What did you do to your e21 today?

[320iAman]

KS Standard Bearing Shells came in today , so I plastigauged the Big End Bearing Journals. I calculated the oil clearances as 0.0404( Four-Hundred and Four- Ten Thousandths of One Millimeter) via Micrometer and KS specifications for thickness of Kolbenschnidt-Rheinmetall standard bearing shells , plastigauge shows 0.038(Thirty-Eight Thousandths of a Millimetre),good agreement with the micrometer measurements,0.023 to 0.078 of 1 millimeter is Specifications.
BMW 320i e21 2.0L , 80 mm stroke crankshaft.

DSCI0444.JPGDSCI0447.JPGDSCI0442.JPGDSCI0443.JPG It looks as good as the picture in instructions by plastigauge.
Glyco Small End Bushings to install and ream with a reamer to fit Pistons Pins. DSCI0448.JPG

Happy Holidays to y'all and yours.

Randy

[320iAman]

Corteco Flexible Disc, Steering, A Couple of BMW Piston Pin Retainers(Snap Rings) , and 1 Clutch Fork Pivot Pin-Ball Pin. Parts for future use.

DSCI0449.JPG

Randy

[jaredmac11]

Today, I picked up a parts car... this particular one has a completely junk title and it cannot be transferred without bonding the title. I dont think its worth that since it was gutted and stripped but who knows.

Its an m10b18 with a turbo. Megasquirt, turbo, intercooler, etc. EVerything is plugged in, it just needs to be tidied up. Probably hasnt ran in 5 years. I do have a 2002 that needs a heart so maybe this could be that. But that would make me *that* guy....

Anyways, its exciting to get my hands on a new project that can be turned in to something.
e21 new.jpge21 turbo.jpg

[amarino]

Key broke in the door lock cylinder. Could not get it out from the outside and couldn't find a spare. Had to take the whole cylinder out of the car and send it to a locksmith to make a key. Ended up costing about $15 for 2 new sets of keys (door and ignition).

IMG-20191217-WA0002.jpg

RealOEM doesn't have any exploded diagrams of door lock cylinder but I was able to find another site with good pics of the lock cylinder taken apart: http://todor.info/repair/e21lockrebuild.html

The return spring was a bit tricky but doable and the instructions on the above site helped. The hard spring to put in is the tiny tiny one that flaps the cover closed on the cylinder door. If that little spring or rod flys away good luck finding it on the floor.

video of the return spring working.

[Manny G.]

Worked on fixing my non working horn.

Stopped working all of a sudden.... changed the horn relay just in case, .. but it wasnt the relay. Tested the circuit, found out the steering wheel contact wasnt working. Pulled off the steering wheel, found the small "carbon contact" that was held in by a plastic support had broken and was no longer contacting the wheel.

Temporarily fixed it with an air valve stem cap, plastic one. I cut the top off it, slit the side, and put it over the spring and contact with a small zip tie.. it's held in place securely until i can get the replacement part .. this thing: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...n/32331350750/

[jaredmac11]

Opened up my flooded 1975 2002...

It's a farking mess. I knew this was likely but was hoping the crank case wasnt that bad. Well I know why it was seized...

Dumb Q but is the oil pump toast?


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[mitsakosgt]

Today I got the 5 lug conversion up front done.I also test my front brake calliper-rotor combo....

[320iAman]

Opened up my flooded 1975 2002...

It's a farking mess. I knew this was likely but was hoping the crank case wasnt that bad. Well I know why it was seized...

Dumb Q but is the oil pump toast?


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What happened to the oil pump pickup ?

Randy

[jaredmac11]

To be honest Randy. I have no idea. The original theory was that water got in the crankcase from a flood.

I did some investigating and there were metal bits all over the pump. Did some cleaning and found these fractures/pitting all down the pickup

What the hell would cause this?

These 02 pumps are stupid expensive too.

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[okieflats]

looks like a mixture of water and oil glop hanging onto the oil pump pickup screen

was the flood water a salt water situation? the ocean? an ocean surge or tsunami? because salt water would for sure cause aluminum to corrode

[320iAman]

To be honest Randy. I have no idea. The original theory was that water got in the crankcase from a flood.

I did some investigating and there were metal bits all over the pump. Did some cleaning and found these fractures/pitting all down the pickup

What the hell would cause this?


These 02 pumps are stupid expensive too.

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Not sure,Well, you'll have fun cleaning it up... As too to the oil pump several 2002 owners bought E21 pumps and changed the pickup,, they say it works great and saved them lots of dough.

Randy

[John Adkins]

Refurbed my black vinyl Recaros using Feibing's black leather dye from Hobby Lobby and some sheet rubber foam to build up the seat area and back rest a bit. I took the driver's seat out of the car and painted the metal with a rattle can of flat black. When I reinstalled the seat I straightened the seat posture by shimming up the two inboard mounting points with washers and used longer bolts for easier starting and to maintain the oem thread count for safety. Also dyed the door cards and installed a dash cap from Accuform ($200 shipped from Amazon). Appearance of the interior dramatically improved, IMO, and the drivers seat feels great.

[Brob]

Hi John,
I'm going to need to do something with my dash down the road. How difficult was the install on the accuform dash? Any pics of the finished product?
Thanks
Bruce

[amarino]

Not sure,Well, you'll have fun cleaning it up... As too to the oil pump several 2002 owners bought E21 pumps and changed the pickup,, they say it works great and saved them lots of dough.

