Skizzer goes all yuppie on us: E30 320i

[Skizzer]

There is a to do list:

Wiper control relay is busted which means the wipers are always on. It started raining over Stormy Down (which is called that for a reason) so I had to have an extra stop at Pyle to re-insert the temporarily removed relay.  New relays are easy to come by and not expensive.

There’s a fairly strong vibration in the steering - I suspect just tracking or wheel alignment. Should be an easy fix.

It surges up and down in a regular rhythm at idle when it’s hot.  I’m guessing this is a faulty temperature sensor or something that’s foxing the L-Jetronic, although I’d welcome any other suggestions.  Otherwise it runs smoothly.

Rev counter doesn’t work.  Non-urgent.

And it needs attention from a flapwheel and some Vactan, then paint.

[RobT]

Despite the issues, your smile at the pump says it all!

[320touring]

Glad I was right re the wiper relay:)

 

Is the vibration constant? Could be the steering column Knuckle - not too bad a job.

You don't need a review counter - just let it get up to 6250 and listen:)

[Skizzer]

6 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Now that looks like a winner.

 

Single exhaust pipe too - does it have metal door handles?

 

Super early ones ( I think they brought them in on a Y..) had metal door handles, no central locking and manual windows as standard.

Shortly thereafter, plastic handles cam win, and anything with a proper cylinder count had electric windows and central locking.

 

It looks an honest Old tub

 

Well bought 

 

You had to stretch to a 323i for twin pipes.  Yes, they launched in November 82 in Europe and came in half way through Y here; I believe this is one is an 83 build, first registered Feb 84.

It has central locking and electric mirrors  (both standard I think, and all working) but manual windows.  I’ve got a Car Giant Test from 1987 that says leccy windows were still optional even on the 325i, pre-facelift.

It’s so tiny in the cabin that it’s easy to wind down even the passenger window from the driving seat. You don’t so much sit in it as wear it.

[Skizzer]

5 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Glad I was right re the wiper relay:)

 

Is the vibration constant? Could be the steering column Knuckle - not too bad a job.

You don't need a review counter - just let it get up to 6250 and listen:)

The steering vibration gets worse with speed, though it eases off again around 65-70 before coming back worserer at 80 (apparently, ahem).

It does love a good rev, this M20B20 engine.  Not much torque but that’s a good excuse to use the sweet snickety gearbox and Make The Noise.  It’s a very fine noise.

[Jim Bell]

It just looks better with every further picture. What a buy. 

 

Much of the old jealous. 

[Amishtat]

That looks absolutely gorgeous and I'm jealous as hell! I had a 318i on a G, bought from a guy who got the trade-in at Bury St. Edmunds Renault. I didn't expect much for £225 but it was fantastic, bright red 2-door with bottle top alloys, sunroof, electric windows and mirrors and five brand new Kleber tyres. It was the most fun car I'd had up to then, every drive was a laugh. It needed mot work in the end and I had nowhere to keep it so reluctantly was forced to weigh it in. That very same evening they started to climb in value. I'll have another one day I keep telling myself.. Sorry for the ramble, well bought! 

[EssDeeWon]

Whenever I see an early E30 it reminds me of a time in about 1987 when our family car (Rover of course) broke down in central london and we needed water, this chap in his then almost new red E30 pulled over to help and just happened to have a few gallons of water in his boot, to this day we never understood why someone driving an almost new posh BMW thought to carry so much water with him. I can still to this day remember it parked behind us with his blonde bird sat in the passenger seat while this chap and my dad poured water into the Rover.  

Funny how seeing a photo reminds you of these things, Oh and well bought Martin   

[Skizzer]

1 hour ago, vaughant said:

Yes been closed a while now sadly. RBS has even closed in town but you can use NatWest, sad times.

Hi from a fellow Swansea (west) person!!!

 

Siw mae, neighbour!

[Lord Sterling]

Sweet. There is a dark Blue one if these e30s parked in a driveway just outside Belbroughton in Worcs, it doesn't looked to have moved for a long while, very difficult place to get a picture too. Shame, as it would suit as an older version of my e46.

[wuvvum]

That is lovely.  I've never managed to own an E30, but I do like the look of them, especially the early ones.  I really like BMW interiors from that era too - feel so well put together.

Have you had it sideways yet?

[Amishtat]

That's something they do really nicely.. There's a 318 touring on a driveway in Brentwood that never moves, I must stop and knock on the door one day 

[Skizzer]

@wuvvum LOL not yet, but that’s probably down to 15cwt of tools in the boot.  There were a number of wet roundabout opportunities... give it time.

[Cavcraft]

That's nothing short of CLASS IN A GLASS. Such a rare sight now too, sadly.

[Amishtat]

Over the last ten years they've really disappeared, they were everywhere back then when I had mine. In the summer of 2009 I went to have a look at an H-reg 318is in Bishops Stortford, still smarting from the enforced loss of my 318i. It drove nicely for nearly 200k but he wanted 695 and it seemed too expensive to me. How times change.. 

[Split_Pin]

OUTSTANDING.

That is all!

