1986 Burgundy 325E Preservation

[1SGDHORN]

The car:

1986 2-door 325E Auto. Burgundy with pearl beige interior. 89,000 miles.

From 1986 until 2002 (16 years) and 62,825 miles the car was in Palmdale, CA. The original owner then moved to Connecticut and brought the car with him. I learned from the shop that performed all the work on the car here locally that the original owner sold/transferred the car to his son in February of 2017 with 86,600 miles when he became too old to safely drive. The son sold it shortly after in March of 2017 to the owner I bought it off with an accurate 89,000 miles.

The car has impeccable maintenance records from 2002 until the present getting brakes, drive belts, timing belts, coolant flushes, new radiator hoses, regular oil changes, new exhaust from the cat back, cam seals replaced, main seal replaced, new cap/rotor/plugs and Beru wires. The shop told me they could provide me with over $8,000.00 in receipts for work done.

The Good:
- 2-doors
- Low miles
- Absolutely ZERO rust
- The Burgundy color
- Crack free dash
- Perfect door panels. Not a bit of delamination.
- Perfect original bottle cap wheels
- New tires
- Manual sunroof works smooth as butter
- All tools present
- A mint rear parcel shelf

The not so good:
- The paint is faded. The car really deserves a proper all windows out, stripped of everything repaint. A cut and buff just won't be enough.
- The pearl beige interior. For me it seems too light. I'm thinking a darker brown like nutria or black may look less "old man" But, I'll live with it a bit.
- Comfort seats. I'd like sports as, IMHO,they are more comfortable and just look better.
- Auto transmission. A 5-speed swap is not a priority right now.
- No radio. I will source an original unit.
- No radio antenna
- Bottle cap wheels are not very sporty. I will keep them in storage as they are in perfect shape.
- Has a hinting idle. I'll start by cleaning the ICV and check the fittings going into the throttle body and go from there.
- No history of a transmission service. Easily rectified.
- Diving board bumpers but, that's only esthetically.

My biggest reservation on the car was the hunting idle but, I know this is a common E30 issue and can be sorted out with enough patience. The second is the pearl beige interior. I love the burgundy color but, combined with the pearl beige interior it really does, imho, make it look as non sporty as you could make an E30 look which I understand the buyer of an automatic 325E back in 1986 was probably buying this car as the perfect car for him. The hardest thing is that the seats, door panels and every other piece is in perfect condition. I will be asking for opinions on what interior color goes well with the burgundy. Black would probably be the easiest but, I was thinking a darker brown may look ok.

[hotdish]

The houndstooth interior is darker and would be a very 80's combination with the burgundy paint. The euro gray plaid interior would look pretty good if you want to import it.

[1SGDHORN]

The good news is I have a pair of black sport seats, black identical comfort seats and black E46 sport seats with custom E30 brackets that I can experiment with. More than likely I will keep the black comfort seats in my 325iX and use the sport seats in this car. They are in decent shape but, would make a good starting point for a custom interior. Maybe a hounds tooth material on the center sections of the seats with solid leather on the bolsters.

[VINNIE86]

May have an original radio in the garage
Will check to see

Vinnie86

[1SGDHORN]

Thanks. Let me know what you find.

[1SGDHORN]

I will be trouble shooting the non working speedometer. I know about the softening gear issues of the odometer and will replace those but, if I have a good speedometer that can be swapped in is there a way of setting the mileage from the donor cluster to reflect the true mileage on the car? That is if my current one isn't easily fixed.

[aaverhulst]

That is a really nice looking car. Good job on the pictures as the paint job looks good. If it was me I'd leave most of it stock, maybe wheels but not much. Fix the mechanical issues. Why change a beautiful car?

[1SGDHORN]

The paint looks better in the pictures than it does in person. The hood and roof are very sun faded.

No matter what I do to the interior it will be 100% reversible. Any modifications will be done on different door panels and swapped in sport seats that way if and when it is passed on to a new owner it can be done so in 100% original condition, even down to the 14" bottle cap wheels.

The "E" is, in many enthusiast's opinion, kind of the unloved E30 from everything I have read. You go on Bring a Trailer and you hardly ever see and E30 325E for sale and lots of times when you do it has had the motor swapped out. This makes me wonder if the car will eventually regain some collector status much the same way the, until recent years, unloved 65-69 Porsche 912s? Regardless, I would bet any unmolested original E30 will only rise in value as more and more succumb to rust, accidents, drift cars, etc.

[superj]

I would keep the e motor. its a solid long lasting engine that is still very fun. its not as rev happy but still pulls well enough to enjoy daily driving

[hotdish]

The "E" is, in many enthusiast's opinion, kind of the unloved E30 from everything I have read. You go on Bring a Trailer and you hardly ever see and E30 325E for sale and lots of times when you do it has had the motor swapped out. This makes me wonder if the car will eventually regain some collector status much the same way the, until recent years, unloved 65-69 Porsche 912s? Regardless, I would bet any unmolested original E30 will only rise in value as more and more succumb to rust, accidents, drift cars, etc.

