Howzit gents,
I purchased a 1988 325i shadowline about a year and a half ago. The vehicle underwent a thorough restoration that has taken 12 months (Still not complete).
E30's are very popular in SA and term Shadowline and 325iS is sometimes confused. A Shadowline (According to what I know) is a 2 door chrome bumper e30 that was produced from "87 to "88. It came out with chrome bumpers that were colour coded and a few other extras i.e sport seats (cloth).
Here's a brief summary of what was done:
Exterior
The car was originally charmonix in colour but was stripped to its shell and sprayed pearl white, everything was removed including the engine and gearbox. A 333i kit (m-tech 1 kit) was sourced and fitted and a very rare e28 m5 boot spoiler was imported from England. New OEM tail lights, Angel eye headlamps, OEM foglamps, indicator lenses, carbon fiber roundels, OEM beadings, OEM 3 piece grille (including Kidney grille), OEM ariel and various other parts were replaced. The vehicle originally had no rust the reason for this is because the car remained in Gauteng for 15 years and then was sold to a person in Rustenburg. Finding a clean, accident and rust free shadowline is a very difficult task and when I found this one I purchased it immediately.
Interior
The original interior was extremely neat and was recovered in black leather a few months before I purchased it but I decided to sell the front and rear seats and e46 m3 front seats (electric with memory function) were sourced and were recovered in genuine leather. The complete interior was redone in coral red leather and suede. The seats and door cards were diamond stitched. An m-tech 2 steering wheel (found in the e30 m3) was also imported along with various other parts. The original interior was black leather with beige carpet. The carpet was replaced with normal black carpet. E30’s are known for having weak dashboards that usually have many cracks and this car’s dash had many cracks but a crackles dash was sourced and fitted.
Engine/Gearbox
The original m20b25 (325i engine) motor was turbo’ed. The previous owner decided to go the normally aspirated route and removed the m20b25 motor and replaced it with a m20b23 (323i engine) motor that had a 2.7 ETA head fitted and had slight tweaks. I currently have both old motors in my possession. The engine was going to be rebuilt but I opted for a 1991 325iS (Evo 2) motor that was stroked to 2.9l. This motor that was purchased went through an extensive overhaul including a clean 885 head (325i) that was gas flowed and ported, new OEM e36 m3 3.0l pistons, new conrods, new bearings, all parts balanced, van der linde cam, 328 crankshaft (m52b28) and various other modifications/new parts. In addition the car had a STD dictator system but had to be replaced to a 60-2 system when the engine was changed. Car is being tuned by Shaine from KAR. The gearbox was rebuilt which cost over R8 000 and a new short shifter kit (from Z3 M Coupe) was fitted including new bushes etc. A full stainless steel exhaust system including branches was made by Powerflow. The aircon was removed by the previous owner when the car was turbo’ed. The car has an LSD that was just serviced.
Wheels, Tyres & Suspension
The original 14” bottle caps were replaced with 17” BBS LM replica’s. A set of original 16” Alpina’s or 17” Work Rezax’s will be fitted in the future. The vehicles shocks, springs (lowering kit), disks and pads were changed before I purchased the vehicle. The suspension also went through an extensive overhaul i.e. new ball joints, bushes etc.
Sound & Radio
I have not done this yet but I have purchased two 12” Targa Street Plus subs, 6x9’s, two 5 1/4 mid range and Audiobank super tweeters etc.
Unfortunately most of my before pics were lost when my laptop was stolen but I have a few pics somewhere to show the fanatics how much of work went into the car. I have done more work on the car but this is what I can think of at the moment that has been done (I will make a more detailed write up soon).
This was a very difficult and expensive process (over 120k spent) but i'm sure the end result will be good:joy:. The car is not yet completed but should be completed by June. I will update the thread as soon as the sound is done.
If you have an e30 that you are restoring and need help/advice feel free to PM me:=):.
Thanks for reading.
