Help with BMW E30 restoration project

[zeristo]

Hello friends,

I am planning of buying an old bmw e30 1987-1990 model and restoring it to mint condition for my own collection as the first car in my collection. could someone with knowledge on this car and on restoring old BMWs give some valuable tips before buying this car and also suggest me where in sri lanka i could get parts for restoration ? this is my first time at restoring an old car. Is their anything in particular i need to be aware of ?

thanks

[Twin Turbo]

Get yourself a late mod fuel injected 318i with manual trans.Make sure it has the original alloys.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Twin Turbo

[tharindra]

Obvious #1 rule is avoid any modified examples, engine, body, electrical etc......find one in the most original condition....it will save you a lot of headaches down the road. Particularly if the electrical system has been messed with [big sound systems, additional lights etc], it's prone to issues that are hard to resolve. Avoid any model that has any non BMW parts fixed.

Go for a 316i or 318i EFI model, avoid the carb ones, also as mentioned above avoid auto's. The M40 engine is prone to worn tappets which in turn wear out the cam, so avoid clickety clack engines too. Replacing the tappets is not majorly expensive though. It's recommended to do a water pump + timing belt change if the previous owner hadn't done one recently.

Watch out for rust in the front floor pans, spare wheel well and also near the front battery pan and fuse box.

Interior parts become very brittle over age, thing like door handles and certain trim pieces easily break off or crack, and finding those parts are a big hassle here locally, unless you get a complete donor car or car sections shipped down, so find one with an interior in it's most original form.

Most consumables are available with the famous "BMW specialist", couple of places in Panchi, and a few others, so it's not that hard to find parts, you need to do some digging though, will help you out when you need any, Ebay will also become your best friend.

I also have a stock M40 316i engine with a full rebuild kit including new camshaft available + gearbox +diff, and some other miscellaneous E30 parts removed from my E30 for sale.

Good luck!