Randy

Yes the oil pump body has a few different cars it was on. Best bet is to find maybe an E30 with M10 engine and take out the pump as both parts are interchangeable it seems. The E30 M10 oil pump is easy to remove at the junkyard as the engine has a lower oil pan you can remove without the subframe in the way. Just bring a power tool as its a good amount of bolts to remove.

Oil pump body
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...&q=11411267199

Oil pump cover with pickup
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...&q=11411286492

[AndronPrime]

A few things I accomplished over the last couple of weeks and today I redid my roll cage. Originally I had planned to make a roll cage that tied into the front strut tower with a tuned front end. But, I made the cage I realized it didn’t fit the original vision I had for the car so I changed things up and made the front end removable. Also have pictures of my k24 front sump pan and a modified e28 rear subframe. Decided to not bother with a completely custom rear ended for the moment.

[John Adkins]

Hi John,
I'm going to need to do something with my dash down the road. How difficult was the install on the accuform dash? Any pics of the finished product?
Thanks
Bruce

Hi, Bruce. Having bought and installed two Accuform dash caps, I am a big fan. It take more time to get the cap out of its shipping box.than it does to install. It just lays on top of the old dash. Adhesive is provided if you want to anchor it a bit, but I didn't. Sorry that I can't do pictures, but to me the dash looks great. Fit and finish are excellent. Cheers. John

[320iAman]

I bought a new catalytic converter for my car, purchased thru Summit auto racing - sales agent shipped directly by the Manufacturer-Walker Exhaust Systems. Here in Cal , Catalytic Converters are specific for a car and have to be bought and installed from a list of tested Catalytic Converters from Mobile Air Resources of CARB in Socal with a current Executive Order. The list is on CARB site and can be downloaded and shows all Cats tested and which cars they are good to go with, warranty card in the box, warranty starts when installed 5yr/50K miles parts and labor. The only proviso is install after a failed Cat test. You can find the same info if you care to read about it. Last test 2 yrs ago showed the Cat was aging and just made it.

Walker CalCat Universal Catalytic Converter 81126 [Good for all 1977-83, BMW 320i E21's-1.8L and 2.0L] made 11/19, a couple months old

DSCI0456.JPG DSCI0455.JPG

Randy

[amarino]

Oil change on my 2nd E21 (1980 blue)

Records from the previous owner show that he last change the oil on 2018-04-03 @ 276,974 miles with Mobil 1 15W-50.

I did today 2020-02-22 @ 279,056 miles and also used Mobil 1 15W-50 and a MAHLE OC 25 filter. I also replaced the drain plug with a Pelican Parts magnetic drain plug (11-13-7-535-106-PEL).

Took a sample while the oil was draining to send to Blackstone Labs for oil analysis. Will report back once I have the findings.

I know its a short mileage interval but it had been almost 2 years. Also my first time doing it on this car and wanted to get a baseline sample sent to Blackstone.

[Vermont320i]

Vermont is the exact opposite of California on emissions (sorry Randy); original cat hollowed out and re-installed tonight. Short test drive indicated exhaust sounds pretty good (to me), not any louder, and the butt dyno indicates mo powah... or at least it feels like it must be true because youtube says it is. Did not smell bad, either.

Hope to complete the redneck fantasy of more power through open exhaust by getting better fuel mileage. But that will have to wait until actual spring.

Bill

[jcwildt]

I've finally gotten around to wrenching on my recaro-less 320is. The past three days have been spent renewing the cooling system (everything down to the clamps), intake gaskets, removing the AC, refreshing the vacuum lines, and replacing the fuel injector rings. Unfortunately, I broke a fuel injector line in the process so the fruits of my labors have been postponed. I had to move last week so I got rid of my parts car, only to realize I forgot to grab the fuel lines first. It's been a bittersweet March so far.

[amarino]

Oil change on my 2nd E21 (1980 blue)

Records from the previous owner show that he last change the oil on 2018-04-03 @ 276,974 miles with Mobil 1 15W-50.

I did today 2020-02-22 @ 279,056 miles and also used Mobil 1 15W-50 and a MAHLE OC 25 filter. I also replaced the drain plug with a Pelican Parts magnetic drain plug (11-13-7-535-106-PEL).

Took a sample while the oil was draining to send to Blackstone Labs for oil analysis. Will report back once I have the findings.

I know its a short mileage interval but it had been almost 2 years. Also my first time doing it on this car and wanted to get a baseline sample sent to Blackstone.

Here is the oil report for this E21.
2020-03-10_143720.png

[320iAman]

Here is the oil report for this E21.
2020-03-10_143720.png

The ZDDP looks good, Zinc/Phosphorus quantity better than most all others except racing oils.

Randy

[320iAman]

Just purchased 10 Double split clamping collars for $20-these are steel and will replace the springs on the rocker shafts. These will work as rocker locks to prevent the rockers from wandering down the rocker shafts,,I waited some time for this price drop--most places are selling these for $8 each, these are two dollars each and carbon steel. Sale is 42% off.. Get getting while the getting is good,lol.

s-l1600s.jpg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/222381354642

Randy

[jaredmac11]

Do a write-up for us Randy


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[WantingAfunE21]

Do a write-up for us Randy


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I second this!