1991 BMW E30 320i Convertible Restoration
Discussion
Hello everyone ! 
We are Simon and Pierre, two BMW enthusiasts, located in South West of France near the Pyrenees mountains.
Two years ago, we started a restoration project on our 320i E30 convertible. That car was in the family since 10 years, but was not in very good shape. Paint was faded in some areas, convertible top was perforated, interior was not good either with cracked leather and plastic bits missing, and the engine was running but leaking from pretty much everywhere...
So, we decided together that it was a good idea to give this car a new life, and keep it in the family, where she spent most of her life
We started by removing the engine, and we did a good overhaul of all the gaskets, bearings and stuff inside the engine. Once done, the engine spent almost 1,5 years on the engine support in the garage.
During this time, we focused on the body of the car :
With a bodyworker, we resprayed all the car, in it's original Lagunengrun Metallic tint, and worked on all the panels needing a bit of love. Doors and wheel arches were the spots needing the most work.
Once the paint job done, we continued and work on the front and rear axles of the car... Rebuilding or replacing almost everything, like the steering rack, suspensions, transmission and fuel system, with new fuel tank, fuel lines, brake lines etc... The new part list is truly huge...
Soft top was replaced aswell, by a beige one that we think married pretty nicely with the green paint, but it's a matter of personal taste right
And FINALLY, after 2 years working almost every of our week-ends on this car, we fitted the engine back in the engine bay, and bring him back to life!
The M20B20 engine fired right up as soon as the fuel rail system filled up with fresh fuel... it was the best feeling ever !
We don't know if some of you guys are interested in Youtube videos, but we recorded the process of restarting the engine
If you are interested and curious to see, here is a link to our video
It's in French, but we added English subtitles, not perfectly translated but it should do the job !
There is still a lot of work to do on this car, like refreshing and re-installing the interior, windows etc... We will post the updates on this topic
It is our first restoration project, we learned quite a lot of useful things with this car, and it gave us more passion about it !
Well, if you are still here reading, thank you for reading us, we are looking forward to share and talk with other enthusiasts here
Greetings from France !
Simon and Pierre
We are Simon and Pierre, two BMW enthusiasts, located in South West of France near the Pyrenees mountains.
Two years ago, we started a restoration project on our 320i E30 convertible. That car was in the family since 10 years, but was not in very good shape. Paint was faded in some areas, convertible top was perforated, interior was not good either with cracked leather and plastic bits missing, and the engine was running but leaking from pretty much everywhere...
So, we decided together that it was a good idea to give this car a new life, and keep it in the family, where she spent most of her life
We started by removing the engine, and we did a good overhaul of all the gaskets, bearings and stuff inside the engine. Once done, the engine spent almost 1,5 years on the engine support in the garage.
During this time, we focused on the body of the car :
With a bodyworker, we resprayed all the car, in it's original Lagunengrun Metallic tint, and worked on all the panels needing a bit of love. Doors and wheel arches were the spots needing the most work.
Once the paint job done, we continued and work on the front and rear axles of the car... Rebuilding or replacing almost everything, like the steering rack, suspensions, transmission and fuel system, with new fuel tank, fuel lines, brake lines etc... The new part list is truly huge...
Soft top was replaced aswell, by a beige one that we think married pretty nicely with the green paint, but it's a matter of personal taste right
And FINALLY, after 2 years working almost every of our week-ends on this car, we fitted the engine back in the engine bay, and bring him back to life!
The M20B20 engine fired right up as soon as the fuel rail system filled up with fresh fuel... it was the best feeling ever !
We don't know if some of you guys are interested in Youtube videos, but we recorded the process of restarting the engine
If you are interested and curious to see, here is a link to our video
It's in French, but we added English subtitles, not perfectly translated but it should do the job !
There is still a lot of work to do on this car, like refreshing and re-installing the interior, windows etc... We will post the updates on this topic
It is our first restoration project, we learned quite a lot of useful things with this car, and it gave us more passion about it !
Well, if you are still here reading, thank you for reading us, we are looking forward to share and talk with other enthusiasts here
Greetings from France !
Simon and Pierre
lowdrag said:
Bravo mes gars! Chaque fois que je regarde un fil sur les E30, je pense àu deux que j'ai eu dans le temps, une 323i et - la merveille - la 325i Sport. Je suis toujours en manque de celle-la. Bonne continuation et je vais vous suivre
Salut Lowdrag ! Merci beaucoup à toi !Wow, 325i coupé Mtechnic 1 ... Magnifique !!! Avec les laves phares avant, je trouve ça tellement beau...
Well, it has been 8 Months since we started this thread, and so much happened since !
Our BMW E30 convertible project is now done, and we were invited by Mecatechnic, our sponsor for this project, to bring the car on their stand at a really famous car meet in the city of Lion, France , called Epoqu'Auto.
It was just crazy !
We just posted a 10 minutes video condensing the big steps of this project, from the start in March 2020, till the end of the project.
Here it is if you are interested !
https://youtu.be/z-ZijPZusTY
And by the way, Merry Christmas !
Our BMW E30 convertible project is now done, and we were invited by Mecatechnic, our sponsor for this project, to bring the car on their stand at a really famous car meet in the city of Lion, France , called Epoqu'Auto.
It was just crazy !
We just posted a 10 minutes video condensing the big steps of this project, from the start in March 2020, till the end of the project.
Here it is if you are interested !
https://youtu.be/z-ZijPZusTY
And by the way, Merry Christmas !
Edited by PyreneesBMW on Sunday 25th December 23:02
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