Soldato
Any reason why you're being knobs when I was trying to be helpful or..?
Ignore him. You’ve given sound advice which I am sure the OP will appreciate.
1986 M535i
- Thread starter DampCat
- Start date
Ignore him. You’ve given sound advice which I am sure the OP will appreciate.
Soldato
I was actually being nice to you, for once.Any reason why you're being knobs when I was trying to be helpful or..?
Caporegime
Acme has made some many questionable decisions in the past but that post was solid.
He is learning from the look of things
He is learning from the look of things
Hey @Acme
I actually did really appreciate your post. Exactly what I'm going to be looking for is people's personal experiences with these cars because as mentioned very early on I'm a novice when it comes to mechanics. My dad was a mechanic and would have been in his element here but sadly I wasn't able to learn any real lessons from him while he was about.
I intend to have the car back to showroom standard but I should be clear that this will be done over as much time as necessary and assuming that underneath it's worth doing at all. I'm not going to just throw money at it with my eyes shut, but at the same time I'm not adverse to investing into it because I'm not doing this to flip.
At the moment I'm considering stripping everything off myself to help learn my way around it, then trailer it over to a specialist to take care of the chassis. I've got a contact at BMW who can help me out with panel replacements should it be more efficient than trying to patch up what's in situ.
One of the reasons I'm in no particular rush is right now I have nowhere to keep it in Manchester. Its ok at my B-I-Ls for the foreseeable. We were house hunting before COVID so the next place will have a nice big garage. So that's the minimum timeline, the world has to return to normal and for us to move house
When I can get down to Essex I'll pull off the sills and have a poke about. I'll update the thread with pics as I go along.
My Haynes manual arrived and I've spent at least 20 hours watching people restore E28s in the last 2 weeks.
I appreciate all advice. All the time
I actually did really appreciate your post. Exactly what I'm going to be looking for is people's personal experiences with these cars because as mentioned very early on I'm a novice when it comes to mechanics. My dad was a mechanic and would have been in his element here but sadly I wasn't able to learn any real lessons from him while he was about.
I intend to have the car back to showroom standard but I should be clear that this will be done over as much time as necessary and assuming that underneath it's worth doing at all. I'm not going to just throw money at it with my eyes shut, but at the same time I'm not adverse to investing into it because I'm not doing this to flip.
At the moment I'm considering stripping everything off myself to help learn my way around it, then trailer it over to a specialist to take care of the chassis. I've got a contact at BMW who can help me out with panel replacements should it be more efficient than trying to patch up what's in situ.
One of the reasons I'm in no particular rush is right now I have nowhere to keep it in Manchester. Its ok at my B-I-Ls for the foreseeable. We were house hunting before COVID so the next place will have a nice big garage. So that's the minimum timeline, the world has to return to normal and for us to move house
When I can get down to Essex I'll pull off the sills and have a poke about. I'll update the thread with pics as I go along.
My Haynes manual arrived and I've spent at least 20 hours watching people restore E28s in the last 2 weeks.
I appreciate all advice. All the time
Any reason why you're being knobs when I was trying to be helpful or..?
Because its a case of the blind leading the blind.
Caporegime
Good to hear
I didn't mean to sound so provocative towards that other member but I see people saying things like that all the time, and on more than one occasion it has led to people confidently rushing into a purchase of an old car, only to find later that it is a complete disaster. (That isn't what happened to me though, I bought my disaster without seeking any advice at all)
No it really isn't. I know my **** when it comes to E30's in particular. The last 3 or 4 years have been a very steep learning curve. I run (I think) the largest E30 parts trading page, people often come to me for advice etc.
But my unrelated car buying blunders have left me with a certain reputation on here.
I didn't mean to sound so provocative towards that other member but I see people saying things like that all the time, and on more than one occasion it has led to people confidently rushing into a purchase of an old car, only to find later that it is a complete disaster. (That isn't what happened to me though, I bought my disaster without seeking any advice at all
)No it really isn't. I know my **** when it comes to E30's in particular. The last 3 or 4 years have been a very steep learning curve. I run (I think) the largest E30 parts trading page, people often come to me for advice etc.
But my unrelated car buying blunders have left me with a certain reputation on here.
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Soldato
You may get lucky and have a solid car, my E30 was much more solid than I'd expected, despite being a cabriolet and it looking like an utter turd when I got it (it was a turd anyway to be honest).
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/my-retro-resto-e30-325i-cab.18399007/
That's my thread on getting and restoring it, I dunno how many pics work anymore. All I had for rust holes were a couple in the foot wells which we sorted easily enough and then some arch bubbling but it was only the outer and not the inner.
But as has been said by Acme, Lashout and others, expect it to be in poor condition even if stored well. You've seen it does have some rust on the wing to the extent there is a hole so it's quite likely there will be more.
Hopefully you can get a place with a decent sized garage to be able to take it to pieces and store the parts whilst working on it also. Having a large garage isn't required (see Acme's E30 thread) but it's certainly very useful and I miss the one I used to have access to when I did my E30.
