Interior refurb costs

[drew56cus]

hi all, I have been lurking for a while, admirng these beautiful machines. I live in Australia. Values have taken off here over the last couple of years, and even though I am not ready for another project just yet, I was worried about missing the boat. A cheap (for Oz) car has come up for sale that I had a friend go and look at for me, armed with the tips from the buyers tips on this website. Well, the car is pretty much the opposite of what was recommended - it drove quite well and had a stack of receipts for servicing, but the interior was very shabby. These are his notes:
· Some small noises from suspension but nothingtoo major
· Engine and Auto feel pretty good
· Pulls hard, no smoke that I saw
· Used as daily driver. Currentlyregistered.
· Air con works well
· Fully serviced
· Main instrument panel all appears to workproperly
· Centre console control unit has some dead pixels(despite it being a relatively new replacement unit)
· Brakes work well
· Electric Windows all work
· Doors close nicely
· All body panels appear pretty straight and joineach other nicely
· Front spoiler has had some hits and is crackedin middle between grills
· Right hand rear brake light lens cracked
· No visible leaks underneath
· Definitely some oil leaking from fronts (and toa lesser extend all along) of tappet covers
· Sunroof has some rust around edges and notworking at all
· All doors and boot handle work well
· Door rubbers all good
· Internal window weather strip good, externaldrier with some deterioration
· Lights all working, including pop up headlights
· Seat Motors – driver has most functions working,but appears a bit wonky when raising seat, like only 1 side is working.Passenger backrest tilt works, and whole seat appears to slide forward/raise upand slide back/go down.
· Steering wheel raise appears manual in this version,ie not motorised
· Has been trucked down to Nerang (Gold Coast) toa BMW specialist over the last few years (I think a number of times), but hedidn’t say what for.
· Interior pretty ordinary.
o Headlinerhanging down in places.
o Passengerseat belt housing stuffed.
o Plasticnext to gear stick broken
o Driverside lower panel broken

Some stains in carpet


Now I love the exterior of the E31, but the interior is pretty plain to me. So I would not be averse to customizing it if original parts are not available, or really expensive. I was hoping to get some indication of what it may cost to fix an interior up. I see rotomoto712 has done a great job on his interior - any idea what new carpets, upholstery and fixing plastic bits may be? I think I read that the gear stick surround is NLA, what about the seat belt surround on the LH seat?
And the nose cone seems to have some cracked parts and dings. Can these be fixed or not? Are any available? And what about the grille insert? (see pic).
I need to understand the costs to restore the car so that I can negotiate with the seller to see what I can get him down to. He has it listed for $15k oz with no roadworthy or rego. Nice ones seem to be around $40-50k (or that is what they are asking anyway on Carsales.com.au).

Sorry for all the questions, most of the posts I could find seemed to relate to mechanical issues. I hope the pics work out, I am a noob at this!

Cheers, Drew

[Timm]

There's nothing there that can't be fixed - and being a RHD car the best source of cheap parts is a UK breaker - we have a number that specialise on the E31 and the parts that you have broken should be reasonably cheap. A busted nose is quite normal, these cars are long and you can't see the end of the bonnet. There is an episode of Wheeler Dealers that do that very job here:



The car is an M60 non-Sport without the csi spoilers and steptronic which is less desirable so will command a lower premium.

So, all pretty normal stuff to repair, but at least the drivetrain and brakes seem to be in good nick....

[drew56cus]

Good info Timm, thanks for that. And your info website looks pretty useful. I will have a look through them and the W-D show after work tonight. If I can stop looking at your car...
Strange website this, I had to post twice yesterday as the first one disappeared. I had 2 responses. Now I have come back and those two are gone and yours is here?! Oh well.
Cheers, Drew

[gixxerss]

I just refurbished my 93 interior. Looked about as bad as your pics. Most parts were easily sourced with a little patience and diligence. Hardest parts for me to find were the headrest seat belt surrounds. Found them eventually but the wrong color. Colorbond makes the BMW paint colors for interiors if you need. I have the same interior color as yours. Perfect match.