New E30 owner needs help!

[stormhunt3r]

I find the satisfaction of owning a E30 from the frustration, restoration and repairing of the car. Not making big bucks, so doing up my car phase by phase. Trust me, the whole process is priceless.

All you need is to get good mech to list down from A-Z of the damaged or to-be damage parts and you prioritize the important to the least important and you work out your budget for the repair or replacement, phase by phase. Unless you have tons of cash allocated, then you can get it done up in the same time.

It's not necessary to get the parts from the workshop, you can either get a used parts or from the spareparts shop. Price references is available in this forum for most of the parts you need. Price migh vary, but it's a good reference.

my E30 always puts a smile on my face, every time i walk by. That's my feeling for my car.

 

[Calvin Tan]

Hi everyone! This is my first post!
I am the proud owner of a not-so-reliable E30 Its the car I always wanted.. but I'm finding the unreliability and lack of quality mechanics to be very frustrating.
I bought the car about 4months ago for 16.5k, its all original, theres very little rust, the dash was perfect and the engine still has decent power, I was impressed after seeing a lot of real crappy E30's in different car-yards around KL.
First thing to break was the power steering hose, then the water pump ceased. After that my mechanic told me the head is warped from a previous over-heating.. so I have to top up the radiator every week or so. Now the steering rack has begun to leak.. also a lot of switches don't work properly (a/c switch, rear power windows etc)
So my problem is that the mechanic never seems to find these problems before its too late.. and he doesn't seem to be able to fix things, always wants to replace etc. What he lacks in experience he makes up in enthusiasm, but that only gets you so far..
I have a 3 week holiday coming up very soon and am planning to use this opportunity to get the car all fixed up! What I need is a quality mechanic that can do a professional job and doesn't charge the earth, as I do want to get this car back to its best.
Please help!

Bro, its a 16 years old car

 

[estacado]

not wanting to hijack your thread Zig but the topic of discussion is exactly what i was looking for to arm myself with enough knowledge before i decide to jump into the bandwagon of owning a E30.

i'm currently on the look out to own an E30 but getting there is not easy as it seem as i have to save up the $$ 1st. making it worse is that there are some good deal(s) out there currently but i have some reservations.

maybe some sifus/owners can help to ease some common worries of a new 2nd hand car owner.

1) would maintaining a car like that cost me a bomb as i dont make big bucks?
2) how am i suppose to know if the car is fairly priced?
3) in term of parts (from A-Z), is it easy to find in the first place nvm the price?

had bad experience with old cars through my dad got cos he always seems to have no luck with 2nd hand cars. even the car that i drive now (Mazda 323 94' make) has problem finding parts. maybe cos it's not a popular model? but i see quite a decent number of it on the road.

thank you everyone.

ps: Zig:thank u in advance for allowing me to 'hitch-a-ride' in your thread.

 

[Zoggee]

E30 cheap to buy now...but not cheap to maintain.