** Acme [Akagi] bought a pink estate car - E30 325i project log! **

Must...resist....



Mine had much, much less rust, it only had very slight bubbling arches and a hole in the drivers floor which I sorted easily, I went over the car inspecting it all very early on though. I'm not surprised and as it's just a touring I can't say I'd bother to sink more money into it.
Personally I'd cut my losses and flog it on, then get on the hunt for something better.
 
I dont think ill be able to master it before the Jan MOT though... :p

Rear sills and one inner arch need doing before thr MOT. The rest can wait. But im going to get two prices. One for just those bits and one for all of it.

Then the other bits can either be done by myself after some welding training, or "my mates mate Dave" :p
 
I’m sure you didn’t go into this thinking you were going to make money off it, so IMO you should just deal with it and get it fixed. It’s an old car, most unrestored cars of that age will have fairly serious rust.

£5k isn’t a lot of money to put into something you love - many people lose more than that in a year’s depreciation on a boring, everyday car.

It might not be special in the same way as something like an E34 M5, but it’s still quite a rare car nowadays and personally I think it looks great.
 
You shouldn't really be surprised that it's going to cost a lot. This is why most people who do restorations do it all themselves or they are in the trade already so the cost is far lower.

Also, I'm sure people said to check the rust situation before buying other bits ;-)
 
geekman said:
I’m sure you didn’t go into this thinking you were going to make money off it, so IMO you should just deal with it and get it fixed. It’s an old car, most unrestored cars of that age will have fairly serious rust.

£5k isn’t a lot of money to put into something you love - many people lose more than that in a year’s depreciation on a boring, everyday car.

It might not be special in the same way as something like an E34 M5, but it’s still quite a rare car nowadays and personally I think it looks great.
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Agreed.
 
Well I now have two outer sills, an inner sill, an outer arch/quarter panel, and a load of sheet metal sitting in the shed...

Trying to get in touch with a friend of a friend who should be able to help out for a fraction of the cost of taking it to a specialist garage.

His work is still good though. :)
 
Get shot of it, keep the one car that actually sort of works, put the money you are shovelling into this thing into a savings account so you can get a deposit and move into your own house....

That's what I'd do anyway, couldn't stand still being parents at 24/5 - I'd lose my mind. Then you can grab this dream car of yours further down the line when you can afford one that isnt clapped out and afford the necessary work without feeling like you've bodged it.
 
I agree with this:
geekman said:
I’m sure you didn’t go into this thinking you were going to make money off it, so IMO you should just deal with it and get it fixed. It’s an old car, most unrestored cars of that age will have fairly serious rust.

£5k isn’t a lot of money to put into something you love - many people lose more than that in a year’s depreciation on a boring, everyday car.

It might not be special in the same way as something like an E34 M5, but it’s still quite a rare car nowadays and personally I think it looks great.
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But I also agree with this:
Cookeh said:
Get shot of it, keep the one car that actually sort of works, put the money you are shovelling into this thing into a savings account so you can get a deposit and move into your own house....

That's what I'd do anyway, couldn't stand still being parents at 24/5 - I'd lose my mind. Then you can grab this dream car of yours further down the line when you can afford one that isnt clapped out and afford the necessary work without feeling like you've bodged it.
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It's a difficult one. It's a special car but Cookeh makes a fine point that if you pile all your spare cash into this then you can't expect to move out for a good few years. You might have a savings plan where you're actually saving for a mortgage already, in which case ignore me, but if not sometimes we have to do the boring(ish) to get where we want to be.

If you love it then keep it, but paying people to sort this rust for you is going to get very expensive very fast. I'd suggest taking the long road, practising like a mad man and doing it yourself. It'll be an experience at the very least. But definitely don't decide you're going to go for it and then realise in 3 months you've made a huge mistake and wasted thousands into something that you're not committed to.
 
basically, everyone will have different ideas :D IMO do what you want, especially if your parents are happy keeping you and the mess at home :D

I personally couldn't stand living with parents and moved out ASAP so my car fund was always low lol.
 
Also, bear in mind that your costs may spiral and the time to complete the repairs may overrun your original estimates substantially. If your friend drops out, if you've got to find another workshop, etc. Easy to end up with it simply sat, incomplete, for ages, if you're not careful. Or, worse, it ends up partially complete but then immobile.

Ran into similar with one of mine; once my expert started digging he found the entire boot floor was shot. Some £3000 (including panels from the US, unstitching the entire old panel, paint both outside and in - including the rear wings) later....
 
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I can't expect to move out for a few years anyway. I don't think sticking a couple of months wages into a car will significantly worsen my prospects. :p
 
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