Some of may know that I bought an E30 recently, which is turning into a nightmare ownership: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/312440-joes-e30-325i-sport/

 

It's currently at a friend's place, who was meant to be helping us (me and my dad, neither that great at welding), but it's not getting anywhere and is full of a lot of false (but well intended) promises.

 

The current biggest stumbling block is now the sills, which need replacing/fixing. The rest of the rust work we could do ourselves, but quality and time would be questionable. 

 

With that in mind, and knowing I had this morning off work I went in search of classic car restoration places to ask about getting the sills done.

 

I tried three places, with three different results.

 

The first place clearly didn't want the work and quoted 'about a grand'. (Plus paint)

 

The second was a lot more helpful, and had done the job to his own E30. He reckoned about £1,500 with a 6-8 lead time. (Plus paint)

 

The third place is the guy I saw previously about getting work done just outside MK, and who offered me the use of his workshop to weld the car up myself. I'd got a price before of about £700 for some touching in of a couple of places and some tidying up. This tidying up work would need doing regardless, so either add £700 to the first two prices, or subtract £700 from this next price.

 

He said about another grand to do the sills. (Repair inner and replace outer with my supplied parts.) 

 

Or, if I strip and rebuilt the car to/from a rolling shell (with the engine still in, but nothing in the cabin or boot or any glass), it would be £4k to do the sills, any rust at all that he came across, including the scuttle and flitch panels, and a full inside and out respray (with photographs provided).

 

Option three is my current preferred option. Yes it's a crap load of money, but I know it'll have been done, will have been done well, and it won't be several weekends of my time spent doing tiny bits of progress to a much lower quality. I'm also at the stage where I daren't touch anything for fear of whatever else maybe lurking within, and this would remove that fear completely...

 

It's just that price is hard to justify, but given the way their values are going, maybe it's not too bad...

 

If you were in my position, what would you do? Pay the £4k, and have it all done, saving lots of time/weekends and knowing it's a good quality repair. Pay about £2k and have loads of work to do yourself, and still have possibly hidden rust, and still have the 25 year (but very good condition) paint on most of the panels?

 

When I put it that way ^ , it seems pretty clear cut though...

I'd pay the £4k when put that way to save a future of worries etc

How much money did you invest in buying the car?

Waaaaaaay more than I should have. If I paid the £4k, plus my purchase price, I'd still be a little under/around the market value for one in that condition.

Do love a good old BMW though! Was given a chance to own an E34 but missed out which sadly meant that car went to a scrapers! Beautiful machines is yours a straight six or an M3?

Aye, same. Much better better than the new ones! A few nice examples at DC14 yesterday, not many though.

 

Mine's only a lowly 325i Sport :( If I could afford an M3, I wouldn't be having this mental debate about repair bills!

Running an M50B20 with Vanos engine or an M20?

Standard M20B25. (Now with a misfire since I fitted the wrong spark plugs    )

 

Will be staying original as much as possible. (Maybe lowering it, but brand new shocks of some type for sure.) The way prices are going, I'd rather sway towards going concors than track day, which all adds towards the £4k being the logical choice.

Edited 9 June, 201412 yr by TriggerFish

There's a lot of people who'd love a " lowly" 325 sport, especially a bodily rust free one.

Get on E30 .net . You should  get all the help you need.(and possibly don't.)

Standard M20B25. (Now with a misfire since I fitted the wrong spark plugs )

Will be staying original as much as possible. (Maybe lowering it, but brand new shocks of some type for sure.) The way prices are going, I'd rather sway towards going concors than track day, which all adds towards the £4k being the logical choice.

Do love the roar of the straight six ones! Parents had an M50 engined 525I auto which the previous owner had remapped to about 215bhp lovely car! I've still got parts from it about my workshop!

I feel for you TriggerFish but as we all know if it has tyres or breasts it is going to cost a lot of money!

 

 I am a great fan of the e30 and I believe you have a good car for its year albeit infected with tin worms.

 

 You need to ask yourself a question. "Why did I buy a classic e30?"

 

 If it was as an investment to make money on when you sell it, then you sell it now and try an recoup your outlay as it will never make you a return.

 

 If it was to own, drive, enjoy and treat it as a hobby/interest that you will drive and maintain for however many years to come then you should spend what you can afford to make it as good as you can get it.

 

 It is a great looking car, I have a mate who owns this one. He has just spent £8k getting back to showroom condition after it has spent twenty years in a shed.