Now for the PICS!!!!! Enjoy:rollsmile:
More pics to follow soon of the interior and more of the exterior and engine bay when I wash the car:thumbs:
I purchased a 1988 325i shadowline about a year and a half ago. The vehicle underwent a thorough restoration that has taken 12 months (Still not complete).
E30's are very popular in SA and term Shadowline and 325iS is sometimes confused. A Shadowline (According to what I know) is a 2 door chrome bumper e30 that was produced from "87 to "88. It came out with chrome bumpers that were colour coded and a few other extras i.e sport seats (cloth).
Here's a brief summary of what was done:
Exterior
The car was originally charmonix in colour but was stripped to its shell and sprayed pearl white, everything was removed including the engine and gearbox. A 333i kit (m-tech 1 kit) was sourced and fitted and a very rare e28 m5 boot spoiler was imported from England. New OEM tail lights, Angel eye headlamps, OEM foglamps, indicator lenses, carbon fiber roundels, OEM beadings, OEM 3 piece grille (including Kidney grille), OEM ariel and various other parts were replaced. The vehicle originally had no rust the reason for this is because the car remained in Gauteng for 15 years and then was sold to a person in Rustenburg. Finding a clean, accident and rust free shadowline is a very difficult task and when I found this one I purchased it immediately.
Interior
The original interior was extremely neat and was recovered in black leather a few months before I purchased it but I decided to sell the front and rear seats and e46 m3 front seats (electric with memory function) were sourced and were recovered in genuine leather. The complete interior was redone in coral red leather and suede. The seats and door cards were diamond stitched. An m-tech 2 steering wheel (found in the e30 m3) was also imported along with various other parts. The original interior was black leather with beige carpet. The carpet was replaced with normal black carpet. E30’s are known for having weak dashboards that usually have many cracks and this car’s dash had many cracks but a crackles dash was sourced and fitted.
Engine/Gearbox
The original m20b25 (325i engine) motor was turbo’ed. The previous owner decided to go the normally aspirated route and removed the m20b25 motor and replaced it with a m20b23 (323i engine) motor that had a 2.7 ETA head fitted and had slight tweaks. I currently have both old motors in my possession. The engine was going to be rebuilt but I opted for a 1991 325iS (Evo 2) motor that was stroked to 2.9l. This motor that was purchased went through an extensive overhaul including a clean 885 head (325i) that was gas flowed and ported, new OEM e36 m3 3.0l pistons, new conrods, new bearings, all parts balanced, van der linde cam, 328 crankshaft (m52b28) and various other modifications/new parts. In addition the car had a STD dictator system but had to be replaced to a 60-2 system when the engine was changed. Car is being tuned by Shaine from KAR. The gearbox was rebuilt which cost over R8 000 and a new short shifter kit (from Z3 M Coupe) was fitted including new bushes etc. A full stainless steel exhaust system including branches was made by Powerflow. The aircon was removed by the previous owner when the car was turbo’ed. The car has an LSD that was just serviced.
Wheels, Tyres & Suspension
The original 14” bottle caps were replaced with 17” BBS LM replica’s. A set of original 16” Alpina’s or 17” Work Rezax’s will be fitted in the future. The vehicles shocks, springs (lowering kit), disks and pads were changed before I purchased the vehicle. The suspension also went through an extensive overhaul i.e. new ball joints, bushes etc.
Sound & Radio
I have not done this yet but I have purchased two 12” Targa Street Plus subs, 6x9’s, two 5 1/4 mid range and Audiobank super tweeters etc.
Unfortunately most of my before pics were lost when my laptop was stolen but I have a few pics somewhere to show the fanatics how much of work went into the car. I have done more work on the car but this is what I can think of at the moment that has been done (I will make a more detailed write up soon).
This was a very difficult and expensive process (over 120k spent) but i'm sure the end result will be good:joy:. The car is not yet completed but should be completed by June. I will update the thread as soon as the sound is done.
If you have an e30 that you are restoring and need help/advice feel free to PM me:=):.
Thanks for reading.
Now for the PICS!!!!! Enjoy:rollsmile:
More pics to follow soon of the interior and more of the exterior and engine bay when I wash the car:thumbs:
