Thread: What did you do to your e21 today?

  1. #4551
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Austin, TX
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    1978 323i
    tonight (for the second night) I tore into the side of my e21, getting down to business with a handful of pretty ugly looking rust bubbles and large flakes of stuff cracking off the driver side. I had to pull the back seat, front and rear panels to get the plastic trim clips off (without losing the little pin), broke one in the process, guess I need new.

    Mercilessly attacked about 2/3 of areas on the driver side with the wire wheel and cleaned all the corroded spots back to clean metal on all sides. mostly along underneath the trim, starting at the clip holes. surprisingly not even a single pinhole in the metal though, awesome!

    the ugly large flakes coming off the rusty spots turned out to be just a really thick layer of primer.

    ill be using "metal prep", then a few coats of rattle can "primer + paint" that matches reasonably well;

    I tell myself this should suffice as I work my way around the car, dealing with the spots until i'm ready to get the whole car painted at once.
    Last edited by cgifool; 09-24-2017 at 02:40 AM.

  2. #4552
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    4,704
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    Pulled the driver seat did a repair to it and oiled the rails. The drivers seat has a metal rail that holds two springs broke on both ends, I welded it back together. the welder is a 110V flux core welder I modded, it can weld up 1/2 inch plate steel now with a root,hot,filler and cap passes.

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 10-05-2017 at 11:09 AM.

  3. #4553
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    My Cars
    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

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    Got my second CIS K-Jetronic Fuel Injector Tester,,too good of a deal to pass up $50 inc shipping NAPA Belkamp 700-1438 , new,, same as S & G Tool Aid 33800 for $100.00, plus.

    s-l1600.jpg
    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 10-11-2017 at 09:00 PM.

  4. #4554
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
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    My Cars
    1979 E21 320i
    Today I passed Caifornia SMOG for the second, and hopefully last time, with this engine. Now I can justify getting back to work on the a/c and interior!
    -John

  5. #4555
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    San Antonio, Tx
    Posts
    430
    My Cars
    1977 320i
    Quote Originally Posted by 320iAman View Post
    Got my second CIS K-Jetronic Fuel Injector Tester,,too good of a deal to pass up $50 inc shipping NAPA Belkamp 700-1438 , new,, same as S & G Tool Aid 33800 for $100.00, plus.

    s-l1600.jpg
    Randy
    I wish... I was your neighbor

  6. #4556
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    My Cars
    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    Got my Fuel Distributor o-ring kit in today, I now have two complete o-ring kits with fuel volume adjustment screw o-rings. Looks like fuel volume screws orings in Viton 75 could be stocked soon. Ordered 1.8x2mm Viton 75 Fuel Volume o-rings,,minimum order 12 now.
    DSCI0119.JPGDSCI0120.JPGDSCI0121.JPG

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 10-20-2017 at 12:53 PM.

  7. #4557
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Sacramento, California
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by WantingAfunE21 View Post
    I wish... I was your neighbor
    Do you have one ?

    Randy

  8. #4558
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    1,585
    My Cars
    1978 323i
    Last night I removed my right rear inner door panel for access to pull the passenger side trim, and reinstalled the back seat so I can take the kids to school again in the meantime.

    I also went back over the areas where I had done rust removal and a quick touch-up paint several weeks ago, and put on a couple super thin skim coats of surface filler to hide some pitting and the obvious repair areas - for some reason (previous body work) the existing metal had a fairly thick coat of filler-primer on it already, so it was obviously lower where I had ground it off.

    IMG_3080.jpg
    IMG_3081.jpg

    Looks like I really troweled it on here, but this is the second coat, before sanding. Its just paper-thin. Okay, maybe card-stock thin

    IMG_3082.jpg

  9. #4559
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    4,704
    My Cars
    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    I'm getting my rebuilt Power Brake Booster in tomorrow. I'll post the info on this in a new thread and additional items. used ones of these items are getting hard and harder to find as the inventory of these cars is going down at Pick n Pull and elsewhere, why used--when new rebuilt is waiting. I did my stint with used parts , and now and for some time new, new , new.

    The power brake booster on the car now works fine, when it doesn't--a new rebuilt is installed.

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 10-30-2017 at 08:45 PM.

  10. #4560
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    The Viton O-rings for the fuel volume screws are being shipped out today, from the O-ring Store.


    Randy

  11. #4561
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    North Carolina, USA
    Posts
    195
    My Cars
    1981 BMW 320i
    I had to replace a frozen thermostat last week and then after about six hours of driving on Friday, the water pump gasket blew, went ahead and ordered a new Meyle pump and got everything back together in about four hours, I can't wait to add a coolant reservoir I sourced from a friend in Mooresville, NC as it'll make the coolant adding process much easier.
    The original pump is in good condition but I figured I'll throw in the new one anyways and keep the original as a backup just in case.
    As for the thermostat, is there a way I can freeze it in the "open" valve setting so I can keep it as a backup while waiting on parts down the road?

  12. #4562
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Sacramento, California
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

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    New Tool is inbound Latest Ridgid Gen5x 1/2" Brushless Cordless Impact Wrench in a Kit with LSA. 450 Ft/lbs torque with 4 settings- One automatic setting,, Came out yesterday the Kit, with Impact, Charger and 4Ah battery-Lifetime warranty on all with registration. I like having the option to speed up the work on the Car.

    ridgid-impact-wrenches-r86011sb-64_1000.jpg

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 11-07-2017 at 09:31 AM.

  13. #4563
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    My Cars
    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    Fuel Distributor- Fuel Volume Screws O-Rings arrived, Now all New Viton O-rings in Rebuilt Fuel Distributor. plus extras 8.
    DSCI0132.JPG

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 11-04-2017 at 10:38 AM.

