bmwe21.net forums

I've been away for a while- used to be active on some other (possibly now defunct) forums so I thought I'd stop by.

I've driven my 323i off and on for about 6 years. I bought it from a guy in Texas, built up a stroker with a 731 head and a US eta block and it's been dead reliable for years. I've thinned the herd to just the 323i and two daily driven TDI jettas. I think it's time to fully restore my little car. If I don't do it soon I'm going to have serious rust issues!

How is the parts situation? I haven't seriously looked for parts in years. I need much of the interior stuff since it's old and cracked and ugly. When I last tried to purchase a dashboard they were almost $400 US. Has that improved?

What about heater controls? The plastic under the instrument cluster and around the steering wheel? Sunvisors? Sunroof cranks? Black oem carpet still available?

Thanks for any info you care to share!

jamie

Hi Jamie,

At least you're still alive and kicking and so is your car!

Apart from seat cloth most stuff is still available new, but in some cases (with the dash for instance) it might be worth considering getting a good used example or have your current one fixed which can be done in such a beautiful way that you won't be able to tell it from a new one, but at a fraction of the price. Many body shops offer plastic and dash repair nowadays.

I already mentioned seath cloth: ready made covers are hardly available anymore, sometimes the cloth still is so your upholstery guy can fix you a decent cover. And there are a few very, very close cloth patterns available as well, again, see your upholstery specialist for that.