We come across many E30s in the course of our business, and many no longer have a tool tray in the trunk lid. Perhaps you have just bought your E30 and the tool tray is missing.

This design of tool tray is also used on some of the E28 5-series cars — not the high-end models, just the 528e with the M20 engine. The larger-engine cars have a bigger tool tray, too.

The tool tray hinge area attaches to a metal brace in the trunk lid, with two Philips-head [TBD: confirm] sheet metal screws. We can include these screws with your order, if you need them.

It’s rare that the foam rubber in the trunk lid is missing but maybe yours is filthy. On principle we do offer these too though the glue makes it hard to remove the foam from the trunk lid.

The latch of the tool tray is a plastic knob with an integrated washer cast-in. The hole in the tray is oval, not round. The washer is angled and has a gap so the factory must have assembled this by holding the knob at an angle and then screwing it in. We have sold at least one knob by itself, without the tray, so yes, we do offer them.

A plastic strap keeps the tool tray from yawning open too wide. We offer the strap too.

We offer the tray without the knob or strap if you might enjoy saving a few dollars by wrestling the strap and knob out of your presumably broken or rust-stained tool tray, so you can re-use these. The BMW part number I see on the tool tray is 1128 911.0.

For those who don’t want the hassle, we also offer the tool tray with the strap and the knob.

We often see marks left by rusted tools, on these tool trays. I used to wonder why until I bought an E23 735i. Its trunk lid, on the inside, with all the tools, was always wet with condensation — even though I live in the middle of the Nevada desert. That would explain the problem.

We clean the rusty marks away as best we reasonably can but the tool trays we offer might still have some black stuff on them — but typically not easily-visible rust or rust stains. There is a small vent hole, presumably to equalize air pressure within the tool tray and the outside world. Sadly, we find it difficult to clean this part without getting water into the vent hole.  Fortunately, in the dry Nevada climate, it’s likely to dry out fairly quickly.

On the tools, we like to use Naval Jelly.

As for the original BMW tools, they are becoming quite rare and they’re priced accordingly. We do sell the individual pieces, though:

• Open-ended wrenches, sizes 8-and-10, 12-and-13, and 17-and-19.
• Pliers
• Spark plug wrench
• Rod or pin that presumably helps turn the spark plug wrench
• Screwdriver
• Allen head tool
• White plastic manual window crank