Practically Classics Forum

Time to show some of my projects I think, not as classic as many on here but I hope they'll be appreciated all the same.

First one, my Wife's BMW



Not intended to be a project as we paid a lot for it as a tidy example, but still at 22 years old it's not without its faults.

First off needed a damn good clean


This actually stank of coffee!


Sagging headlining


Strippped




and recovered to this




New clutch


And on to the bigger stuff...


Used the gazebo as a spray booth, kept the wind down, the dogs out and the flying insects away.












Then time to get the tired old stuff off












and on with the new














That bring me to where it is now, hopefully it will be finished in the next week or so.

Good work.

These E30's just look better with age, a sound investment me thinks

My Dad's neighbour had a 323i which had been in his garage since ~ 1988. Only done 55k and wouldn't have taken much to get it back on the road. I'd nagged him for years to let me have it and finally about 4 years ago he told me I could. He was having a good clear out after suffering a mild stroke but my euphoria didn't last long when he had it taken away presumably for scrap before I could fetch it. Gutted doesn't even begin to explain how I felt

i always liked the estate model... nice

I love the estate versions too, very nice motor you have there

This is my daily driver



Kev

small progress but at least it's progress..



Prop, diff and half shafts are all back in situ but not fully bolted up yet, fresh oil in the diff. Suspension and brake lines all connected up ready for bleeding. Then fit the heat shields and finally the exhaust and should be ready for the MOT. Probably only a few hours left. But I'm away for a bit and with other commitments I might not get those few hours for another couple of weeks. It's so frustrating.

Quick update, now finished.



and was almost ready for the MOT then the coolant flange let go while ticking over on the drive. Better there than on the road I guess.

Parts ordered, hopefully MOT by the end of the week.

Nice work there

Got to love an e30

Thanks

So I got it finished and in for the MOT where after all my work it failed on emissions. About the only thing I'd not given a thought to.

Being a 1993 model it's just after CATs were introduced, as I found out a few months ago when I had a full Stainless Exhaust fitted - including CAT, apparently I wasn't allowed to do away with it.

So the failure was put down to the Lambda Sensor, I needed the car pronto so told the garage to do whatever to get it passed, so even though I was capable I didn't have the time. They ordered a Lamdba but there wasn't one available for same day but it was due in on the Saturday morning. I

It was rather annoying. I did all the usual stuff you can see. I didn't even think about emissions. New air filter, oil filter, oil and coolant. New plugs and leads not long ago. Fresh brake and pas fluid.... pretty much everything.

The reason I needed it sorted was I was picking up a guy from the train station on the Saturday morning. He was coming up from Devon to Bristol to buy it! Nothing like a good last minute rush, hey?

I'd advertised it ahead of the car being ready, underestimating what it needed for finishing. So I ended up with a waiting list, a couple of serious buyers were in touch regularly and one of them got a bit concerned he wouldn't be able to get to it first. So he offered £500 over the asking price to secure it.

I'd advertised it at the top end of it's value anyway but I thought it was worth it, so a healthy indication of the state of classic/retro car sales at the moment and great for me.

The reason he wanted it so badly, He's fiends with a film maker who does a lot of stuff for Mini, Land Rover and BMW. And they were due to be filming a documentary for BMW at the the Classic TT on the IOM next month. They had a BMW R3 motorcycle and wanted a 'nice' BMW car to tow it with. They were offered a brand new car on loan from BMW but decided against it and found mine advertised online.

Since so many BMW e30's get taken down the lowered/modified or drift racer route they said they'd struggled to find a clean, standard and original example like mine. And with a pending deadline for the filming they didn't want to lose mine and have to start the search all over again.

So a little sad to see it go, but I can focus on my other project now and there's always the chance I'll get to see it again, even if it is just on the telly. He said he's send me a copy of the film once it's done.

Quick up date on this...

As mentioned above, this was bought by a film maker that had been commissioned by BMW to produce a film at the Isle of Man Classic TT with one of their retro BMW motorbikes. They offered him a new 5 series but he wanted a support car that would fit with the period for the film so BMW ok'ed it and stumped up the cash. I've since heard filming has finished and he's selling it on. Might try and buy it back for a half what they paid after all it's had a tow bar fitted and more miles.

sounds like a plan! thats a lovely car