1986 E30 325es Coupe, 5-speed manual Delphin Gray SHARP 325i 325is 325e M-sport

I'm selling my beloved E30. It's an '86 325es which is the sport version of the torquey and efficient "eta" 2.7 straight six cylinder cars. It has the 5-speed manual transmission and it is the lovely "Delphin" gray paint outside w/ black leather interior. The odometer is reading approx. 202k at the moment.
I wouldn't be selling but I have a kiddo now and I've picked up a 4-door '72 Bavaria sedan as my next BMW project. I've had this E30 for about five years now and it's been amazing. I've daily driven it at times, eekend driven at others, nd have always garaged it at the end of the day. I've taken it to the local cars and coffee from time to time, ook it to the regional BMW meet (Drive 4 Corners) in '14, articipated in a couple racing events at the local track, nd just enjoyed the hell out of owning/driving/wrenching on it. More recently I've used it on occasion for my 110 mi. round trip, ighway commute. It's yet to let me down. It really is hard for me to part with it but I'm confident there's a good BMW guy/gal out there to pick up where I've left off.
Although this is an excellent example of an early E30, he car isn't a perfect garage queen. But it is one you can drive regularly and be proud to be seen in. And it's more than civilized enough to take a date out to dinner in.
I'm posting this with as much relevant info on the car as I can think to. I am my own mechanic and most of the work I'll mention has been performed by me. I plan to be available by phone/email to the future owner after the sale to be as helpful and insightful as possible in keeping this car well.
Recent Maint.I just had several maintenance items addressed in the last 5k miles including a new Gates timing belt, ater pump, nd timing tensioner, ew Gates upper/mid/lower radiator hoses, fresh coolant change w/ BMW blue coolant, new BMW thermostat, ew camshaft seals, nd a new valve cover gasket. A couple years back I also replaced the drive belts and the clutch master cylinder. The brake fluid has been changed at least twice in the last five years.
Paint/BodyThe paint and body are excellent. The front valance is technically a 325is piece but it is very similar to the 325es design - the car didn't come to me with a valance so I had to use what I could get. The Delphin paint is a respray of the factory color and, lthough I wouldn't rate it as being a perfect 10-of-10 respray, t is a very good job that will look factory to most folks. The body is very straight with good to perfect panel gaps all around. In all my wrenching on the car I've not seen indication that the car has had bodywork repaired in the past. The only blemish worth mentioning is a paint chip on the forward end of the arch on the driver front fender - see picture with key held by blemish for size reference. The car is also virtually rust-free. The exterior lights and gaskets are all in fine shape as well. A note on the fog lamps: a rock damaged one of the factory fog lamps so I replaced both with a pair of new Hella 550 Amber lights. They are not wired but will include the Hella wiring kit.
InteriorThe interior is in great shape. Since the car is a sport model it does have the well-bolstered sport seats and an M-tech leather steering wheel. A previous owner also added M pedals, stitched shifter boot/e-brake boot and a "ZHP" shift knob. The dash is crack-free and nearly perfect. The headliner, arpet, enter console, nd parcel shelf are all excellent. The front Sport seats are the weakest interior point and have some desert-car drying/cracking going on, hough they don't have any torn seams or other tears (they're certainly nicer than many I've seen). The rear seats are nice but have one 50-cent piece sized tear on the passenger side seat bottom - it's not terribly noticeable at all. The tint is showing its age though it isn't at all a big detractor from the car. The car also comes with custom fit gray all-weather mats (shown in the trunk pic) for the front floor.
Engine/Trans, tc. The engine runs like a top and pulls without hesitation all the way to the top of the rev-band. The transmission does have a short shifter of unknown brand that works beautifully and all the shift-linkage is in top-shape. It shifts through all gears smoothly and without gear clash. The clutch age/mileage is unknown but works great. The rear differential is the factory 2.93 limited slip unit that works well and was filled with Redline synthetic oil approx. 12k ago. The previous owner put in a driveshaft with serviceable u-joints that were greased in the last 10k miles. The driveshaft center bearing carrier was also replaced around that time. The driveshaft Giubo was inspected and ok'd at that time as well. The transmission does have a light seep that isn't enough to drip.
