Olley's E30 project thread.

ok. here goes.

Car: BMW E30 325i touring. auto.

owner: ME

Plans: keep it going... possibly upgrades at a later date!

here's the first lot of flicks, apologies about the quality.

 

[Prince]

You could have turned a light on!

It looks good from what I can see. I would be too tempted to go crazy with it. Looks like it still has the original rims as well.

 

[Olley]

First update.

after a bit of worrying and procrastinating, i did it... i turned the key and it started on the button, even on three year old fuel, no priming, no fettling or fiddling. ran a bit hot, but soon fixed that (air locks in cooling system) just need to do the essentials and get it on the road!

latest pics to follow when my laptop starts to behave... still needs a proper clean mind.

 

[Olley]

the laptops behaving, here's the pics.

 

[Prince]

I'm really liking that mate! Glad to hear it started fine. Have you dared make a list of everything needed?

 

[Prince]

Also, I've moved this to the project section so it can attract more attention.

 

[Olley]

cheers fella!!

i have, and the list is as follows...
timing belt kit: purchased today
service bits oil/filters: purchased today
discs and pads all round: next payday
battery: next pay day
4 tyres: next payday

test and ticket and insurance.

 

[Prince]

Not too bad at all. I've just got a few servicing bits from BMW and it definitely blows the myth of out the water!

When you get tyres, a lot of BMW owners use Falken 452s.

 

[jarrus]

Hankooks or Yokohamas for the win my friend....

What size are you running?

Looks good as well I've always liked these old BMW's much more characterful that the E90's and what not.

 

[Olley]

tyres are 205/55-15

has anyone on here attempted a timing belt on one of these before? according to auto data it's 13 hours! so translate that to me doing it on my garden and i'll be looking at the best part of 4 days! haha

i'm waiting till next pay day to buy any more bits for it, but i'm so looking forward to driving it! it's stressing me out having to wait! but wait i will! i'm not going to drive it with no paper work! no way!

 

[Prince]

tyres are 205/55-15

has anyone on here attempted a timing belt on one of these before? according to auto data it's 13 hours! so translate that to me doing it on my garden and i'll be looking at the best part of 4 days! haha

i'm waiting till next pay day to buy any more bits for it, but i'm so looking forward to driving it! it's stressing me out having to wait! but wait i will! i'm not going to drive it with no paper work! no way!

Are the E30s not chain then? Autodata usually over-estimates but not by that much usually. If I'm right you have to remove the front half of the engine and the cooling system to gain access. Have you looked on realoem.com at the diagrams?

 

[Olley]

the M20 engine is belt, and one of the others, but the others are chain. i've not heard of that site prince, but will go and have a look, cheers!

i've been told the sump has to come off, as well as the rocker cover, so that means more expense with gaskets!

I will get there! lol

 

[Olley]

@prince, i owe you one buddy, that website is pukka!!!

 

[Prince]

the M20 engine is belt, and one of the others, but the others are chain. i've not heard of that site prince, but will go and have a look, cheers!

i've been told the sump has to come off, as well as the rocker cover, so that means more expense with gaskets!

I will get there! lol

It is a big job. I'm not too familiar with E30 engines but that sounds about right. The gaskets aren't expensive from BMW and it'll be worth it once it's done.

@prince, i owe you one buddy, that website is pukka!!!

It is mate! Even BMW use it most of the time. The only problem is you have to convert part prices to pounds. They are fairly accurate though, and you get all the part numbers!

 

[Olley]

are the prices BMW prices? or other places?

 

[Prince]

are the prices BMW prices? or other places?

Yeah. You just have to convert the dollars into pounds. It's not always 100% but it's pretty damn close if it's not correct.

 

[Olley]

Project on hold... insurance company are messing me about. after giving me a couple of quotes to swap the insurance from the bus to the BMW, they have now told me they wont insure it as it is more than 20 years old.

 

[Prince]

Project on hold... insurance company are messing me about. after giving me a couple of quotes to swap the insurance from the bus to the BMW, they have now told me they wont insure it as it is more than 20 years old.

Have you tried insuring it as a classic?

 

[Olley]

gonna phone around on sat. going to try all sorts. tried adrian flux using the discount from TC. and it was still £2800 odd!

 

[Prince]

gonna phone around on sat. going to try all sorts. tried adrian flux using the discount from TC. and it was still £2800 odd!

They're not very good with BMWs it seems. I tried them the other day and they could only get it as low as £1300. I may try Sky Insurance and see if they'll beat it. That was with the supercharger and all the other mods declared though.

