Another e21

[niall]

Hi. I'm Niall and I'm a car addict. Today marked the day of my 3rd ever e21 purchase and also brings my car fleet up to 9.

I have always wanted an original e21 that I can do an extensive restoration on , keeping it as original as possible.

However I was not looking to buy right now , but when the right deal comes up you have to jump on it.

So when I saw this 318i manual for sale on gumtree for $600 I knew it was a good deal. There were a number of interested parties so I ended up buying sight unseen and paid PayPal. The first time I saw the car was when the tow truck arrived at my shop.

The seller was happy it was going to be restored rather than scrapped. He has another very nice e21 which I would like to see some day so I might meet up with him

The plans for this car. Well, there are a few options.

One would be to restore it exactly how it would have left the show room. But that's not very exciting.

Option 2 would be a kind of OEM+ build. Stock mechanicals, same paint colour but lower it just right on some awesome wheels.

Option 3 is to build basically my dream e21. Either black or gunmetal grey. Keep all the chrome. And fit the 2.5 m20 and 5 speed I already own, cam webers and exhaust. Borbet a or bbs wheels.

Rest assured it will be staying Bmw powered either way.

Here are the pics I have for now.

[m60b30530i]

Nice find. Now can you ship it to me Right hand drive and Euro bumpers !

[pofo]

well the brake booster is in a strange position, is this because of the RHD?

[charter21p5]

Congrats on the new E21. Looking forward to see what you plan on doing with the car. Keep us updated with pics as you make progress.

[Tom D]

we had a post the other day asking about the brake master and would a LHD master fit a RHD car even though the part numbers were different. I had suggested that the line ports might be different, but looking at this photo they appear to be similar and swappable, but lines would have to be adjusted.

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...en-RHD-and-LHD

[niall]

Thanks for the comments guys. I have got a spare euro front bumper I was gonna try and sell to one of you guys in the states.

As for the booster. It is weird the way it's remote mounted. It got in the way a bit with my last engine conversion

[Tom D]

right hand drive bmws always had the booster/master on the core support and not the firewall, for one there is more room and the other is to get it away from the heat of the exhaust.

[JeLani]

That z32 too

[niall]

Put some fuel in this thing and it fires right up. Havent tuned it or set valve clearnace or anything. just some fresh juice. very happy.

found the original sales document in the car and the old warranty book. I really am thinking of keeping this one original....

[OLD MAN]

Welcome Niall.

Had to say hi when I saw you are in Brisbane - I will be there in a week or so for work. Really looking forward to seeing the Gold Coast!

[320iAman]

Car sounds just about right. welcome to the forums. Keeping it stock has a certain appeal, I have mine stock and just added a few items here and there to take up the slack.. ex. added overflow bottle to keep the radiator full all the time.


Randy

[OLD MAN]

stock - stock? what's that...


Sorry Randy could not resist.

[niall]

Wow small world. I am
Sure you will enjoy the Gold Coast. Be prepared for the heat though. It's 35deg C here and humid as hell.

As for the welcomes. I will consider them a welcome back I have been a member here for a few years. Just not very active. My other e21 is the rb20 powered car

[niall]

I took it for a quick
Illegal drive today outside my workshop. I got to say I am impressed with how it drives.

First time in a 4cyl e21. Have driven a good dozen 323i. The performance from the little m10 is not bad for what I want.

It has swayed my decision towards the stock mechanical route. Get all the mechanicals up to 100%, overhaul the aircon and spend all the budget on body and interior. O and a nice set of wheels.

I keen to get started on it but I am deep into the e34 project at the moment so for now I'll just keep starting it every week and try not to let it deteriorate furter