  14. #4564
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    North Carolina, USA
    Posts
    195
    My Cars
    1981 BMW 320i
    Last night another coolant hose decided to deteriorate on me while going down highway 311. I pulled into a Sheetz and luckily a friend of mine was passing by with his Coyote-swapped Ford Adrenalin. We managed to stuff the old broken hose inside a larger diameter hose wrapped with duct tape and zip ties to get me home. Surprisingly, no problems along the way.
    Today, i replaced the old hose with some fuel line I found at an O'Reilly and it seems to fit perfectly minus the bend is now over the fuel distributor.
    I haven't seen any write ups previously done on this hose that connects from the metal coolant return pipe up to the intake manifold. The guy at O'Reilly said it was to warm up the intake manifold? Seems odd to me that you would want to warm up the air going into the engine...

  15. #4565
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
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    1979 E21 320i
    Quote Originally Posted by Drew320 View Post
    I haven't seen any write ups previously done on this hose that connects from the metal coolant return pipe up to the intake manifold. The guy at O'Reilly said it was to warm up the intake manifold? Seems odd to me that you would want to warm up the air going into the engine...
    Yup! He's right. It's to stop the throttle body from freezing in place in cold climates. Lots of people just bypass it to scavenge the extra bit of power. There's not really enough scavenged by bypassing to make it worth draining and filling the system again in my opinion. If it breaks again though, it's an option
    -John

  16. #4566
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    San Jose, California
    Posts
    1,720
    My Cars
    E21 320i, E30 325i
    Washed it, started it, drove it.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
    '81 E21 320i / '90 E30 325i / '̶9̶2̶ ̶E̶3̶4̶ ̶5̶2̶5̶i̶t (sold) / '15 Toyota XW30 / '̶̶8̶0̶ ̶E̶2̶1̶ ̶3̶2̶0̶i̶A̶ (sold)

  17. #4567
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Philippines
    Posts
    135
    My Cars
    e21 320/6, e30 325e
    Bought this for its original purpose at your standard automotive store -- its a tow hook made of thick aluminum.
    20171104_093815.jpg

    But noticed that it has roughly the same dimensions as the e21 rear strut bar/brace (paper cutout from a design posted here at this forum by a member).
    20171104_094453.jpg

    So Im going to buy another one and re-purpose them as a rear strut brace -- use mild steel from the scrapyard to bridge both ends -- cheaper than ordering one.
    Last edited by dlguadiz; 11-03-2017 at 10:31 PM.

  18. #4568
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Sacramento, California
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

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    Quote Originally Posted by amarino View Post
    Washed it, started it, drove it.

    Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
    Going Patriotic -Red , White and Blue- Nice

    Randy

  19. #4569
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    25
    My Cars
    1981 320is, 1972 240z
    Last weekend I pulled the FI hardware out of my '81 320is (distributor and WUR, both tanks) in preparation for setting up a bench test rig to check things out of the car. At this point, I have 3 fuel distrubutors, 1 wur, and 12 injectors and a junk yard fuel pump from a CIS equipped Mercedes.

    I'm swapping a used engine into the car and it's been sitting for 3 years. I want the fuel system dialed in so that I know it's working when I put the new motor in.


    The goal is to get a working set of parts: Matched injectors, adjusted WUR and distributor.

  20. #4570
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    4,704
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    Installed 4 new Viton 1.8x2.0 mm Fuel Volume Screw o-rings-the old o-rings were brittle. My Backup Fuel Distributor has brand New Viton 75 O-rings through out.

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 11-07-2017 at 09:20 PM.

  21. #4571
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Wichita Falls, Texas
    Posts
    1,039
    My Cars
    1997 BMW Z3 2.8
    Located the wire in the pigtail of the C-33 radio, that illuminates the face of the radio when the headlights are switched on. Installers had missed it . Spliced the wire into the light switch circuit. No more fumbling with the radio settings in the dark!

  22. #4572
    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    65
    My Cars
    1982 320i
    My son dropped both tanks in his car and replaced all the fuel and vent lines from the tanks to the external pump. He also eliminated the charcoal canister and has the line venting to atmosphere, blocked the line going to the underside of the intake.
    I was surprised but the thing idles and runs much better. Not perfect because a few vacuum leaks under the intake manifold.... But getting closer!
    We did find that the in-tank pump is not working. May try and find an affordable one to replace it with.
    Thanks to everyone's advice and directions so far! It's been very helpful.

  23. #4573
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    hamilton, on
    Posts
    74
    My Cars
    1977 BMW 320i
    my m10 2 litre is basically just sitting in the engine bay now, waiting for an engine hoist to pull it and the bmw v8 4.4 i just got , .....

  24. #4574
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    4,704
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    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    Changed out the Dorman Control Arms to Febi, went back to regular control arm bushings hard rubber, not an issue to install new bushings when old wears out, made a tool to do it with. Also changed out one upper strut bearing and got rid of M12 nuts with nylon washer lock on both Strut inserts and put in hardened M12 Nuts with lock washers, those cheapo nuts with nylon locks will loosened up over time. Used my Ridgid Impact Wrenches Cordless, no issue with the batteries at all one did not even lose a bar, had to remember a few shortcuts not listed on the books to get the job done.

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 11-14-2017 at 09:38 PM.

  25. #4575
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Sacramento, California
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    4,704
    My Cars
    1980 BMW 320i E21 M10B18

    Cool

    While I had left Strut Assembly out, I noticed that a section of the lower spring pad was sticking out--from the cheapo nuts with nyloc loosening--reason why I went with Hardened nuts and lock washer, initially I heard a clunk over a speed bump and did an installed tightening of the nyloc bolts and clunk gone . Those nylocs will hold for a few years then give up the goat.

    Randy
    Last edited by 320iAman; 11-15-2017 at 10:46 AM.

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