Not sure if there is a class for this, low budget Father Son Build '79 E21

[OLD MAN]

Thanks guys - it has been fun hoping for more fun driving it!

Carbed engines always start up easier then injected ones....

[KlausH79]

May I ask just how you got the car up on those stilts?

Amazing build BTW....

[OLD MAN]

May I ask just how you got the car up on those stilts?

Amazing build BTW....

thank you

Post 113 has a picture of the lift we use to get vehicles up on the stands, it is a single post design. I work for a company that builds SUV and truck accessories, we use these to scan the bottoms of the vehicle so we can design parts. The lift is built on a pallet jack type of base so it can be moved around.

[OLD MAN]

We did some more reassembly on the car this past weekend and as well as a little the weekend before.

We worked on installing the dash, wiring, gauges, windshield and external engine components. As for the open wiring goes, we plan on putting in some wiring loom once we get the motor running and everything working.

Gauges are the same configuration that we had in the car and the three lights above and to the right of each gauge are idiot lights for danger zones. Have to install the dial for the brake bias and figure out where to put the volt meter gauge.























Not as interesting as cage building pictures but we are excited it is coming together for driving!

[stealthbeam]

Looks badass man, Love it

[hdx]

looking really nice old man . I am looking forward to racing with you guys .

[OLD MAN]

Ya we are looking forward to running with you - what memberships do you have active?

[hdx]

None I let them all run out . Last time I ran my car was with you guys at a la bmwcca event at Fontana I think two years ago.
I have a few days credit with speedventures

[ButteDorFrank]

how have I missed this thread ... I'll read the whole thing when I have more time ... (just commenting on it now so it subscribes me haha)

[autox320]

Been following for years and have to say it's progressed well. Sick sick build guys, It's like a DTM version E21. Hey guys, I still get emailed posts now and again of updates. I still have the E21, but it's been sitting for a very very long time now. Back in the States for good since Jan14. Been pounding on the E30M; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjX...1d12Mgg/videos

[OLD MAN]

M3 looking great Autox320

Thanks Frank?


Hope to get an up date done soon we have been working on the radiator install (new Speedyway MS aluminum) and we have been working on the doors and cages.

[jayhudson]

Hey Old Man -

I just noticed you're in Corona. My CRS is alive and well so I can't remember if I commented on this before but I lived in Norco from '77-84 and then in Riverside from '84-88. Were we neighbors?

Jay

[OLD MAN]

Working on thread updates - we have been working on the car just not on write ups.

HI Jay
We moved to Corona Nov of 87 from OC 'Santa Ana' liked the small town feel of Corona. Which is gone now over 150,000 people now compared to the 42,000 when we moved here. It is now as bad as the OC when it comes to driving around town. My wife worked at Riverside Community Hospital from May 88 to 2005. Small world - I like your Wagon - oops - Estate - oh I mean Touring!

I like wagons this was my wife's DD for 12 years -

[jayhudson]

One of my wife's sisters worked at RCH. I'm not sure what years but she may have been gone before '88.

Jay

[OLD MAN]

For the classing at SCCA Auto-x we fit FP here.

OK I need to do about 2 years of up-dating to this thread - but we have made a huge step to getting this back on track. Yesterday I took the car for a ride (not drive) and strapped it down for some flogging at Doug Thorley Headers - in floor chassis dyno. Numbers came back good for the engine using the stock M20B20 engines distributor and intake manifold.

VIDEO of dyno run - Crank it up and enjoy the BMW screaming of an M20B25 to 7,500 rpm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMrd...ature=youtu.be

[jayhudson]

Great! Doug's...... good ole drag racing peeps.

Jay

[OLD MAN]

This is the other Doug Thorley header after the split - lots of Tri Y street stuff and some race stuff - trying to talk them into some affordable high quality BMW stuff.

[OLD MAN]

Put the front clip on the car Saturday and got the brakes working better - so we will be putting some test laps on it this coming Saturday .

Still have a LOT of body work and paint to do but we can work on that between driving it .

[dlguadiz]

Hey Daryl, nice build. I'd say "put a diffuser on it" but you might think I am fixated with the dam* thing...

Something caught my eye while I was reading this thread--

Plugged most of the holes in the radiator core support head light holes, wire holes basically anything that did not have going through it. Result is the rear of the hood no longer rises up 4” when we are in third gear. And the motor runs cooler – no air gets into the motor compartment without going through the radiator. I believe we had a real high – high pressure area under the hood which slowed the air flow through the radiator because it was easier for the air to go through the big unrestricted openings we had.

Frederick (my e21) is also a 320/6 with a carburator and I removed that humungous air filter with a tube attached to the front. After removing, I did not plug that hole-- I thought it would be a good source of oncoming air to cool the engine down -- not good?

[OLD MAN]

Air moving over the out side of the engine will not have much effect on the engine temp.

Air not going through the radiator but around it will.