Wheels/Tires, uspension, oolsThe car drives quietly and dead-straight. The car was aligned less than a month ago by a BMW technician at the local BMW Center. The suspension is mostly stock and in good shape. The car is lowered on H&R Sport springs for a better look and slightly sharper handling. The tires are newer with the fronts at about 90% and the rears at about 50%. The wheels are the original 14' basketweaves with a bottlecap-style, ull-size spare. The finish on the basketweaves is flaking off in places - the last picture is a wheel close-up. The factory jack and tire iron are present as well. The trunk tool kit is complete with the original tool set.
StereoI recently replaced a junk aftermarket head-unit with a straightforward Pioneer that does Bluetooth music streaming and phone calls. It works great. The speakers are aftermarket that a previous owner put in - don't know the brand/info but they work well.
Other MechanicalThe ABS, ruise control, nd A/C all function nicely - not too many E30s can say the same. The Check Control and 13-button OBC work great, hough the OBC backlight only works when the headlights are on. The power sunroof works fine. The A/C was converted to R134A refrigerant and blows nice and cold. The steering rack was replaced with a manual unit that works well - no power steering leaks to worry about. I had a spare 325i oil cooler that I retrofitted to the car some time ago. The dual fuel pump setup was ditched for a single Walbro 255 high pressure, n-tank pump that works great (don't worry, t's not noisy thanks to good BMW insulation). The HVAC blower motor just kicked the bucket but I replaced it with a good, ewer spare that's working perfectly. I recently did a smoke test for vacuum leaks and weeded out a couple of minor ones so the vacuum system now seals as it should.
The car has a 325i gauge cluster that I put in due to the car having a broken odometer when I bought it. My educated guess on the real mileage on the car (based on what I could gather from the Autocheck report that I got when first purchased) is that it actually has ~10k fewer miles than the cluster indicates. Another gauge note - the tach works perfectly and is accurate despite being from a higher-revving 325i car instead of a 325e car. That said, eep the revs around/below the 325e redline of ~4700 RPM as the 325i tach marks a higher redline than that.
Upgrades To the best of my knowledge this car has never been heavily modified. The odds and end I've done include an upgraded E32 brake master cylinder, tainless DOT brake lines, tainless clutch fluid line, &R Sport lowering springs, hort shifter, albro fuel pump, reland Engineering oil pan windage tray, 25i oil cooler, nd a 325i exhaust w/ 2in-2out Magnaflow muffler. I also planned on going turbo for a time and had a -12 AN fitting professionally welded to the oil pan for a turbo oil drain line.
The car also includes the original owner's manual, ptions sheet/window sticker, nd misc pamphlets/literature that came with the car when new. Plus any other receipts that I can gather from maintenance/repairs/upgrades I've done.
ImperfectionsJust a few things: The power antenna isn't functioning - wiring is ok so it likely needs a new antenna/motor. The car takes a few seconds of cranking to start on sub-40 degree mornings. The right radiator end-tank has a minor, ntermittent leak - maybe goes through a quart of coolant every 500-1k miles (hasn't caused me any trouble, ven on my long commute). The front brake rotors have a mild vibration under braking - will eventually need resurfacing or replacement. The aux. cooling fan doesn't seem to work on its high speed. The high beams have never functioned for me except when using "flash to pass"
The Autocheck indicates the odometerdiscrepancythat I've already talked about. It also indicates two "accidents" that happened prior to my ownership. It does specify they were non-collision which could indicate they were any number of minor incidents. Please don't let it frighten you - it's a great car that shows no sign of incidents in its looks or in its driving.
One last disclaimer is that the car is pictured with Euro grills but comes with US grills. It's hard to tell the difference but I will gladly send pics upon request w/ the US grills.
Ready to Buy?I will require a $200 non-refundable deposit within 48 hours of the auction's close. Deposit can be made through Paypal. Remaining payment must be received/cleared within 10 days of auction's close. As the seller I reserve the right to adjust these terms, ithin reason, s I gauge appropriate. Transportation of the car is the responsibility of the buyer, ut I'll help with arrangements as much as I can.
Thank you!Jeremy