E: I never updated my thread properly. I ended up getting annoyed with the complete lack of practicality of the cab so sold it and bought a mk2 Golf which I had for something like 6 years and 25k miles around the UK and Europe and sold last year.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/my-retro-resto-e30-325i-cab.18399007/
That's my thread on getting and restoring it, I dunno how many pics work anymore. All I had for rust holes were a couple in the foot wells which we sorted easily enough and then some arch bubbling but it was only the outer and not the inner.
But as has been said by Acme, Lashout and others, expect it to be in poor condition even if stored well. You've seen it does have some rust on the wing to the extent there is a hole so it's quite likely there will be more.
Hopefully you can get a place with a decent sized garage to be able to take it to pieces and store the parts whilst working on it also. Having a large garage isn't required (see Acme's E30 thread) but it's certainly very useful and I miss the one I used to have access to when I did my E30.
E: I never updated my thread properly. I ended up getting annoyed with the complete lack of practicality of the cab so sold it and bought a mk2 Golf which I had for something like 6 years and 25k miles around the UK and Europe and sold last year.
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Caporegime
Associate
Lol should have clarified I meant from the outside
I've had my fair experience with rusty cars ranging from putting my foot through my mates footwell to putting a jack through a sill jacking point that looked totally fine (woops)
Caporegime
Lol should have clarified I meant from the outside
Ah yes but I got mine looking so shiny that a photographer left his card under my wiper in 2017 but at the time it was rotten as a pear underneath all the tarting up
Now it is as solid as a rock, but looks like a turd.
Soldato
This is the way (with 80s cars it seems).Now it is as solid as a rock, but looks like a turd.
Caporegime
Hey @Acme
I actually did really appreciate your post. Exactly what I'm going to be looking for is people's personal experiences with these cars because as mentioned very early on I'm a novice when it comes to mechanics. My dad was a mechanic and would have been in his element here but sadly I wasn't able to learn any real lessons from him while he was about.
I intend to have the car back to showroom standard but I should be clear that this will be done over as much time as necessary and assuming that underneath it's worth doing at all. I'm not going to just throw money at it with my eyes shut, but at the same time I'm not adverse to investing into it because I'm not doing this to flip.
At the moment I'm considering stripping everything off myself to help learn my way around it, then trailer it over to a specialist to take care of the chassis. I've got a contact at BMW who can help me out with panel replacements should it be more efficient than trying to patch up what's in situ.
One of the reasons I'm in no particular rush is right now I have nowhere to keep it in Manchester. Its ok at my B-I-Ls for the foreseeable. We were house hunting before COVID so the next place will have a nice big garage. So that's the minimum timeline, the world has to return to normal and for us to move house
When I can get down to Essex I'll pull off the sills and have a poke about. I'll update the thread with pics as I go along.
My Haynes manual arrived and I've spent at least 20 hours watching people restore E28s in the last 2 weeks.
I appreciate all advice. All the time
One of his best that I've read.
The better place out of the two!Now it is as solid as a rock, but looks like a turd.
An on the surface, mint BMW (indeed any car) can bite you on the arse once you start digging (don't I know it!) sound advice @Acme!
Caporegime
One of his best that I've read.
The better place out of the two!
But now people don't take pictures anymore
The three stages of its evolution lol...
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I finally got to see it this weekend. The good news is it comes with a binder of every single item of work it's had done since its original sale in 1986. Every receipt, every service. So from this I should be able to figure out what's been done.
I also had a poke about and it is in better shape than I'd hoped but there are maybe 2 problem areas underneath. I think just for prosperity I'm going to get the whole thing stripped down and have the chassis sorted properly.
I got a few snaps I'll try to upload soon
I also had a poke about and it is in better shape than I'd hoped but there are maybe 2 problem areas underneath. I think just for prosperity I'm going to get the whole thing stripped down and have the chassis sorted properly.
I got a few snaps I'll try to upload soon
Soldato
Caporegime
If you found 2 problem areas from a quick poke about, there will be 15. I will be more than happy to be proven wrong! But like I said before, its hiding.
Either way, very much worth fixing. Best of luck again!
Comprehensive history is lovely to have with an old car, very interesting to flit through, and whilst loads of it will be completely irrelevant by now, it adds to its value as well.
Either way, very much worth fixing. Best of luck again!
Comprehensive history is lovely to have with an old car, very interesting to flit through, and whilst loads of it will be completely irrelevant by now, it adds to its value as well.
As long as the chassis is healthy and it runs, you could probably get good money for it as is.
Someone can make a lot of money on a fully restored one. But they will need to invest a lot of time and money themselves. Worth it if you can do it all yourself, probably not if you need to pay people.
Someone can make a lot of money on a fully restored one. But they will need to invest a lot of time and money themselves. Worth it if you can do it all yourself, probably not if you need to pay people.
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