Help needed with a 1987 SA E30 325i

[zimbimbang]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum and am looking for some help. I am based in the UK. Unfortunately around a year ago I lost control pranged the front end of my 1987 BMW e30 325i damaging the bumper, radiator, hoses, lights, grill, AC compressor etc.

I bought this car 8 years ago and it has been my pride and joy. I finally have a some time to focus on repairing this and found a mechanic willing to help (I am not particularly technical). I bought a bunch of parts off ebay but was told that these are incorrect and do not fit my model.

What I am ideally looking for is help with a schematic drawing of the labelled and numbered parts for my model so I can get all the bits I need. I have not been able to find the VIN but I could just be looking in the wrong places however I have read that some of the old SA E30s were not given them, is this right?

I have included some pictures to help. I am pretty sure the M-Tech 1 kit was added after and is not stock.

Any help would be really appreciated. The poor car has been off the road for way to long and I just want to put her back together.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bugger]

Pretty sure all our cars had VINs. If I were you, I'd go to a site like bimmercat.com and look under the Classics tab (in grey below):



Once you've done that, you can then select the E30 you're looking for, there's actually a ZA specific tab on there:



Select the 325i option and then start browsing through the catalog. You can specify the steering (RHD), transmission (Manual) and the year (1987).


This will be the catalog you can browse through. You MIGHT find the information you're looking for there.



Then go to a site like this: https://www.schmiedmann.com/ they're based in the Denmark I think but ship all over the world. They usually carry a massive amount of parts for all sorts of BMWs old and new. If in more doubt, contact M539 Restorations in Germany, guy named Sreten, he recently did a rebuild on an early 80's 320i that he hit a tree with. I think he sent it off to be professionally rebuilt but he may have some insight into where the parts etc. came from, but use him as a last resort, you should be able to find the necessary information from the resources I put up above.

Nice car btw.

 

[Peter@AEW]

The vin is stamped on the windscreen cowl behind the weatherstrip and is about center of the windscreen.
Also on a tag on the passenger side front slam tray.

 

[zimbimbang]

Thank you both this is really helpful.

Peter, can you give me an example of what the VIN might look like on a 1987 SA e30? A picture or the format i.e. how many letters or numbers.

Thanks,

 

[Peter@AEW]

Send me a whatsapp on +27837000339 and I shall send you pics of the number and location.

 

[MARHD]

Hi there,

As Bugger mentioned, bimmercat is a great resource, however for the older cars produced in ZA, the VIN number will not correlate to anything on these online decoder websites. Most likely just because BMW ZA didn't share the full build details of their cars with BMW Germany at that time (or something along those lines), and as such nothing will show up in any public vin database. I would say this applies to anything before e46, maybe e36 if you are lucky.

Either way you can still use Bimmercat, it just won't automatically fill in which car you have. I personally prefer RealOEM, although a bit older UI, it sometimes shows sub sections and part numbers that bimmercat has greyed out.

This should be the link for your 1987 325i coupe rhd, assumed manual: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=1238-ZA-01-1987-E30-BMW-325i

Alternatively here is the link if it's a euro built import: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=1232-EUR-01-1987-E30-BMW-325i

And Bimmercat if you prefer: https://bimmercat.com/bmw/en/search/selectCar/E30/2-T/BMW+325i+model+47310/ZA

These sites should be used to get all the relevant part numbers you need for all the bits that need replacing (They show you the diagrams BMW sees if you ask them for a part). Once you have your list of part numbers, a quick Google search should tell you if the part is still available (you can't always trust the NLA status on RealOEM), basically if it's still being sold online from reputable companies, its still available directly from BMW. Although you do sometimes get lucky if you order things that are supposedly NLA.

For a classic like that, best to get your parts directly from BMW if you can, otherwise goldwagen does stock some OE mechanical parts, further than that you can get some things used from the scrap yards, or worst case you will need to import things.

If you need any other help, let me know, the 2 door 325i e30 is my favourite car, so I will more than gladly help someone trying to put their car back to factory spec.

Side note: If you ever decide to sell, please let me know 😁.

 

[zimbimbang]

Wow Marhd, thank you, that's realy helpful and also explains why I was getting no where with the VIN (or what I thought was the VIN).

I have somewhere to start now and can get the diagrams together to see what is needed and hopefully locate the parts.

Really appreciate you taking the time to pass on all that information. Thank you!

 

[Beemer Fever]

Hi Everyone.
I have an 86 320i automatic. My radiator has sprung a leak and I am struggling to find stock of a radiator for my car. Everyone stocks the newer plastic bumper radiator but not the older style one like mine. Any help at all would be appreciated. I have include 2 images of the radiator I am looking for.
Thanks
Reza

 

[MARHD]

Hi Everyone.
I have an 86 320i automatic. My radiator has sprung a leak and I am struggling to find stock of a radiator for my car. Everyone stocks the newer plastic bumper radiator but not the older style one like mine. Any help at all would be appreciated. I have include 2 images of the radiator I am looking for.
Thanks
Reza

Hey man, I had a quick search and couldn't find any online locally.

Try BMW, you might get lucky if one of the branches or Germany has one laying around.

Otherwise you could refurb the existing one, or get a used one and do the same, but since the side tanks are plastic that's not ideal.

Could possibly import one if you are desperate.

Let me know what works

 

[dhvnr5901]

Hey man, I had a quick search and couldn't find any online locally.

Try BMW, you might get lucky if one of the branches or Germany has one laying around.

Otherwise you could refurb the existing one, or get a used one and do the same, but since the side tanks are plastic that's not ideal.

Could possibly import one if you are desperate.

Let me know what works

eBay or FCP Euro or BMW parts hopefully this will help or at least give you some other points that you can get from them.

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