 

[Olley]

phoned my insurance company back. 37 quid to transfer over from the bus, and 1011 to renew next months.
had a moan about being messed about and he went and spoke to his manager and he said sorry about that. i'll sort it out for you now. RESULT!


BAD NEWS. water pump let go on the way to the MOT. but a new one was purchased within an hour and she is sitting patiently on the drive half stripped ready for new pump and timing belt tomorrow!

 

[charger69]

turn it into a pickup... LOL

 

[Olley]

nah i'm good! hahaha, i was going to do that to my old astra estate and put a 2L red top engine in it and convert it to RWD! but i ended up scrapping it as i had no where to put it!

 

[Prince]

Good news mate. Glad it's sorted.

 

[Olley]

timing belt and water pump changed. just need a new thermostat housing then it's MOT attempt number two!

sorry i didn't take any pictures, but my fingers were so cold i could barely hold the spanner let alone operate a touch screen phone! will take pictures when changing the stat housing!

 

[T9 man]

Look forward to the pics Olley

 

[turbonutter69]

Any news buddy? Did you get it sorted out?

 

[Olley]

right. i apologise for the lack of pictures, but i didn't actually do the work until after dark. how ever. the car is now MOT'd and taxed. a few advisories, but it's on the road! let's see how long this one lasts. will be getting some semi professional photo's done at some point. so will get them up (after it's been washed)

next step is to find out how reliable it is!

 

[Olley]

been for a little drive, and given that it's an auto I'm pleasantly surprised at how responsive it is! not tried sport mode yet. waiting till pay day to put some more fuel in!

will get some pics of my own tomorrow if i can borrow my dad's camera! although the pictures on my phone seem to come out ok!

OVER THE MOON that it's finally on the road!

 

[turbonutter69]

Good stuff just keep it on the black stuff and enjoy my friend.

 

[Olley]

had it on the road a couple of weeks now.

bad news. the day i got it on the road i was involved in a bit of a shunt...
damage is minimal and only cosmetic. going through the insurance with it, no choice.
but even if it does go down as my fault (which it most likely will) it wont affect my premium or no claims which was a very pleasant surprise!

i'll post more details up this afternoon once i've had a meeting with my insurance claims investigator.

and before anyone points the finger, yes i hit the back of them, no they didn't stop using the brakes. they stopped using the hand brake. on a main road, coming off a roundabout. i don't think there is a word in the english language to describe how i feel about the whole situation, but hey ho, ..it happens. and you gotta deal with it!

i shall up date you all this afternoon.

 

[T9 man]

Sorry to hear the bad news Olley, at least it was the car and not you that got damaged! I hope everything works out OK with the insurance assessor later.

 

[Olley]

me too. best bit is, i'm meeting her at the ace cafe! haha
don't know how old she is, but she's irish! so who knows. could turn into a date! hahaha
i'll get some pics up of the car today too!

 

[T9 man]

Marvellous, see if you can get a pic of the lady too

 

[turbonutter69]

Yeah sod the car snaps some pics of the lady.

Glad it wasn't bad mate. Cars can be replaced. People can't.

 

[Olley]

OMG!!!!! oh damn... i'll have to have another crash!!!! sheee was smookin! and didn't seem that far off my age either... unfortunately no pics... but i did say she was welcome to pop in for a cuppa at any time if she was ever in my area since she has my address!

as for the meeting.. ahem... sorry, got distracted. she seems to agree that there is definitely something dodgy going on. but it now seems they have tainted the independant witness. as he is claiming three in the other car when there was only two... this makes me MAADD!

 

[charger69]

it seems like the car is the reason you met this chick, get focused on the chick homie

 

[Olley]

yeah, she met me to inspect the damage from the accident i had! haha!

well, there's good news and bad news.
good news. because i reported it promptly, it's not going to affect my premium or NCB win or loose.

the bad news. they are getting away with fraud.
they are claiming three counts of whiplash, and there was only two people in the car!

 

[Olley]

sorry guys, been too busy driving the beast. got a few little issues. i'll let someone else do the maths, but about 60 quid to fill it up... 148 miles out of a full tank... OOPS! that needs sorting.
still need to get the damage fixed and the insurance claim is still going through. and i have a couple of pics to put up! will do that in a jiffy.

please remember all pics were taken on my phone!

 

[Olley]

two pics of the damage, and two, well just because.

the bumper has been moved back, but only on the drives side, and the grills have been pushed through. oh, and it knocked the wipers off from the inner lights.