Hello,
My name is Leon from Indonesia. I'm currently in the market for E30. I'm looking for a sedan 318i with manual tranny. Why sedan? Because it is plentiful here in Indonesia and because of that the price is well within my budget. Since this is gonna be my long term project car, I dont plan to spend too much money. But that being said, I would like to find a good condition one to start with because I'm planning drive it for a while before tearing it apart.
So today I went to look at a 1990 318i M40 engine with manual tranny in Dolphin Grey. I fell in live with it. But since I dont have any knowledge about E30s, I didnt make an offer. But i am seriously considering this car. OK, so here is some of the description about the car.
1. The body is pretty straight. A bit of dings here and there, but no major damage.
2. The floor is fully intact and original. No rust at all. I checked the boot floor also still in original metal
3. All electrical switches work except rear right power window is a bit slow.
4. Engine idles very well. Cold start with no hesitation and idles at 1k rpm with no jumps. The only problem is that I could feel quite a bit of vibration (engine mounting?) and also the car smells like it is running rich from the exhaust fume smell
Other than that, the car is fine. Can anyone tell me what I'm missing?
Thanks in advance for your help
Solid body, delphin grey, manual trans = slam dunk
Pics, please, if and when you buy the car...
Very nice looking e30 there. Delphin metallic is a great color.
Joe M in WV
Last edited by jmenacker; 12-28-2018 at 06:28 PM. Reason: Autocorrect shenannagans.
WOW! Very nice car,
2004 525i Sport, Manual - 1985 325E Coupe Manual
Thanks for the opinion fellas. I love the dolphin grey color too. Never driven an E30 before. But fron what I heard it is quite a blast when done right.
But I'm not going to keep it stock. I will modify it later. About mods, I'm thinking of swapping the engine. What do you guys think about M52B25 or M54B25? Why these engines? Because I can find em easily here in Indonesia. Oh and I will keep it
NA.
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M52/M54 are great engines. It is six cylinder engines from E36/E46/E39 models. They are modern engines compared to old M40 and swapping it into E30 will be more complex process.
Dang!!! That car is beautiful!
No e30s again.
Beautiful car. The M40 engine is bullet proof if fluids and filters are changed on time.
Last edited by Elvir; 01-04-2019 at 11:06 AM.
Looks great. I'm in the "don't think, just buy it" camp.
Drive it around for a good while before you bother with the engine swap. Those miles of joy you put in before the teardown will be inspiration to keep you motivated for re-assembly.
Thanks guys. I pulled the trigger and there she is in my garage. What a lovely little car to drive. Very nimble. I think I'm gonna drive it for a while in stock form before doing any mods (fingers crossed)
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that sounds like a good plan
No e30s again.
Congrats on the purchase! I'm sure it is a blast to drive.
Before you start modding, if your tires are more than 2yo I suggest you try it with a new set of OEM-spec tires, very well balanced, and with alignment if needed. Mine were Falkens made in Indonesia, so hopefully you can find them for a very good price. There are tons of mods, rim changes, different tire offsets etc, but imo the originals were original for good reasons.
Timing belt is also going to be an obvious next step, if it's 4yo or older. Or since you plan on replacing the motor anyway, you could just let the blowup be your "service interval" for that project!
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