[EssDeeWon]

These also have that cool bonnet opening don't they.  The front raises up and the bonnet tilts back  (not the way it looks like its going to go)

[Split_Pin]

The 1/36 Corgi model also correctly replicates the bonnet action!

[EssDeeWon]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

The 1/36 Corgi model also correctly replicates the bonnet action!

Yes!!  I had one in red, also with black plastic slidy sunroof.

[Skizzer]

2 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

PS - is that your 15th car on the fleet?

Erm, ah, something like that. But a couple are disappearing off to new owners soon.

I worry about it sometimes...but then Six Cylinder and Nigel Bickle and Saabnut and FOAD come along and remind me I’m still on the nursery slopes.  Hats off to them.

[brownnova]

That really is luverrrly!!! Or lush as they say in South Wales!! 

Well bought!! 

[blakey79]

Legend, legend, legend, I genuinely adore this car...

[Six-cylinder]

Great purchase.

I have had my E30 for 8 years now and I find they give a back to basics driving experience but refined, I love six cylinders and rear wheel drive.

Sad to say yuppie era is over for them now, it is lowering and fitting lights to make them individual and maybe some drifting! I think there will big love for original cars quite soon now. 

[Skizzer]

I can now confirm that this is an absolute blast to drive round Gower on a sunny afternoon.  

11 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Great purchase.

I have had my E30 for 8 years now and I find they give a back to basics driving experience but refined, I love six cylinders and rear wheel drive.

Back to basics is a very good description of the driving experience: being the 2-litre it’s super smooth but not madly accelerative, but there’s good mid- and upper-range shove so you can pull away out of bends nicely.  The steering is famously very direct (even with this one’s slightly flawed geometry) and it turns in instantly and naturally.  Direction changes on twisty roads are a real hoot - it grips strongly (in the dry at least) and sort of flows along rather than rolling, with its long suspension travel rising and falling like a slalom skier bending her knees. 

And it’s tiny.  Inside it feels no bigger than a Metro and a whole class smaller than the Audi 80 B3, even though it probably isn’t.  Narrow roads with walls either side are no issue.

This one wears its 36 years pretty lightly; it feels tight and together, with no rattles and just a slight creak from the driver’s seat. Wind and road noise is very well suppressed even on the motorway, especially given its not-even-trying Cd of 0.39.

And what about that shape? The styling was seen as dated by many even at launch in 1982, and only a half-step on from the E21.  Me, I loved it even then: the fore-aft proportions are just perfect, the flanks ideally rounded, the feature lines minimal and perfectly resolved.  The mix of almost Italianate delicacy and Germanic muscularity suits its character beautifully.

As does the high factory ride height, like a spaniel with its ears cocked ready to dash off.  Outside of a racetrack perhaps, lowering an E30 is like docking its wagging tail. (Although I do understand that its well-known tendency to wag its tail is exactly what prompts the suspension mods in the first place.)

I never really warmed to my modern 428i.  I also spent a fair bit of time driving an E36 328i at the end of the 90s, which was fast and smooth but somewhat antiseptic.  This is a very different animal: it’s perky, it wants to play, it wants to go places and have adventures.

As with Volkswagen and the Mk2 Golf, this is the era when BMW built the reputation for engineering and driving excellence it still trades on today.  This is a great car.  

[320touring]

Bagsy a shot when I am next down..

 

Get the cambelt changed first though;)

 

They are a great steer, and able to be fun at sensible speeds too. You'll likely have the spindly 45mm front struts - lubbly

[Amishtat]

Dammit man! You're really making me want another one now 

[Uncle Jimmy]

Good work, you win a filofax and knock off Barbor jacket...carry on! 

[JohnK]

Nicely bought Martin. I do love an E30, especially the pre-facelift ones like this with the chrome bumpers and the vertical rear lights. Must buy another one at some point...

[Skizzer]

I swapped the temperature sensor for a new one today to see if it calmed down the surging idle when hot, and it doesn’t.  Plus the sensor is nasty modern tat so it reads random temperatures, so I’ll put the old one back tomorrow.

I also discovered at least one reason why the steering vibrates: the nsf tyre is a different size from the other three, being 195/60 rather than 195/65.  Oops.  I’m surprised it drives in a straight line at all, but there you go.

The tyres are all different brands, obviously: a Dunlop SP Sport, a Mohawk, a Runway Enduro and a Yokohama Winter...HANG ON A MINUTE...Winter?  Fuxake.  Turns out the nearside pair are both winter tyres and the offsides are both summer.  Jesus Aquaplaning Christ, E30s don’t really need that kind of extra help with unplanned rotation in the wet.

With Toyo Proxes at £46 a corner from Tyreleader, this is getting four new boots before it does any hooning in the wet.

Lethal rubber combos notwithstanding, this has been the weapon of choice today for running errands to the far end of Gower.  Mrs S likes it very much too, even though she says the interior looks like an old man’s suit.

[wuvvum]

I wonder if the tracking might be out?  When I temporarily swapped the nearside front wheel on the 75 for one with a 5% lower profile, it'd dive for the kerb at every opportunity.