1988 BMW E30

[stevepeanut]

My fiancé's dad died over Christmas, when we visited the family, it was mentioned they would be selling his old e30. I had one years ago I've always wanted another, and my lass was keen on the idea of it staying in the family. I went and viewed the car and liked it, and I had a lot of long chats with my lass about buying it. We both badly wanted it, but didn't have the money. I made the decision to sell my Suzuki Gsxr, it was a project that was almost done, and it needed a half a day's work and a mot, but I hadn't ever bothered to finish it and had little interest in it anymore. I managed to sell it fairly quickly and negotiated a fair price with the family to buy the car at market value.

Enough of the waffle, here it is. 1988 BMW E30 318 auto in alpine white. 78k on the clock, a decent history, 1 owner before my lasses dad bought it. A fairly nice examlpe but it does need the arches looking at in the future. It's on steels at the moment but in a huge shipping container are the original wheels. I've no idea what wheels they are, the container is going to be sorted and I'll have the wheels soon. There's a chance they could be alloys as the mechanic who had it stored said he never liked alloys and would often remove them when he bought a car. I've only had a few short journeys in the four days I've had it, it seems to drive nicely but the three speed auto gives it a slow lazy feel. Here are a few pics.

[dbdb]

That's a nice old car. I am glad you have decided to get it with such a huge sentimental value.

[Coakers]

Great cars, he had taste! and i appreciate cars that have sentimental value even more. Will watch with interest.

[düdo]

I've always liked these since my girlfriend's mum had one around 1990. I got to drive it once.

Looks to be in a good state. And keeping it in the family.

[mouse]

Great story, best cars are ones you buy with the heart.

Love these in poverty-spec, keep it on the hub-caps.

[brendanr]

Nice to see another E30 still on the road and lovely to hear it's being passed on to family. That could easily be an Irish special if I didn't see the yellow plate. We seem to love base models here. I've had many, many E30s. Love them. Great to drive if not a bit scary in the rain. Roundabouts on a rainy day will be interesting (even in the auto). Learned to drive in a 316 touring too. You sure it's not a 4 speed? I was certain all the plastic bumper M40 engine models got the 4 speed. Yeah it's slow to shift but does so with a satisfying clunk and the kickdown is great. By the way, the 14" bottle cap alloys would probably be the correct ones for that year. The 15" basket weave BBS alloys look great on any boxy 80s car and are easy to find off a late model touring.
Lastly, I'm absolutely amazed the dash isn't cracked and you have the full black vinyl door cards. My first E30 was like that and I never had another one like it. Good luck!


I'll leave you with this... Don't get caught up a mountain when a blizzard starts. I slid it into a wall about 10 minutes after this photo was taken and had to abandon it for three days. The joys of being 19 years old and deciding you can make it down a mountain in the snow because of peer pressure! Luckily just wrecked the front wing and replaced it later.

[stevepeanut]

I'm not sure which gearbox it has, I read something that said 316/318 got a speed auto and 320/325 got a speed auto. But I've just looked on another page which says the 3 speed was on cars up to 1985. So it might well be a 4 speed. I'll have to pay attention next time out and see how many times it changes.

[brendanr]

Yeah I had a 1994 318i auto with about 174k miles (last year of the E30 touring) and there were four distinct clunks. The final being the lockup at about 50~ MPH which makes motorway driving the same as a manual. It's a ZF 4HP22 transmission. They are very strong but with one design flaw. Don't leave them in park or neutral while idling for too long. I've heard horror stories of cross leaks developing and then no drive.

BMW E30 Restoration bible

I have this book in print and I found it online here. Info is very reliable and far better that half the misinformation you'll find on the internet. I've linked it to the page on autos.

Another problem I had with a few of my E30s but only caused problems with the auto was the idle switch on the throttle body. Watch out for it as it can get stuck or shift position with age. If it fails you'll go from idle right up to about 3000RPM fluctuating back and forth from 1500RPM. If you're in traffic in drive then it gets a bit scary when the car lurches forward towards someone's rear bumper and you have to slam it in neutral! The idle air control unit can cause similar and other problems but usually carb cleaner solves that.

[givesyouwings]

I'm currently applying forced induction to my 1993 Touring, using the m20b25. They do have a certain attraction, wonderful little things.
The E30 restoration bible is a great read, good informed well resourced information.