The 84-85 318i is worth even less than a 325e. People just buy them for e30 parts or to convert a 2002 or e21 to EFI. They're the only non-convertibles I can find in my area in any condition under $1k anymore.

[1SGDHORN]

This car has seen a very easy life. The spare tire is the original and I think today was the first time it has ever been out of the trunk.

- - - Updated - - -

I also pulled the back seats out to give everything a good cleaning and I believe this would be the original build sheet? Whatever it is it is original and as tempted as I was to pull it off and see exactly what was on it, I chose to leave it in place.

[1SGDHORN]

All the under hood stickers are there and in pretty good condition for being 35 years old. Even a dealer installed sticker on a recall that was performed, an Eprom update.

[1SGDHORN]

Tool kit is almost complete. Missing 1 wrench, which I have on the way, the window emergency crank and the allen wrench. I'll source these eventually.

[1SGDHORN]

More interior shots. As clean as it is I did find a few things that need taking care of.

- Interior lights don't come on when the door is open but, they do work when you manually manipulate the switch.
- Driver's door stay is broken.
- Needs a new driver's side door seal.
- Needs a new period correct radio and the factory wiring fixed. Whoever did the previous radio install just cut everything. And I will need a new antenna.
- Driver's seat does not fold forward.
- Handle/extension on transmission selector not working easily. In fact I can pull straight up on it and it easily pulls right out of the transmission selector mechanism.
- OBC not working. I have a spare analog clock that I will probably fit in its place.

[1SGDHORN]

Butchered radio wires. I am hoping I can source an OEM radio harness then crimp, re-solder, and shrink wrap back to as good as can possibly be hoped for.

[1SGDHORN]

Adjusted all the valves. They were all tighter than spec.

The plugs look like the car has been running rich???

As stated previously I have the dreaded hunting idle syndrome and found this PCV Frankenhose. I also found a vacuum cap on the one way valve in the line that comes off the brake booster and goes to the throttle body badly deteriorated. Recapped that. Ordered a new OEM PCV hose. Replaced vacuum lines and fuel hoses as well. I have a new auto MAF to throttle body boot that I mistakenly ordered for an auto when I wanted a 5-speed so that will go on even though the one on the car looked fine.

Before buying a new ICV I cleaned the one on the car and it "rattles" like it should. I'm waiting on new plugs and the hoses and other bits to arrive and then see where I am with regards to the idle.

[82eye]

great car. gotta love that dash, keep at it. !

[1843lamp]

This car has seen a very easy life. The spare tire is the original and I think today was the first time it has ever been out of the trunk.

- - - Updated - - -

I also pulled the back seats out to give everything a good cleaning and I believe this would be the original build sheet? Whatever it is it is original and as tempted as I was to pull it off and see exactly what was on it, I chose to leave it in place.

SImilar to my car ,original unused spare,your tire still has the original wheel weight and valve stem cover.I had the build sheet under my seat which had never been removed ,you can photocopy and put the original back in place,I am second owner and 100,000 orig miles and orig paint.

[1SGDHORN]

I fixed the hunting idle issue. Even after cleaning and hearing the ICV working it still must have been bad because the hunting idle instantly went away with the new ICV. I am very happy with that.

After driving the car back and forth to work this past week I have a few minor things to attend to.

- I will need a new AC switch
- The overhead check panel always shows that I have a brake light out but, they are all working correctly. I even swapped out the panel with no change.
- A few of the backlights are not illuminating things like what gear you are in, the temp control knob, and the middle center vent slider control.
- I have a clunk in the rear that may be a worn out guibo. It does it coming on and off power.
- The speedo gears have been replaced but, am still waiting on a new speed sensor to arrive in hope that that fixes the issue. Other than the speedo, everything else on the cluster is working properly.
- Missing fog lights are on their way
- Need to fix a messed up brake pad wear sensor harness.

I have replaced all the brake pads and rotors.
Put in a new radiator overflow tank and replaced vacuum hoses.

[1SGDHORN]

Bought new leather upholstery for the front and back seats. I went with a dark brown thinking it will look nice with the dark maroon exterior.

https://www.lseat.com/

https://www.lseat.com/categories/gen...ather/bmw.html

[1SGDHORN]

It is hard to believe that the front windshield is original to the car and pit free. Anyone know if this sticker is still available or reproduced?

[Kershaw]

I don't think so, not common to see.

[1SGDHORN]

I wonder if people removed them just because they felt it was an eye sore? Nice that the owner of this car kept it on there.

[1SGDHORN]

I picked up a 1985 325e, 5-speed, sport seat equipped parts car for $500.00 today. I hate to part out a nice car but, this one had been sitting under a barn for several years and the rust is beyond practical repair.

The first thing it donated was the window tool and allen wrench to complete my tool kit.

[1SGDHORN]

It has nice sport seats with all of the adjustments working surprisingly smooth that will be the base for the new leather interior I have on the way. Other things I can use are a stock radio, working instrument cluster, straight front bumper, spare carpet, rear parcel shelf, and good door panels and of course all the 5-speed bits though the automatic isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Bonus are some 15" BBS wheels.