 

 

 

The second option. Someone to enjoy owning and working on, after wanting one for ages. But given the values are increasing, if I did manage to turn a profit, then I'd not say no! (Just look at the M3 versions over the last 5-10 years.) If I sold it now, I'd be better off breaking and weighing it in as we've opened up too many holes for any sane person to buy it!

 

There's two lovely cars there! You've got a very lucky mate!

I am sure you know your car needs restoring, take your time and get it done properly, e30 will be regarded as a classic IMO, a great car.

Bit off topic but this is the E34 that I regret turning down and am looking for another but my budget wouldn't allow at the time!

Back on topic I'd spend what you can on the car so you can enjoy it's brilliant capabilities for many many years mate!

That got scrapped? Looks pretty tidy on the face of it (although that's what I thought with mine to! )

 

 

I am sure you know your car needs restoring, take your time and get it done properly, e30 will be regarded as a classic IMO, a great car.

 

Yeah, I guess it's just trying to justify spending that much money. I only graduated last year, and it would have taken me the best part of a year to even earn £4k on my part time job (about £144 a week IIRC for 26 uni-term time only), so spending it at all is still a bit of an alien concept.

Sills started to go badly!

Could you buy a better example for £4k?

If it's an investment, sell.

If you bought it to enjoy, get it done properly.

So what James said.

 

You need to ask yourself a question. "Why did I buy a classic e30?"

 

 If it was as an investment to make money on when you sell it, then you sell it now and try an recoup your outlay as it will never make you a return.

 

 If it was to own, drive, enjoy and treat it as a hobby/interest that you will drive and maintain for however many years to come then you should spend what you can afford to make it as good as you can get it.

 You need to ask yourself a question. "Why did I buy a classic e30?"

 

 If it was as an investment to make money on when you sell it, then you sell it now and try an recoup your outlay as it will never make you a return.

 

 If it was to own, drive, enjoy and treat it as a hobby/interest that you will drive and maintain for however many years to come then you should spend what you can afford to make it as good as you can get it.

 

What James said.

If it were me id do it properly first time.

£4k and its done forever if looked after.

Or

£2k every time till you fully restore it.

Depends if you want it to be an ongoing project, or its done and enjoy it.

I went with the 'its done lets enjoy it' approach.

The lowered it too much and smashed the sump.

Then this happened..

Can you get it stripped down to that level without breaking stuff? Thinking of the glasswork...

 

Also thought about underseal and floor sound deadening. As it's pretty rusty, have you thought about removing the lot? Would give a better picture of the overall health of the structure and presumably make it easier to fix and paint.

4k seems fair and worth doing.

Might be worth talking to bolt ham bet about under body treatments to apply while it's being stripped too, to save future issues.

Could you buy a better example for £4k?

 

Not with this trim/engine/spec levels. (Unless I was really, really lucky)

 

If it were me id do it properly first time.

£4k and its done forever if looked after.

Or

£2k every time till you fully restore it.

Depends if you want it to be an ongoing project, or its done and enjoy it.

I went with the 'its done lets enjoy it' approach.

The lowered it too much and smashed the sump.

 

Ooooh that's nice! Hope the sump didn't kill it off? Engines are so cheap... (From £200-300 with a 'box currently)

 

Can you get it stripped down to that level without breaking stuff? Thinking of the glasswork...

 

Also thought about underseal and floor sound deadening. As it's pretty rusty, have you thought about removing the lot? Would give a better picture of the overall health of the structure and presumably make it easier to fix and paint.

 

Yeah, it's mostly apart now. The windscreens I'll pay to get removed (£80 in/out for both) and the side glass is easy to remove on the driveway. The dashboard, rear seats/door cards and headlining are all I have left.

 

I will get it under sealed too - and the internal sound deadening has been removed where accessible. 

 

4k seems fair and worth doing.

Might be worth talking to bolt ham bet about under body treatments to apply while it's being stripped too, to save future issues.

 

That's my thoughts too. As above with the under seal.

 

Something else he mentioned was, once he's seen the car stripped, and settled on a price (could go up a bit) then the onus would be on him to fix any unexpected rust, not for me to pay the extra above the original quote, which seemed like a very nice clause.

 

I think I'll go for it. I've just got to get the home and apart, ideally before the insurance runs out so it doesn't need trailering.

 

Thanks all for the thoughts/views.

Looks like pip_vrs took his e30 ploughing, a nice grass skirt hanging across the bottom of the bumper.