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Thread: Thinking of Buying E30

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
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    Thinking of Buying E30

    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

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    1989
    Quote Originally Posted by Leon.stt View Post
    Hello,



    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
    Dont think! Buy it.

    Problems with vibrations, gasoline smell not so complicated to solve. Also, on M40 you must change oil on every 10,000 or less. And belt on 40/45,000 km.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Joliet,IL
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    87 325is 96 GMC Suburban
    Solid body, delphin grey, manual trans = slam dunk

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Pics, please, if and when you buy the car...

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elvir View Post
    Dont think! Buy it.

    Problems with vibrations, gasoline smell not so complicated to solve. Also, on M40 you must change oil on every 10,000 or less. And belt on 40/45,000 km.
    Thanks mate. Appreciate ur opinion

    Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Adkins View Post
    Pics, please, if and when you buy the car...
    Yes, but here's some pics I took yesterday

    Sent from my POCOPHONE F1 using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
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    Martinsburg, WV
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    01 530i 02 325Xi BEV EVC
    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.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    Wake Forest
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    2004 525i, 1985 325E
    WOW! Very nice car,
    2004 525i Sport, Manual - 1985 325E Coupe Manual

  9. #9
    323i E30's Avatar
    323i E30 is offline ⅂!ʈө !ƨ l!ʞө ɐ ʇөlөbµouө
    Join Date
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    My Cars
    M52 E30 touring & E91
    Looks like a clean car indeed! Very nice.
    My first E30 was an M40 (316i) 4-door delphin metallic one too. I really enjoyed that car. Didn’t look as nice as this one though

    Ask the seller for maintenance history on the car when you go check it out.
    ^ true story



    D̶i̶b̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶E̶2̶1̶

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
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    Indonesia
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    E30 318i
    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.

    Sent from my SM-P355 using Tapatalk

  11. #11
    Join Date
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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.

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    No e30s, again :(
    Dang!!! That car is beautiful!
    No e30s again.

  13. #13
    Join Date
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    1997 BMW Z3 2.8
    Beautiful car. The M40 engine is bullet proof if fluids and filters are changed on time.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Adkins View Post
    The M40 engine is bullet proof if fluids and filters are changed on time.
    k33jf.jpg
    Last edited by Elvir; 01-04-2019 at 11:06 AM.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
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    Redmond
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    1989 325ic
    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.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
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    Indonesia
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    E30 318i
    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)

    Sent from my SM-P355 using Tapatalk

  17. #17
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    No e30s, again :(
    that sounds like a good plan
    No e30s again.

  18. #18
    Join Date
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    1989 325ic
    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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