Japanese. If I enjoy working on cars, buy German... He also told me to never buy an E30

I'll see what I can do this weekend. And like I said, If Its too deep for me this will be the first place its posted.

Apis_Mellifera, where are you located?

cxhb wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Hahaha... Yeah, a good friend of mine once told me If I enjoy driving cars, buy Japanese. If I enjoy working on cars, buy German... He also told me to never buy an E30 I'll see what I can do this weekend. And like I said, If Its too deep for me this will be the first place its posted. Apis_Mellifera, where are you located?

Your friend has it all wrong. The Germans build a car that is pretty easy to work on... but f**king brilliant to drive. How many other mundane, underpowered, family cars have a whole spec series dedicated to flogging them? The thing is solid as a tree - beautiful in its ugliness and unkillable from driving abuse. (not maintenance abuse though...)

The japs wish they could bottle the soul of an E30. Honda and Mazda managed to eek out a little of that with RX-7s, Miatas and S2000s but... for some reason or another - every BMW made before 2000 is pure magic for the driver. From the land barge 7s to the lowly 1600.

Your friend sounds like a ding dong.

This car looks like a great find for $400 and for another $400 or so in parts and your free labor I bet you can have a nice little ride.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

I love E30's I think they are beautiful cars, only driven 1 and it seemed fun so, I bet you are correct...

I think all cars have their quirks, German or otherwise.

pres589 wrote: Your friend sounds like a ding dong. This car looks like a great find for $400 and for another $400 or so in parts and your free labor I bet you can have a nice little ride.

Come on now... We all know I'll end up spending more than $400

Only prob I see is that it's an eta. Back in the day, BMW was looking for ways to improve fuel economy, and as a "stop-gap" measure, they decided to do that by restricting the rev range of the M20. Milder cam, softer valve springs, etc.

Still, the rest of the car seems clean enough that you can just coast with it as a DD until you're ready to figure out what you'll do about an engine.

Take my comments with a grain of salt..I owned an E21 "grey market" 323i at the time those cars came on the market, knew what a standard M20 could do, and hated the eta for what it did to that little jewel of an engine. Still amazes me that they also put the thing into the 5-series back then as well. I guess the whole "yuppie" thing was going on at the time, and they could sell every car they could ship over here.

This will give you a laugh..when we lived in our last apartment, one of our neighbors had one of the cleanest E28s I've seen in the last 10 years. He wanted to sell it, and asked $1300. I skipped it because the damn thing had an eta/slusbox combo driveline in it.

IIRC, if you want to keep the eta, build what the hot rod guys call a "stroker". The eta M20 is as strong on the bottom end as any of her higher revving sisters, and if you don't want to spend cubic dollars on a head re-configuration, increase the piston stroke on the bottom end, and just leave the redline where it is. I've seen some etas stroked out to as much as 2.7ltr (IIRC, some of them used the diesel M20 rods), and they sure honk off the line.

EDIT: Forgot that it was only 400 bux! Good shot, dude.

EDIT 2: I gotta stop hanging around you guys so much, I was doing fine being an "ex-BMW" guy until I found this place...

friedgreencorrado wrote: I've seen some etas stroked out to as much as 2.7ltr (IIRC, some of them used the diesel M20 rods)

Aren't all 325e's already a 2.7?

mtn wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote: I've seen some etas stroked out to as much as 2.7ltr (IIRC, some of them used the diesel M20 rods)

Aren't all 325e's already a 2.7?

You, sir..may be correct. I'm running all this stuff from memory, and not from reality.

I also gotta admit, when I Googled "BMW M20 eta strokers", I saw some stuff from folks that have stroked the damn things out to dang near three and a half liters. Damn, 1986 is longer ago than my brain tells me it is...