Yours being a 318 has a 3 speed ZF3 HP22 gearbox, with the ratios:
1st: 2.48
2nd: 1.48
3rd: 1.00

The 4 speed was 320 and above with the 325 having a more linear 1st and 2nd.

Being an auto you'll likely have a 4.10 small case diff, therefore if you plan to keep it auto, a 4.45 diff will aid in reducing the sloth like acceleration.

[stevepeanut]

I'm still not sure which gearbox it has.

This is from Wikipedia, which would suggest it's a 4 speed.

Both automatic transmissions were manufactured by ZF - they were the 3-speed 3 HP 22, which was available on the M10 316 and 318i models until year 1985, and the 4-speed 4 HP 22, which was available on all models later.

Then there's this chart from e30 zone which says it's a 3 speed.

I have just joined e30 zone and someone has told me the chart is wrong and only very early cars had the 3 speed box. I need to take it out and listen for the changes and find out for certain. Currently stuck on a 10 day rota at work, so I won't get the chance to drive it for a week and a half.

[brendanr]

That chart isn't actually wrong, it's just for old pre-facelift models. Notice 316 318i (no i for injection for the 316) and of course 323i. That was when the 4-cylinder models were the old M10 engine like you mentioned (316 being a 1.8l with a carb just to be confusing).
Post facelift would be 316i, 318i. Yes, the best way is to take it out and not just listen to the clunks but see how it cruises. If it's a little under 3000rpm at 60mph then you've got overdrive. Also, just look under the bonnet. The two boxes look completely different. The 3-speed is about as long as a manual and mostly smooth but the 4-speed is noticably longer and has a grid pattern sort-of embossed on it. Look at google images for reference.
I know how it feels though being confused and getting hell bent on finding out! Best to focus on something else about the car for your 10-day rota and just drive/test it when you get the chance or of course go out in the dark with a torch after work and look under the bonnet!

[Geordie]

Sorry for awful circumstances in which this became available Steve, but it's great that it stayed in the family. I'm sure that is what your fiancée's dad would have wanted.

Bookmarked.

[andrewbaran]

There seem to be loads of cheap M42/M44 16v engines available these days, what with everyone 6 cylinder swapping their 318 compacts for drifting...

[stevepeanut]

I've had a couple of hours where I've not been called out at work. The boot of the car is rammed full of stuff, so i decided to work my way through it. There's lots of random stuff, tools, a brand new drill, an umbrella, 3 motorcycle helmets, some boots and gloves. The car is fitted with a mini disc player, there's a pile of jazz and blues discs. The rear quarter cards were in the boot, I've just refitted those, also the plastics from behind the glove box and under the pedals are in the boot which I will refit at some point later. There is a bottle top type alloy wheel in the boot so this means the wheels in the container are probably the matching set to this one.

Me and the missus both ride motorbikes and she must have had the same size head as her dad, all 3 helmets fit her perfectly and the white one looks like it's never been used and is a £400 lid so that's a cracking score to find in the back.

[mattxr3i]

Like these E30s, never had one or driven one and I think that ship has sailed.

Looks to me like a 4 speed as you have 1, 2, 3, D, which looks like you could move down to 3rd gear from 4th, otherwise why have "3" and "D"

[stevepeanut]

Jan 29, 2017 18:35:52 GMT mattxr3i said:

Like these E30s, never had one or driven one and I think that ship has sailed.

Looks to me like a 4 speed as you have 1, 2, 3, D, which looks like you could move down to 3rd gear from 4th, otherwise why have "3" and "D"

That makes sense, otherwise it would be D and then just 1 and 2.

[Rich]

Yea, same pattern as my ZF4HP22 in my 300TDi Disco. Definitely a 4 speed. Listening to how many gears that had was weird, (before I actually looked) as the torque convertor lockups sound like gearchanges. meaning you can often count what feels like 5 or 6 six 'shifts'

Lovely '30, sad circumstance as said before but it'll live on and be cherished and that is just as important in preserving memories also.

[mattxr3i]

Sierra Auto's used to sound and feel the same as it locked up.

[SmokeEm]

My old E30 was my pride n joy until it got wrecked many moons ago. Lovely cars. Any modding plans Steve?

[07lilredwagon]

nice little coupe there....I would imagine that different wheels would make a huge difference in appearance.   looks great in white.

JP