With your thread on getting a better slipstream and gas mileage - I would say close if off or connect it back to the carb for a cold air intake. Old school hot rodding proved that cold air going in yields more hp out of the same engine as hot (under the hood) air.

One of the big things done on race car for to fight air drag is to limit the air getting under the hood of the car - this is because you have to do some to get that air out smoothly and easily. For the most part the place this air goes is under the car and through the tranny tunnel which is nothing but drag and turbulence. The only air going into the engine compartment should be the air going through the radiator and this should be restricted to only enough to keep the engine at the correct operating temperature.

It needs to be noted that for our car we have been doing auto-x cross only up to this point - I have been concentrating on the handling and not thinking a lot about areo. But I will soon start working on this part of the car build.

So on the street the opening needs to be a lot for stop and go traffic, while on the track where you may never go below 40 mph you can block off the opening to decrease the drag on the car. Hope this helps.

[ButteDorFrank]

hey OLD MAN, what did you do to the inside of the roof after you removed the sunroof ? did you leave the "frame" there or did you remove the whole thing for more hear room. I'm deleting my sunroof too and was worried that the roof would become weak if I remove the little frame, as in it would pop in and out with the bumps and wind kind of thing ... can you post a picture of the inside roof please, thanks

[OLD MAN]

I will take some pictures for you in a couple of days- no time the next or so.

We did not have a sunroof car, ours was originally a slick top someone put an aftermarket glass moon roof in. They were big in the 80's lots of shops doing them, I took it out and cut a piece of steel and welded it in with tabs we made. It does not look very good on the out side - lots of waves. Our roof sank in some so I pushed it back up/out putting small pieces of plywood between it and the top of the cage tubes.We also welded in a couple of tabs from the top of the cage to the bottom of the roof.

Are you putting in a cage? If so do the roof patch first and then brace it to the cage before painting it.

[ButteDorFrank]

ah ok I see ! ... I'd still like to see how the roof of a non-sunroof car looks like as I haven't seen one ... that's what I'm scared will happen when I weld it that it'll all buckle or that I won't be able to make a nice straight roof. I am building a cage and to get it nice and high and tight against the body of the car I need to remove the drain tubes out of the sunroof so I might as well cancell the whole thing ... It is pretty heavy too.

EDIT: your build gave me so many GOOD Ideas on how to build my cage and solidify my chassis, it's like you've done all the hard work of thinking for me, all I have to do now is just DO IT ! Cheers !

[FastFabM3]

Process for filling a hole like that:

1) Hold new metal under (or over) the hole and scribe around the periphery to get an exact size for the filler piece.

2) Cut using offset aviation snips, or by whatever means to get a perfect line to your scribe mark.

3) Tack in place until you have a tack weld every inch or so. If it tightens up too much and attempts to overlap as you are tacking it together, just hammer/dolly the tack weld to stretch it back out and it'll lay back in place.

4) "Connect the dots" welding. Try to keep the rainbow of heat affected area consistent all around the patch so that the shrinkage from the weld is equally as consistent.

5) Grind off excess weld, being sure to not grind into new or old metal, this will leave a little bit of bead most likely. Also, it will have sunk down and possibly warped horribly during the welding process.

6) Hammer and dolly the weld seam to stretch it back out ("dolly-on" technique). This will take a couple of hours with something like a sun roof. Have patience, because the results will be magical.

7) Doing the hammer/dolly work should help relieve all the tension and bring it back out flat. Hammer from the inside, since it will sink down as you weld, you want to always hammer in the direction you want it to go, even though you're holding a dolly behind it. Your arm will get very tired.

This is the best way to actually get it as flat as possible, how much time (patience) and knowledge you have, will dictate how flat it ends up. Any other method won't work as well.

[ButteDorFrank]

Process for filling a hole like that:

1) Hold new metal under (or over) the hole and scribe around the periphery to get an exact size for the filler piece.

2) Cut using offset aviation snips, or by whatever means to get a perfect line to your scribe mark.

3) Tack in place until you have a tack weld every inch or so. If it tightens up too much and attempts to overlap as you are tacking it together, just hammer/dolly the tack weld to stretch it back out and it'll lay back in place.

4) "Connect the dots" welding. Try to keep the rainbow of heat affected area consistent all around the patch so that the shrinkage from the weld is equally as consistent.

5) Grind off excess weld, being sure to not grind into new or old metal, this will leave a little bit of bead most likely. Also, it will have sunk down and possibly warped horribly during the welding process.

6) Hammer and dolly the weld seam to stretch it back out ("dolly-on" technique). This will take a couple of hours with something like a sun roof. Have patience, because the results will be magical.

7) Doing the hammer/dolly work should help relieve all the tension and bring it back out flat. Hammer from the inside, since it will sink down as you weld, you want to always hammer in the direction you want it to go, even though you're holding a dolly behind it. Your arm will get very tired.

This is the best way to actually get it as flat as possible, how much time (patience) and knowledge you have, will dictate how flat it ends up. Any other method won't work as well.

very well said and usefull information !